https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CafcUYQ845s
Examining how Nick Nurse utilized Kawhi Leonard in his Raptors debut – The Athletic [subscription]
It was interesting to see Leonard be isolated so much, either facing up or in the post. In general, that’s a bit antithetical to how the Raptors want to attack. They averaged just 6.3 isolation possessions as a team last year and had 17 in the opener, a number that likely contributed to their paltry 46.7-percent assist rate and 12-percent decrease in passes relative to last year (and at a faster pace no less; the pace-adjusted drop is closer to 17 percent).
At the same time, they were clearly willing to let Leonard try to feel his way into the game and continue to shake any rust off, and Leonard’s ability as an improviser — which had improved beyond his raw assist numbers before he went down hurt — can still make those functional team-oriented possessions. The team’s assist rate was a touch higher when Leonard was on the floor, too, as was their assist-to-turnover ratio (the Raptors did well to hold onto the ball all night).
As a team, the Raptors scored 1.19 points per-isolation with a low turnover rate despite getting what they felt was a conservative whistle a lot of the night. Leonard himself ran into pretty stingy officiating, taking just six free-throw attempts despite playing a pretty physical and contact-welcoming game (the Cavs shot 39 free throws to 20 for the Raptors). Leonard took eight of his 22 field-goal attempts at the rim, and while the finishing was just so-so and he didn’t draw many whistles, his ability to get there strong was encouraging.
Leonard still took a lot of midrange shots, which was notable in the preseason as well. An excellent midrange shooter, this kind of midrange usage is extreme even for Leonard, and he clearly preferred his ability to create space to turnaround against Cedi Osman than bullying him down further. It was the short midrange where his touch was off, while his pull-up from the elbows and out was exactly where it needs to be.
SIMMONS: Raptors coach Nick Nurse, prepared, excited and undefeated | Toronto Sun
This summer, on his way to opening night, Nurse stopped in to visit his college coach and his first head coach as a student assistant just outside Traverse City, Mich. Eldon Miller is 79 years old now, a long way removed from Ohio State and Northern Iowa. Nurse flew in to see one of his mentors and was picked up at the airport by the old coach.
Nurse was in the vehicle for about 20 seconds when Miller turned to him and said: “You want to know what it’s all about?” Miller began his short lecture.
Nurse wanted to know.
“Playing to win without fear,” said Miller.
“That was the end of the conversation as we drove in silence,” said Nurse. “Pretty good one,” he said then repeated himself. “Pretty good one.”
Coaching is forever about preparation but nothing quite prepares you for the first game. It is new. It is exciting. It is challenging and loud. lt can be exhilarating. It can be overwhelming. Nurse, from the outside, appears ready. He got a break with the opening night schedule. Cleveland, without LeBron James, was the Raptors opponent. If you’re going to debut as an NBA head coach, you might as well win it. This one was never really in doubt.
The next few weeks, the next few months, we’ll find more about Nurse. What kind of game coach he happens to be. What kind of practice coach he is. How quickly this new Raptors team finds cohesion will certainly be part of the early coaching evaluation.
This isn’t like Nurse’s first head coaching job. He was 23 years old at the time. “I really didn’t know what I was doing,” he said. It was at Grand View University, a rather tiny school in Des Moines, the big city in Iowa. “I remember getting that job and thinking ‘Oh my God, they gave me the job.’ I called Eldon up. I called my high school coach. You think you’re ready but you really aren’t.”
He thinks he’s ready now. He’s passed all the exams to date, put in the years to build his reputation. He’s undefeated, 1-0, as an NBA coach. For one night, this night, you can’t do any better than that.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3aVLu6XewcA
As promised, Lowry came ready to play in Raptors’ opener – TSN.ca
“My best friend, our relationship is bigger than basketball,” he had said prior to the start of training camp last month. “That’s still my boy. At the end of the day, I’m coming here to work. I’ve done that every year since I’ve been here.”
Regardless of what happened over the summer, regardless of his pre-season shooting woes (he hit just 32 per cent of his shots), and regardless of his short fuse in exhibition (he was called for three technical fouls in three games), Lowry continued to insist that he would be ready to go when the lights came on.
A four-time all-star and the catalyst of the most successful run in Raptors franchise history, Lowry has earned the benefit of the doubt. He said he would be ready, and on Wednesday he was.
On a night in which several Raptors stood out – including Leonard, the team’s incoming superstar – Lowry was the best player on the court. He scored a game-high 27 points in 36 minutes, and he needed just 12 shots to do it. He only missed two of his field goal attempts and one of his six threes. He had eight assists, including the one that set Leonard up in transition for his first bucket as a Raptor. He took his first charge of the season, after leading the league in that category last year, and then nearly took another. He was brilliant.
“He’s been really good in his effort and his leadership and his working,” head coach Nick Nurse said after the game. “I just think that a lot of these veterans guys, they can’t quite get their motor going enough to the level it needs to in the pre-season after 10 or 12 years. But he’s worked really hard, he’s practised really well, and he was just waiting for the lights to come on.”
