Dick hopes to improve shooting with better defence

Gradey Dick knows that many Toronto Raptors fans have been frustrated with his shooting this season, but he's also been in basketball long enough to know how to work through it.

TORONTO – Gradey Dick knows that many Toronto Raptors fans have been frustrated with his shooting this season, but he’s also been in basketball long enough to know how to work through it.

Dick had 15 points, including three three-pointers, and seven rebounds in the Raptors 121-117 overtime loss to the Los Angeles Clippers on Friday, his second consecutive solid performance for Toronto. Dick had 21 points and 11 rebounds — the first double-double of his career — on Wednesday in the Raptors’ 115-101 win over the Indiana Pacers.

“If you’re worrying about what other people are saying, then that’s just only going to be worse,” said Dick. “They’re not in your position. They’re not in the NBA.

“I feel like, even though it’s my third year, I’ve been playing basketball long enough as a shooter to know what works for me and to get through it you just have to put more shots up.”

The two games have been a bright spot in a disappointing season for Dick.

A shooter’s shooter when he was drafted by Toronto out of Kansas in 2023, Dick averaged 8.5 points per game on 42.5 per cent field-goal shooting and 36.5 per on his three-point attempts in his rookie season. He played more minutes and got up more shots last season, averaging 14.4 points, 41 per cent on field goals and 35 per cent on threes.

But heading into Friday’s game, he was averaging 6.4 points on a 41.1 field-goal percentage and 29.7 per cent three-point shooting this season. That regression has led to reduced playing time and no starts a season after he was in the lineup at opening tipoff 54 times.

“For me personally, it’s just shooting the exact same shot more and more,” said Dick on how he can fix his offensive woes. “I feel like, as a shooter, if slumps happen, or you’re missing some shots here and there in games, you’ve just got to put more work in, see it going through the hole at the end of the day.”