National Post (National Edition)
RAPTORS NEED ‘THE PRACTICE.’
LEONARD, MATES NOT LOOKING AT ALL PLAYOFF-READY
Kawhi Leonard’s weekend statement that the whole of the regular season, all 82 games, was “just practice” for him, counts as the most interesting thing he has said all year.
It is, admittedly, a short list. There was the time at his introductory press conference where he said he was a fun guy, which only makes sense if he thinks “fun” is a synonym for “completely inscrutable.”
If we widen the definition of “said” to include all sounds that come out of his mouth, there was his awkward laugh at the same press conference, which underscored that ebullience does not come naturally, even for a noted fun guy.
And there was his admission at All-star Weekend that Toronto is cold, after which the Raptors front office presumably sent him some mittens and one of those furry hats with flaps over the ears.
But the regular-season-ispractice thing was interesting enough on its own. It’s the clearest statement yet that Leonard’s frequent loadmanagement breaks have not just been about keeping the stress on his body light as he works back from a season in which he played just nine games and essentially split from the San Antonio Spurs because they disagreed on the proper course of treatment for his leg injury.
He’s also missed so many of those games this season — 18 so far — because no one much cares if the Raptors win them.
This has not been without controversy. A chunk of the fan base gets all roiled up whenever Leonard sits and it’s reasonable to wonder whether the Raptors should be mollycoddling their new(ish) star when the rest of the roster is expected to play when healthy.
Kyle Lowry is five years older than Leonard and he throws himself all over the court like a pinball. Lowry has played six more games than Leonard despite a wonky back.
But, Leonard has a point. If ever there was a team that has experience with the relative meaninglessness of the regular season, it is the Toronto Raptors.
In 2014, they set a franchise record for wins, and then lost in the first round of the playoffs. In 2015, they set a franchise record for wins, and lost in the first round. In 2016, they set a franchise record for wins, and finally managed to win a couple of playoff series, but even those were scratch-and-claw seven-game affairs against inferior teams.
And, even though Toronto has been heartlessly tossed aside by the Cleveland Cavaliers in the post- season in each of the past three seasons years, with the Raptors as the mouse and Lebron James as the bored cat, it is the Raptors that have been the better regular-season team during that period, with 166 wins to 158 for Cleveland. The Boston Celtics are third-best, with 156 wins.
Last year was the most extreme example of the pointlessness of the first 82, as Toronto romped to the top seed, James ho-hummed his way to a four seed, and then the Cavs swept the Raptors anyway.
It is no wonder that Toronto head coach Nick Nurse came into the season insisting he didn’t care about win totals: All those Ws have ever done is give Raptors fans false hope.
Would the team have won more games so far if Leonard’s load had not been quite so managed? Almost certainly. Would that matter? It hasn’t before.
The more important question is whether, in sitting Leonard so often, the Raptors have hurt their ability to fully integrate him into the team?
In Toronto’s grim 107-95 loss to the Houston Rockets at Scotiabank Arena on Tuesday, a result that had more to do with the Raptors bench getting blown off the floor than anything the starters did, there remained signs that Leonard’s teammates are still not sure what to do with him.
He plowed into multiple Houston defenders at times and took tough shots instead of looking to pass; he finished with just one assist. At one point in the fourth quarter, after Leonard had made a couple of jump shots, the Raptors moved the ball nicely and found Danny Green open in the corner — one of his favourite spots. But he dished to Leonard — perhaps thinking this was supposed to be Kawhi Time — and he forced a pass to Pascal Siakam, who forced up an awkward turnaround shot that missed. It was a not a play from an offence that was humming.
Nurse, intriguingly, said before the game he didn’t expect a lot of load management for the remaining 17 games on the schedule.
“We’ve had so many injuries that we’ve load-managed ourselves right into perfect load management,” Nurse said. “So we’re good.”
That might be wishful thinking on his part. The Raptors have two back-tobacks left, with the second games in each against Cleveland and New York, neither of which would pose a stern test. Will Leonard sit again?
Lowry, after the Rockets loss, said the Raptors can still raise their level even if they aren’t all on the floor consistently.
“I think guys are professional enough, guys have a feel for each other enough where we know what each other wants to do,” he said.
And yet, if Leonard is correct in that the first 82 games are practice, the evidence suggests he and his teammates could use a little more of it.
(THE RAPTORS) AREN’T ALL ON THE FLOOR CONSISTENTLY.