Meet Yuta Watanabe: the Raptors latest cult hero – The Athletic
Watanabe and his agent decided to take a flier with the Raptors because they thought his skill set would fit in with the Raptors’ aggressive, often-complicated defensive schemes. He beat out incumbent Oshae Brissett for a two-way spot and has since carved out a rotation role, playing in 16 of the past 18 games including 10 appearances of 10 minutes or more, by being a piece of connective tissue that the Raptors were missing as they got off to a disastrous start to the year.
Along with fellow surprises Stanley Johnson and De’Andre Bembry, Watanabe has given the Raptors a multi-positional defender, an active rebounder, and a player who can hit an open shot, connecting on 12 of his first 28 3-point attempts of the year. Before his team’s game against the Raptors on Monday, Grizzlies coach Taylor Jenkins said Watanabe was an important part of the organization. He cited Watanabe’s improved shot as an element that has allowed him to run with his opportunity with the Raptors. Both Quinn and Joseph said Watanabe appears stronger than when they last saw him. The Raptors list him at 215 pounds, although Watanabe bemoans that despite perpetually surprising his friends with how much he can eat, he remains wiry.
Along the way, he has become a cult favourite in Toronto. He is regularly trending in Canada on Twitter, and has even gained some media attention for some of his non-basketball-related features. Mostly, it is about the way that he plays the game.
“He plays so hard. He’s a guy that gives you maximum energy every time he’s on the floor,” Lowry said. “And when he goes out there … he’s going to dive for loose balls, and he’s going to be at the right spot, and he’s going to give you everything he’s got. That’s what you need sometimes.”
He will need to become a bit more dangerous offensively to lock down a rotation spot for good, especially as OG Anunoby returns from his calf injury. Regardless, he has brought an endless supply of energy and good vibes to a team that needed those attributes badly. When the Raptors waived Alex Len, they opened up a main roster spot that seems headed to Watanabe, who can only be active for 50 of the team’s 72 games this year as a two-way player. They can offer him a one-year deal at the minimum and have him become a restricted free agent after this year, or a two-year deal that would allow him to be unrestricted in 2022.
“With Yuta, his work ethic and initiative are skills that should get him a contract,” Quinn said. “I don’t know if you could find a better ninth, 10th, 11th man, a kid who just loves to make the team better and loves to make the organization better and is just excited about being there.”
As is his nature, Watanabe remains cautious about his ascent.
“I have still got a lot of work to do. I still have got to get better. I still have to improve myself,” Watanabe said. “The work I’ve been putting in is slowly paying off. I’ve started proving that I belong in this league.”
Hustle stats reveal what’s behind the Raptors’ rebound, and what still needs work | The Star
Not that it’s the only hustle stat in which they’ve been among the league leaders. Over their past 14 games — with the Wizards up next on Wednesday night in Washington — they’re also leading the league in recovering loose balls, coming up with an NBA-best 59.6 per cent of the things on the defensive end. In other words, they’re turning the proverbial 50/50 ball into a 60/40 proposition in their favour. And they’re mucking up the works for their opponents more reliably, too, ranking second in deflections over their past 14 games — this after ranking 12th in the opening 10 contests.
Which is not to say all is well in Raptorland. Combine the first 10 games and the most recent 14 and there are some disturbing through-lines that suggest they’re a long way from being real contenders.
Key hustle stats have been on the uptick, sure. But as for their overall defensive outlook — it hasn’t improved nearly as much. Toronto’s defensive efficiency, which ranked 21st in the first 10 games of the season, still ranks 19th overall. That’s hardly the stuff of a real-life defensive monster. And it’s a huge drop-off for a franchise that was accustomed to ranking in the NBA’s top five over the previous couple of seasons, one that’s likely more attributable to personnel downgrades than anything else. For all their struggles, they’d enjoyed one of the league’s 10 easiest schedules heading into Tuesday, according to Basketball-Reference.com.
