The Toronto Raptors have been absolutely pitiful in the second half, as their 2-5 start has almost extinguished the possibility of the team earning the No. 6 seed and avoiding the play-in tournament. From an aesthetic point of view, this has been some of the most putrid basketball we’ve seen all year long.
Not only have Toronto’s two wins come against a Nets team that didn’t have any of their best players, but those wins were followed up by losses against the lowly Pistons (for the third time this season, I might add) and Magic. Toronto is shooting just 29% from 3-point range in the last few games.
The Raptors are sliding down the standings after throwing away some golden opportunities against bad teams. With stars like Fred VanVleet and OG Anunoby currently recovering from injury, Toronto has not been able to put their best possible product out on the floor every single night.
The Raptors have played hurt before, but they’ve never looked so dejected and out of energy. Which members of the organization are at fault for this losing streak? Can they eventually snap out of the daze they’re in?
Who is to blame for the Toronto Raptors amid their struggles?
4. Gary Trent Jr.
Trent has been fantastic for most of this season, but he’s been almost inconceivably poor as a shooter over the last few games. Since coming back from the All-Star break, Trent is making just 29% of his shots and 22% of his 3-pointers. You don’t need me to tell you that those aren’t great numbers.
With Anunoby and VanVleet out, the only player that is expected to play a high number of minutes and nail most of his 3-pointers is Trent. Be it through increased pressure or a lack of spacing on the floor, Trent’s poor marksmanship has cost Toronto in losses to some of the worst teams in the league.
Gary Trent Jr. has struggled for the Toronto Raptors lately.
Trent is a streaky player, and the Raptors made peace with that when they decided to fork over a huge contract in the offseason. However, 22% from deep while getting more 3-point attempts than anyone else on the team is not going to cut it. Toronto’s fortunes won’t turn around until he fixes this issue.
When Trent was reeling off 30 point games consistently, Toronto was one of the most lethal teams in the league. Without his skills in that area, the Raptors are showing that the lack of shooting on this roster is so bad that it could impact their chances of becoming a contender.
3. Khem Birch
It may seem like low-hanging fruit to keep banging the Birch drum, but what else are you supposed to do when a starter has been so clearly and obviously subpar? To make matters worse, he is preventing one of the few second-half standouts in Precious Achiuwa from getting more time on the floor.
In 15 games since returning from injury, Birch has recorded two points or fewer 10 times. Birch is averaging just 2.8 points on 41% shooting in that span. With Birch eating up a significant chunk of minutes as a starter, that production is simply not acceptable.
Toronto Raptors center Khem Birch has been invisible on offense.
Birch could’ve made up for the fact that he’s not dynamic on offense if he was a rock-solid rim protector, but he’s been getting beat up in the post by some of the more talented big men they’ve faced lately. Look no further than their 27-point loss against Atlanta, as Birch was a -24 and didn’t score in 12 minutes.
Putting so much of their struggles on Birch might sound unfair, but teams continue to attack him on offense and leave him alone on defense. He could get off this list by returning to his early-season form, however unlikely that possibility might be.
2. Nick Nurse
For as much of a tinkerer as Nurse can be, he’s certainly seemed to be committed to his concept of a positionless style of basketball. The flaws inherent in this style of play are starting to sprout up in concerning fashion, as opposing teams have not had tons of trouble exploiting them.
Why is Birch still starting when Achiuwa surpasses him in every fashion? Why does Thad Young go from closing games to barely playing at all despite the lack of frontcourt depth? Is Yuta Watanabe or Svi Mykhailiuk is the ninth man in the rotation? These questions need to be answered before he hits the floor against the Spurs.
Nick Nurse hasn’t been at his best for the Toronto Raptors.
While partially due to the constraints of the league’s worst bench, Nurse has been slightly criticized for giving his starters an unreal diet of minutes. VanVleet leads the league in minutes per game, with Siakam right behind him. If it holds, VanVleet’s minutes per game would be the highest for one player since Jimmy Butler in 2014-15.
Is that wear and tear starting to catch up to them?
Nurse might not have 2019 levels of depth on this roster, but is unreasonable to expect even an injured Raptors team to beat two of the worst teams in the league and not get blown out by potential playoff opponents? The championship coach hasn’t been as sharp in the last two weeks.
1. The Basketball Gods
Toronto has gotten their fair share of good bounces this season, as they’ve taken on some elite teams without many of their best players. Now they’re starting to come and collect, and that’s led to the Raptors losing some of their impact players for the foreseeable future.
The injured Anunoby will likely be reevaluated within two weeks, and VanVleet missing five games already did some damage. Malachi Flynn has been playing very well lately, but now he’s been sidelined due to a hamstring problem. The confluence of circumstances between the bad injury luck and the starters regressing has handicapped this team
The Toronto Raptors aren’t fully healthy.
Getting blown out and losing to some of the lackluster competition they’ve lost to is embarrassing, but what else can you expect from a team that is replacing Anunoby and VanVleet with Khem Birch and Dalano Banton? Siakam and Scottie Barnes are doing everything they can to keep Toronto in these games.
Toronto will likely get their big names back as they try to make sure that they don’t miss out on potentially getting a home play-in game. However, if Anunoby’s injury is more serious than we thought, that’s another case of the vengeful finger of the sports deities coming down hard on the Raptors.