The Toronto Raptors are playing so well this year that the Washington Wizards have finally conceded that the Washington Wizards are not the best team in the Eastern Conference. It’s taken some time, and this might just be a roundabout way of throwing shade at the Cleveland Cavaliers and Boston Celtics, but it appears the Raptors have the respect of the Wizards.
Bradley Beal said he thinks the Toronto Raptors are the best team in the East right now.
— Chase Hughes (@ChaseHughesNBCS) February 1, 2018
Or maybe Bradley Beal is talking them up so that the Wizards will build some momentum with a victory. Even down John Wall, the Wizards split a pair of games at the Air Canada Centre. The Raptors can’t take them lightly, even if the talk at shootaround centered on whether or not this is the low-energy “dog days” portion of the schedule. If the Raptors have eyes on the top of the East and making Beal look correct, they’ll make sure there’s no Ewing Theory potential for the Wizards in the immediate post-Wall world.
The game tips off at 7 on Sportsnet One and TSN 1050. You can check out the full game preview here.
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To help set the stage, we reached out (late, my bad) to Kyle Weidie of Truth About It, and he was kind enough to help us out.
Blake Murphy: Man, I’m so sorry about John Wall. I think it’s a good call to sit him down and get him right given the long-term commitment, but it doesn’t make me feel any less bad for Wizards fan, or for Wall. Prior to this, Wall was putting up solid numbers but didn’t look quite himself this year. Was the knee injury hurting his play?
Kyle Weidie: The injury was definitely affecting John Wall, especially in his ability to consistently stay in front of his man on defense. Sometimes it would look like he was really trying, but more often not so much. What was really disturbing about Wall’s play before the surgery announcement was his poor shot selection and bad body language. Wall would either take turns with Bradley Beal settling for bricked jumpers in late-game situations, or he would be clearly frustrated and slow getting back on defense if a teammate didn’t catch his pass. It just wasn’t good, injury or not.
What that signals to me is that, a) Wall needs to understand and respect his body more — it’s admirable that he often is willing to play hurt, but he needs to know when that will be detrimental to the team, and b) he still has a lot to learn about leadership, how he should carry himself, and how teammates will often better respond to more positive encouragement.
Blake Murphy: What’s the move for the Wizards from here? Do they hit the trade market for some point guard help? Do they maybe even sell a piece with an eye toward maximizing 2018-19?
Kyle Weidie: Your guess is as good as mine. I think the Wizards are fine having Tomas Satoransky and Tim Frazier running the show. A big concern is how many minutes they are having to play Beal — someone who has an injury history. Although it’s bound to happen, the Wizards want to avoid putting the ball in Beal’s hands too much to be a playmaker. And this is compounded by the fact that Jodie Meeks would have trouble dropping a ping-pong ball in a lake this season, and there is no other suitable two-guard back up on the team (Sheldon Mac ruptured his Achilles early on and is out for the season). The bigger issue is how much money the Wizards have invested in Marcin Gortat, Ian Mahinmi, and Jason Smith. Gortat and Smith are subpar defenders while Mahinmi is better, yet he’s also foul prone, can’t shoot free throws, is a negative on offense, and just simply looks uncomfortable and uncoordinated 90 percent of the time.
At least, by indications so far, the Wizards won’t be trading their first round pick again. But otherwise, the team is pretty limited in what they can do. Fans would honestly be happiest if Washington just finally fired Ernie Grunfeld, even if it meant not making the playoffs.
Blake Murphy: What do the other Wizards have against Otto Porter? He’s been good! Given the realities of his new contract and how the Wizards are constructed, is he a potential offseason trade chip? What would the Wizards be trying to get back in that scenario?
Kyle Weidie: I think sometimes they forget about Otto and sometimes the way Otto plays, he makes himself forgettable. The coaching staff and teammates want him to be more aggressive on offense. And I can see where Porter is trying, but for someone not inclined to be aggressive in the first place, him changing is going to take quite some time. I don’t see the Wizards ‘wanting’ to trade Otto — he went to Georgetown in D.C. and he has a style that meshes well with Wall and Beal. However, because of the cap, they may have to entertain trading Otto out of necessity, particularly if they want to pay Kelly Oubre one day.
