How effectively will “new look” Raptors defend? What I’ll be watching for [Part 1 of 2]

The Toronto Raptors were a terrific team last season, until the All-Star break. Once the players regrouped to play the final 29 games of the year, and the playoffs, the team’s defense went south and never returned. The Raps went 13-16 to finish the season, and were dusted in the playoffs. Toronto’s defensive rating was 107.7, good(?) for 25th among 30 teams.

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Apr 14, 2015; Boston, MA, USA; Toronto Raptors forward James Johnson (3) and Boston Celtics forward Jae Crowder (99) work for the ball in the second half at TD Garden. The Celtics defeated the Toronto Raptors 95-93. Mandatory Credit: David Butler II-USA TODAY Sports

Raptors GM Masai Ujiri was explicit about the need to crank up his team’s defensive capability, and all his post-season moves have been to create a nastier, hard-to-play Toronto team. The Raptors’ first-round draft selection, Delon Wright, was regarded as the best defender among college point guards. Even the team’s second-rounder, Norman Powell, is an undersized shooting guard who knows in his bones he won’t make The Show unless he demonstrates fierce defense. There’s a lot of change to digest on the Raptors, and we can only guess at how all the new pieces of the puzzle are going to fit. Let’s try anyway, by considering some theory today, and putting it into practice tomorrow.

The line of demarcation between offense and defense in hoops is most unclear. In that sense, basketball is more like hockey, and less like baseball or football. In those sports, possession (i.e., being on offense) is clear. A baseball team could theoretically be on offense forever, since there’s no clock and the teams don’t switch sides until three outs are made. In basketball or hockey, an errant pass or a quick hand check can flip a switch from defense to offense. Thus we talk about transition in fast-turnover games, whereas the term has little meaning in others. In hoops, a coach may want all his players falling back when his team attempts a shot. I suspect Dwane Casey may call for that when a 3-ball is put up by Carroll, Ross or Lowry. Those are the team’s best shooters from distance, and coach will surrender the chance for an offensive rebound in order to transition into orderly defensive posture. How long he continues fallback will be interesting to watch.

The Raptors didn’t have a second-round selection in the Draft until they traded Greivis Vasquez to Milwaukee. Lou Williams was not tendered an offer by the Raptors, and has become a Los Angeles Laker. If you believe in addition by subtraction, the departure of those two almost certainly helps the Raps defense. Greivis doesn’t have the wheels to defend in today’s NBA, and Lou was too often uninterested. (I don’t think the departure of Amir Johnson will have much impact on team D.)

Assuming a ten-man rotation, we’re now looking at some mixture of Kyle Lowry, Wright, Cory Joseph and DeMar DeRozan in the backcourt, swingmen Terrence Ross, James Johnson, DeMarre Carroll and Patrick Patterson, with Jonas Valanciunas, Luis Scola and Bismack Biyombo in the frontcourt. With the exception of Scola, that should be a group which can run the floor with any team in the league. But can they rebound? Getting back, and limiting the opponents’ broken-floor chances, are essential, but without grabbing those boards, we’ll still struggle.

There’s a few concepts to ponder: player dumps, transition, team speed, and rebounding. I’ll move from generalities to specifics in Part 2.

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