Five Lessons Learned from the Raptors’ Daunting Cavs, Warriors Back-To-Back | VICE Sports
The Raptors Can Push The Pace And Might Want To Explore Doing So
Casey has always favored slower-paced teams, and the Raptors have never ranked outside of the bottom 10 while playing under him. That’s entirely justified, given that on the defensive side of the ball, you largely want opponents to be grinding out possessions once they’re in the halfcourt, and because the Raptors’ offensive identity is that of a plodding, matchup-seeking, one-on-one attack. Neither of those things are likely to change in a macro sense, and the Raptors will almost surely rank in the 20s for pace once again.
The last two nights showed that it doesn’t have to be the case, though. The Raptors might be uncomfortable in an up-tempo shootout with teams like the Cavaliers and Warriors, but if nothing else, the Raptors showed they can score at breakneck paces. Toronto scored 117.8 points per-100 possessions (PPC) over those two losses, playing at a pace of 102.2 possessions per-48 minutes. That’s far beyond what the Raptors are accustomed to, and while it won’t help them beat the Cavaliers and Warriors (clearly), it’s illuminating for when they match up against lesser opponents.
The Raptors have horses, as it were, and young players like Terrence Ross, Norman Powell, and Pascal Siakam are thriving on the run. Toronto uncharacteristically ranks seventh in fast-break points per-game right now and third in transition efficiency, per NBA.com. Injuries and roster composition have forced Casey’s hand when it comes to playing more youthful, and he’s embraced trying out some funky lineups as a result. He should continue to do so, and encourage his athletes to make life uncomfortable for opposing defenses.
James Harden and DeMar DeRozan are definitely early MVP candidates!
— Earvin Magic Johnson (@MagicJohnson) November 16, 2016
Any positives from Raptors’ back-to-back losses? – Video – TSN
With back-to-back losses against the Cavaliers and Warriors, can the Raptors take away any positives or is this team past moral victories? Sam Mitchell shares his thoughts.
How NBA leading scorer DeMar DeRozan has taken his game to another level – CBSSports.com
An attacking mentality
In 2015, DeRozan told ESPN’s Mike Mazzeo that the biggest misconception of his game is that he can’t shoot 3-pointers. He insisted that he could shoot from long range more often if he wanted to — he would just rather go to the hole.
“I don’t shoot 3s because I choose not to shoot 3s,” DeRozan said. “If I shoot them, I know I can make them. I feel like every time I get the ball I can get to the rim or I can get fouled. That’s just what my mindset is.”
That attacking mentality is apparent when watching some of DeRozan’s drives, and it means that his defender can never relax.
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Coach K not surprised by DeMar DeRozan’s dominance | Toronto Sun
DeRozan played for Coach K at the Olympics in Rio last summer and, in fairness, barely played. His role was limited to mostly coming off the bench and bringing some energy to Team USA with the occasional dunk.
The coach loved him.
His teammates loved him even more.
And Krzyzewski believes the Olympic and international experience DeRozan has lived through the past two summers have made a difference in the person — and a difference in his game.
“Well, I’ve seen it actually since coaching him in the World Cup in 2014,” said Coach K. “That one, he’s such an easy guy to coach. And two, he’s such a team player and he’s constantly working on his game.
“He was in a great place to improve all the time because he’s not worried (about his role), he’s not a jealous player. He’s really confident and team-oriented. And one-on-one, I think by playing the amount of experience he has had in the pros helped him, and playing on those two teams helped him.
“He knows he’s as good as those other guys (he played with). And you learn from being with those guys.”
This has happened before to professional athletes; it just doesn’t happen often.
Dwane Casey is coaching the way we’ve always wished he would – Raptors HQ
Even under impossible circumstances, Casey has put his team in great positions to succeed. This week will be referred to for the remainder of the season as the one that featured the “back-to-back from hell.” Two nights, two NBA finalists and an endless list of impossible-to-guard opponents.
