LET NURSE’S NEXT JUGGLING ACT BEGIN
Finding room for Gasol on starting unit without upsetting chemistry no easy task
And so, the first game of the rest of their season together told the Toronto Raptors not much at all.
The New York Knicks are not the sternest of tests, you see. They came into Saturday night’s contest with all of 10 wins, a record that is almost the inverse of Toronto’s, and their greatest asset is cap space.
The Raptors, outside of Kyle Lowry and Danny Green, forgot how to shoot, yet they still beat Team Cap Space 104-99.
Marc Gasol, in his Toronto debut, only made a mild dent on the stat sheet — seven points, six rebounds — coming off the bench, but he seemed pleased to have not felt totally out of sorts.
He said the biggest surprise of the night was how many Raptors fans were in Madison Square Garden. The Memphis Grizzlies used to have a few fans in road arenas, he said, “but not as much as you guys.” He said with a smile. “Well, us, now.”
Like the playbook, it will take a little while to get those pronouns comfortable. But the Raptors all said it was evident the big man was a player of quality.
“The playmaking ability, the big body, the defensive mindset, the defensive ability. Marc’s an all-nba defender; he can do everything,” Lowry said.
“That was a good debut,” said head coach Nick Nurse.
“You could see a class player out there, without question.”
The team returns to Toronto now after a 3-0 road trip for a two-game homestand that leads into the All-star break. Nurse says he’s going to be doing a lot of experimenting and a lot of evaluating with his new-look roster — at least a couple of pieces of which are still to come on the buyout market — and then will make some lineup decisions as the playoffs near.
All of that is reasonable, but it also means the next two months will tell the Raptors a lot about what they have in their rookie coach.
Nurse’s initial run as an NBA bench boss after several years as a Toronto assistant has gone about as well as could be expected, under the circumstances. The team was only at full health once over its first 56 games and its two All-stars, Lowry and Kawhi Leonard, have each missed significant time.
Despite a cooling-off period after a torrid start, the Raptors are within a game of the top seed in the East, with a buttery-soft schedule remaining.
Perhaps more importantly than the on-court results, Nurse has kept everyone happy, or at least not unhappy, including noted fun guy Leonard, and Lowry, who is not what you would call a pleaser.
He moved Serge Ibaka from power forward to centre, Jonas Valanciunas from starting centre to backup (before he was traded), and replaced OG Anunoby with Pascal Siakam in the starting lineup. In a league in which players are rarely afraid to air their grievances, the Raptors have been drama-free, and with the exception of Anunoby, the players have flourished in new roles.
The playmaking ability, the big body, the defensive mindset, the defensive ability. Marc’s an all-nba defender; he can do everything.
Credit should go to Nurse for some of that.
But here is where things get tricky. Gasol has declared himself happy to contribute in any way he can, which isn’t a surprise. He came to Toronto with a reputation as a team-first guy, a veteran who just wants to win. Against the Knicks, he came off the bench and immediately flashed his passing savvy, finding open teammates repeatedly despite probably knowing few of the plays. Once he gets more comfortable in Nurse’s system, he would be an undeniable weapon against opponent’s second units.
But the Raptors didn’t surrender three rotation players so they could shore up their bench with an ALL-NBA talent.
Nurse will have to work Gasol into the starting unit at some point, either pushing Ibaka back to power forward and Siakam to the bench, or replacing Ibaka with the starters and leaving Siakam to continue his breakout season among the starting five.
Playing Gasol alongside Ibaka would make the Raptors bigger, but slower, and playing him with Siakam would sacrifice the chemistry Ibaka and Lowry have displayed this season.
If Nurse can settle on a starting lineup that doesn’t result in the press corps having to break out the “disgruntled” adjective, it will be another gold star on his first-year resumé.
After the win in New York, Lowry was asked about the impact Gasol could have on Toronto’s defence.
“He won the Defensive Player of the Year award, he knows what he’s doing,” Lowry said. “He’s not going to be overly aggressive, he’s not under-aggressive, it’s just right. It’s all a feel thing for him.”
He is, in other words, a huge asset. And figuring out how to deploy him will be Nurse’s biggest challenge yet.