Raptors heading for defensive alterations, if not a complete makeover – The Athletic [subscription]
“The biggest thing we talk about, especially as players, is we see everything that we are capable of,” Miles said. “We see that we can play any type of way, whether it’s small and fast, whether it’s ( with two traditional) bigs, whether we need (to be) long, whether we need Freddie and Kyle on the floor at the same time, whether we need Freddie, Delon and Kyle on the floor at the same time. Whatever it is, we have a lot of tools that can be mixed and matched there.”
As Nurse said earlier in the week, the Raptors will both switch liberally on occasion and try to stay traditional on others. The whole point of versatility is to allow you to adapt to any given situation. In many ways, Nurse plans to lean on the natural length of the roster.
“It depends how far you want to take (being) aggressive — you can push it too far and it (becomes) gambling,” Nurse said. “But we do want to put an emphasis on trying to create more turnovers and that to me is being more active (with) our hands, taking a swipe at it here and there.
“We’re starting to build in our defensive schemes – we haven’t really looked at them in training yet – but a lot of them have to do with knocking away on pocket passes, to go for a few more strips. I think we have a team that creates turnovers, so let’s work on it and build it into the team we are.”
Toronto Raptors training camp: How a revamped roster is learning to loosen up – SBNation.com
“It’s a new approach,” VanVleet says. “You want to have good energy when you’re trying to get this work in. It’s a long grueling season, and there are certain things you can do to keep the mood light.”
The Raptors have a shot at the Finals, even a title, but they have a lot to sort out first. Who starts? Who finishes? Will the bench mob flourish like in the past? Which wings will ride the pine as a result of the trade, and how will they react? It’ll take long hours and an adherence to the process following a post-season flameout that shredded the novelty of regular-season progress.
Dedication is taken for granted in the NBA. But even among the hyper-focused, not every team and every player works as hard as possible every moment of everyday, nor do they enjoy every minute of it.
Monotony invites boredom. Boredom invites apathy. The grind remains the grind. When so much is at stake, it becomes easier when you remember that it’s also a game.
https://www.instagram.com/p/BoQRTyHlAv3/
NBA Finals hopes puts Raptors rookie coach Nurse in rare company – Sportsnet.ca
“For me the biggest thing is, I think, being a head coach in the NBA is a much larger job organizationally, you know? There’s a lot of people in the organization that I’m meeting with continually, so that’s a part of the job I’ve never had to deal with before.”
When Nurse was promoted back in June, he inherited a team that had just posted the best regular season record in the East and with a talented core looking to repeat that success and shake off its recent playoff woes.
The promise of winning basketball was there, but when the Raptors dealt DeMar DeRozan to San Antonio in exchange for a pair of players with championship experience in Leonard, the 2014 Finals MVP, and Danny Green, that pressure for Nurse to excel immediately out of the gates only heightened — even if the coach himself doesn’t see it that way.
“I think [expectations] were already pretty high [before the trade],” says Nurse. “They were high to begin with and they’re still high now. Our expectations are to play for a championship, man. We’ve said it. Masai’s said it. Coach Casey has said it. And that’s honestly where we’re at. So it’s hard to raise it from there.”
Should there be concern about Lowry’s mindset? – Video – TSN
Kyle Lowry declined to speak with the media for a second straight day at training camp. Should there be concern about the mindset he came into camp with? Josh Lewenberg and Jack Armstrong discuss Lowry’s attitude at camp.
Miles on Lowry not speaking to media: ‘That’s Kyle, nothing’s changed’ – Video – TSN
Kyle Lowry declined media requests for the second straight day on Thursday. Raptors teammate C. J. Miles was asked about Lowry not speaking
Raptors’ Ibaka hoping summer changes lead to bounce-back season – Sportsnet.ca
Ibaka is a prodigious worker. He can always be found at the end of practices working on his individual skills, and his fitness regimen is beyond reproach. His meticulousness comes through in other ways beyond his practice and hydration habits. He’s always the last Raptor player to leave the arena after games as he puts himself through a full range of treatments and recovery therapies.
Away from the office his fashion sense is precise. Even in his highly entertaining new YouTube cooking series – “How Hungry Are You?” – where Ibaka prepares Congolese-inspired meals for friends and fellow NBAers, it’s clear he’s a man who leaves little to chance. The kitchen is spotless and he cleans as he cooks so it remains that way. The meals are carefully planned, the tricky-to-find ingredients – in episode four with DeMar DeRozan, Ibaka makes worms for his former teammate; he even caught fellow Congo native Bismack Biyombo off-guard with cow’s tongue in Episode 1 — sourced well in advance.