Lineup creativity has never been in Casey’s standard bag of tricks. He rides the lineups he trusts in the moments he’s accustomed to deploying them. Casey values rotation continuity so much that backbench players are usually just one injury away from leap-frogging an entrenched bench cog and landing in the starting lineup.
We saw an uncommon amount of deviation from the norm this week as Casey tried to toggle match-ups against the Cavaliers and Warriors. It’s common place to see the Raptors use 10 or 12 different lineup combos in a given night. Per NBA.com, Casey tinkered on his way to using 22 in both halves of Toronto’s cruel back-to-back.
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Five things: A look at the Raptors 11 games in | Toronto Sun
TRUST ISSUES WITH BIG V
Coach Casey still doesn’t trust Valanciunas.
That’s evident when he sits down the stretch of games in favour of Nogueira or Poeltl, who have quicker feet and a better feel for reading plays as they happen. He’s never going to be Fred Astaire, but Valanciunas is moving a little bit better than in the past and really, not putting him in against ancient David West on Wednesday when Valanciunas hadn’t missed a shot and had dominated the Warriors didn’t make any sense. If he isn’t going to play late in most games because he can’t guard the pick-and-roll as well as others and if he is only going to touch the ball half as often as he probably should, would it be make more sense if he is moved for what surely would be an impressive return?
What is honestly the long term role/expectation for JV? – /r/torontoraptors
It is always about the opposing team going small, so we matched it. They went with more athleticism, so we had to counter act that. Where is the philosophy of getting other teams to match up with us? If your centre is 6’8 and 240, put Jonas on the block and let him go to work. Don’t drag his ass up to the top of three point line for a screen and role or worse a screen and hand-off. Utilize his strengths and his abilities. I have seen a drastic improvement with Jonas’ hands to date and his footwork. He demonstrated first hand in the Indiana and early in the Miami series that if utilized correctly, he can be an absolute force for this team.
If teams want to go small, make them pay for it. Don’t instinctively move to a lineup that’s sole purpose is to match up with what the opposing coach has put together. There are a lot of great players in this league (past and current) that play a lot despite their defensive limitations. For years, Dirk Nowitzki, Zach Randolph and Kevin Love were or still are below average defensive players. Even a guy like DeMarcus Cousins is a below average defensive player, still he gets 36 minutes a game because he is a force in half-court offense. JV’s defensive limitations do not outweigh his offensive production or potential production. We need to look at the net-gain he brings when he is on the floor.
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Raptors assign Caboclo, VanVleet to Raptors 905 – Raptors Republic
It will be interesting to see if Caboclo maybe starts at the four rather than the three. The team is starting to see him as more of a power forward long-term, and he spent a lot of time there down the stretch last year. He and Uthoff may essentially just start as “forwards,” with Toupane back in his sixth-man extraordinaire role, but Toupane also sounded confident during camp that he’d be starting this year (not that he seems to mind, either way). The 905 have a lot of options with positional fluidity and a switch-heavy approach, as VanVleet, Jordan, and Tavares are really the only players on the roster who can’t man multiple positions.
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Negus Webster-Chan looks to kick-start career with Raptors 905 | Toronto Star
Participants had to pay $275 each to be in the open tryout and it paid off for Webster-Chan, who earned a spot on the Raptors 905’s final roster. He’ll take the court Friday night when the club begins its second season at home in the NBA Development League vs. Greensboro. And he hopes his stint here can lend momentum to a career slowed by false starts.
“It’s another opportunity to showcase to GMs overseas and in the NBA that I can be versatile, play the one, two, three and guard the four,” says Webster-Chan, a 6-foot-7 shooting guard. “Just put myself back out there again.”
Last season the club averaged roughly 2,400 spectators for games at Mississauga’s Hershey Centre, and finished last season 23-27, third in the D-League’s Atlantic Division.
