Gambling Raptors irking Coach Casey; Spread the floor; Raptors speak to NBA about run of officiating mistakes

Here’s something that Dwane Casey has been repeating for weeks now:
“We cannot gamble defensively, we cannot take ourselves out of the play.”
He said it after Wednesday’s loss in Utah. He said it after Sunday’s loss in Sacramento. He’s said it a lot over the years.
Gambling on defence is one of Casey’s biggest pet peeves. He can’t stand it and he will bench more
talented players for others if it happens too frequently.
It happened with Kyle Lowry, even though he was a much better defender than Jose Calderon.
It happens with James Johnson.
If you do it often, you will usually sit.
Casey hasn’t named names, but Gordon Hayward, Derrick Favors and Alec Burks were the players who lit up the Raptors late in this one.
The most egregious gamblers weren’t Lowry or Johnson, but rather DeMar DeRozan and DeMarre Carroll. They are usually smarter than that.
The Raptors again played an awful first quarter (and were lucky to be hanging around, largely because Utah missed all five of its three-point attempts), but the new wrinkle was a hideous offensive third quarter (though the defence was strong).
SPREAD THE WEALTH
DeRozan works as hard as most superstars, has as many friends around the league as the superstars and is a better person than most of the league’s superstars, but he doesn’t have superstar talent, no matter how hard he works. That might sound harsh, but it’s the honest truth and as long as the Raptors treat him like he is a superstar talent in fourth quarters, the team will suffer for it.
The team has superior finishers in Kyle Lowry and Jonas Valanciunas and is at its best when the floor is spread, yet, nearly always in fourth quarters, the Raptors revert to DeRozan isolations above all else.
According to the Score’s Joseph Casciaro, DeRozan’s 4th quarter Usage is 34.1%, between Carmelo Anthony and Anthony Davis, who should be getting that many touches because they are great. Lowry is at 24.6%, Valanciunas, just 17.5%.
It’s just not a recipe for success and it seems like some of the players (and Casey) are aware of it, just not willing or able to do anything about it.
Casey talked about bad offensive habits afterward and Carroll admitted:
“At times I do think we get stagnant on offence. “Instead of playing the way that got us the lead we get stagnant a little bit.”
SILENTLY ANGRY
As I tweeted on Wednesday, the Raptors have indeed been in contact with the NBA about the spate of awful calls late in games that have proven quite costly.
They don’t want to get fined, even though they are in the right, so they won’t say anything out loud, but the franchise is incensed about the mistakes and because they seem to be piling up against them.
Whether it is missed travels (DeMarcus Cousins, Stephen Curry), wrong calls off of deflections that gave the ball back to the other team (Marco Belinelli, etc.) phantom calls on Cory Joseph, etc. The belief from members of the organization is that officiating mistakes have cost the team three games already.
What gets done about it? Probably nothing. What can be done?
Again, it’s long past time for the NBA to institute a coaches’ challenge. That’s one way to improve the game, which is very fast and difficult to officiate in real time.
BRIGHT SIDE OF LIFE
If you’re looking for something positive in the midst of this second, three-game losing streak of the season, we present Carroll.
While he wasn’t great against Utah at either end of the floor and was the first to admit it, he had his moments and that followed two outstanding games.
Carroll, the team’s prized free agent signing, might only be shooting 37% from the field (a product of forcing some bad shots here and there), but he’s delivering what was expected of him: Nearly 37% shooting from outside on a lot of attempts, excellent defence (including 1.8 steals per game), good rebounding and communication.
He is one of the few Raptors that helps space the offence, both by being effective from three-point range, and by his frequent cutting.
Jazz coach Quinn Snyder is close with Carroll, he did a ton of player development with Carroll earlier in his career.
“I think DeMarre fits anywhere,” Snyder told the Salt Lake Tribune.
“Any time you’ve a guy that plays hard, that plays with emotion, that makes shots, you’d take that anywhere.”
The Raptors cold use a few more players like Carroll.