Toronto Raptors: 3 most surprising players after 3 preseason games
By Brian Swane
2. Malachi Flynn
With Lowry moving to South Beach, there’s an opportunity, if not necessarily need, for point guard Malachi Flynn to take a step forward with the Raptors in 2021-22. Now that he’s had his first NBA offseason to work on his game, hopes and expectations were for the 23-year-old to come charging out of the gate.
While he could become everything Toronto fans want and more this season, Flynn hasn’t shown it thus far, with three largely ineffectual preseason performances punctuated by poor shooting. On Saturday against Boston, he was 0-for-6 from the field, all of which were missed three-pointers.
No minutes for Malachi Flynn yet. Not sure if he's got some lingering injuries but he's going to have some competition for that back-up PG spot.
— Esfandiar Baraheni (@JustEsBaraheni) October 4, 2021
Dalano and Scottie going to make their cases.
The Toronto Raptors need to see Malachi Flynn drive to the basket more.
Flynn is shooting just 30%from the field, and as poor as that shooting percentage is, the most troubling aspect is the six-foot-one guard’s continued lack of offensive diversity.
In 47 games last season, nearly half of Flynn’s attempted shots were three-pointers, compared to just 43 shots at the rim and roughly 59 floaters.
Three games into the 2021 preseason, Flynn is launching three-quarters of his shots from three-point range, going 5-15 in the process.
At this juncture, Flynn is simply not a good enough three-point shooter to be taking such a large volume of shots from that range. He needs to attack the basket more but has yet to demonstrate an increased inclination to go to the rack. Not surprisingly, Flynn has only two shots from the line in the preseason.
Flynn has played 46 minutes over the three games and has very little to show for his time on the court. He has just three assists, two rebounds, one steal, and no blocks. The only positive of this barebones stat line is that Flynn has turned the ball over just twice.
There won’t be enough minutes for everyone in the Raptors crowded backcourt, although Flynn’s main competitor at point guard, veteran Goran Dragic (another piece acquired in the Lowry trade) hasn’t exactly lit the world on fire either.
It will be interesting to see how Nick Nurse distributes minutes over the final two preseason games as he looks to get his floor generals going.