The Toronto Raptors lost yet another game, falling 123-112 to the Philadelphia 76ers. They still played without Kawhi Leonard and Scottie Barnes, and Immanuel Quickley was on a minutes restriction. It marked the team’s third loss in a row, and they still haven’t beaten a playoff team.
It’s a tough way to start the season, but all the injuries have created opportunities for players who might not get to play much otherwise. Alijah Martin, for example, has played at least 16 minutes in four consecutive games now. While he hasn’t quite replicated his 27-point performance against the Milwaukee Bucks, he’s growing into a 3-and-D role for the Raptors.
“Alijah’s role is he needs to be a pest defensively and he needs to knock down open shots,” Darko Rajakovic said after the Raptors’ 98-93 loss to the Boston Celtics.
Martin is largely living up to those expectations. He made four 3-pointers in that game and defended Payton Pritchard pretty well. He only made one of his three 3-point attempts against the 76ers, but was still second in bench scoring with seven points on 3-for-6 shooting from the field. He also added four rebounds, one steal, and one block.
Despite the losses, Martin is showing that he can be a good rotational player for the Raptors (and do it against quality opponents) after appearing in just 23 games last season and spending a lot of time with the Raptors 905—and that’s a win for the Raptors, even if it seems small in the daunting big picture of a 5-7 start and horrible injury luck.
The Raptors need Martin to keep making 3s
So far, trading for Kawhi Leonard hasn’t improved the Raptors’ 3-point shooting, because, well, he hasn’t been around to make shots or create easy looks for others. The Raptors are once again one of the worst 3-point shooting teams in the NBA. They rank 26th in 3-point percentage with 32.9% and 22nd in attempts per game.
Martin and Jamison Battle are the only players shooting a good percentage right now, making 56.5% and 43.4% of their shots, respectively. Even Ja’Kobe Walter and Immanuel Quickley are just knocking down less than 34% of their threes for the season.
We shouldn’t expect Martin to keep up the 50+% clip for the whole season, but as long as he can stay a reliable 3-point threat, he will be a valuable asset for the Raptors, even when they are healthy. There’s even a good argument to be made that Martin needs to remain a steady part of the rotation once Leonard and Barnes are back. His case for steady minutes will only improve if Walter continues to make fewer 3-pointers than he has shown he is capable of.
With Leonard not expected back for several games and more quality opponents waiting, Martin needs to seize the opportunity to build on this encouraging stretch and give Rajakovic no other choice but to keep him in the rotation.
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