How much different will the Nick Nurse/Kawhi Leonard Toronto Raptors be?
And can C.J. Miles get back to being the player he feels he always was?
After two exhibition games it’s a bit early to draw conclusions on any of those questions, but a dominant trend that emerged last season as the Raptors underwent their offensive makeover – facilitated, in part, by Nurse as an assistant coach – was they became a very eager three-point shooting team.
Miles, acquired in free agency a year ago, was a big part of that as he led the NBA in threes per minute, hoisting 12.2 per 36 minutes played.
Through 136 minutes of meaningless basketball, the Raptors’ ‘let-it-fly’ mentality looks like a trait that will become part of the club’s DNA as it has put up 62 triples across two games.
That puts them in the ballpark of where there were a year ago, when they finished fourth in the NBA in three-pointers made (11.8/game) and fourth in three-pointers attempted (33/game). Those numbers were significant not only because the Raptors were 21st and 22nd in those categories the year before, but because they were able to zoom up the league tables in a year when nearly everyone else in the NBA was trying to do the same thing. The league average for threes attempted last year was 29, up from 27 in 2016-17, marking the eighth straight year the number of triples attempted increased, league-wide.
And it bears emphasizing – the increase has been nothing short of bananas. In 2011-12 the league average was 18.4 per game; it’s increased by 57.6 per cent in the seven seasons since and no one is predicting a regression any time soon.
So for the Raptors to not only catch that wave but reach the crest of it in one season was impressive.
What’s more impressive? Miles, who came as a free-agent gunner from Indiana and never stopped chucking, was the only proven deep threat they added.
Miles is optimistic that in Year 2 of the revolution the Raptors can pick up right where they left off:
“I don’t think we emphasize it more, we just know we have more weapons to do it,” he said recently. “… More because guys know what their games are, what they’re capable of, what threes and shots they should take. Obviously OG [Anunoby] become a better shooter, Pascal [Siakam has] become a better shooter, Freddie [VanVleet] could always shoot it, we’re still trying to get Delon [Wright] to [not] pass up open shots, little things like that.”
That list doesn’t include Kyle Lowry, who has vaulted himself in the very top tier of the NBA’s shooters over the past two seasons. He is one of three players to make at least 400 triples while shooting at least 40 per cent from three over that period, the others being Golden State’s Steph Curry and Klay Thompson, the best shooting backcourt in NBA history.
Toss that in with the addition of two more proven three-point threats in Leonard and Danny Green. Green has cashed in better than 40 per cent of his attempted triples during four different seasons while Leonard shot better than 40 per cent combined for the last two seasons he was fully healthy.
It seems obvious that even if they don’t end up shooting a lot more threes than they have, the Raptors should be shooting them better.
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But can Miles shoot them better? Can Miles play better?
It seems odd to say that in a season where Miles unquestionably did his job – hoist threes at high volume and drag the defence along with him like a six-foot-eight magnet purpose-built to create floor space for his teammates – there is a lingering taste of disappointment about his overall performance.
He shot just 36 per cent from deep – which was partly a function of him being so determined to get shots up even against defences that could load to him as one of the Raptors’ few proven threats – but there were other things going on as well.
As much as anyone on the Raptors, Miles has displayed a human side. He’s honest in his self-appraisal and forgoes the standard ‘nothing bothers me’ armour that a lot of professional athletes choose to hide behind.
Miles might be a millionaire with 13 NBA seasons under his belt, but yes, things outside of his job sometimes affect his job, like mortals everywhere.
Was it a frustrating season?
“100 per cent,” he said. “And I went through a lot of things that were out of my control, too. And some things I could have reacted better to obviously …. [and] that’s not including having a kid.”
Miles did have a season that seemed to defy him finding his comfort zone.
He managed to appear in 70 games but missed 12 due to six different issues – illnesses at the beginning and end of the season sandwiching dental surgery, shoulder problems, knee soreness and the birth of his first child.
Related or not, Miles also seemed to carry a few pounds more than the standard for elite professional athletes. That combined with a disappointing playoff series against Cleveland where he was routinely targeted on the defensive end seemed to have triggered a new level of resolve.
“That hurt me more than anything,” he said. “I went into the summer like: ‘I’m not going to be that person again.’
He worked closely with the Raptors training staff on his game and dropped 20 pounds in the process, his body fat going from 14 per cent a year ago to 8.5 per cent to start training camp, a noticeable difference.
“That’s what I was this year: ready to go,” the 31-year-old said. “I was fully ready. I came in ready. I did what I was supposed to do. I’m a professional athlete. I went into the summer to fix what I needed to fix and I came back ready. I’m ready. I’m in shape, playing great basketball.”
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The hope is that he can increase his accuracy while maintaining his volume – he shot 41 per cent in his last season with the Pacers and has two other seasons better than 38 per cent.
The Raptors’ added depth in perimeter shooting should help Miles get more open looks, particularly from the corners, where he’s connected on 49.5 per cent of his attempts the past three seasons, but where his attempts fell by nearly half year-over-year from 2016-17.
Miles wants more than that, however. He’s not chaffing at his role, but he’s itching to prove he has more to his game than he showed a season ago.
“I wanted to be a threat all the time, and I get it, shooters shoot, all that stuff. That’s good stuff but I’ve been able to mix it up [in the past],” he said. “I’ve been able to guard multiple positions before I came [here]; I’ve been able to come out and take charges, be vocal, be around. I had to focus so much on myself [last season], I couldn’t be the teammate that I am, that I’ve been.”
Miles challenged himself in the off-season to not only continue leading the Raptors’ three-point revolution, but lead and be a factor in every way possible.
“When I came back, two weeks or so before camp started …. I wanted to walk in the gym and people would say ‘is that C.J.?’
“I wanted to be back to myself.”
As the Raptors continue to evolve into the future, having Miles reach into his basketball past would be welcome.
