Can Gary Trent Jr. thrive as a cutter for Raptors?

Amit Mann and Asad Alvi discuss goals and areas of growth for Gary Trent Jr. ahead of the 2023-24 Raptors season. Listen to the full episode on the 'Raptors Over Everything' podcast feed or watch on our YouTube.

Video Transcript

AMIT MANN: OK, Gary Trent, Jr., someone who had a bit of a down year this past season. Obviously, he opted in because, frankly, the market wasn't there for him. And he's hoping he can get himself a big old payday after a good season in whatever place he's going to be playing.

Your questions for Gary going into next season. Things you're curious about, things you want to see.

ASAD ALVI: I think the big question with him is, can he play in a movement-heavy system? Can he avoid being a ball-stopper at times? One of the biggest issues with Gary Trent is usually like, even if you get him an open shot, he's going to want to take a dribble or two or try to figure it out. And it kind of slows down or bogs down the offense a little bit at times when he does that.

So if you're moving to a system that's more 0.5, you're trying to make quick decisions and quick attacks and figure things out, how will he meld into that system where you're moving around a lot more, you're coming off curls a lot more, and you're just trying-- you're being asked to make more decisions? I would like to see him be more aggressive with his 3-point shooting and when using his dribble more as a playmaker rather than trying to get that mid-range 2.

Like, the mid-range 2 is a great weapon to have, sure, at, like, the end of the shot clock to break it down. But like, if it's coming out of, like, your initial actions and you're, like, still 15, 14 seconds left on the clock, that's not necessarily a shot that you need to get. You can work for better.

So when he puts the ball on the floor, how does he leverage himself to draw the second defender, create an advantage for a teammate, and then get the ball to a teammate? He's not necessarily the best passer. His left hand is not great. He's not a good left-hand finisher by any means either. So those are--

AMIT MANN: Left hand, right side.

ASAD ALVI: --the big questions for him. Yeah.

AMIT MANN: Yeah, right hand.

ASAD ALVI: Like one of the biggest plays of the season that I can remember from Gary Trent Jr. was trying to force a right-handed layup against the Knicks instead of just doing it with his left and missing it at the end of the fourth quarter, right? And then the Raptors go on to lose that game.

But it's just-- those are the things where it's like, OK, like, you're a young player, you can improve on all these things. He clearly works really hard. All he's doing is two a days and three a days all summer.

So I don't doubt his work ethic by any means. It's just a matter of how will he fit in this system, and how will he improve? I think he definitely has a high upside as a role player as being, like, a top tier role player on this team, especially as a catch-and-shoot guy. One of the sneaky things about his shooting last year was that he was very reliant on Pascal Siakam for a 3-point percentage.

Like, he was the most assisted by Pascal Siakam. Most of his 3's were assisted by Pascal Siakam. So he very much leveraged off of Pascal's gravity.

So it'll be interesting to see how he can continue to be effective even when Pascal is on the bench, when he's leading or being part of, like, leading a bench unit with a Dennis Schroder or something. How can he carry the offense still and still be effective when another player might not be drawing as much help?

AMIT MANN: Yeah. Yeah, it's funny, I'm looking at some of the stats there, and he's never been a very good corner 3-point shooter. Like, outside of his rookie year, and that was on low frequency, it's never really been there for him. But above the break, it really pops.

And you think of where Pascal Siakam likes to operate, where the help is coming from, it's around the free throw line extended, that area. And then it's just a pitch pass to-- or [INAUDIBLE] pass to Gary, and there he is, and he's a terrific above-the-break shooter. So that's kind of where that comes from.

But I think, with his 3-point shot, I would love to see more consistency. It was a bit up and down this past season. That happens with shooters, but I mentioned the corner 3. Like, it's such a valuable asset.

And with some of the spacing limitations we know the Raptors are going to have, getting those corner 3's is going to be crucial for them. And sometimes, it's going to be better off if you have a Gary in the corner instead of another player just because of the advantages and another person can create. So can he stabilize that a little bit?

And also, can his pull-up 3 pop a little bit, you know? That would be really nice, if he could do that. It was a 3% dip in his pull-up this past season. It's a hard shot, obviously. But we've seen that he can get it off against anyone. If he's able to figure that out, that would be a nice little caveat.

