Toronto Star Referrer

After 20 games, need for consistency is clear

DOUG SMITH

It was put to Fred VanVleet that one apt description of the Raptors so far this season is “weird,” in that they can impress at times and confound at others, often within the same game.

They search and strive for consistency and cannot find it — not yet at least, not through the first quarter of the NBA season that came and went with Friday night’s 114-97 loss in Indiana.

The veteran guard smiled a bit and finally nodded.

“Yeah, we are,” he said. “It’s probably going to be like this for a little bit, up and down. You see a lot of talent, you see the flashes. It’s there.”

And then comes the “but.”

“In the game, there’s moments where I’m just like ‘f---,’ and then you’ve got to turn around and you’ve got to try to make a play the next play,” he said.

“I’m not worried about the production or what we’re doing. It’s more (that we) draw a play out of a timeout, we come out and we don’t

execute. We speak about the game plan for two days and we get in the game and we don’t execute. Those are the moments (that) directly lower your chances of winning. That’s the hard part.”

It has been a trying 20 games for the Raptors, who begin a sevengame homestand — their longest of the season — against the Boston Celtics on Sunday carrying a 9-11 record. They aren’t buried in the ultra-competitive Eastern Conference, but the hole is being dug.

It’s been fun at times, frustrating at others. Good wins and bad losses. In many ways it’s entirely expected from a team that’s among the most inexperienced in the league.

“The frustration only comes from this, but this is common (throughout the NBA): You’re gonna say, ‘We’ve gotta do this, this is going to happen’ and exactly what we foresaw happens and it didn’t register,” coach Nick Nurse said.

“But that’s going to happen ... Yeah, I get frustrated a little bit. I say, ‘Man, we just told them to do that.’ But we also accept that that’s where we’re at. We’ve got to get more reps so we can fix it. (Otherwise) we’re not going to get better.”

It’s not like the season is circling the drain or anything with 62 games to go, and fans shouldn’t divert their attention to draft prospects yet because this is a good Raptors team full of promise and talent. It’s just missing the most valuable of commodities, familiarity and experience, but there is a lot to like.

Here are a few points to ponder:

Learning curve

VanVleet made a great point that goes to the heart of the problem:

“We might be the best practice team in the world. We look like champions in practice and shootarounds and all that, when we can coach and keep everything sharp. But when you get out there on that floor, it’s just us out there and there’s not much help that the coaches can give us.”

Until young players such as Scottie Barnes, Precious Achiuwa, Gary Trent Jr. and Dalano Banton — even Khem Birch and Malachi Flynn — learn how to make the right split-second decisions in the cauldron of a game, inconsistency will rear its ugly head.

A case for the defence

Or rather the case against a defence that was too spotty too often through the first quarter of the season. Some of that has to do with the ever-changing roster because of injuries, but much of it is simply not executing a plan. Toronto’s in the bottom five in opponent field-goal percentage.

“I don’t want to say chemistry, but it’s different people in and out in different positions … It makes that hard, to get that chemistry and connectivity,” Nurse said.

But like so many other factors, it’s been up and down.

“We’ve shown we can play some really good defence, and we’ve shown if we’re not engaged fully that we can be not so good defensively as well,” the coach said.

The rotation

Nurse has probably been asked two dozen times about his playing rotation. He’s probably got one in his mind, but it’s been a waste of time to talk about it. Not once in the first 20 games have the Raptors had their full roster for a game, with eight guys missing a total of 47 games. That’s included key frontcourt players — OG Anunoby, Pascal Siakam, Yuta Watanabe, Birch and Achiuwa — and laid to waste any idea of consistent starting and bench units.

“We’ve got to solve that,” Nurse said. “I don’t know how we solve it, but we’ve just got to hope the ball bounces a little better our way on that front.”

Rookie watch

One of the bright spots has been the play of the rookies, Barnes and Banton, who have emerged as key rotational players.

Barnes cooled a bit on the recent road trip and talk of him being the early favourite for rookie of the year had dissipated, but he’s still averaging 14.9 points and 8.3 rebounds per game.

Banton, selected 46th overall in the July draft, has become the primary backup to VanVleet, a shocking development for such a late pick. He plays more than a quarter each game. Said Nurse: “I just like how it looks when he’s out there.”

What remains to be seen is how they hold up over the final 62 games.

“You’ve just got to keep going,” said Barnes, the No. 4 pick. “I don’t really feel it so much in my body, but I’m sure some people feel it.”

So, where are they?

It’s hard to get a true grasp on how good or bad this team is. The injuries, the inexperience, the youth have all conspired to make a mess of the season so far.

“We’re at that point now where we’ve made pretty much all the mistakes we can make, and now we have to learn from those and not keep repeating them,” VanVleet said. “I still feel good about this group and where we can go, but that learning curve has got to take a spike here shortly.”

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2021-11-28T08:00:00.0000000Z

2021-11-28T08:00:00.0000000Z

https://thestarepaper.pressreader.com/article/282213719096051

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