Raptors are good, but they need to be great
TORONTO — All things considered, that the Toronto Raptors came through their latest four-game foray to the Western Conference of the National Basketball Association with a 2-2 record has to be seen as something positive, not to mention a welcome surprise.
They played four very good teams in tough road arenas, played two games without Kawhi Leonard, two without Kyle Lowry, 2½ without Jonas Valanciunas, one without either Pascal Siakam or Fred VanVleet and all four without Norm Powell, who might have added some muchneeded depth in a couple of them. So, good? Sort of good.
There are still issues to clean up and troubling trends are developing. The Raptors are good, no question, but this is the year when they want to be great and they are being held to the highest of NBA standards.
Here is a look at four issues while keeping this in mind. The Raptors were never as good as a 12-1 start to the season would indicate, nor are they as bad as their recent 3-5 slide would suggest. It’s finding a middle ground, and being healthy and playing well in April that matters most.
• Can’t shoot well enough
The funny thing about the just-completed trip is that the Raptors shot a respectable 39.6 per cent from three-point range despite some obvious failings.
Sunday in Denver, when they needed someone — anyone — to get hot from beyond the arc, C.J. Miles went 2-for-9 and OG Anunoby went 2-for-8; even an average night from either would have made a difference.
The absence of Lowry and VanVleet certainly plays into any three-point shooting failings, but 31 games into the season, the Raptors shoot 34.8 per cent from three as a team. That’s only good for 20th in the league going into Monday night’s play, and that just won’t cut it.
Someone has to become more consistent from behind the arc or general manager Bobby Webster is going to have to do some serious trade-deadline shopping.
• The rotation, the bench
Much of the confusion and disruption have come because of injuries and absences for a variety of reasons, but coach
Nick Nurse is still doing a lot of experimenting with groupings even at this point in the season.
They’ve yet to come up with a consistent rotation that staggers the playing time of key components, such as Leonard and Lowry, to assure that one of them is on the court at any time.
The days of five Toronto backups playing together and dominating are long gone. It’s up to Nurse and his staff to figure out a rotation, give it time to develop some chemistry and see where it takes them.
There have been extenuating circumstances and Nurse is playing the long game with one eye focused on the post-season and how things work in April, May and June. But players like certainty, or at least consistency, in playing times and roles, and it’s about time to give it to them.
• Getting healthy
It’s been death by a thousand cuts for the Raptors so far, and it has to be infuriating.
The only real long-term debilitating injuries have been to Powell, who hasn’t played since the first week of November — and his talents might have come in handy some nights — and Valanciunas, who won’t play for weeks and whose absence will be sorely missed.
Other than those, it’s been a game here and a game there because of sore backs, tweaked muscles, bruised and banged-up thighs and the like; niggling little injuries that are more disruptive to a roster than debilitating in the long term.
It’s impressive that Toronto has thrived as it has given all the stuff that’s gone on. It would also be nice to see what three weeks or a month with a consistent roster would be like.
• Smooth waters ahead
The big truism about the NBA, or any professional sport, is that teams are never “supposed” to win games because everyone’s a professional and gets paid and tries their best.
Still ...
The Raptors have come through by far the hardest onethird of their schedule pretty well and things turn for the better from now one.
They have only three road trips of three games left — and one of them is interrupted by the Christmas break — and they don’t play west of Texas the rest of the year.
They, along with Philadelphia and New Orleans, have played more games than another team heading into Monday night action.
It’s not easy to win any game at any time against any opponent in the NBA, but schedule makers have given the Raptors a bit of a leg up.