Throughout the 2016-17 NBA season we’ll take a look back at the week that was and set up the week to come in Raptorland.
Nights that a team shoots 35.7 per cent from the field and 23.3 per cent from deep to score a mere 91 points should result in a loss, as was the case when the Toronto Raptors hosted the Sacramento Kings Sunday.
It was a bad loss. No other way to look at it. The Raptors got a weak Kings team riding a four-game losing streak on the second night of a back-to-back and then promptly laid an egg. They missed wide-open shots and never found a rhythm offensively with DeMar DeRozan finally coming back down to earth – although he did end up getting 23.
But games like these will happen over the course of a long 82-game slog. Sometimes a team just doesn’t have it. That’s fine.
What is worrisome, however, is that without DeRozan on fire to rescue them, and with Kyle Lowry struggling from the field, the Raptors still weren’t able to find a reliable tertiary option they could turn to.
Jonas Valanciunas was unavailable Sunday with a left knee contusion the team says he suffered during the week. He was supposedly kept out of Sunday’s contest as a pre-cautionary measure because of some pre-game swelling, but if this develops into a worse situation – as it did with Jared Sullinger in pre-season – the Raptors will need to find a reliable scoring option not named DeRozan or Lowry very quickly because so far the usual suspects that should be filling that spot by committee on a night-by-night basis haven’t shown up yet.
Patrick Patterson, DeMarre Carroll and Cory Joseph have all laboured mightily coming out of the gate. Through Toronto’s first six games, this trio has combined for a dismal 32.4 per cent from the field and an even shoddier 21.1 per cent from three-point range.
In Sunday’s game alone, these three shot a combined 4-for-21 from the field and 1-for-9 from distance, with Carroll and Patterson going 0-for-7 from range.
If the Raptors are to be successful going forward, they absolutely need more from these guys.
Terrence Ross, the other candidate in the rotating platoon of potential third options, has been his usual feast-or-famine self. It’s frustrating, but at the same time with this being his fifth season in the league everyone should know this is who he is by now.
To a similar point, Norman Powell could also perhaps fit into this platoon, but his role appears to be coach Dwane Casey’s perimeter defence safety net in crunch, as evidenced by the fact he was called upon to close the Raptors’ last three games assigned to the opposing team’s best wing scorer – a la Bradley Beal and Rudy Gay. Can Powell score more? Sure, but that isn’t what’s being asked of him, so it shouldn’t be expected. Instead, the onus to up their offensive production falls on Carroll, Patterson and Joseph’s shoulders.
We know they can play better, and more importantly, they know that as well.
Young bigs stepping up
Should the worst-case scenario come to pass and Valanciunas must miss an extended period of time at least it looks as though the Raptors have some options that could help fill the void.
Pascal Siakam, Jakob Poeltl and, most recently, Lucas Nogueira all look good enough in the event of an emergency.
In the case of Siakam, he’s already been thrown into the fire, starting every game for the Raptors so far this season because of the Sullinger injury and has held his own, running the floor hard, setting solid screens and making the occasional jimmy here and there.
Fellow rookie Poeltl has had less opportunity than Siakam but got his first start on Sunday with Valanciunas unavailable. He was forced to go head-to-head against arguably the NBA’s best centre in DeMarcus Cousins and was able to offer some resistance to the all-star, Olympic gold-medal-winning centre – although, Cousins did finish Sunday with 22 points and 14 rebounds.
In the limited playing time he’s been allotted, Poeltl has made the most of it, showcasing an impressive back-to-the-basket, low-post skillset and, more importantly, much greater agility on the defensive end than was ever expected of him in his first year.
Lastly, Nogueira saw his first action of the season Sunday after recovering from an ankle injury that kept him out to start the year. He looked exceptional in his 21 minutes, grabbing five rebounds, blocking a shot and going a perfect 3-for-3 from the field.
With him healthy now, the Raptors have something very intriguing on their hands as he’s a similar kind of rim-runner to Siakam, but is taller, a more natural shot-blocker and also a better finisher at the rim than both Raptors rookies. Lowry loves throwing lobs, but right now there isn’t really anyone he can toss that alley to. Nogueira could become that guy.
It’s important to remember that none of these three can actually replace Valanciunas. It’s in the Raptors’ best interest that the big Lithuanian does not miss time. However, these three have somewhat proven themselves in the short-term, something that could play large down the road.
November grind begins
Looking ahead, it looks like the Raptors’ season will truly begin starting this week.
When the schedule first came out it was noted that Toronto has a really rough November to begin the season, and that tough stretch will begin Wednesday with the team heading out on the road to face Russell Westbrook and the Oklahoma City Thunder.
From there, the Raptors will play their first back-to-back of the season with a game in Charlotte and then back home against New York.
Making matters worse, is that this first back-to-back of the year also coincides with the team’s first four-games-in-five-nights stretch as they get one day break in between the Hornets and Knicks before heading out to face the defending champion Cleveland Cavaliers and then back home against the newly-assembled super team Golden State Warriors.
And in case that wasn’t difficult enough a stretch, following the back-to-back against the two teams in the last two NBA Finals, the Raptors then embark on an eight-day five-game road trip that will see them along the west coast for four of those games.
Fun times.
This is when the real meat grinder of the NBA season begins for the Raptors. Last season they played 11 of their 16 November games on the road, going 6-5 in those contests and went on to win a franchise-best 56 games, so it isn’t like this team can’t handle a little adversity in the early-goings. Let’s see how they fare this time around.