Raptors need a win-now move, but they can afford to be patient – The Defeated
What the Raptors badly need is another consistent two-way player, preferably in the frontcourt. Patterson is a superstar in his role but he can’t even consistently give you eight points a night. Valanciunas has his moments (ex: DET, BOS) but most nights he’s disengaged and hurts the team’s already thin defense. Nogueira is talented but he’s soft as baby shit and isn’t anyone’s idea of consistency. Adding a frontcourt player who can (a) defend the pick-and-roll and the rim, and (b) score in the paint would provide much needed balance on both sides of the floor.
The Raptors recognize their weakness, but they just haven’t found the right deal as of yet. Every power forward that hits the market gets linked to the Raptors and that’s no accident. Kenneth Faried, Thaddeus Young, LaMarcus Aldridge, Serge Ibaka, Paul Millsap, Taj Gibson, Markieff Morris, Ryan Anderson — the list goes on and on.
However, team president Masai Ujiri doesn’t like making moves in-season, when the deck is stacked against him, and hasn’t had cap room to work with in free agency. Instead the Raptors have trotted out the likes of Pascal Siakam, Tyler Hansbrough, a broken Amir Johnson, an even more broken Jared Sullinger, and everyone’s favorite Argentinian gentleman Luis Scola. Those aren’t even bandaid solutions so much as the Raptors have just left an open wound to the air.
Waiting on Sully to Land – Raptors Republic
Jared Sullinger exists.
The Toronto Raptors are being held hostage by the unknown and until that variable is solved for, there is little point in getting worked up over the current state of the team. While Sullinger is no Millsap or Cousins, he was guaranteed the starting power forward spot to begin the season. While his contact is friendly, he was signed for a very specific reason, and that reason is going to be tested. The Raptors currently rank dead last in defensive rebounding percentage and have a player on the verge of returning who ranked 13th in that category last season, despite his struggles.
In his three years since his rookie season he’s averaged 12.1 pts, 8.1 rbs and 2.1 asts in just 25.9 minutes per game. As the son of a coach he’s applauded for his input on the sidelines, and his palpable enthusiasm hasn’t gone unnoticed by his teammates. He’s excited for a new start in a new city that went to game 6 of the Eastern Conference Finals against one of the best teams ever assembled.
Where he fits in upon his return, and whether that return happens soon enough to change the Raptors’ trade plans remains to be seen, but isn’t it worth waiting for?
Breaking down the value of the Raptors on today’s NBA trade market – Sportsnet.ca
As Marks puts it: “Would you sign Terrence Ross for 2 years/$20 mil? From a contract, value, and age perspective: Yes. The value of the contract is more appealing than where his level of play is right now.”
Ross is partially the victim of circumstance, splitting wing duty on a roster featuring DeMar DeRozan, DeMarre Carroll, and Norman Powell. It means minutes are going to be hard to come by, and while this season has been an improvement over last, Ross is playing just 21 minutes per game— the lowest total since his rookie year.
What sticks out during that span is the same line between ability and inconsistency we’ve seen throughout his career. He’s posting double-figure scoring in only half of his games so far this season, leaving GMs left to wonder how he’ll fare as a starter.
“What happens if he goes up to 30-35 minutes— does he become less efficient? That’s a question that’ll be asked.”
Raptors won’t take easy schedule lightly | Toronto Sun
“Play every game the same as far as the effort I am putting out there and that’s what you have to do in the games where people will look and say it’s easy to win these games,” Joseph said. “But those people (saying it’s easy) may not play in the NBA. Every NBA player can play at any given time, in any given game so if you don’t come ready to play, everybody has seen in the past you can lose games.”
As for the time of the year — post-holiday, pre-all-star-break, Casey said it’s his job to keep the Raptors thinking and on their toes.
“Always this time of year is the toughest time,” Casey said. “You can’t see the all-star break, you can’t see that break coming but it’s down the road, you know it’s there. Your bodies and minds go through a malaise right now and that’s what we’ve got to fight and I thought we fought through it in the second half of the Boston game.”
To combat that malaise Casey keeps practices fresh, trying different things they can work on to keep the players engaged. He did not like the suggestion that gimmicky things in practice might break up the monotony.
