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Lowry a workhorse and hall of famer | Hollis looking like a great pickup | Happy New Year, folks!

Lowry a workhorse and hall of famer | Hollis looking like a great pickup | Happy New Year, folks!

What Nick Nurse’s heavy reliance on Kyle Lowry says about the nature of this Raptors season – The Athletic

In fact, there is a worry that the Raptors now need Lowry too much. He will turn 34 in March. Here are his minutes’ totals, rounded to the closest minute, in the nine games since Siakam, Powell and Marc Gasol got hurt on Dec. 18 in Detroit: 41, 42, 44 (in overtime), 37, 39, 39, 36, 40, 43. Put another way, he has played at least 40 minutes in five of his past nine games, after doing so just 11 times in his 158 previous regular-season games.

Believe it or not, that represents only a three-plus-minute jump in his minutes average before the injuries compared to after them this season. However, his usage percentage has also increased from 21.2 percent before the injuries to 24.4 after them, a number he hasn’t touched for a full season since his 30-year-old year in 2016-17.

During the approximately 47 seconds that the Raptors were more or less healthy — between Lowry’s return from a fractured bone in his thumb on Dec. 3 and the start of VanVleet’s absence because of a knee injury on Dec. 9, Nick Nurse said he wanted to get Lowry’s average down to the low-to-mid 30s, as he has come to believe that is the best way to keep Lowry healthy and effective over the long term. (For what it’s worth, Lowry played a little more than 32 minutes a game in the 2017-18 season, his lowest average since he came to Toronto, and he wound up playing 78 games, the most in any of his previous six seasons, and shooting nearly 40 percent from 3-point range.) Since Nurse said that, circumstances have changed to the point where the coach has experimented with using Stanley Johnson. That is to say, the coach is trying everything without his injured players, and he deems his use of Lowry, his best, most reliable player, non-negotiable.

“I don’t think we have much choice,” Nurse said before the Raptors’ win over the Nets. “You would love, in a perfect world, to manage things as perfectly as you could and get (Lowry and VanVleet’s minutes) down, but we don’t have any choice at this particular time. Maybe when Norm and Matt (Thomas) come back we will. I think once we get … ticking past into the second half of the season, if we are relatively healthy, which I’m sure we will be, we will try to get those numbers back where we like them around 32.”

Thomas, the deadly accurate shooting guard, suffered an injury very similar to Lowry, and could return to action as soon as Tuesday against Portland. He has been participating in drills for weeks, and just needs to be cleared for contact by doctors, which might happen on Monday. In a surprise, Powell is in line to return next among the remaining injured players. Powell suffered a partial dislocation of his shoulder, his second in as many seasons, but Nurse thinks he is not too far away from a return. (For what it’s worth, the Raptors said the same thing about Powell last season after three weeks or so, and he ended up missing more than six weeks in total. Make sure you see those eggs hatch, is all.) Realistically, Powell’s return could lessen the load on Lowry and VanVleet, while Thomas’ return should not have much effect in that regard.

Nurse, though, isn’t being totally forthright when he says there isn’t “much choice” but to ride Lowry and, to a lesser extent, VanVleet, this hard. There is always a choice. In a different season, the Raptors might even opt for the alternative. He could keep his starting guards’ playing time down and hand more minutes to Terence Davis, utilizing funkier lineups more often. In a season that was going to be defined by playoff success, that might seem like the right decision.

NBA: Is Kyle Lowry a Hall of Famer? – Yahoo!

Lowry’s No. 1 goal, however, remains the same. In the biggest game of his life, he had one of the best games of his career, scoring 26 points and dishing out 10 assists as the Raptors beat the Warriors in Game 6 of the 2019 NBA Finals, giving the 14-year veteran his first title. Yet he’s far from satisfied with just that.

“They can never take that away from me,” Lowry said. “I got a ring to show for it. But my goal is not to just be happy with one. I want more. I want to win a championship every year I play basketball. That’s the only thing that matters to me.”

One example of that: Lowry currently leads the league in minutes per game at 38.1.

“I don’t think we have much choice,” Nurse said.

