Toronto Raptors: Can They Fix Their Offensive Problems?

The Toronto Raptors’ offense has fallen apart since the start of the playoffs for a variety of reasons. Can they jumpstart it before it’s too late?

If you’ve watched the Toronto Raptors this postseason, you’re not watching the same Raptors team from the regular season.

For the majority of the season, the Raptors looked more dominant than any other team you’d have come across in the East not named the Cleveland Cavaliers.

Additionally, their regular season was one of triumph.  They weathered the storm through numerous injuries, they set a franchise record number of wins in a season (56), and they clinched the highest seed throughout their franchise history (second seed).

Now, all of those accomplishments and good vibes surrounding the team leading into the playoffs feels like a lifetime ago.

Their offense, the strength of the team during the year, has completely crumbled since the start of the playoffs. What was once the fifth-best offense during the regular season (per NBA.com) has struggled to stay afloat throughout all their playoff games so far.

Their All-Star backcourt, made up of Kyle Lowry and DeMar DeRozan, have been abysmal when shooting the ball this postseason as they have combined to shoot 32 percent from the field (as well as 12-of-75 from deep) in the nine playoff games they have played.

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As a result, Lowry’s confidence as well as health status has come into question in recent days and DeRozan’s incessant chucking has raised doubts of whether he should even be on the court for the team when the game is on the line.

Despite that, what’s been the bigger issue for the Raptors’ offense has been their lack of creativity and getting other players involved consistently.

The Raptors weren’t an assist heavy team by any means throughout the regular season (the Raptors ranked 29th in the NBA in 18.7 assists per game), but they’ve squandered many chances to get the ball to the guys that are producing, with the prime example being the team’s big man, Jonas Valanciunas.

Valanciunas has been as solid as they come for the Raptors as he’s averaged a double-double (14.9 points and 12.1 rebounds per game) throughout this year’s playoffs.

Yet the majority of Valanciunas’ scoring opportunities have come through either putbacks around the rim (Valanciunas is shooting 9-of-26 on those plays)  or as the roll man in pick and rolls (Valanciunas is shooting 16-of-23 on those plays).

Sure, Valanciunas isn’t a polished threat when he gets the ball down low, but his size and strength have consistently caused problems during the Raptors’ first two games against the Miami Heat.

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While Valanciunas is the best example, it doesn’t start and end with him as the Raptors have plenty of other solid scoring options like DeMarre Carroll who’s shooting 15-of-40 from three-point range this postseason) and Cory Joseph (shooting 35-of-62 from the field on 10.3 points per game).

However, Lowry and DeRozan, as they were throughout the year, are the engine of the Raptors’ offense and with the way both are playing right now, it’s no surprise the team’s offense is stalling out.

It’s easy to place the blame on Raptors head coach Dwane Casey and it’s certainly warranted, but how much of is his fault that his backcourt’s shots aren’t falling?  Can he do much else other than to take out the players who aren’t performing up to expectations?

All in all, the Raptors’ playoff struggles have surprisingly fallen to new lows in spite of the fact that the team finally ended their long-standing playoff series victory drought by edging out the Indiana Pacers in the first round.

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Whether improvements and/or drastic changes are in store remain to be seen, but it’s clear they aren’t going to shoot their way out of it.