Respect to the Offence?

[S.R.]

Relative to the league average, Warriors currently have most efficient offense of all-time. In second place? The 2016-17 TORONTO RAPTORS.

— Ian Levy (@HickoryHigh) December 12, 2016

We've spent several seasons slagging both Casey and DeMar. We're spending a lot of time on the defence and JV. In the meantime, these guys have developed the best Raptors offence ever. True? Implications?

[rocwell]

I will believe in our offence if we show up in April. #OffenceInAprilMatters

[A.I]

It does make sense when you think about it. Demar starts the season scoring 30+ in 10 out of the first 12 games, and then after Patterson's and Carroll's 3 point shooting picks up and Lowry starts going crazy from 3. I don't think it'll last though.

[rocwell]

%FGA from RA+3PT
GSW: 68% (5th)
TOR: 58% (25th)

AST/FGM
GSW: 72% (1st)
TOR: 50% (29th)

OffRtg
GSW: 114.2
TOR: 114.2

¯\_(ツ)_/¯

— John Schuhmann (@johnschuhmann) December 12, 2016

[Mess]

It's as if Moreyball isn't the only way to play the game.

Oh, and check out these impressive (pretty much what some people are criticizing lately) stats:

Some Monday Sixers ranks...
•8th in Dec. 100.4 drtg
•5th this yr. 62.1 ast%
•1st this yr. 355.3 pass/game
•9th this yr. 55.9 ast pts created

— Brian Seltzer (@brianseltzer) December 12, 2016

They are much higher than the Raptors. For what it's worth.

[3inthekeon]

I'm enjoying what we have now.. The best Raptor basketball EVER.

I'll start worrying about how we do in the playoffs when we get to the playoffs. And I wish I didn't then either because what the fuck good does worrying do??

[tDotted]

This offence is legit. With so many options, I doubt you see everyone get cold at the same time.

[Lupe]

The Raptors are the only team in the NBA that ranks in the top 10 in all four offensive factors

eFG% - 4th
TOV% - 3rd
ORB% - 8th
FT/FGA - 1st

The Warriors are the best in the first by some distance, but we outrank them in all the others. I think one thing that really helps our offense a lot in particular is that we turn over the ball very infrequently, but force other teams to turn it over quite a lot.

In fact our points off turnovers differential is almost the entirety of our points differential. We score 20.0 points off turnovers per game (the most in the NBA) but only allow 12.4ppg off turnovers (2nd least to Detroit at 12.2). That's a differential of 7.6 points per game off turnovers. We're winning games on average by 8.3 points per game, so as you can see the points of turnovers differential alone almost entirely covers that.

And part of the reason we don't turn it over a lot is actually due to the lack of ball movement/over-passing and generally making a lot of low-risk but high efficiency plays. Running a pick and roll with guys like DeMar and Lowry who don't really turn the ball over much for their respective positions results in very few run-outs for the opposition. This is why there are multiple ways to play the game and be effective on offense.

On top of that our offense is pretty slow paced and methodical which helps keep the turnover rate down. We only really push the ball off a turnover from the other team otherwise it's get into our sets, initialize the action with DeMar or Kyle and go from there.

Offense isn't really a concern for us. If Lowry is healthy and focused come playoffs we'll be fine and DeMar won't feel the need to chuck and should perform closer to his regular season performance (like he did in the 2014 playoffs when Lowry was playing well also). Defense is where I'm concerned. Might not be a big issue early on but it could cause a problem against a closer opponent in the 2nd round and will give us no chance against Cleveland whatsoever. Again, LBJ has only lost to a non top-5 defense once in the playoffs and it was 8th.

[KeonClark]

It does make sense when you think about it. Demar starts the season scoring 30+ in 10 out of the first 12 games, and then after Patterson's and Carroll's 3 point shooting picks up and Lowry starts going crazy from 3. I don't think it'll last though.

Why? You just listed 3 different ways we've had a ton of success. That's the best indication it's not just smoke and mirrors

[Jclaw]

And how 'bout that 16-7 record?

Keep in mind..what ever good we have done on offence and whatever trouble we have had on defence, the respective highs and lows have been done with one of the toughest first 20+ games in the league (image courtesy of BrewHoop). Only Miami and Dallas have a slightly similar schedule to us and I can't say they're doing too well. Wishful thinking but hopefully this bodes well for the rest of the season.

NBA 2016-17: Average Opponent Strength to date, until the All-Star break, and for the rest of the season. pic.twitter.com/zUHoMAH4Gw

— Ed Küpfer (@EdKupfer) December 9, 2016

[DanH]

Keep in mind..what ever good we have done on offence and whatever trouble we have had on defence, the respective highs and lows have been done with one of the toughest first 20+ games in the league (image courtesy of BrewHoop). Only Miami and Dallas have a slightly similar schedule to us and I can't say they're doing too well. Wishful thinking but hopefully this bodes well for the rest of the season.

Yep. And as far as I can tell, the Raptors have the easiest remaining schedule when looking at all the games from now to the end of the season. Key is to take advantage - for example by sweeping the next 5 games.

[rocwell]

Casey deserves a lot of credit on how team begun the 16/17 season. Motivated staff + group of hard working players equals early success.. It's not the first time our team started the season looking strong/hot af. When Vegas released their odds back in August, I was bit.. um... Skeptical about the Raptors. But damn. Our boys and coaching staff were fucking ready from the get go. Amazing stuff. Hope we can keep this up till July. Who knows.. Maybe this will be our year.

[JawsGT]

Our incredible offence has also got me thinking we could actually make a run at CLE in the playoffs in our D were to improve enough. And given the remaining schedule, it's likely it will look better, at least on paper. And given tha,t I am becoming more amenable to the idea of getting Millsap, despite the risk of him hitting free agency in the summer. If there was a trade that didn't include 4 of our starters, Patterson, and Norm, I think I'd be on board.

[KeonClark]

Our incredible offence has also got me thinking we could actually make a run at CLE in the playoffs in our D were to improve enough. And given the remaining schedule, it's likely it will look better, at least on paper. And given tha,t I am becoming more amenable to the idea of getting Millsap, despite the risk of him hitting free agency in the summer. If there was a trade that didn't include 4 of our starters, Patterson, and Norm, I think I'd be on board.

Are you considering siakam untouchable?

[3inthekeon]

DeMar and Lowry who don't really turn the ball over much for their respective positions .

Just want to clarify something here. Demar does turn it over quite a bit for a SG; the only guy listed as a SG with more than Demar's 62 TO's is Giannis.

However, taking into account Demar's high usage and high minutes, his 9.7 TO% is pretty good.