Toronto Raptors: 3 rotation changes Nick Nurse must make
By Mike Luciano
The Toronto Raptors have started off the season at 1-3 with all three of their losses coming at home. A blowout win in Boston against a tough Celtics team was immediately followed by home losses to the Mavericks as well as an old teammate in DeMar DeRozan and his Chicago Bulls.
The Raptors might have fought hard until the end of this game, and the fact they were in this game against an unbeaten team without Pascal Siakam is encouraging, but that doesn’t change the fact that this team has lost some heartbreakers at home, and they need to pick up the pace to stay alive in the playoff hunt.
Nick Nurse will likely fiddle with the rotation somewhat, as he needs to settle on a combination that gives his marquee pieces time to shine while eradicating some of the issues that have plagued this team.
If Nurse is going to go back to the drawing board and switch things up, he should consider making these three changes to the rotation with the goal of snapping the Raptors out of this funk that they’ve found themselves in over the first few games.
1. Reducing Goran Dragic’s playing time
Dragic, who came to Toronto in the Kyle Lowry swap, is trying to maximize his trade value so that the young, retooling Raptors can eventually move him at the deadline to a contender. Unfortunately for the aging Slovenian, very few contenders may want to take him on considering how he’s playing.
Dragic is making just 31.8% of his shots and 22.2% of his 3-point attempts, all while playing subpar defense. Dragic has a long history of being a successful scorer in this league, but his accomplishments in Miami shouldn’t guarantee him minutes in Toronto, especially at his age.
The Toronto Raptors can’t keep relying on Goran Dragic.
The Raptors might be trying to boost Dragic’s trade value, get a veteran presence in the lineup, and find a consistent backup point guard behind Fred VanVleet, but their current performance on that front is not getting the most out of No. 1, and that should set alarm bells off for Nurse.
Dragic has a proven record of success, so Toronto appears to be taking the approach of letting him get a hearty diet of minutes and working through his slow start. However, Toronto’s is slipping up in the win column, and Nurse can only take so much poor shooting before his hand is forced.