TRUE NORTH STRONG AND THREE
Even big-man Pascal Siakam hoisted up a trio of three-point attempts in the Raptors’ pre-season debut, where they launched a team-record 43 — a hint at what lies ahead.
HONOLULU— Somewhere there’s a balance and it will be struck as the Toronto Raptors continue to tweak the way they play to fit in with the NBA style of the times.
A day after his team hoisted 43 three-point attempts in a single game — more than they had ever tried in any game in their 23-year history — coach Dwane Casey wasn’t entirely troubled, because it’s so early and the offence is so much a work in progress.
“Some of them were good, some of them were ill-advised,” Casey said after the team worked out at the University of Hawaii on Monday. “I think some of them were tired threes. Our spacing was bad. It was just, okay, I’ve got to jack up a shot.”
Taking 43 shots from beyond the arc is not sustainable for a team that’s still anchored by the mid-range and driving style of all-star guard DeMar DeRozan. And there’s no way Bruno Caboclo will get up seven threepointers in a game like he did in Sunday’s 121-113 win over the Los Angeles Clippers, so the number will probably settle in around 30 in most games.
Guys such as Kyle Lowry are likely to find three-pointers in the flow of the game rather than from set plays.
“For me, it’s not a real hard switch,” Lowry said Monday. “I’ve been in situations where I’ve been an offthe-ball player, been an on-the-ball player.
“This type of offence isn’t allowing me to necessarily be the focal point, but to be one of the primary scorers in it.”
And that’s the work of training camp and the pre-season, trying to come to grips with a free-flowing offence that’s not too structured and not at all reliant on consistent isolation plays. It will be an ongoing process.
“Guys are working their butts off trying to do it,” Casey said. “It’s not going to happen overnight. It’s not going to happen in one exhibition game. People expecting a magic wand and it (happens)? It’s not going to do that.
“I remember when they put the triangle (offence) in, in L.A. It took them almost a year to get that down. Same thing in Chicago with Jordan. You’re not just going to change your offensively philosophy, and we’re not just totally changing. We’re still going to have set plays in certain situations — ends of games when we want the ball in certain players’ hands.”
The interesting part is that the three-point shots don’t come at some frenetic pace that’s unsustainable.
Casey wants more threes, but he wants them in rhythm rather than just tossed up.
“It’s more ball movement than pace,” he said. “We’re not going to be a zip-it-up-the-floor-type team. (We) just mainly have to make sure we get the ball to the weak side and execute from the weak side.
“I don’t know if we’re going to be a speedster-type team, especially the first unit, but again, we can be a ballmovement team.”
The 43 three-point attempts Sunday yielded only 11 baskets for a wretched 26 per cent efficiency. Some of it can be chalked up to firstgame excitement, some to who was taking the shots.
“I’m not too alarmed by that,” Casey said. “Once we get a rhythm for what we want to do, the three-point shots will fall — 27 per cent won’t get it done too many nights.
“We’ve got to get a rhythm, get our sea legs under us, for three-point shooting. We’ve got to stick with it. We’ve got to have confidence in it.”
“Once we get a rhythm for what we want to do, the three-point shots will fall — 27 per cent won’t get it done too many nights.” RAPTORS COACH DWANE CASEY