Are the Toronto Raptors Changing the Way NBA Teams Are Built?

The Toronto Raptors are

changing

the way modern NBA rosters are

built

. I wonder a lot about what the next evolution of the NBA is. More recently, it was the Three-Point Revolution that was catalyzed by Steph Curry and the Golden State Warriors and really took hold. by the Houston Rockets with their small five-out lineups around James Harden and Chris Paul, but the Raptors are zigging while everyone else is zagging and Masai Yujiri is making a pretty big bet that he's onto something no other team in the league is doing. NBA has imagined. Still, I want to start with a quote that I believe was actually said by Masai Yujiri himself.

If the goal of an offense is to create space, then the goal of a defense is to take away that space in a way that is truly core. principle of what the Raptors are doing, but it goes beyond simply getting the tallest, lankiest guys on the court at all times. This idea also doesn't prioritize tight, otherwise they'd be throwing out a bunch of seven footers at all times. prioritizes what I would call a skill-to-height ratio, the Raptors are willing to sacrifice height in favor of skill, looking at their most used lineup last season, consisting of Fred Van Vleet, Gary Trent Jr, ogianobe Scotty Barnes and Pascal siacom, there is not a single one. player in that lineup taller than Pascal siacom with an average height of six feet nine, conversely, Fred Van Vleet is their starting point guard with a height of only six feet one.

That lineup has an average height of six-foot-six with an average wingspan of six-foot-eleven, coming in at an average wingspan and height of 4.3, there seems to be a misconception that the Raptors are strictly putting as much size on the floor as possible. , regardless of skill, but that's not the case, that's not what this new approach to building your roster is about. More on this idea of ​​defensive positional versatility, it seems like they want to be able to operate under a switch-based defensive offensive game plan with each player being relatively versatile on the defensive end, save for one or two guards.

This is the new concept. Not necessarily the power of defensive versatility has been around for a long time for a lot of

teams

, think about that when they're building their rosters, when you can get a group of forwards that can activate the defense and shoot threes at your overall ceiling. The defense will be raised instantly. As it happens, the Raptors have managed to acquire players who can defend multiple positions and also shoot from the perimeter at a high level. Acquiring talent like that is much easier said than done. Let's narrow things down. a bit lonely for the Raptors guys who are 6'6 or taller and also played at least 20 minutes per game last season, which leaves us with Gary Trent Jr oh Gianna Nobi Pascal siakum Scotty Barnes precious sachua and Chris Boucher If you look, all these guys have something in common on defense.

Everyone here was considered a good defender in college or in the case of Gary Trent Jr, the precious Achua showed they could be good defenders before being acquired by the Raptors in most cases. In many cases, for these guys since joining the Raptors, their defensive statistical impact has improved or more or less stayed the same, where another important thing to note here is how these guys looked as three-point shooters in college in all cases except Gary Trent Jr. The guys really weren't the best perimeter shooters in college, but they all seemed to have improved tremendously since college except Chris Boucher, whose three-point efficiency has gone down this year due to to a weaker year in perimeter shooting, but has generally been a great performer.

In a big way, this gives us an idea of ​​the Raptors' approach to acquiring players who prioritize defense and develop perimeter shooting. They are not worried about a player who is not capable of shooting three-pointers because they trust in his ability to make them. In solid three-point shooters, they want to get tall, mobile defenders and then add the skills on top of that, offensive fit is second only to defensive fit. This whole experiment is interesting to say the least, but does it really work? That's a sample size to work with to try to answer that question.

The lineup of Gary Trent Jr. Scotty Barnes Pascal siacom Chris Boucher and the precious Achua played 103 possessions together last season, had an offensive rating of 117 and a half on a defensive rating of 99. giving this lineup a net rating of 18.4, but what makes this offense work when it comes to perimeter shooting, this lineup isn't exactly sniper loaded with two sub 34 3 point shooters in Scotty Barnes and Chris Boucher, so what does a lineup look like? of big men capable of posting an offensive rating of almost 118, a huge factor at play is the fact that this lineup generates an incredible amount of second chance opportunities due to having so many big bodies on the floor to break the glass of this such a great lineup. generated a whopping 18.4 offensive rebounds per 36 minutes, having so many extra opportunities simply means more scoring opportunities and with the height this lineup inherently possesses, getting things like putbacks is relatively easy, these types of things can help mitigate the lack of perimeter scoring that Otherwise, with a more traditional lineup, you may not get the Beyond The Arc points, but you're making up for it with your second chance points while also taking possessions away from your team. contrary and what they lack in space. the perimeter they make up for with their interior gravity, this is what it looks like, you have six foot nine siakum passing him to six foot eight achua on the short roll and he is going to draw defensive attention in the paint, so you have six foot seven scotty and six foot nine Boucher cut to the dunker spot to get an open shot as the defense already stopped ochua on this play.

