The supporting cast will look a little different, but for the most part it's going to be the same Toronto Raptors next season, with Kyle Lowry and DeMar DeRozan leading the way.
But those leading men will be playing different roles because coach Dwane Casey wants to give DeRozan some run at the point. Via SportsNet:
"We got to have a better mentality of ball movement, man movement and spacing," Casey said on Wednesday while on The Andrew Walker Show on Sportsnet 590 The FAN.
"DeMar DeRozan, have him handle the ball a bit more as a point guard, a facilitator, a passer. Kyle Lowry moving the ball a bit more, spacing up. We don't want to give our whole 'what we're going to try to do next year' away, but again it comes down to passing the basketball and better spacing more so, than we know, one-on-one play."
While DeRozan is known most for scoring for good reason -- he averaged a career-high 27.3 points last season -- he is capable of getting his teammates involved, as he showed last season when Lowry was sidelined for more than a month. In those 21 games, DeRozan averaged 4.4 assists as the offense ran through him.
DeRozan is unlikely to be the main point guard, but occasionally running the offense through DeRozan with Lowry working off the ball could be an interesting wrinkle.
