The Toronto Raptors have plenty of positives to look at early in the 2023-24 season. The Raptors have beaten contenders like the Bucks, Mavericks, and Timberwolves while watching Scottie Barnes take the step forward everyone expected. Having said that, Darko Rajakovic and Masai Ujiri have some work to do.
The Raptors have the most puzzling offensive attack in the league. Their transition offense has ranked at or near the top of the league for most of the season, and it’s easy to see Rajakovic’s fingerprints all over it. However, their half court offense is as bad as the “Trust The Process” 76ers.
While Rajakovic has restored the vibes and elevated Barnes, the fact that an offensive-minded coach coming from a very productive scheme in Memphis is having trouble getting the Raptors out of the bottom of the league in this area should be a cause for at least some concern.
Rajakovic and Ujiri need to try anything and everything to give this offense the boost it needs, including some bigger wholesale changes. One of these three points of difference might be the spark this team needs to finally start putting up respectable numbers.
3 possible fixes to poor Toronto Raptors’ offense
3. Speed things up
While Nick Nurse’s offense might be gone, one of the big problems from last year is still quite prevalent. There’s too much standing around and moving slowly in a league that is playing at a faster, more breakneck pace with each passing year. A nitro boost to speed up the clock might be needed.
The Raptors don’t think as much in transition. They’re taken to Rajakovic’s directive to always make the extra pass, and their natural athletic ability shines. When they have to play at a slower pace, plays take too long to run and there’s too much passing around without much purpose.
The Toronto Raptors need to play with more pace.
While the idea of playing more recklessly with a team that already lacks shooting could make for some very ineffective nights, the Raptors offense isn’t working right now anyway. Why not at least try to get a little more chaotic, especially if they seem to thrive in chaos?
Barnes seems to play well in Rajakovic’s system and make quick decisions, so he could be the perfect triggerman for this philosophy. If the impressive Dennis Schroder also adapts to this mindset and Anunoby stays hot when he comes back from injury, the Raptors might overcome their poor start.
2. More Scottie Barnes
The Raptors can’t seem to get both Barnes and Siakam playing well together on the same night. When it looks like Scottie is in for another stat-stuffing night, Siakam is relegated to more off-ball work and vice-versa. If only one can dominate, it has to be Barnes.
While that atrocity against Milwaukee shouldn’t be viewed as a blueprint for how to do anything right on either side of the ball, Barnes was able to take command and be a more assertive player who was the only one on the floor who looked capable of creating for himself and getting to the rim. Rajakovic would be foolish to prevent more outbursts like this.
The Toronto Raptors must go all-in on Scottie Barnes.
Barnes does so many things well, but one of the more common criticisms of his tenure in the pros has been a somewhat tentative nature. When Barnes isn’t on his game, and either Siakam or Anunoby can’t help pick up the slack, this offense literally can’t score any points.
While telling a 22-year-old player to carry the offensive load for a team who wants to win now could be a bit of a tall task, the Raptors have essentially said that Barnes will be the tip of their spear for the next half-decade. Why not give him a head start by trying to use him to get the team out of the mud?
1. Make a trade
The player everyone hated in Fred VanVleet is out of town, and Nurse is gone. They brought in a new coach to fix the offense. If all of that happened, yet the offense is either stagnating or regressing in most areas, couldn’t that be a sign this roster simply can’t work?
Not only do the Raptors have to start one non-shooter in Jakob Poeltl and two average ones in Barnes and Siakam, but the bench is full of shooting negatives like the banged-up Precious Achiuwa, Malachi Flynn, and Chris Boucher. Rajakovic might not have the pieces to run his offense, but a trade could help fix that,
Will the Toronto Raptors make a trade?
Moving Siakam seems to make the most sense. The Raptors could get a haul for him, he is an impending free agent, and he seems to be a bigger impediment to Barnes becoming a star than Anunoby does. Toronto can finally build a solid bench with the return from such a deal.
No matter how great Barnes is, Toronto risks killing their positive momentum by watching names like Boucher and Jalen McDaniels struggle to keep pace. The roster is flawed, so much so that Rajakovic can’t run his scheme without Ujiri making a trade.