Analysis | Tough love will determine whether the Raptors turn it around or tank

Fred VanVleet knew.

The NBA season hadn’t even begun and the veteran Raptors point guard could sense there were issues that needed to be addressed head on, and quickly.

He spent much of training camp fighting against them, doing his level best to get them corrected, and now head coach Nick Nurse has taken up VanVleet’s cause.

“I used all my bullets up in training camp. Everybody couldn’t figure out why I was running around like a madman in training camp, cussing everybody out,” VanVleet said Sunday after the Raptors’ morning practice. “I just saw some looseness there … and it came back to bite us, but we’ve got some time to clean it up.”

That “looseness” that VanVleet saw manifested into a disappointing start and a struggle to remain competitive in the bunched-up Eastern Conference.

Nurse saw it, too. He felt it, and has become a bit more forceful than usual in pointing out repeated mistakes. It’s tough love, and it’s hard to pull off in this era of player empowerment in the NBA, where dealing with fragile egos and fighting against outside influences tugging at players takes a delicate balance.

But it has to be done.

“I’ve got plenty (of bullets) this year,” Nurse said Sunday. “I’ve got some saved up from years past. They don’t expire.”

The 28-year-old VanVleet was quite comfortable lighting into teammates when he needed to — his voice should resonate, given his place in the franchise’s hierarchy — but it’s nice to have an ally on the coaching staff, too.

“What would you rather have? Somebody rubbing your shoulders and telling you everything’s going to be OK? No,” VanVleet said. “We’ve got a standard around here that we try to play to, and it’s not even results based. It’s based on performances, and the last couple performances where we just don’t show up to play, that’s unacceptable.

“It looks bad on us as players, it looks bad on coach obviously, and it’s just not what we’re about around here. I’m rocking with coach, whatever he wants to do. I’m standing behind him, and it’s uncomfortable for guys at times.”

It’s not like the Raptors’ season is swirling the toilet bowl, but 16-20 heading into a Monday night game in Indiana is unacceptable. Injuries have been an issue, and the roster is woefully thin on experienced big men or proven three-point shooters, but this group should be better than four games below .500 as the calendar turns.

Everyone connected with the team knows it, and if it takes constant harping and exposing unacceptable play from one of the team’s leaders or its coach, so be it. It will become obvious who can handle criticism and build on it, and who will cower and look for excuses.

“It doesn’t necessarily have to be a bullet to be tough coaching,” Nurse said. “It’s like I said the other night: I will show them things that I don’t think they are doing right, try to correct them, show them improvement areas every day. Every day.”

The tipping point on the season — whether to pack it in and look for major tweaks in the coming off-season — has not yet arrived. The Raptors feel they have the talent and will to become factors, even if they haven’t shown it very often so far.

But they also need to respond to harsh truths, which include the fact that not playing hard every night is a recipe for disaster. That will cost players money in future contracts and surely bring about substantial roster churn, and no one has the appetite for that.

What they need to have an appetite for is listening to leaders such as VanVleet and Nurse when they — harshly — lay out what has to happen.

It’s not easy. It is necessary.

“Coach is pretty good with it,” VanVleet said.. “He’ll keep it pretty blunt and honest.

“Since he’s been the head coach, we usually haven’t had this many (hard reality checks) this early; usually (he) saves them for the big ones. But he’s got to get on it a little bit and we’ve all got to sharpen up, and he’s definitely sharpened up, so I think we’ll start to see some results.”

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