Toronto Raptors: Monthly State of the Squad
In our first monthly state of the squad, which was written one month ago today, we outlined what we thought were the most pertinent questions heading into the 2013-14 season for the Toronto Raptors. With the season eight games old, it looked to be a prophetic exercise in our most crucial concern. We will admit that we did expect a better start but still expect the Raptors to make the playoffs. Perhaps it will take an offensive paradigm shift via sitting the “stars” down and refocusing them. In this month’s State of the Squad, we will look at how the Raptors stand through eight games and also see how things compare with last month’s State.
Shots, shots, shots: There seems to be a common theme throughout our columns since the beginning and the fear looks like a justified one: Rudy Gay‘s shots are out of control. There is no doubt that we harp on this fact, but the more we harp, the more shots Gay takes. He is coming off a 37-shot effort on Monday, albeit in two overtimes. And it was not an efficient night; he had 29 points. He had 29 points on 37 shots. In a loss. That was a Toronto Raptors record for shot attempts. Gay is now averaging 20 shots a game and making 35.6% of them. And not far behind is DeMar DeRozan, who is averaging 17.6 shots a game and is shooting at a 36.2 percent clip. Now we have documented affinity for DeRozan and he had a good all-around start to his season, but a three-game stretch of shooting a combined 13-for-54 is no joke. This monopolizing of shots in the Raptors offense is not equaling wins, either. In the three wins, Gay and DeRozan have averaged 30 shots combined. Those are reasonable numbers coming from scorers, and that is what they are; they need to shoot the basketball. But in the five losses, they have averaged more than 42 shots a game. That trend cannot continue. Any future State of the Squad entries will be similarly bleak as long as Jonas Valanciunas averages eight shots a game. Right now the guy who was supposed to be the offensive foundation and centerpiece is playing a distant third or fourth fiddle, and his instrument is being drowned out by louder, more annoying noisemakers.
Kyle Lowry so far: We said a lot about Kyle Lowry’s efficiency and that being a crucial mark of how things would go for the Raptors. He’s been reasonable . To be honest, he has been the least of the Raptors problems, and if they decided that he is the point guard they want to move forward with, we would have no problem making a long-term commitment. This article Raptors should trade Kyle Lowry now, stop this treadmill ride before we puke: Kelly takes things a lot farther, saying that the Raptors are hardly an NBA team when Lowry is not on the floor and should trade him now to assure themselves of a lottery spot. Of course, we spoke about tanking at length in a previous column and the prospect of making the playoffs with a quick first round exit and a draft pick in the teens is hardly what dreams are made of, but this is about relative success. Imagine how many more shots Gay and DeRozan would have to take if Lowry was gone? We’d be talking about circus numbers here!
Like we figured, Amir Johnson has been great, averaging 11 and eight while shooting 56 percent is exactly what they could have hoped for. Being stuck in the Gay/DeRozan whirlwind is a dizzying prospect, but all Johnson does is take advantage of the few opportunities he has. He deserves more. And what can we say about Jonas? We cannot say for sure that his development is being stifled or even be sure that he would thrive in shouldering a much bigger offensive load. We have been waiting for it, clamoring for it and hopefully by next month’s State we will sound a little less like a broken record. Or maybe by them the outlook will be dire enough that we will be discussing trade scenarios that are more than just speculation. The next month will be fascinating to watch.
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