Toronto Raptors: Jordan Loyd looks ready to “graduate” from G League

The Toronto Raptors are short-staffed, and their deep shooting shows little sign of snapping out of a lengthy funk. Surely the time has arrived to try someone else at the wing.

I wrote a week ago about how the severe falloff in outside shooting has hampered the Toronto Raptors. Nothing has changed since then. Our guys managed to wriggle out from a defeat by the Indiana Pacers with some stout defense, then ripped through Cleveland’s non-existent paint protection. The fun, and life on borrowed time, ended in Philadelphia.

The G League recently held its “Showcase” in Texas, at which Raptors 905 swingman Jordan Loyd displayed his skills emphatically. Here’s some video (with wretched commentary) highlighting his efforts:

I don’t know how much longer coach Nick Nurse can wait for C.J. Miles to re-discover his shooting stroke. Every critical data point for him is at its lowest level since he made the NBA as a teenager. He’s 3 of 20 from beyond the arc in his last four games.

D is fine, but we’ve still got to score

Why not give C.J. a night off against Orlando on the 28th and add Loyd to the roster? I’m one of those who believes it’s best to give new players their first exposure to the bigs in a road game. [20-second timeout: I’m aware Loyd has already played a few minutes with the Raptors. I’ll like to see him get 15-20 minutes, starting in the first half, i.e., not garbage time.] I wouldn’t insist on the away game thing in Loyd’s case, as he’s 25 years of age, thus presumably beyond jitters. Even so, the option is there, so coach should seize it.

We have our first and second options at center out with injuries. Greg Monroe can hold his offensively, but is challenged beyond the breaking point on D. He doesn’t have the reactions or the foot speed to make life difficult for either scoring centers like Joel Embiid or cutters like almost anyone.

That implies a need for outside scoring, or we’ll continue to get thumped like we did against the 76ers. Kyle Lowry didn’t exactly provide the spark in his return, nor did Danny Green following a one-game layoff. They combined to go 3 of 14 from deep.

The Raptors needed an 11-point Q4 from the Pacers, and a missed foul call at the buzzer, to steal the W. Even a bad Cleveland team was allowed to hang around. Without additional scoring, we could be headed for a slump until our big men return.

The stars have aligned for Jordan Loyd. Now he, and we, must await the press release declaring that he’s been called up to the majors. Let’s hope he gets a serious chance to show his skills.