Raptors offence a study in bizarre contrasts
Team among worst in pace, passing but oddly is among the best in getting buckets
There are two undeniable facts about the Toronto Raptors offence, as incongruent as they seem to be.
The bad? The Raptors don’t do a lot of passing, at least not making passes that lead to baskets, and in this era where swift and efficient ball movement is a key to beating athletic defence, that’s a troubling trait.
They are second-last in the NBA in assists, averaging just14.6 per game, a shoddy mark by the standards of the game.
The good? By many of the advanced metrics so in vogue these days, the Raptors have one of the most efficient and effective offences in the game, right up there with the Golden State Warriors, Oklahoma City Thunder and San Antonio Spurs.
They ranked fourth in the NBA according to the league stats, averaging 104 points per 100 possessions, the best in the Eastern Conference going into Tuesday night play.
The Raptors also don’t play particularly fast — they rank in the bottom third of the league in pace — and they don’t waste a lot of time making any extra passes; how can they be bad and good at the same time?
There are no easy answers, so they seem content to just go with the flow.
“We’ve tried, we’ve got the offence in place to promote ball movement but our DNA is catch and put the ball on the floor,” coach Dwane Casey said this week. “Believe me, we’ve tried to change it.
“We’re in the lower rung in assists, but we’re fourth in offensive efficiency or somewhere in the top five. So there’s a give and take with that.”
To be sure, Toronto’s two most effective scorers — DeMar DeRozan and Kyle Lowry — are self-creators offensively, DeRozan is at times lethal in the mid-post and getting midrange jump shots, and Lowry driving to get some shot for himself is a staple of the team’s attack.
They both average more than 20 points a game — no one else on the roster averages even 13 per night — and they combine for more than 33 shots of the 81 the Raptors take on average.
That’s a huge chunk of offence wrapped up in two all-stars who tend at times to operate as individuals rather than in some seamless and selfless offence such as those of the Warriors or the Spurs.
The rest of Toronto’s attack is similar, albeit not as good. Jonas Valanciunas is still trying to master passing out of the post, no one would consid- er Terrence Ross or Patrick Patterson as engineers of a swift ball-moving style, and Luis Scola, DeMarre Carroll and Corey Joseph help generate offence but they also take a back seat to DeRozan and Lowry.
It’s not likely to change dramatically and it probably doesn’t have to given Toronto’s overall efficiency but Casey strives for improvement each day.
“We’ve had spots but we’re still reaching trying to have better ball movement, body movement and balance,” he said.