Toronto’s defense kept the team afloat last season, especially across stretches where the Raptors suffered from injuries. Every member of the starting five graded out between good and elite on defense, and Nurse also had Ibaka, Powell, and Rondae Hollis-Jefferson to fill in. Toronto’s rim protection was airtight, particularly with Gasol in the middle, and the Raptors forced enough turnovers to fuel the most efficient transition offense in the league.
The Raptors will still be excellent on defense this season, but repeating as a top-five defense will be challenging. For one, the losses of Gasol and Ibaka are significant. Aron Baynes is a physical and disciplined defender, but he isn’t as big as Gasol, nor is he as savvy at anticipating plays. The drop-off from Ibaka to either Alex Len or Chris Boucher will be even steeper. Len offers slightly more size than Ibaka, and might be as effective in a conservative scheme where Len can simply stay by the basket, but Len has none of Ibaka’s versatility. Boucher is capable of the supernatural with his three-point blocks, however, he is prone to mistakes and is too slender in the post which leads him to compensate by jumping for everything.
The loss of Hollis-Jefferson isn’t significant on its own, but the bigger issue is that Toronto never replaced him. Anunoby is already being tabbed as the reserve power forward behind Pascal Siakam, while there is an open tryout between a handful of G-League forwards for the 15th slot. Hollis-Jefferson wasn’t consistent but he was immense at times. He famously forced Kawhi Leonard into a career-high in turnovers, then followed it up by limiting Damian Lillard to single digits in scoring. Hollis-Jefferson was instrumental in the 30-point comeback against Dallas, and stood up Karl-Anthony Towns as a smallball center during the 15-game win streak. That’s not insignificant, especially for a team that lacks size from top to bottom.
The cumulative effect of their offseason losses will set the Raptors back, the question is by how much. The only teams that are definitely better on defense are the Los Angeles Lakers and the Milwaukee Bucks, who both have too much size and experience to fail. If Baynes’ health and rim protection holds up, the Raptors will be in that next tier with the Celtics, Clippers, and Sixers.
One of the brighter spots: newcomer DeAndre’ Bembry. After playing nine minutes in the opener, mostly with players thought to be deep on the bench, he jumped up to 16 on Monday, even getting a look in the second quarter in OG Anunoby’s place with the rest of the starters. The Raptors looked good during that stretch and Bembry finished with nine points, two assists and a steal. He fluently controlled the ball in transition, helping Fred VanVleet get going off the ball.
“He was kind of in the Pat McCaw role today,” VanVleet said on Monday, “just taking the pressure off. Those guys were picking up full court and (it helped to) have an extra ball handler. And he was a scorer in college. I remember him coming out (in the) class and DeAndre has some great ball skills. He can put on the floor, he can shoot and he can playmake. So there’s a rhythm. I think I’ve been studying his game. I think he knows my game. And so we just had a natural rhythm out there.”
“This is the perfect system for him,” Alex Len, Bembry’s teammate in Atlanta and now Toronto/Tampa, said of Bembry’s fit within the Raptors’ more aggressive defensive schemes. “He’s going to be flying around on defence getting stops, getting hands on the ball. I think it’s a perfect fit for him.”
Beyond Bembry’s poor career 3-point shooting, there is just one problem: The Raptors have a ton of guards. After OG Anunoby and Pascal Siakam, the Raptors quickly become short on players who might crack the rotation who can be classified as bigger wings. This is a guard-heavy team, and that is even after considering the two-point-guard starting unit.
In fact, Nurse said that Norman Powell might be playing small forward instead of shooting guard. While positions are pretty much interchangeable at this point, Nurse is speaking about positions in terms of size — that Powell will be on the floor more often with two players who are smaller than him rather than just one. With Stanley Johnson looking to be an afterthought in terms of rotation minutes, the Raptors are going to have to play on the small end more often than not.
The Raptors have rarely suffered because of this defensively, but they have sometimes struggled to score against bigger, longer teams such as Philadelphia and Boston because their scorers lack size or the requisite athleticism to make up for it.
We’ll see how much that impacts the Raptors. In the short term, it is immediately clear there are not enough minutes to go around. Even if you pencilled in Flynn for just 10 minutes per game and assumed three of the Raptors’ guards will be playing at all times, which is faulty because they will be starting with only two of them, the rotation players’ averages from last year would already have them nearly 40 minutes above the 144 total minutes available across three positions.