You had mentioned, you know, who are the best players-- the last time we chatted, who are the best players to run pick and roll on the Raptors, and you had said OG Anunoby. But also it could be a Gary Trent Jr. if that pull-up 3 is clicking. If.

ASAD ALVI: Yeah, the pull-up 3 is one portion of running a pick and roll, but like, also, I would need to see some significant playmaking improvements to say that. But I will say, just as a point of optimism on Gary, I know last season he was dealing with a lot of lower leg injuries, like, thigh injuries and stuff like that. Again, like, your pull-up shot is definitely going to be affected if your legs aren't 100%, like, your thighs are-- to for a pull-up 3, you need to be able to kind of create that power very quickly so it's a more quick reaction type of shot than, say, a catch and shoot where you can get your base and you can go up with a little bit more time.

So I can definitely see how, like, injury might have affected his dip last season. But that's some optimism for this season that, you know, with all the extra work he's doing, he seems like he's in incredible shape. Maybe he can come in and regain that pull-up form that he had the season before.

AMIT MANN: Yeah. His face-up scoring, I think we'd both agree that that could always use work. Any player could probably use work with that. He'll get some of those reps, I'm sure, this upcoming season, just recognizing the top foot, finding the angle, not being bothered by some handchecks, just, like, get through it and keep on pursuing the rim.

But then his cutting, he could be one of the best cutters on the Raptors, I think, because of the amount of ways that he can get a shot off. If it is a pull-up 3, if it's a mid-range pull-up 2, some of the schemes that they could run and playmake with a Jakob Poeltl, a Scottie Barnes. And we saw some of that last season, actually.

He could be terrific. So I would love to see him just embrace the role of being a terrific cutter. 45 cuts, backdoors, curls, UCLAs, like, whatever the case is, like, make that part of your offensive identity. Because maybe you're not going to be the best dribbler or the best downhill threat, but you have assets and you have skills that another team could be scared of. So you can parlay that into some easy, easy layups for yourself.

And also, then a tag happens, it's kickout, playmake, then you're really helping your team. So I think that's something that could really help him. And that's, like, that's going to be probably a Darko thing, but also, he has to just, like, [INAUDIBLE].

ASAD ALVI: And speaking on cuts, like, this is going to be something for every single Raptor, whether it's Gary Trent Jr. or Precious Achiuwa, whoever it might be. It's not just about cutting to get the ball and then finishing at the rim, it's cutting to open up a teammate. The majority of really well-timed cuts, you might not even get the ball. But it might just spring open someone else because the help is overreacting.

So if Gary Trent Jr. can leverage himself as a creator not just on-ball in scoring role but also being somewhat off-ball who can have some gravity, by not just being a catch-and-shoot threat and pulling a help defender to him but by cutting more aggressively, more actively when he's off-ball, that'll be a big, big up to his game. Like, that's one of the things where, like, when you look at a Buddy Hield who's a hot commodity on the trade market right now.

You know, he's 30. He's basically mastered how to be that role of 3-point-- movement 3-point shooter who can create, basically, havoc on defense for the other team because of just, like, having to track him. And I think Gary Trent Jr. more skews in that realm than he does a high-volume shooting guard type like a Devin Booker. But even a Devin Booker, anyone who's a shooting guard in the league was a 3-point threat.

If you tend more towards a guard, I would like to see you moving more off-ball and leveraging yourself as a threat for your team by being an active cutter, being an active mover, and an active spacer.

AMIT MANN: Well, that's a great skill. And it's going to be demanded by all the Raptors. The system that they're going to want to play, it's going to be a lot of unselfishness. And the success of it is going to be predicated on how everyone embraces the style of play.

And everyone can eat in this way. It's in a different way than what the Nick Nurse regime was of how everyone can eat, it was more of a game-by-game basis, looking at what the other team is doing. But in a style like this, if everyone's cutting, everyone's making smart cuts, they're utilizing space, they're driving hard, they're cutting hard, they're screening hard, it can-- there could be something. I mean, we got to see how things look next season. Last--