More importantly, the 905 incubated talent. Before Norman Powell blossomed into a key role player for the Raptors’ playoff run, he averaged 24.9 points in eight games with the 905. This year’s roster also includes Axel Toupane, who played 32 games in Mississauga before joining the Denver Nuggets for 21 games last season.
Those players’ success signals to other hopefuls that the 905s prioritize player development as heavily as they do winning. For Burlington native and national team standout Brady Heslip, that means adding skills to complement his three-point shooting.
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Lucas Nogueira has finally arrived for the Toronto Raptors – FanSided
It’s only about 100 minutes old, Nogueira’s 2016-17 season. Then again, that’s a pretty large percentage of his entire playing career. And also: wow. Although Nogueira is not likely to do anything on offense past tip-ins and dunks, Nogueira’s constant defensive attentiveness and shot-blocking ability is enough to boost up the entire lineup. Toronto has been blowing out its opponents by better than 20 points per 100 possessions when Nogueira is on the floor.
The Raptors broadcast noted the other night that Nogueira is one of just five current players to be averaging both two blocks and one steal per game so far this season. The other four names on that list have all received quite a bit more of money and/or hype: Anthony Davis, Giannis Antetokounmpo, Hassan Whiteside, and Myles Turner. This is the kind of defensive company that Nogueira is keeping. Plus, at 22.6 minutes per game, Nogueira is filling out his per-game averages much more quickly than Turner (27 minutes per game) or the other three (all over 33 minutes per game). Over his whole career, Nogueira is also on the remarkably short list of players who have more than two blocks and more than two steals per 36 minutes, with the current master of that domain being Nerlens Noel.
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Bringing Up Bebe Week 4: Holding Your Head High in Defeat – Raptors HQ
Fresh off that Saturday night high, when it looked like the Year of Bebe was upon us, and it felt certain (to some) that the way forward was to trade Jonas Valanciunas, we plummet back to Earth.
Nogueira played two quiet games after Saturday, back-to-back loses against the two finest teams in the league. Both games worked to pump the brakes a bit on the Bebe bandwagon. Bebe was held scoreless, and tallied nine rebounds, two assists and a block in those ~20 minutes. There were no Bebe highlight plays you could point to. He tried his best, but superior opponents got the better of him and the Raptors.
And after that honest interview he gave on Saturday? As it turns out, the Brazilian media has been casting around the word “alcoholic” in their description of Bebe now, owing to his admission of an alcohol-free lifestyle these past eight months. Sadly, Nogueira, still icing his ankle after games, wasn’t in an expansive mood post-Warriors loss. And while part of the mood can be attributed to the on-court outcomes and Bebe’s contribution to them (or lack thereof), it was sad to see him looking glum and feeling betrayed. To have your honest words twisted around and used against you, that’s a heartbreaking kind of pain.
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Toronto Raptors at Denver Nuggets: Friday preview | Toronto Star
KEY MATCHUP
Siakam vs. Faried
They aren’t the biggest names in this one, but the energy both expend getting up and down the floor and tracking rebounds is impressive. Faried comes in after piling up 20 points and 15 rebounds in a win over Phoenix.
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Gap seems to be closing between NBA’s best teams, Raptors | Toronto Sun
Last season, the Raptors were drilled in every game in Cleveland, and it got much worse in the post-season. Toronto averaged just 90 points per game in their six-game loss to the Cavs, shooting only 43% from the field and an abysmal 29% from three-point range. For the games at the Q, Toronto never scored more than 89 points, never gave up fewer than 108, and lost by an average of 29 points.
But on Tuesday, at last, the Raptors put up a fight. They shot 48% from the field and 45% from three-point range, taking a lead late in the fourth quarter that they ultimately blew because the Raptors missed some shots and the Cavaliers did not. It happens.
Coach Dwane Casey said simply that you can’t have lulls against great teams, and he was right. The Raptors also shot poorly from the free-throw line (67%) and had a rare off night from DeRozan this season (37% shooting), yet they came within a shot or two of pulling out the win.
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