Toronto boasts a flexible roster, particularly among some of its core guards. So while it may look like this is a team that’s giving up size, from Nurse’s perspective, they won’t be in practice all that much.
“…I never really feel small,” Nurse said. “We don’t feel small because Fred and Kyle play so big, so that’s one thing. And I would imagine one of those guys probably shifts to part of the second unit. So, again, I think either Fred or Kyle can guard most twos in this league — and even threes — so I’m not overly concerned.”
The same can be said of a player like Powell, who can defend shooting guards and small forwards, and Anunoby, who we’ve seen play centre before and we know can guard all five positions on the court.
The Raptors can go small — and may have no choice but to do so with some of the standouts we’ve seen in the pre-season so far.
Nurse has been particularly impressed with newcomers Malachi Flynn and DeAndre’ Bembry so far and sounds like he wants to find a spot in the rotation for them. This means the team will likely have to play smaller than it has in the past to make room for them in Nurse’s rotation and, as he said, that not everyone on the roster will benefit from as much burn as, perhaps, promised.
“I’m not going to be able to for all those guys, that’s for sure,” Nurse said of finding minutes for all his guards and wing players. “I think that I’m continuing to evaluate it and I probably have to tinker around a little bit.
“You know, I would say that two guys we didn’t know at all have played very well in Flynn and Bembry. They’ve knocked on the door here for sure just because they’ve played so well. And it’s just one of those situations where you can’t play everybody.”
This is an interesting wrinkle coming Nurse’s way with Toronto’s regular season beginning in exactly one week as he was indicating before that he wanted more certainty about the No. 8 or 9 spot of the rotation and Matt Thomas looking like the front-runner. Could Flynn and Bembry’s strong play be making Nurse think twice about Thomas in the spot now? Could it possibly return to a platoon spot in the rotation again?
With just one more pre-season game to play, chances are Nurse will continue to experiment even when the games become real.
When the photo of the Raptors new red jersey hanging on a clearance hanger in a department store leaked, there was, understandably, some rancor. Twitter gathered in hordes to call the jersey lazy, uninspired, and downright unnecessary. Well, the echo chamber eventually calmed down and now we’re seeing the Raptors finally playing in the jerseys rather than merely viewing them under flourescent tube lighting.
Will the white jerseys look as good? Time will surely tell.
There are several valid reasons to extend Anunoby ahead of the December 21 deadline – cost certainty, and buying goodwill with the player and his representation, are chief among them – but in spite of them all, it seemed unlikely that anything would get done, until Antetokounmpo made his commitment to the Bucks.
The primary benefit to waiting until the off-season, allowing Anunoby to become a restricted free agent, and signing him – or matching an offer sheet – then is to maximize cap space for next summer, which has been a top priority for Toronto. As a free agent, Anunoby would remain on the books for his cap hold of $11.6 million, as opposed to the first-year salary of his new deal if they were to extend him, which would probably be in the neighbourhood of $15-to-20 million.
With only , VanVleet and Malachi Flynn under guaranteed contract past this season, the Raptors have given themselves the flexibility to open up enough room to sign a max player on the open market. In this scenario, they could theoretically use their space on a big-name free agent, then exceed the cap – and likely go into the luxury tax – to retain Anunoby using his Bird Rights.
Given the recent emphasis on keeping their books as clean as possible following 2020-21 – it’s the reason why was only given a one-year extension last fall, it’s why VanVleet’s new deal was negotiated with a dip in salary for his second season, and it’s why they weren’t more aggressive in pursuing or in free agency – that appeared to be the Raptors’ plan.
“I think there are talks to be had,” team president Masai Ujiri said earlier this month, when he was asked about the possibility of extending Anunoby. “They know of the abilities that we [have], so we’ll keep having those conversations.”
The implication there was that unless Anunoby and his reps are willing to take a significant discount to get a deal done now – likely something close to that cap hold of $11.6 million, which is far lower than what they’re asking for – it will have to wait until the summer.
However, things have changed. With Antetokounmpo – Toronto’s presumed top target in free agency – off the board, would Ujiri and general manager Bobby Webster be more inclined to eat into their coveted cap space in order to secure Anunoby’s future with the team? The answer, most likely, is that it will depend on the cost.
Anunoby’s camp is believed to be seeking something in the ballpark of the four-year, $85 million deal that VanVleet got last month. The team will likely come back with an annual figure closer to $15 million. Would both parties be agreeable to a compromise in the range of $17-to-18 million annually?
