BY ERIK LAGERWEIJ
Steven Ryan (Getty Images)
Out of nowhere, the Toronto Raptors are on an absolute heater. Sure, the first half of their last game against a very short-staffed Utah Jazz team was ugly at best, but they got it done. Like most sports leagues, results matter more than process in the NBA and the 2022 Raptors are undoubtedly picking up results.
Helped by a supernova performance from starting point guard Fred VanVleet, the Raptors capped off a win against the Utah Jazz's G-League team for their fifth straight win. Not only that, but they've now won 10 of their last 14. After a somewhat frustrating start to the season, Toronto is firmly positioned to make the Eastern Conference play-in round.
The real question remains: how did a team that was 9-13 on December 1st turn it around this quickly? Maybe they pushed really hard to achieve their New Year's resolution early or maybe it's a bit more complicated. What could it be? Either way, I decided that it was my task to lay out the facts. You decide for yourself. How have the Raptors turned it around? I have my opinion; what's yours?
These articles rarely age well and it is entirely possible that the Raps are back to under .500 after going winless this week. But in a post-Kyle Lowry world with no fans to watch on in-person, I will take the optimistic route.
With that being said, here are the primary reasons that the Toronto Raptors may be finding themselves as a team.
Reason 1: Fred VanVleet is playing like an All-Star
Frankly, this is probably the most feasible option. Since losing a close one to the Philadelphia 76ers (a game in which FVV wasn't even playing), Fred VanVleet has been going nuclear. He's averaged 31.0 points, 4.8 rebounds, 7.2 assists and 1.8 steals per game dating back to the win over the Clippers on the last day of 2021. The points average could honestly be even higher if not for an encounter with Milwaukee Bucks guard Jrue Holiday, who brutally used his physicality to make life impossible on VanVleet.
Yesterday night's game against the Utah Jazz was his best performance yet. Despite a slow first half from himself and his team, Freddy exploded in the third quarter. By pouring in 24 points against Utah's rag-tag defense, the entire Jazz system lost confidence. By the time the fourth quarter started, VanVleet was often able to find an open-man (like Precious Achiuwa on his tenth assist of the night), just because Utah couldn't leave only one guy on him.
Fred's All-Star case isn't being mentioned nearly enough; maybe Raptors fans are so fixated on his performances that they can't even consider it. With that being said, the Jazz game should realistically seal his case. If the All-Star game aims to assemble the best in the sport, even amongst the reserves, VanVleet must be there.
He is the leader of this Raptors team. He gets the ball rolling every night. He brings heart and soul to the court along with an uncanny ability to work in the dirty areas of the court. If Toronto is to keep going, their star needs to motivate them and perform well individually. You simply cannot make the argument that he is failing in his duties recently.
Reason 2: "Spicy P" is back
Abbie Parr (Getty Images)
Just a couple years ago, Pascal Siakam was one of the most respected young players in the league. He was blossoming into the leader of a team many thought could be a contender for years even after Kawhi Leonard's departure.
Siakam hasn't taken the step some expected. Don't get me wrong, he's still been great. But for a guy with such an expensive contract, it's been mildly frustrating. Every mention of the forward since his production took a dip has usually been accompanied by somebody poking fun at his oft-used spin move.
Siakam was powerless to help out when the Raptors came out of the gates flat at the start of the season, as he was still nursing an injury. When he returned, it looked like he had lost the impact that made him such a special player during the 2019 championship run and the 2020 regular season. The Raptors lost their first 4 games after Siakam's return from injury.
He's back up to speed now, and with him and Fred performing at the high levels that we now expect from them, Nick Nurse doesn't have to be quite as creative with his lineups. He finally has a couple guys that he can throw out on the court and expect them to ball out.
Siakam hasn't been as consistently brilliant as VanVleet this week, but when needed, he's been excellent. During their game against the Bucks, when VanVleet was kept a bit quieter than usual, Siakam took advantage of the fact that Milwaukee was missing Giannis Antetokounmpo and just went after Bobby Portis. He finished that game with 33 points, a season-high for the Cameroonian.
If the Spicy Man himself can keep it cooking in the frontcourt, Fred won't need to do everything on his own.
Reason 3: The size
Nick Nurse is a smart guy. He won the NBA championship in his first year as Raptors head coach and Coach of the Year award in his second. You would think that to start a quarter, the time to gain momentum and build a lead, that he would keep his star guard Fred VanVleet on the floor. But he isn't. Curious. Why would he keep Fred off the floor at one of the most important parts of a quarter? Well, the answer is simple. Here is the lineup he typically employs to start second and fourth quarters along with each player's alleged height.
Scottie Barnes-6'7
OG Anunoby-6'7
Pascal Siakam-6'8
Chris Boucher-6'9
Precious Achiuwa-6'8
How exactly do you score on that? The Raptors' lineups are occasionally consisting of 5 massive forwards wreaking havoc. And it's working.
NBA teams have been trying to find players that are switchable defenders with extremely long wingspans for the last few years, as the game evolves into a more positionless affair. Sneakily, the Raptors have done it before anybody else.