And then there’s the matter of maintaining consistency. In the midst of a compressed schedule, in the throes of a pandemic, it only makes sense that there’ve been lapses in intensity and focus like Monday’s uninspiring first half. Maintaining the league lead in scoring off turnovers and recovering loose balls — making effort a key driver of offence — requires a commitment that’s difficult to fake and can’t necessarily be summoned with another rah-rah pep talk.
“It’s a fine line. We’re together every day, so after a while challenging each other every single second of every single day, it becomes noise at a certain point,” guard Fred VanVleet told reporters after Monday’s game. “There are certain times things need to be said and certain times where you’ve just got to do it. There’s only so much talking you can do. I think we were all frustrated and embarrassed with our effort to start (on Monday).”
In other words, as much as Nurse’s ejection seemed to provide an injection of adrenalin on Monday, Toronto’s real-life defensive monster, if it’s ever going to show itself, will need to emerge largely from within.
GANTER: A rather contentious two weeks for your Raps and the refs | Toronto Sun
Technical fouls are part of the game. Coaches, in particular, are going to be on officials if they believe their team is getting an inordinate number of personal fouls called against them.
Again, what’s interesting is Nurse has been bemoaning the foul discrepancy and arguing his cause consistently since the beginning of the season, but it’s only these past two weeks that the technicals have become an issue.
Nurse was asked post-game about the technical fouls and whether they are becoming a concern.
“I’d say it’s something,” Nurse said. “We would have to take a look at that and make sure we do a little better job of that, for sure.”
He went on to say emotion is probably at the root of a lot of the technicals, but then seemed to contradict himself by pointing out how a better technical approach could prevent further techs.
“We’re going to probably have to learn to play through a few more hits,” he said. “We’re going to have to do a little better job of showing our hands and getting out of there, beating them to the spot a little more with our bodies. Blocking out a little more cleanly. Setting a little more clean screens. Whatever they are, there seems to be a lot of off-ball ones on us, and I think those are frustrating. We’re probably just trying to play physical, but we’ve got to take a look at it and make sure we’re playing physical without playing too handsy.”
Nurse has never shied away from confronting officials when he felt it was warranted, and we don’t see that changing now.
Nurse knows the value of a good official and has been quoted talking about just how tough NBA officials have it. It’s not an easy game to officiate.
But when almost 75% of your techs come in a 15-day span in a season that is more than a month and a half old, one has to question why the sudden rash of techs?
Malachi Flynn eager to follow Fred VanVleet’s Raptors path – The Athletic
Flynn entered the league as one of the top players in college basketball, and the adjustment to a smaller role can take time. It didn’t look like that would be a problem early, as Flynn impressed in pre-camp workouts and then turned in a pair of very strong preseason games. He appeared ready to be the next up in a three-guard rotation, the “little brother” of Lowry and VanVleet, learning on the fly. Once the games started, minutes were hard to come by. Over the Raptors first 24 games, he’s played 106 minutes, about 20 percent of which have come in garbage time.
Limited playing time can have a few effects. The most notable is the lack of actual repetitions, which is often cited as a reason to send players to the G League in the first place. The Raptors firmly believe players need to be on the court to get better, because how else can you apply and test the parts of your game you’ve been working on in practice and individual sessions? The freedom to make mistakes and learn from them is especially valuable for a young lead guard.
“When you’re not playing, you tend to think about it a little more. I think not thinking about it is definitely better for you,” Flynn said. “So I’m trying to getting into that where I’m just going out there and playing. And now having an opportunity to play a little bit more, I think it’ll be good, be able to make a couple more mistakes and just play.”
For a heady point guard like Flynn, consistent playing time is important to keep the cerebral parts of the game sharp. When so much of the role is anticipating, reading and reacting, rust can be a factor. Combine that with a still-in-process adjustment to the speed and physicality of the NBA game, and it’s not entirely surprising that Flynn’s few chances in the rotation didn’t make a major impression.
