Toronto Raptors: Three players who need to step up during the injury crisis

Patrick McCaw

It’s a major point in the career of Patrick McCaw. Nick Nurse absolutely loves McCaw for his gritty defense and wingspan, but it’s obvious that there is an obvious deficiency in McCaw’s game: his offense.

With that being said, Nurse has still elected to use McCaw at small forward during this stretch and flexed Anunoby to the power forward position. That might not be everyone’s first choice but Nurse is a title-winning coach and if he sees something in McCaw then there’s probably a reason to trust him.

For McCaw to be successful as a starter, he needs to be aggressive on offense. That starts with taking those open three-pointers that everyone gives up to him. He’s a 29-percent shooter from three over his career and, at times, is nothing more than a black hole on offense. He isn’t reliable as a shooter so teams are more willing to cheat and play off him, which is fair. There have been a number of times this season where McCaw has elected to play a swing pass rather than take an uncontested three-pointer.

It’s time to start taking risks on offense for McCaw, and it starts with taking those three-pointers. Against the Dallas Mavericks, we saw a glimpse of that. McCaw took four three-pointers and made two in the first quarter.

If he starts taking and making them on a more regular basis, teams will eventually have to take him a little more seriously on the perimeter, and that opens up more room for other players to work.

As the current starting forward for the Toronto Raptors, McCaw has to be more than just a competent defender, he needs to add to his all-round game if the Raptors are to be successful.