In today’s analytics -driven league, shooting is at a premium more than ever. The 33-2 Warriors are case-and-point on this matter. For this morning’s piece I decided to take a quick look at how the 2016 Raptors are faring in the shooting department.
Masai focused primarily on improving the team’s defense in the off-season. While the team’s defense has certainly improved, has the team’s shooting taken a hit because of it? The answer is not really:
3PA | 3P % | 2PA | 2P% | FTA | FT% | |
2014 – 2015 | 25.1 | 35.2 | 58.2 | 49.9 | 24.6 | 78.7 |
2015 – 2016 | 23.4 | 35.6 | 58.2 | 47.0 | 26.0 | 79.1 |
Other than Greivis Vasquez, who is an above-average shooter, the Raptors actually didn’t lose much shooting in the off-season. In fact the loss of Vasquez is mitigated by the addition of DeMarre Carroll (more on this later), a better shooter who doesn’t play defense like he has cement blocks in the soles of his shoes. The Raptors are once again hovering around the top ten in threes made this season but they’re hoisting a couple less long balls a game than they did last season and getting to line more than all but two teams right now (thanks DeMar). Strangely they’re taking exactly the same number of two point attempts as last season but unfortunately converting at one of the league’s lowest rates. This is despite the fact that the much-maligned DeMar DeRozan, while still struggling, has cut down significantly on his mid-range jumpers this season.
Let’s see how the players themselves are shooting the rock so far this season:
Kyle Lowry
Skinny Lowry is shooting one and a half more 3s a game than last season (7.1 vs. 5.6) and hitting at a much higher percentage (38.4 vs. 33.8). He’s taking more overall attempts, getting to the line more and converting at a scorching 88.6 percent when he gets there. The only thing Skinny Kyle isn’t doing as well this season is hitting 2-point shots, as reflected in the sea of red in the mid-range area above.
DeMar DeRozan
There are still some pretty ugly areas on that shot chart but DeMar deserves credit for cutting down on his mid-range attempts this season. Last season a whopping 30.2 of his points came from mid-range on 35.5 shooting. This season he’s reduced the number to 22.8 percent while shooting a slightly better 38.7 percent. Remarkably, DeMar is getting to the line even more than he did last season. I’ve been hard on DeMar in the past but he’s playing some pretty good ball this season.
DeMarre Carroll
Yikes. That’s a lot of red. I’m going to wait until DeMarre has a sustained period of health before I make too many conclusions but anything inside of the 3-point line has been kind of a disaster so far.
Luis Scola
This crafty old bastard still has some shimmy in him. Scola is doing pretty much what he was expected to do in terms of shooting this season. He provides solid spacing, which helps open up lanes for Lowry and DeRozan to get to the basket. He doesn’t shoot a ton of threes but his ability to hit corner threes on drive kick-outs has been really fun to watch. Get this man on the left side of the floor and he’s en fuego.
Jonas Valciunas
Jonas’s numbers at the rim are down this season. He shot 63 percent from less than 8 feet last season, this season that number has dropped to a fairly pedestrian 55.5. Strangely that little red zone was his sweet spot last season. I suspect the numbers will look pretty similar to last season by the time April rolls around. He is doing a better job of hitting mid-range Js this year, however.
Cory Joseph
Cory Joseph has been a really nice addition for the Raps this season. He’s definitely not a marksman from long range but if he’s open in the corner chances are pretty good that he’ll make the shot.
Terrence Ross
Terrence Ross’s shooting numbers are pretty similar across the board from last season. But he had a really nice December where he shot 45.3 percent from the field an impressive 41.8 percent on 5.3 threes a game. Things were looking very bad for a while there but ya boy ain’t dead yet.
Patrick Patterson
You remember when Rick Ankiel lost his mind and starting throwing the ball 20 feet over the catcher’s head in the NLCS like 15 years ago? That’s pretty much how this season is going for 2Pat. His confidence is shot. He is supposed to be a floor spacer and the team simply cannot afford for one of its big men to finish so poorly at the rim. His shooting numbers are down in every area. I hope he rights the ship, because I don’t envy him at the moment.
Bismack Biyombo
It’s almost as if Biyombo has lobster claws instead of human hands. To his credit he doesn’t try to be too creative out there and he’s been a really nice boost defensively.
Lucas Nogueira
Michael Scott once said “keep it simple, stupid” and BeBe does just that. I really only just included this one because it’s fun.
All stats courtesy of nba.com/stats