RAPTORS KEEN TO IMPROVE DEFENSIVE SIDE OF THE GAME
New-look team needs fine-tuning on its defensive communication
Kyle Lowry said it for everyone: “We're 0-and-2 and I haven't been this record in a long (expletive) time.”
The last time the Toronto Raptors were two games under .500 was exactly seven years ago today when they were just rolling into form, having recently added Patrick Patterson, Greivis Vasquez, John Salmons and Chuck Hayes from the Sacramento Kings in what was initially a deal orchestrated to dump Rudy Gay's expansive salary and make the Raptors more financially flexible.
The Raptors were six games under .500 when Masai Ujiri made his first big move as Raptors GM with that deal.
They had shaved four games off that deficit less than three weeks later and would go on to finish 14 games over .500. They haven't seen the south side of .500 ... until this season.
With Saturday's loss, the Raptors again revisited that two games sub .500 territory, and to say it wasn't a welcome landing spot would be an understatement.
Along with Lowry's displeasure, there was Fred Vanvleet seemingly caught speechless for the first time in memory when he was asked about the state of Toronto's defence.
Head coach Nick Nurse was still doing an internal boil over a costly game-turning call that went against the Raptors to pay too much heed to a second consecutive defensive egg.
It's fair to say the reason the Raptors are in this early predicament is a direct result of their struggling defence.
But it's also fair to say this wasn't entirely unexpected.
The defence that has been the backbone of this team for a few years now was bound to spring a leak given the departures over the last two years.
First it was Kawhi Leonard and Danny Green jumping ship. Now it's Marc Gasol and Serge Ibaka not returning.
Gone for now is the finetuned chemistry that had all but become second nature to this group.
The good news is the remaining personnel — Lowry, Vanvleet, OG Anunoby and Pascal Siakam — have not forgotten how to play defence. They just have to find that chemistry with the new parts they have added to the group and get back to frustrating offences as they have done so effectively in the past.
“It's not rocket science,” Vanvleet said. “I don't want to say it's an effort thing. I feel like guys are trying out there. We've got to make more plays at a higher level. It's easy to say it on offence when you say guys have got to make plays, you've got to complete the play. But it's the same thing on defence: You've got to make the extra rotation, you've got to make the close out, you've got to come up with the rebound.”
A possession with 30 seconds left in Saturday's game and the outcome very much unknown saw the Spurs pull down three offensive boards with both Anunoby and Chris Boucher flailing around before Lamarcus Aldridge finally hit a jumper, which put the Spurs ahead for good.
“We're trying.” Vanvleet said. “We've got to perform defensively at a higher level each possession. I think we're just not doing it for a full game. We do it in spurts, but I think teams are just a little too comfortable right now, or these last two teams that we played.”
Another area both Lowry and Vanvleet agree needs work within the defence is the communication — and both players say they are as guilty as anyone of perhaps not doing enough in that area.
“Right now that is a short list,” Vanvleet said when asked who among the Raptors are the best talkers on defence. “I am not going to give anybody credit for communicating, myself included. We got to do a much better job of that. So to answer your question, everybody on the team needs to be better on that end of the floor communicating, starting with myself and I think that will help our defence out. I mean there's nobody in the building so there's no excuse to not be talking. It's as quiet as hell out there.”
All that said, it's two games into a new season following a shortened off-season and a shrunk pre-season.
To panic now would be totally contrary to what this team has become first under Dwane Casey and now under Nurse.
The defensive principles remain the same. The know-how is there. It's just a matter of getting some of the old to mesh with some of the new.
“It's an adjustment for the new faces, that's one,” Lowry said in ticking off the issues.
“But I think it's more than one thing. I think it's two games, (a short) pre-season. It's a lot of things that goes into that, everybody making adjustments trying to figure it out.
“You're defence should be a little bit more ahead of your offence right now, and we're just kind of even right now with everything, and it's a brand new situation for everybody ... We've just got to figure it out sooner or later for our team.”
The Raptors will practise today in Philadelphia before taking on the Doc Rivers-coached Philadelphia 76ers on Tuesday night.