USATSI_17028426_168390270_lowres — Dan Hamilton-USA TODAY Sports

Raptors By The Numbers: Here's What We Know After 4 Games

The Toronto Raptors have had one of the league's worst offenses this season but a strong defense and great rebounding has kept them afloat early

Author:
Aaron Rose
Publish date:
Oct 26, 2021 3:26 PM EDT

Through four games this season the Toronto Raptors are about what they were expected to be. They're 1-4, which puts them toward the bottom of the Eastern Conference, but their plus-six point differential suggests they should be at least a little bit better.

For a moment, though, we'll put aside the small sample size caveats and take a look at what the early season numbers tell us about this team.

26th in Offensive Rating: 98.4 points per 100 possessions

To nobody's surprise, Toronto's offense has been terrible this season and it's taken a significant step back from last year when the Raptors ranked 15th in the NBA, per Cleaning the Glass. While the 98.4 points per 100 possessions will certainly get better with time and experience together, don't expect the Raptors to make a big jump up the league standings, especially while Pascal Siakam is out. Toronto should be a slightly below-average offense this season even with Siakam in the lineup.

27th in Half-Court Offense: 80.6 points per 100 possessions

Another stat that shouldn't be a surprise. The Raptors have been atrocious in the half-court so far this season. They've been unable to create advantages with any consistency and spacing continues to be a problem with so many non-shooters on the floor.

"At times we are driving into each other," Fred VanVleet said Tuesday. "The timing is off a little bit because of the floor spacing."

Siakam should help things a little bit but Toronto isn't going to have a very good half-court offense this season.

21st in Transition Offense: 108.7 points per 100 possessions

This is a little bit concerning considering the Raptors are supposed to be a transition-oriented team. They get out and run on 19.8% of their possessions, per Cleaning the Glass, the fifth-most in the NBA. They just haven't been able to convert those fast-break opportunities into points.

"It was one after another we were coming off three-on-one and we were coming up empty. That just can’t happen," Raptors coach Nick Nurse said. “We’ve got to figure it out. I always say if we’re gonna play all this defense we’ve got to turn it into offense. And we are playing very good defense."

7th in Defensive Rating: 100.5 points per 100 possessions

Nurse is right, the Raptors have been playing very good defense. Their switching and versatile defenders have been able to clog passing lanes and swarm opposing scorers. It's why they rank sixth in the league in turnover rate, forcing offenses to turn the ball over on 16.8% of their offensive possessions. All that athleticism has also allowed Toronto to snuff out most transition chances for opponents.

2nd in Offensive Rebounding & 4th in Defensive Rebounding

Maybe the biggest surprise of the year is how effective the Raptors have been on the offensive and defensive glass this year. Despite not having anyone taller than 6-foot-9 on the roster, Toronto has been among the NBA's best rebounding teams. The Raptors have simply outworked teams down low, fighting for rebounds, and crashing the glass more aggressively than most. Considering Toronto's youth, this surprise might actually last this season.