Bench Mob 2.0 work in progress as Raptors look for right combinations
Toronto had a great second unit last season, but replicating it is easier said than done
SAN FRANCISCO — The group that came to be known as The Bench Mob became the darlings of Toronto Raptors fans last season, a group of mainly young and unproven players who took the National Basketball Association and the team’s fan base by storm.
Energetic, uptempo, able to win games while the more senior starters sat and watched many a fourth quarter, they were stars.
They also spoiled things for anyone expecting the same this year.
There were expectations that things would continue unabated, that the Bench Mob 2.0 would be the same as the original, that coach Nick Nurse could run out two groups of five different players and all would be well in the Raptors world.
Not so much and one of the originals wants to make sure everyone understands that.
“You can’t expect different guys to replicate what other guys did,” Fred VanVleet said before the Raptors struck out on a fourgame road trip that lands here Wednesday. “It’s not as easy as just plugging in OG (Anunoby) for Pascal (Siakam) or Jonas (Valanciunas) for Jakob (Poeltl) or whoever the case might be. Even C.J. (Miles) for Norm (Powell).
“It’s a different group. That’s not to say we can’t be as effective, but the notion that we have to do exactly what the bench did last year? I mean I think we should probably let that go and focus on what we can do as a bench unit this year.”
It’s true that one-in, one-out alterations cannot work the same, the personal dynamics are different, the roles are different, the group’s usage is different. To expect the same dominance from different personnel is ridiculous.
But it is now up to Nurse to figure out how to mix and match players from two separate groups because five on and then five more isn’t working.
The coach has already toyed a bit with different substitution patterns but he’s too often been caught with five backups on the floor and it’s not working well. Some nights, the subs hold their own but, on too many occasions so far this season, they’ve struggled and haven’t helped the starting group enough.
He sounded Sunday more than willing to discard the distinct groups approach.
“I’m going to have to look at the tape before we decide that,” he said when asked if he could stick with the five backups playing at the same time idea. “Obviously that’s two games in a row (Friday and Sunday) and a couple of stints (in Sunday’s loss to Milwaukee) that they really weren’t as productive as they need to be.
“They don’t need to set the world on fire, they just need to hold serve a little better. Some really good players there that aren’t playing well enough collectively and individually. We’ve got to get them going.”
Nurse has to decide just how drastic any change will be.
Does he stagger the minutes for the starters better so that one or two are always on the court?
Does he move someone from the starting lineup to the backup group for more balance and a change in roles?
It’s not all on the coach, of course. Miles hasn’t played well often enough, Anunoby hasn’t taken an expected leap, Valanciunas can’t give the second unit the kind of athletic boost that Siakam did.
All of them have to be better. “We’re still figuring out our roles and our rotations,” VanVleet said. “I think the hardest part is everyone wanted to take a leap forward. We all had great years last year. I signed a contract, OG had a great year as a starter, we come back better players, but the roles are different so you have to figure out how to maximize the minutes that you get and just trying to stay even-keeled and go out there. It’s a process. We’ll figure it out as the year goes on. I’m not too concerned about it.”
‘‘ The notion that we have to do exactly what the bench did last year? I mean I think we should probably let that go and focus on what we can do as a bench unit this year. FRED VANVLEET Raptors guard