How Stanley Johnson emerged as a key role player for Raptors – Yahoo!
Maybe it was just a mirage. After all, Johnson doesn’t see anything special in his bubble performances. If you ask him, his progress is a product of his commitment to the Raptors development program. His emergence as a core bench piece and occasional starter is a direct result of the trust that Johnson put into the Raptors coaches.
“During the pandemic and after the season in the bubble, I went back to Toronto and I was with our coaches, and in our facilities, and I was able to learn things from an omniscient view, learning different positions because I had so much time with the coaches,” Johnson said. “That’s what gives me confidence to be more aggressive or do certain things on the court, because if I didn’t have the knowledge in my head to know certain things, I wouldn’t be able to react on the court instead of thinking.”
Nurse and his staff are now returning that trust to Johnson, who has already played double the amount of minutes in 17 games as he did all of last season. Johnson’s first assignment against the Philadelphia 76ers was to use his physicality to absorb the brute strength of Ben Simmons’ drives. The next night he was asked to check Pelicans star Brandon Ingram, then Boston’s Jayson Tatum the game after. And while the Raptors lost all three games, Johnson quietly did his job.
The nervousness and overeagerness from last season was gone, replaced by a careful yet committed approach to team basketball on both sides of the ball. Johnson was steady and reliable for a team that was anything but, and Nurse has stuck with him ever since. The Raptors are allowing 106.9 points per 100 possessions with Johnson on the court, which ranks as the second-lowest mark among rotation players.
Johnson has been recast as a do-it-all defender, which became a pivotal position for the Raptors in their own reinvention as a smallball team. Johnson played 23 minutes against Portland, in which he split his time checking Enes Kanter, Carmelo Anthony, Gary Trent Jr., Damian Lillard and CJ McCollum. In the next series against Charlotte, Johnson played the same role toggling between all five positions, where he was just as likely to be wrestling Bismack Biyombo and Myles Bridges on boxouts as he was to be dancing with shifty guards like Terry Rozier or LaMelo Ball above the arc.
Raptors Notebook: Myriad of small issues still plaguing push for turnaround – Sportsnet
Though it would be convenient if there was just one glaring issue with the team, the root of the Raptors’ problems lie in a myriad of small problems that are plaguing them. Death by a thousand paper cuts is still, ultimately, death and the challenge for the Raptors is overcoming these issues.
“We’re — whatever our record is, 7-10, 7-11 — so we’ve got a little hole we’ve gotta dig ourselves out of that’s a challenge in itself,” said Fred VanVleet after Raptors practice Thursday afternoon. “And there’s individual challenges, there’s team challenges. Our margin of error is much smaller this year. So some of the things that we’re having to do, that’s part of accepting the challenge, things we didn’t really have to do in the previous years because everything was kinda on autopilot, for lack of a better term. We just kinda knew what each other was thinking, we knew where the next guy would be, and this year we’ve got a lot of guys in there that haven’t played and haven’t played for us.
“So there’s definitely some new challenges but all in all if you’re a competitor and you want to get better and you want to be great these are the things that you look forward to.”
However, though the Raptors are, for the most part, navigating uncharted waters with where they are record-wise, there’s a bright side to all of this. The Eastern Conference is packed as tight as a can of sardines, and even though Toronto’s 11th-place standing may look bad, the reality is this is a team that’s still just 5.5 games out of first place in the East.
So a turnaround is certainly within striking distance, but it comes down to the team executing — something far easier said than done.
Still, in tackling this challenge in front of them, there’s a certain level of enjoyment and fun to be found in taking on the unknown.
“You’ve gotta relish that. It’s not easy,” said VanVleet. “And, listen, this is the position that we’re in so we’ve gotta do what we can to make the most of it. It’s definitely different, a different experience for me. But I guess the fun part comes in the wins. Losing is not fun under any circumstances.”
Added Stanley Johnson: “I mean, I think that’s what professional sports is about. I mean, I’m trying to make it as simple as possible. It’s like, we’re playing basketball, we have a game tomorrow, let’s win the game tomorrow and then get into the next one. Like, we can’t fix the games that we let go already — win or lose — all we can do is worry about what’s going ahead and the more we, I feel like, try to — or any body tries to — make it complicated like, ‘Oh, how do you get out of a rut? Do you do something different?’ No. We’ve just gotta go out there and play like we know how to play.
Toronto Raptors still learning about themselves at quarter point of season – TSN.ca
The quarter point snuck up on them quickly – a week or so earlier than it would have in a standard season, with each team playing 10 fewer games this year. If this is when teams usually start to get a sense of where they’re headed, you can understand why Toronto may need more time to figure it out. There are more than a few teams out there that probably feel that way.
