The Toronto Raptors appear to have found an offensive identity. To be sure, the sample size is tiny. Three games isn’t quite enough to make any grand pronouncements. However, it is evident that the Raptors are making strides. Toronto has averaged 120.1 points per 100 possessions after acquiring Immanuel Quickley and RJ Barrett last weekend. For context, that would be the fourth-best season total in the league. In terms of half-court offense, Toronto has been averaging 102.3 points per 100 possessions this season, which ranks ninth in the league.
However, the increased firepower has come at a cost. The same transaction that revitalized Toronto’s offensive has come at a high cost to the Raptors’ defense. Since losing OG Anunoby, Toronto has been one of the league’s worst defensive teams, and a 135-130 loss to the Sacramento Kings on Friday night demonstrated just how far the Raptors’ defense has plummeted. Domantas Sabonis used to despise watching the Raptors. He knew it had to be Anunoby, Toronto’s former all-defense stopper who, despite being only 6-foot-7, seemed completely at ease defending the Kings’ 6-foot-10 big man.
Anunoby’s versatility was what made him such a good defender against Sabonis and the Kings. Because Toronto had two dynamic wings on either side of the screen, he and the Raptors could suffocate pick-and-rolls, effectively negating Sacramento’s edge. The use of Sabonis in a screen was practically pointless because the projected switch would result in Anunoby on Kings point guard De’Aaron Fox. The Kings, on the other hand, feasted with Anunoby in New York. Jakob Poeltl was forced to perform the most of the defending on Sabonis, which the Kings exploited all night long with pick-and-roll possibilities and kick-out passes to three-point shooters. It’s how Sabonis tallied up a triple-double of 24 points, 15 rebounds, and 11 assists while the Kings hit 21 of 38 three-pointers.
The first half highlighted Toronto’s most evident flaws. With Gary Trent Jr. and Otto Porter Jr. out, the Raptors were forced to rely on their bench. Jontay Porter, Toronto’s two-way call-up, battled early before settling in for a career-high 10 points in 13 minutes in the second half. Jalen McDaniels saw only seven minutes of action, and Toronto’s defensive communication was non-existent. “We had certain players that we designated as ‘hot’ shooters and chased them off the line and lost them in certain situations,” Raptors coach Darko Rajakovi told reporters. “We did not do a good enough job of making them play inside the line.” Scottie Barnes has had to play more defensively since Anunoby’s departure. He was forced to spend most of Friday against Fox after taking on the Donovan Mitchell job against the Cleveland Cavaliers the previous night. This experience will undoubtedly be beneficial to Barnes’ development, although it is not ideal at the moment. Barnes excels as a help defender, roving around the defensive backfield like an NFL free safety. Late in the fourth, for example, he assisted Fox and had a vital block from behind on Sabonis. Those types of plays, however, have become less common as Barnes has begun to play more on-ball defense against the other team’s leading scorer. Toronto showed signs of life in the second half after falling behind by as much as 20 points in the first. Quickley hit a trio of three-pointers en way to another 20-point performance, which included a key catch-and-shoot opportunity following a fantastic kick-out from Barnes in the post, which pushed the Raptors to within two with less than three minutes to play. Quickley fired up an erroneous three-pointer in the waning seconds, thinking he’d drawn a foul, but the officials didn’t call it, and the Kings held on to halt Toronto’s two-game winning run. What is evident today is that Toronto must return to work on improving their defense. Better chemistry will undoubtedly help as Barrett and Quickley become more comfortable with Rajakovi’s system, but by trading Anunoby to New York, Toronto’s defense took a significant step back. According to reports, the Raptors will spend the next month scouring the league for potential trade partners. Pascal Siakam’s name has already surfaced in trade discussions, and the drumbeat for a deal involving the two-time All-Star will only grow louder.
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