Duo brings plenty to table
But just how long will Johnson, Patterson tandem last?
TORONTO — Quite justifiably, Jonas Valanciunas projects as the fulcrum of the Toronto Raptors’ frontcourt for the next five years.
He is seven-feet tall, with agility that defies his height. He is powerful and is beginning to show signs of being a dominant offensive post player. With time and hard work, he could turn into one of the league’s five best centres in the foreseeable future.
Right now, he might be the Raptors’ third most valuable big man.
Valanciunas has dominated on the glass and has generally outplayed the declining Kevin Garnett of the Brooklyn Nets. However, he will never have the versatility of Amir Johnson and Patrick Patterson. When they are together on the floor, defensive magic happens.
“Amir is pretty much like me,” Patterson said Wednesday before the Raptors took off for New York.
Thursday, they practised at Brooklyn’s Barclays Center where they will play Game 3 of their firstround series Friday evening.
“We’re pretty much the same: Active, energetic, able to move our feet, use our quickness and be vertical at the rim, block shots, get rebounds and just cover a lot of space out there.”
That is beautiful in the short term, but it will become problematic as soon as the year ends.
Having both players on the Raptors roster is a luxury and it might be something general manager Masai Ujiri decides his team cannot afford.
The playoffs slow down time, so let’s worry about that later. Johnson and Patterson might represent the ideal frontcourt to battle the smaller, older Nets. Both have the size that allowed the Raptors to dominate the glass in Game 2, but also enough quickness to deal with the Nets’ perimeter-focused offence.
Both can passably guard bombers Paul Pierce and Mirza Teletovic, and can slide over to deal with the bigger Garnett, Mason Plumlee or Andray Blatche.
They did not play together in Game 1. In Game 2, they played together for 13 minutes and the Raptors outscored the Nets by seven points.
They were important minutes and the result was unsurprising.
During the season, the Raptors outscored their opponents by 41 points in the 228 minutes they played together, mostly on the strength of excellent defence.
Patterson’s three-point shot, lethal since he arrived from Sacramento in December, allows the Raptors enough offensive flexibility for the lineup to work, with Johnson occupying the paint.
They have both received so much due for not getting their proper due during this improbable season that it is now impossible to determine whether or not they have received their right amount of due.
“They can switch,” point guard Kyle Lowry said.
“They talk a little bit, they can do different coverages. We can do a lot of things differently when it’s those two because they’re both mobile and agile and can guard (both frontcourt) positions.”
It is a lovely thing, and maybe an unsustainable one. Johnson is under contract for next year, owed a partially guaranteed $7 million US. The Raptors would be crazy not to fully guarantee that deal — it is bargain for Johnson’s supply of help defence, exceptional screens and efficient scoring.
Patterson, meanwhile, will become a restricted free agent, so long as the Raptors extend him a $4.3-million US qualifying offer. Again, the Raptors will almost certainly do that, but it is unknown how aggressive other teams will be in trying to lure him away.
Accordingly, the Raptors might have to make a difficult choice. With Valanciunas heading toward an expensive contract extension in a summer or two, the Raptors have to consider whether they are willing to have three frontcourt players making above-average salaries. There are not many examples of teams that have that roster composition throughout the league.
So, do you prefer Patterson’s superior shooting and individual defence?
Or do you favour Johnson’s better rim protection and touch around the rim?
It is a nasty query to consider right now, when both are so valuable for all that they bring to the table.