Numbers don’t work in Patterson’s favour
RAPTORS: Power forward must learn to work with Valanciunas
BURNABY — Patrick Patterson wants to be a starter.
Who doesn’t want to start in the NBA? It’s a huge difference maker come negotiation time, to say nothing of the ego boost having your name called every game as the starting five get announced.
There’s also the ego boost that comes with knowing you are one of 150 players in the world who can make that boast.
And Patterson is going to get that opportunity over the next four weeks.
With Amir Johnson having signed a lucrative free-agent deal in Boston, the starting power forward position is open. As last year’s backup to Johnson, Patterson is the expected front-runner to fill the role, but it’s not a fait accompli.
The team brought in veteran Luis Scola fresh off an MVP tournament at the FIBA Americas. At 35, Scola is closer to the final whistle of his career than he is the beginning, but he’s clearly got plenty left in the tank, as he showed in Mexico, and remains a viable starting option should the Raptors choose to go that way.
He’s a savvy, all-around player who makes those around him better.
The decision though won’t come down to who is necessarily the better player. Head coach Dwane Casey is more concerned with fit than ability — and that fit is tied directly to starting centre Jonas Valanciunas.
Casey says the decision will come down to who gives the Raptors the best fit playing alongside his young centre. And that may not be the best news where Patterson is concerned. How Scola and Valanciunas fit together remains to be seen.
As Patterson admits, when he and Jonas Valanciunas were on the floor together last season, the Raptors were not a very efficient or productive team. The numbers don’t lie.
Of the five different five-man units used during the regular season last year that included Valanciunas and Patterson, none outscored their opponents and two were at the bottom of that list, with opponents scoring 14.1 and 11.2 field goals more than the Raptors while those particular five man units were on the court.
Patterson, though, isn’t willing to concede it will always be that way. He is confident those numbers can be improved with better communication between him and the young Lithuanian, and perhaps better understanding what is needed from each.
“It’s all about me and JV talking and communicating and finishing plays with rebounds,” Patterson said. “Me not solely relying on JV to get the rebound. Me making a conscious effort to go to the glass and finish with a rebound. Talking to him whether to show and him rotating out to my man and me taking his or if he’s on the perimeter and it’s just talking to him about staying down on the pump fake and guarding his man. It’s all about communication and talking.”
Ironically, a lack of talking, and a lack of communication among the Raptors was the one negative takeaway head coach Dwane Casey had from Day 1 of training camp at the Fortius Sport & Health Centre.
But this is not a decision that will be made off of one day of practice. Casey and his staff want to see which combinations work best fund will likely use the full pre-season before making a decision.
As Casey said back in Toronto, it may be a case of the better player coming off the bench to ensure a better overall efficiency for the team.