Who will be the Raptors’ eighth man?
A typical playoff rotation consists of eight players. Seven in close games, and nine if the team has the talent-pool for it, but anything past nine is quite the stretch.
During the course of a title run, a team will play anywhere between 16 and 24 games. With every game as meaningful as the prior, and the one ahead, it leaves little room to mess around and tinker with rotations.
Typically when the playoffs immediately follow the conclusion of the regular season, coaches can ride the hot hand, or find specific lineup combinations which they trust. Nick Nurse, or any coach for that matter, does not have that luxury this year.
For the Toronto Raptors, this is difficult. Toronto has a clear top seven, but the third-man off the bench is uncertain.
The top seven for Toronto consists of Kyle Lowry, Fred VanVleet, OG Anunoby, Pascal Siakam, Marc Gasol, Norman Powell, and Serge Ibaka. An extremely talented and versatile group, arguably the best top-seven in the league. The problem is, this group has missed 100 combined games throughout the 64 games this season.
Nurse hasn’t gotten the opportunity which he received last year to mix-up lineups, and play matchmaker to find that one odd, yet advantageous lineup. It’s been a “next man up” mentality all year for Toronto. It’s worked, but it makes these decisions slightly more tricky.
The eighth man is a competition between Patrick McCaw, Terence Davis, and Rondae Hollis-Jefferson. All three unique in their own ways, and not similar at all, which makes this decision even tougher.
Patrick McCaw seems to be the one who Nurse trusts most out of the three, but also is the least favourite amongst the fanbase. A consistent defender, but lacklustre on offense, McCaw is sometimes hesitant to even just shoot the ball. He’s also not what would be considered a lockdown defender, which makes the choice to play him a little tougher.
Davis is a rookie, and one of the most exciting players on the Raptors to watch. Extreme athleticism, and a good shot, Davis can score effectively at all three levels, on the ball or off.
The downside to Davis is the constant rookie mistakes. An indecisive pick-and-roll ball handler, and a bit of a lost defender can make Davis difficult to play in a playoff setting when his production is so uncertain. Davis could get minutes when Toronto is in need of an offensive spark, but aside from that, it’ll be hard to earn minutes with an already loaded backcourt.
Hollis-Jefferson is who I label as the favourite in this debate. Not because I think he’s the best player of the three, in fact he’s probably the least talent, but he fills a hole in the Raptors’ rotation.
Right now, the Raptors sit without a backup forward in their top seven. There will be certain moments where an Ibaka-Gasol front court pairing is useful, but also quite a few occasions where it’s too big and immobile.
Rondae gives Nurse the opportunity to rest Anunoby and Siakam defensively, and allow Rondae to guard the opponents toughest offensive player. He’s a great defender, and a great rebounder, but a very limited offensive player.
Either way, the eighth man in the rotation will be limited to playing time, and realistically could circulate between the three, depending on circumstance and matchup. I would expect all three to get an opportunity this post-season, and if one stands out in their time on the floor, I would expect a lot more of whichever one that is going forward.
