Toronto Raptors 905 program about more than wins and losses | National Post
The challenge, then, becomes assessing things that are less objective than simple wins and losses. For Raptors 905, the Toronto Raptors’ new Mississauga-based D-League team, that means judging their key players in ways that are not necessarily reflected in the box score. Let the record reflect that Raptors 905 lost their first home game, 109-104 to Maine. And let the record also reflect that every key figure on the roster did some nice things — Bruno Caboclo knocked in some shots, Lucas “Bebe” Nogueira dominated defensively and Sim Bhullar, who is only playing home games as he improves his conditioning, finished three alley-oops in the first half. It was also a fairly fun atmosphere, as the team imported a few Toronto FC fans to chant and sing throughout the game. There were 6,007 fans at the Hershey Centre in total.
Raptors 905 lose in inaugural home game | Toronto Sun
The game itself Thursday had its moments. The home side blew a six-point half-time lead, but battled back in the third and fourth, in part thanks to a scoring run from Vaughan native Nick Wiggins, who scored 10 points in the second half. Raptors 905 boasts four Canadians — Brampton’s Sim Bhullar and Ashton Smith, Wiggins and Victoria’s Keanau Post. Wiggins turned down other options to play for Raptors 905 and said the atmosphere was what he expected. “It says a lot about the growth of Canadian basketball. We’ve really grown as a country. You see the support that we have around us, it’s a beautiful thing,” Wiggins said after the game. “When I first went out there, I got a quick foul, I think I was just too amped and excited to be in the game. Once I settled down I feel like I got comfortable. It feels great playing in Toronto, playing in my home town.”
Raptors 905 launches D-League home season | Toronto Star
Petroff and the rest of the crowd got a good look at what Nogueira can do. The seven-footer showed an all-around game that at the very least would have caught the attention of Raptors general manager Masai Ujiri, who was in the building. Nogueira had 13 points, nine rebounds, nine assists and four blocked shots in 27 minutes. When he was told that the rowdy fans came to see him play, he made the connection quickly. “It’s possible, because they look like soccer fans and basketball fans from here. I never saw this in the NBA,” he said.
Raptors 905 face unique challenges with Caboclo | Sportsnet.ca
Normally the measure of coaching success is pretty straightforward: the more you win, the better you have coached. But in the D-League, and in particular with the 905, winning is — in theory — at best a secondary goal. The primary one is where the league gets its name: develop players to play in the NBA. But that’s where things can get complicated. Take the case of Raptors’ long-term project Bruno Caboclo, the 20-year-old Brazilian taken 20th overall in the 2014 draft. If it’s possible for a D-League team to have a franchise player, Caboclo is it. The Raptors had been kicking around the idea of acquiring their own D-League team for years, but when Raptors general manager Masai Ujiri drafted Caboclo — a player long on potential but woefully short on competitive experience — and had him languish on the Raptors bench last season, getting a team up and running for this season became an urgent priority.
Raptors 905 franchise good for hoops growth | Toronto Sun
“We, at this point right now are part of a growth explosion for the D-league, which is going to solidify this team in this community because the league as a whole is just on a meteoric rise,” said 905 coach Jesse Mermuys before the team’s 109-104 home-opener loss against the Maine Red Claws. Owned by Maple Leafs Sports and Entertainment, the 905 took over the basketball lease at Mississauga’s Hershey Centre from the now-defunct Power of the National Basketball League of Canada this past June and are the 19th D-league franchise and eighth owned by an NBA organization.
Q&A With Norman Powell | Toronto Raptors
When a draft night trade gave the Toronto Raptors the 46th pick, the team wasn’t expecting Norman Powell to still be on the draft board. The 6-foot-4 senior out of UCLA was the kind of player the team had been hoping to add to the roster. An experienced rookie with the athleticism and ability to affect the game on the defensive end of the floor, Powell doesn’t talk much about wanting to play defence, he just does it. Two weeks after getting selected — later than he’d hoped — Powell put each of the teams who passed up on him on notice when he became the only member of his rookie class to be named to the All-NBA Summer League First Team. Over the summer, head coach Dwane Casey praised Powell’s desire to defend. Veterans Luis Scola and DeMar DeRozan have each spent time speaking with Powell about his performances, and the team’s assistant coaches praise both his potential and focus. After practices, the usual scene is Powell throwing down dunks with a ferocity that brings Russell Westbrook to mind. Not surprisingly, Powell names the fellow UCLA alum as one of his favourite players.
