Raptors practice offers insight into coaches’ priorities for new season
By Brian Boake
An amateur coaches seminar at the Air Canada Centre offered some interesting thoughts about this year’s Toronto Raptors.
Prior to the full-length team practice, Raptors assistant coaches talked about some of the specialized work they do. Many of us who follow the team know more or less who does what, but to review:
- Nick Nurse – Offense
- We learned a lot about short-clock situations. Coach Nick emphasized two important matters – being prepared to call a play which your team has practised, and having someone you can trust in-bound the ball. One play he showed us hinges entirely for its success on the immediacy of the pass. He stressed the ball must be passed the instant the ref hands it over, because coach is counting on the D not being set.
- Rex Kalamian – Defense
- Coach Rex wants the Raptors to be more physical this year. He is also on a mission to see the team reduce its need to play help defense. Whether those messages are received and acted upon by the players (assuming they are physically capable of performing the new demands) remains to be seen.
- One way to get better man to man coverage (ergo, less help D) is to reduce the emphasis on forcing play to the sidelines. Kalamian says the defenders will be positioning themselves on a 45-degree angle to the sidelines, rather than a 90-degree one. We’ll be watching.
- When our bigs blitz the ball handler outside the key, small men will need to cover the opposing front court people down on the blocks. Kalamian said our guys will front theirs to mitigate the mismatches, which should be interesting.
- Communicate! This is particularly important as the game wears on, and fatigue sets in.
- Coach Rex wants the Raptors to be more physical this year. He is also on a mission to see the team reduce its need to play help defense. Whether those messages are received and acted upon by the players (assuming they are physically capable of performing the new demands) remains to be seen.
More than Xs & Os
- Jim Sann – Big men
- This coach was at pains to point out how much the NBA approach to offense has changed during his lengthy tenure in the league. He said when he was with the New York Knicks under Jeff Van Gundy, they got to the Finals running a huge number of plays through the low post. Um…not anymore.
- He mentioned DeMarcus Cousins and Anthony Davis as examples of the multi-skilled big men now playing.
- Patrick Mutumbo – Playing faster
- I don’t think there’s much doubt the Raptors want to pick up the pace this season. The team ranked 22nd in 2016-17. [20-second timeout: I’m skeptical of the co-relation between pace and wins. The Brooklyn Nets and Phoenix Suns ranked 1-2 in this stat, and their combined record was 44-120. Behind them were hyper-successful Golden State and Houston. Make of all that what you will.] Patrick has some simple yet effective thoughts on offer, like not having the point guard accept the in-bounds pass so close to the line following an opposition bucket. His theme was making the ball do the work whenever possible. The players even work on the ball not being in anyone’s hands for more than a second.
- Jama Mahalela – Inclusion and fun
- OK, that wasn’t his official theme, but that was the essence of his presentation. Expressed another way, he wanted to make sure coaches remember that everyone on the team matters, and the game should be fun, not work. Amen to all that, coach.
I’ll share my observations of the Raptors practise tomorrow.