Casey confident slump isn’t Powell’s new norm
Norm Powell made three shots, including a three-pointer, the last time the Raptors played, which was as many baskets as he’d made in five previous games and many were pleased with the seven-point output in his 15 minutes on the court.
The man who controls playing time, however, was looking for more than raw numbers and offensive output. Coach Dwane Casey, who ultimately has the final say on how much Powell or any other Raptor gets to do, was more interested in the stuff that doesn’t appear in the boxscore. The points are nice, but not vital because others will score. It’s the work ethic that matters most of all.
“Sometimes a young kid’s thing will be . . . offensively you don’t make a shot, you make a turnover and you carry it back down to the other end,” Casey said. “You think you’re playing hard, but you really don’t execute defensively what you’re supposed to and get involved defensively.
“Some nights you can’t control the ball going in the basket but you can control how fast you run back, how physical you are when the shot goes up, keeping the ball in front of you defensively,”
It’s not just Powell — who signed a four-year extension worth $42 million U.S. in October — because consistent hustle and effort needs to be a team-wide standard set by the coach. “The main thing with Norm — and I showed him on film — is the hardplay plays, the hustle plays more than shot selection, more than decisions, more than anything else,” Casey said. “Just more plays he can control, the hustle plays, the physicality that you can have, the positions he can get into to help defensively. Then I think, really, the offence will soon come around because I think he’s just putting so much pressure on himself thinking about offence.”
Powell’s struggles of late — he hasn’t scored in double figures since Dec. 17 against Sacramento, and hasn’t played more than 17 minutes in a game in two weeks — have been glaring. At times he’s forcing his offence too much and letting missed shots affect his effort getting back on defence, and he hasn’t had a major impact on a game in some time.
“I don’t think it’s any different from any time I have struggled before,” he said last week. “It’s just on a higher level. You are in the NBA and everyone sees it. I’ve been through it before in all phases of my career.
“You are going to go through struggles. I don’t call it a slump. It’s just little miscues and not making the shots when you are open. I’m only taking three or four shots and you only get a handful. If I make two of the threes (in Wednesday’s loss in Oklahoma City) this is a different story. It’s just trying to make plays that are positive and don’t take away from the team.”
The Raptors aren’t about to lose faith in Powell, who is just in his third season and the owner of myriad athletic skills. He’s going to get a chance to play through any blips in his offensive game as long as he keeps giving Casey effort off the ball.
“Norm’s still a young player in this league, and we have all the faith in the world he’s going bounce out of it,” Casey said last week. “He’s going through a little slide right now. Talented, tough, we’re still going to continue to play him, to make sure he continues to get the reps and the experience that he needs to develop.”