Prior to their 131-129 overtime loss to the Washington Wizards on Thursday night, the Raptors announced that Kyle Lowry would be sitting due to rest for the second straight game, with the team’s front office deciding in favour of evaluating some of the younger players over playing Lowry.
When head coach Nick Nurse was asked about the outside perception of the team’s moves — namely, that resting key players down the stretch of the season looks akin to tanking — this was his (very funny) response:
Man this joke by Nick killed me lol pic.twitter.com/N8K3ejN7Ib
— Amit Mann (@Amit_Mann) May 6, 2021
So, while the Raptors played their asses off against the Wizards, forcing overtime with a Fred VanVleet three-pointer and almost winning it with 44-points from Pascal Siakam, it’s fair to say that the Raptor’s probably aren’t that upset about the loss given that they didn’t put all of their best players on the floor. Depending on what kind of fan you are, you might be okay with the fact that the loss all but guarantees the Raptors a spot in the lottery rather than the play-in, or you might be upset by it, but the reality is that the Raptors’ front office has chosen against going all out to win a spot in the play-in tournament, and so we must keep that in mind as the season draws to a close.
After all, the decision to sit Lowry did give the team a better look at some of the younger prospects on the roster; prospects who the Raptors are going to have to make a decision on very soon when it comes to their next contracts. Of the 10 Raptors who played against the Wizards, only three of them (VanVleet, Siakam, and Malachi Flynn) have guaranteed contracts next season.
Gary Trent Jr. didn’t need any time getting re-adjusted after a six-game absence, scoring 25 points on 6-18 shooting and 5-10 from three. While his defence can leave a lot to be desired at times, Trent looked great in a complimentary roll shooting spot-up jumpers and providing the team with a much needed scoring boost early on. It remains to be seen how much he can get to the rim and/or free-throw line, but at just 22 years old and with a consistent shot off the catch or dribble, there is a lot to like.
De’Andre’ Bembry was also great, hitting 2-3 three-pointers after missing 11 straight heading into the game. Bembry’s playmaking and defence are both ahead of schedule, so if that three-point shot is real — if he can continue to knock it down at even a league-average rate — the Raptors will have a much easier time deciding whether or not to guarantee his contract for next season. However, when his shot is not falling, Bembry cramps the floor so much that his defence and playmaking just cannot make up for it.
Khem Birch, who is a free agent this offseason, looked severely outmatched for maybe the first time since becoming a Raptor. Birch struggled to contain Robin Lopez in the post, allowing Lopez to score 24-points of the Wizards’ bench and get to the free-throw line 14 times. It was one of the first times that the Raptors left Birch on an island against a great post scorer instead of helping him with regular doubles, and Lopez made them pay, highlighting an offseason priority for Birch: strength and post-defence, especially positioning, footwork, and timing on blocks.
Freddie Gillespie didn’t fare any better, scoring just 3-points in 17 minutes and looking overmatched not just in the post but on the perimeter as well.
Rodney Hood, Jalen Harris, and Flynn combined to score 8-points. Stanley Johnson, who started, was 0-2 for 0-points.
All in all, the Raptors’ bench was outscored 55-21. So, while people will surely want to blame Siakam for taking and missing an off-balanced three-pointer at the end of overtime or even blame VanVleet for shooting 7-25 from the field, the reality is that the Raptors lost this important game to the Wizards for the same reason that they have been losing games to lesser-opponents all season: their depth just wasn’t enough
In fact, VanVleet’s stellar defence and all-around play combined with Siakam’s stellar defence and uber-effecient scoring — most of which was self-created. Plus he had a team-high 11 rebounds and a team-high 7 assists — were the only reasons the Raptors had any chance at all against the Wizards. But not everyone will see it that way because pointing to the same reasons night in and night out gets boring fast, so people will find someone else to blame besides the lack of depth. More often than not, they’ll land on Siakam.
They’ll do that partly because Siakam took the final shot — an off-balance three-pointer that he took with the clock running down because the entire Wizards defence sunk into the paint to wall it off — and because a lot of fans just don’t like Siakam, don’t like his contract, and don’t think he has what it takes to be a No. 1 option. They will ignore the fact that he is playing the best basketball of his life (despite still not shooting the three well) — adding a playmaking dimension to his game while creating for himself more than ever; they’ll ignore the fact that he was elite in clutch time last season with the same core group around him, and the fact that the coaching staff deserves as much if not more blame for the late-game execution in a situation like the one against the Wizards.
That’s fine: we all have biases. We all have our favourite players and our least favourite players, and we all tend to evaluate them with the games biases in mind. But don’t let that distract you from the fact that this game, like most Raptors’ games this season, was on the bench and lack of depth and not on VanVleet or Siakam; And don’t let those biases distract you from the fact that this entire season is on the front office (and the NBA, and COVID) and not on the Raptors’ players themselves who, by the way, have been playing in front of booing Floridians (yuck).
Despite all that, the Raptors’ core is thriving. Birch has been the best buy-out candidate in the NBA. Trent looks like a natural Norman Powell successor. Flynn looks like he’ll be a good backup point guard for years to come. And the Raptors currently have the seventh best lottery odds in the league, giving them a 32 percent chance at a top-4 pick.
Resting Lowry comes with a price, but it also comes with its rewards.
