Toronto Raptors offensive issues were on showcase despite a dazzling display from Scottie Barnes in loss to Nick Nurse’s Philadelphia 76ers.
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00:00 We've seen the good, the bad, and the ugly of what the Toronto Raptors can be this season,
00:04 but what's the real version of this team that you can expect on a game to game basis?
00:08 I'm about to give you the answer.
00:10 Let's get into it.
00:12 The Raptors lose another one last night to the Philadelphia 76ers, 114-99.
00:17 In this tough back to back stretch here against the Bucks and the 76ers, we've seen just how
00:22 far the heights are for this Raptors team, and just how low the lows can be as well.
00:28 Last night against the 76ers, we saw a lot of good from the Raptors, but the bad was
00:32 perhaps so bad for the team that it took away the great play.
00:36 So the Raptors played really well for two and a half quarters.
00:40 Maybe there was maybe a half quarter stretch where the Raptors really struggled, and that
00:44 ultimately cost them the game.
00:45 That certainly is the type of thing that we saw yesterday against the 76ers.
00:49 So how does this keep happening to the team?
00:51 How do we keep having these pockets of the games that completely dismantle all the good
00:56 that we have done previously?
00:57 It sounds a lot like the team from last season.
00:59 In many respects, we are still dealing with the same issues from the Raptors of last season
01:04 that we wanted to switch away from, that we wanted to deviate from.
01:07 The Raptors brought in a new point guard in Dennis Schroder.
01:10 The Raptors brought in a new head coach in Darko Rijakovic.
01:13 They were looking for a culture change on the locker room side of things.
01:16 That seems to have fixed itself, but they were looking for a different on-court product
01:19 as well.
01:20 Part of the big reason why they brought in specifically Darko Rijakovic to the team,
01:25 and we're still struggling to see that.
01:26 Darko mentioned in his preseason press conference that he wanted to implement a .5 style of
01:32 offense to this team.
01:33 A quick style of offense where you have the ball and you make a decision in .5 seconds.
01:38 You go quick, whether that's making the pass to the open player, or if you're open, making
01:43 that decision quickly in driving to the rim, taking on your jump shot, taking on your three-pointer.
01:48 The idea is the ball is always moving.
01:50 You're never standing there with the ball in your hands.
01:52 You're never standing there thinking, slowing down the game.
01:55 But unfortunately, that's just not what we've seen from the team so far this season.
02:00 The Toronto Raptors ranked dead last in the NBA in pace this season.
02:05 A pretty astonishing stat.
02:07 Their pace is sitting at 96.66, which is behind the Chicago Bulls.
02:12 And naturally, the Chicago Bulls, you have Zach Levine, DeMar DeRozan, these mid-range
02:16 assassin type of players.
02:17 Naturally, the offense is going to slow down for these guys.
02:19 The Raptors just don't really have those types of players.
02:22 They have a team that is designed to play fast.
02:25 They have a team that is designed to really move the ball quickly.
02:28 And they have a coach who wants the team to move the ball quickly.
02:31 So how are we in this stage right now where the pace has dropped off so much?
02:35 Even the Raptors last season under Nick Nurse, you would think with a very heavy isolation
02:39 style of play for Fred VanVleet and Pascal Siakam a lot of the time, the pace would be
02:43 slow.
02:44 And it was slow.
02:45 Last season, the Raptors ranked 25th in pace at 97.85.
02:49 But again, there was reason for the Raptors having that slow pace.
02:52 The Raptors this season, it just does not make any sense.
02:55 What's causing the biggest issues for the Raptors so far this season, and it once again
02:58 plagued them yesterday against these 76ers, is the half-court offense.
03:03 The half-court offense just not being efficient enough to consistently sustain itself over
03:08 the course of a 48-minute game.
03:09 So even though there was good pockets against the Sixers, where Scottie Barnes is hitting
03:13 threes and the Raptors are really moving the ball well, getting to the rim, finding good
03:17 looks and keeping up with the Sixers in terms of point output, there can be that three,
03:21 four-minute pocket where the three ball isn't falling.
03:24 The spacing starts to constrict.
03:26 The Sixers can bog down in the paint.
03:28 There were more sections in yesterday's game against the Sixers where five players, all
03:32 five defenders on the Sixers, were within eight feet of the basket, offering the Raptors
03:36 no space because there was just no threat of the outside shots based in the game.
03:40 So that just completely takes away space for the likes of Scottie Barnes to get on the
03:43 inside and for Pascal Siakam to get on the inside.
03:46 And the Sixers in particular put so much focus on Siakam once again.
03:50 He only took 11 shots in this game, only had 10 points in this game.
03:53 Even though he's efficient from those 11 shots, he's not really getting a ton of shots up
03:57 because the Sixers are so constricted in the paint.
04:00 They're constricting the way the Raptors can play their offensive game.
04:03 So how can we resolve this?
04:05 How can we get past this?
04:07 I think a lot of the indecision, the lack of decisiveness from the Raptors offensively,
04:13 which is leading to this slow pace, comes a lot from this spacing here.
04:17 And even yesterday, we saw that perhaps when the spacing is there, we had the opportunity
04:21 to take those shots.
04:23 We're still a little bit nervous in taking them.
