Note: Apologies for the weak post, but Google was down this morning for many of us, and it completely bodied my Morning Coffee workflow.
2021 Raptors preview: Lineup, predictions and the endgame – The Athletic
Toronto will be good again; a starting quartet of Lowry-VanVleet-Anunoby-Siakam virtually assures a playoff appearance, and Powell is one of the league’s better bench players. The Raptors’ player development system is sure to churn up another Terence Davis or VanVleet, and Nurse will maximize the weapons he has at his disposal.
Beyond that? Meh. The Raptors set themselves up to be all-in on 2021-22, and unfortunately, my calendar says it’s still 2020. They are unquestionably worse at the center position and might be at the guard spot as well, where Lowry is 34 and unlikely to replicate his 36.2 minutes per game (fourth in the league!) in a compressed schedule on a short turnaround.
Giannis hangs over everything, but another free agent also looms: team president Masai Ujiri, whose contract expires at the end of the season. The fact he hasn’t been in a rush to sign an extension has the league wondering what his next move might be, if indeed there is one beyond The North.
On the court, I don’t have this factored into the prediction, but the Raptors’ forced exile to Florida — excuse me, to Tampa, eh? — is unlikely to help. The one thing that would shift their prospectus is an in-season blockbuster trade, and as noted above, it can’t be ruled out. Otherwise, however, this looks like a good, solid team, but one whose halfcourt offense will again be its downfall in the playoffs.
“More than a shooter”: Matt Thomas could crack Toronto Raptors rotation – TSN.ca
For most of last season and throughout the playoffs, Nurse kept the backend of his rotation fluid. Thomas was among the players that would see occasional, yet inconsistent, usage off the bench. This year, Nurse has said he’d like to solidify a regular eighth man coming out of camp and thinks that Thomas is one of the guys that would benefit from having a more defined role.
“I keep mentioning Matt as a guy that I kind of had in and out, not play for a few games then he’d play,” Nurse said on Sunday. “Maybe someone like Matt, for instance, just becomes part of that group for sure every night. [That] gives him the best chance to improve, learn to play against different people, different schemes, etc. I just think he’s improved a lot and he’ll be able to improve more if I’m able to lock him in there.”
However, Nurse has also indicated that the player who wins the eighth man gig – and maybe even the ninth spot in the rotation – in camp will be somebody that shows them something on both ends of the floor. That doesn’t necessarily mean those roles will go to the best two-way players. The implication is that he’s looking for guys that are going to play hard and a find a way to make an impact on offence and on defence.
At his size (six-foot-four) and with some of his physical and athletic limitations, compared to other players at his position, nobody is expecting Thomas to morph into a lockdown defender, but that’s also not a prerequisite. What they’re asking him to do is to continue getting comfortable as system defender – to know the scouting report and the game plan, to make the right reads and be in the right spots, to communicate and to bring effort and energy. He’s already shown that he’s capable of those things.
“For me, last year, coming in, it takes some time to adjust to the speed, size, athleticism of the NBA game [while] also learning our schemes and our defensive concepts and principles to the point where they’re second nature,” Thomas said. “Kind of going back to what I was saying, too, my role last year was so up and down, it was hard to get consistent minutes. That’s hard too because the best way to learn is [through] experience. But defensively, that’s definitely an area of focus for me. Teams are going to target me and they’re gonna go at me, so I need to hold myself accountable, have pride in myself to go out there and get stops, stay in front of guys, and that’s something I worked on all off-season.”
“I think Matt is a good defender,” said Nurse. “The only thing that happens sometimes is he gets a size issue or an over-powered issue. You end up switching onto a six-foot-eight guy or something and he’s got to fight like heck just because of his size. He does fight hard and he’s tougher than maybe he appears to be. He is certainly tough. He does all the team stuff. He does everything right. He is working hard and, again, if I can get him out there a little more consistently he’ll learn how to adjust, and we’ll also be able to run some schemes to keep him away from some of that stuff if we can too.”
With four returning starters – Lowry, Fred VanVleet, Anunoby and Pascal Siakam – and Baynes completing the first unit, as well as Powell reprising his role as the first player off the bench, Nurse’s top-six appear to be set. There are minutes up for grabs after that, though.
The Raptors could take role-playing to the extreme with an interchangeable five | The Star
If there are two groups of two who are more interchangeable than any Raptors, it’s Anunoby and Siakam, and Lowry and VanVleet.
Anunoby and Siakam, the two once-upon-a-time forwards, defy traditional positions because they are comfortable anywhere on the floor. They are not “centre” and “power forward” because each can be both. And each can be more.
“Me and Pascal, I think we’re both interchangeable,” Anunoby said. “We both play all over the floor.
“Whoever’s in, just doing whatever the coach needs, play the five, four, three, two, one, just doing whatever the coach needs.”
Anunoby is the key because of his versatility, especially defensively. He can move between three or four different positions and, as he evolves, Nurse can envision him as the lone starter on the court with four backups.
