Yes, the Toronto Raptors next preseason game goes tonight, in Hawaii, against the Los Angeles Clippers. No, it wasn’t actually late last night, as a few asked while searching for it on TV. No, it’s not actually Wednesday, which Raptors.com says because the game technically starts very early Wednesday morning due to the time difference between Toronto and Hawaii. This one goes down late tonight, the end of the Raptors’ stay in Honolulu.
And it should be another fun one. The Raptors really pushed the tempo in the meeting between the two teams on Sunday night, firing up 43 threes as they look to break everyone’s collective reticence with the long ball. They didn’t shoot particularly well, but that’s going to happen both as you shoot a high volume of a high-variance shot and as you iron out some new offensive principles. The ball moved a little more freely, there were more nice passes than we’re accustomed to, and most players showed at least a little something encouraging. And they won! Which is obviously the most important thing in the preseason.
Expect a slightly different looking Raptors team tonight as they try to work everyone in and get a good look at those competing for roster or rotation spots. Look for the positives, and let yourself be excited by them. Note the negatives, but don’t get too bogged down by them for now. The preseason is about optimism. Let’s save the dread for the regular season.
The game tips off at 1 a.m. (Eastern) on TSN.
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To help set the stage for the last game, I reached out to Lucas Hann of Clips Nation. I’m just going to run the Q&A back, because I doubt much has changed in one preseason game and I’m not sure everyone would have caught it on Sunday.
Blake Murphy: Obviously, there’s been a lot of meaningful overhaul in L.A. this summer. Chris Paul and J.J. Redick are out, Danilo Gallinari, Lou Williams, Patrick Beverley, and Milos Teodosic (!) are in, and along with some other tweaks at the margins, this should be a fundamentally different looking Clippers team despite two important holdovers. Now that things have settled some, where is your general confidence level with the Clippers repeating the regular-season success they’ve had during the Paul era in their first year without him?
Lucas Hann: I’m not sure that I’m overly confident that the Clippers can repeat their Chris Paul-era success, but I do think they’ll be relatively successful. Their 51 wins last season was their worst total of the Chris Paul era (56 was closer to the average), and I’d be pretty ecstatic to see a 51-31 record out of the Clippers this season. I think that the low 50s is near the best-case scenario for these Clippers, and there’s very few realities where they break into the 55+ range. I’m expecting 46-48 wins this season, which I think is reasonable because the roster remains incredibly talented and deep, despite obviously downgrading from last season. That’s not quite a continuation of recent success, but it’s a pretty strong campaign nonetheless.
Blake Murphy: A big part of the gameplan would seem to be putting the ball in Griffin’s hands more. One of the most talented frontcourt passers in the NBA, he’s rivaled by only Teodosic for playmaking skill on this roster. Gallinari should really help, too. How significant do you think the team’s stylistic changes will be as a result, and what’s going to be their biggest hurdle on the offensive end?
Lucas Hann: One common misconception about Chris Paul is that he plays up-tempo. This may be a result of his high assist totals, with fans assuming that that means he likes to push the pace. In reality, CP3 is a control freak in the best sense of the word–he doesn’t like up-tempo, transition basketball because it necessitates chaos, and he prefers a half-court style where he can control every detail of the offense. Built around Paul and Griffin, the Clippers frequently employed lineups where only those two were comfortable with the ball in their hands–Redick and Jordan simply finished plays with jumpshots and dunks, and Mbah a Moute hid from the ball whenever possible. The Clippers’ new lineups will feature offensive threats at almost every position, and they’re going to push the ball way more. This means there will be more mistakes, but a lot more ball movement and a higher tempo as well.
Blake Murphy: For the last few years, the Raptors and Clippers have had a kind of spiritual kinship, both firmly guarding the second tier in their respective conference with the specter of an elite team blocking their path to the finals. The Raptors are still mostly in that position, retaining Kyle Lowry where the Clippers saw Paul depart. Are our fanbses still united in this sense, or has the lens for Clippers fans shifted for the more or less optimistic? (A clunky way of asking: Are we still doomed together but ready to enjoy it for what it’s worth?)
Lucas Hann: First of all, love you guys (hey Sean!). It really is true to say that in recent years we’ve been Clippers East and Raptors West, respectively. I think in a way, both teams’ situations have gotten worse in the last few months. The Clippers, despite their solid off-season considering the circumstances, got worse this summer. The Raptors, who were already notably short of competing with the Cavaliers, saw a strong summer from the Celtics knock them squarely back in the hierarchy. We’re absolutely doomed in the short term, but I’m going to enjoy both teams this season regardless. Going forward (in the next 3 years or so), both teams are pretty close to breaking through but will need a little bit of luck. In this respect, Lowry’s age is probably a significant negative for Toronto’s hopes.