04:25 Like late in the game, there was one situation where Gary Trent Jr. grabbed a defensive rebound,
04:29 Raptors moved down the court very quickly, created a really good look in the corner for
04:33 OJ and an OB to take a three.
04:35 Wide open, he passes to Scottie Barnes near the top of the three point line.
04:40 Scottie Barnes has a wide open three, so extra pass, but Scottie Barnes also doesn't take
04:45 his open three and elects to pass.
04:46 I believe it was to Schroeder, but then Scottie Barnes gets the ball back and he's wide open
04:50 for three once again.
04:52 And for a third time on the same possession with the Raptors down 12 points late in the
04:57 game where they need points, specifically, they need threes to get back in this game.
05:01 Scottie Barnes elect to pass up his wide open three again, trying to pass to OJ and an OB
05:05 where he turns over the ball.
05:07 So we have this point five style of offense, yet we still have this indecisiveness, yet
05:11 we still have this slow pace of play.
05:14 Perhaps even when it is faster pace of play, we're giving up the good looks to go to somebody
05:19 else.
05:20 That's just not the way Darko wants this offense to be designed.
05:22 So Darko needs to improve in a certain respect because I understand he has a certain style
05:28 of coaching that he wants to implement to this team.
05:31 He wants to bring this fun brand of half court offense to this team.
05:35 But the reality is the Raptors just don't have the personnel to be able to execute the
05:39 game plan that Darko wants to execute for this team.
05:42 So we need to adapt.
05:43 Like I get it.
05:45 The front office hasn't provided Darko with the tools to execute what Darko wants to bring
05:50 to this team.
05:52 But you have to adapt.
05:53 You have to understand what is going to make this team successful.
05:56 And the reality is we all know that this team has the potential to be deadly in the transition
06:01 offense in the full court offensive sets.
06:04 So to deviate away from the half court offense, which has been terrible this season, the Raptors
06:08 are one of the worst teams in the NBA as far as their half court offensive production.
06:12 To get away from that half court offensive production not being so good, to hide the
06:17 fact that the half court offense has not been productive this season, don't go to half court
06:22 sets when you don't have to.
06:24 Push the pace quickly.
06:25 Get these teams moving in transition.
06:27 Like specifically against the Sixers, don't allow Joel Embiid to get set in the paint.
06:32 Make this guy run.
06:33 Make this guy move in transition.
06:35 Really test his legs and start to make this game a marathon.
06:38 The Raptors, if they're struggling so much in the half court, really need to turn this
06:43 into a marathon.
06:44 They really need to up the pace, up the ante.
06:47 And if you're really pushing the pace, that's going to limit the amount of half court sets
06:51 you're forced to go into.
06:52 Now, sometimes the team is going to get back in transition.
06:54 Yes, they're going to bog down.
06:56 Yes, you're going to have to resort to a half court offense, but you should be going to
07:00 that as little as possible.
07:02 And in the first game of the season against the Timberwolves, even though the Raptors
07:05 still struggled offensively with 97 points, yes, they got the win in that game.
07:09 The first quarter, the Raptors struggled immensely with the half court.
07:12 So what did they do for the rest of the game?
07:14 They just didn't use their half court offense.
07:16 If they got the ball, they pushed quickly.
07:17 They got runners.
07:18 They got down the court, quick outlet pass, and they were decisive with their decision
07:23 making.
07:24 They made the big Carl Anthony Townsend, Rudy Gobert move in transition, and they really
07:27 struggled defensively there.
07:29 Even against the Bucks, yes, the half court offense was working, but also they made use
07:33 of the fact that the Bucks had the worst transition defense in the NBA.
07:36 They used that to their advantage, and they got 130 points against a contender in the
07:41 NBA.
07:42 Against the Sixers yesterday, it was just consistently resorting to this slower pace
07:46 of play, which doesn't make sense.
07:48 We're not good when the game is slow.
07:50 We're not good in late game settings, fourth quarter settings, when it becomes a half court
07:53 battle and becomes a real slowed down version of the game.
07:57 But we can be very successful in earlier parts of the game where our transition offense is
08:02 working, where we're pushing that pace.
08:04 So if we are good at this one thing and not so good at the other thing, it sounds way
08:10 too oversimplified, but this is just the reality of where the team can be right now.
08:15 Our transition offense is very good.
08:17 Our half court offense is not.
08:19 So let's use that transition offense as much as possible.
08:23 And the biggest stat that is going to be the indicator of that is pace.
08:27 The Raptors just straight up should not be anywhere near the bottom of the NBA in terms
08:31 of pace, let alone bottom of the NBA in pace.
08:35 So that is the one specific thing that Darko Rijakovic can change this team.
08:39 There are a number of other things that need to be adjusted for the Raptors to have a successful
08:43 season.
08:44 But the biggest thing, and I think the easiest thing that can change and make a world of
08:48 a difference to this team is just straight up the pace of play.
08:51 Get the ball off rebounds, outlet that ball quickly, get runners going down the court
08:55 because you have extraordinary talent in the transition game.
08:58 OG is one of the best in the league.
09:00 Siakam is one of the best in the league.
09:01 Barnes is one of the best in the league.
09:03 Use the strength you have in your roster.
09:06 Don't try to make the roster what it isn't.
09:09 Make use of what you have and cater to it.
09:12 That is what is going to make the Raptors successful this season.