Svi Mykhailiuk Looks Poised for Bounce Back Season with COVID Madness Behind Him
It's easy to look at box score stats and forget how frustrating last season was for the overwhelming majority of NBA players. It wasn't just the Toronto Raptors who spent last season away from home trying to adjust to pandemic life. Throughout the league, testing protocols and COVID-19 restrictions turned traditional NBA life on its head.
For Svi Mykhailiuk, the 2020-21 season was an aberration. His routine was thrown into chaos and his on the court performance suffered. After shooting 40% from three-point range in 2019-20, his shooting numbers tumbled in 2020-21 to just 33%, slightly below league average.
"I couldn’t get in the gym as much as I usually do," said Mykhailiuk who at least in part blamed the strange season for his shooting struggles. "Shooting before the games, the night before the games, I couldn’t do it. Little stuff, little details that usually I build as my routine and I like to do my routine every time and that stuff changed and shifted."
The Raptors and Mykhailiuk are hoping that's going to change this season. Things, for the most part, are back to normal. Players are allowed into the gym whenever they want and — as long as they're vaccinated — won't have to adhere to testing requirements. It's not perfect, Mykhailiuk said, but it's much better now.
"I have more time to be on the court," he said. "I have more time before practice, stay after practice, coming in at night, shooting the day before a game on the road so it’s like little stuff that actually matters to some players, to some players it doesn’t."
Both he and the Raptors are betting on a bounce-back season from the 24-year-old Ukrainian who signed a two-year deal that includes a player option for next season. For Mykhailiuk, Toronto offered an ideal opportunity, one so good he passed up on deals with the Los Angeles Lakers, Portland Trail Blazers, and a handful of other title contenders to take.
"I heard a lot of great things about the organization and the people who work here, front office staff, coaches, players," he said.
For Toronto, Mykhailiuk is a relatively low-risk gamble, but an important one for the organization. He's one of just three players on the roster who have ever topped the 40% mark from three-point range mark and, considering the lack of floor spacing on the team, the Raptors are going to need some high-end shooting this season.
Further Reading
The Raptors are fully invested in Nick Nurse's shooting school
Raptors are expecting to face tough roster cut decisions with extra importance this year
