Raptors Keep Going Against the Grain to Put Their Stars in the Best Positions to Succeed

The Toronto Raptors are letting their stars thrive by letting Fred VanVleet play off-ball while Pascal Siakam and Scottie Barnes handle the playmaking

Aaron Rose | Jan 5, 2022

John E. Sokolowski-USA TODAY Sports

The Toronto Raptors have a simple formula to winning basketball: Put players in the best positions to succeed.

They've done away with traditional basketball positions and instead decided to maximize efficiency. Sure, Fred VanVleet is still a point guard on paper, whatever that means these days, but the Raptors, when healthy, aren't just running their offense through their 6-foot guard, telling VanVleet to nail pull-up jumpers and find open shooters like James Harden, Trae Young, and other All-Star caliber guards. Instead, they're telling him to do what he does best: play off-ball.

The average NBA player is shooting 36% on catch-and-shoot three-pointers this season. Those are the easy ones, where your feet are set, the ball is swung around, usually with some space, and you let it fly in one smooth motion. Compare that to the 32% players, mostly superstars, are shooting on pull-up threes this season, and it's easy to see why teams prefer catch-and-shoot looks.

With VanVleet, the disparity between catch-and-shoot looks and pull-ups has been even larger. Coming into this season, he averaged 42% on catch-and-shoot threes compared to 34% on pull-up threes for his career. So even with Kyle Lowry heading to Miami this past summer, the Raptors have done their best to let VanVleet stay off-ball as much as possible this season, letting their forwards Pascal Siakam and Scottie Barnes create opportunities as playmaking wings.

"It's kind of one of the benefits when we had Kyle and Fred is one of them would be off the ball so one of them could space while the other one was bringing it (up)," Raptors coach Nick Nurse said Tuesday night. "I like the ability of (Barnes and Siakam) getting it quick, you know, they rebound, Pascal will rebound and be out with it quick. Scottie will rebound and be out with a quick. There's so many advantages."

That change has allowed VanVleet's numbers to take off this season. He's shooting 50% on catch-and-shoot three-pointers this season, the best in the league by a significant margin. Even sharpshooters like Steph Curry and Duncan Robinson can't come close to that number, nailing 39.6% and 34.6% of their catch-and-shoot three-pointers, respectively.

"I think with having everybody back it’s a little harder to key in on guys," said VanVleet following his 33-point performance against the San Antonio Spurs. "You still have Pascal, who’s one of the toughest covers, you’ve got Gary (Trent Jr.) out there, and then with the lineup with Scottie being able to be a facilitator at that position, kinda in that Marc Gasol spot where he can just pick apart the defense from that five position. ... We’ve got guys that are finding the shooters, being aggressive, and I’m just trying to hunt to open those open catch-and-shoots, obviously because I feel good in that role and those are probably the easiest shots."

It helps, as VanVleet said, that Barnes and Siakam are two very capable playmakers that can attract attention and make kick-out passes with ease. The two forwards have found VanVleet accounted for nearly 40% of his assisted three-pointers this season, per NBA Stats, and Siakam, in particular, has taken his playmaking skills a step forward this season after an already impressive 2020-21 campaign.

"That's playing to a lot of their strengths, Nurse said. "Especially getting Freddie off, running the break and I really liked the way those guys are getting into the paint and finding not only in guys, but out as well."

It hasn't always been pretty this season, but when the Raptors are healthy, with VanVleet, Barnes, Siakam, and OG Anunoby creating a four-headed pick-you-poison monster, Toronto is truly a force to be reckoned with.

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