Trent Jr drives by pushing four of Philadelphia's defenders into the paint and giving him two options that he can get. to see Occam at the dunk spot or kick it to Boucher in the corner, he opts to pass it to siakum for the open dunk. These are the kinds of things this lineup can do with spacing that modern NBA analytics consider bad. But the reality is that perimeter shooting isn't the only way to create opportunities for your team, it's also worth noting that if Boucher returns to his 2020-21 three-point efficiency and Scotty Barnes progresses from his 30-something rookie season three point shots. the spacing of a lineup like this really isn't even that bad, you can change it up too and add a guy like ogianobe and reinforce that spacing without giving up the size advantage on both offense and defense, or you can have a guy like fred Van Vleet orchestrates the offense while surrounding him with tall, skilled defenders.

Many

teams

run these small-ball lineups that typically have average-height traditional guards at their positions with small, average-sized power forwards and then a six-foot-eight or six-foot-nine. The center approach the Raptors are taking seeks to counteract those small-ball alignments because it maintains that height advantage while also maintaining the defensive versatility needed to slow down the opposing offense that is running smaller centers to try to score points in the board like me. As I mentioned above this lineup holds teams to 99 points per 100 possessions for some context the best defensive rating in the League this year was 106.9 points per 100 possessions needless to say these five guys won't be playing all 48 minutes every night and Fred Van Vleet on Malachi Flynn will continue to be integral parts of the Raptors' game plan going forward, but look at a guy like Delano Banton, a six-foot-seven forward who played about 12 minutes a night and He played in more than 60 games last season. another guy with a lot of size but maintains his athleticism and mobility, he is extremely fast and the most important thing is that he still has skill, he can handle the ball and although the efficiency is not there yet, the Raptors are betting on being able to develop his efficiency while making use . of his value as a presser and rim cutter, but Scotty Barnes is truly the magic piece of the puzzle for the Raptors to deliver.

His rookie season was certainly very good, but the question on every Raptors fan's mind is whether or not he's going to be one. He is simply a very good player or if he will become that guy for the Raptors because if he does, the possibilities for this team are endless, they already experimented a lot with him as a forward last season and the common rebuttal when people talk was quite effective. by Scotty Barnes. The good thing is often that he will never be a good shot creator and my answer is simply why isn't he just 21 years old and the film shows that there is a lot of potential at the NBA level for him. being able to get to his spots because of how good he looks, the first thing people mention is the fact that he wasn't a great three-point shooter during his rookie season, which seems like an unfair criticism considering there are a lot of players that they were.

They weren't good three-point shooters during their early years, and in fact it's quite common, then they seem to completely ignore their mid-range ability, something they showed they were able to rely on to put points on the board quite often. . sample size I can't really say it was a fluke the fact that he is able to create for himself in the mid range is really promising for his scoring advantage yes the perimeter shot will be his swing ability and will play a role important in determining whether or not he reaches a score of around 20 points per game or becomes a prolific three-level scoring threat, but my point is that he already has enough to be fine without assuming a trajectory of normal development, the playmaking that What he provides from the forward position gives another layer to his game that really sets him apart from his teammates and having a second look on offense makes me feel comfortable projecting him as an All-Star who It will be the key to unlock.

With this unorthodox approach, if he can operate as a primary ball handler from the forward spot, dishing out over five assists per game and scoring effectively while also providing solid to excellent defense, then Messiah Yujiri only needs to place the right pieces around him to build a contender. If the size gamble pays off and the Raptors can win a championship while using this approach, there will be plenty of front offices that will look to them as a model and reevaluate the current approach to building a contender if you enjoyed this video. Please consider subscribing and leaving a like, that's the number one way to support me and help me continue creating content.

Thank you all so much for watching and we'll see you next time.