At that price, the path to opening up a max slot next summer would become far more complicated, verging on impossible, and would probably take the Raptors out of the running for top tiered free agents like or . On the other hand, those guys don’t move the needle in the same way Antetokounmpo would have. Toronto would have its young core of Siakam, VanVleet and Anunoby under contract for the foreseeable future, and would still have enough cap space to chase a lower tiered free agent or two, and perhaps bring Lowry back.
The most impressive character trait of DeAndre’ Bembry is that he fully knows what he could be but also realizes what he needs to be. That difference may unlock a role for him with the Raptors this season.
Bembry could be a scorer. He has been one in the past and the skills are there to be developed. It would be great if the 26-year-old morphed into a slasher and a shooter and a 15-point-a-night kind of guy.
But to fit with Toronto, to earn minutes and as defined a role as any backup on the roster will have, Bembry knows that defending and helping, doing the unglamorous work is the key.
It’s a mature mindset, one appreciated by his teammates and his coaches, the men who will ultimately determine how much he plays.
“People enjoy my defence so much they might overlook that … I can play with the ball, I’m a real good cutter, but I don’t mind being under the radar,” Bembry said after Toronto’s pre-season win over Charlotte on Monday. “I’ve been under the radar a long time in my life, so I think I’ve just always tried to find a way and it just always seems to work out for me.”
It will work out for Bembry with the Raptors if he can consistently fill a role that’s probably best described as “the other guy.” The team has enough scoring, it needs versatility from its backups, a willingness to defend first and take what comes on offence. Bembry seems self-aware enough to understand that.
“He makes a lot of good plays and he might be a fit,” coach Nick Nurse said after Bembry got his first extended run with a group of starters on Monday.
“He looked like he was a good fit out there with the kind of majority of the first group. So, (we’re) still learning him and he’s learning us, I like what I’ve seen so far.”
Toronto’s concerns are less pressing and possibly less consequential. The Raptors have also not been a popular free-agent destination. President of basketball operations Masai Ujiri had developed close ties to Antetokounmpo, which made Toronto a possibility. Ujiri’s history with Leonard leaves open the possibility of a reunion, but beyond that unlikely scenario pitching Toronto over Miami is a tough sell to NBA players.
Pascal Siakam is an All-NBA performer but not one who can be the best player on a championship team. Only he and Fred VanVleet are signed beyond 2021 for less than half the projected salary cap. OG Anunoby will warrant a healthy raise, but not one so hefty that it will break the bank, barring the positive development of a breakout season that commands one. Toronto should be able to maintain cap flexibility going forward, although that could mean the loss of quality players like Norman Powell and franchise mainstay Kyle Lowry.
Re-signing Powell and Lowry or trading their expiring contracts for longer-term assets are also possibilities now that the allure of Antetokounmpo is gone. It might even be likely without a superstar awaiting in 2021. That would keep Toronto a star away from contention, with plenty of tradable assets to make a move. Heck, the Raptors could enter the fray for Harden right now with a package that might have to include Siakam.
Ujiri is as sound a decision-maker as there is in the NBA, and that means the Raptors will be fine. They may not be great without Antetokounmpo in the picture, but they will be ready when an opportunity rises again.
There’s no rim protector like Serge Ibaka, no big capable of making solid entry passes or swinging the ball the way Marc Gasol did, no alpha dog in Leonard.
Kyle Lowry might be the heart and soul of the franchise, but he’s in the final year of his deal, while Fred VanVleet is entering the first year of a new four-year contract.
To say the Raptors are championship contenders would be wrong.
To say Siakam is about to enter a big season would be to state the obvious.
What’s required from Siakam is to show that he is mentally and physically capable of assuming that go-to role.
And then it’s up to the Raptors to surround him with the necessary pieces.
As of today, it would seem a reach to suggest the team can or will acquire a piece that is better than Siakam.
Even in the pre-season, which wraps up Friday when the Raptors play a “home’’ game in Tampa against Miami, extra defenders have been sent Siakam’s way.
Coach Nick Nurse noticed the extra attention Charlotte gave Siakam in Monday’s tip.
Teams load up on players such as Siakam, who in turn need to make the right read and pass when the ball gets forced out of his hands.
During his Zoom call, Nurse spoke of adjustment the Hornets made when Siakam wanted to initiate drives.
“I give him credit for passing out of those (double teams) so willingly and doing it well,’’ Nurse said. “That’s kind of the scenario you find yourself a little more lately in this league when you’re a scorer. Teams are going to say: ‘OK, let’s hold down the other guys. This guy is going to get his anyway.’ Or some teams are saying: ‘This guy is not beating us tonight.’ On those nights you have to become a facilitator because there’s just no way to fight the game.
