Report: Casey deal could come this week | Raptors Republic
While there was a bit of doubt around Casey’s job status int he first round of the playoffs (despite Ujiri’s vote of confidence), this seems a forgone conclusion now. Casey is the franchise’s winningest coach, has been at the helm for the three best regular season the team’s had, as well as their longest postseason run, and has grown in his flexibility, willingness to change, and overall effectiveness behind the bench. He has his flaws, as all coaches do, but there’s a reason he’s the NBA’s fourth-longest tenured head coach despite being inherited by Ujiri rather than hired: He’s pretty good. Imperfect with some of the micro tasks required of a coach, but very good in the macro matters of effort sustenance, culture building, managing through injury and adversity, and, perhaps most importantly, fostering buy-in from stars.
Casey’s earned his team option being picked up, at the very least, and the likely multi-year extension coming his way will be one he earned, too.
What Should the Raptors Do with DeRozan and Biyombo? | VICE Sports
The Case For Letting DeRozan Walk
DeRozan has been thoroughly admirable as a Raptor, and had a huge role in building this franchise up. Regardless, committing 30 percent of the team’s cap room to him would be a huge misstep, and would harm the team’s chances of taking the next step.
The Raptors are set up to replace DeRozan rather easily. Although they do not have a classically defined shooting guard to play as DeRozan plays, they do not need one. Valanciunas is ready for far more than the 12.4 field-goal attempts he took per 36 minutes this season, and DeRozan’s presence is stunting his growth. DeRozan’s entry passing is not great, and his lack of long-distance shooting means Valanciunas has less space and time to back his defender down in the post before help arrives.
Beyond that, DeRozan leaving would open up more minutes for Ross and Powell—better 3-point shooters than DeRozan. They have a lottery pick that they could use to shore up the wing, as well.
Bring DeRozan back or let him walk? ¯\_(ツ)_/¯ –Photo by Dan Hamilton-USA TODAY Sports
Moreover, DeRozan just is not a max player, even if he will earn that status this summer. The Raptors were actually a better team this year, in terms of point differential, when Lowry played without DeRozan on the floor than when the two all-stars shared the court. The heart of the offence should be Valanciunas post-ups and Lowry/Valanciunas pick-and-rolls, and DeRozan’s skill set does not jive with that. And it is not as if he is bringing in extra value on the other end of the court.
DeRozan will be entering his eighth year in the league. This is who he is. He has had plenty of time to work on his 3-point shot, and he is not yet at the league’s average. He has played under a defensive-minded coach for five seasons, and he still gets lost off of the ball often. Thanks for your time, DeMar, but the Raptors can only reach their ceiling with improvements elsewhere on the roster, both this summer and in summers to come. Giving you $25 million a year will get in the way of that, and your game does not justify the loss of those opportunities.
Lowry May Have Exposed Cavs’ Weakness | Nylon Calculus
Through the model, it can be better understood where a Kyle Lowry-led offensive team excels on the court, as shown in the purple columns above. The proverbial “eye test” of Lowry’s offensive play suggests he is an exceptional offensive talent, and this assessment is supported by the model. Compared to the league average, a Lowry-led offensive team is one of the more productive offenses in the league, specifically when shots are attempted within 12 feet from the basket. As with any RAPM-style analysis, this doesn’t mean Lowry is specifically responsible for these shot attempts, but while he is on the court these shot attempts returns the highest yield in points scored per possession. Lowry’s offensive style of play suggests he has a greater than coincidental impact on the results, but when Lowry offensive teams can produce short to intermediate shot attempts, the Raptors put themselves in the best position for offensive success.
Within the context of the 2016 NBA Eastern Conference Finals, Lowry’s most common defensive matchup by position was the Cavaliers’ Kyrie Irving. Once again, using the shot-distance-specific regularized adjusted plus-minus model the defensive impact of an Irving led defensive team can be measured and is shown in the gold bars. Compared to league average, a defense featuring Irving performed at below-average levels in terms of expected points allowed per possession; allowing more points per possession than what is typically expected specifically in short to mid-range shot attempts. As described by the model, the most glaring weakness for an Irving-led defensive team stems from shot attempts taken within 12 feet from the basket, most notably within three feet, indicating that Irving led defenses are most exposed and least effective when shots are taken from these specific ranges.
The model highlights a glaring and significant mismatch at the point guard position in this year’s version of the Eastern Conference Finals swayed heavily in favor of the Raptors. As shown above a Lowry-led offensive teams excels in terms of expected points scored per possession where Irving-led defensive teams struggle the most. It’s the proverbial mismatch that teams look for in a long seven game series and could have been a small but critical element that helped propel a team like Toronto towards an upset over, or at least competitiveness with, the top-seeded Cavaliers. The model does not claim that an exclusive Lowry-Irving matchup is a mismatch, but given an average set of teammates, an already potent Lowry led offensive team should not be expected to be limited by any substantial margin by an Irving led defensive team.
