Early games against Warriors, Spurs to put Raptors’ ‘ culture reset’ to the test
The Toronto Raptors are about to find out if their culture reset has been successful.
A second- round sweep by the Cleveland Cavaliers in last year’s playoffs painted a potentially bleak future for the Raptors. The NBA was trending toward a different style - fast- paced, freeflowing, three- point shooting - and the Raptors were being left behind.
But rather than overhaul the roster, the team revamped its offence.
Ideally, ball movement and three- point shooting will replace one- on- one play. The Raptors showed glimpses of it in the pre- season, the ball whipping around through a free- flowing offence. Perfected by teams such as Golden State and San Antonio, it’s a style that difficult to defend, and tough to scout. Teams can befuddle opponents with their offensive imagination.
“( If) I don’t know where the ball is going, damn sure the defence is not going to know where it’s going,” coach Dwane Casey said. “( As) long as it doesn’t go in the third row up in the stands, we’ll be OK.”
The Raptors open the regular season Thursday when they host the Chicago Bulls at the Air Canada Centre, then are home to Philadelphia on Saturday. Then they head west for not only their longest road trip of the season, but an immediate test of their Toronto Raptors forward Pascal Siakam ( 43) dunks the ball against the Chicago Bulls during the first half of an NBA preseason basketball game Friday, in Chicago.
new style. They face San Antonio and Golden State in their third and fourth games of the season.
The Raptors were last in the league in assists last season at 18.5 a game, barely half that of league- leading Warriors’ 30.4. They were also in the bottom third in three- point shots attempted, at 24.3 per game.
The end result was a 51- win season and a second- round exit at the hands of Cleveland, which clobbered Toronto with a flurry of three- point shots. It wasn’t nearly good enough for president Masai Ujiri, who spoke of the need for a “culture reset” when the team headed into the summer.
“It’s a fun way to play,” Casey said of style makeover. “That’s the way the game is going, it’s harder to scout. The game is so sophisticated now that teams scout you so well they know exactly what you’re going to do before you even get the rest of the sentence out of your mouth as a coach.
“This style, the way we want to go, is hard to prepare for. ( Opponents) can’t help on Kyle ( Lowry), they can’t help on DeMar ( DeRozan), they can’t double- team them as quickly. They’ll figure it out eventually but it’ll take them a little while if they don’t know where the ball is going.”
Ujiri retained the team’s core, re- signing Lowry to a three- year deal in the off- season worth US$ 100, and Serge Ibaka to a three- year deal worth $ 65 million.
The Raptors acquired Ibaka at last season’s trade deadline but the big man barely had time to develop any chemistry with Lowry before the playoffs. Lowry missed 21 games after wrist surgery and returned just before the post- season.