Toronto Raptors: 3 mind-blowing defensive stats from 2014/15

The 2014/15 Toronto Raptors were statistically terrible defensively. These three stats hold the tale of the tape.

Defensive Rebounding (30.8/game; 27th in the league)
Defensive Rating (104.8 points/100 possessions; 23rd in the league)
Opponent FG% (45.9%; 26th in the league)

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Defensive Rebounding

Last season’s top rebounders per game were Jonas Valanciunas (8.7), Amir Johnson (6.1) and Patrick Patterson (5.3). Per 36 minutes, the team’s top rebounders were Lucas Noguiera (17.2), Valanciunas (11.9), and Tyler Hansbrough (9.0).

Per 36 minutes, Valanciunas actually recorded nearly a rebound per game more than DeAndre Jordan (Los Angeles Clippers). For the amount of minutes he played (26.2 per game) his total rebounding average actually compares favorably to the relentless glass-cleaning of Kenneth Faried (Denver Nuggets). Valanciunas isn’t the issue.

The problem here really was two-fold: Patterson is a poor rebounder for a power forward and two of the team’s best rebounders per 36 minutes weren’t going to get that type of playing time. Patterson was “good” for 79th league-wide in rebounds per game, tied with PG Michael Carter-Williams (Milwaukee Bucks). Patterson has the size and ability to be a solid rebounder but the coaching staff has to sell him on the importance of glass-cleaning.

Hansbrough and Johnson are gone and their minutes will go to DeMarre Carroll, Luis Scola, and Noguiera. Carroll was as strong a defensive rebounder as Amir Johnson last season and ranked in the top 15 of all qualified small forwards with 5.3 rebounds per game. Scola ranked in the top 15 of all qualified power forwards with 4.8 rebounds per game despite only playing 20 minutes per game. Per 36 minutes Scola was good for 11.4 rebounds per game, showing a rebounding prowess that can compare to Valanciunas’.

The difference in defensive rebounding this season will lie in the progress of Noguiera. This summer, in a strong Summer League Performance, Noguiera posted a stat line of 7.8 points, 10.6 rebounds (7.2 defensive rebounds), 2.6 assists and 2.6 blocks in just 23.8 minutes.

Defensive Rating and Opponent FG%

The Raptors’ defensive rating was 104.8, so as a team their defence wasn’t very good. Let’s start there.

The biggest difference between last year’s Raptors and the top’10 defence of 2013/14, at least internally, was the contributions of Patterson, Terrence Ross and Lou Williams.

Individually, two of the team’s worst individual defensive players, Lou Williams and Greivis Vasquez, are gone. So too, hopefully, are the poor rotations leading to open shots for the other team. Assuming their replacements, respectively, are Cory Joseph and Delon Wright, the defensive rating of last year’s Raptors should be more closer to the top-10 squad of 2013/14, if not better.

Joseph’s defensive rating last year was 104. Williams’ was 109. Wright’s only defensive statistics are from college and thus he’s unproven, but for comparison’s sake in college Wright’s defensive rating was 89.0. In college, Vasquez’s was 97.7. Last year, Vasquez’s number went all the way up to 110. Let’s say Wright’s defensive rating gets 12 points worse in pros. His defensive rating would still be 101.

Last year, Scola’s defensive rating was 101. The player he’s replacing, Psycho T, had a defensive rating of 107 last year. Similarly, Carroll’s defensive rating was 104. The player he’ll essentially be replacing, Johnson, had a defensive rating of 107 last year.

In 2013/14, after posting defensive ratings of 103 (Patterson) and 107 (Ross), their defensive ratings dropped to 108 and 110 respectively the next year. This was because they had too much defensive responsibility to handle. There will, quite simply, be less responsibility this season because of the defensive presence of Carroll.

A change in these three statistics will spell doom for rest of the NBA.

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