Sean Woodley here, the host of the daily Locked On Raptors podcast, with your daily Locked On Raptors newsletter. Each day we bring you the biggest stories about the Raptors and the NBA, including the hottest links to other stories you need to read. Plus, Josh Lloyd delivers daily fantasy notes to crush your league.
Down their two-best shooters, Toronto takes down the Pelicans with... shooting?
Nov 27, 2024; New Orleans, Louisiana, USA; Toronto Raptors forward Jamison Battle (77) shoots a jump shot against New Orleans Pelicans guard Jordan Hawkins (24) during the second half at Smoothie King Center. Mandatory Credit: Stephen Lew-Imagn Images|Stephen Lew/Stephen Lew-Imagn Images
It brings me absolutely no joy that 10 days removed from denouncing the Boston Celtics’ immoral brand of basketball in this very newsletter, I’m about to spend the next eight paragraphs gushing over how the Raptors took down the Pelicans by spamming triples. It’s disgusting! But facts are facts. Threes (and the Pelicans being a husk of a team) earned Toronto its first road win of the season on Wednesday night.
Coming into the game 30th in three-point volume, it was pretty clear from the outset that an out-of-character night was taking shape. You’d think not having Gradey Dick and Immanuel Quickley — by far the two most voluminous and dynamic shooters on the team — would leave the Raptors’ low on long range ammo. Necessity breeds adaptation, though.
New Orleans packed the paint like a duffle going on a two-night stay some place with uncertain weather, daring the light-shooting Raptors to let it rip. And oh was their comeuppance cruel and swift. After Toronto’s bricked its way to a 4-of-17 clip from deep in the first quarter (8-of-25) overall, a furious wave of three-point variance pushed the Raptors ahead, and softened up the New Orleans interior enough to make life at the rim less perilous.
Ochai Agbaji and Jamison Battle were the headliners, of course, dropping six triples apiece and missing just three combined. For Agbaji in particular, it was about as resounding a bounce back effort as you could have hoped for after Darko Rajakovic called out his play after Monday’s loss in Detroit. Especially with Dick out of the lineup, Agbaji is an essential release valve for a cramped Raptors offense; he needs to be eager to get threes up in bunches.
That’s never been a problem for Battle, who keeps building a case to have his two-way deal converted into something much more lucrative before this season’s out. His 8.6 threes attempted per 36 minutes are tops on the team, with 43.3.% of those looks finding bottom. Though it was his fellow rookie classmate Ja’Kobe Walter who got the start on Wednesday to breathe some space into the Raptors’ main lineup, there’s a real case for Battle to get the call next time out. That’s not even a slight against Walter, who made a lot of stuff happen in his 28 minutes. Battle’s stroke is just as pure as it gets, and figures to help amplify the Raptors’ stars. If nothing else, he should be in line for a continued uptick in minutes with Dick sidelined.
Same as how frogs are used by scientists to gauge the healthiness of an ecosystem, RJ Barrett’s shooting splits will usually tell you whether the Raptors’ offense is in a good place or not. Wednesday’s quarter-by-quarter box score shows the favourable shift in climate brought about by Toronto’s torrent of threes. Barrett shot 2-of-6 in the first quarter, and hit just one of his two looks inside the arc. Plunging head-first into a sea of purple and green jerseys didn’t yield much of anything early.
As the game progressed, more threes dropped, and the Pelicans became less liberal with their help, the driving lanes for Barrett visibly widened, letting him rampage to the rim unimpeded the way he did to such great effect during his red hot run with the Raptors last season. He hit six of his last seven shots, and looked very much like RJ Barrett again.
Now, just because Toronto found its mojo by taking 52 threes against the Pels doesn’t mean its only recourse is to fully adopt a Celtics-like identity. This is still, at its core, a team designed to generate rim looks in bunches. Nights like Wednesday — a likely outlier from a volume perspective, thought hopefully not one accuracy-wise, especially as their injured shooters begin to return — make that directive easier to follow. Despite being 3rd in the NBA in rim frequency, Toronto is 25th-best at actually converting those bunnies — a direct symptom of their cramped spacing and the ample help defenses send towards the Raptors’ would-be finishers. Make defenders think twice about abandoning their perimeter posts to collapse by banging in threes, and the avenues for efficient rim shooting open up.
Basketball, as it turns out, is a pretty simple game.
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Today on the podcast I go solo to break down the win over the Pelicans and talk about Ja’Kobe Walter getting his first career start. Enjoy the show!