Lowry set the tone with his energy and willingness to make the extra pass, both of which seemed contagious, especially in the second quarter. There were moments in which Toronto’s offence looked like a work in a progress, as you might expect on opening night, but they showed a glimpse of how dynamic they can become on that end in the final minutes of the first half.
Podcast: Locked on Raptors #399 – Raptors/Celtics Locked on Network Crossover – Raptors HQ
In Episode 399 of Locked on Raptors, Sean Woodley chats with John Karalis (Locked on Celtics) ahead of the Raptors’ first meeting with Boston on Friday night. They go beyond the game and lay out some biggest questions facing each team, and assess how the East’ two best teams stack up.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iqHGZqK2_uI
McGrady: ‘Kawhi Leonard is the biggest offseason move’ – Video – TSN
Paul Pierce and Tracy McGrady offer their opinions on the most important offseason move, including LeBron James to the Lakers and Kawhi Leonard to the Raptors.
Raptors have Serge Ibaka finally playing where he belongs – The Athletic [subscription]
“I think he was on the glass,” Raptors coach Nick Nurse said after the game. “He had six fouls and I think five of them were loose-ball fouls. It’s kind of one of the things that have changed for him. He’s been standing around the 3-point line not getting much of a chance to offensive rebound. He got his hands on some, he went for a lot more, he had some really nice moves after getting them that just kind of rolled off so I’m not going to get real caught up with the 2-for-10. I thought he played hard, played unselfishly for the team and did a lot of positive things.”
A day later, after watching the tape, Nurse’s opinion had solidified.
“The guy had three really big time blocks, he had some really nice offensive rebounds, he had some great switches on defence,” Nurse said on Thursday.
Last year, his first full one with the Raptors, Ibaka became known for some dispiriting numbers: $22-million, the average annual value of his new contract, and career lows in blocks (1.7) and offensive rebounds (1.3) per 36 minutes. The Raptors hope the key to unlocking whatever utility Ibaka has left lies in another number: 15.7 percent.
In his stint with the Raptors at the end of the 2016-17 season, Ibaka anchored lineups in which the Raptors used P.J. Tucker as a power forward. Ibaka still often started beside Jonas Valanciunas that year, but he toggled between two spots. Last year, he played without another traditional big man only 15.7 percent of his 2,093 minutes on the floor in the regular season.
At times, it felt like the anchor had become an albatross, although that was almost certainly coloured by his salary. Lost in that was a useful rotation player, although one who could not be as useful as was possible. His best defensive tools were useless as a power forward — the “four,” in NBA jargon. Defensively at least, he was clearly a centre, or a “five.”
“If you put me at five, I’m gonna do the five’s job. If you put me at four, I’m gonna do the four’s job,” Ibaka said on Thursday. “Like I said, the good thing is I can do both. The problem is when I’m at the four, people expect me to do the five’s job. It’s not gonna happen now, especially these days with basketball.
Raptors Woz Blog: New and improved | Toronto Sun
It was also interesting to see Lowry get freed up for a couple of corner three-pointers. He only got off fewer than one corner three a game in 2017-18, but, like a number of Raptors (C.J. Miles, Danny Green, Kawhi Leonard, OG Anunoby, Fred VanVleet) is positively lethal from the corners, having hit 58.3% from the right corner and 42.2% from the left, per nba.com. Of course he nailed both against Cleveland. As a team the Raptors connected on 6-of-8 attempts from the corners.
Raptors 905 acquire Eric Moreland, Kyle Collinsworth in separate deals – Raptors HQ
Moreland, a centre from the Canton Charge, was traded for the returning player rights of Kyle Wiltjer. The big man has played 78 NBA games already, and averaged 4.7 points and 5.3 rebounds in three preseason appearances. He was maybe the most NBA-ready of the guys on the end of the bench this fall, and now the Raptors can take a longer look and have him available if need be.
Collinsworth, a guard slash forward from the Texas Legends, was traded for the returning player rights of CJ Leslie and Kennedy Meeks. You may remember Collinsworth as the guy who started that one game in Utah, as the Provo native got a chance to have his name read loudly in his home state. He played in a couple other games for the Raptors too, totalling three points, four rebounds, and four assists. Collinsworth has played in 32 NBA games with the Dallas Mavericks.
Altogether, a move that solidifies the Raptors’ mood board for the players they want on the periphery in the upcoming season, as a couple guys — Kennedy Meeks most notably — are off for different places in the G League.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Lqjj5kZQGLU
10/18/2018 NBA
Muggsy Bogues believes Vince Carter and the Raptors helped put basketball in Canadians’ DNA
Former Raptor Muggsy Bogues thinks basketball is now in Canadians’ DNA.By Carlan Gay
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The Toronto Raptors embarked on their 24th season on Wednesday with a 116-104 win over the Cleveland Cavaliers.
It was a start to one of the most anticipated seasons in Raptors’ history – one with lofty expectations.
Former Raptor Muggsy Bogues took time to reminisce on opening night about the franchise’s growth and the development of basketball in Canada.