“It’s part of a development for him. We’ve been practising a lot with him. And it’s just not him because it’s the other guys’ spacing, the other guys’ cutting into areas where we can hurt them. And we should. If you put two or three (defenders) on the ball you’ve done your job as a scorer.”
LAHORE, Pakistan (AP) — A top official of the Pakistan Cricket Board declined Friday to confirm media reports that India has decided against playing any games in host Pakistan during next year’s Champions Trophy.
“My view is if there’s any problems, they (India) should tell us in writing,” PCB chairman Mohsin Naqvi told reporters in Lahore. “I’ll share that with the media as well as with the government as soon as I get such a letter.”
Indian media reported Friday that the Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) has communicated its concerns to all the Champions Trophy stakeholders, including the PCB, over the Feb. 19-March 9 tournament and would not play in arch-rival Pakistan.
The Times of India said that “Dubai is a strong candidate to host the fixtures involving the Men in Blue” for the 50-over tournament.
Such a solution would see Pakistan having to travel to a neutral venue to play India in a group match, with another potential meeting later in the tournament if both teams advanced from their group. The final is scheduled for March 9 in Pakistan with the specific venue not yet decided.
“Our stance is clear,” Naqvi said. “They need to give us in writing any objections they may have. Until now, no discussion of the hybrid model has happened, nor are we prepared to accept one.”
Political tensions have stopped bilateral cricket between the two nations since 2008 and they have competed in only multi-nation tournaments, including ICC World Cups.
“Cricket should be free of politics,” Naqvi said. “Any sport should not be entangled with politics. Our preparations for the Champions Trophy will continue unabated, and this will be a successful event.”
The PCB has already spent millions of dollars on the upgrade of stadiums in Karachi, Lahore and Rawalpindi which are due to host 15 Champions Trophy games. Naqvi hoped all the three stadiums will be ready over the next two months.
“Almost every country wants the Champions Trophy to be played here (in Pakistan),” Naqvi said. “I don’t think anyone should make this a political matter, and I don’t expect they will. I expect the tournament will be held at the home of the official hosts.”
Eight countries – Pakistan, India, Bangladesh, England, Australia, South Africa, New Zealand and Afghanistan – are due to compete in the tournament, the schedule of which is yet to be announced by the International Cricket Council.
“Normally the ICC announces the schedule of any major tournament 100 days before the event, and I hope they will announce it very soon,” Naqvi said.
RIYADH, Saudi Arabia – Ottawa‘s Gabriela Dabrowski and Erin Routliffe of New Zealand are through to the doubles final at the WTA Finals after a 7-6 (7), 6-1 victory over Nicole Melichar-Martinez of the United States and Australia’s Ellen Perez in semifinal action Friday.
Dabrowski and Routliffe won a hard-fought first set against serve when Routliffe’s quick reaction at the net to defend a Perez shot gave the duo set point, causing Perez to throw down her racket in frustration.
The second seeds then cruised through the second set, winning match point on serve when Melichar-Martinez couldn’t handle Routliffe’s shot.
The showdown was a rematch of last year’s semifinal, which Melichar-Martinez and Perez won in a super tiebreak.
Dabrowski and Routliffe will face the winner of a match between Katerina Siniakova and Taylor Townsend, and Hao-Ching Chan and Veronika Kudermetova in the final on Saturday.
Dabrowski is aiming to become the first Canadian to win a WTA Finals title.
This report by The Canadian Press was first published Nov. 8, 2024.
Inter Milan winger Tajon Buchanan, recovered from a broken leg suffered in training at this summer’s Copa America, is back in Jesse Marsch’s Canada squad for the CONCACAF Nations League quarterfinal against Suriname.
The 25-year-old from Brampton, Ont., underwent surgery July 3 to repair a fractured tibia in Texas.
Canada, ranked 35th in the world, plays No. 136 Suriname on Nov. 15 in Paramaribo. The second leg of the aggregate series is four days later at Toronto’s BMO Field.
There is also a return for veteran winger Junior Hoilett, who last played for Canada in June in a 4-0 loss to the Netherlands in Marsch’s debut at the Canadian helm. The 34-year-old from Brampton, now with Scotland’s Hibernian, has 15 goals in 63 senior appearances for Canada.