Giving thanks for a better-than-expected rookie class
Happy Thanksgiving! To give you something to talk about with your undoubtedly NBA-fluent families and friends, here are some rookie rankings to chew over.
1. Jared McCain, Philadelphia 76ers
Over his last ten games, McCain has averaged 23 points per game (top 25 in the league in that span) on solid efficiency, including 39% from deep on crazy volume. Philly hasn’t had much to cheer about this season, but McCain’s surprising on-ball creation and superb off-ball movement have Philly fans seeing a future star (wait, maybe that’s just their court). I’m obsessed with this little moonwalk he uses to shake OG Anunoby juuuust enough to bury a shuriken in his eye:
McCain moonwalks into a three over OG Anunoby
McCain likely won’t score like this when the team’s fully healthy (and he’s cooled off the last two games), but the fact that he can is a great sign for the team’s present and future.
2. Stephon Castle, San Antonio Spurs
Castle has risen to second place thanks to an excellent recent stretch. Since becoming a starter, Castle’s averaged 15 points, three boards, and five assists while playing ferocious defense.
Castle is incredibly versatile. At nearly 6’6” pre-shoes and pre-hair, he has the size and speed to fill any number of roles. As I wrote about at length here, he’s quickly becoming the perfect amorphous fit next to Victor Wembanyama.
Although his three-point accuracy is still developing, Castle’s confidence in his shot is the skeleton key that unlocks the rest of his offensive game. And the more effective he is on offense, the more opportunity he’s given to create absolute havoc on defense.
I’m particularly intrigued by his ability to be a faux-big man in the screen and roll:
Katie Heindl is a credentialed NBA and WNBA writer, her bylines have appeared with The New York Times Magazine, SLAM, The Athletic, Yahoo Sports, Dime, Rolling Stone, among others. She writes the bestselling Substack, Basketball Feelings and is working on a book of the same name.
Mike Shearer (@bballispoetry) has written about the NBA full-time since 2021 at various and sundry places. For more from Mike, check out his Substack bestseller, Basketball Poetry, where he uses unnecessary metaphors and the occasional haiku to discuss the NBA’s happenings with an analytical lens.
Home and Away
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Celebrate The Raptors clinched their first road win of the season with a commanding 119-93 victory over the New Orleans Pelicans, showcasing a stellar team performance. (Raptors HQ)
Must Read LaMelo’s proclivity for fouls, how many wins Philadelphia needs for the play-in, examining OKC’s defense, and more. (ESPN+)
Feel Good The Pistons’ willingness to spend, the Nets’ and Lakers’ new coach, and more things for each NBA team to be thankful for. (CBS Sports)
Analysis A roundtable of experts discusses the league’s biggest storylines after the first month of the season. (Fansided)
Fantasy Cheat Sheet
In case you missed it...
Nov 26, 2024; Salt Lake City, Utah, USA; Utah Jazz forward/center Lauri Markkanen (23) on the floor after a collision with San Antonio Spurs forward/center Victor Wembanyama (1) during the second half at Delta Center. Mandatory Credit: Christopher Creveling-Imagn Images | Christopher Creveling/Christopher Creveling-Imagn Images
Another Lauri Markkanen Injury For Fantasy Basketball Managers To Digest | Lauri Markkanen’s recent knee injury could sideline him for at least a week, impacting fantasy basketball strategies. This opens opportunities for players like John Collins, Keyonte George, and Brice Sensabaugh to increase their roles and fantasy value.
Ja Morant Is Set To Return And Impact Fantasy Basketball Leagues | Monday’s NBA action saw significant fantasy basketball impacts, with Gary Harris and Jalen Suggs suffering hamstring injuries, potentially increasing roles for Cole Anthony and Anthony Black.
Don’t let these episodes pass you by — stay locked in with the latest Locked On Raptors podcasts.
Monday — Raptors fall to Rockets for 7th-straight loss, but the sky ain’t falling Sean goes solo to talk about the Raptors’ 114-110 loss to Houston, Scottie Barnes’ recent struggles and why they’re probably nothing to be too alarmed about, Ja’Kobe Walter’s career-high and more!
Dec 17 — Raptors comeback vs. Chicago falls short; Jakob Poeltl hurt Sean and Vivek Jacob recap the Toronto Raptors 122-121 loss to the Chicago Bulls, discuss what Jakob Poeltl’s injury means and more.
Dec 16 — Raptors Trade Season Primer! Sean is joined by Joseph Casciaro (The Score) to preview the NBA’s trade season from the Raptors perspective, from Jakob Poeltl being too important to trade, to what the Raptors can get for their pending free agents and more!
