Quick Reaction: Warriors 93, Raptors 97

Looked really spry defensively, anticipating passing lanes well and getting out in transition. Not a ton of lift near the rim, but otherwise this was MUCH closer to the Carroll the Raptors hoped for. This was super encouraging.

Hey, look at that rebounding! He didn’t hit a three and he has some thing to figure out with Valanciunas on defense, but he uses his body well at both ends and should really help on the glass and freeing guards with screens. Good start.

The most interesting note here is that, as I suggested was a good look, Valanciunas got an early hook for a PP/JS pairing. Valanciunas re-entering to prop up units with one of DDR/KL off would be a nice way to bump his usage up. Wasn’t very good in limited action, though.

Ran the team’s sets, deferred to DeRozan on offense, jumped passing lanes. Was nice to see he could share the floor with VanVleet. You know what Lowry is by now, you don’t really need seven games of him warming up.

Ditto for DeRozan, though his appetite for mid-range jumpers hasn’t been satiated. Not sure I saw the renewed defensive effort the team’s been boasting, but he, too, exploited the Warriors’ over-aggression/unfamiliarity early.

Not to be redundant, but you know what Patterson is, too. It was nice to see him very aggressive on the glass, and he exploited a mismatch by bullying McCaw to the rim for a bucket.

TERRENCE ROSS COMEBACK SZN ALERT. Seriously, Ross was hyper-aggressive, and while a couple of the mid-range pull-ups weren’t great looks, he’s so fluid, they’re not bad, and it was mostly just good to see him attacking. The next step is to get into the teeth rather than pulling up or floating from the lips. Also, he lost 15 pounds? Dude.

Look, he’s very inexperienced and the bright lights seemed to get to him. I’ve talked to several who have raved about his offseason progress. But this was bad, and there’s no qualifier that will make it feel less bad.

It’s always a good sign when the first extended look at a player turns NBA Twitter into dust. As warned, everyone is going to love this guy. And yeah, there are areas to round out – he’s a little shaky with the ball, and he clunked a three. But he is EVERYWHERE on the glass and made smart help decisions and gambles with his length on the defensive end (with some direction from his teammates). It looks like he has the inside track on the backup center spot early on
Also, I thought this was an underrated tweet:

my rookie board just like siakam, you can't track him

— Blake Murphy (@BlakeMurphyODC) October 2, 2016

He rebounded well enough, although he conceded a runaway defensive board to Varejao. He also blocked a pair of shots, one of them a great piece of tracking back against a guard. He also fell down and looked a little clumsy. I don’t know…I still wan’t to believe he can figure it out, but not appearing until the second half is a bad sign.

I’m grading him a little easy here because it was his first action and I liked his activity on the boards. It was a tough night for him, though, including a missed dunk on a nice roll, an illegal screen, some early foul trouble, and the sense he’s still nailing down the defensive scheme (remember: Utah was very fluid with their schemes at both ends over his two years, so he’s kind of familiar with everything and a master of nothing right now).

Missed you and your wild late-clock forays to the rim, CoJo.

Literally my only negative note here is that Crawford didn’t get to show off what he’s told me is improved range. He basically came in and played the Carroll 3-and-D role, and his defense and transition game looked really strong.

Hit a corner three, missed another, forced some shots late in the game as The Guy with an all-bench unit. The shot looks really smooth and consistent, at least. And he was active defensively, hit the glass hard, and looked comfortable handling the ball. Looks like he’s in a fight with Ross for the first bench wing role (Ross was the first wing up).

Looked terrific pushing the tempo in transition and finding shooters on the move as they got set. Changed his pace well to keep defenders off balance, a trick the Raptors have always loved in their guards. Even shared the floor with Lowry, suggesting the Raptors want to see how he can defend in two-guard sets.

I mean, what do you want me to say about a coach’s performance in the first preseason game? The Raptors dipped into their offensive playbook and even showed a new wrinkle or two (more on that next week), and Casey let the kids make mistakes late, as he should (film sessions are probably a better teaching tool at this point than a hook).