Raptors Want 'Less is More' Approach to Offense This Season

The Toronto Raptors think they can increase Pascal Siakam's offensive efficiency this season with a less is more approach offensively

Less is more.

It’s the offensive philosophy new Toronto Raptors coach Darko Rajaković is trying to instill in his squad this season as he looks to reshape one of the NBA’s most lethargic offensive groups. The idea is a simple one. Don’t overthink it, don’t try to do too much, Rajaković is telling his players this season. The goal is to make quick decisions in half a second: drive, shoot, or pass. Whatever your decision, do it quickly.

For the Raptors, it’ll be a change. They ranked 15th in the NBA in shot attempts within two seconds of catching the ball and 12th in shot attempts without a dribble, per NBA Stats. The hope for this season is to get those numbers way up.

“We’re gonna try to implement 0.5 offense,” Rajaković said. “Every time any player catches the ball, they are making quicker decisions. Is that a shot or a drive or an extra pass? And we’re going to try to really execute in the halfcourt with a lot of pace.”

It’s not hard to see why a quicker offense would be so appealing to Rajaković this year. Consider the teams that ranked at the top of the league in shot attempts without a dribble: The Golden State Warriors led the league followed by the Denver Nuggets, Boston Celtics, and Sacramento Kings, respectively. That’s the who’s who of NBA offensive efficiency with the Kings and Celtics leading the league in Offensive Rating last season followed by the Nuggets and Warriors in fifth and tenth, respectively.

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For Toronto, the biggest adjustment is going to have to come from Siakam, the Raptors’ All-Star forward who attempted just a third of his shot attempts within two seconds of catching the ball.

“He’s doing a great job,” Rajaković said Thursday of Siakam’s adjustments to the new system. “It’s actually allowing him to be more efficient. He's doing a great job of cutting, of playing without the ball, and spacing. You cannot hide the talent on the floor and he's an extremely talented and an extremely high-quality player.”

While Siakam did set a career-high with 24.2 points per game last season, those numbers came with a dip in his efficiency that fell to a slightly below-league-average rate.

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For Siakam’s part, the 29-year-old isn’t concerned about his ability to take on a new role. As he acknowledged Thursday, it’s not like he came into the league as some ball-dominant superstar who had always been asked to create shots for himself.

“I’ve played in every position in the NBA,” said Siakam, the former 27th pick in the 2016 NBA Draft. “I’ve seen everything. At the end of the day, I think what makes me special is that I’m a hooper.”

That said, it’s going to take buy-in from everyone involved. Siakam, along with O.G. Anunoby and Gary Trent Jr. are all, as of now, heading into free agency next season, and while a “less is more” approach may make sense on paper, asking players to do less when money is on the line can be tricky.

The Raptors are optimistic it won’t be an issue but just like so much this season, how it actually plays out on the court remains anyone’s guess.