The Raptors have often been forced to play small-ball with center Jakob Poeltl sidelined by a back injury, The Athletic’s Eric Koreen notes. Power forwards Scottie Barnes, Collin Murray-Boyles and Sandro Mamukelashvili have been filling in during his absences and the results have been predictable.
With Poeltl out, Toronto lost to the Celtics last week while getting out-rebounded 55-37. Poeltl played just seven minutes on Sunday and the victorious Nets beat the Raptors on the boards, 48-39.
Poeltl has been nagged by back issues since the opening weeks of the season. He signed a three-year extension during the offseason.
“It’s pretty unpredictable. He goes in the game and is great in the game. He might wake up in the next morning feeling good or not feeling good. Same thing with practice,” Raptors coach Darko Rajakovic said. “We have a long-term plan for him which consists of managing his injury, which consists of building his strength, which consists of him playing through a certain level of pain. Long-term, we are not concerned at all. It’s just something we’re dealing with in the middle of the season. If it were the offseason and we were to shut him down for two weeks, he would be completely fine.”
Here’s more on the Raptors:
- Poeltl and RJ Barrett missed Tuesday’s game in Miami, Josh Lewenberg of TSN tweets. Poeltl was listed on the team’s injury report as having a lower back strain, instead of “injury management.” Barrett has been out since Nov. 23 due to a knee injury.
- Michael Grange of Sportsnet argues that the team needs to acquire depth at the center position rather than hoping Poeltl’s back issues subside. Grange doubts the Raptors will take a big swing and try to acquire Anthony Davis from the Mavericks, noting that Dallas may end up not trading the big man anyway. Grange believes Toronto’s front office should chase a reliable backup instead.
- Another approach the Raptors could take to address their frontcourt depth issues is to sign a free agent. Veteran Mo Bamba is currently toiling in the G League and Grange suggests that a 10-day contract next month might be a worthwhile pursuit (Twitter links).
- The Raptors could also use another shooter, Koreen writes in his latest mailbag. He suggests the Raptors pursue potentially available wings such as Quentin Grimes, Keon Ellis and Collin Sexton.
“and the results have been predictable.”
It’s absolutely crazy how normal and obvious it is that the league has gone big and small ball now plays absolutely negative defense every time, negating any good offense playing small might bring.
We all, all of us, can see it. Steve Kerr cannot.
Anyone care to explain why Kerr refuses this?
Imo he is still trying to duplicate that last chip team.
He didn’t have a real center then. He used shooting as strength thru depth. He went deep in his bench. So always had fresh ball handlers and shooters. He believes he can win with a depth of guards and wings.
Today bigs are more mobile. And guys like Jokic are changing the game again. Its all about winning to me. All teams should be able to go big or small. With a 15 man roster. Considering you play defense half the game. A true big is your best asset on D. As a rim protector and rebounder.
Kerr teams play good D. But its perimeter D. And rebounding from threes are usually long rebounds. Not necessarily for a true big. So he is playing the analytics here. Its like I said many times here. All NBA teams should go big or small with 15 man roster. Kerr thinks he’s perfected the Bulls triangle offense lol. Funny thing is. Both Bulls and Spurs teams he won with. Were built around rim protection on defense.
You might be onto something. The top 8 MPG guys (them main big minutes guys) on that small ball team were Steph, Klay, Poole, GP2, Dray, Otto, Wiggins and Looney. Looney was the “big” but Dray played C mostly, and Otto did too sometimes. GP2 at PF (should have been done away with last year). Wiggins was the necessary wing. Then Steph, Klay, Poole, GP2 getting a massive amount of time together. He is trying to reclaim that but the problem is he has too many small guards to work in, so he ends up using them all over players that would win the game for them (Santos, Post, TJD). This year Kerr has: Steph, Moody, Richard, Melton, Podziemski, GP2, Spencer, Seth and Buddy. That’s simply too many players for only 96 minutes at the guard position, and Curry needs 30 of those 96. 8 guys for 66 minutes at the guard spot. Too many. Podz getting 30+ minutes further complicates things. God I hate Steve Kerr and MDJ for creating this too-small roster! We didn’t have to go after Seth or GP2, we should have traded Buddy and loaded up with wings and bigs instead!!
Also this team is not as consistent on offense. Kuminga not playing also hurts. Cause he should be a top rotation guy. This is why you have to move him. He doesn’t fit this offense at this time. There is no point blaming him like other posters do. Just trade him for players or player that can help you know. You upgrade with a good return on Kuminga lol. Cause Kerr doesn’t play him. Thats a big key. A good return.
Kuminga literally leads the team in rebounds per game, but he gets sat so Kerr can play 6’2″ Melton, 6’2″ Curry and 6’2″ GP2 at the same time and sometimes even 6’5″ Podz at the 4 and wonder why the opps bigs score unlimited points at the rim on them. Cool coaching. Really smart by Kerr!
Cooper looks good , right. He’s for real man …..
Cooper is a bad, bad man…gunna be a menace in this league. Early career Lebron vibes from him…
CNB was drafted with the 9th pick. Passed on Maluach and Queen. And now they want to add more wings. Grimes, Sexton, Ellis aren’t wings. Raptors are one of worst rebounding teams in NBA. Yet they want to add guards to play the wing ????
Go Figure ????
And they have 7 yes SEVEN wings on their roster.
Now they 17–13 and 5the un the East. Don’t let that fool you. Magic, Cavs, Heat, Hawks all within 2 gms.
This so called new NBA. Really amusing to me.
Surprised the Raptors haven’t been playing Mogbo more minutes to try and help their rebounding efforts. Offensive game needs work but he’s a fantastic defender, rebounder and passer, particularly at the 4.
Mind boggling that he doesn’t play. He improved his jumpshot also.
“If this were the off season, we would rest him for 2 weeks and he would be completely fine”. Call me crazy but rest him for 2 weeks now so you have a functional centre instead of a guy struggling with a back injury.
Right? That was one of the dumbest quotes I’ve ever seen from a coach. If he’s missing every other game or more currently, what’s the difference in just getting him right?
It’s probably the usual NBA mentality: “Players gotta be tough and play through injury; MJ’s a legend, he played with the flu”. So they put him out on the court every time he can walk without pain in the morning, but he never gets properly healed.
Having said that, lower back issues never really go away when you get them, especially if you’re a 7’0 250lbs man. So it’s not like he can fully heal it. It’s about getting him to the point where he can go through a season or at least a large stretch of it without pain that would constrain him.
Raps should trade for Markkanen or Sabonis.
Add Nick Richards. I couldn’t believe they didn’t take Queen to be honest….;-(