Multiple issues on defence have Raptors scrambling
Trade market could be solution to problems
TORONTO • You cannot slide any implications by Kyle Lowry. The Toronto Raptors point guard can read subtext. A curious reporter must prepare with that in mind.
After the Raptors’ loss against Brooklyn on Wednesday, in which the team’s defence allowed a high number of disturbingly uncontested floaters and three-pointers, Lowry was prompted to consider the team’s poor perimeter defence.
“What do you mean by perimeter defence?” Lowry asked rhetorically, knowing that a lot of the blame inherent in the query was directed, although not exclusively, at the Raptors’ all-star. “There are a lot of teams running pick-and-rolls on us and they are doing things where we have to help each other and scramble. I don’t think there are any individual or oneon-one breakdowns. I think it’s the schemes they are running, pick-androlls, making us [help on rolling big men] and scramble. They are doing a good job of figuring out what we are going to do defensively, and they are getting to the right spots.”
A translation: NBA offences are too good for the Raptors’ defence right now. Dwane Casey and Masai Ujiri will have to determine if that statement is true without the “right now” part as the trade deadline approaches.
The hope that DeMar DeRozan’s return from injury would cure the defensive issues has died. Before Thursday’s NBA games, the Raptors ranked 17th in the league in points allowed per possession since DeRozan came back on Jan. 14. That is an improvement on their performance without DeRozan, but it is also an incomplete truth: Of the 13 games that they have played during that stretch, four have been against teams in the top half of the league in offensive efficiency, while nine have been against teams in the bottom half, including two against Philadelphia, the NBA’s worst scoring team. The Raptors’ defence has performed in mediocre fashion against largely tepid opposition.
Meanwhile, the Raptors’ next eight games come against teams with above-average offences. The Clippers, who score more efficiently than any team in the league, visit Toronto on Friday. If the Raptors’ defence does not take a huge leap over the next few weeks, it will be exposed in an embarrassing way.
It starts with stopping dribble penetration, which has been the team’s biggest issue; it is why Lowry bristled at the query as he did. Alas, it is not the only concern.
“[Wednesday] night, there were a few times where the big guys were stretched out; they were supposed to be in the gap to help the guy [guarding] the ball,” Casey said. “It’s a team thing. When you get by [the first helper, the next helper] has a rotational responsibility. It’s not just on one guy. Yes, that’s where the problem starts, ball containment. But there are other safety measures behind that, to help him and help the measure.”
“It seems to be widespread,” forward Patrick Patterson added. “Certain games [there are] more areas [of concern] than others. Last game, for instance, against Brooklyn, it seemed like it was perimeter — not just the wings, but also the bigs closing out on the perimeter.
“Prior to that, against Milwaukee, it was transition and offensive rebounding again.”
It is precisely that — the existence of multiple issues on defence — that makes it hard to fix things. The pres-
That’s where the problem starts, ball containment
sure will be on the guards and swingmen to simply stay with opposing ball-handlers longer, as each 10th of a second that they can contain their man means less time for the opposition to create havoc, and less time that the Raptors’ other defenders have to scramble around the floor to make up for the initial error. (That could also mean a bigger role for James Johnson, the team’s best oneon-one defender, when he gets back from his hamstring injury.)
As well, Casey, DeRozan and Patterson all said that the Raptors have proven that they can defend well, pointing to last season’s top-10 rating, as well as November’s. DeMar DeRozan suggested the team will use the all-star break to rest and refocus, but the evidence is mounting that this is a bad defensive team, full stop, and previous stretches of good defence are the outliers. No amount of time off will permanently alter that.
With that in mind, Casey might have to consider switching to a more conservative defensive scheme that involves less scrambling, and Ujiri will have to scour the trade market for more impact defenders on the perimeter. The Raptors remain second in the Eastern Conference, a wonderful spot. On one side of the ball, however, drastic measures might very well be required.