Morning Coffee - Dec. 17, 2024
Raptors stuck in pull-up purgatory | Modern offense, ancient execution | Shead the new Lowry?
Raptors miss an integral ingredient of modern offence against Bulls - Raptors Republic
The Toronto Raptors’ 122-121 loss in their Dec. 16 contest against the Chicago Bulls was defined by little more than Veni, Vidi … Veni. Julius Caesar came and saw and conquered. The Raptors and Bulls came and saw and left. Barring a few minutes of fun basketball to end the game, not much else was noteworthy.
The game was sloppy, featuring two bad teams missing their best players who played like it. Darko Rajakovic had to call multiple timeouts through the first three quarters to implore his players to try a little harder. Eventually, spurred by a run from three rookies (Jamal Shead, Ja’Kobe Walter, and Jonathan Mogbo), Gradey Dick, and RJ Barrett, the Raptors made a fourth-quarter run before falling short. But until midway through the fourth, it was bad basketball. Really, it was bad everything. The crowd filtered in late and never filled the arena, making so little noise that I could hear other members of media row without anyone having to raise their voices. The jumbotron didn’t start working correctly until midway through the second quarter, with the player stats sections blank for both teams. Streams of fans left after the third quarter, not bothering to return for an admittedly excellent fourth quarter.
But perhaps the most important thing missing from the game was a specific tactical element. One that has become commonplace in today’s NBA.
There were, by my count, three pull-up triples attempted between the two teams. Two came midway through the third quarter, both from the Bulls. The last came on a meaningless Shead shot (Toronto was already down four) to end the game. So few pull-up triples is uncommon. So far this year, teams range from just over six attempts per game (the Raptors) to almost 20 (the Boston Celtics).
While the Chicago Bulls are ostensibly a middling pull-up 3-point shooting team, they are in fact carried by one man. Zach LaVine’s 42.4-percent mark on such shots is one of the best in the league. But there is no one else on the team who takes nearly as many pull-ups on Chicago, or boasts remotely such accuracy. Take away LaVine’s 42 makes and 99 attempts, and Chicago’s pull-up resume looks suspiciously like Toronto’s on the year. And the Bulls were without LaVine in this one.
The Raptors currently rank last in made pull-up 3s per game. And it’s by an enormous margin. Toronto’s 1.7 made triples (they are last in attempts and also shoot 26.9 percent on such looks) off the bounce ranks 0.7 behind second-last, which is also the gap between second-last and 11th in the league.
This is a huge disadvantage. I wrote more than three years ago (whew, time, oh boy) that pull-up shooting success doesn’t correlate with winning playoff basketball games. It may not cause winning, but it sure does seem to be required for it. Everyone seems to do way, way more pull-up shooting when the games start to matter more in the playoffs.
It’s tough to win in today’s NBA if you don’t have at least one high-quality pull-up shooter. And right now, there are 17 players making more pull-up triples per game than the Raptors are as a team. The three best teams in the league, the three with 20 or more wins, all feature a player on that list of 17.
Quick Reaction: Bulls 122, Raptors 121 - Raptors Republic
R. Barrett - A-
37 MIN, 32 PTS, 5 REB, 9 AST, 1 STL, 11-24 FG, 2-4 3FG, 8-9 FT, 2 BLK, 6 TO, 1 +/-
Made some good reads as the pick n’ roll ball-handler early, slinging skip pass to an open Agbaji in the corner and making a perfect pocket pass to Poeltl. Also had a tough spinning and-one finish. With Barrett I’m not sure what’s more inevitable, the transition scoring or the blowbys he allows on defence. You’ve got to take the good with the bad with him. And there was a lot of good in this game. Chicago’s porous backline defence was no match for Barrett’s dominant driving. The Canadian had an emphatic slam in the second after the Bulls lost him on the break on the way to 19 first-half points. He would have had more if a couple high arcing scoops didn’t spill out. A lot of assists in this one and a lot of turnovers. Bound to happen with all the newfound creation responsibility that is being thrust onto his plate.
'Trying to make the right plays': Raptors' Barrett making strides at point guard - Sportsnet
What has been interesting about the Raptors' point guard situation is that they have resisted starting their most experienced point guard — Davion Mitchell — when Quickley and Barnes have been out and have played Shead relatively sparingly recently.
Mitchell has had plenty of floor time — he’s averaging 27 minutes a game and has made 13 starts, the same number as he made in Sacramento in his last two seasons combined.
But more often than not when Quickley and Barnes have been out, it’s Barrett who has been given the keys to the offense.
It’s the luxury of being able to focus on player development during a rebuilding season.
“For sure, but this is (an opportunity) to speed up that up,” said Rajakovic. “When you’re playing two guard, you’re not going be handling the ball that much, running pick-and-rolls, having the ball in your hands. You’re not responsible to set up other guys. This is literally just to speed up his decision-making process and how he goes about communicating offensively.”
