After being one of the most dominant units in the NBA, the Toronto Raptors bench has looked pedestrian through five games. Is it time to worry?
The Toronto Raptors had the best bench in the NBA last season. Toronto relied on the all-bench unit of Fred VanVleet, Delon Wright, C.J. Miles, Pascal Siakam, and Jakob Poeltl for large fractions of the game. Of five-man lineups (all lineups not bench lineups) which played greater than 300 minutes, Toronto’s BENCH ranked second in the NBA in Net Rating.
This year, the bench is not finding the same success. Although the lineup data is not as clean, due to Nick Nurse’s traditional substitution patterns, Toronto’s lack of bench success is glaringly obvious.
For starters, every player on the Raptors bench has a worse +/- then they did last season.
Secondly, four of the Raptors five bench players who receive consistent minutes are shooting a lower percentage than they did last season (Norman Powell is the exception).
Lastly, despite their 5-0 start, the Raptors are being outscored when either Kyle Lowry or Kawhi Leonard is on the bench.
That’s umm, not good. But only five games into the season, is it time to worry yet? In order to find out, let’s take a look deeper into the root of their problems.
Chemistry
Last season, the Raptors were a well-oiled machine. The five-man, all bench unit played 340 minutes together by themselves, and the players spent countless more with slight variations throughout the season.
Most of the bench remains, and as a result, most of their chemistry should remain in-tact. However, Jakob Poeltl is gone and Pascal Siakam is now with the starters.
The bench is also adjusting to playing alongside Danny Green and Kawhi Leonard, something that will take some time.
Yet, with Nick Nurse’s substitution method, it’s possibly the bench will never develop the same chemistry as last season. No five-man unit will spend near 340 minutes together and some chemistry is built only through countless game reps.
The Raptors are betting a slight dip in chemistry will be offset by much more versatility and lineup flexibility. I’m hopeful of the same result, but it’s too early to be sure of it yet.
Overall concern: Not much too worry about
Delon Wright’s absence
Wright’s absence has been extremely impactful on the bench’s play thus far. Without Wright and without Siakam, the Raptors bench has lacked ball-handling and playmaking for others.
Wright will return and many of those problems will go away. Still, should the absence of Delon Wright be enough to totally tank the bench unit?
Delon’s great, but he is the sixth or seventh best player on the Raptors. Team’s deal with injuries throughout the season and the absence of one rotation player shouldn’t tank an entire unit. Wright’s absence is notable. It’s not the sole reason for their problems.
Overall concern: Slightly, more to worry about
Different pieces
The biggest difference in Toronto’s bench this season is their change of personnel. The Bench Mob subbed out Pascal Siakam and Jakob Poeltl and gained (for the most part) Jonas Valanciunas and OG Anunoby.
Norman Powell also has been added to the fray. We’ll see if that continues when Delon Wright returns. I’d guess it does.
The change in pieces is contributing to this unit’s lack of chemistry and subsequently hurting the unit. However, do I believe that the change in personnel will negatively impact the bench’s long-term success? Absolutely not.
JV and OG Anunoby are a talent upgrade over Jak and Skal. They are still working out the issues now. In the long-term, don’t expect any problems.
Norman Powell’s skill-set is more questionable. If he continues to be worth the rotation spot he will remain in the lineup. If he begins to struggle, there is nothing preventing him from being relegated back to an end-of-bench role.
Overall concern: None
The Verdict
It’s too early to worry about the Raptors bench. Five games in, the sample size is too small and the group hasn’t played together enough to reach any type of verdict.
However, it is worth monitoring. If the Raptors bench doesn’t show improvements by game 10, it might be time to start making some changes.