“You don’t watch as much film, don’t go as long in practice,” Casey said. “(Thursday) we had a good, brisk practice, didn’t watch any film. You try to change things up, freshen it up, try to add a few new things in, not gimmicks but things you need to add offensively and defensively, whether it’s a zone or traps or whatever it is. All those things you try to keep the mental focus and mental alertness in place. I wouldn’t call it a gimmick because we have too many issues to gimmick up anything but again I want to make sure we stay sharp and ready, mentally fresh and physically fresh.”
Raptors watch their step on easy street | Toronto Star
The Raptors have proved this season that they have the mental resolve to take any opponents lightly. For the most part, they have taken care of business against the bottom-dwellers — and with a cumulative record of 36-76 going into Thursday’s play, that’s an apt description of the Nets, Knicks and Sixers.
Toronto has lost only 13 times this season and six of those have come at the hands of legitimate contenders in Cleveland, Golden State and San Antonio, with another to Houston, another highly-regarded team.
But being in a dogfight as they are — trying to chase down Cleveland for top spot in the East while holding off Boston and the likes of Atlanta, Indiana and Milwaukee — the Raptors have to be more concerned with what they’re doing rather than who they are playing.
“We can’t look at records when you’re in a hunt like we are, in a tight race like we are,” coach Dwane Casey said. “You have to go in and take care of business, play to your personality, stay focused.”
With the exception of modest advantages for Siakam in defensive rating, player efficiency rating, and our proprietary metric, nERD — a player ranking that measures the total contribution of a player throughout the course of a season, based on his efficiency — Patterson gets the nod in most advanced stat categories, albeit by a relative hair.
On an individual statistical basis, these two players are fairly close across the board. What sets them unequivocally apart, however, is the lineup data.
When you look at how the Raptors perform when Patterson is combined with the team’s four entrenched starters (Kyle Lowry, DeMar DeRozan, DeMarre Carroll, and Jonas Valanciunas) as opposed to Siakam, it becomes obvious that this position battle shouldn’t be much of a battle at all:
5-Man LineupMINOff RtgDef RtgNet RtgAST%REB%eFG%
Lowry, DeRozan, Carroll,
Patterson, Valanciunas136129.0102.626.458.7%52.7%57.9%
Lowry, DeRozan, Carroll,
Siakam, Valanciunas321107.7113.6-5.948.0%50.0%52.0%The Raptors are a whopping 32.3 points per 100 possessions better when Patterson plays with the regular starters than with Siakam in his place (per net rating). They also assist on more baskets, grab more available rebounds, and shoot more efficiently when Patterson is part of the unit.
Ujiri: Raptors received tons of trade calls last week – Sportsnet.ca
“We were busy last week,” Ujiri told Bob McCown and Damien Cox. “There were tons of calls because of the Kyle Korver trade and everybody thought there was another domino coming. There are plenty of calls. That’s the way the NBA works and then all of a sudden it goes quiet.”
With Toronto already boasting one of the best records in the league, Ujiri stressed he and his staff would not settle for a bad deal. If the right trade doesn’t present itself, the Raptors will not force anything just for the sake of making a move.
“We find ourselves in a special place, which is second in the East,” Ujiri said. “There is a window with Kyle Lowry, DeMar [DeRozan] and DeMarre [Carroll] with those kind of guys in their prime and we will take advantage. But we’re not making bad deals. It doesn’t help business, it doesn’t help your future. Trust me, if a deal is not made just know there was nothing on the table for us that would really enhance our team.”
Dwane Casey: Patrick Patterson ‘a 6th starter’ for Raptors – Sportsnet.ca
“He is a sixth starter for our team,” said Casey. “He plays starter minutes, he’s a glue guy, he does so many things that the naked eye doesn’t see. He’s out there quarterbacking, telling guys what to do, where to be, talking on defence, communicating and doing the dirty work that the numbers on the charts don’t show.
“Right now, he’s not 100 per cent, his knee is still bothering him a little bit, but he’s playing through it.”
Casey went on to say that once Sullinger is ready, he will be the starting power forward for the Raptors.
Sullinger signed a one-year deal this past summer, but was ruled out indefinitely after he had foot surgery back in October. Casey said there’s still no timetable for a return.
