Miles finds his way for Raptors

Pleased with play of young teammates

It’s an odd twist within the makeup of an NBA roster. Normally the players adjusting and adapting their skill sets the most are young players trying to make that jump from the college ranks or even from the end of the bench into the rotation.

And there is certainly some of that going on within the Toronto Raptors lockerroom with one raw rookie in O.G. Anunoby and plenty of young players making big jumps this season.

But the biggest changes are actually being asked of the most senior personnel on the roster.

Long time go-to men like DeMar DeRozan and Kyle Lowry are changing some playing habits — and, for a large portion of the time, succeeding with — in order to get in line with a new offensive philosophy that demands ball movement and a bigger emphasis on threepoint shooting.

C.J. Miles, as the newcomer among the more veteran players on the roster, already had the shoot-for-three edict drilled into his brain. He’s forged a bigger role for himself based on excelling at getting that shot off in lightning quick time and sinking it with a better percentage than most mere mortals.

But Miles is going through his own period of adaptation, one no less critical to his continuing success than what Lowry and DeRozan are going through.

Being a pure shooter, Miles did not have to adjust to that part of the game. But there has been some adjusting elsewhere for him.

“Teams are coming in with a real focus on me individually,” Miles said. “What I’m doing and the ways that I affect the game and it’s a different role for me because I haven’t been — I won’t call it a go-to — but the main attraction in a five in a long time.

“It’s a learning process for me and the guys that I’m with — often four young guys from a group that includes Delon Wright, Fred Van-Vleet, Pascal Siakam, Jakob Poeltl and Anunoby — I encourage them to be as aggressive as they can because it’s almost like you take it that the other team’s being disrespectful to you, they feel like if they take me out of it, we can’t score in that second unit.

“You should make them feel stupid for doing that.”

Ten games in, Miles has been pleased with what he has seen from his young teammates.

“They’re doing it,” Miles said of bringing that aggression. “Delon’s doing it more, Freddy was aggressive (against Chicago), when P Skills (Siakam) gets a chance to play he’s getting downhill and doing things and then that’ll change everything.”

Just the amount of attention Miles is getting from opposing teams is the biggest hurdle he has to overcome.

“The biggest thing for me is to move as much as I can because I know the eyes tend to follow me and if I’m going from one side of the floor to the other, I’m encouraging those guys to attack the basket because everybody tends to turn and start pointing,” Miles said.

“I take it as a respect thing, but it’s frustrating some nights.”

Raptors head coach Dwane Casey says even when Miles isn’t stroking threes, he’s accomplishing plenty for his team by just being a threat.

“It may not be effective as far as him getting shots, but he (produces) great spacing,” Casey said of those times when the ball isn’t finding Miles or teams are blanketing him to keep the ball out of his hands.

“He helps our spacing and that is one reason why the roll guy is so productive. They are hugged up on him (out beyond the arc) which is great and to me that is just as good as CJ knocking down a three or even getting an attempt.”

Miles has no real concerns that he will figure things out and get the three-point shots he has always found a way to get. It’s just going to take some time.

“I played enough seasons to understand that you play a lot of games, there’s going to be 20 games where I might shoot 65 per cent and there’s going to be waves where you don’t play as much when there’s matchups, foul trouble, your body might be a little tired,” Miles said.

“It is what it is.”

MOVE AS MUCH AS I CAN BECAUSE I KNOW THE EYES TEND TO FOLLOW ME.

CJ Miles.