The quick-draw Raptors

The next 11 days or so are going to be critical for the Raptors. Seven upcoming games leading up to Dec. 2 would seem to include some, as Chris Bosh says, of the “winnable” variety. We’ll soon find out if those exist on the Raptors schedule. (If not, well, they're always available for birthday parties and games of pin the tail on the Dinosaur.)

One thing, though. This one pass and a quick-shot approach they've fallen in love with isn’t working - it's actually making last year's Mike James and the Bahamas group look good. Parsing the stats at 82games.com this morning, here’s your numbers du jour noting: # of possessions/game; pts/100 possessions; early shots as a percentage of total shots taken; and early shot percentage:

………………..  Poss….Pts/100p..E shots..E shot pct.
06-07 offence……..97…..103…….67 %……40.4 %
05-06 offence……..92…..109…….68 %……46.6 %

 

DAVID ZALBUBOWKI/AP

Okay, on to those winnable games.

So: more possessions, but doing far less with them. Of all the numbers, this one looks like the biggest dropoff (if you’re wondering about the defence, the 82games numbers actually suggest marginal improvement in most areas, the notable exception being rebounding. But still below-average numbers overall).

Yesterday I was talking to a colleague from a rival publication. He remarked succinctly that the Raptors have no killer shooters.

The Raptors do have gunners, though. Shooters know the next shot they take is going down. Gunners know the last shot they took went down. So when Fred Jones hits a three off a Calderon baseline drive-and-kick, as happened last night, you knew he was going to shoot a 3 next time down off the first pass (and miss) - just one example. He's not alone. And, well, that's what he's been told to do.

Aside from the numbers, there’s a perception problem shaping up as well. The Raptors seemed at least interesting coming into this season, with the new faces, the Eurocentricity and the GM/coach combo's dress sense. In three weeks, they’ve delivered much less than anticipated. At this rate, the only thing they're going to be eligible to win is the Eurovision Song Contest. I think lack of familiarity with each other has something to do with some of their troubles, and that only comes with time. Time, though, is a rare luxury in pro sports. They’re in danger of sliding from all the way from interesting to irrelevant while the waiting continues, as even the casual fans who were looking at them beginning of the month turn away.

Irrelevant. That's maybe the most damning adjective you can throw at a pro sports franchise.

 

Comments

[coach]

you are right. the raptors need a dell curry if they hope to be the ' suns of the east '. jones is not a pure shooter while parker is tentative w/ his shots .
as to mo pete, i don't know why sam is not using him enough this season.

[voislav]

I don't know why is everyone jumping the gun so early, wanting to change the team already. Out of the nine man rotation, Raptors have six new players. Not only that but Bargnani, Parker and Garbajosa are practically rookies and no matter how good they are they need time to adjust. What the team needs right now is not to let the losing get to them and just keep playing through the struggles. They are already playing much better than at the beginning of the season and will just keep improving.
Personally, I like the mix of players that Raptors have assembled. They have a good combination of outside shooting, slashing and post players, a very solid team. All they need to do is start playing like a team and that takes time.

[raptoral]

Patience could be deadly.
At the current pace of wins, its conceivable the Raptors could finish November with an underwhelming 3-12 record. There is enough talent on this team to at least make a run for a playoff spot but how long is one to be patient and to what end?
Surely there must be a plan B in place. Under this coaching regime, the team finished 33-49 two seasons ago, going 9-17 in the final two months of the season. They followed that sad finish up with a 27-45 win season last year going an even more dismal 7-22 after the all-star break In both seasons, any individual progress did not translate to team wins, no momentum was built heading into the following season and it was difficult to see any progress through learned systems or player familiarity developed over the course of the year.
To carry on with this staff risks another lost year leading to an eventual coaching change at its end. Thus beginning the "its time to go in a new direction" mantra.
One thing is for sure, interest and fan base is dwindling. The Raptors have a larger percentage of home games after Christmas - it could very well be that many of those games will be rendered meaningless yet again by the all-star break.

[Chris Clarke]

Mo Pete is a great catch and shoot guy. He's the guy that hits that shot to throw the opposing team into a timeout and get the fans out of their seats. I like him in the corners when the ball gets swung. If the Raptors can move the ball from one corner to the other quickly enough, I don't think shooting will be a problem.