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NBA AM: Why NBA Teams Can’t Get To Zero | Basketball Insiders
If the Raptors trade, say, Terrence Ross and return almost nothing for his salary, they can free up $10 million more. Historically moving cap money is expensive and usually costs a team a future draft pick or a promising young player. The Raptors will carry a $2.17 million hold on the ninth pick. They could trade down and reduce the cap impact of that pick, or they could use that pick to move a salary. They could also move one of their younger guys like a Lucas Nogueira, who is eager to have a role.
If the Raptors move off Ross and Nogueira, as well as renounce holds on Scola and Johnson, the Raptors could get to $15.22 million in usable space, while maintaining the right to exceed the cap on DeRozan. They would also gain the $2.9 million “room” cap exception.
If the Raptors opted to trade center Jonas Valanciunas and Nogueira, with Nogueira being used as the sweetener to move the salary, the Raptors could get to roughly $19.904 million in space, which should be more than enough to re-sign Biyombo and have a little change to add potentially one or two more lower-level players, keep the right to exceed the cap on DeRozan and keep the $2.9 million “room” cap exception.
All of this is of course predicated on the Raptors finding a team willing to take on their cap dollars without sending anything in return and not fleecing the team of other assets, like rookie Delon Wright or the ninth overall pick.
Raptors: What DeMar DeRozan at the Max Would Mean | Tip of the Tower
In the NBA there are teams that are either championship or bust, namely the Lakers, Celtics and Cavaliers. The only time for those teams to consider their season a success is when they raise the Larry O’Brien trophy. Every move the franchise makes is designed to get them back to that podium with their team standing next to Adam Silver. Whatever it takes, go into the luxury tax to keep the team together, trade draft picks for assets right now to make the team better, bottom out of years to get that one generational player to turn the entire franchise around.
Then there are teams that just above average most seasons and are satisfied with a good run with the playoffs, much like the Grizzlies and Hornets. These teams have never won championships and much like the Raptors, have had seldom success but have spent most of their years drudging through the mud at the bottom of the league.
These teams are the middle class of the NBA. They’re good enough to make it to the playoffs and maybe through a couple of rounds, depending on the year, and the city rallies behind them regardless. Success for these franchises is just being there, making the playoffs is the accomplishment and everything else is gravy.
Much like the Grizzlies, the Raptors have a genius marketing campaign. ‘We The North’ has capitalized on Canada’s separation from the rest of the league. The Raptors represent Canada as a whole and the connection to Game of Thrones doesn’t hurt. The Raptors of today and Grizzlies of the past have completely captivated fans and spun them into a frenzy making it that much harder to divert from sticking to the status quo. That rabid fandom and money can be hard to turn away from.
DeRozan’s contract is the crossroads of the Raptor’s philosophy going forward. Be above average now or gamble on being great later? The rest of the East is pretty far behind the Raptors though, so re-signing DeRozan gives the Raptors a few more cracks at the Eastern conference finals, but Toronto surpassing is unlikely if all things remain the same.
Toronto Raptors: 5 Takeaways From Their Playoff Run | Hoops Habit
Lowry and DeRozan proved they can play well when it matters
Another first-round exit would have been devastating for the Toronto Raptors. They narrowly escaped that fate against the Indiana Pacers in the first round, even if it came in controversial fashion.
A third year with a first-round exit would likely force Masai Ujiri’s hand in breaking up one of the best backcourt duos in the NBA.
While Lowry struggled with an elbow injury and DeRozan hurt his shooting hand against the Heat, the duo found a way to tough it out and lead their team when it mattered.
DeRozan averaged 23 points per game on 50 percent shooting in the conference finals while Lowry contributed 20.2 points and 4.2 assists per game on 47 percent shooting.
The duo was a legitimate handful once the regained regular season for and put fear in the Cavaliers showing that they wouldn’t roll over and hand them the series. After this run it seems likely that this duo will remain together at least for next year.
Thoughts on the Raptors season and the summer ahead | TSN
2. RAPTORS NEEDS: It’s pretty evident that this group overachieved in some ways this season based upon their level of talent. With that being said, General Manager Masai Ujiri will be very busy this summer as he attempts to address the multiple needs that this team has beyond the free agency of DeMar DeRozan and Bismack Biyombo:
A) They need a starting Power Forward. Patrick Patterson is a wonderful reserve, who is better suited coming off the bench and matching up with opposing seconnd unit players.
B) They need shooters–lots of them. Time and again they got good wide open looks from the perimeter and couldn’t make them. The Raps need shot makers not shot takers.
C) With likely/possible departure of Biyombo they’ll need a backup at the ‘5’ as well as a backup swingman to solidify the bench.
Overall, this team got everything out of what they had. Now the tough job to improve the overall team talent level. That will be important as many other teams in the East are expected to make bigger moves based upon draft picks and salary cap space. It should be an interesting summer ahead.
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