If you ask Dwane Casey, the very thing that has been the Toronto Raptors' touchstone is, at the moment, a weakness and a work in progress.
The fourth-year coach has always preached defence above all, and a grinding defensive focus carried his Raptors to a franchise-record 48 wins last season en route to their first playoff appearance since 2008. But now, two weeks into the preseason, Casey sees a team that is shooting the lights out in practice, yet its defence is not even close to good enough.
"That's always going to be our calling card and right now our offence is ahead of our defence," Casey said on Friday as the Boston Celtics came to town for the third game on Toronto's preseason schedule. "We're going to be able to score – we've got some pretty good scorers as far as NBA standards – but we've got to get back to a defensive mindset. We're behind the curve right now."
When he took over the Raptors in the 2011-12 season, Casey was inheriting the NBA's worst defence. A boulder placed inside the locker room delivered the frank message to "pound the rock." Slowly, defensive fundamentals were instilled. Intense hustle on every defensive play was the answer for a squad that wasn't about to outscore teams.
By last season, they were earning the NBA's respect, going basket for basket, sparking a playoff-starved fan base into a frenzy and creating one of the league's most intense playoff atmospheres. After the Brooklyn Nets extinguished their season after one exhilarating and emotional playoff series, the Raptors went into the off-season to tune their bodies and games.
Opening their training camp and preseason in Vancouver, they began to install new pieces – scoring depth at point guard in the addition of Lou Williams and defensive help via James Johnson. Big man Tyler Hansbrough worked endlessly on his three-point shot over the summer and has been given the green light to take it when it's there. Jonas Valanciunas has worked on his foot speed. Star duo DeMar DeRozan and Kyle Lowry have shown scoring prowess in excess of their combined average of 35 of last year, even more than their 42 per game after last year's All-Star Break. Patrick Patterson, off the bench Friday and easing back from a layoff with a sore right hand and knee, brought an injection of scoring.
But the team's overall defensive oomph has been slow to emerge.
They allowed the Sacramento Kings 56 points in the paint earlier this week, which, albeit early, didn't impress Casey.
"We're not anywhere near where the defensive intensity we need," Casey said. "We need a better interest in playing defence and I'm not seeing that right now, and that's our biggest challenge right now. We've got to start getting out of the summer league, summertime, one-on-one, no-interest-in-playing-defence mindset."
It's early. No one expects playoff form in mid-October. The team that drew thousands to watch in "Jurassic Park" on jumbo screens outside Air Canada Centre just to be near the action is like any other, drawing a tempered, less-than full house for preseason action.
"These games don't matter if we win or lose. But the habits we create now are very important."
The Raptors have seven more preseason games before they open the regular season at home on Oct. 29 versus the Atlanta Hawks.
Rachel Brady