Nothing is free for outsiders on offence
They talk as though it’s some great unsolved mystery, or maybe an NBA conspiracy.
Why can’t the Raptors get to the free-throw line more often than they do? Their 20.2 attempts a game, after all, rank 25th in the league, putting them on pace for the lowest franchise mark in more than a decade. Going back to the first game of the season, head coach Nick Nurse has called getting to the charity stripe with more regularity “a high priority.”
Nurse, routinely suggests it’s the NBA’s officials who are at fault for this gross injustice, an argument that seems to be popular in some corners of the fan base. The notion that the Raptors, as the only franchise headquartered outside the United States, have long been given the shaft from the league office has been perpetuated by various occupants of the Toronto organization going back decades. So a coach probably can’t lose blaming his team’s woes on mysterious forces beyond his control and above his pay grade.
“I’m going to save my money on that,” Nurse told reporters after he was asked to explain why Toronto shot just 12 free throws to Milwaukee’s 26 in Wednesday night’s loss to the Bucks.
When the game is on, of course, Nurse has never been shy about vehemently arguing his team’s case. Since he took over the team in 2018-19, Nurse has racked up 20 technical fouls in 172 games, first among NBA coaches over that span.
Whether you consider his sideline surliness as essential lobbying in the perpetual search of an advantage or unseemly whining in the absence of dignity, lately it doesn’t appear to be helping the Raptors in their quest to shoot more free throws. As it is, franchise point guard Kyle Lowry leads the Raptors with 4.2 free throw attempts a game. Every other team in the league has a player averaging more than that. A handful of franchises have a player averaging more than double that.
Asked why the Raptors didn’t find themselves at the at the line more often in Wednesday’s loss to the Bucks, Lowry seemed to throw up his hands: “That part I just can’t explain,” he said.
Which is only weird because the explanation isn’t particularly complicated. For one thing, this season’s version of the Raptors seems unusually happy playing what Jack Armstrong calls the “suburban game” — a style rife with low-resistance jump shots that largely avoids the in-the-paint punishment endemic to the Brooklyn-bred Armstrong’s preferred “city game.”
Heading into Thursday’s slate of contests, the Raptors were shooting more three-pointers than any team in the league. Heck, they were shooting three-pointers at a per-game clip that would surpass almost every team in the league’ history — jacking up more than 43 a game, on pace for the thirdhighest rate in the NBA record book behind a couple of Houston Rockets teams of recent vintage.
So they’re enamoured with the three-point jump shot. And they’re competent enough at turning those bombs into points, ranking eighth in the league in three-point percentage at 37.7. Which makes some sense, given an off-season that saw them largely fail to replace the post presence of the departed Serge Ibaka and Marc Gasol.
Still, something’s missing. The Raptors, with their 7-11 overall record, are 1-6 against teams with .500-or-better records. And the fact they lead the league in attempting threepointers classified as “wideopen” and “open,” according to NBA.com, tells you something.
It suggests their opponents, more often than not, are happy to see Toronto firing up long jumpers if it means keeping them out of the paint and off the free-throw line.
Certainly that approach is working wonders against Toronto’s all-NBA forward, Pascal Siakam, who continues to struggle through a blasé season. Even as he reached his career high point during last year’s regular season, Siakam never showed much of a knack for getting to the free-throw line. And this year he’s been even worse at the endeavour, averaging fewer than four attempts a game.
“It’s tough when you go out there and don’t feel like you’re getting the whistle or whatever the case might be, but I’ve got to finish through contact on my part, continue to get better at that, being stronger at the rim,” Siakam told reporters earlier this month.
“I don’t control the whistle, I don’t know what’s happening there. But I’ve got to look at myself.”
One thing is for sure: Siakam isn’t getting near the rim often enough. Just 25 per cent of his field-goal attempts have come from inside three feet this season, a career low. Only a couple of seasons ago, he shot closer to half his shots from that range.
But Siakam isn’t the only culprit. Toronto ranks below the league average in field-goal attempts at the rim.
And if you watch the games, you know why. The Raptors aren’t particularly skilled at turning paint penetration into points. Only the Trail Blazers were scoring less off the drive than the Raptors heading into Thursday’s games.
So blame Siakam’s funk. Or maybe blame Toronto’s undersized backcourt. The 34year-old Lowry doesn’t launch himself into the fray as often as he once did. And, on Thursday, Fred VanVleet, citing his lack of success around the rim, explained why he was shooting more from the mid-range this season.
“Just having more tools in your tool box and being harder to guard and taking less punishment at the rim and the whole fight with finishing at the rim,” VanVleet said Thursday.
In lieu of a surplus of players with the ability to drive and finish, the Raptors are content with the drive and kick. They pass off the drive a leaguetopping 49 per cent of the time.
That stat speaks to an appealing unselfishness. It speaks to why they’re leading the league in uncontested three-point attempts. It also says a lot about why they don’t often end up at the charity stripe.
It’s hardly a riddle that’s difficult to unravel. Suburban or urban, it’s hard to get the whistle when you’re driving to dish.
Toronto is attempting more three-pointers than any team, and getting to the free-throw line less often than most