Forget predictions
Raptors coach likes what he has
Nick Nurse has seen the predictions.
If he views the lack of Raptors talk in the conversation of potential NBA contenders as disrespectful, he’s not saying.
But nor is he backing down from his prediction.
Asked what he thought the Raptors were capable of this year, Nurse didn’t hesitate.
“A lot,” he said. “It’s a good team. I don’t know how it will all shake out, but it’s a good team that’s very capable of winning a lot of games and be really tough to beat, that’s one thing. We got a smart team. They are able to adjust quickly on the fly in games, they can adjust from game-to-game. We’re tough to beat.”
What you won’t see from Nurse’s team this year is a team dependent on one player as it was a year ago with Kawhi Leonard.
When Leonard arrived, the decision was made to put the ball in his hands and go as far as he could take the Raptors.
That turned out to be a good decision.
But along the way there were plenty of opportunities, with Leonard being load-managed so that the Raptors got to see what kind of team they could be in a more democratic approach. In those games, the ball moved from one side of the court to the other and back again until it found an open shooter.
Seventeen wins in 22 games without Leonard a year ago playing that way suggests the Raptors can play another style and still be successful.
“I think it’s hard for people to guard when they don’t really know we’re coming down and giving it to a guy and hope he shoots,” Nurse said. “We just kind of move, read, get off it, swing it, get in the paint, find the open man and keep going.
The biggest thing about it is … pretty much, certainly for the top seven guys we have right now, they’re all gonna shoot the open three. Whenever we can get them into some kind of rotation defensively, somebody should be open out there if we can find him. That makes it real hard to guard.”
Nurse isn’t predicting a second championship. In fact he made no predictions at all. But he knows what works in the NBA and he knows what doesn’t and he’s very comfortable going into the season with the horses he’s got.
That has to count for something.
ROUNDING INTO SHAPE
The Raptors took care of one piece of business on Monday converting Canadian Oshae Brissett’s contract to a two-way deal. It leaves the Raptors roster at 16.
Malcolm Miller, who had a strong training camp and pre-season isn’t part of Nurse’s 10-man rotation just yet but he’s right on the fringe.
Miller is going into his third year with the Raptors but most of his time has been spent with the G-league team in Mississauga.
“He understands what we’re doing,” Nurse said of Miller. “He’s been around a little bit. We’ve been able to use him in the past when we’ve needed him in a pinch, health-wise or whatever, and bring him in. He had a good camp. He’s a spot-up shooter and he made a lot of shots. He gets off it quick when he doesn’t have a shot, kind of a safe pair of hands there. He’s in the hunt to get out there and play at the wing position right away. He’s really close to being in the rotation.”
THIRD POINT GUARD
When training camp began, the idea was to hopefully have Terrence Davis show enough at the point guard position
— he’s more of a natural twoguard than a point — that the Raptors could use him behind Kyle Lowry and Fred Vanvleet. That no longer appears to be the plan. Davis, like Miller, has shown enough in camp that he’s either in the rotation or right on the outside looking in but enough that he will stick with the team. He’s just not going to be counted on to play the point.
“Pat’s (Mccaw) probably got some more minutes there when he gets back,” Nurse said of the only NBA player who can boast to be part of each of the three past NBA champions. “We’re messing around a little with Pascal (Siakam) playing there. We’re gonna do it. We’re gonna see how it goes. It needs some repetition and a look-see. We’ll get a look-see at it and see how it goes and see what problems we encounter and see how we can combat those things if there are any.”