It’s not what might have been expected given Barrett averaged 2.8 assists per game in his career prior to joining the Raptors nearly 12 months ago. Learning how to call plays and make reads on the fly is new territory.
“He's really good. He's been bounced around from position to position on the basketball court all year with (our) injuries,” said Shead. “And he's adapted really well. When we need to play point guard, he's averaging like eight assists. When we need him to be our main scorer, he's averaged 25 at home. He's a really good player and it shows.”
For long stretches on Monday, he was doing it as well as he ever has while in that role in the Raptors. He started the game with a nifty find of Poeltl in the pick-and-roll and made a nice play before the horn at halftime when he came off a screen and rifled a pass to Ja’Kobe Walter in the corner, relocated and stroked one of his two triples on the night. Barrett found Ochai Agbaji for a baseline dunk and Chris Boucher for a lay-up in behind the defence. His best pass of the game didn’t result in an assist as he threw a right-handed rocket off the dribble to a cutting Gradey Dick, but the second-year guard couldn’t convert the lay-up.
Undermanned Raptors can’t find formula for success, despite late comeback against Bulls - Toronto Star
The loss was made worse when Jakob Poeltl, the Raptors most consistent and healthy regular all season, limped off the court with about 10 minutes to go. He seemed to slip and stayed down for about a minute but ended up walking to the locker room unaided before he was ruled out with a groin injury.
“Obviously, we’re concerned, we’re going to do all the checkups,” Rajakovic said. “He (Poeltl) has some pain, his groin, so we’re going to check that tonight, see what’s going on and get more of it (Tuesday).”
The litany of issues couldn’t be hidden, no matter what unusual combinations Rajakovic threw out.
Toronto’s transition defence was in slow motion and exposed all game by the faster Bulls. The Rapters were clobbered beyond the arc, outscored 42-24 from three-point range.
And a team that built an early-season reputation as one with consistent effort and hard work seemed to regress for most of Monday.
True to form, though, they did get the deficit to within one in the last minute with another unique group: an all-small lineup that had RJ Barrett as the tallest Raptor on the court.
Jamal Shead played the entire fourth quarter, had 10 points and six assists and provided the energy that was missing for most of the game.
“That’s probably the main reason we started coming back like that, was his energy that he brought in,” Dick said of Shead. “And we’re talking, throughout the whole game, how the lack of energy is contagious but you know, on the other side of that, the most important thing is, was his energy and that was even more contagious.
“He came in and gave us the energy that we needed.”
Injuries and absences have played a large part, to be sure. But not having Scottie Barnes, Immanuel Quickley and others shouldn’t impact the aggressiveness and energy of the players in uniform.
Raptors lose starting centre Jakob Poeltl to a groin injury and the game to the visiting Chicago Bulls - Toronto Sun
While the Raptors’ youthful presence and free-wheeling style is more than conducive to playing in the full court, Chicago takes it to a different level.
Neither team is good and the game’s three best players weren’t even available because of injury in the Bulls’ 122-121 win over the Raptors.
Entertainment-wise, Monday night’s matchup was more than passable, even when there were unwatcha-Bull moments.
When a team such as Chicago wants to push the pace to the extreme limit, a team such as Toronto must get back on defence.
Early in the evening, the Raptors showed no willingness in getting back in transition.
When they did, they were much more competitive.
Toronto’s lack of transition defence clearly ticked off head coach Darko Rajakovic, who was forced to call his fourth timeout two minutes into the second half.
Still, the game would be decided in the final minutes, set up by Toronto’s increased defensive intensity.
Of RJ Barrett’s eight 30-point games this season, seven have been posted at home, including Monday’s 32-point effort.
Twice the Raptors had a chance to tie it late, but empty possessions led to a 122-121 Chicago win.
The Raptors allowed too many runs by the Bulls in yielding 33 first-quarter points.
Bringing back the Pop Tart Bowl mascot to effectively depict tonight’s Raptors game - Raptors HQ
Competitive loss! An art the Raptors have perfected this season. It was super fun to see the team rally together around Jamal Shead and come within one. Carrying on the tradition of losing a lot but making it fun.
RJ Barrett scored 32 points, 9 assists, 5 rebounds, 2 blocks and 1 steal. Gradey Dick had 27 points, 6 rebounds, 2 assists. Jamal Shead played 12 minutes off the bench and scored 10 points, shooting 100% from three and from the field. He had 4 rebounds, 6 assists, 1 steal.
The guys who were playing hard played well, and the fourth quarter was enjoyable to watch.
Takeaways for Toronto as Raptors Fall in Heartbreaker to Bulls - Sports Illustrated
RJ Barrett is being thrown into the fire.
It’s not what Toronto would have wanted at this point in the season. Ideally, Immanuel Quickley or Scottie Barnes would be leading the charge offensively and shouldering the playmaking duties. But with both sidelined, Toronto has turned to Barrett to fill a role he hasn’t played since his college days at Duke, when he briefly took on lead playmaker responsibilities after Zion Williamson’s injury.
