Toronto Raptors will hone 3-point shooting for regular season

It was mandated early in the off-season, a direct order from Masai Ujiri himself – the time had come for the Toronto Raptors to go through a culture change.

We weren’t sure what this culture change would look like at first. But, it quickly became known that the Toronto Raptors would be aiming to improve three-point shooting. As the league adopts a more ranged approach, it only made sense for the team to adapt with that; or so it seemed.

Acquiring Serge Ibaka before last season’s trade deadline, and then doubling-down by retaining him with a three-year, $65-million contract, helped prove the Raptors meant business. Being a big that has a great shot from deep, Ibaka is the type of PF/C the Raptors sorely missed.

Seeing Kyle Lowry reach career-highs in 3-point percentage, along with the addition of C.J. Miles, set the stage. Finally, an offensive revamp is on the horizon, cried Raptors fans.

Fast-forward to the pre-season, and things haven’t changed for the better. The Toronto Raptors have shot a woeful 27.6 percent from deep as a team so far, and that’s been at a much higher volume than last season. Of course, that doesn’t look very good at a quick glance.

Dwane Casey may simply be in early pre-season mode. For this reason alone, he could be letting guys chuck up more threes than usual. Blake Murphy reports things will be slowing down.

Dwane Casey says Raptors plan to pare down 3-pt volume to the 25-30 range they'd discussed, pare down who is shooting them.
— Blake Murphy (@BlakeMurphyODC) October 8, 2017

Digging Deeper

Reading that, one can assume it was always in the works to limit exactly who is shooting.

Keeping with the thought process of it’s just the pre-season, the picture becomes a little clearer. Taking into account who exactly is shooting, one will realize it isn’t just core players dragging the percentage down.