Why Kyle Lowry Is A Renaissance Man | The Sports Quotient
Stumbling on Wins suggests that Lowry should have peaked in 2011-12, his age-25 season. Indeed, to that date, it was his highest PER. However, after a small dip in 2012 in tandem with SOW’s formula, Lowry has done little but improve from there, culminating in what has been not only the most efficient but also the most statistically rich season of his career at the more seasoned age of 29, as can be further explored below.
Toronto Raptors Are Ready to Go Where Kyle Lowry Leads | Bleacher Report
Lowry is currently slotted third in ESPN.com’s all-encompassing real plus-minus (plus-9.40). He’s one of only four players with top-20 marks in points (21.0, 17th), assists (5.9, 17th), steals (2.3, tied for first) and player efficiency rating (23.4, 13th). As for a secret to success, his is simple. This season’s surge wouldn’t have happened without this summer’s exhaustive efforts to maximize his potential. “It’s having the confidence to know that my body is going to be able to maintain and withstand all the bumping, the banging, the bruising,” Lowry said. “Just hard work. I work hard on my game—every summer, every chance that I get.” No one has enjoyed the fruits of that labor more than their Raptors. For them, Lowry has been a fortune-changing presence. From a macro perspective, he has elevated them to previously unseen levels of success. Since his arrival in a July 2012 trade with the Houston Rockets, Toronto has twice set high marks in wins—first with 48 in 2013-14, then 49 last season.
Big men Biyombo, Nogueira keep Raptors in game | NBA.com
No sooner did Valanciunas go down with his injury than Nogueira was being called up from Raptors 905 in the D League. This promotion had come not so long after he had received a scolding from president and GM Masai Ujiri and executive VP Jeff Weltman, who had been a believer in Nogueira’s potential for years. Weltman and Ujiri held fast to their conviction even though preseason injuries had sidelined Nogueira from the Raptors’ last two training camps, further limiting his progress. “We have been mentoring him as much as we can,” said Ujiri, who refers to Nogueira by his Brazilian nickname Bebê. “Jeff and I had a tough conversation in my office. When Bebê is injured, he is one who is feeling like he is disappointing everybody. I told him we are going to be really, really behind you. And then I said, `If you come here discouraged, Bebê, then it makes me discouraged. But I am not going to be discouraged that sometimes you are hurt.”’
Raptors Power Ranking Poll Week 8: From a certain point of view | Raptors HQ
Around this time last year, on this very day in fact, Toronto said good afternoon to the New York Knicks, won their sixth game in a row, and stood at 22-6. They were in first place in the Eastern Conference. What a time to be alive, as they say. Do you remember any of that? I suspect not. The only memory we have of last season is 4-0 and Paul Pierce giving daps to Drake and much wailing and gnashing of teeth. Those first two months last year feel like the memory of a fever dream. You probably see where I’m going with this. The Raptors of 2015-16 currently sit at 17-12. This is good. But we’re not running through the streets losing our minds about playoff matchups and potential runs to the Finals, as we did last year (even if it was in jest). We’re looking instead at a team that can be quite good when it wants to be, when the pieces are present and clicking, and the game starts to break its way. Somewhere between the first two months of last season, and the first two months of this season, are the true Toronto Raptors. This semi-real version of the team has a full complement of players and can play a sharp game both offensively and defensively. The numbers back this up. And while there have been flashes, we are still waiting.
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3 ways to minimize the pressure on Raptors backcourt | Raptors Rapture
This idea has been thrown around in every newspaper, blog and forum. It makes a lot of sense too. Luis Scola has proven he can score on a first unit with ease, while Patrick Patterson relies on the set-ups of his team-mates. Patterson should benefit from playing with the top play makers on the team and should help spread the floor out as well. This will allow Scola to work with Cory Joseph and anchor the offence so the main facilitators can take longer breaks.
Tipoff: Mavericks at Raptors | Toronto Sun
Two veteran warhorses who have been standouts in the NBA and at FIBA competitions for two decades now square off for one of the last times. Nowitzki has turned back the clock with another standout campaign, while Scola has taken to being a starter again and has performed well at Toronto’s weakest position. Nowitzki entered the league with Vince Carter and started slowly, while Carter took off almost instantaneously, but has gone on to have a far better career than his eventual teammate. Nowitzki has averaged 23 points against the Raptors over his career, torching them with a 42.2% success rate from beyond the three-point line.
