What do the Raptors need to level up?

Shead does not shoot well but still takes and wins minutes, affecting Barnes as a ball handler and cramping his spacing as a shooter. Walter loses minutes in comparison, and the Raptors show polar on/off swings that do not match what theory would predict. Walter is valued for defensive impact and as a development building block on both ends of the floor. Team building and player fit are difficult, and spacing alone does not solve everything, even though it is necessary. Successful lineups next to Barnes suggest rigid conceptions of what works should be avoided. The Raptors must pivot to maximize the next few years, especially given large salaries and prior unsuccessful attempts to find the right complementary pieces.

"The thing that makes all of this so funky and opaque: Shead does not shoot well. He is a master of the in-between, ostensibly taking some possessions away from Barnes as a ball handler and cramping his spacing as a shooter. Even still, Shead wins minutes. He wins them in the regular season, he wins them in the playoffs, he wins them. In comparison, Walter loses minutes. In Shead & Walter the Raptors have the polar ends of their on/off swings, and the swings go away from what the theory would suggest."

"I don't say this to suggest that Walter is unimportant to the Raptors, or that he is the sole reason for the on/off swing (Shead isn't the other way as well). I liked, rather I loved, what Walter did defensively against the Cavaliers, and I think he has a great building block to work from developmentally on both sides of the floor. I say this to remind everyone that team building and how players fit together is pretty tricky."

"Too often, way too often, the armchair GM suggestion is that spacing would solve everything, and it really doesn't. You need spacing, of course, but it's just another thing you need, among many others, to win games. Evidenced by who has successfully played next to Barnes throughout his career, our conceptions of what works shouldn't be so rigid. The Raptors and Bobby Webster need to pivot perfectly to maximize these next few years."

"The Raptors have a few big salaries on their team. They've been searching on the scrap heap of past stars or the table of good-not-great-maybe-they'll-make-the-leap-let's-get-him-while-we-can. As of yet, nothing has panned out the way they've wanted. If they can manage it, the Raptors should stop trying to tease together two disparate things into tenability. They need to give Barnes a real deal co-star."

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