"We're not on the same page": Raptors have NBA-worst offence so far

When the Toronto Raptors hired head coach Darko Rajaković earlier this year, the hope was that he could kickstart the team’s overly predictable offensive game.

Rajaković’s philosophy of a “0.5 offence” was meant to have the roster making quick decisions within a half-second of getting the ball, and correcting the stagnation that plagued the team a year prior.

It’s safe to say that philosophy hasn’t quite translated to results just yet.

It’s less than a week into the regular season, but the Raptors’ offence has been buoyed down to just 99.5 points per game, ranked 30th out of 30 teams across the NBA.

“We’re trying to have this like drive, kick, swing offence — play through the elbows, trying cuts, different split screens, stuff like that. But at times we get in this mode where — I don’t think we’re really doing it on purpose — but it seems like everybody’s just trying to make something happen almost randomly,” Jakob Poeltl told the media after Monday’s 99-91 loss to the Portland Trail Blazers.

“We’re not on the same page and then we just dribble into a crowd, try and kick out [and] the next guy’s dribbling into a crowd. We’re not really getting any advantages out of it.”

They’re the only team in the league to average under 100 points per game this year, hitting that mark just twice in four contests so far.

No Raptor has scored more than Scottie Barnes’ 24 points in a loss against Philadelphia on Saturday. Barnes is the only Raptor averaging over 20 points a night, with Pascal Siakam ranked second with 16 points per night.

Their 42.5 field goal percentage ranks 27th in the league, while their halfcourt offence ranks dead last at 77.1 points per 100 possessions, as per CleaningTheGlass.

Toronto’s 30th halfcourt offense this year is generating 77.1 points per 100 possessions, per Cleaning the Glass. That’s 4.1 points worse than Portland’s 29th ranked halfcourt attack.

— 𝐀𝐚𝐫𝐨𝐧 𝐑𝐨𝐬𝐞 (@AaronBenRose) October 31, 2023

Any way you slice it, Toronto simply isn’t scoring the ball enough. Toronto’s 4-for-29 effort from three-point range on Monday was about as bad as things could look.

“That’s a terrible shooting night for us and we feel we can just keep getting those open looks where we can make those shots,” Barnes said postgame. “Other than that, we just have to stay on the same page with our cutting and get into our right spots and just get our offence to be able to move the ball.”

Toronto will get another chance to work on their offensive game Wednesday night at home, when they host the Milwaukee Bucks at 4:30 pm PT/7:30 pm ET.

You might also like:
• Pair of former Raptors on the move after James Harden trade