This Week: 18
Last Week: 222021-22 record: 4-3
Toronto is thrilled with what it’s getting from Scottie Barnes. The fourth overall pick in July’s NBA draft is averaging 18.1 points and 8.9 rebounds per game, shooting 55% from the field and is the early front-runner in the Rookie of the Year race. — Bontemps
This Week: 19
Last Week: 224-3, +3.8 net rating
Weekly Slate: Loss to Bulls, Win over Pacers, Win over Magic, Win at PacersDon’t look now but the Toronto Raptors are oozing with grit. Sorry, Memphis. I don’t want to steal a word from your franchise’s best stretch (for now), but the Raptors are all kinds of gritty. In fact, they’re the reason I didn’t feel comfortable saying the Miami Heat will be the best defense in the NBA hands down this season because I love what the Raptors look like on that end of the floor. I almost never concede a rookie actually mattering defensively but Scottie Barnes is one of those few exceptions to that rule already. The Raptors rely a little too much on creating turnovers right now, so I’d like to see them a little more sound on that end and limit 3-point accuracy against them, but this group seems like a pain in the ass to try to create offense against.
Toronto Raptors Five Daily Thoughts: New city edition jerseys, Masai, more – Raptors HQ
3. Zach Lowe on Gary Trent
In his weekly 10 things I like/don’t like column last week, ESPN’s Zach Lowe called on Gary Trent Jr. to pass more:Trent doesn’t make enough productive passes. He has five assists in five games. For his career, Trent has dished 1.6 dimes per 36 minutes… On a team with enough playmaking, this doesn’t matter. Perhaps the Raptors can be that kind of team when Pascal Siakam returns — and as OG Anunoby, Barnes, and Banton develop. (Fred VanVleet is about maxed out steering things.) But for now, the Raps — 19th in offense and 26th in assist rate — could use more easy, assisted buckets.
I don’t disagree, but the Raptors don’t really have any shot-makers either. I can see Raptors coaches telling Gary “you’re our scorer, get some buckets” and Trent taking that to heart. I think — I hope! — with some maturity will come the understanding that improving his playmaking will actually lead to defenses respecting that part of his game and opening up even more scoring opportunities.
The lack of calls might just get to Raptors’ OG Anunoby | Toronto Sun
Anunoby needs a break or he needs to blow off some steam. The number of times we’ve seen him knocked down or left looking helplessly at an official, his arms spread wide wondering what in tarnation he has to do to get a call go his way is dangerously high.
Through it all Anunoby hasn’t said much. Well, Anunoby never says much at all anyway, but that’s neither here no there.
The point is Anunoby is playing his butt off, but isn’t getting the payback.
Rookie Scottie Barnes is getting the majority of the attention, which we’re almost positive Anunoby could care less about, but on the court Anunoby’s being hacked and bumped and bruised by defenders that seem to be taking full advantage of a very loose whistle to begin the year.
Fred VanVleet has been on the receiving end of this perhaps as much as Anunoby but he knows it’s not going to last.
“Yeah, just kinda picking yourself up off the floor, picking each other up off the floor and running back down and one thing we’ve been trying to do is learn how to use it on the defensive end,” VanVleet said when asked about the frustration of a game being called radically different than it has been in the past. “Sometimes it feels uneven, but most times we’re getting away with some, too, but I think that it’s just the way that it’s going. But we talked about it, I don’t wanna keep focusing on that, I think that it can become a thing more than what it is and you gotta adapt. We see what it is, any time there’s rule changes or points of emphasis they’re usually super overdramatically forced as they make their point early in the season and then things will balance itself. There’s no way these are gonna keep going like this all year, it’s bad for basketball at this point.”
And of course VanVleet is right. The whistle, outside of those blatant foul-searching movements that are not basketball moves, will go back to what it was.
But in the meantime, there is Anunoby taking more shots than anyone on his team, averaging 17 a night and getting to the line just 2.3 times a game, less than Barnes, Gary Trent Jr, Khem Birch or VanVleet.
Anunoby is still producing, that’s not in question. His 18 points a night is just a percentage point behind Barnes for the team lead. He’s also defending at his normal high level. He’s just not getting much help from the officials right now.
Maybe a night off in Manhattan will ease the burden.
