Bench mob will be put to work in playoffs
Raptors don’t plan on sitting effective young players
Using their bench as a placeholder until the rested starters return to action hasn’t been the case in many months now for the Toronto Raptors.
Right from training camp, this young group and its Bench Mob Dad, 31-year-old CJ Miles, have been a starting unit in its own right.
They have held leads, extended leads and outright won games for the Raptors.
So on the eve of Game 1 of their Eastern Conference quarterfinal series with the Washington Wizards, the notion of limiting their impact on games now that the playoffs have begun seemed almost comical to the coaches and players.
Head coach Dwane Casey, who has been openly challenging anyone who suggested NBA protocol dictates he MUST shorten his rotation, remains firm in the belief that what was good enough to get him and his team a No. 1 seed and 59 wins is just as good in the second season.
Casey is leaving himself some wiggle room. Factors like, say, Fred VanVleet being questionable for the opener with a sore shoulder would obviously affect the rotation, although VanVleet is saying he will play.
But with all the Raptors healthy, Casey would like to stick to the script when possible.
“Our record ... we had the No. 1 bench plus-minus in the league, one of the best producing benches in the league and that’s who we are and that’s one of the main reasons I say that and we’ll stick to that; is that going to change as the playoffs go on, if we have to adjust matchups in certain situations? Maybe, but we’re not going into it thinking that.”
The Raptors are going to stick to the share-the-minutes, share-the-responsibility and share-the-ball approach that got them here.
Not even the cautionary tale of putting too much on a young player come playoff time is going to sway the approach.
Despite an average age of 25.2 years, which is bolstered by old man Miles at 31, the Raptors’ second unit has been and will have to be a key cog in any success.
What most Raptors’ fans probably don’t appreciate is just how much work went into making this unit the success it is.
VanVleet, Delon Wright, Pascal Siakam and Jakob Poeltl spent the majority of their summer working out together in gyms from Toronto to Los Angeles and even Las Vegas, perfecting the flow offence at the root of the Raptors’ offensive success. By the time they arrived at training camp in Victoria, this quartet were the teachers and the returning vets their students.
Even midway through the season, the bench mob would talk of the starters vs. bench runs in practice and how competitive they were.
Those long summer days in the gym should continue to pay off for the Raptors now that they’re 16 wins away from the ultimate goal.