Fan Duel Toronto Raptors

Rolling To The Rim With Lowry

How Kyle Lowry's recent improved use of the rolling big man helps open up the Raptors offence.

Skinny Kyle Lowry has been both a bully and a blur as a ball handler this season, slashing to the basket and putting up a career high in 3-point attempts. But one of the most pleasant improvements to his game for helping the team’s offensive efficiency has been his use of rolling big men in the pick and roll play type. A season ago, the Raptors guards were amongst the league leaders in shots taken as the pick and roll ball handler. While they were taking a lot of shots, they weren’t particularly efficient in doing so. This was in part because Lowry, DeRozan and Lou Williams rarely passed or seemed to even think of passing to the roll man coming off of a sealed screen. Defenses would collapse around them and force turnovers, difficult shots or bail-out fouls double-teaming an undersized guard.

This year, Williams is gone and DeRozan is shooting a much higher percentage as a ball handler, but Lowry is producing a middling 0.78 points per possession as a ball handler, about league average numbers. The reason his game is so much improved though is because those numbers are strictly reflective of shooting, which Lowry has been doing less of in this play type. He’s finally utilizing the big men around him. It seemed to start in earnest right around the time Valanciunas went down. Since that time, Lowry has trusted Biyombo and Bebe in key, late game scenarios, passing to them out of a double team off of a high, driving screen for either easy one step dunks or highlight reel lobs. From an entertainment perspective, it’s been a revelation. Lowry has single-handedly made Bebe look like a productive NBA offensive player! And as long as they play like this, he is!

Bebe is shooting 100% from the floor as a roll man with Lowry. 5 attempts, 5 dunks. Not a big sample size, obviously, but it matches with a larger trend.

Biyombo’s shooting numbers are rising too. He’s shooting 43% as a roll man, and getting to the line about 15% of the time. His sample size is a much bigger number than Bebe’s. Those numbers don’t look great at first glance, and in some ways, they’re not. Those shooting numbers put Biyombo in the bottom third of efficiency for that play type. But, for perspective, keep in mind that 1)Biyombo has feet for hands, and 2) those percentage and free throw numbers are eerily similar to DeRozan’s much improved ball handler percentages that construct a significant portion of the team’s offense. Meaning that if Lowry just passed to Biyombo in the pick and roll as much as DeRozan drove or pulled up as a ball handler, we wouldn’t notice a dip in offensive production. That’s surprising in ways both good and bad.

For his part, though Patterson has played some minutes as a nominal 5 with Valanciunas out, he doesn’t really roll to the rim. Patrick Patterson has an efg% of 51% as a roll man, a number that’s bumped up by the number of his attempts that come from pick and pop 3-point spot ups. He’s pretty much been a pick and pop player exclusively this year, as evidenced by the fact that he hasn’t drawn a single foul in his 27 attempts out of the pick and roll.

So how will this play out when Valanciunas comes back? Will he much up the positive chemistry that Lowry has developed with the back-up centres? It’s hard to imagine Valanciunas getting up and leaping for those lob passes with the same athleticism. The fact is though, Valanciunas doesn’t have to run the DeAndre Jordan lob special. Valanciunas actually has finish, and he’s still 7 feet tall. He’s spent the last few seasons as an elite finisher when rolling to the rim when he’s been given the chance, and it’s the roll he plays in international ball for Lithuania. Shooting as a roll man this season, Valanciunas has shot 50% from the floor, got to the line on over 29% of his attempts and scored well over a point per possession. Those numbers scream feed me more please. Lobs maybe not, but utilizing him in the pick and roll can only help.

Lowry is finally adjusting to the way that other teams have been defending the Raptors guards, and the results are only positive things. If they continue to trap the wings or collapse with a double team, the lob or pass is there for an easy 2 from the big man. If they bring doubles with aggressively rotating help, it opens up a wide open 3 pointer in 1 or 2 quick passes. If they simply leave it and try to guard it straight up it makes it much easier for Lowry or whomever to drive. The ‘I’m always going to shoot or simply stop, kick out and reset’ approach to pick and rolls has had the Raptors drowning against prepared defenses with time to scout them. Mixing it up the way Lowry has been doing helps the Raptors over that hurdle. It’s yet another improvement from someone making his case as the best point guard in the Eastern Conference.