Midfielder Ismael Kone, recovered from an ankle injury sustained on club duty with France’s Marseille, also returns. He missed Canada’s last three matches since the fourth-place Copa America loss to Uruguay in July.
But Canada will be without centre back Derek Cornelius, who exited Marseille’s win Sunday over Nantes on a stretcher after suffering an apparent rib injury.
The Canadian men will prepare for Suriname next week at a camp in Fort Lauderdale, Fla.
“We are looking forward to getting the group together again with the mindset that there is a trophy on the line,” Marsch said in a statement. “We want to end 2024 the right way with two excellent performances against a competitive Suriname squad and continue building on our tremendous growth this past summer.”
The quarterfinal winners advance to the Nations League Finals at SoFi Stadium in Inglewood, Calif., with the two semifinals scheduled for March 20 and the final and third-place playoff March 23, and qualify for the 2025 CONCACAF Gold Cup.
Thirteen of the 23 players on the Canadian roster are 25 or younger, with 19-year-old defender Jamie Knight-Lebel, currently playing for England’s Crewe Alexandra on loan from Bristol City, the youngest.
Bayern Munich star Alphonso Davies captains the side with Stephen Eustaquio, Jonathan Osorio, Richie Laryea, Alistair Johnston and Kamal Miller adding veteran support.
Jonathan David, Cyle Larin and Theo Bair are joined in attack by Minnesota United’s Tani Oluwaseyi.
Niko Sigur, a 21-year-old midfielder with Croatia’s Hadjuk Split, continues in the squad after making his debut in the September friendly against Mexico.
Suriname made it to the Nations League quarterfinals by finishing second to Costa Rica in Group A of the Nations League, ahead of No. 104 Guatemala, No. 161 Guyana and unranked Martinique and Guadeloupe.
“A good team,” Osorio said of Suriname. “These games are always tricky and they’re not easy at all … Suriname is a (former) Dutch colony and they’ll have Dutch players playing at high levels.”
“They won’t be someone we overlook at all,” added the Toronto FC captain, who has 81 Canada caps to his credit.
Located on the northeast coast of South America between Guyana and French Guiana, Suriname was granted independence in 1975 by the Netherlands.
Canada has faced Suriname twice before, both in World Cup qualifying play, winning 4-0 in suburban Chicago in June 2021 and 2-1 in Mexico City in October 1977.
The Canadian men, along with Mexico, the United States and Panama, received a bye into the final eight of the CONCACAF Nations League.
Canada, No. 2 in the CONCACAF rankings, drew Suriname as the best-placed runner-up from League A play.
Canada lost to Jamaica in last year’s Nations League quarterfinal, ousted on the away-goals rule after the series ended in a 4-4 draw. The Canadians lost 2-0 to the U.S. in the final of the 2022-23 tournament and finished fifth in 2019-20.
Canada defeated Panama 2-1 last time out, in an Oct. 15 friendly in Toronto.
Goalkeepers Maxime Crepeau and Jonathan Sirois, defenders Joel Waterman, Laryea and Miller and Osorio took part in a pre-camp this week in Toronto for North America-based players.
Canada Roster
Goalkeepers: Maxime Crepeau, Portland Timbers (MLS); Jonathan Sirois, CF Montreal (MLS); Dayne St. Clair, Minnesota United FC (MLS).
Defenders: Moise Bombito, OGC Nice (France); Alphonso Davies, Bayern Munich (Germany); Richie Laryea, Toronto FC (MLS); Alistair Johnston, Celtic (Scotland); Jamie Knight-Lebel. Crewe Alexandra, on loan from Bristol City (England); Kamal Miller, Portland Timbers (MLS); Joel Waterman, CF Montreal (MLS).
Midfielders: Ali Ahmed. Vancouver Whitecaps (MLS); Tajon Buchanan, Inter Milan (Italy); Mathieu Choiniere, Grasshopper Zurich (Switzerland); Stephen Eustaquio, FC Porto (Portugal); Junior Hoilett, Hibernian FC (Scotland); Ismael Kone, Olympique Marseille (France); Jonathan Osorio, Toronto FC (MLS); Jacob Shaffelburg, Nashville SC (MLS); Niko Sigur, Hadjuk Split (Croatia).
Forwards: Theo Bair, AJ Auxerre (France); Jonathan David, LOSC Lille (France); Cyle Larin, RCD Mallorca (Spain); Tani Oluwaseyi, Minnesota United (MLS).
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This report by The Canadian Press was first published Nov. 8, 2024.