“I certainly could see that because there may be a hole there a little bit at the backup four and that would land OG from moving from three to four,” the coach said. “And … as you saw last year in the playoffs, with OG, and even (Saturday) night a little bit, he’ll play some five because, again, if we end up playing a second unit that’s really small and we want to be able to guard and switch — all the things like that — then OG could end up playing some second-unit five, too.”
The other interchangeable duo is Lowry and VanVleet, who are both capable of running the offence or playing off the ball. Lowry won’t play at least until the final pre-season game Friday in Tampa against the Miami Heat but Nurse knows just how comfortable he is having the two smallish veterans on the court at the same time.
“The thing about it is we don’t ever feel that small with Kyle and Fred because of their toughness,” Nurse said. “They play a lot bigger than their size on the post defence, on the rebounding, on all that kind of stuff. So usually we don’t feel it too much.
Raptors’ Thomas, Boucher emerging as frontrunners in depth rotation battle – Sportsnet
Barring injury, Baynes is Toronto’s starting centre. But the backup spot is up for grabs and right now it’s looking like Boucher’s to lose.
“I think Chris would probably fall into the same role as Matt where I think if he’s given a run to be the second-unit centre pretty much consistently I think it’ll improve his game a lot as the season goes on,” said Nurse. “So he’s another one of those guys that now that we know him and he’s been with us, he’s made strides, he’s certainly produced in games and needs a role, a more defined role, rather than just dabbling in and out probably.”
Boucher looked impressive Saturday, coming up with nine points, three blocks and even hitting a three in the floor time he saw.
His athleticism and skillset could theoretically raise Toronto’s ceiling higher than a player like Alex Len – Boucher’s main competition – and, as Nurse alluded to, he’s already been indentured within Toronto’s system for a little while now and understands the concepts of the team on both ends of the floor.
Another thing going in Boucher’s favour is the fact he provides a good change-of-pace from what Baynes offers as he isn’t as physical but is much quicker and more explosive — something that could give the Raptors’ second unit a more defined identity.
Len, by the sounds of things, seems like he’ll be a more matchup-driven player, whereas the versatility of Boucher’s game may allow Nurse to use him in a broader range of areas.
“You’ve seen me pair Marc [Gasol] with [Joel] Embiid or something all night long,” said Nurse. [We may] pair to just get the more physical guy with Baynes and Alex. They’re kinda true centres and then when they’re playing small we tend to play with Chris at the five.”
No matter how Nurse decides to employ Boucher it looks like more opportunity will be coming his way this season.
Anunoby embracing veteran role on Raps – Video – TSN
Entering his fourth season in the NBA, OG Anunoby has gained a great deal of experience. Now looked at as a veteran by some of the younger players coming onto the team, Anunoby says he enjoys helping them get accustomed to systems and life in the league.
One look at rookie Malachi Flynn and you feel better about the Raptors’ future | Toronto Sun
Now, to be clear, no one is pushing Lowry out the door or suggesting that he make way for the next generation. Lowry remains at the top of his game at 34. The only reason the idea of a Raptors rotation without Lowry is even raised is the knowledge that he has just this year left on his contract and the likely scenario that any build toward another championship is likely to come with younger, more expensive pieces coming in. That would cut into whatever the Raptors would dole out to keep Lowry in the fold and a veteran leader like Lowry would almost definitely have lucrative offers elsewhere if even on a short term basis.
But this isn’t really about Lowry, who is and will remain among the top three Raptors of all time regardless of how many more years he plays here.
This is about Flynn, who at 22 looks to be light years ahead of the No. 3 pick in his same draft class, one LaMelo Ball who admittedly is just 19.
A Flynn/VanVleet backcourt, with a little more seasoning, would be a nightmare to score against never mind the fits they would cause opposing defences as they picked them apart at will.
Ironically VanVleet was Nurse’s comparison Saturday night when asked about Flynn’s defence.
“Similar to Fred, he’s got great side-to-side feet and he’s got a toughness and he’s got a want-to and he’s kind of got an attacking mindset at the defensive end and that’s good to see (because) that’s how we like to play,” Nurse said.
In other words, not only does he play lockdown defence, but he plays the kind of defence that fits exactly into what the Raptors do as a team.
Nurse was asked again Sunday how similar he felt the two players were.
“Well I think they are pretty similar,” Nurse said. “I mean, listen, in my eyes Fred is up there a ways. Fred can really guard. He’s a big shot maker. He’s tough as nails. He’s got a finishing game at the rim for his size that I am not sure I have seen that much of before so those are pretty special characteristics that Fred has. I would say Malachi has got the shooting component, he’s got the toughness component and an IQ component that are similar to Fred’s so let’s see how it plays out. There’s a long way to go but, like I always say, Fred hit four threes in the fourth quarter of a game that won the title. There’s not a whole lot of guys walking around that can say they have done that. So it’s a pretty big accomplishment.”
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