“I’m a basketball player. I think adapting is one of my biggest skillsets just in life,” said Barrett, who made his second start of the season as Toronto’s primary point guard on Monday. “I think that I'll be able to figure it out.”
The Raptors have no plans to make Barrett a full-time point guard. Instead, the hope is that this opportunity to take on a larger role will help him develop his playmaking skills for when the roster is back at full strength. There were moments of promise. He connected with Jakob Poeltl on a pick-and-roll in the first quarter and later found a cutting Ochai Agbaji with a no-look pass in the third. In the final seconds of that quarter, Barrett threaded a pass inside to Jonathan Mogbo for an and-1 finish, helping Toronto trim Chicago’s lead to 11.
“This is literally just to speed up his decision-making process and see how he goes about helping the team on offense,” Raptors coach Darko Rajaković said Sunday afternoon.
Barrett is still at his best when he's looking to score. With the Raptors lacking offensive firepower, he did his part to keep them in the game. In the fourth quarter, as Toronto’s offense finally showed signs of life, Barrett repeatedly attacked the paint, eventually pulling the Raptors within one with just over two minutes remaining. But that was as close as they would get. A pair of missed opportunities from Barrett down the stretch sealed Toronto’s fate. Barrett finished with a game-high 32 points, five rebounds, and nine assists in 37 minutes.
Dick’s final attempt—a last-second three-pointer—bounced off the front rim, ending any hope of a Raptors comeback. The second-year sharpshooter finished with 27 points on 9-for-20 shooting.
Three takeaways from the Raptors' loss to the Bulls, Toronto's fifth defeat in a row - Toronto Sun
An appealing front-court battle was waged between Poeltl and Nikola Vucevic.
In Miami, Poeltl’s back made him doubtful for the tip, but he did enter the game in the first quarter on a night Bruno Fernando got the start.
Unlike Poeltl, Vucevic can extend his offence given his ability to knock down three-pointers.
Poeltl does his damage near the basket, but his soft hands and floor vision allow the Raptors to use Poeltl as a facilitator from the foul line.
Combine the two bigs and you have a poor man’s Nikola Jokic.
The Jak versus Vuc game within the game, which began with the Raptors controlling the opening tap.
On the game’s opening possession, the Raptors went to Poeltl in the paint to score the night’s first points on a Barrett assist.
Vucevic is a lot of things, but he’s no rim protector on a Bulls team that is very susceptible in the paint.
He is athletic for a big.
When the Bulls were able to bring Poeltl to the perimeter, Toronto’s defence began to get exposed in going on an early 11-2 run, prompting the Raptors to call the game’s first timeout four minutes into the game.
Following the timeout, Poeltl made a nice alley-oop pass to Agbaji, who finished off the sequence with an emphatic flush.
Barrett earned the hockey assist.
Vucevic drained his first three-point attempt on an open look from 26 feet.
Chicago’s shooting allowed the visitors to take a 10-point lead.
Toronto’s lack of transition defence did not help its cause as a second timeout would be needed with 3:24 left in the first quarter as the Bulls took a 28-19 advantage.
After missing an open three, Barrett split a double team from the top of the circle and scored on a thunderous uncontested dunk.
At the break, Vucevic was Chicago’s lone double-digit scorer (11).
Within a 24-second span to begin the second half, Vucevic scored five points.
Given the pace of the game, it did not play into Poeltl’s strength, paving the way for Boucher to receive extended minutes en route to posting a double-double, Boucher’s first of the season.
Two minutes into the fourth quarter, Poeltl’s left leg gave out in the paint just in front of Chicago’s bench area.
After a few anxious moments, he did get back on his feet and was able to walk to the locker room on his own.
It was then announced Poeltl would not be returning because of a left groin injury.
Mogbo was asked to defend Vucevic, whose size advantage was pronounced.
Vucevic led the Bulls with pouring in 24 points on 10-for-17 shooting.
Which Raptors players could be traded to move rebuild forward? - Sportsnet
The skilled Canadian big man was in the midst of an excellent season when the Raptors acquired him as part of the trade that also brought Ochai Agbaji to Toronto.
He was averaging 8.1 assists, 5.1 rebounds and 4.4 assists in just 20 minutes a game with career-best shooting efficiency for a rebuilding Utah Jazz team that was more competitive than it wanted to be.
But here’s the thing: while Olynyk was rumoured to be a possible trade target for a number of playoff teams looking for a skilled play-making big to bolster their bench unit, he ended up in Toronto, and that was when he was a pending free agent. Olynyk is still rounding into shape after missing the first 23 games of the season with a back problem, but even presuming he returns to the form he showed last season, it’s fair to wonder if there’s a significant market for the 33-year-old who now has another year and $13.4 million on the contract extension he signed after joining the Raptors last season, and who can struggle defensively at this stage.
His $12.8-million salary for this season does – as in Boucher’s case - come in just under the full taxpayer mid-level exception slot of $12.82, which broadens his market a little bit. But the remaining year on his deal might give teams pause.