Although everybody has been getting accustomed to the new normal in the NBA – the many protocols that come with playing basketball during a global pandemic – the Raptors are the league’s only club that’s had to do it while also settling into their home away from home. The move to Tampa, combined with the rushed start to the season and the loss of their veteran centres – and – had them playing catch-up from the get go, and they’ve been trying to dig themselves out of that hole ever since.
It’s uncharted territory for many of the team’s core players, who have only known what it’s like to win during their time in Toronto, and for some, going back even further than that.
“For me, it’s been tough, it’s been tough,” said , who came from a winning program at Wichita State. “Just taking it day by day. For the most part, just understanding there’s a lot of basketball left to turn it around. We’re not that far. Start looking at the standings, look at the teams in front of you, look at the records across the league. There are good teams that aren’t playing their best right now all over. Just understand the situation and the scenario and keep perspective on things and understand we still have a chance to make things right. I’m very confident that we will.”
“The losing is [difficult] when you’re not used to it,” Nurse said. “It’s certainly a different kind of animal to handle, especially after games – your emotions are high, you just put your heart and soul [into it]. The coaching staff, we put a ton of prep and film work and all that stuff into it, and guys go out there and play really, really hard for the most part. We’ve played 18 games and I bet we’ve given an honest effort, played really, really hard in 16 of them, probably.”
“It’s just we buried ourselves a little bit in a hole early here and we’ve dug some [of the] way out, we’re still digging, but I have every confidence that we will. I think the play and the attitude and the hustle and the effort shows me that we will play our way out of it.”
It’s hard to get a read on this Raptors team through 18 games. Their good moments have been sandwiched in between some of their less encouraging moments. They’ll take a few steps forward (three straight wins earlier this month, culminating in a decisive victory over Dallas), followed swiftly by a big step backwards (last Wednesday’s disheartening loss to Miami). They haven’t been consistent on either end of the floor.
On most nights – win or loss – they have looked better than their record, though, and that’s one of reasons why they’re optimistic about the direction they’re trending in. They’ve got the 14th-best point differential in the NBA, having outscored opponents by 0.5 point per game, but the 24th-best record. One bounce here, or a helpful break there and maybe their luck would be different.
Raptors find themselves in unfamiliar territory a quarter of the way into the season | The Star
The defence has been good at times, bad at times and never consistently great. The Raptors foul too often (“We’re a lot more handsy,” Lowry said) and they go long stretches where they can’t keep the ball in front of them.
“I think we’re just still trying to figure out rotations,” Lowry said. “I think we’re still trying to figure out how good we could be defensively.”
The offence has been OK but spotty too often. They tend to take the easy way out at the tough moments in games, moments in the past few years they would settle down, move the ball, get great shots and stop opposing runs.
To be fair, these are not the Raptors of old and if the period of adjustment has been too long for some, it is understandable that it’s taken some time.
Chris Boucher is being asked to play extended minutes with great responsibility for the first time in his career.Aron Baynes is new to the system and is far more limited then the veterans he’s replacing. Stanley Johnson sat almost the entire 2019-20 season and is now a key backup. They represent three of Toronto’s most important seven players and things are not coming quickly.
OG Anunoby is moving between small forward and power forward with a little bit of centre thrown in for good measure, an ever-changing and new role. Pascal Siakam has been spotty, far more often average than above average, and he needs to be consistently better. And even Lowry, still a team leader who does all the intangibles as well as ever, has yet to pop a series of startling games.
Everyone has been just a bit off too often. The 7-11 record may not be fair, given the number of games they’ve been in but unable to win, but it’s the reality.
“I think there’s been a lot of trial and error, a lot of experimentation, just trying to figure out the rotations and who to get in there,” Raptors coach Nick Nurse said. “We’re doing a lot of good things, but we need to do a few more and eliminate some glaring mistakes here and there.”
SIMMONS: Lowry’s Raptors future tied to uncertain futures of Ujiri and Webster | Toronto Sun
On a below-average Raptors team, Lowry is having another terrific season. Those seem to be the only kind he has. Somehow, he never appears to age. He’s playing better and smarter and with more versatility and vitality in his game at the age of 34 than at almost any time in his career.
He is fourth in the NBA in the real plus-minus category, which means the Raptors are a relatively decent team when he is on the court. And somewhat lost a lot of the time when he is not. A guy named LeBron James is first in the league in real plus-minus. By his name alone, that gives the statistic value. Steph Curry is third. Being fourth is a lofty place to find Lowry, in pretty exclusive company alongside former MVPs.