Dallas Mavericks at Toronto Raptors: Tuesday game preview | Toronto Star
With 15.1 points and 5.9 assists per game, Williams is enjoying a rebirth in Rick Carlisle’s system, working off another point guard in Raymond Felton. Of course, having Dirk Nowitzki as a recipient of your drive-and-kick game is always a plus. Lowry will have to shake off a recent shooting slump (he’s shot .207, .444 and .308 in his last three games) and be ready for another fast-paced backcourt, much like what he saw on Sunday against Sacramento.
Mavs hope to learn from slow start first time around against Raptors | Dallas Mavericks
“Well, every team in the league wants to get off to a good start to the game. I mean, I think that’s a given. You know, they got off to a great start here at our place, and we allowed them to be comfortable and do a lot of things that they do well,” Carlisle confessed following his team’s Monday morning practice in Dallas before boarding a flight to Toronto. “We’re going to have to play a lot better. I mean, they’re a top team in the East, and the East is a lot better this year. We’re going to have to do a lot of things well. They’re an extremely difficult team to match up with, because of how hard they play. They’ve got a great backcourt, and they’ve got a lot of guys who cause problems shooting the ball and driving the ball.” Leading the Atlantic Division through 29 games, the Raptors will be out to bounce back after a 104-94 loss at home Sunday against the Sacramento Kings. Sacramento opened that game on a 17-2 run, leading by as many as 22 points in the first quarter. The Mavericks will now attempt to replicate that formula, hoping to build on Friday’s 97-88 victory over Memphis on their home floor in the process.
Scouting Mavs-Raptors: Dallas needs to take advantage of Toronto’s poor 3-point defense | SportsDay
The Raptors are one of the worst in the league at guarding the 3-point line, allowing opponents to shoot 36.6-percent from beyond the arc. The Mavericks have had a slight uptick in their long-range shooting of late. They have made 34.5-percent or better in five of the last seven and are 4-1 in those games.
Raptors’ salary cap situation – are we in trouble next season? | Raptors Rapture
The Toronto Raptors grabbed headlines twice recently with extensions of two players. First Jonas Valanciunas, then Terrence Ross were re-signed to multi-year deals which included big raises to commence in 2016-17. While JV’s extension was a relatively easy decision for GM Masai Ujiri, I suspect the deal for TRoss caused a lot of acrimony among the suits. Regardless, here we are, with significant financial commitments to a number of players. I want to consider where that leaves our team; in particular, what should be done about players who don’t have a contract for next season. You’re welcome to view my source data here. When you do, you’ll note three players on expiring deals: Luis Scola, James Johnson and Anthony Bennett. (I’m not ignoring DeMar DeRozan; his situation is different. He has a player option which he will certainly decline. I’m hoping he’ll want to stick around, and I’ve allocated 20 million reasons for him to do so. Bismack Biyombo also has a player option, and he’s earned a raise to $4.5 million.)
Injured Raptor Valanciunas back at practice | Toronto Sun
Valanciunas, originally expected to miss about six weeks, has almost no chance of being in the lineup against Dallas on Tuesday at the ACC, but he could be back in Milwaukee or Chicago later this week, depending on how he responds to contact. “Pretty soon, but just play it by ear, every day we’ll see how it goes,” Valanciunas said when asked for his best guess at a return date. “I’m clear to practice right now and we will see a couple days from now. “It felt really, really good (to be on the floor). I’m happy to be here to have a chance to practice with teammates. It was great. We were doing some defensive schemes, so, that was 5-on-5,” he said. Still, head coach Dwane Casey had a more grim prognosis. “I have no clue how long it’s going to take, I just don’t know if it’s a week, two weeks, three weeks, whatever,” Casey said. Bet the under.
Valanciunas nearing return for Raptors | TSN
Overall, Toronto has done a commendable job managing the absence of two starters, especially when you factor in their importance. Valanciunas is the team’s most efficient scorer and primary source of easy buckets in the low post while Carroll gives them spacing and movement on one end and an elite perimeter defender on the other. The Raptors are 9-6 without Valanciunas and 5-3 during this recent stretch with Carroll out. However, their presence has been missed, particularly over the last week, as they’ve dropped three of four games. “Well we’re two starters down and then last night, unfortunately, we were three starters down,” Casey said in the aftermath of Sacramento’s wire-to-wire win on a night in which starting point guard Kyle Lowry was ejected early in the second half for arguing with officials. “So that has something [to do with it] but again, that’s why we have 13-man rosters. Everybody has to be prepared to step in and do their job. Everybody’s clamouring for playing time and then when you go in you have to go in and do your job. There’s no excuses. We’ve been playing without two starters for a while now so being down two starters is not an excuse, you can use that as an excuse if you want to but for guys to go out and not do the things we’ve normally done is unacceptable.”
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