TORONTO — The Toronto Raptors were one of the worst shooting teams in the NBA last year, but they’re working on it, both in terms of technology and people.
The latest evidence was displayed on the south wall of their already rather posh practice facilities at the OVO Athletic Center.
Running the length of an NBA court is a video screen — think of an arena “jumbotron,” but laid out flat rather than wrapping into a cube to be viewable from all sides — all made up of clips from a previous game shows or may show or upcoming opponents statistical breakdowns that track measurable metrics such as deflections, steals and rebounds on an individual game-by-game basis.
The possibilities are limitless.
For example, instead of sitting in a movie room (the Raptors have a full theater just for this purpose) and then doing walk-in briefings on the practice floor, the coaching staff can conduct a movie session on the big screen while the players are already on the floor during practice and work your way through various nuances and details in real time.
“I love it. It’s great,” said Raptors head coach Nick Nurse. “There’s so much we can do up there…there’s a lot of information flowing through these boards…from footage of the last game to footage of the next opponent up to to a bunch of recorded things we have up there. So there’s a lot of stuff we can put up there and we can definitely use it. It looks really cool too. The players are really loving it.”
One of the highlights shown during the Raptors’ first home practice session of the season – before they play their second exhibition game in Boston Wednesday night – were the results of shooting practice after practice that morning.
Toronto was one of the first NBA teams to invest in “Noahlytics,” the shot tracking system developed by Noah Basketball that not only records hits and misses, but also provides precise feedback on shot angle and direction, and analyzes how and why shots were taken Not.
Toronto had the system – which uses cameras installed on the ceiling above the baskets to provide the data – for five years, but showing the results of the training to the entire team is a new challenge.
As of Tuesday morning, the Raptors shooting at the east end of the floor converted 81 percent of their two-point shots and 61 percent of their three-point shots, according to scores displayed on the board. For the group at West End Basket it was 77 per cent and 58 per cent. There was more precise data on the shot arc and where exactly in the cylinder marks fell at all.
The Raptors need all the help they can get since they ranked 26th in the NBA for effective field goal percentage.
But is it possibly a case of information overload when a giant computer screen — or collections thereof — is updated in real-time across an entire gym wall?
“It’s quite distracting. I talk to you guys and I don’t really talk to you guys because I’m watching over there,” said Pascal Siakam. “Like it’s really distracting, but it’s cool I think.”
But it makes it impossible not to know where you stand in a given category at any given time.
“There are a lot of numbers in there. But no, I think it’s good,” Siakam said. “Obviously we come here every day as if this is our job [but] I think there’s a way to get that message to you without just talking to you every day… it’s like you can look up and see that, man, like I had a deviation in the last game, like maybe I should do better or whatever the case might be. I think that’s another way of just communicating with us without always being like, ah, you know.
It’s another example of the type of investments the Raptors make to gain every possible advantage. For a newcomer like Christian Koloko, that’s breathtaking.
“Oh, I mean, it’s crazy,” said Koloko, the University of Arizona Raptors’ second-round pick. “The analytics are insane. You know what I can see on that board over there on the wall, it just showed us everything that we do during practice, during the game, like every deflection, every rebound, every assist. We have a shot tracker : Every time you shoot, they tell you how your shot turned out, how if the [arc] was 45 degrees. So we have everything, we have everything to make you better. Before every workout, after every workout, I look at it and see if I’ve made any adjustments from the day before.”
The Raptors also invest in people – they have 11 coaches, for example, with no player development staff, and another whole team working with Raptors 905. An interesting addition to Raptors 905 head coach Eric Khoury’s team is Christian Siakam, the older brother of Raptors 905 Raptors All-NBA star. He worked informally with 905 last season and helped coach his younger brother after his own college and pro career ended.
This is his next step.
“I mean, he’s basically played basketball his entire life,” said Pascal, the youngest of four brothers who played Division 1 basketball, including Christian. “He’s played abroad, he knows the game, he’s been with pros since I was a pro, even before that… and I think that will help the 905 to develop because, again, he’s seen my development and he was part of it. So he understands everything and I think it would be good for the 905 to just keep growing for him and then also to help the guys that are coming through because he knows what I’ve been through and he was just a part of it emotionally and physically. So he understands what is important.”
A nurse is also on board.
“The key for me, with anything and especially something like this, is that you kind of have to put both feet in, don’t you?” Sister said. “He [Christian] has come around a lot but to be there and put both feet in the game and get a full season under his belt I think will be a big step forward for him.
“He’s familiar with coaching us, he’s familiar with spending a lot of time in the gym, he’s familiar with a lot of the things we do and then he’s interested in coaching.
“Now you have to make sure you’re real, all those late nights and early mornings, watching movies and player development, all that stuff that comes with it, the grind.
“We’re talking about the effort of coaching, so I like it. He’s a really good guy, he’s got a great personality and, like I said, he’s familiar with what we’re doing.”
The Raptors try to leave no stone unturned in their quest for improvement. The hope is that somehow it all comes together: that small advantages in coaching, systems and technology can lead to more shots hit when it matters and more wins when it matters.
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