A recent six-game homestand provided more questions than answers for the Raptors and their fans
Things didn't improve a whole lot for the struggling Raptors over their recent six-game homestand.
If you want to see Toronto be buyers, however, the competitiveness with which it played the Bucks and the victory against Portland – withLike their season as a whole, this homestand made it nearly impossible to get a read on just who the Raptors really are.If Raptors coach Nick Nurse is to be believed, then the struggles the Raptors have experienced have been because of a lack of energy, but certainly not effort.
“[Our environment] is still very hardworking and professional and focused and all of that stuff,” Nurse said. “From my standpoint, they continue to get here, work really hard, both individually and as a team.”“We’ve got a long way to go with consistency,” Nurse said after the Atlanta game when asked what he’s learned about his team over their last six games.
In their three victories, the Raptors put up 117, 132 and 124 points, respectively, while combining to knock down 42 3-pointers in those games. In the losses, they only hit 26 triples and scored no more than 108 points. This, of course, leads back to the debate about what they should do at the deadline. They could look to add shooting to try to shore up this hole in their roster or just sell off their stars and try to rebuild from scratch with shooting being a core tenet of the team.In what has been a rough season for Fred VanVleet, he had another down stretch over Toronto’s last six games culminating with a dreadful three-points, 1-for-9 showing Saturday.
This is bad news for the Raptors, especially if they want to try to make a leap ahead in the standings.Over the six games, Barnes averaged 17.2 points, 7.2 rebounds and five assists — showing the kind of aggression going to the basket that helped him win rookie of the year last season.
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