“I don’t know about all that,” Lowry jokingly responded when asked about his minutes. “But I gotta find a way to do whatever it takes to help my team win. And once everyone comes back [from injury], I think things will change a lot.”

On Dec. 22, he scored 20 points in the fourth quarter to help the Raptors complete a remarkable comeback after they trailed by as many as 30 to Dallas. “It ended up being one of the funnest and craziest games I’ve been apart of,” Lowry said. “Top-five quarter for me in my life right there.”

Lowry doesn’t know how many more years he’d like to play even though he has pondered a possible future that includes being part of an ownership group some day.

It has been quite a decade for No. 7.

It started with his basketball career at a crossroads in Houston before a trade to Toronto changed everything.

And now, Kyle Lowry has a shot at the Hall of Fame.

Raps high level, ever-changing defence has been a blessing | Toronto Sun

It’s this high-level defence that has helped the Raptors stay in games and bought them time to figure things out on the other end. It’s what has helped them stay in contention in a season in which the injury bug has been particularly bothersome.

Nets head coach Kenny Atkinson points out the Raptors aren’t the only team employing the demanding ever-changing defensive tactics.

“It’s great and a lot more teams are doing it,” Atkinson said before taking on the Raptors Saturday night. “The NBA changes and it changes quickly. I think (Toronto) faced what? 40 minutes of zone against Miami the other night? That used to never happen. “

Atkinson though concedes not every team is comfortable playing this advanced defence but he sees it as the direction the league is headed.

“I think there are certain teams in the league that are willing to do that,” he said. “I think there are other teams that are kind of staying with their base defence. It really depends on your philosophy. Every coach is different in the league. Some guys don’t like to do that. Some guys have no problems switching up defences. To my personal opinion is it makes it more interesting for the fans, for the media, even for the players. And (you see) the success people are having with the changing defences. There’s a lot of cases now where teams change defences and it helps them win games so I think you’ll continue to see more of it.”

In the meantime it’s been a huge advantage for the Raptors and a blessing in this injury-riddled season.

Toronto Raptors are biggest wild card during NBA trade season – Sports Illustrated

There is an opening, even if it is ever so small, for the Raptors to make a run. Toronto has one of the best player development programs in the league. It produced Siakam and Fred VanVleet, unheralded players who have developed into stars. It is producing OG Anunoby, Chris Boucher and Oshae Brissett. Brissett, a rookie, stepped into the Raptors injury ravaged lineup in Boston and chipped in four points and six rebounds.

Believing in the Raptors means believing Siakam, at 25, is ready to carry a playoff team. It means buying that Lowry, who will be 34 in March, is able to handle a bigger role in the playoffs. It means that veterans Marc Gasol and Serge Ibaka will be healthy and performing while the collection of young players Nick Nurse and his staff are developing can give good minutes in pressure situations.

This is where Ujiri comes in. For months, it has been assumed that the Raptors at some point would hold a fire sale. They have big, fat expiring contracts in Gasol ($25.6 million) and Ibaka ($23.3). Ujiri handed Lowry another year (and $30 million) to his deal, in part to make Lowry more tradeable. Across the league Lowry and Jrue Holiday’s names make any list of impact players who could be available before the deadline.

But what if he’s not? What if instead of being sellers at the deadline, Toronto emerges as buyers?

The Raptors could be active everywhere. They have the expiring contracts. They have the intriguing young players. They have the future draft picks. They could probably pluck Toronto native Tristan Thompson out of Cleveland anytime they wanted. If they got aggressive, they might be able to quickly cut a deal for Kevin Love, too. Versatile wings like Holiday and Robert Covington could be in play.

The question is—how aggressive do the Raptors want to get? How strongly does Ujiri believe an upgrade would catapult this team past Milwaukee, Philadelphia and Boston in the East? How realistic is it that the Raptors can knock off either LA team in the West?

Raptors’ Hollis-Jefferson continues to progress despite erratic role – Sportsnet.ca

It’s not like Hollis-Jefferson is taking over from Gasol as the pass-happy fulcrum of a read-and-react offence or from Siakam as a high-octane point forward. It’s just that someone needs to be able to make a play other than the Raptors point guards and Hollis-Jefferson is likely the next best candidate. He’s had games with four and six assists since the Raptors injured three went out.

