Newly acquired Toronto Raptors swingman C.J. Miles poses with his jersey on July 18, 2017.Mark Blinch/The Canadian Press
At the end of last season, after being swept from the second round of the NBA Eastern Conference playoffs by the Cleveland Cavaliers, the prevailing talk in the Toronto Raptors' front office was about change.
Not just a change in staff, which was a given, but more importantly a change in Toronto's rather one-dimensional style of play, especially on offence, which essentially amounted to giving the ball to DeMar DeRozan and seeing what happened.
In the three-point craze that has taken the NBA by storm, the Raptors were left holding the ball – literally.
And so you can't blame Masai Ujiri, the president of basketball operations for the Raptors, for the rather ebullient manner in which he stepped up to the podium on Tuesday to talk about his plans to rectify that.
"I don't have an opening statement," Ujiri said to a group of reporters at the Raptors training facility on the grounds of Exhibition Place. "We just signed a sniper so we're happy."
The sharpshooter in question is C.J. Miles, a 12-year NBA veteran who signed a three-year, $25-million (U.S.) deal to join the Raptors and hopefully help inject some fresh air into Toronto's stagnant attack.
The 30-year-old is considered among the elite three-point shooters in the league, last season ranking 12th overall while toiling for the Indiana Pacers, with a 41.3-per-cent success rate among players who hoisted at least 200 shots from long range.
That mark bettered any shooter among the Raptors, who as a team last season averaged just 36.3 per cent from three-point territory during the regular season, 13th over all in the NBA.
That success rate was a far cry from the league's three-point heavyweights, led by the San Antonio Spurs (39.1 per cent), Cavaliers (38.4) and eventual league champion Golden State Warriors (38.3).
Kyle Lowry was Toronto's top three-point threat, connecting on 41.2 per cent of his attempts.
Miles said he is excited to join the Raptors and continue the long-range efficiency that he only started to exhibit the last half-dozen seasons or so.
"It's basically given me – I don't want to say a new life – but given me greater opportunities to be able to play this game," said the 6-foot-6, 225-pound swingman.
Miles said being able to consistently sink a three-point shot allows him to be "a greater weapon on a team" in an NBA game where the quick-strike option has never been more in vogue.
Last season, NBA teams averaged 9.7 three-point baskets and 27.0 attempted threes a game, both league records.
'It's been exciting to watch," Miles said. "… It allows for tempo and scoring and everything fans want to see, but it's also a great weapon to have [on] a basketball team. You're talking about three possessions being a 10-point run."
Ujiri is hoping the addition of Miles will inject some life into the Toronto offence, where little ball movement did not lend itself to three-ball tries last season.
Toronto averaged just 18.5 assists a game last season, dead last among the NBA's 30 teams.
Ujiri was not about to dump on a team that has averaged 52 victories over the past three seasons, advancing to the Eastern Conference final in 2016.
But he said the Raptors will have to start operating differently if they want to continue to be a power in the East.
"We are going to try to, a little bit," he said. "I am not asking for a dramatic change. If that is what anybody is looking for, well, maybe this isn't the team to watch for that.
"We have to be conscious of the things we can do better. We have to pay attention to those things we can do better, whether it's moving the ball a little better or spacing the floor a little better. C.J. is a player who can space the floor a little better for us and make DeMar and Kyle have a little bit of room to operate."