NFL
By: Greg Rector
I have written before about a returning star coming back from an injury and the tendency for the rest of a team to have a drop-off in their play. It’s a story often seen in all team sports. Recently Pascal Siakim returned after 24 days for the Toronto Raptors. Things went great in his first game back as the Raptors handled the Cleveland Cavaliers 100-88 and that followed a solid win over Luka Doncic and the Mavericks. Everything was looking up, well that’s gone completely up in smoke in the two games since. The reactions to what has happened with the Raptors are numerous. Here are a few of them and how I think they are either real or simple overreactions.
Nick Nurse
One complaint has been dominant since last year when it comes to Nick Nurse, he plays his starters far too much. Now recently that wasn’t possible with all the injuries and a spate of illness that hit the Raptors. However, when his guys are healthy I agree they are playing too many minutes. The real problem though is what Nurse demands from his bench players. The moment he doesn’t like a player’s effort on defense that player is in for a quick benching and here comes one of the starters back into the game. Sometimes a player only sees a few minutes and is then glued to the bench, not just for the rest of that game, but it can extend for the next several games as well. In Nurse’s defense though they have had to use 11 different lineups in the last 12 games. There’s no continuity. Nick Nurse plays chess with his defensive schemes and his rotation so leaning on his veteran starters makes sense to a degree. Opposing players and coaches know they’re in for a long night facing Toronto usually. The simple fact is because there’s been no continuity due to player availability things can go wrong in a hurry and have.
Scottie Barnes and Gary Trent Jr
Raptors fans are all over the second-year player Scottie Barnes. This one is an overreaction in my opinion. He’s being asked to do a lot more than last year. He had no plays drawn up for him as a rookie, that’s now different. He’s been tasked with distributing the ball more and has done a decent job of that. For Barnes though one thing everyone seems to overlook is the other 29 teams now have his tapes. Do you think opponents aren’t going to key into the Rookie of the Year from last year? Of course, they are. Barnes is having to learn those hard lessons and has to learn to adjust to what teams are doing against him. He really didn’t hit the “rookie wall,” last year, but opposing coaches are creating one for him. It’s not a full-blown sophomore slump. As for Gary Trent Jr becoming the sixth man is something I wrote about as a possibility in my preseason preview. It’s now the case. He’s played pretty well in the few games since. Barnes has also been dealing with minor injuries here and there and that’s limited him somewhat as it would almost any player. A little less panic on the Barnes front. Again Nurse decided the second unit needed a scoring boost and Trent Jr fits the bill. He’s accepted that responsibility. The game Nurse decided Barnes would also come off the bench caused a huge overreaction amongst Raptors fans as well.
Shooting Woes
Early on in the season, the Raptors were rocking in fast-break points and from the three-point area. Both have dropped off dramatically recently. When this team is missing and taking far too many three-pointers disaster soon follows. Well below 30% from three in their last 10 games is horrific. Teams go into shooting slumps and right now the Raptors are in a really bad shooting slump. The corner three’s that were dropping is now airballs or short right now. I think guys are simply forcing too much and since they aren’t really built to be a half-court offense that means when they aren’t getting fast transition baskets the offense goes into stretches lasting for minutes without making anything. Even in the Dallas victory, the Raptors didn’t make their first basket until 7:38 seconds into the game.
Back To Basics
The loss to Brooklyn was closer than it should have been. At one point Toronto was down by 36 points in the second quarter and though they only lost by nine points and outscored the Nets in three of the four quarters, it was way too much to overcome. Those three quarters though were Raptors basketball. It’s not as terrible as the reactions social media would have you believe. Very simply the starts have to be much better and that’s first and foremost in Toronto on the defensive end. Until the roster has stability though that will be no easy task. The NBA season is a marathon so being 11-11 is not that bad. the 3-9 road record has to improve and quickly though. So let’s relax a little before demanding Barnes is traded and screaming they made a huge mistake not acquiring Kevin Durant and all the rest of the nonsensical arguments. This organization will find the answers as they’ve done for many years now. If things continue down this path it will be Gary Trent Jr that leaves Toronto long before anyone else does.