They aren’t the kind of meals you can pull off spontaneously.
Toronto Raptors Player Preview 2018-19: Where does C.J. Miles fit? – Raptors HQ
Here’s what it breaks down to: Miles may play fewer minutes this season, but those minutes have the potential to be incredibly productive. And when he’s not playing, he can still excel in his role of Bench Dad. I’m glad he’s part of this team, and I bet his teammates are too.
Locked on Raptors #386 – Training Camp Check-in with Seerat Sohi – Raptors HQ
In Episode 386 of Locked on Raptors, Sean Woodley chats with SB Nation’s Seerat Sohi about all the latest happenings at Raptors training camp. They discuss Nick Nurse injecting fun into practice, how Kawhi Leonard seems to be adjusting to life with the Raptors, the 1-on-1 tournament and Kyle Lowry’s continued silence.
Year 2 with the Raptors should be different for CJ Miles | Toronto Sun
Miles arrived in Toronto lean and mean and ready to show his teammates and the city that the player they saw last year is just a shadow of what he can be. Most of all he wanted to hit the ground running at top speed.
“That’s what I was this year, ready to go,” Miles said. “I was fully ready. I came in ready. I did what I was supposed to do. I’m a professional athlete. I went into the summer to fix what I needed to fix and I came back ready. I’m ready.
“I’m in shape, playing great basketball. Camp’s been great. Competing on every possession, both ends of the floor.
“Put myself in position to be able to do that. I take pride in being able to do whatever I’m asked to do as a basketball player. That’s who I’ve been. Last year I didn’t feel I was able to do that.”
There were reasons for some of that, but Miles on Wednesday didn’t sound like a guy wanting to make excuses. He just wanted to make things right.
“That hurt me more than anything,” he said of not living up to his own expectations. “I went into the summer like, ‘I’m not going to be that person again.’ When I came back, two weeks or so before camp started, it was apparent. I wanted to walk in the gym and people would say, ‘is that CJ? And that’s what I did.”
Moreland has little left to prove at the G League level, but it can be helpful to be in an NBA team’s development system and on the immediate radar of NBA teams, something Moreland values more than a potentially higher paycheque overseas.
“I think Toronto’s a great city, I think it’s a good organization, I think they develop their guys,” Moreland said at media day in Toronto. “I’ve seen the young guys get better over the years, so it’s just a good place to come and try to build my career here. I kind of banked on the fact that I’ve seen their young guys get a chance to play. I’ve banked on the fact that it’s a good organization.
“I’ve been doing it, and I kind of expected that coming out of college. Whatever route it takes, I’m not really an overseas type of guy, I’d rather just keep fighting it out. It’s a good chance to get in front of these guys and let them see for themselves.”
Defence has, and likely always will be, Moreland’s calling card. It’s remarkable how strong a consensus there is across advanced metrics as they pertain to Moreland’s impact on the defensive end. Synergy Sports, for example, graded him in the 94th percentile as a defender overall, including an impressive 92nd-percentile grade guarding a pick-and-roll ball-handler. (For a larger sample: He also graded in the 86th and 95th percentile in those two respective areas in the G League in 2016-17.)
2018-19 Toronto Raptors Player Preview: Lorenzo Brown – Raptors HQ
So what can we expect from Brown in 2018-19? It’s a wait and see approach. As it stands, the Raptors have too much talent ahead of him. Even for a bench role, spots are limited and are dependent on injuries. But the one thing to consider about Brown is that he has great upside and his G League MVP title makes him an intriguing case to see what he can do on the big stage. His slick passing and overall ball handling will hold up at NBA level, as we’ve seen in small glimpses. If Brown can unleash his scoring potential, an area of his game he needs to work on, he could potentially crack a bench spot at one of the guard positions for Toronto.
Player FM – Internet Radio Done Right
In Episode 385 of Locked on Raptors, Sean Woodley chats with Roundball Rock co-host and Warriors fan Joey Devine about what it’s like to root for a title contender after years of not being particularly good. They touch on reconciling rooting for a superstar that is maybe not the most fun-oozing dude, how being on national TV a lot changes the fan experience, Kawhi’s laugh, and much more.
Did I miss something? Send me any Raptors-related article/video to rapsfan@raptorsrepublic.com