Pascal Siakam, for example, is also in that $30-million-a-year salary range and he happens to rank 210th in the NBA in real plus-minus. OG Anunoby, as good as he’s been, heading towards $18 million a year, is 197th. Only Fred VanVleet, at 42nd, joins Lowry among Raptors among the top 100 players in the NBA.
This Raptors team, with Serge Ibaka gone, with Marc Gasol gone, has been suffering from the post-championship blues, one year later than usual, with complications as to what happens next.
The Raps can try to trade Lowry and get some value back for the upcoming free agent. There are teams that would covet him in a trade. But there may not be the kind of trade matches the Raptors would be looking for from teams such as the Clippers, the Heat or the 76ers.
The Raptors could also decide that if this is it for Lowry’s time in Toronto, after passing the famed 10,000-point mark, and clearly the choice as best player in franchise history beyond those who played just part of one season. They could let him walk into free agency and utilize the cap space to acquire other assets long-term.
Are we now seeing the real Raptors? | CBC.ca
Vivek Jacob and Jevohn Shepherd break down the Raptors recent success after a slow start and what turned out to be a historic night as Kyle Lowry netted his 10,000th point with the Raptors franchise last night against the Milwaukee Bucks.
Nothing is free for the Raptors, who have become the NBA’s ultimate outsiders on offence | The Star
When the game is on, of course, Nurse has never been shy about vehemently arguing his team’s case. Since he took over the team in 2018-19, Nurse has racked up 20 technical fouls in 172 games, first among NBA coaches over that span. Whether you consider his sideline surliness as essential lobbying in the perpetual search of an advantage or unseemly whining in the absence of dignity, lately it doesn’t appear to be helping the Raptors in their quest to shoot more free throws. As it is, franchise point guard Kyle Lowry leads the Raptors with 4.2 free throw attempts a game. Every other team in the league has a player averaging more than that. A handful of franchises have a player averaging more than double that.
Asked why the Raptors didn’t find themselves at the at the line more often in Wednesday’s loss to the Bucks, Lowry seemed to throw up his hands: “That part I just can’t explain,” he said.
Which is only weird because the explanation isn’t particularly complicated. For one thing, this season’s version of the Raptors seems unusually happy playing what Jack Armstrong calls the “suburban game” — a style rife with low-resistance jump shots that largely avoids the in-the-paint punishment endemic to the Brooklyn-bred Armstrong’s preferred “city game.” Heading into Thursday’s slate of contests, the Raptors were shooting more three-pointers than any team in the league. Heck, they were shooting three-pointers at a per-game clip that would surpass almost every team in the league’ history — jacking up more than 43 a game, on pace for the third-highest rate in the NBA record book behind a couple of Houston Rockets teams of recent vintage.
So they’re enamoured with the three-point jump shot. And they’re competent enough at turning those bombs into points, ranking eighth in the league in three-point percentage at 37.7. Which makes some sense, given an off-season that saw them largely fail to replace the post presence of the departed Serge Ibaka and Marc Gasol. Still, something’s missing. The Raptors, with their 7-11 overall record, are 1-6 against teams with .500-or-better records. And the fact they lead the league in attempting three-pointers classified as “wide-open” and “open,” according to NBA.com, tells you something. It suggests their opponents, more often than not, are happy to see Toronto firing up long jumpers if it means keeping them out of the paint and off the free-throw line.
Certainly that approach is working wonders against Toronto’s all-NBA forward, Pascal Siakam, who continues to struggle through a blasé season. Even as he reached his career high point during last year’s regular season, Siakam never showed much of a knack for getting to the free-throw line. And this year he’s been even worse at the endeavour, averaging fewer than four attempts a game.
The last time the Raptors were this team was 2013-14. That team ironically had a pretty similar record to these Raptors, starting the season 7-12. Then, on December 9, 2013, Raptors general manager Masai Ujiri made the trade that would change the course of Raptors history. He traded Rudy Gay, along with Quincy Acy and Aaron Gray, to the Sacramento Kings in exchange for Greivis Vásquez, John Salmons, Chuck Hayes, and Patrick Patterson.
It was a trade to tank. Ujiri wouldn’t use the forbidden T-word at the time, but it was apparent to everyone that was the objective of the deal.
“The one thing I can say is that we will not be trapped in the middle,” Ujiri told reporters after the Gay trade. “We will not be stuck in no-man’s land.”
