Much is being made of the atypically uninspired play of starting point guard Jose Calderon over the first four games of the Toronto Raptors season. Over the last three years he's been a statistical marvel for the Raptors, last year being his first as a full-time starter. And yet, with this newly revamped roster, he seems to be having a hard time finding his niche on the court. The solution, though, may not be as quick a fix as some are suggesting (or hoping).
The problem begins with the previously discussed issue of poor defence combining with ineffective to make for a guard whose value to the club has become cloudy. In the past, Calderon managed to offset his defensive liabilities with his steady offensive production. By not only racking up gaudy assist numbers but also truly leading a potent offensive attack, Calderon was a player who provided a catalyst for the things that the Raptors wanted to do on the court offensively, as evidenced by the struggles they had in his absence a year ago.
He brought calmness to the team's attack in addition to above-average percentages that helped the team tremendously despite the iffy production in stopping his man defensively. Besides, the talk was that his defensive liabilities were more of a symptom of his healing hamstring than of his lack of natural ability, so the concern over his defensive reliability was tabled over the summer.
However, a well-rested and fully healthy Calderon is being as routinely exposed defensively to start out this season as he was for the better part of last year. What is happening all too often is that Calderon is being beaten off of the dribble, forcing help defence to rotate to cover his man too often, leaving either open paths to the basket or open teammates for open shots.
To compound the problem, Calderon is equally as shaky on offence, averaging just 9.8 points per game on .378 shooting and only .200 from three (he's a career 50% shooter). His once record-shattering free throw percentage now sits at a paltry .692 and even his assists are at a remarkably low 5.3 per contest. None of this seems to echo the typically high-calibre nature of Calderon's play, which has led to the assumption by some that he's merely in a slump, rusty after his first summer off from playing basketball in his NBA career.
To watch Calderon play, though, suggests that he's in more than just a slump. A slump suggests that he's a little lethargic or that his shot simply isn't falling, but that he's otherwise ready for game action. Over the last few weeks, though (including preseason), Calderon has looked downright lost on the court, unsure of how to get his team into their offence to start games (the team has come out flat the last three games, losing their last three first quarters), he looks unsure of when to attack and when to pass and he looks wholly unable to adopt the 'push-the-pace' style that coach Jay Triano has been preaching since he took over the club last December. To watch him play is to see a player trying to make his mark - it just seems like he's totally unsure of how he's going to do it.
One of the reasons for this is that the team is looking to diversify responsibilities that once belonged solely to him, which has thrown him off of his rhythm. Triano's plea of pushing the pace allows any reasonable ball handler to bring the ball up the court in transition, and it demands that the ball be advanced with the pass when possible rather than by the dribble. For Calderon, who has typically come back to get the ball from rebounders and then walked it up the court himself while calling out a play, this is an uncomfortable adjustment; it takes the ball out of his hands and leaves him stripped of one of his primary on-court responsibilities.
Another bug in Calderon's game is that the team now puts the ball in Hedo Turkoglu's hands a lot more often than any wing has had it in Calderon's Raptors tenure. Turkoglu is at his best when he is setting the play from the top of the key and as he becomes more comfortable with his new team, the more the team has looked for him to take control of the offence. Against Detroit on Wednesday, Turkoglu had six assists compared to Calderon's one, and in the fourth quarter just about all of the offence ran through the new guy. Since Calderon's greatest asset is his ability to make plays, being forced off of the ball takes him way out of his comfort zone and it's showing in the effectiveness of his overall game. It also doesn't help that Calderon is immeasurably deliberate when setting plays, slowing down the team's attack at a time when want to speed it up with movement and passing. Calderon holds the ball a lot and that simply doesn't jibe with what the Raptors are looking to do this season.
The last big problem with Calderon brings us back to the first one, which is his defence. Jarrett Jack, Calderon's new primary backup, is a quality defender and has gelled with many of his new teammates a lot quicker than Calderon has (Jack also had six assists in the last game). The team's second unit has been responsible for closing gaps that were given up by Calderon's first line in the last two games, and Jack is the leader of that very effective second group. So now, unlike last year, when Calderon is getting burned by his defensive matchup, the coach now has an alternative look on the bench that he can go to instead of having to stick with Calderon come hell or high.
Jack has been called on more than once already this season after Calderon was burned badly on the defensive end and Calderon's fourth quarter minutes could erode as matchups dictate that he's too much of a liability against certain teams down the stretch of games when Jack, Turkoglu and Antoine Wright provide more defence and enough playmaking to mitigate his absence.
So what's the solution? Right now it's just patience; wait this thing out and see if it gets better or worse. You can't simply insert Jack into the starting lineup as that would be a narrow-minded knee jerk reaction, especially because it would rock the chemistry of the bench crew that has proven itself invaluable already this season. Jack is a natural leader and has taken that group as his charges and the results have spoken for themselves. If you were to pluck him out of that crew then you take away the grit and hustle that is at the core of this group. Besides, Calderon is an $8-million investment and sticking him on the bench at his price tag simply doesn't make sense from an economic standpoint. If removing him from the starting five were to be deemed the solution then it'd have to be via trade, not via benching.
A trade, though, is a far-off and distant prospect. Even if Calderon wasn't still a fan favourite for many, the team would have to be 100% certain that his play won't get better, as bringing in another new face at this (or any other) point in the season would upset what tenuous chemistry this disparate has managed to develop. If he proves this ineffective in January, then the team can begin cautiously exploring trade scenarios, but not four games into the season. Besides, he and Bosh are pretty tight and I've heard rumours that the team is trying to keep Bosh happy in Toronto for some reason I've yet to hear discussed anywhere...
There is no simple solution to this problem, then, except that Calderon must simply figure out how he's going to adjust to his new role. He's still the starting point guard but he has to make peace with the fact that the club now has other ball handlers and other playmakers that will be called into action throughout games. If he can start hitting his shots – which does seem like an eventuality and is the one area someone could reasonably chalk up to rust – then it would significantly help take the sting out of his overall game.
By the end of last season he seemed more comfortable with pushing the ball up the court so perhaps it's a matter of allowing time for him to get comfortable with his new teammates, to get him comfortable with letting go of control of the ball. The defence – well, it just has to get better because Playoff teams do not advance with turnstile 'D' at the point of attack.
Oh, yeah, and it wouldn't hurt if he (finally) learned how to throw a decent lob pass. Seriously.