The Toronto Raptors have now lost five straight games, looking just as lifeless against the Chicago Bulls as they have in all of their prior defeats. Head coach Nick Nurse has been given an impossible task given how much firepower Toronto has out.
Pascal Siakam, Fred VanVleet, and OG Anunoby have all missed the last five games, which has forced an already thin Raptors bench to dig deep into their bag of reserves, which has proven costly over the last few games.
Not only have the Raptors been losing, but they are oftentimes not competitive, as evidenced when the Charlotte Hornets boatraced them without letting Toronto hold a single lead. On the other end of the spectrum, this group blew a 13-point lead against Atlanta that ended with Tony Snell’s buzzer-beater.
Nurse has finally snapped, admitting that one of the main reasons that Chicago was able to dominate them was a balanced attack led by nine players in double-figures. On the flip side, the Raptors’ No. 4 scorer had just six points. This is a damning indictment of Toronto’s bench players on both ends of the floor.
Nurse: "You can look at that boxscore and it tells the story. They've got 9 guys in double figures and I think our 4th scorer has 6 (points)."
— Josh Lewenberg (@JLew1050) March 15, 2021
The Toronto Raptors bench has failed Nick Nurse
Let’s take Chris Boucher out of this, as he had been excellent prior to the Chicago game and was again rock-solid last night. No one else on Toronto’s bench is averaging more than 7.1 points per game, and even that scoring is coming with some serious caveats.
Terence Davis, who is shooting 42% amid a very disappointing season for a number of different reasons, is the alleged top gunner off of the bench. While Aron Baynes has performed marginally better as a reserve, his shooting numbers are right on par with Davis despite him hanging out in the paint so frequently.
While DeAndre’ Bembry has been a solid addition, he looked completely out of sorts last night. Yuta Watanabe, Matt Thomas, and Stanley Johnson have all seen increased time of late, and all of them are shooting under 40%. None are averaging more than 3.1 points per game. Paul Watson has been OK, but that’s it. Henry Ellenson has been fine, but the jury is still out on him.
Nurse alluded to these offensive issues later in the press conference, stating that he is getting players open shots, but those guys simply are not converting.
Nurse: "It's a little frustrating tonight, I think. You're giving a lot of guys shots and they miss a few and you try somebody else and they get the same looks and they don't do any better. So it was a tough night for us on that front, and it's too bad."
— Josh Lewenberg (@JLew1050) March 15, 2021
It’s tough for the Raptors to generate offense when three of their five best players are out, but surely there is a way to score be more competitive than this. The bench talent, or lack of same, will kill the Raptors if they want to make a run.
Barring a trade that officially turns the Raptors into sellers, this will likely be what the bench looks like for the rest of the year. If you’re a Raptors fan, that is a worrying thought.