Raptors’ new honcho’s not married to the Mob

TORONTO — The discussion turned to changing roles with the Toronto Raptors, where starters might be backups some nights and backups could find themselves as starters, when C.J.

Miles was asked where he might prefer to fit it.

“You know me,” he said. “Mob ’til I die.”

One of the more intriguing plans new head coach Nick

Nurse is toying with as the National Basketball Association season opens for the Raptors on Wednesday night is perhaps breaking up the team’s vaunted Bench Mob that was dominant at so many times last year.

The process has already begun — Jakob Poeltl was shipped off to San Antonio in the DeMar DeRozan-for-Kawhi Leonard trade, robbing the Raptors bench unit of one of its consistent pieces — and there’s no telling how far Nurse will go in dismantling the group.

Does Pascal Siakam move at times into the starting lineup to relegate Serge Ibaka to a second-unit role? Can Ibaka start at centre some nights and move Jonas Valanciunas to the bench? Leonard unquestionably starts at small forward, so what does that mean for OG Anunoby?

The only thing for certain is things will not be the same as they were last season, as much as Miles would like that and as fond as fans were of the five-man unit of Fred VanVleet, Delon Wright, Miles, Siakam and Poeltl and its game-changing style of play.

“I think we all have brains here, we can assume Kyle (Lowry) and Kawhi’s spots are locked in and anything outside of that will be fluid depending on matchups and who’s playing well and who we’re playing,” VanVleet said. “I think that kind of gives us a bit more continuity and have more of a mix.

“Last year it was like having two separate teams; it was like football almost where you had five in five out. So I think it’ll be a bit more meshed.”

But the Bench Mob, RIP, was beloved, even if it turns out to be a one-year wonder. It played more quickly as a group than the first unit did, Siakam’s ability to run the floor was eye-opening and VanVleet became a de facto closer in tight games, seamlessly transitioning from the second group to the starting unit, usually sending Anunoby to the bench so VanVleet could play alongside Lowry and DeRozan.

Nurse wants the same production from the second group but less of a dramatic change between it and the starting five. He seeks more balance in speed and style of play and the ability to mix and match more often. Last year, head coach Dwane Casey loved the production he got from running out five backups, but if Nurse can blend the two groups it will ensure some familiarity when rotations are traditionally cut back in the playoffs.

“I think we have a pretty good second unit there if we do it similar to the way we did it last year,” Nurse said. “Who replaces Poeltl is yet to be seen. Again we are going to try and keep things a little more versatile.”

So the Bench Mob, such a fun part of a 59-win team a season ago, may be no more.

“Maybe it’ll be a different fiveman unit this time, maybe a mix of two bench guys and a few starters,” VanVleet said. “We didn’t know what it was going to be like last year, it just worked out that way. We found something that worked for us and we ran with it. I think this year will be the same. We’ll take some lumps and get knocked down and have bad games and we’ll lose some and throughout that process we’ll find ourselves and keep building.”