Lowry needs more rest (VanVleet also) | Siakam being deified | VanVleet’s daughter is a cutie | HAPPY FRIDAY!
Despite wins, Raptors need to improve bench play to lessen load on Lowry, VanVleet – The Athletic
Because Lowry and VanVleet are both starting and have not been strictly staggered, they’ve been left to play a ton of minutes. That’s not entirely necessary even with a tight rotation — they could start alongside each other for six minutes, each run six-minute transitional units and reconnect for the final six minutes in each half and they would be down to 36. You can stagger two starting point guards such that one is always on the floor and they aren’t taxed too heavily. That Norman Powell and McCaw are in Nurse’s top eight and Davis and Thomas are in his top 11, theoretically, furthers this thinking. Shooting guard might be the team’s deepest position of players Nurse is willing to play. They don’t need to be playing both point guards together this much, even if it’s their best look.
Whatever the solution, the Raptors need to find one internally. The NBA’s trading window doesn’t (unofficially) open until Dec. 15 when players signed this summer can be dealt. (Related: I might owe a mea culpa on the Stanley Johnson signing; I believe in redraft fliers in the position the Raptors were in but the opportunity cost of that salary and roster spot next to a relatively inexpensive third point guard market is hard to ignore as Johnson struggles to find his footing.) Tyler Ennis isn’t making the trip up the Gardiner from Raptors 905 just yet. They valued wing depth in Malcolm Miller, who has been inactive the last two games, over a third point guard thinking they could manage around the depth chart imbalance. They can.
One thing that might help is figuring out the right pairings of starters to help prop up bench units. The bench is weak enough that the idea of full-bench groups is unlikely to be attempted or successful, and so finding ways to lift the play of the bench via starter staggering is important. Nurse has been trying different combinations to see what works. Lowry and VanVleet being staggered is fairly obvious, and Lowry and Siakam being staggered probably makes sense from a shot-creation standpoint. That would mean Lowry-Gasol bench units and VanVleet-Ibaka bench units. None have been particularly effective so far in a minuscule sample.
(I left OG Anunoby out of the control here not because he’s not important but because the primary skills the Raptors need to stagger are play-making and shot-creation. Anunoby has looked much improved in those regards. For now, I don’t think he’s at the level of lifting lesser lineups. That artificially inflates the VanVleet-Siakam numbers here, as 15 successful minutes of the sample included him.)
If the Raptors want to hold the rotation to eight, getting the most of those transitional lineups with two starters is paramount. A Lowry-Gasol pairing makes a lot of sense on paper to inject bench groups with some additional play-making. Gasol’s passing, though, loses some of its value without shooters around him, and the Raptors’ current bench group doesn’t offer a great deal of that. Thomas is a natural Gasol pairing, if the former can find his way to some minutes. The VanVleet-Siakam pairing can be a transition terror with the three primary bench players, even with some of the same spacing concerns. Davis might offer some additional ball-handling in such looks. Miller could help either group, and if Nurse decides he can’t trust Boucher, Rondae Hollis-Jefferson should probably get a crack at some point. There’s going to be a lot of trial-and-error here for a while.
Raptors need to find ways to give Lowry, VanVleet more rest – Sportsnet.ca
In the end, Lowry — a 33-year-old coming off July thumb surgery — logged 37 minutes and 47 seconds Wednesday, a slight improvement from the 38:11 he put in during a game 48 hours prior. It was still the fourth time in five games in nine nights that he’s been up over 37, and no matter what happens between now and Toronto’s next game Saturday in Milwaukee, it’s extremely unlikely anyone in the league will have exceeded his average of 39 per night.
“They’re a little high for me. Yeah, they’re a little high. I’d like to trim them,” Raptors head coach Nick Nurse said of Lowry’s minutes. “I’m excited that I trimmed them from 40 to 37 tonight. I’m working on it. If I can trim a couple more minutes here and there we’ll be in the ballpark.
“He likes to play, right? He likes to play. Sometimes, we’ve got to control that a little bit better from our standpoint for down the road. Certainly he’s got us off to a good start. He’s certainly playing great. But we’ll try to trim a little bit off here as we get a little more comfortable.”
That’s going to be tough considering Nurse’s options. Aside from undrafted two-way rookie Shamorie Ponds — who has yet to dress for a game — Lowry and VanVleet are the only true point guards the Raptors roster. The void left by the departure of Delon Wright in last season’s Marc Gasol deal has never been filled. Jeremy Lin occupied the vacancy for a spell before falling out of favour with the coaching staff, while Jordan Loyd was given only sparse opportunities. This season, they’re both playing overseas.
Kyle Lowry’s load should probably start being managed | The Star
It was another sublime performance for Kyle Lowry, 20 points, eight assists and five rebounds, but you wonder if it’s a bit too much.
