3 areas where the Raptors are better than they were in Tampa

2. Turnovers

One of Kyle Lowry’s more masterful skills as a point guard was his ability to avoid turnovers while causing chaos on the defensive end. Fred VanVleet is doing his best Lowry impression this season on both ends of the floor, and it’s helped Toronto avoid giving their opponent free possessions by coughing up the ball.

Toronto is forcing 16.3 turnovers per game, which is both a slight improvement from 15.3 last year and the second-best average in the entire NBA behind Minnesota. Despite being a young team with young ball-handlers, Toronto’s 11.9 turnovers per contest are lower than their 12.5 mark in Tampa.

The Toronto Raptors are winning the turnover battle.

Detractors may point out that VanVleet and Pascal Siakam have combined for over five turnovers per game on average, but that’s only because one of those two has the ball in their hands for most of the game. The fact that players like Siakam and Anunoby have managed to cut down on their turnovers from last year is a step in the right direction.

Toronto’s overaggression might get them into trouble on the defensive end at times, but when their scheme is executed perfectly, it’s very hard for even the most polished offenses to avoid coughing up against a team with so much length and strength.