Despite great record, Casey still worried about Raptors three-point defence; An Olynyk Clinic and more

The Raptors are rolling, with six straight wins and an increasingly more secure hold on a top three spot in the East, as well as an ironclad grip on homecourt advantage at the moment. Still, Dwane Casey isn’t satisfied and he shouldn’t be.
There is still considerable work to be done. Almost all of it on the defensive end. After Wednesday’s poor showing against Boston, Toronto now ranks tied for third-last in the NBA in three-point defence (opponents shoot 37.8% from three). Over the past five games, the number has been 44%.
Granted, Toronto has done a far better job of protecting the paint than in year’s past and that’s one of the main reasons the defence has vaulted closer to the top of the pack than the bottom (except for recently), but something always has to give. You can’t plug all of the holes and if the paint is contained, usually that will mean better looks from outside against solid offensive squads.
Everyone tends to focus on Jonas Valanciunas, and he was caught in no-man’s land a few times, but as Casey said Thursday morning, it wasn’t any one player, it was “everybody.” Even the usually reliable Cory Joseph got lost a number of times, which is extremely uncharacteristic for him.
Terrence Ross also got burned a few times, but at least turned in an excellent offensive performance and was versatile defensively late, guarding a few different positions.
By the way, Valanciunuas was a game-best +20 and absolutely terrorized the smaller Boston defenders at the other end. They had no answers for him and he went a perfect 9-for-9 from the field. The Nine field goals were tied for the seventh-most he has managed in an NBA game. It was also the ninth time he hasn’t missed a single shot.
OLYNYK CLINIC
ESPN’s Kevin Pelton, a friend of many Canuck hoops scribes, had an interesting query on Twitter Wednesday, asking whether Kelly Olynyk is the best Canadian in the NBA at the moment. It sounds kind of crazy, considering Andrew Wiggins plays in the NBA, but Olynyk has probably had the best overall season. Wiggins has been better at his peaks, but there have been a few too many valleys, whereas Olynyk has turned heads with his excellent defence (nobody saw Olynyk becoming an impact defender coming), along with his deadly three-point shooting (.433, 10th in the league and tops among all power forwards or centres).
Tristan Thompson has been solid as well, nearly averaging double figures in rebounds off of the bench, which is basically unheard of, before becoming a starter for the East’s top team and Cory Joseph has had a fine debut season in Toronto, but like Wiggins, has had a couple of slumps. Dallas forward Dwight Powell has been a revelation, but Olynyk’s been the best Canadian so far.
How good would he look as a Raptor? The only issue would be he is pretty much a centre and not a power forward, which is the position of need.
Eavesdropped on an Olynyk post-game chat with Sportsnet’s Michael Grange and it was interesting to hear the Toronto/Kamloops product look ahead to this summer’s last-chance qualifying tournament.
Olynyk said that the loss to Venezuela was the first time in two tournaments that the team had really been tested and maybe having to qualify right before the Olympics would be a good thing.