Road to the Finals: Can the Raptors challenge the Cavaliers? | CBSSports.com
How exactly are they different from last year?
Aside from the new uniforms? Toronto is much, much, much more balanced. Yes, three muches! This season, Toronto has the fifth-best offense and 12th-best defense in the league, per NBA.com. Last year, it was third in offense and 23rd in defense. Ujiri’s moves last summer were made with defense in mind: he added DeMarre Carroll to pester big wings, Cory Joseph to chase quick guards and Bismack Biyombo to protect the paint.
Resting stars against Spurs was right call by Raptors | Toronto Sun
Cory Joseph has been in the midst of a bit of a down stretch, but bounced back against his former team with a good game. Joseph actually outplayed his long-time practice foeS Tony Parker, who had a quiet night, and Patty Mills.
Joseph directed the attack better than he has been lately and was pleased to see his shot start falling. He got to the rim well, with nine of his 15 shot attempts coming from below the free throw line and generally looked more confident.
The 905 helped shorten the path of Raptors’ prospects | Toronto Star
From the day the idea was hatched in Masai Ujiri’s mind, the D-League was about development, a geographically close team where he could hothouse some of the kids who represent the Raptors’ future, nurture them in the way the franchise wanted and give them every possible chance to succeed.
“That’s the only way in this day and age where you can win now and develop,” 905 coach Jesse Murmys said. “If you don’t have your own D-League team, it’s like you’ve got to make a choice to do one or the other and we’ve fortunately been able to do both and develop valuable assets for the future of our team.”
The silence behind DeMarre Carroll | Raptors Cage
The importance behind Carroll’s return isn’t necessarily him 100 per cent healthy — obviously everyone wants him back healthy – but it’s his integration into the team’s system. He hasn’t played for nearly three months, and the team has been successful without him. Carroll himself touched on the issue of scrambling a good thing and the chemistry of the team.
“I can impact the game defensively for this team & don’t have to take a shot. All I need is a couple games,” he said, elaborating on how much he needs to get back into rhythm.
Regardless of whenever he does make it back on the court prior to the end of season or in the playoffs, the Raptors would welcome it. There wouldn’t be much of a setback, considering Carroll’s team-first mentality and the coaching staff likely sticking him on a minutes limit.
It’s unfathomable how much the Raptors need him to have a deep playoff run. He’s one of the select few capable of guarding LeBron James for a playoff series — that is, if the Raptors make it that far to face them.
“Slow Motion, Better then No Motion….” 🌊
A photo posted by Jason Thompson (@jtthekid) on
Jonas Valanciunas Is Becoming The Center The Raptors Need | Pro Bball Report
“I am trying to develop my game on being efficient on the low post,” Valanciunas said. “Being the guy that can handle blitzes, not blitzes, going to the hoop and make a basket, trying to be consistent every game and bring the same game every night and help the team win.”
Basically, Valanciunas has stopped screwing up when his teammates feed him the ball. He knows what to do when facing a double-team and usually makes a good decision after receiving a pass. He has become the center this team needs on a night-in and night-out basis and nothing illustrates this better then his recent games back from his hand injury.
Over his last six games Valanciunas averaged 12.7 points, 11.2 rebounds and 2.7 blocks. He had a 16 point 18 rebound game against the Rockets traditional big man Dwight Howard and a few nights later followed that up with a 19 point 9 rebound game against the Hawks stretch-five Al Horford.
Following the win over Atlanta, the only stat Valanciunas wanted to know was how many points Horford had scored. When he saw it was just 7 points, he exclaimed, “YES!” Valanciunas knows if he can keep those big men that live on the perimeter off the score sheet he gets to play more and his team is more likely to win.
Ranking the threats to Cleveland in the East | The Roar
The Raptors are 51-25, 6.5 games clear of their closest competition for the two-seed, and flaunting the fifth best net rating in the league, ahead of the Clippers.
But does anyone think they have any shot at toppling the Cavs?
The Raptors missed a golden opportunity at the trade deadline. Their power forward position is a black hole of mediocrity, and finding a Ryan Anderson or Markieff Morris to fill the minutes currently going to Luis Scola, Patrick Patterson and Jason Thompson could have elevated them to ‘legitimate Cleveland threat’ status.
The Toronto starting line-up has been abominable all season, with the Kyle Lowry-DeMar DeRozan-James Johnson-Luis Scola-Jonas Valanciunas starting five owning a terrible negative 4.8 net rating, good for 27th in the league, worse than the Timberwolves. Replace Johnson in that line-up with Norman Powell as Toronto have been doing lately and that rating plummets to negative 9.0, Lakers territory.
The Raptors have been an elite team thanks to their All-Star backcourt and a stellar bench unit. But Lowry is playing hurt now and the bench will have fewer minutes to dominate opposing second units in the playoffs when rotations tighten. Toronto gets the #2 spot in these rankings out of respect for what they’ve accomplished this season, but the ranking is especially fitting because this team feels destined to always finish second to someone.
A photo posted by Raptors Republic (@raptorsrepublic) on
The Most Promising Prospects For Teams In The Atlantic Division | GET MORE SPORTS
The Toronto Raptors selected Caboclo with the 20th overall pick in the 2014 NBA Draft. At the time, ESPN analyst Fran Fraschilla famously remarked that he was, “two years away from being two years away.” Fast forward to 2016 and it looks like Fraschilla’s prediction is right on track. Caboclo has played in just five games this season and that is despite the Raptors’ need for help at the small forward spot. The 20-year-old hasn’t really excelled in the D-League either with just 13.8 points per game on 38.8-percent shooting. Part of the problem is his lack of a three-point shot, as he has hit just 34.1-percent of his shots from beyond the arc. There is no doubt that Caboclo has the raw skill set to become a quality starter at the NBA level, but with DeMarre Carroll and Terrence Ross both signed through the 2018 season he will have to force himself in to the fold. Caboclo remains a promising young prospect but the clock is ticking for a player that should still be two years away according to Fraschilla’s memorable projection.
Report: Maker to enter NBA Draft | TSN
“We believe that Thon has fulfilled the academic requirements to be eligible for the 2016 Draft,” Edward Smith, Maker’s legal guardian, told Bleacher Report. “He will apply for the 2016 NBA Draft and await approval from the NBA.”
A video posted by Terrence Ross (@3tross1) on
Did I miss something? Send me any Raptors-related article/video: rapsfan@raptorsrepublic.com
