Yuta Watanabe and Stanley Johnson have emerged as key bench contributors for the Raptors, Doug Smith of The Toronto Star notes. “I think both (Watanabe) and Stanley have been doing a good job … when they check in to get our offense into another gear,” coach Nick Nurse said. Both players are trying to solidify the futures in the league. Johnson is headed to unrestricted free agency, while Watanabe is on a two-way deal.
We have more on the Raptors:
- Patrick McCaw is showing some progress from his knee injury that has kept him out this season, Blake Murphy of The Athletic tweets. McCaw participated in the non-contact portion of practice on Thursday. OG Anunoby (calf) and Norman Powell (quad) both missed Friday’s game against Sacramento.
- Rookie guard Jalen Harris is joining Raptors 905 at the G League bubble in Orlando, Murphy adds in another tweet. The second-round pick from Nevada has appeared in two NBA games.
- Toronto is on pace to take the second-most 3-pointers in league history and that may explain why the team is shooting fewer free throws, Dave Feschuk of the Toronto Star notes. The Raptors were averaging 43.2 3-point attempts a game heading into Friday’s action but taking just 20.2 foul shots. The over-reliance on 3-point shots may help explain forward Pascal Siakam‘s slow start, Feschuk adds.
I think Siakam’s slow start is due to the league finally figuring out that’s he a shorter, skinnier Antetokounmpo.
But Gino is still an top tier caliber player…a lot of players would kill to only be a little less than him. I think there are other issues with Siakam. Just my opinion you can take it or leave it
I wish Siakam would focus more on going to the paint where his quickness and length are better suited and effective. Less 3 attempts.
Shooting more 3’s has done wonders for Powell’s value. The Raps miss Ibaka big time. They need to get themselves another, or even Al Horford.
Boucher is good, just doesn’t have the size. Gasol wasn’t as big of a loss as Ibaka was, and partly why Baynes is ineffective. Gasol was no dummy, he made a wise choice to leave once Ibaka did.
Trading for Al is a great idea! Pity they don’t have the contracts to make it work, anybody with large enough cap number is vitally needed.
Philly really mucked that up overpaying Al by about $10 million! What were they thinking?
Who’s complaining?
I am pretty sure Big Al is pretty happy!
they should prob play wantabe more than baynes. same with bembry. both of them were solid on shooting and defense. siakam is shooting threes when he knows hes gunna miss them. they should trade baynes for either favors or thaddeous young. big men who coukld space the floor efficiently.