It's been suggested that this was Nick Nurse and team president Masai Ujiri's vision all along. That's entirely possible, if not likely, based on how clever Ujiri has proven to be. Maybe it just all fell into place. I'm in no place to speculate on that. What I do know is that if you are trying to get into space and find open shots, 5 strong guys, all at around 6'8, is not an easy group to score on.
In recent games, the Raptors are forcing turnovers like never before. They are now up to 2nd in the league in forced turnovers.
After forcing a turnover though, you need to score the other way to make it all worth it. Nick Nurse's genius is putting that all into place. He often makes Siakam defend the opponent's point guard late on during a possession. This leaves either Barnes or Anunoby to defend the opposing team's center. Usually switching your smallest player on the floor onto a center to allow a mismatch on offense is a terrible idea. But when your smallest player is still over 2 metres tall, you can get away with it.
By having Siakam on the shorter guards, it creates a mismatch going the other way where the surprisingly agile Siakam can get an easy layup or a poster on the smaller player. If the lane is clogged, Siakam can pass to either Anunoby or Barnes who can use their speed as a smaller player against the slower centers to get open and hit an uncontested shot.
If Nurse can harness this lineup and get it working each and every night, the Raptors will be a problem.
Reason 4: "Slim Duck" and the Second Unit (no; it's not an 80s band)
Abbie Parr (Getty Images)
It was a brutal start to the season for Canadian Chris Boucher. A lack of defensive effort and cohesion in the Raps' tall-ball lineups had him in Nick Nurse's doghouse. In no time at all, Boucher went from a player in the top-10 for Most Improved Player odds to somebody who was barely cracking the rotation.
Nonetheless, the man they call "Slim Duck" has bounced back in a big way. Ever since Nick Nurse abandoned the Dalano Banton experiment and stopped giving Malachi Flynn meaningful minutes, there has been a major improvement in the bench's performance.
The Raptors are, to my knowledge, the only team in the NBA that doesn't have a guard or wing as one of their top three bench options. Khem Birch, Boucher and Precious Achiuwa have been elevating their games lately. Whether it be as part of the tall-ball lineups or in a group with Freddy and/or Gary Trent Jr., the Raps' three bench bigs have been finding mismatches all over the floor. Boucher is hitting threes, Achiuwa is working hard every night even if he can't hit shots, and Birch just has a general feeling for the game that makes him a net positive most times he hits the floor.
Though I focused on the Raptors' power forwards and centers, they are getting key contributions even further down in the lineup.
Yuta Watanabe's defensive IQ and intensity is an integral part of those forced turnovers I touched on earlier. He gets the group going when he rises up for an athletic block.
Svi Mykhailiuk is slightly one-dimensional, though if there is any part of the game to be good at in today's NBA, shooting threes is probably the most helpful.
Then there's Justin Champagnie. The latest in a long line of undrafted Raptors success stories, Champagnie does everything you want from a young bench piece. He has a nose for the ball and he knows where to be at all times.
Who would've thought that taking the Raptors' only two true point guards out of the lineup would help so much?
Reason 5: Luck
Yeah, I don't want to admit either.
A five-game win streak isn't all that long already and frankly a few of the games that the Raptors have played recently have been against teams missing some key players to say the least. Nothing evidences this more than Toronto's win over the Jazz yesterday night.
Here is the Jazz's usual rotation, via Rotoworld:
PG: Mike Conley
Jordan Clarkson
SG: Donovan Mitchell
Joe Ingles
SF: Bojan Bogdanovic
Elijah Hughes
PF: Royce O'Neale
Eric Paschall
C: Rudy Gobert
Hassan Whiteside
Pretty great team. There's a reason they were 28-10 heading into the matchup in Toronto last night. Now let's take a look at the team that Utah had to offer yesterday.
PG: Jared Butler
No backup PG
SG: Trent Forrest
Danuel House
SF: Elijah Hughes
Malik Fitts
PF: Eric Paschall
Norvel Pelle
C: Hassan Whiteside
Udoka Azubuike
Pretty terrible team, at least in comparison to the first lineup. For those counting at home, a whopping 3 players in the Jazz lineup yesterday would play if they were able to field their best team.
The game before that, the Milwaukee Bucks were missing their best player and arguably a top-3 player in the league in Giannis Antetokounmpo.
Though I did put luck on this list, I choose to deny this as a reason for the Raptors' improvement. COVID-19 protocols are a part of sports now and injuries always have been. The Raptors have been one of the unluckiest teams in terms of games lost via injury in recent seasons. It's just not an excuse.
No, I think this is a young team flexing their muscles and showing their maturity. Nurse is making the proper adjustments. Maybe this is just a good team coming alive. A team full of players who can count on each other. Did you see how exhausted Chris Boucher was in the fourth quarter of the Jazz game? He looks ready to give 100% for the jersey he is wearing.
u/McSpitfire (reddit.com)
The Raptors are breaking out of their shell. Maybe the rebuild isn't over quite yet and maybe they won't even make the playoffs this season.
However, Nick Nurse and Masai Ujiri have a vision for what the Raptors will be soon. This current Raptors squad is looking more and more like that conceptualization.
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