Blake Murphy: Why didn’t the new CBA contain a clause that requires teams to fly bloggers to any exhibition games taking place in Hawaii?
Lucas Hann: Speak for yourself. The reason I needed three days to respond to this e-mail is because I’ve been on a Honolulu beach under an umbrella for 72 hours straight.
Blake Murphy: I hate you.
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Raptors updates
The preseason opener may have tipped head coach Dwane Casey’s hand about plans for the coming season, or at least how he figures to try to line things up initially. If you’re counting at home, that means C.J. Miles starting while Norman Powell plays the Sixth Man role as an important offensive focal point, it means Delon Wright over Fred VanVleet at point guard, it means Bruno Caboclo and Pascal Siakam manning the backup forward spots, and it means Lucas Nogueira ahead of Jakob Poeltl at the backup center spot. Of those notes, Nogueira over Poeltl is perhaps the most surprising given the power of inertia, and while Caboclo in the 10th-man role is something that would take some getting used to (and on-the-job growth), the Raptors probably don’t figure to employ full hockey-style line changes with their two units once the season starts.
Of course, it’s also a preseason game, and there’s a strong argument to be made for getting a few long looks at guys rather than more short looks. Or rather, Nogueira playing 21 minutes on Sunday and Poeltl playing 21 minutes tonight is probably a better evaluation tool than them both playing 10 minutes in each game. Casey could come out tonight starting Powell, playing VanVleet as the second point guard, giving Alfonzo McKinnie and K.J. McDaniels (or whomever) run at the forward spots, and playing Poeltl over Nogueira.
They have four more games to experiment and tweak. There’s probably a sense of urgency for some of the fringe players, though. The Raptors play again Thursday, then return home (finally) for three days of practice before their next preseason game. It would stand to reason that Casey would probably like to have some idea of his in-season plans so the mini-camp can operate accordingly.
In any case, here’s how the rotation looked Sunday:
G: Kyle Lowry, Delon Wright, Fred VanVleet, Lorenzo Brown
SG: DeMar DeRozan, Norman Powell, K.J. McDaniels, Andy Rautins
SF: C.J. Miles, Bruno Caboclo, Alfonzo McKinnie, (OG Anunoby)
PF: Serge Ibaka, Pascal Siakam, Kyle Wiltjer
C: Jonas Valanciunas, Lucas Nogueira, Jakob Poeltl, Kennedy Meeks
TBD: OG Anunoby
INJ: Malcolm Miller
Check back in the pre-game news and notes for firm updates on the starting small forward and the status of Anunoby.
As usual, we’ll track the minutes and battles in this space, noting how the playing time is breaking down over the five games. It doesn’t necessarily mean someone is ahead because they’ve played more, it’s simply meant as a refresher.
Known commodities: Lowry 20ish, DeRozan 20ish, Ibaka 19, Valanciunas 20
Competition 1: Miles 18, Powell 20ish
Competition 2: Nogueira 21, Poeltl 7
Competition 3 (maybe?): Wright 22ish, VanVleet 12
Competition 4: McKinnie 7, Rautins 5, Wiltjer 4, McDaniels 0, Meeks 0
The LeBron Stoppers: Siakam 24, Caboclo 20, Anunoby 0
Two-Ways: Brown 0, Miller 0
Note: There was a box score error in the opener that has exact minutes for Lowry/DeRozan/Powell/Wright a little off.
Clippers updates
The Clippers have a lot of similar questions to the Raptors, and they may have found answers pretty quickly. Patrick Beverley starting over Milos Teodosic makes sense to balance playmaking across units, Lou Williams coming off the bench behind Austin Rivers lets Lou Williams be Lou Williams, and their remaining questions are probably going to be fluid battles (mostly at the forward positions) when things get going. The Clippers may also eschew sitting some of their key players out as they work to install some new offensive principles, even if Blake Griffin quite clearly doesn’t need any more tuning up to be regular season ready.
Miles Teodosic created 17 points on 10 passes out of the pick & roll without a turnover in 20 minutes during his @LAClippers preseason debut
— Synergy Basketball (@SynergySST) October 2, 2017
Here’s roughly how things looked on Sunday:
PG: Patrick Beverley, Milos Teodosic, Jawun Evans, Tyrone Wallace
SG:Austin Rivers, Lou Williams, Sindarius Thornwell, C.J. Williams
SF: Danilo Gallinari, Wesley Johnson, Jamil Wilson, Sam Dekker, LaDontae Henton
PF: Blake Griffin, Montrezl Harrell, Brice Johnson
C: DeAndre Jordan, Willie Reed, Marshall Plumlee
The line
The preseason lines remain off the board.