In part because Nick Nurse likes what he gets when Lowry’s on the court with Fred VanVleet and in part because there really is no third point guard option at the moment, he played about 38 more minutes last night.
That’s too many, as even Nurse admitted.
“They’re a little high for me, a little high. I’d like to trim them, excited that I trimmed them from 40 to 37 tonight, working on it, if I can trim a couple more minutes here and there, we’ll be in the ballpark.
“He likes to play, which we know. Sometimes we got to control that just a little bit better from our standpoint down the road. Certainly he’s got off to a good start and he’s certainly playing great. So we’ll try to trim a little bit off that as we get a little more comfortable.”
Lowry’s averaging 39 minutes a night – the heaviest load of his career even it’s only five games into the season but that’s simply not sustainable.
Maybe Pat McCaw morphs into that third guard or maybe Nick goes away from so much Lowry-VanVleet but as the games pile up, something’s got to be done ot cut that back to something close to 33 or 34 a night. Even that’s a stretch.
No one plays more than Kyle Lowry, and that could be a problem for the Raptors | The Star
Cutting down on Lowry’s minutes may be easier said than done, and not just because he would rather be on the floor. The Raptors have limited point guard depth. The next man up, Fred VanVleet, has already logged 186 minutes — two spots behind Lowry overall in the NBA, even after resting for the final quarter of the Pistons game. Nurse has shown a penchant for playing them together, which forces him to extend one or the other’s minutes to limit the amount of time the team plays without an obvious ball-handler.
It’s an area, like fleshing out the rotation, that is begging for someone else to step up. Patrick McCaw, a disruptive defender who can guard two or three positions, is an option. He has earned praise from Nurse, who appreciates positional versatility, for his high basketball IQ and played some point in pre-season.
A breather for the pair could come by way of sharing the load with Norman Powell or Pascal Siakam, who had licence to work on carrying it in the pre-season but hasn’t shown off those skills yet this regular season. Further down the chart are rookies Terence Davis, who still needs to earn some trust, and Malcolm Miller, who has played less than five minutes in five games.
Nurse said he may be getting closer to figuring out his rotation, which could help provide some clarity when it comes to more specific roles.
“We’ve seen it before. Even second units take their own shape and that time to learn each other, about what we’re doing,” Nurse said. “We’re getting there … Better spacing, a bit better off ball cutting, all those things … the timing, just half a count or a count late on some of that stuff that throws off the rhythm.”
Until things start to flow a little bit better, a seemingly annual tradition, the Raptors will likely continue to rely on the continuity Lowry and VanVleet bring to the floor. Lowry is happy to be of service where needed — no matter how long or short that may be.
Toronto Raptors’ Pascal Siakam showing his ladder can go all the way to the top – Yahoo!
During Kawhi Leonard’s short-lived, yet thoroughly rewarding Raptors tenure, there was a wow factor whenever he played. Those jaw-dropping superstar plays that constantly left you shaking your head. With Siakam, though, it has been wow and how(?!) all at the same time. How did this kid become this dominant this quickly?
Nick Nurse was asked if he’s ever seen Siakam go off the way he did in the third, and the fact that the Raptors head coach didn’t have to think back too far is indicative of just where Siakam’s game is right now.
“Didn’t he just have one the other night where he banged in about five straight threes to start the game or something?” Nurse said. “He made a variety of shots, a bunch of different defenders … and he’s good, man. Turning into like a prime time scorer, that 3-ball is really going to take him a long way.”
The more you do think back, you realize there was the 26-point night in the Finals-clinching Game 6, the near-perfect 32-point performance in his first Finals game, and then the 44-point career-high he dropped during a captivating duel with Washington’s Bradley Beal. You’re just constantly left wondering how it’s all possible.
“When he started for 38 games [in his rookie season], [he] did a great job of learning, picking up, the last thing I said was gonna come was shooting and it came because the young man worked,” Casey said. “If any young men out there [are] looking to use an example of making yourself a player, you’ve got him as an example. Because he worked on his shooting, worked on his shooting, now he’s one of the top 3-point shooting power forwards or whatever position you want to call it in the league.
“His motor, he had a supreme, elite motor that I knew was special. Guys like Gary Payton comes to mind, guys like that. But that motor, as soon as he walked on the floor, he didn’t have to stretch or anything, he was at a hundred miles an hour, put that with his work ethic and skill-set now and that’s why he’s the player that he is right now.”
What Siakam has done — going from confused rookie, to pivotal bench member, to Most Improved, to what is possibly an MVP candidate — is giving the Raptors an outstanding return that no one could have envisioned for a relatively low risk. Dejounte Murray and Malcolm Brogdon are the only notable contributors to their respective teams from the 2016 draft class that were selected after Siakam. Ivica Zubac is the one who comes closest after that. Four years and $130 million? Think about what the Raptors got for $1.55M last season and are getting for $2.35M this year.
