Toronto Raptors: 3 Ways Cory Joseph Can Improve in 2016-17

Finishing in the Paint

The league’s best finishers around the rim have a lot of craft when traversing the land of the tall trees. CoJo is not one of those finishers.

Without a threatening three-point shot, the defence can hard hedge without caution. It not only hinders Joseph’s ability to initially make it to the paint, but it sets up his primary defender as a nuisance within the painted area.

On both screens the primary defender switches underneath to contain the drive and when Joseph finally gets an adequate angle, the defender is right there to bump him. He uses a floater here, but it’s a desperation shot – he knows he’s too far from the rim to go for a regular layup. so he flings it at the rim.

CoJo, although a slashing guard, is missing a lot of tools to make him successful around the rim. Euro steps, drop steps, floaters, reverses, wrong footed layups, scoop shots and dancing footwork are all part of the finishers’ repertoire.

The wide variation in shots around the rim not only preserve the player’s body but create better opportunities to score, rather than running into the defender and muscling up a shot. Joseph can make hard finishes at the rim, but they’re hard because they have to be – his floater isn’t quite there yet as a reliable shot and his change of pace is rarely used.

Joseph’s drives to the rim are coarse and a tad bit unwieldy. This led to him being ranked 10th in drives to the basket per 36 minutes, per the SportVU tracking data on NBA.com, but only converting on 45.1 percent of his attempts (which is less than Klay Thompson and Austin Rivers).

If the drive to the rim doesn’t result in a regular (albeit high-speed) layup it’s typically through contact, amplifying the difficulty. Making layups through contact is intricate to finishing ability (just ask LeBron James), but it shouldn’t be the only way.

Joseph is obviously not the most athletic point in the league, so he’s going to need skilled finishes to enhance his play style. Last year he caught people by surprise.

Joseph was a low-key signing from the Spurs, touted as defence-oriented and a ball mover. Now teams will look for him to score off those drives and there is more attention on him than ever.

The floor has shrunk and with the addition of Jared Sullinger, fans will think he’ll space the floor but he wont – Sullinger shot 28 percent from range last year. Bismack Biyombo is gone, so the attention he drew for alley oops has left with him and there is no replacement for Luis Scola‘s three-point shooting on the squad.

The lack of space and increased attention will lead to more limbs in the painted area. Without an increase in finishing deft, Joseph’s conversion in the paint could be in jeopardy.