“It was special man,” Bogues told NBA.com. “You know playing with Vince (Carter), T-Mac (Tracy McGrady) as young as they were and the veterans that we had on the team…(Charles) Oakley, myself, Dell (Curry), Antonio Davis and Kevin Willis that was just an honour man – it was special for us to be able to be the first to make the playoffs and bring some excitement to that town.”
Bogues was a part of the Raptors’ first-ever playoff team in 1999-00 – a team that helped kickstart one of the league’s most passionate fanbases.
Report: Clippers “have a better than not chance of getting” Kawhi Leonard next summer
What Wojnarowski is reporting here is along the lines of what a lot of people around the league are talking about. This isn’t out of left field.
I can hear Lakers fans now: He is coming to us. (Knicks fans may be thinking that too, unless they are busy dreaming about Kevin Durant.) But there are a couple of reasons the Clippers make sense over those other markets.
First is the shadow of LeBron James. Not everybody wants to play in it. If Leonard — or, more accurately, the people around Leonard — want to build his brand and have him become the center of a marketing machine, being in that shadow could be seen as stunting his growth.
Them there is just fit with an organization. By his nature, Leonard does not seek out the brightest lights, he is not on social media, he does not dream of being part of the celebrity culture, and Leonard does not like a lot of drama in and around the locker room. All of those things come with signing a Lakers’ contract, and the same thing with the Knicks. While the Clippers are in Los Angeles and players there can seek out all those distractions if they want, the Clipper brand isn’t doesn’t bring the same intensity of spotlight that the Lakers with LeBron would.
All of those reasons — plus one extra guaranteed year at north of $40 million — could keep Leonard in Toronto if the team does well this season. However, if next July he’s looking to move on, the Clippers really could be his new home.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=id_weEcZN7w
Early-season tilt with Celtics will test Raptors’ readiness | Toronto Sun
“They’ve got two new pieces that they’re trying to integrate and we are as well (in Leonard and Danny Green), but we’ve got the coaching change as well,” Nurse said. “We’ve shifted a few more pieces maybe than they have, so they maybe have got a little bit more time together than we do. You always want a little more time. But, I don’t know, maybe it’ll be a good thing and work out the other way.”
Nurse knows his team remains a work in progress. But he’s also aware of the value of setting the tone with a team the Raptors expect to be neck-and-neck with all season long.
“It is a little bit more important than playing a team from the West,” Nurse said of Friday night’s game. “We hope that we’re in this chase.”
In truth, wins and losses this early in the year aren’t the be all and end all. Of course, they want to win every game they play, but getting on the same page, getting the newcomers comfortable in their new environments and basically building team chemistry are at least as vital.
Green is one of the two Raptors trying to establish his role on a new team. Even with nine years of NBA experience, navigating your way through new systems and new teammates without stepping on toes can be a tricky journey.
“That’s probably the biggest challenge, trying to do both of those things,” Green said. “It’s tough to balance but, at the same time, regardless of what you are doing and want to do chemistry-wise, you still have to play your game.
“Sometimes you find yourself playing around others. I think Kawhi is doing a great job of making everyone else play around him and us figuring that out and him figuring it out along the way. It’s something I have to figure out as well and find my spots.
Raptors’ second game is their first big game of the season | The Star [subscription]
Truth be told, both teams are very much works in progress, which actually might add to the early-season intrigue. The Raptors are trying to figure out how to maximize the talents of new starters Kawhi Leonard and Danny Green, the Celtics are playing for the first time with Kyrie Irving and Gordon Hayward in the same lineup.
Still …
“Any part of the season you play against a good team, it’s a big game, but to get them early, fresh start, good teams look at these games as statement games,” said Toronto’s Greg Monroe, who finished last season with the Celtics. “You’re always going to jockey for position, momentum, anything that can motivate you, you want to use it at any point in the season, especially now. You know how this league works. You get a good win, it’ll carry over. So we know there’s a really good team coming in here, healthy, and I know they’re looking forward to this game also.”
The play might be spotty at times — in fact, it’s almost assured that there will be gruesome stretches given the time of year — but there are intriguing matchups all over the floor and any intelligence that can be gathered Friday might come in handy in May.
“They may be further ahead of the curve because they have everybody back and have had the same team for a while,” Green said. “They have some new guys in who were not healthy last year. They have to figure some things out, too. They have so much good talent over there, just like we have.
“I feel like they are a pretty deep team so they have to figure out minutes, rotations, who is going to get the ball when and where, and run certain options for certain people. It’s a good problem to have.”
Nothing will be determined with Friday night’s result, maybe some bragging rights for when the teams meet again Nov. 14 in Boston. Toronto will head off to play in Washington on Saturday, the Celtics will be in New York playing the Knicks at the same time and life will go on.
But this one does capture the imagination.
“I think if I had a choice I’d probably like a couple more weeks here, right?” Nurse said. “We’ve shifted a few more pieces maybe than they have, so they maybe got a little bit more time together than we do. You always want a little more time. But, I don’t know, maybe it’ll be a good thing and work out the other way.”
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