{"id":413178,"date":"2026-01-17T15:31:07","date_gmt":"2026-01-17T15:31:07","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/413178\/"},"modified":"2026-01-17T15:31:07","modified_gmt":"2026-01-17T15:31:07","slug":"toronto-raptors-forward-gradey-dick-trying-to-improve-his-shooting-with-better-defence","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/413178\/","title":{"rendered":"Toronto Raptors forward Gradey Dick trying to improve his shooting with better defence"},"content":{"rendered":"

TORONTO \u2014 Gradey Dick<\/a> knows that many Toronto Raptors<\/a> fans have been frustrated with his shooting this season, but he\u2019s also been in basketball long enough to know how to work through it.<\/p>\n

Dick had 15 points, including three three-pointers, and seven rebounds in the Raptors 121-117 overtime loss to the Los Angeles Clippers<\/a> 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\u2019 115-101 win over the Indiana Pacers<\/a>.<\/p>\n

\u201cIf you\u2019re worrying about what other people are saying, then that\u2019s just only going to be worse,\u201d said Dick. \u201cThey\u2019re not in your position. They\u2019re not in the NBA. <\/p>\n

\u201cI feel like, even though it\u2019s my third year, I\u2019ve 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.\u201d<\/p>\n

The two games have been a bright spot in a disappointing season for Dick.<\/p>\n

A shooter\u2019s 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.<\/p>\n

But heading into Friday\u2019s 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.<\/p>\n

\u201cFor me personally, it\u2019s just shooting the exact same shot more and more,\u201d said Dick on how he can fix his offensive woes. \u201cI feel like, as a shooter, if slumps happen, or you\u2019re missing some shots here and there in games, you\u2019ve just got to put more work in, see it going through the hole at the end of the day.\u201d<\/p>\n

His teammates have noticed that effort.<\/p>\n

\u201cHonestly, I love the fact that Gradey\u2019s starting to play a little better because he\u2019s been taking the same shots that he\u2019s been taking all year, the same shots that he was taking and making last year,\u201d said point guard Jamal Shead<\/a>. \u201cHe\u2019s been confident, he\u2019s trusted his work, and he\u2019s getting active on the defensive end.<\/p>\n

\u201cHe\u2019s finding new ways. He\u2019s screening, he\u2019s rolling, he\u2019s just finding new ways to impact winning.\u201d<\/p>\n

Dick said that he\u2019s trying to stay mentally present on defence so that he can build momentum to carry over to his offence.<\/p>\n

\u201cI feel like when I\u2019ve just been locked in, I\u2019m talking straight away, sometimes just yelling out stuff that doesn\u2019t even really involve the play, but it keeps me focused on the defensive side of it,\u201d said Dick. \u201cI feel like when I\u2019m one step ahead and I\u2019m pushing into my rhythm, into my offensive side, more defence, whatever it may be, I\u2019m just more present.\u201d<\/p>\n

This report by The Canadian Press was first published Jan. 17, 2026.<\/p>\n

John Chidley-Hill, The Canadian Press<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"TORONTO \u2014 Gradey Dick knows that many Toronto Raptors fans have been frustrated with his shooting this season,…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":413179,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[64],"tags":[355,99],"class_list":["post-413178","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-nba","tag-nba","tag-sports"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/413178","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=413178"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/413178\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/413179"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=413178"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=413178"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=413178"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}