Toronto Raptors: The Scott Brooks Problem | The Runner Sports
Look, Casey is a good coach. I appreciate what he’s done to get this team to this point. He helped change the culture and defensive mindset of the team. He would be a great defensive assistant and I wouldn’t object to him staying on in that role (if he’d accept it). But he isn’t what this team needs going forward. His offensive sets and inbound plays lack imagination. He’s absolutely horrible at evaluating the talent of his own players and adjusting his lineups to best utilize his personnel. And we’ve seen in the last two years how he’s unable to adjust his strategy in a 7-game series to counter the other team’s moves. He’s playing checkers while the rest of these teams are playing chess. Actually, they’re playing basketball, but in a strategic way that he…whatever, you know what I’m getting at here. He’s being outcoached.
Am I allowed to be a Casey-hater? | /r/torontoraptors
I’ve been thinking about this since we said we were bringing him back and I’ve come to my conclusion… He is a terrible head coach. Now I know that is not some new revelation, but if we ever want to get out of the 1st round, better players just isn’t going to cut it, a better coach that has more creativity and makes better big-time decisions is needed as well. I can go into more reasons why I think this if anyone wants, but I honestly want to know what people who love, or even like Casey see in him. Because I can’t find one redeeming quality other than he seems to be a pretty nice guy…
Bad things come in threes – Raptors’ Casey on thin ice? | Raptors Rapture
Two players whom the Raptors were counting on to hold the fort have been disastrous. Patrick Patterson can’t shoot to save his life. I know I should count and report on the number of 3-point misses he’s had recently, but I’m not a lover of pain, so I won’t. Terrence Ross made one basket in his last three games, and now is sidelined with a mysterious thumb injury. [20-second timeout: I’m not implying he’s faking. As Jack Armstrong has accurately said on many occasions “You can play if you’re hurt, but you can’t if you’re injured”. A basketball player with troubles in his extremities (i.e., hand in TRoss’ case, foot in DeMarre Carroll’s) has to sit. Those are injuries.] None of Anthony Bennett, Norman Powell or Bismack Biyombo have been able to make any kind of an offensive contribution. Only the fine play of Cory Joseph has kept the Raptors’ rotation from being a complete embarrassment.
James Johnson Watch Week 4: Let’s try to be professional about it | Raptors HQ
Last week I set the over/under at 63.5 minutes, which was just far too optimistic. Look at me talking about optimism while the Raptors lose three games in a row. I’m starting to think the James Johnson Watch is warping my sense of perception. (I mean, more so than usual.) Regardless, Johnson did play this past week in three games out of four, for a total of just over 36 minutes. So, if you took the under, congrats (you’re a pessimist). But curiously, the Raptors lost all three games in which Johnson made an appearance, and won the lone game in which he sat. I will not draw any causality lines here because I fear reprisals from a) Daniel Hackett, b) the laws which govern nature, and c) I have to admit a very un-pro thing here and mention that I missed two of the games this week so I don’t exactly know what Johnson looked like out there. In my defense, I was tired.
NBA: Top 5 Backcourts Playing Today | Sports Cheat Sheet
After the departure of All-Star forward Chris Bosh five seasons ago, the Toronto Raptors were a free-falling organization without any direction. Things drastically changed in the 2013-14 season with the emergence of Kyle Lowry and DeMar DeRozan as the main offensive contributors. Lowry has developed into one of the better all-around point guards in his league, which helped him earn his first All-Star game selection last season. DeRozan has become a dependable scorer, averaging more than 20 points in each of the last two seasons, which includes his only All-Star game appearance. What is most surprising? The duo hasn’t received much national recognition even though they are a major reason for the Raptors’ transformation into a legitimate playoff team. In many ways, both players are underrated at their position. Lowry has averaged over 4.5 rebounds and 6.4 assists in each of the last six seasons while scoring at least 17 points in the last two years. As for DeRozan, he has placed inside the top-15 scorers in the league in each of the last two seasons, which includes placing inside the top five at his position both times. All in all, Toronto boasts only the league’s best and undervalued backcourts in the league; they deserve some much-needed attention.
Book Review: 100 Things Raptors Fans Should Know & Do Before They Die | Raptors HQ
The strength of 100 Things is when it goes a little deeper into the team’s history and early years. With the internet (and sites like Basketball Reference), it’s easy for anyone to look up what Alvin Williams’ career numbers were or the block totals for Yogi Stewart, but to learn about, for example, the power struggle between Allan Slaight, John Bitove and Isiah Thomas? That’s good stuff. Likewise, it was fun to read about some of the obscure players who played for the Raptors over the years, and some of the bizarre asides Mendonca includes. (An example: Tracy Murray recounting a tail of Acie Earl farting everyone off the team bus.) When the book goes beyond numbers, it’s an honest-to-goodness historical document. With the amount of sports history that is easily searchable these days, 100 Things succeeds by collecting some fun, interesting facts from that late 90s era when we were all just slightly less informed.
