No pressure, no diamonds for Raptors defense

You know it and I know it. Toronto knows it. The league knows it. The Raptors are supposed to be a great defensive team this year. While it’s true that they were the owners of a top 5 defense last season, they were closer in defensive rating to the bottom third of the NBA than they were to a top 2 defense. They emerged at the top of a pile, but it was the “very good” pile, not the elite one.

The Raptors of last year were a very unique defense. They didn’t manage to inform shot charts the way many great defenses often do. They gave up a lot of shots at the rim, and a lot of volume from downtown. They fouled a lot. They weren’t very good at defensive rebounding. What they did well? They forced turnovers, and they saw opposing teams miss a lot of threes against them. These are tenuous markers for a top 5 defense. It makes sense, as the Raptors of last season weren’t chalk full of defensive talent and had to find their way to good defense with a unique formula.

In short, I would describe their approach as: Early pressure, late overload.

The concept of “forcing a missed three” is a heavily contested idea. For a long time teams have viewed the most important aspect of 3-point defense to be the act of squashing volume, because it’s hard to control if a shot goes in or not. So, make the other team take different shots. Last season, and I suspect this season, the Raptors opt for a different approach.

They were in the top third of the NBA in average pickup point. They meet you higher up the court. Their players will start defending earlier. Last season, they registered as the #1 team in the NBA in terms of how often they played “high ball pressure” possessions. The outcomes the Raptors are looking for here? Well, they want to attack ball handlers for turnovers, but they also battle like hell to stay in the play after they commit. They switch out, they rotate, they cover ground. All this led to the NBA’s best defense when it came to putting teams in short clock scenarios. This helps to inform the Raptors ability to change the 3 point efficiency of other teams. Maybe they’re not finding the 3-point shot they want, but rather, a shot they have to take before the shot clock runs out.

“We gotta do it more. There’s no way back.” Coach Darko told me of the Raptors ball pressure. “I think the whole league is going that direction. I’m watching other teams around the league and in the preseason there is much more full court pressure. There is much more on ball aggressiveness and that’s a staple of our defense. We gotta really dominate in that area and we gotta take it to another level.”

This leans into the idea of the Raptors returning to and expanding upon the thing they did best against other teams: managing pace. Not only did they dominate in shot clock violations and short clock scenarios, but they were also one of the best teams in the NBA at squashing opposing transition. The Raptors walked a fine line as a team that could play fast when they had the ball and slow when the other team possessed it. With new additions, most notably Kawhi Leonard, Scottie Barnes thinks there is room for growth for the Raptors on defense:

“I think we’re gonna continue to pressure. But, I think we’re gonna be smart with it as well.” Barnes told me. “I think a lot of times we’re pressuring, we’re gambling, and then it kinda, you know teams get easy buckets off that. I think after watching film we just have to be smarter in those situations where – Okay, sometimes it’s great to pick up, let’s set the tone, let’s guard – but, sometimes teams are scoring off that with ease and we’re just gambling. So we’re just trying to be smarter with when do we wanna gamble? How can we be handsy in situations where we’re just guarding the ball and trying to keep the ball in front of us, rather than just trying to get out of the play and make bad decisions as a team. I think it’s about being able to do that, but being smart with it.”

This is accurate, by the way. It can be true that ball pressure can serve to speed other teams up rather than slow them down. It really depends on how you deploy it. A one man press against an elite guard handler can create runways for quick offense. A more significant press that forces bring up ball handler duties into the hands of wings and bigs? Well that typically slows things down a lot. Collin Murray-Boyles knows that his role looms large for this team to be elite on defense.

“I feel like when I pressure the ball, that’s my best defense. When I give space that’s when I typically get beat.” Murray-Boyles told me. “I feel like me using my hands, my activity and my energy on ball is something that – especially when I’m guarding the 5 or the 4 – because we already have the 1 and the 2 game guarded by top defenders in the league. So you know, making that hell for everyone on the court is gonna be crucial in creating more turnovers, more transition, more fast break opportunities, stuff like that. So, me just doing my part in our defense is going to be very, very huge.”

Click on the podcast below for a breakdown on how handsy-ness & aggression plays into the Raptors identity.