His usage rate has crept up incrementally as the season has gone along. Of the nine games Hollis-Jefferson has had a usage rate above 20 per cent this season, (in games in which he’s played at least 10 minutes) four of them have come in the Raptors last 10 games. That’s a fair number of touches for a player whose initial role called for him to defend whoever he was matched up with and storm the glass on offence.

And there is some evidence that he’s not just playing hot potato with the ball either. His most common passing targets are – not surprisingly – the Raptors trio of ball-handling guards in VanVleet, Lowry and rookie Terrence Davis.

Davis is shooting 64.3 per cent from three on passes from Hollis-Jefferson; VanVleet 57.1. The exception is Lowry, who is converting just 28.6 per cent from three on kickouts from Hollis-Jefferson, but that number is probably weighed down by Lowy not making a three with Hollis-Jefferson on the floor against the Heat.

“It’s big,” said VanVleet of the additional playmaking punch Hollis-Jefferson has provided in spurts. “We know how much Pascal brings it for us with his playmaking, bringing the ball up, changing the dynamic of our offence as a point forward or whatever you guys like to call it.

“Rondae has a little bit of that skill as well. Coach is getting a little bit more comfortable with him. He has the freedom [and] he’s a good passer and he makes good reads. That can add another dynamic to our offence which can struggle at times, as you saw [against Miami].”

Three 10-day contract candidates the Raptors should consider – Sportsnet.ca

Jamal Crawford, guard

Is this actually a realistic scenario, you ask? Probably not, but for argument’s sake, let’s just call this wishful thinking – on two counts.

Firstly, it would be great to see Crawford back in the NBA in some form or another, even if that means him just returning on a 10-day contract. He’s turning 40 in March, but in a recent story from The Seattle Times’ Percy Allen, Crawford said he is not retired and would like to return to the NBA.

Secondly, he’s a guy who just last April went off for 51 points in a game at the age of 39, meaning there’s still a lot of basketball left in him if he makes a comeback. He’s definitely someone who can still help any of the 30 NBA teams, so why not the Raptors?

The biggest blow Toronto sustained via their rash of injuries was to their scoring potential. Kyle Lowry has obviously stepped up and taken on a greater scoring burden, but that’s not necessarily what he does best. Crawford, on the other hand, is a bona fide bucket-getter and could provide a real spark off the bench when Lowry is forced to sit and the Raptors’ offence starts to dry up.

A member of the Phoenix Suns last season and the Minnesota Timberwolves the season before that, it’s been a little while since Crawford’s played for a decent club. If he were to join Toronto he’d be joining a good one that could use a player of his particular talents.

Two-way Oshae builds a case for one-way ticket with Raptors — someday | The Star

Brissett and Chris Boucher helped turn around Saturday’s game in the second half, and they have been instrumental in helping the Raptors get through the injuries.

“Chris made a bunch of mistakes in the first half, but he was much, much better in the second,” Nurse told reporters in Brooklyn. “I thought he was rim protecting and rebounding and jarring the ball loose, and I thought Oshae did a great job as well. He was moving his feet. I mean, he ended up (plus-8) … he gets six points in (nine) minutes. It was a solid segment of the game.”

And given the similar backgrounds of the two Canadians — Brissett from Toronto and the Montreal-raised Boucher — it’s no surprise that they can be each other’s support system.

“He’s just staying ready all the time,” Boucher said last week of his teammate. “(I’ve) seen Oshae with the 905 and I told him, your time will come … and when your time comes you’ve got to be ready … So, I’m just happy for him. He’s a talented kid.”

What becomes of Brissett when the injured Raptors return — Nurse said this past week that Siakam (groin) and Gasol (hamstring) are “a ways away” — remains to be seen. Boucher will be behind Gasol, Siakam and Serge Ibaka in the frontcourt rotation, while Brissett will likely go back to being a consistent spectator. He has proven, however, that if he’s called on in emergencies he can contribute.

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