>The Toronto Raptors got weirder, and it’s amazing
>The Raptors spent last season exploring the power of collective length. Their core lineups consisted of Fred VanVleet and four tall people with amorphous positions. When VanVleet rested, they sometimes dispensed with point guards and played five large, switchable humans. It was fun, impenetrable on defense, sometimes claggy (to use a term I learned from Paul Hollywood and Paul Hollywood’s mesmerizing blue laser eyes) on offense, always unusual.
>Their nominal centers were Precious Achiuwa and Khem Birch — 6-8 and 6-9, respectively. Toronto upsized by drafting a 7-1 rim-protector in Christian Koloko, and, my god, are they gigantic now. In one recent game with VanVleet out, they tried a lineup of Gary Trent Jr., Pascal Siakam, Chris Boucher, Achiuwa, and Koloko. To “go smaller,” they swapped Scottie Barnes in for Boucher.
>Koloko is young and raw, but the Raptors are allowing only 97 points per 100 possessions in his minutes — way stingier than the Milwaukee Bucks’ league-best defense. Opponents are shooting 53% at the rim with Koloko nearby — a mark that would typically rank among the lowest leaguewide.
>The Raps’ long arms are snagging 10.8 steals per game, by far the most in the league. Only 50 teams have cracked the 10.5 mark over a full season, per Basketball-Reference data — none since 1998-99. The Raptors are sprinting to 25.6 fast-break points per game — seven more (!) than the No. 2 team. That is the equivalent to the gap between Nos. 2 and 27. They rank No. 1 in almost every measure of transition offense.
>They’re also No. 1 in defensive rebounding rate after ranking in the bottom 10 last season, and they are running like hell off those boards. They turn the entire court into a blur.
>The Raptors need those transition points. They rank 24th in half-court offense, per Cleaning the Glass, and can bog down into one-on-one play. Only the Dallas Mavericks average more isolations per 100 possessions.
>That’s somewhat by design. One trickle-down effect of having so much size — and causing matchup chaos in transition — is that at least one and often two or three Raptors have exploitable mismatches.
>Siakam is turning those into the best scoring and passing season of his career: 25.5 points, 9.6 rebounds, 7.9 dimes. Barnes looks every bit the rising superstar Toronto refused to discuss in any Kevin Durant trade talks. Everyone else is finding their way. O.G. Anunoby has been a terror on defense — he leads the league in steals — but his usage is down a tick on offense. Achiuwa’s jumper is cold; his minutes have fluctuated. Thaddeus Young is out of the rotation. Otto Porter Jr. just debuted.
>Trent brings semi-reliable scoring, and Boucher has been one of the league’s best two-way bench players early.
>If this team finds its footing in the half-court, watch out.
FactCheckingThings
Love the bit on Koloko…
Koloko is young and raw, but the Raptors are allowing only 97 points per 100 possessions in his minutes — way stingier than the Milwaukee Bucks’ league-best defense. Opponents are shooting 53% at the rim with Koloko nearby — a mark that would typically rank among the lowest leaguewide
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The Raptors portion:
>The Toronto Raptors got weirder, and it’s amazing
>The Raptors spent last season exploring the power of collective length. Their core lineups consisted of Fred VanVleet and four tall people with amorphous positions. When VanVleet rested, they sometimes dispensed with point guards and played five large, switchable humans. It was fun, impenetrable on defense, sometimes claggy (to use a term I learned from Paul Hollywood and Paul Hollywood’s mesmerizing blue laser eyes) on offense, always unusual.
>Their nominal centers were Precious Achiuwa and Khem Birch — 6-8 and 6-9, respectively. Toronto upsized by drafting a 7-1 rim-protector in Christian Koloko, and, my god, are they gigantic now. In one recent game with VanVleet out, they tried a lineup of Gary Trent Jr., Pascal Siakam, Chris Boucher, Achiuwa, and Koloko. To “go smaller,” they swapped Scottie Barnes in for Boucher.
>Koloko is young and raw, but the Raptors are allowing only 97 points per 100 possessions in his minutes — way stingier than the Milwaukee Bucks’ league-best defense. Opponents are shooting 53% at the rim with Koloko nearby — a mark that would typically rank among the lowest leaguewide.
>The Raps’ long arms are snagging 10.8 steals per game, by far the most in the league. Only 50 teams have cracked the 10.5 mark over a full season, per Basketball-Reference data — none since 1998-99. The Raptors are sprinting to 25.6 fast-break points per game — seven more (!) than the No. 2 team. That is the equivalent to the gap between Nos. 2 and 27. They rank No. 1 in almost every measure of transition offense.
>They’re also No. 1 in defensive rebounding rate after ranking in the bottom 10 last season, and they are running like hell off those boards. They turn the entire court into a blur.
>The Raptors need those transition points. They rank 24th in half-court offense, per Cleaning the Glass, and can bog down into one-on-one play. Only the Dallas Mavericks average more isolations per 100 possessions.
>That’s somewhat by design. One trickle-down effect of having so much size — and causing matchup chaos in transition — is that at least one and often two or three Raptors have exploitable mismatches.
>Siakam is turning those into the best scoring and passing season of his career: 25.5 points, 9.6 rebounds, 7.9 dimes. Barnes looks every bit the rising superstar Toronto refused to discuss in any Kevin Durant trade talks. Everyone else is finding their way. O.G. Anunoby has been a terror on defense — he leads the league in steals — but his usage is down a tick on offense. Achiuwa’s jumper is cold; his minutes have fluctuated. Thaddeus Young is out of the rotation. Otto Porter Jr. just debuted.
>Trent brings semi-reliable scoring, and Boucher has been one of the league’s best two-way bench players early.
>If this team finds its footing in the half-court, watch out.
Love the bit on Koloko…
Koloko is young and raw, but the Raptors are allowing only 97 points per 100 possessions in his minutes — way stingier than the Milwaukee Bucks’ league-best defense. Opponents are shooting 53% at the rim with Koloko nearby — a mark that would typically rank among the lowest leaguewide
Hes legit a steal as a 2nd round pick.