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It doesn't take a master strategist to figure out how to exploit the Raptors' defensive ineptness. If there has ever been an NBA team that does a crappier job of defending the pick-and-roll, I don't think I've seen it. Because of their consistent tendency to switch on screens, you end up witnessing countless instances of Jose Calderon "guarding" Amar'e Stoudemire in the post and Chris Bosh chasing Steve Nash around the perimeter. And when Nash is the conductor of your offence, it's a given that he's going to exploit those mismatches again and again.
I'm not basketball-savvy enough to be able to understand how much of the Raptors' pick-and-roll defence issues are a result of poor coaching, subpar athleticism or simply a lack of effort in fighting through screens. I know some of my readers coach basketball or have done so in the past, so maybe you can divide those three factors into percentages or let me know if I've left something out. But I do know that there should be a giant sign up in practice that says, "DEFENDING THE PICK-AND-ROLL, YOU'RE DOING IT WRONG."
I wouldn't say the Raptors' defence was noticably worse yesterday than it was in any other of their 11 losses this season. For a change, it was their offence — specifically their shooting — that failed them. They missed 19 of their 20 three-point attempts on Sunday — if they made even a third of those shots, they would have been in the game.
Of course, one guy who we should never count on to make his shots is Antoine Wright, who clanged all four of his attempts yesterday and is now sporting a .284 field goal percentage on the season. The way I see it, he would have to be an All-World defender in order to justify giving him any playing time whatsoever from this point forward. This is clearly not the case, and yet I continue to read suggestions that he should be moved into the starting lineup.
How can I put this... the idea of starting Antoine Wright is as sensible as treating an upset stomach by eating a greasy pork sandwich out of a dirty ashtray. I don't know for certain how much credit or blame an NBA coach deserves for his team's success or failure, but I do know that it's up to Jay Triano to dole out playing time — and every minute Wright gets when there is any other living, breathing option is a scathing indictment of his coaching ability.
It would be nice if Triano had the stones to try something radical like switching out Jose Calderon and Andrea Bargnani for Jarrett Jack and Rasho Nesterovic in the starting lineup, but I'm not holding my breath on that. Besides, here's a stat that leads me to wonder if the starting lineup is even the problem: the Raptors are a cumulative plus-21 in first half scoring differential this season compared to minus-96 in thw second half.
So it's not how they start that's the problem, it's how they finish. Case in point: the Raptors only trailed by a point at halftime yesterday, but then the Suns outscored them 63-45 in the second half. The damage was done early in the third quarter, as Phoenix made their first six field goals in a row (including three triples) to jump out to a double-figure. Of course, all five of the Raptors' starters were on the floor for this, so maybe they do need to change that group.
Everybody has their own ideas about what switches need to be made — although everyone should agree that Jose Calderon is objectively terrible right now. I'm not particularly invested in any of the non-Bosh starters so I don't really care which of them get swapped out as long as Triano tries something. This team needs a drastic identity change that isn't going to take place if he keeps sending out the same group of starters that keep getting lit up like it's Christmas in November.
And if there is literally nobody on this roster that can play passable NBA defence, then Bryan Colangelo needs to get on the phone, pronto. It's just too bad that the weakest links are probably close-to-untradeable because of their bloated contracts. Sadly, we're probably stuck with the core of this team, for the most part, at least until Chris Bosh blows this popsicle stand after the season.
Is it too soon to start looking at the 2010 draft class? Who's this John Wall character I keep hearing about? Isn't that the custom grills guy? 
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