No way around it: Raptors must separate Valanciunas-Scola combination; With Towns and Wiggins Wolves should be envy of league

We need to talk about Luis – as in Scola, and the power forward situation.
He was a game-worst -16 against Minnesota, particularly dreadful early in the first and in the game-changing third.
Feeling like a broken record at this point, but the Scola-Jonas Valanciunas combination simply doesn’t work. I get that Dwane Casey loves what the second unit is doing and Patrick Patterson’s numbers are fantastic in leading that group and he is loathe to mess with it, but leaving things as is would be a dangerous choice. The winning streak has been nice, but the playoffs, as always, are the focus of this season and if things remain as they are, life is going to be much harder for the Raptors than it needs to be.
Scola is only a part of two of Toronto’s 10 most effective lineup combinations, per nba.com. Scola with Valanciunas just one of them (backup Patterson is a part of six of them and has the team’s best on-court/off-court numbers, Kyle Lowry each one, Cory Joseph eight).
Scola started the season off well, thanks largely to sky-high shooting numbers and was extremely productive in December (though Valanciunas was hurt for four of those contests), but slipped in January and has been dreadful in five February contests (5.8 points and 2.6 rebounds a game on 36% shooting).
The team’s oldest player has not averaged this many minutes in years. Is it catching up to him? Sure looks that way. He’s also going up against starters most of the time, which wasn’t the case in recent seasons and there’s the aforementioned fact that he and Valanciunas just aren’t a good defensive pairing. They are way too slow and are at a huge athletic disadvantage against most NBA frontcourts. It’s no coincidence that they have the two worst defensive ratings amongst regulars.
Masai Ujiri can either scour the trade market for an upgrade, which is extremely difficult to do without including Patterson contract-wise (and we’ve seen what a huge piece of the team he has been), or make the obvious move and start Patterson and hope Scola fares better against reserves, which seems likely.
BRIGHT FUTURE
Minnesota has made many mistakes over the years, but it’s hard to see the franchise screwing up the current situation. Few teams have as bright a future. Karl-Anthony Towns is going to be a top-10 NBA player for many years to come, perhaps as early as next season, barring a sophomore slump. Given the fact that Anthony Davis seems unable to stay healthy, some teams would probably pick the younger Kentucky product over the other ridiculous big man at this point if starting a franchise, as crazy as that sounds when you read it out loud.
“Every night he does something you just don’t realize he can do,” Sam Mitchell said after the game.
You can bet Towns is going to work until he’s one of the best. After that ridiculous performance, which included the spectacular block to seal the game, he said:
“I do surprise myself sometimes. Missing two free throws, missing open jump shots, he said, according to Jon Krawczynski, of the Associated Press.
Add on Andrew Wiggins, who is perfectly suited to being a great second star, without the pressures that come with being “the man” and all of his potential, plus others like Zach LaVine, Tyus Jones (one of the youngest players in the 2015 draft) and another high draft pick on the way and this could be the next great team in the Western Conference – in a few years.
“We’re going in the right direction.We have the right pieces. We have all the talent. Now we just need to put everything together,” Wiggins said.
AROUND THE RIM
Mitchell’s now 9-0 when coaching either the Raptors against the Wolves or vice versa … The only players younger than Towns to post at least 35 points, 11 rebounds and three blocks in a game are LeBron James and Kevin Durant. Only James, Durant, Carmelo Anthony, Kobe Bryant and Dwight Howard scored more points before their 21st birthday (Feb. 21) than Wiggins (he’ll end up just short of Howard, who like James and Bryant entered the NBA earlier, straight out of high school).