Siakam’s encore might be even more impressive than his Raptors breakout season | Toronto Sun
Has Siakam been perfect, no, the turnovers and fouls need to come down and he’s repeatedly said as much, but five games in, he’s performed like a top 10 player. A bit like the big guy who left town in July. If this continues, the Raptors, still boasting a strong supporting cast that includes OG Anunoby, who is so far emulating Siakam’s 2018-19 breakout, will once again be right near the top of the conference.
“It feels good. Shot’s going in … having fun, enjoying the game,” Siakam said of his 19-point burst in the third quarter against Detroit, though he could have been talking about the season as a whole.
“I think the more I get in those situations, the more comfortable I get,” he said of being the top option with more responsibilities and attention from defenders. “Having coach trust me to have the ball in my hands, and my teammates also, it feels good. The more I do, the more comfortable I’m going to get.” Lowry has always been high on Siakam’s potential and is loving what he has been seeing, especially the confidence and assertiveness Siakam has shown. One play from Wednesday stood out too.
“He wanted the ball every possession, and he was taking the shots he’s just been working on, the threes. The most impressive part about it was that damn tap thing he did and made the layup,” Lowry said of a highlight-reel play.
“That was the most impressive part of it. He tapped the ball and made it, I don’t know, give him an assist and a point. It was pretty cool.
“Every year he’s been here with me and I’ve been watching him grow, just the confidence growing and understanding that he always has a mismatch and he can get anywhere on the floor that he wants. He’s just confident in what he’s doing and what he’s worked on in the summertime,” Lowry said.
When Siakam was a rookie, Dwane Casey threw him into the fire, immediately making him a starter. The results didn’t come, but Siakam said that helped him want to work harder in the G League and in the off-season to get here. Even though Casey had to pull him and bench him back then, he always appreciated how hard Siakam worked.
Pascal Siakam improvs and improves with a game that defies comparisons | The Star
So what is he? He is already not a mini-Giannis, because he is shooting the ball so much better than Antetokounmpo ever did: .369 from three-point range last season, an eye-popping .444 so far this season, on tougher shots. He’s not a new Grant Hill, or Scottie Pippen, two other long athletic wings, both of whom were so much more fully formed as playmakers at this stage.
There’s some early Tracy McGrady in there, maybe. Some people in the league say Antawn Jamison with better defence, but Siakam has a higher offensive ceiling. James Worthy for a new generation? Except Siakam is the focal point, without a Kareem or a Magic.
The trick with Siakam, really, is that he doesn’t really look like anybody.
“He’s a tough guy to comp historically, because he’s a modern power forward, and that role has changed a lot in the last 10 years,” said one front-office executive, not with the Raptors. “Last year he was in an easy role to grow into, and be good. This year, teams will game plan for him, but he’ll also have more freedom, and room to fail.”
And that is the exhilarating part of all this. Siakam is exploding despite clear room for improvement. He’s 25, and is only eight years into playing basketball at all. He can’t always create under extreme duress like Kawhi yet, but what if he learns? Siakam seems to inhale new things and then add them. He’s changing so fast, it’s hard to say what his ceiling is.
We’ll find out, though. By season’s end Siakam will have discovered how durable all this is, how well it stands up to the superstar situations. What can he do when the games are tight? When the defence is geared to him? When the easy baskets vanish? As one league source said, “he can get 20 points in his sleep, but it’s really about how impactful he can be in a game. It’s about choices, and toughness.”
Pascal Siakam rises in updated 2020 NBA MVP odds | NBA.com Canada
You can still buy low on Siakam
When the opening odds were first released in the offseason, Pascal Siakam was among the large group of longshots listed at 100-1. After a head-turning opening week, Siakam is one of the biggest early risers as his odds have shot all the way up to 40-1. There are now only 12 players with better MVP odds than Siakam who at the time of this writing ranks fifth in the NBA at scoring at 28.0 points per game, a significant improvement from last season when he averaged 16.9.
FiveThirtyEight’s projections currently have the Raptors finishing with 48 wins which would rank third in the East based on their projections. If the Raptors can prove a legitimate threat to finishing ahead of the 76ers and/or Bucks, the current odds of 40-1 could be a steal.
End of Bench Chronicles: The Toronto Raptors are summoned by the call of McCaw – Raptors HQ
Eighth Man Title Holder
Patrick McCaw
Trust Meter: 9 out of 10Happenings: After missing two of four Raptors games this past week, we finally got the full McCaw experience. We have to give him the lead spot here because, well, coach Nick Nurse has confirmed this to be the working arrangement going forward (and because Davis’ minutes quickly dropped to an average of 45 seconds per game). Credit to McCaw though, he’s now shot 3-for-5 across two games — including a made 3 — and only leaned into a few self-generated chaos moments. His defensive highlights still seem to come by accident in a right place, right time type of way, but sure, McCaw is carrying his weight. Fine.
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