Scola stepping up
With Jonas Valanciunas out for 6 weeks with a fracture in his left hand, it’s centre-by-committee for the Toronto Raptors. And the biggest beneficiary of the absence of the big Lithuanian might be Luis Scola, who has filled the void nicely over the last two games.
Scola put up 15 points on 7-of-11 shooting with seven rebounds and one steal in 30 minutes in the win vs. the Cavs on Wednesday. In Sunday’s win over the Clippers, he dropped 20 points on 8-of-16 shooting, adding eight rebounds, one assist, one 3-pointer through 31 minutes.
Those two games constitute the most minutes Scola has played for Toronto this year.
The 35 year-old big man is not concerned with the extended minutes or the extra toll of spending time at centre. “I’ve been playing the five before, I’ve been playing 30-plus minutes before, so it’s not something that is new for me,” Scola said matter-of-factly after Friday’s practice at the Air Canada Centre.
The added offensive output is something Scola feels is sustainable in Valaincuinas’s absence. “I always score points in the places I’ve been,” he said before elaborating on his role. “On this team we have a couple of first options in DeMar [DeRozan] and Kyle [Lowry], and that’s the way it has to be. When those guys need someone to rely on everybody else has to be ready to take the shot because of the attention they cause. There are going to be spaces that we need to be ready to use and I’ve been ready when the ball comes to me.”
One of those spaces has been behind the three-point line, specifically from the corner. Coming in to this season Scola had connected on just ten three pointers in eight years. As a Raptor in 2015 Scola has 12 in just 16 games while shooting 50% from deep, the best percentage on the team.
On his touch from beyond the arch Scola smiled as he tucked his trademark hair behind his ears. “I’ve been working on it,” he said. “It is something I haven’t done before but It’s going well. I’m working a little bit extra on it to keep it going.”
Scola is also putting in extra work building chemistry with incumbent starter Bismack Biyombo. “I try to talk to him a little bit in the game and in timeouts,” said Scola, “just figuring out how we can interact together to help the team and give each other info when we are playing in place of one another. He is very vocal on defense so it is a joy to play with him.”
Valanciunas active despite injury
Despite the fracture to the fourth metacarpal, Jonas Valanciunas was busy at work in practice. With a soft cast on his hand Director of Sports Science, Alex McKechnie, put Valanciunas through a strenuous workout. JV worked on agility drills with McKechnie well after practiced commenced.
Valanciunas averaged 12.7 points and 9.3 rebounds— both career-highs— in 14 games before his injury.
“We talked to James”
Raptors Executive Vice President of Basketball Operations Jeff Weltman had an extended conversation with James Johnson after practice. One can only assume the subject matter was his role on the team given a recent Johnson tweet:
Which was later followed by:
The tone of the conversation didn’t seem like a scolding but more of an honest conversation.
When asked about it, Dwane Casey intimated it is a non-issue “We talked to James,” the head coach said. “It’s been handled internally. Everybody understands their role and we move on.” In any organization open lines of communication are key so while Johnson would acknowledge the platform of his frustrations wasn’t the best, the fact that he and Weltman engaged in discourse is a positive.