The Toronto Raptors have gotten off to a rough start this season sitting at 11-18 and 12th in the Eastern Conference.
It seems inevitable that this team will be heading for some big roster changes, but before that happens the team should explore making a change to their starting lineup.
The Raptors have had the same starting line for the first 29 games of the season of Dennis Schroder, O.G. Anunoby, Scottie Barnes, Pascal Siakam and Jakob Poeltl.
This stat put out by Aaron Rose of Sports Illustrated suggests that now is the time for the Raptors to switch things up:
The Raptors are +21.3 per 100 possessions when Scottie Barnes and Pascal Siakam share the court without Dennis Schröder and Jakob Poeltl.
When the four of them are together, Toronto is -6.4 per 100 possessions, according to Cleaning the Glass.
— 𝐀𝐚𝐫𝐨𝐧 𝐑𝐨𝐬𝐞 (@AaronBenRose) December 23, 2023
The Raptors are noticeably better when their two best players in Pascal Siakam and Scottie Barnes don’t share the court with Jakob Poeltl who clogs the paint and Dennis Schroder whose lack of shooting doesn’t space the floor.
Therefore, the Raptors’ stars would likely benefit from having a floor spacer like Gary Trent Jr. with them.
The one change fans have been calling for is to bench Schroder and start Trent Jr. Raptors could also consider starting Precious Achiuwa over Poeltl since Achiuwa can hit outside shots.
However, the likelier move would be to bench Schroder. Barnes would handle the point guard duties full time and Trent Jr. would give Toronto more shooting in their starting lineup.
With Toronto’s season slipping away, at this point it wouldn’t hurt for Darko Rajakovic to try something new.
Next up for Raptors
The Raptors will look to end their three game losing streak when they travel to Washington to take on the Wizards.
The last time these two teams met the Raptors had to overcome a 23-point deficit to win the game.
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