It remains a significant challenge figuring out what the 2022-23 Toronto Raptors are.
We know they have a handful of players any team would love to have, most notably All-NBA forward Pascal Siakam, who has been brilliant and the guy Thaddeus Young told me is “the best two-way player” in the NBA in O.G. Anunoby, who would deserve an all-star spot at this point.
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We also know rookie of they year Scottie Barnes hasn’t been the same player, though it’s a stretch to say he’s been hit by the dreaded sophomore slump. He’s still been OK, and dominated the Orlando Magic on Saturday, vastly outplaying Franz Wagner, another player under heavy consideration by the Raptors with the fourth pick of that draft and a player who has played at an all-star level in Year 2, arguably better than any other sophomore.
We also know Fred VanVleet has not been anywhere close to the guy who earned his first all-star berth in the first half of last season. He’s been worse in just about every area compared to every season since he became a key regular.
We’re also aware they can punish bad teams (7-3 record against teams below .500. Conveniently, they’ll play Orlando again twice in the next week), but good teams are a different story (5-8, including convincing defeats like Friday’s in Brooklyn).
And thanks to a report from TSN, we are aware the team had a closed-door meeting after said Nets loss to figure out how to stop stinking in the first quarter of games, amongst other things.
Before Orlando, Toronto had been the NBA’s fifth-worse first quarter team in terms of net rating (which looks at offensive and defensive efficiency), with the second-lowest assist ratio in those quarters, meaning they mostly got their offence on their own without passing. Oddly, the same team owned the NBA’s second-best assist ratio in fourth quarters before taking on the Magic.
Jumping out to a 36-21 lead on 73% shooting against Orlando, after giving up at least 40 in the first quarter of the previous two games, indicated the Raptors responded to the meeting.
It also boosted their stats to seventh from the bottom in first quarters in net rating and from second-last to sixth-last in assist ratio. Let’s see how they do against what has been the league’s best team, Boston, on Monday.
One other thing today: A look at how the most commonly used lineups have done, keeping in mind that it’s still very early and all the injuries and illnesses have led to tiny sample sizes. This list includes only the five-man groups that have either played four games, or at least 20 minutes together. There are seven lineups that fit the bill.
The two most common lineups have struggled defensively (VanVleet-Anunoby-Trent-Barnes and either Siakam or Koloko).
Surprisingly, the VanVleet-less group of Siakam-Trent-Barnes-Anunoby-Koloko, the third-most-used lineup so far, has both been steady at both ends, and plays at a frenetic pace far faster than the other variations. Then again, maybe it’s not a surprise, as that group eats off turnovers which get the ball going the other way quickly.
If you look only at four-man groups, the most effective have been Siakam-Anunoby-Barnes-Koloko, VanVleet-Barnes-Anunoby-Young and VanVleet-Anunoby-Barnes-Koloko.
The best-case for the Raptors is Barnes stays healthy and finds his game and Achiuwa returns as an upgrade to those already solid Koloko lineups.
THREE STARS:
1 O.G. Anunoby
2 Pascal Siakam
3 Scottie Barnes
H.M.: Bol Bol, Terrence Ross
THREE STARS VS. NETS:
1 Kevin Durant
2 Pascal Siakam
3 Joe Harris
H.M.: Kyrie Irving
