Raptors go deeper into the long game
The shots come seemingly out of nowhere when an NBA guard gets three or four steps over midcourt and lets fly a deep, deep, deep three-pointer.
It’s a shot that brings oohs and ahs from the fans, looks of incredulity from defenders sometimes, and one that represents another step in the evolution of the game that’s almost to the point where no shot is a bad shot.
They are the quick-triggered 30- or 33-footers made popular and possible by the unlimited range of Golden State’s Stephen Curry and now copied by guards throughout the league. It was not always like that. “That early three, we used to hate that shot,” Charlotte Hornets coach James Borrego said last week. “You would pull guys out (of the game) for that shot. Now it’s a valuable shot. I think almost every team has at least one guy who can do that.”
Raptors fans see it often from Kyle Lowry, who’s been on a blistering shooting pace to begin the season, a difficult night in Milwaukee on Monday notwithstanding.
It’s like something all of a sudden twigs in his mind: He sees a defender backing off and he doesn’t care how far he is from the basket. It’s a shot he’s got in his arsenal and one that he works on, and he lets it rip.
“When he lets them go, it still draws a gasp from the crowd, right? Even though he’s still doing it,” Raptors coach Nick Nurse said of Lowry.
“We talked about him doing it from deeper and deeper this summer. I said, ‘Keep working on it, keep extending it,’ because what happens is, if they’ve got to pull out and guard that, you’re hesitating and going around them and creating another problem for them.”
The secret now that the game is changing so rapidly to a three-point-based system is finding more players who are not only willing to take deep threes but to make them. Players such as Lowry and Curry and Kemba Walker of Charlotte and James Harden in Houston have proven they are capable, and every team is looking for more.
In Toronto, that’s Fred VanVleet, Lowry’s backup, who is being asked to extend his range to make him more dangerous.
“We’re trying to get Fred to work on that deep one a little bit and see if we can get a couple of other guys working on it, too,” Nurse said.
VanVleet isn’t necessarily looking for permission, though. He just wants to make sure he isn’t going to get pulled from the game if he hoists up a few. He was particularly interested to hear that Nurse gave his blessing for the shots.
“Did he say that? All right. It’s on record,” VanVleet said. “So when I have an argument with him after the game … I’ll make sure I look up where he said it at.”
One thing that does buoy VanVleet is that he sees how successful his teammate Lowry has been and how it creates driving space to get in the paint and create havoc, simply by forcing defenders to guard more space.
It’s as if one point guard gets confidence by osmosis and teammates are used to seeing longer and longer shots go up, so they aren’t taken by surprise.
“I shoot any shot I want to and I deal with the consequences later, but (Lowry) sets the bar pretty high, for sure,” VanVleet said. “Feels like he never misses them.
“You have to be able to shoot it at our size. Obviously shooting a good percentage is vital to be able to shoot it from that range (because it) gives you so much more … to work with. You have to pick guys like Kyle up from right across half court.”
“I shoot any shot I want to and I deal with the consequences later, but (Lowry) sets the bar pretty high, for sure.” FRED VANVLEET RAPTORS GUARD