It was a hard-fought but sloppy game in Salt Lake City between two teams with high expectations heading into the season in the Toronto Raptors and Utah Jazz.
In the Raptors’ second game with Kawhi Leonard in the lineup we got a glimpse of the franchise-type player, albeit one still learning his new teammates and shaking off months’ worth of rust. But an off-night from the Raptors’ second-unit helped hand the team’s latest exhibition game to Utah, 105-90.
Here are some takeaways from the Raptors’ first loss of the pre-season:
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Getting small
When Nick Nurse took the Raptors job he had a pretty clear idea of how his team would look on the court. Which is to say, more or less than it did the year before, with a fairly defined group of starters and reserves.
“The storyline was: We have 10 rotational players that played quite a bit,” Nurse told me earlier this summer, “and they’re all coming back. I’m thinking about how I’m going to work with that team.”
And then the DeMar DeRozan trade happened.
Although the Raps still return nine rotational players from last year’s team, on which Nurse served as assistant coach, integrating Leonard and Danny Green into the mix changes the roster balance. “It does rearrange things,” says Nurse.
After going back to the drawing board, the first-year coach hasn’t been shy about his intention to experiment with various lineups throughout both the exhibition and regular season.
On Tuesday, the Raptors went with a smaller lineup for the second consecutive game, replacing Serge Ibaka — who started at centre during the Raptors’ win against Portland on Saturday — with Jonas Valanciunas. Leonard, Kyle Lowry, and C.J. Miles all started for the second straight game while Kyle Collinsworth, signed to a two-way deal, made a cameo in the starting lineup in place of Green.
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One fallout of the Leonard-DeRozan deal was the loss of centre Jakob Poeltl. Without the promising big man on the roster, it leaves Nurse with less size and rim protection, but should push the Raptors towards more small-ball lineups. That means splitting up last year’s starting frontcourt of Ibaka and Valanciunas.
Against Utah the pair took turns playing centre, with Valanciunas often lining up alongside Miles and Ibaka with Pascal Siakam.
The starters played well in the first half, propelled by Leonard, and a unit featuring Lowry, Leonard, and Fred VanVleet pushed the Raptors on a 22-2 run against Utah’s talented frontline. Toronto took a nine-point lead into half-time.
In the second half, Nurse started a new five-man group, one that could be a potential go-to bench unit that featured Ibaka and Siakam down low, surrounded by VanVleet, Delon Wright and Norman Powell.
The group struggled to score, shooting a combined 14-37 on the night and just 2-13 from beyond the arc.
Nurse kept tweaking, but to make matters worse, the smaller lineups ended up facing Rudy Gobert — Utah’s towering seven-footer — who cleaned up in the paint, scoring 13 points to go along with 10 rebounds and five blocks. The Jazz swung the game by over 20 points in the third quarter, thanks in part as well to Joe Ingles, who was left open throughout the night despite knocking down five triples and scoring 24 points in 23 minutes of action.
Regardless of the results, you can expect plenty more experimentation with the Raptors lineups as the schedule progresses.
Kawhi Watch
Through two pre-season games now, Kawhi Leonard continues to be as advertised. He only played in the first half, but logged a little over 18 minutes and looked active and on his way to full recovery after missing all but nine games last season.
He scored 17 points on 6-12 shooting and put his mark on the game, showing small glimpses of what Spurs fans had grown used to. He was active around the boards, showed nice touch on his jumper, and manufactured free-throw attempts. Defensively, he spent time guarding multiple positions, including Utah’s star guard, Donovan Mitchell, and, on at least one possession, switched onto Gobert (which ended with a Jazz turnover on a pass attempt to the big man).
What stood out on Tuesday was his potential as a ball-handler. Leonard is comfortable bringing the ball up the floor and initiating the offence and, although he didn’t have any assists, he did a good job of finding teammates, including a deft bounce pass to Valanciunas on a pick-and-roll near the hoop early in the game that led to an easy floater the big man narrowly missed.
He was patient with the ball in his hand but quick to recognize how the defence was reacting and recovering from his teammates’ screens, leading to a number of well-timed, textbook pull-up jumpers.
Like the rest of the team, Leonard still showed signs of rust, but it was a very encouraging night as he works his way back from injury and to playing full-time five-on-five on a daily basis again.
One area to monitor is Leonard’s free throws. A career 84.6 per cent free-throw shooter, he’s struggled from the charity stripe in the pre-season. On Tuesday, he was 4-8, bringing his Raptors total to just 10-19.
Valanciunas to thrive
Valanciunas is one of the returning Raptors expected to most thrive under the coaching change. He has a strong relationship with Nurse, who has plans to maximize Valanciunas’ game, and should see his usage go up when on the floor.
Through two games, the returns are promising. After coming off the bench to score a team-high 17 points on Saturday, Valanciunas looked stellar once more in his familiar role as a starter on Tuesday. Despite matching up with arguably the NBA’s premier rim protector in Gobert, Valanciunas played big and recorded 18 points and nine rebounds, bringing his early pre-season averages to a team-best 17.5 points and eight rebounds per game.