Had things gone according to plan, Lowry would have been the next player moved, shipped to the New York Knicks for a package that included some attractive future assets. The problem, if you will, was that Lowry trade fell apart last minute, and all of the sudden the Raptors started winning. Instead of tanking, the Gay trade opened things up for Lowry and DeMar DeRozan and the Raptors snuck into the playoffs and haven’t left since.
Now the Raptors are in an eerily similar spot. They have young interesting pieces in Pascal Siakam, OG Anunoby, and Fred VanVleet, and some thinking to do about the future. While it’s a little bit easier to be in the middle these days thanks to the league’s new play-in playoff tournament and a smoothing out of the lottery odds, it’s always better to have a clear direction.
So it might be time for fans to recalibrate. It’s going to be weird. Ask Toronto Blue Jays fans what the past few seasons were like. That team went on an incredible run in 2015 and 2016, reaching the American League Conference Series in back-to-back seasons, but then the teardown happened and things got bleak. Fans had to reorient themselves from cheering for a win-now team to an organization stocked with exciting young prospects.
Jerami Grant, Gordon Hayward headline NBA All-Surprise Team – The Athletic
If you look at the NBA’s BPM leaderboard, you’ll see the usual suspects (18 of the top 22 are current or former All-Stars). Three of the other four are Conley (noted above), CJ McCollum (noted below) and Boston’s soon-to-be-anointed Jaylen Brown.
And the other name is … Chris Boucher (record scratch).
That’s right. He ranks 13th in the league — right between Kyrie Irving and Steph Curry. The 28-year-old Canadian has singlehandedly offset an otherwise disastrous offseason in Toronto, filling in as a small-ball five and proving dramatically effective in the role. While undersized and easily pushed around at 6-foot-9 and just 200 pounds, his elite shot blocking has offset the disadvantage: Boucher’s 9.4 percent rejection rate is second only to Indiana’s phenomenal Myles Turner. Entertainingly, many of his swats have been on perimeter shots where the shooter had zero expectation that Boucher’s long arms could reach them.
Offensively, Boucher is a two-level threat. At the rim, he’s long and bouncy enough to finish passes with dunks or convert a dribble drive. From the perimeter, his long wind-up is unbothered by closeouts due to his size, and he’s made 45.3 percent from 3. (Important note: I submitted the “Trebuchet” as the nickname for this delivery, but should we really be calling it “Tres Boucher” instead?)
Finally, here’s one last thing to monitor: Boucher is the only one of those top 22 players coming off the bench. While that state of affairs may not last, he has to be considered one of the leading candidates for the Sixth Man Award right now.
NBA Trade Packages to Create the Next Big 3 | Bleacher Report
Toronto Raptors Receive: Bradley Beal, Moritz Wagner
Washington Wizards Receive: OG Anunoby, Fred VanVleet, 2021 first-round pick, 2023 first-round pick, 2024 first-round swap
Another Bradley Beal scenario! It’s almost like every team should be circling him with Washington sitting 15th in the Eastern Conference.
This is a different kind of return for the Wizards. They’d be acquiring more established players in OG Anunoby and Fred Vanvleet, both of whom will hold expensive pay grades at the start of 2021-22.
That’s typically a no-no for any team about to initiate a rebuild. But Anunoby is just 23, and VanVleet doesn’t turn 27 until late February. Their timelines do not diverge entirely from a Beal-less Wizards squad. The relative plug-and-playness of both at either end of the floor also renders them seamless additions.
Gaining control of three Toronto first-rounders in the process is a rock-solid bonus. The 2021 first shouldn’t be great. But the 2023 first and 2024 swap both postdate Beal’s entry into 2022 free agency. Washington could wind up striking gold if he bolts.
For their part, the Raptors would be stepping out on a limb. The idea of playing Beal beside both Kyle Lowry and Pascal Siakam tantalizes but does not come without concessions. Anunoby and VanVleet are two of their most important defenders, and executing an all-in play after such an uneven start from Siakam and when Lowry turns 35 in March is nothing if not rife with downside.
But let’s not pretend Beal doesn’t substantively, and immediately, elevate the Raptors’ ceiling. He puts far more pressure on half-court defenses. Anunoby and VanVleet can play off anyone, but neither compares as an attacker or off-the-dribble jump-shooter.
Worrying about Lowry’s age—and free agency this summer—is futile. At 27, Beal is on the exact same timeline as a 26-year-old Siakam. As long as the Raptors still believe in the offensive peak of the latter, they have the incumbent talent to justify an aggressive play for another star.
