Is the Raptors' ball movement really better?

[DanH]

True, but you fix what you can. From the looks of things, defense isn't getting any better without a trade.

Going conservative with the system on PnR's at least could help. I think that sort of system fits both JV and BeBe better than the hedging they've been tasked with in some games.

[Machine]

We are not even a calendar year removed from the Raps defense carrying them to the ECF despite historically poor shooting from the team's 2 best players and this is the lesson that we apparently learned from that.

Lol exactly. Not to mention the year before that our amazing offence carried us in spite of our terrible defense and we were swept in the first round. Smh. This year feels similar to 2014/2015.

[slaw]

Going conservative with the system on PnR's at least could help. I think that sort of system fits both JV and BeBe better than the hedging they've been tasked with in some games.

That's led to too many wide open threes. Teams have made some conscious changes to attacking in the pick and roll when JV drops off.

[slaw]

Lol exactly. Not to mention the year before that our amazing offence carried us in spite of our terrible defense and we were swept in the first round. Smh. This year feels similar to 2014/2015.

Except you have much better supporting players all over the floor and on the bench, plus a much more experienced group as a whole that has now had playoff success. Not to mention that Derozan and Lowry are both better players than 2-3 years ago.

[Machine]

Except you have much better supporting players all over the floor and on the bench, plus a much more experienced group as a whole that has now had playoff success. Not to mention that Derozan and Lowry are both better players than 2-3 years ago.

I completely agree with that. But if our defence does not see a significant improvement i can see us losing in the first round again easily

[JawsGT]

The problem is that the Raptors rely on two things to generate their offense:
1. Lowry & DeRozan creating offense for themselves
2. Role players hitting 3pt shots (ie: Carroll, Patterson, Ross, etc...)

If the shooting goes cold and/or the Raptors run into a defensive player/scheme that can shut/slow down Lowry and DeRozan (mainly DeRozan), the Raptors are in trouble.

Yes, the defense has become an issue again this year. However, no defense will help when the offense stagnates badly, especially when your two offensive weapons are average-at-best defenders. When those two players are asked to play extremely heavy minutes and fight even harder at the offensive end, it only makes their defense suffer.

This has been the same problem for the last 3+ years under Casey. The team has great success in the regular season, so they don't bother trying to consistently establish secondary scoring options. Then, when the team goes deep into the playoffs and meets a formidable defensive team that is capable of shutting down their primary scorers, they either play right into the defense (ie: double-down on the primary scorers) or try to figure out a secondary scoring option on the fly (ie: JV against the Pacers last season).

It shouldn't be a surprise that this isn't a recipe for success. Back-to-back 1st round flameouts, which would have been followed by a third 1st round flameout, if not for JV.

I will say that DeRozan has become much more consistent this season in both his willingness and ability to facilitate. However, that seems more out of urgency than by play-calling, so we'll have to wait and see how that plays out come playoff time. The fact remains that the regular season is when Casey should be figuring out solid secondary scoring options, whether it's an inside game with JV, or designed plays for cutters like Carroll/Ross/Powell, etc...

We flamed out against the Wiz but in no shape way or form did we flame out against the Nets. That's just BS. The fact that we were ahead of them in the standings in more an indictment of BKN's regular season play than the Raps post season play.

Derozan's playmaking has grown leaps and bounds. He is seeing the floor better and looking for the pass more. Of course, it isn't part of a play call. The play is to get Demar into the paint through a screen and it's up to him to make a play from there. And he has been a very good job of it. Much less of his playmaking is born out of urgency.

Diversifying the Raptors offence is no easy task. We run sets to free up Terrence, and he has shown an improved ability to get into the paint and make plays. PAtterson and Carroll are strictly off ball players who need others to generate their shot opportunities. Bebe is a guy you can lob the ball to on the PnR. Powell doesn't get enough minutes consistently to develop him as an option. Cory is basically a PnR player in the mold of Lowry and Demar, and luckily, he's been shooting the ball better coming off of screens. Siakim is basically a hustle guy who needs others to get him the ball where he can succeed.

JV is really the only other option, and even then it's just a different way to get kick outs to shooters. At the end of the day, we need Demar and Lowry and to a lesser extent JV to move the ball better in the event the defence pressures them, and we need our shooters to knock down shots. If there are specific plays the Raps could be running to get the other guys better shots or to develop some of the other players to relieve Demar and Kyle some, then I'd love to hear it. The lack of ball movement isn't an issue to me. The teams biggest weakness is still defence, and a strong D will help compensate for a drop off in offence should one occur in the playoffs.

[CalgaryRapsFan]

We are not even a calendar year removed from the Raps defense carrying them to the ECF despite historically poor shooting from the team's 2 best players and this is the lesson that we apparently learned from that.

Perhaps I should have qualified that to mean once the playoffs are down to the top 4-8 teams.

I would also disagree that defense is what carried them through the first round against the Pacers. If not for JV's dominance on offense and the glass, the Raptors arguably would have suffered a 3rd straight 1st round failure.

[3inthekeon]

That's led to too many wide open threes. Teams have made some conscious changes to attacking in the pick and roll when JV drops off.

I remember 2 years ago when we were hedging like crazy, the Portland model of big men dropping back was viewed as the system to emulate. Their system is still the same, but now their defense is the worst in the league. Screens wipe out their guards and opponents have a track meet to the rim.

[tDotted]

Also, the offense is humming right now from the perimeter so no need to force-feed JV touches. What the guards need to realize however is when the shots STOP falling or when the offense isn't getting good looks to dump it down low. That's the next step the team needs to make.

That's led to too many wide open threes. Teams have made some conscious changes to attacking in the pick and roll when JV drops off.

A big dropping down after a guard gets around the screen is different from a big dropping down after the defender ices the screen. The ice happened more often last season. Reason why JV looked a lot better then than now.

[Lupe]

Perhaps I should have qualified that to mean once the playoffs are down to the top 4-8 teams.

I would also disagree that defense is what carried them through the first round against the Pacers. If not for JV's dominance on offense and the glass, the Raptors arguably would have suffered a 3rd straight 1st round failure.

In 3 of the games we won the Pacers were held to less than 90 points, in the other win they scored less than 100. To say that defense was not the major factor in winning that series is just not true.

Yes JV was dominant on the boards. That is not why we were able to win. We were able to win because we limited them offensively so significantly in the wins that even with our poor shooting from our two stars we were able to get away with wins.

[Mess]

I know it wasn't the point of the thread but it was either this reply or the Casey-ism "they're just hitting the shots they usually make."

[special1]

I completely agree with that. But if our defence does not see a significant improvement i can see us losing in the first round again easily

I agree. You have to be able to get stops because shooters get hot and cold....

[lewro]

i dont remember who is was but demar totally shoved/fouled one of the pacer bigs to get a pivotal rebound at the end of game 5. solomon hill (?) just missed the buzzer beater at the end.
to me paul george was the best player on the court and he didn't have a ton of help. george hill was good and turner was good but still a rookie. biggest difference for me was norm doing a decent job of containing george. like paul is still gonna be paul but he might have taken over that series (more so) without norm and that might have been enough to tip the scale in a close series. that's all about defense to me. jv was great but i'd expect a veteran version of turner to be a better opponent.