Gameday: Blazers @ Raptors, March 28

Norman Powell had 22 points (7-13 FG, 5-7 3FG) and 2 steals in his debut against Orlando. The Blazers beat the Magic 112-105 to go 2-0 on their four game road trip with stops in Tampa and Detroit next. That’s about all there is to say about Norm but I’ll give him the final word on what playing in Toronto meant:

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The Raptors are 3.5 games out of the 8th spot held by the Heat, with the Pacers and Bulls ahead, and the Cavs and Wizards behind them. Now this isn’t the ninth circle of hell but it isn’t roses either. Or is it? I don’t know because to evaluate the position you require a goal to evaluate against, of which there isn’t a clear one. If you consider getting a high pick the goal, well, we’re trending nicely towards that. If you’re of the mind that we nick a playoff spot and topple the wobbly Sixers or the nervous Bucks, then stop looking at mock drafts and throw your weight behind Chris Boucher because he sure needs it to play the 40 minutes we need him to so we avoid seeing Aron Baynes.

I can’t go for a tank right now. Not at this point in the pandemic and not without being bottom-three bad. We need some positivity around these parts and the next few games after Portland provide a chance for that: The 12-33 Pistons, the 19-26 Thunder, the 22-24 Warriors and the 16-28 Wizards. If we go any less than 3-1 in those four games then we can revisit this conversation, but at this point coming off a Denver win and a close Suns loss, it’s time to buckle up and give it the old college try.

Gary Trent Jr. went 4-11 FG against the Suns and had a moderately effective offensive game, but of note was that he did not look out of sorts defensively. The Raptors help-conscious defense has plenty of moving parts that whenever they got scored on, it’s not an individual’s fault but a fault in the system. This makes players like Trent who are considered weak team defenders to cloak their deficiencies in the system’s. It also works the other way where the system makes the individual look bad, like in all those aggressive close-outs we see. That’s not Pascal’s decision to flail at the shooter, that’s what he’s supposed to do.

Trent and Powell will likely end up guarding each other which will be fun, but the other matchup to watch (as is on most nights) is how the Raptors will handle the center spot and Nurkic/Kanter. Will they throw Aron Baynes at him or will Nick Nurse go with Chris Boucher and tease him outside? There are no great options but I’d rather go with Boucher getting the extended minutes and the Raptors doing a better job of collective rebounding. Baynes gives you nothing on most nights and when he does give you something it’s for a stretch that is so small that it’s negligible – he serves no point if you’re trying to win the game. But I imagine just the sheer size the Blazers can throw out there will result in some Baynes playing time, so get ready for some slapstick comedy.

One potential side-effect of the Powell trade is on the Raptors rebounding. The Raptors are 27th in defensive rebounding and 20th in offensive rebounding, largely due to the lack of any reliable big men (you know, because big men tend to rebound). The argument that being 12th in not turning it over and being first in forcing turnovers somehow makes up for the deplorable rebounding stats never carried any merit. It may have diminished the impact but not to the point where lack of rebounding could be considered anything but a major concern. Replacing Norman Powell’s 1.1 steals with Trent’s 0.7 and losing out on Powell’s generally aggressive perimeter defense means the Raptors may see a dip in how many turnovers they force, which would in turn exacerbate the rebounding issues (and ultimately result in fewer possessions). If you flirt with Boucher or OG playing extended C minutes, you may be sacrificing rebounding even further.

Every time I go deeper into the “whys” of why this season played out the way it did, it always comes back to our center spot. If this is indeed Masai Ujiri’s way of tanking, just by having one single catastrophic weakness on the team, then kudos to him. It is the most low-key tank job ever seen, and he did it right before our eyes. What a magician!

Do you all feel that OG Anunoby may be about to explode and could have a higher ceiling than Siakam? I have a feeling he may, and the rest of this season for me is about OG accumulating some moments. One of those moments came at the end of the Suns game when he erased Devin Booker on the final possession, only to see Kyle Lowry push too far underneath the rim to give up the offensive rebound, prompting this true but sad response to the video. Our best on-ball defender is often also our center. I don’t know how many teams can lay claim to that but that’s not a negative, that’s just the magic of OG. You’ll probably see him check ‘Melo tonight as well which is always a good measuring stick no matter how old the latter gets.

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