“Somebody has gotta step up. It’s an opportunity.”
That’s how head coach Dwane Casey summed up the absence created in the Toronto Raptors lineup when Jonas Valanciunas broke his left hand against the Lakers in Los Angeles on Friday night.
And if Sunday’s tilt against the Los Angeles Clippers was any indication, Bismack Biyombo could gobble-up a ton of time in the coming weeks.
There is no specific timetable for Valanciunas’ return; he missed 18 games during his rookie season after sustaining the exact same injury to his right hand. But Casey has said that a lot of variables will go into his thought process with the centre spot until the big Lithuanian returns.
As Toronto showed against the Clippers, the ability to go small with Luis Scola at the five has real benefits – especially when factoring-in Biyombo’s offensive limitations. However, inserting Scola (with, likely, DeMarre Carroll and James Johnson in the front court as well) is certainly match-up driven; the Raptors can’t afford to go too small against every opponent. And as Casey stresses, no matter who plays, the effort and efficiency has to be locked-in on the defensive end more than anywhere else.
“Offence is not an issue,” he said. “Defence is what we have to get back to get our identity. I think that’s our issue right now: everybody is worried about shots and touches. It’s about who is going to guard their position…and do what they’re supposed to do…more so than our offence.”
To Casey’s point, that’s what happened on Sunday. After moving the ball so fluidly and unselfishly in the first half, Toronto looked like a completely different team in the second. The third and fourth quarters were plagued by a stagnant offence featuring little-to-no ball movement and almost zero communication.
No one player can— or should— be singled out for the Raptors’ lack of chatter, but Kyle Lowry will need to be the one to keep Toronto on track in Valanciunas’ absence. Unselfishness from each player is paramount right now— not ‘hero ball’. Lowry can establish that selfless tone and style, just as he seemed to be doing with his big man during the first couple of weeks of the season.
“It’s a synergy,” said assistant coach Jamaal Magloire of Lowry and Valanciunas’ on-court relationship this season. “They need each other in order to become successful. The more attention that Jonas commands makes Kyle’s life easier and the same thing vice-versa. They [understood] that it’s important that they play well together.”
Whether Lucas Nogueira or Anthony Bennett can work their way into the big-man rotation is anyone’s guess. Nogueira has, reportedly, made solid strides from where he was last season (very raw to say the least) and Casey has always been inclined to at least test the path of least resistance – by starting someone unexpected in the hopes of not affecting his second-unit rotation and substitution pattern.
But no matter what happens, no matter what kind of output Toronto gets from Biyombo and Scola and the rest, the Raptors will be hoping for a speedy recovery for Valanciunas.
“He made tremendous strides,” said Magloire of Valanciunas. “One thing that was noticeably different in JV’s approach was his confidence. He was a lot more assertive (and) he’s a lot more aggressive. He (was) back with a swagger.”
Added Casey: “The positive is (Valanciunas) will come back fresh when everybody is kind of going downhill. He came back fresh from his first hand injury. That’s the only positive thing coming out of this broken hand.”