NFL
By: Greg Rector
Week One of the 2021-2022 NBA season has seen the Raptors go 2-3 on the young season. There’s one thing that is clear at this point. Taking Scottie Barnes 4th overall was the right pick for the Toronto Raptors. As evidenced above Barnes as advertised has the defensive chops that head coach Nick Nurse loves, and he’s also scoring points. His defense has as you see above been felt by the likes of Jason Tatum, Zach Lavine, and Domantas Sabonis. Barnes has fit right in with the likes of OG Anunoby and Fred VanVleet as a fierce defender. As I wrote about in the off-season is the biggest reason Barnes was the choice over Jalen Suggs. Barnes is averaging just under 18 points 8 rebounds and 2.5 assists per game. Suggs is at 12 3.6 and 3.6 so far for Orlando.
The Raptors find themselves at 2-3 early on. There’s a definite struggle with their halfcourt game and they are going to have to keep working on that as a group. It cost them dearly in the game against the Bulls. They had too many stretches of empty trips on offense in the 111-108 loss. The Bulls escaped that night however after the game Lavine was talking about one thing, the length of the Raptors overall. That’s what Masai Ujuri and GM Bobby Webster worked towards in the off-season. Every move from the draft picks to the free agents they brought in all are long-armed players. Remember the title run for the Raptors? If you do there was one thing they were great at as a team, taking away your best option. In the two wins, this has been evident. Against the Celtics, Jason Tatum started well with a quick 10 points. The rest of the night he struggled to get another 10 and finished with 20 for the game. The important part was the frustration he showed as he was being clamped down on by Barnes, Anunoby, and the rest of the Raptors. He was frustrated to the point of getting called for a technical. Lat night in the second win it was pretty much an even better team defense that shut down Domantas Sabonis. The Pacers big guy scored the first 6 points of the night, he finished with just 9 points for the game. The raptors absolutely locked him down and didn’t stop there as Myles Turner was also a non-factor. That’s the type of team defense the Scotiabank Arena crowd absolutely loves. In both games, the Raptors were able to get easy transition buckets.
The Surprises
The Raptors are getting excellent play from their 2nd round 46th overall draft pick Dalano Banton, the kid from Toronto’s Rexdale neighborhood isn’t lighting up the scoreboard he is however proving to be quite the energizer when he does get his minutes. Far from polished but he has made some key defensive stops along with igniting the 2nd unit. Sviatoslav Mykhailiuk, Precious Achiuwa, and Gary Trent Jr are all playing quite well. Trent Jr’s defensive work has greatly improved and is a pleasant surprise so far. The new players and the rookies are making it very hard for Malachi Flynn the 1st round pick from 2 seasons ago to even get any playing time. Despite the offseason translation of what he meant to say moment for Goran Dragic, he has fit in well with his young teammates. Team rebounding long a bugaboo for the Raptors even in the title run, the Raptors are hitting the glass!! Averaging just over 16 offensive rebounds and 34 defensive rebounds. Preventing the second and third chance opportunities that have hurt them for a long time.
The Problems
Minus Pascal Siakim who won’t be back until mid to late November after shoulder surgery, the halfcourt execution is the single biggest issue facing the Raptors. As I said earlier it really cost them against the Bulls. They are understandably just getting used to playing with one another, and in the losses have also had too many guys missing but attempting far too many three-point shots. Anyone who knows me also knows my sheer disgust at jacking up shots that aren’t falling, it’s the definition of insanity for me. Nick Nursenever afraid to experiment has also had some strange combinations on the floor. Part of this was also due to his unhappiness with the efforts of a couple of players. Chris Boucher and the aforementioned Flynn have both been singled out by Nurse. Boucher is expected to be a leader in Siakim’s absence and seemed just a bit lackadaisical to the point he was benched for one game. Once they work on a more regular rotation that should not be happening again. This team should be able to hover around the .500 mark and with the next 11 of 14 games on the road, they hopefully bond together. That was a huge factor in their championship days and VanVleet, Anunoby, Dragic, and Boucher need to bring that mentality on and off the court. This is the 7th youngest roster in the league and naturally, there will be struggles, so the leaders must be ready to pick these guys up when needed, and to kick their butts as needed also. They can’t leave it up to the coaches alone. Teaching the younger guys how to get through the grind of the 82 game season, how to deal with life on the road, all that stuff matters. Let’s see how they deal with the next stretch.
Early Grade
After week one I am giving the Raptors a B minus. There are definitely things that must be improved upon, but the effort is has been solid so far.
As always you can find me on Twitter @GregCowboys
SCOTTIE DETONATION pic.twitter.com/H5dbKjBJuO
— Raptors Republic (@raptorsrepublic) October 28, 2021
