Raptors by the numbers: Jonas Valanciunas injury forces adjustments

The Raptors beat the Los Angeles Cippers in their first full game without Jonas Valanciunas to salvage what could have been a disastrous west coast road trip. Valanciunas suffered a broken bone in his left hand In Toronto's win against the Lakers on Friday night and Yahoo Sports' Shams Charania reports Valanciunas has opted for rehab instead of surgery and is expected to miss six weeks.

That's a sizeable chunk of time and the Raptors don't have anyone on their roster with a comparable skill set to Valanciunas. He's the only traditional centre that commands offensive touches and his extended absence will undoubtedly alter how the Raptors play – beyond the obvious observation that there will be more shots and responsibility for DeMar DeRozan and Kyle Lowry – and how Dwane Casey constructs his lineups.

Bismack Biyombo started at centre Sunday against the Clippers and played a season-high 31 minutes and hauled in a season-high 14 rebounds, but only contributed six points from five field goal attempts. Playing Biyombo in place of Valanciunas is a simple swap on the front end, but Biyombo is one of the most limited offensive players in the league (see Raptors Republic's Bismack Biyombo Blown Bunny Counter) and he cannot fill Valanciunas' role on offence.

To find the offensive variety that's necessary to keep DeRozan and Lowry fresh and effective the Raptors are going to have to get creative with their lineups. Luis Scola as the centre with Patrick Patterson or even DeMarre Carroll at power forward seems to be the most logical choice. However, in a admittedly early season small sample size, those two combinations have not had much success.

An unorthodox pairing that could work, though, is Patterson with James Johnson. They've shared the court for 81 minutes this season and have outscored opponents by 18.1 points per 100 possessions. Lucas Nogueira, who is a centre, and Anthony Bennett could also see some more playing time coming their way while Valanciunas is sidelined. The point is Casey and the coaching staff have a few options to consider going forward.

Last season the Raptors were without DeRozan for six weeks when he went down with a groin injury and Lowry stepped up during that time.

Valanciunas was playing the best basketball of his career to start this season and losing him for any about of time isn't going to be easy. Biyombo is going to get the bulk of Valanciunas' minutes, but because of his offensive deficiencies Toronto will likely try out some interesting lineups over the next few weeks.

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Israel Fehr is a writer for Yahoo Canada Sports. Email him at israelfehr@yahoo.ca or follow him on Twitter. Follow @israelfehr