3. Toronto Raptors

Many claims were made about the Toronto Raptors being able to get by without Kawhi Leonard after his departure to the Los Angeles Clippers in NBA free agency. That wasn’t true then and it has been even more apparent now. So far, they are off to a 1-3 start to the 2020-21 NBA season— primarily due to some genuinely terrible offensive results.

There hasn’t been a team with a less efficient offense than the Raptors so far this NBA season. Their output of just 0.896 points per possession (PPP) legitimately ranks worst in the NBA and they are the only team in the league with a figure below 0.9 PPP.

The primary culprit for the Raptors has been their inability to get the job done in either component of pick-and-roll scoring. The ballhandlers are producing just 0.569 PPP (30th) on their scoring possessions while the roll man is chipping in just 0.824 PPP (24th).

With how important the pick-and-roll is in the modern NBA, the poor results the Raptors have achieved can’t happen. Especially when there isn’t much for isolation scoring production being achieved (0.65 PPP — 25th), they have the league’s least efficient transition offense, and their spot-up shooting clip has been subpar.

Neither Kyle Lowry nor Fred VanVleet has been particularly impactful offensively to start this season, but both Pascal Siakam and OG Anunoby have been true disappointments. If each of these players does not step up soon, the Raptors will dig themselves into a concerning hole.

All of this is concerning when factoring in how the Raptors have allowed the second-fewest points per possession of any team in the NBA yet haven’t achieved many wins. They are also giving up just 0.896 PPP defensively (same as their offensive output) and that trails only the Philadelphia 76ers (0.882 PPP).