“He’s still doing a lot of movement and a lot of working out,” said Casey. “He hasn’t really gone five-on-five at all yet. Hopefully in the next couple of weeks, we’ll get a better timeline and see where he is and when he is going to come back.”
https://www.instagram.com/p/BPMahfFgqt5/
Raptors DeRozan, Lowry snubbed again in NBA All-Star voting – Sportsnet.ca
DeRozan sits third among Eastern Conference guards, while Lowry is in fifth. The top two vote-getters will be named backcourt starters.
Kyrie Irving and Dwyane Wade continue to hold the top two spots even though DeRozan and Lowry, at least statistically speaking, are both having better seasons than Irving and Wade.
https://www.instagram.com/p/BPLnT-eFkys/
The Transformation Of Lucas Noguiera – Raptors Republic
Bebe has always been an intriguing player on defense. Despite having no positive results over the first few years of his career, and looking lost during his cameos in the playoffs, the Raptors had the urge to not give up on him. It’s hard to find length and wingspan like Bebe has, and sometimes it takes a while for these sorts of players to develop. Hello Hassan Whiteside. The Raptors made the mistake of cutting Hassan Whiteside from their summer league squad in 2014, and perhaps his emergence into a star is what led the Raptors to giving up on Bebe. The results on defense are staggering.
Opposing Field Goal Percentage When Contesting Shot: Out of all the regular rotation players on the Raptors, Bebe holds opponents to the lowest % on shots from within 0-5 feet, 5-9 feet and 10-14 feet. Opponents are shooting 55.8% at the rim when contested by Bebe, which is nearly 7% better than Jonas Valanciunas’ 62%. For reference, Nerlens Noel, Dwight Howard, Kristaps Porzingis and Hassan Whiteside and Joel Embiid all hover around that 55-56% plateau, and it shows the tier of players Bebe is in at protecting the rim.
Looking out towards shots from 5-9 feet, Bebe is holding opponents to an NBA best of regular rotation players to an eye popping 32%. This is 5% better than Karl Anthony Towns and Rudy Gobert.
Bebe is an elite rim protector and the numbers back it up.
https://www.instagram.com/p/BPMJsuGgwht/
Bringing up Bebe Week 12: Lucas Nogueira Had a Cold – Raptors HQ
For Lucas Nogueira was now involved with many things involving many people—his own lineup spot, his defensive numbers, his future contract, his player connections, his real-estate holdings across nations, his personal staff of unknown number—which is only a portion of the power he is and has come to represent. He seemed now to be also the embodiment of the fully emancipated male, perhaps the only one in Canada, the man who can do anything he wants, anything, can do it because he has money, the energy, and no apparent guilt. In an age when the very young seem to be taking over, protesting and picketing and demanding change, Lucas Nogueira survives as a national phenomenon, one of the few post-war products to withstand the test of time. He is the prospect who made the big comeback, the man who had everything on draft night, lost it, then got it back, letting nothing stand in his way, doing what few men can do: he uprooted his life, left his family, broke with everything that was familiar, learning in the process that one way to hold a position is not to hold it. Now he has the affection of Masai and Dwane and Kyle, the fine basketball produce of three generations, and still has the adoration of his teammates, the freedom of a professional athlete, he does not feel old, he makes young men feel old, makes them think that if Lucas Nogueira can do it, it can be done; not that they could do it, but it is still nice for other men to know, at twenty-five, that it can be done.
https://www.instagram.com/p/BPLZzBcBDv3/
Brooklyn Nets at Toronto Raptors: Friday NBA preview | Toronto Star
KEY MATCHUP
Lopez vs. Valanciunas
Lopez is one of the few good things about the Nets this season and has extended his shooting range out to the three-point line, which could be problematic for the Raptors centre, who is more comfortable defending much closer to the basket.
https://www.instagram.com/p/BPLpx4eAIFT/
JV talks ‘Itty Bitty Ballers’, Raptors’ Finals aspirations, Sullinger – Video – TSN
Jonas Valanciunas joins SportsCentre to talk about his ‘Itty Bitty Ballers’ project, how the Raptors can make the NBA Finals, what Jared Sullinger will bring to the team and if Toronto needs to add another piece at the trade deadline.
https://www.instagram.com/p/BPLHApagN_b/
Did I miss something? Send me any Raptors-related article/video/post to rapsfan@raptorsrepublic.com.