Blake Murphy: Jonas Valanciunas has been playing the best two-way basketball of his career for the last six weeks or so. Is this the game he finally outplays Marcin Gortat?
Kyle Weidie: I’m always intrigued and entertained by the Jonas-Marcin matchups, particularly when they awkwardly jostle with each other for rebounding positioning. I don’t see Jonas turning the matchup in his favor tonight. Gortat has come under a lot of criticism this season for various reasons — from often failing to secure good positioning for defensive rebounds, to bitching and moaning because he doesn’t feel he’s getting enough attention on offense. Probably second to Markieff Morris, Gortat especially needs to step up with Wall out. I also think his buddy Tomas Satoransky will keep him more involved on offense and his head in the game. Also think Gortat loves playing against fellow Euros like Valanciunas.
Blake Murphy: Name one person in history wavier than Kelly Oubre.
Kyle Weidie: Walt “Clyde” Frazier … although Oubre is trying really, really hard to max his waviness. There’s really no topping this classic game day entrance, even by Russell Westbrook standards.
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Raptors updates
Contrary to what we thought this morning, the Raptors won’t be rolling with something close to a full-squad here. New father Fred VanVleet stayed behind with his family instead of heading out on the one-game trip, which makes complete sense. That helps explain why Lorenzo Brown made the trip with the team, as he’ll slot in as the third point guard and maybe even the 10th man in the rotation.
I say that because C.J. Miles remains questionable. Per Doug Smith of The Star, Miles didn’t participate in shootaround this morning, which is usually an indicator of a player sitting that night. Miles hasn’t been ruled out, though. Check back before tip-off for an update on his status. Whatever the case, this figures to be another opportunity for Norman Powell, who turned in his best game in some time on Tuesday. Stringing together a couple of solid performances could be huge for his confidence, even if it means maybe expanding the rotation once everyone is back in the fold.
Minor update: Sounds pretty doubtful on Miles.
Van Vleet is back in Toronto with his newborn daughter and it sounds like Miles won't go
— Eric Smith (@Eric__Smith) February 1, 2018
UPDATE: Miles is out.
PG: Kyle Lowry, Delon Wright, Lorenzo Brown
SG: DeMar DeRozan, Norman Powell
SF: OG Anunoby, Alfonzo McKinnie
PF: Serge Ibaka, Pascal Siakam
C: Jonas Valanciunas, Jakob Poeltl, Lucas Nogueira
OUT: Fred VanVleet, C.J. Miles
TBD: None
905: Malcolm Miller, Bruno Caboclo
Wizards updates
There was no news on the Washington front earlier today, with John Wall ruled out for weeks and Sheldon Mac the only player joining him on the shelf. As discussed in the pre-game, Bradley Beal figures to be a huge part of the game plan, and he’s done well against the Raptors in the two previous sans-Wall meetings this year. Maybe Powell helps factor in there, given that Beal is the type of offensive player Powell does well with. The Raptors sound like they’re preparing for at least one Gerald Henderson Award nominee to step up alongside Beal, too.
“It definitely gives you more Beal but their shooters are shooting the ball really well around him,” Casey said. “They’re 7-6 without Wall, their only issue is they’ve lost against bad teams. They play good teams well. My experience is any time a team doesn’t have their star player, somebody steps up. That’s the nature of the league and I expect that tonight.”
PG: Tomas Satoransky, Tim Frazier
SG: Bradley Beal, Jodie Meeks
SF: Otto Porter, Kelly Oubre
PF: Markieff Morris, Mike Scott, Chris McCullough
C: Marcin Gortat, Ian Mahinmi, Jason Smith
OUT: Sheldon Mac, John Wall
TBD: None
G-League (no affiliate): Devin Robinson
Assorted
- Read James Herbert on DeMar DeRozan, or else.
- The Last Two Minute Report from Raptors-Wolves shows the following:
- Jimmy Butler should have been called for a foul on Jonas Valanciunas at 1:55.
- Missed traveling call on Taj Gibson at 1:42.
- Missed travelling call on DeMar DeRozan at 1:26.
- Missed travelling call on Karl-Anthony Towns at 0:36.
- Missed Defensive 3 Seconds call on Valanciunas at 0:26.
The line
The Raptors are 3.5-point favorites, up a bit from Raptors -3 earlier. The over-under is at 214.5.
