CBC-Sports

Offensive focus a risky venture

November 18, 2009 05:29 PM | Posted by   Paul Jay  

When a team allows 130 points in a game of basketball, even in the thin Colorado air, it's usually hazardous to a coach's career.

Last year Sam Mitchell learned this, as 'Melo was his Alamo and ticket to early retirement after a 132-93 drubbing in December.

Jay Triano is on much safer ground, however, even though his team collapsed in the second half of an 130-112 loss Tuesday night.

For one, there is a big difference between an 18-point loss and a 39-point one.

But more importantly, the Raptors of today are committed to a more offensive style of basketball, and sometimes when a team makes scoring a priority, you get games like this or the early-season stinker to the Memphis Grizzlies.

Mitchell, on the other hand, known as a tough defender as a player, cringed at shoot-outs, so when the Raps got smoked, Raptors general manager Bryan Colangelo might have taken it as a sign the team was no longer buying what Sam was selling.

Triano can't be pleased his team is allowing 108.1 points a game - only the aforementioned Grizzlies are permitting more - but the 107.4 points a game they are scoring must be at least a partial salve.

It's tempting to suggest that these gaudy numbers are the price of implementing a shoot-in-seven-seconds-or-less uptempo style of basketball, but the truth is, the Raptors aren't a particularly fast-paced squad.

The number-crunchers at BasketballReference.com chart the Raptors' pace factor - that is, an estimation of the average number of possessions per game - as distinctly average, ranking 14th in the 30-team league.

So why the high scores? Because the numbers say that on a per possession basis, the Raptors are both the most efficient offensive team and the least efficient team in the NBA. It's feast and famine.

The most plausible reason for this selective attention deficit disorder is not the coach, but the players. The Raptors have an enviable collection of gifted offensive creators and scorers, but players like Andrea Bargnani, Jose Calderon, Hedo Turkoglu and Marco Belinelli, to name a few, have no natural talent at defending opponents. Yes, Reggie Evans is injured and might bring the elusive 'toughness' Raptors fans desire if and when he returns. But Evans is no panacea, since any gains defensively would likely be accompanied by his widely documented offensive shortcomings.

Unfortunately for Triano, when teams score a ton of points, the players tend to get credit. And when they give up a bunch of points, it's the coach who gets blamed.

" Previous Post | Main
  •