Boucher is great icing but the Raptors' cake is missing, at least for now

Toronto is asking too much of its role players

Chris Boucher has 47 points in his last 51 minutes of action.

Those minutes, especially against Cleveland and Detroit, have been a delight to watch. He’s played with a confidence, intensity, and swagger that most of the rest of the team is lacking right now.

During the Pistons game, I tweeted/posted on X that Boucher is the heart and soul of the team. There’s levity to be found in it but it’s also a bit worrisome.

We have waited a long time to see Scottie Barnes, Immanuel Quickley, RJ Barrett, Gradey Dick, and Jakob Poeltl take the court together. The results have not been promising. In 63 minutes on the court together, that lineup has been outscored by 25 points.

The offensive woes lie in shooting 31.3% on threes and an unforgivable 45.8% on free-throws leading to an abysmal offensive rating of 102.3. The defensive rating of 122.0 isn’t anything to write home about, either.

Broken down by game, it reads as follows:

-10 vs. Bucks in 15 minutes (outscored 24-14 in first 7:04 of 3Q)
+5 vs. Knicks in 17 minutes
-4 vs. Cavaliers in 12 minutes
-16 vs. Pistons in 19 minutes (outscored 19-7 in first 5:41 of 1Q)

Glass half full, you would say that getting outscored by 22 in a 13-minute span against the Bucks and Pistons has done the vast majority of the damage to that lineup’s numbers and so it’s just about fixing that. The remainder is a more understandable minus-3 in 50 minutes when remembering the lack of familiarity. This lineup is learning how to function as one. It’s only been four games so more time is necessary to have any firm takeaways.

The understandable part of the frustration and disappointment some fans feel stems from both the start of that third quarter against Milwaukee and the first quarter against Detroit looking like a lack of effort and intensity.

Those are non-negotiables. The Raptors aren’t good enough to just show up and out-talent opposing starting five. This is also where Boucher’s efforts have stood out because he has — despite the warts defensively — brought his hard hat and lunch pail to battle on every possession. Against the Pistons, he along with Shead were big factors in undoing the damage the starters did.

For the Raptors, now is the time for the main thing to be the main thing and the starters to be the ones who set the tone, are the headline act, and lean on the likes of Boucher and Shead for sustaining more often than uplifting.

Current Issues Within Lineup

Within finding functionality in that starting group, Quickley has also had to find his own rhythm after such a long time out with his elbow injury. He obviously had extra juice for his former team New York scoring 22 points on 7-of-12 shooting (5-of-6 free throws) but his efficiency has been lacking.

His season-high 25 points against Detroit came on 20 field goal attempts and seven free-throws.

During this same time and even before Quickley returned, Dick has looked fatigued. Darko Rajakovic wisely kept him to around the 20-minute mark against both New York and Cleveland. The 21-year-old certainly looked better in his 30 minutes against Detroit and shot 4-for-8 from downtown.

Defensively, we are clearly seeing the issues of Quickley, Barrett, and Dick on the court together. Too many blow-bys, too many lapses in concentration leading to cuts, and just a general lack of physicality on the perimeter to intimidate and obstruct.

Scottie’s middy looking better than mid

I struggle to say anyone is doing really well under these trying circumstances, but Barnes has looked the best player of the bunch.

His standout game was against the Cavs and the self-creation in the mid-range is looking really encouraging. I’ve maintained that it’s more important for Barnes to be able to rely on the mid-range than the 3-point shot at this stage of his career, and he’s now at 50% from the 4-14 ft. range this season after shooting 39% last season and 41% the year before.

I’ve compiled all the short mid-range shots Barnes has hit over the past week below. The great thing about these shots is that they’re the type you watch and consider to be playoff durable.

The next step for Barnes is reaching a confidence level from this area of the floor where he recognizes this shot as a “stop the bleeding” shot. Opponent’s scored a quick six points? Let’s get this bread and butter two. These are potential crowd silencer shots in a hostile atmosphere, too.

From a leadership and intensity standpoint, I would like to see Barnes take on that challenge specifically at the start of halves to be the one saying, ‘Hey, let’s make a statement right here.’

What about Jak?

We saw a bit of the issues Poeltl can face when having to match up against stretch bigs like Brook Lopez and Karl-Anthony Towns. Surprisingly, his best game came against the Cavs where he has generally struggled against the twin tower combination of Jarrett Allen and Evan Mobley. He was a beast on the offensive glass against the Pistons.

Poeltl is functioning even more as a complementary piece in the offence in the starting group but seems to show more aggression in secondary lineups. That’s probably how you want to see things shake out.

What next?

The Raptors don’t play an “easy” game until Jan. 27 and Jan. 29 against New Orleans and Washington. Until then, we’re looking at the Warriors, Celtics, Bucks, Magic, and Hawks twice.

What that should mean is more good tests for this starting five and I’d rather see this group get pushed between a rock and a hard place and have to figure a way out than bask in the glow of some fake reality going up against bad teams.

The next goal is to start halves the right way, to provide a cake worth icing.