“It was a lot different sometimes. I think I was definitely starting to feel more comfortable and more confident out there. With the shooting, you miss twice and that’s kinda all you get for that game,” he said. “I would definitely say there’s things that I can go and take and learn from, but it’s not even close to me, like, putting everything on that. I’m not just gonna take those minutes and try to dissect them as much as I can. I’ll take some things, but a lot of it, kinda just, not throw away, but it’s in the past.”
Raptors 905 win G League Franchise of the Year 2019-20 award – Raptors HQ
- The past season saw Raptors 905 arena attendenace up by 11 percent.
- There were also some solid theme nights for Welcome Toronto, Chinese New Year, Black History Month, and International Women’s Day.
- Speaking of which, the team hosted a Giants of Africa game at the Scotiabank Arena which drew a whopping 16,836 fans.
- Online the team was popular too, with over six million minutes of their games streamed on Twitch and ESPN+
- Finally, few G League teams can (and do!) celebrate the accomplishments of their most famous alumni — e.g. Norman Powell, Pascal Siakam, and Fred VanVleet — like the 905.
Taken altogether, it’s easy to see why the 905 were a shoe-in for the Franchise of the Year award. And while this coming season has been up-in-the-air for awhile now thanks to the coronavirus pandemic, and will work quite differently than G League seasons of the past, it is still cool to see the growth of the league as both a talent pipeline for the NBA — and something to celebrate in its own right.
Toronto Raptors: Norman Powell remains underrated in fantasy basketball – Tip of the Tower
The number one option for whenever either Kyle Lowry, Fred VanVleet or Anunoby are hurt, Powell can be seen as the fill-in guy. Or, perhaps more accurately, he can be seen as a player who has proven himself to coach Nick Nurse over the past couple of weeks, providing his patented brand of defensive hustle and ability to attack the rim.
For a coach who is known for rewarding his players with minutes (and who is also in dire need of effort), Powell has worked himself into his good graces.
Powell is also a great addition for category-based leagues. He provides efficient three-point shooting and is averaging 3.7 rebounds over the last week, a marked improvement on his 2.4 career average. He’s also seen an uptick in steals, averaging 2.2 this past week, far exceeding his career average of 0.7.
If you don’t trust me, trust the yahoos who use Yahoo. He’s rostered in 70 per cent of their leagues this season.
An argument can be made that during this most recent span, you can find just as much encouragement from the growth Siakam has displayed as you can from the areas that he has room to improve in.
Allow me to explain…
With the Raptors 24 games into (and one-third of the way through) a 72-game season, Siakam is averaging 20.2 points, to go along with career-highs of 7.8 rebounds and 4.6 assists through 21 games. The career-high figures are both answers to major needs.
It’s easy – and probably lazy – to say that Siakam has grown as a playmaker simply because he’s averaging a higher number of assists than he’s ever averaged before when in reality, there’s more to growth than an increase in numbers.
Take this play in Toronto’s win over the Memphis Grizzlies for example, where Siakam gets downhill off of a ball screen from Aron Baynes but can’t get to his desired spot because of the aggressive pick-and-roll defence played by both Grayson Allen and Xavier Tillman. Poised and controlled, Siakam pivots, identifies that Jonas Valanciunas’ weakside help position has left Stanley Johnson wide-open in the corner and whips a pretty impressive cross-court pass that results in three points.
The ability to make plays like these will make teams think twice about how aggressively they guard Siakam out of ball screens, which will either help his ability to get into the lane where he thrives, make things easier for the rolling big man, or result in a 3-pointer, especially if there’s a shooter like Fred VanVleet, Norman Powell or Kyle Lowry in the weakside corner.
An easier time getting into the lane means big things for Siakam because, as we know, the painted area is where he makes his living. It’s no coincidence that during this most recent six-game stretch, 61.0% of his scoring has come in the paint with another 23.4% coming from the free throw line, which, you guessed it, is largely a byproduct of his aggression to make things happen around the basket.
The encouraging room for growth and improvement? Siakam’s 3-point shooting, something that hasn’t been near the level we have come to expect from him until his hot-shooting night at FedEx Forum.
Send me any Raptors related stuff: rapsfan@raptorsrepublic.com