What do the Raptors need to improve? | /r/torontoraptors
Hey everyone, I don’t want this to turn into a mud slinging contest but a conversation about the necessary strides the team must make to fix their early season flaws. I personally feel that we need to have a bit more of an impact off of the bench. I would love to see Powell gain a bit more experience through playing time and gain the confidence to play to the potential I think he has. For example, his steal and break in the Utah game could have ended in foul shots rather than a block if he had the experience to feel the defender on his back and pump fake but that will only come with time. I also think that our offence needs to start swinging the ball more like we did 2 years ago after the Sacramento trade. It was at that point that it looked like the trust between our players was at its highest due to the chemistry and the ball was really moving. Its early and there is a lot of time for things to improve. What do you guys think?
Raptors stumbles into Lakers: Two sorry foes meet | Raptors Rapture
The Lakers shoot a remarkable 31.4% of their shots from three point land. With streaky shooters such as Nick Young, Kobe Bryant, and D’Angelo Russell, the last thing you need is one of them getting hot from down town. Nick Young especially is a human slingshot, and sometimes there is fire coming out of his hands. Luckily, the Lakers shoot much of their shots contested from three and are hitting only 32.%.
Lakers Vs. Raptors: Kobe’s Back | NBC Southern California
n Friday, Bryant and the Lakers play host to a couple guards that will challenge the Lakers’ young starting backcourt of D’Angelo Russell and Jordan Clarkson from the opening tip. DeMar DeRozan and Kyle Lowry lead the Raptors by combining for 41.4 points, 10.8 assists and 9.1 rebounds per game, split about evenly with DeRozan averaging an extra point and Lowry averaging a couple extra assists. Luckily for the Lakers, the Raptors do not feature an offensive rebounding terror, and no single Raptor averages 10 or more rebounds per game. Luis Scola, though, has been known to find a few offensive rebounds over the years, so he could have success against the Lakers’ undersized second unit. Thus far, the Lakers have been awful at guarding the defensive glass and average allowing 12.7 offensive rebounds per game–ranks third-worst in the NBA.
The Lakers return home for a date with the Raptors | Examiner.com
Returning to present, offensively the Raptors rank 13th in the NBA, on average scoring 101.6 points per game. Defensively, Toronto ranks eighth in the league, allowing an average of 98.2 points per game. Toronto is also the 10th ranked rebounding team in the league averaging 45.3 rebounds per game. DeMar DeRozen, the former USC Trojan, from Compton recently put Utah Jazz center Rudy Gobert on a poster as well as provided an early dunk of the year candidate submission. DeRozen leads the Raptors in scoring, averaging 21.1 points per game. Toronto’s veteran backcourt of Kyle Lowry and DeMar DeRozen on average, post a statistic line that includes 41.1 points, nine rebounds, 11 assists, 3.93 steals while shooting 42-percent from the field. Los Angeles seeks to avenge a 93-84 loss, on March 27th, to the Raptors at the Air Canada Centre and with the win Toronto won the Atlantic Division.
NBA Preview – Toronto Raptors at Los Angeles Lakers – Nov 20, 2015 | CBSSports.com
Facing the often off-target Lakers could help Toronto solve its other problem. Los Angeles is last in the league in field-goal shooting at 41.5 percent but had one of its better offensive showings Monday with Bryant sitting out. Los Angeles (2-9) shot a season-best 48.1 percent and had six players score in double figures, but permitted 40 points in the fourth en route to a 120-101 loss.
Toronto Raptors at Los Angeles Lakers: Friday NBA preview | Toronto Star
The 2-9 Lakers have been idle since losing to Phoenix on Monday night and are just 1-3 at home. . . . Ex-Raptor Lou Williams is 5-for-15 from three-point range in his last five games, when he’s averaged about nine field-goal attempts in close to 25 minutes on average. . . . In eight games, Bryant is shooting 23 per cent from three-point range and 34 per cent overall from the field. . . . Big trip for Raptors rookie Norman Powell, honourary captain for his UCLA alma mater at a home game against Pepperdine on Thursday. . . . Kyle Lowry has made 30 straight free throws.
5 Hypothetical Trades the Toronto Raptors Could Make Before the Deadline | RantSports
The Toronto Raptors have been knocked out of the playoffs two years in a row after winning their division. Their underwhelming performance has caused fans and experts to question whether or not the Toronto backcourt of DeMar DeRozan and Kyle Lowry are enough to make a team legitimate contenders in the Eastern Conference. With DeRozan’s impending free agency, Toronto could have a huge shift next year. Here are five trades to consider.
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