Raptors Refresher Part 2: The Bench
Buckle up folks! The NBA is back! More importantly, Raptors basketball is back. Even more important than all that is we finally get to continue our title defense! I’m ready to go back-to-back, what about you?
With the NBA set to resume on July 30, we here at Life In Repeat decided to take a closer look at each individual player on the Raptors and what they’ve accomplished thus far this season as well as what we’re looking forward to seeing from them once we tip-off at the end of July. Consider this your Raptors Refresher! In Part 1, we took a closer look at our starting line-up. Now, let’s dig deep into our second unit.
SERGE IBAKA
I think it’s time we acknowledge that Ibaka has low-key been our Most Important Player this season. Hear me out.
Whatever role that has been required of him, he has done it — and he has done it like a true professional without complaint. If he’s asked to come off the bench, he’ll play that reserve role. If he’s needed in the starting line-up to go big with both him and Gasol, he does it and thrives. If we need him to space the floor, he’ll knock down his threes. If we need him to protect the paint, he’ll do so with aplomb (his thumbs-down celebration when he blocks a shot might be the best crowd-energizer gimmick going — you know, back when there were crowds at sporting events). When Gasol has been on the shelf and we’ve needed Ibaka to start in order to hold things down, he has come through and shined.
Ibaka has responded to these various roles and their respective challenges by playing the best basketball of his career. This is not an exaggeration — the dude has been the best he’s ever been. He’s averaging a career-high in points (16.0) and he’s doing so in his age-31 season. Read that again: his age-31 season! He’s having the best season of his career in his eleventh year in the league.
He’s also turned into quite the marksman from downtown; for the season, he’s hitting 39.8% percent of his threes on 3.3 attempts per game. He’s also hitting 56.2% of his twos. Whatever we’ve needed from him on a game-to-game basis, he has delivered and then some. No matter what Coach Nurse asks of him, he has come through.
He’s come off the bench 23 times this season where he has averaged 13.4 points and 7.2 boards. When he’s been asked to start, he has come through even more. In 27 games as a starter, he’s averaging 18.3 points, 9.2 rebounds, and raining fire from beyond the arc (43.7%).
If Gasol hadn’t missed so much time, Ibaka would be getting Sixth Man of the Year buzz. Simply put: Ibaka has been balling and having the best season of his career. Without him, we would not be the second best team in the East and third overall in the Association. He has put us in a position where we can defend the title.
Let’s also not forget his chemistry with Kyle Lowry. Whether it’s the pick-and-pop elbow jumper or whether he’s rolling to the rim, he and Lowry operate in lock-step. Ibaka also has that shot-put shot in the paint on lock.
On the business end of things, he will be an unrestricted free agent. How much is he going to cost? He’s probably looking for one final payday. But, would he come back on a team-friendly deal in the $10-$15 million per year range. Or, will he simply go to the highest bidder? Time will tell. But I have a funny feeling he would prefer to stay in Toronto. He seems to love the city and the organization, so the hope is that a deal could be done to keep Ibaka in the fold because he’s proven to be low-key very important to our success.
NORMAN POWELL
Norm turning himself into a reliable contributor is something I wasn’t prepared for. I have to admit that I thought he was a finished product at this point; that inconsistency would be the lone consistent thing about his game. But I was wrong and I couldn’t be happier.
In the first 27 games of this season, Powell had 7 games with 20 or more points. Over his next 17 games, he had 10 games with 20 or more. Also, in the last 5 games before spraining his left ankle, he was putting up 28.0 points in 39.2 minutes and was hitting 39.5% of his triples.
Also, in his previous four seasons, Powell had 12 games total where he scored 20 or more points; this season he has done so 17 times in just 45 games played. Incredible!
Powell used to botch so many of his lay-ups that I had to introduce the Norman Powell Drinking Game. Now, he’s just decided to dunk ’em all while turning into a long-range flamethrower. If Powell is doing THIS during the regular season, I wonder what Playoff Norm will look like.
I’m still in disbelief that Norm has finally figured things out; the proverbial slowing down of the game. I keep expecting him to regress back to his inconsistent ways but he refuses to and I am here for it. If we can rely on him for this type of microwave scoring, then our chances of winning the East again have ticked upwards. We just need him to stay off the injured list.
TERENCE DAVIS
Who needs draft picks when your organization can unearth undrafted gems like Terence Davis (and FVV before him). A hypothetical that I’ve been thinking about lately is: if we knew then what we know now, where would Davis go in a hypothetical re-draft of the 2019 class. Before sitting down and doing the exercise, I was thinking maybe top 5? But that might be a stretch. Top 10? Very possible!
So here is the list of rookies that, at this point in time (knowing what we know now), that I would take ahead of Davis:
Zion Williamson
Ja Morant
RJ Barrett
P.J. Washington
Tyler Herro
Matisse Thybulle
Brandon Clarke
That’s it! That’s seven players. So, in this hypothetical re-draft, I have TDII going eighth overall. You might quibble with me by having a couple more names ahead of him, but he’s in the top-10 without a doubt. Essentially we got a lottery pick without actually having a lottery pick — or even a first round selection at all. We gave our 2019 pick to the Spurs in the Kawhi deal. San Antonio took someone named Keldon Johnson (29th overall). Hell, we didn’t have a player selected in the lottery on last year’s title winning team and we don’t have a lottery pick on this year’s team. Yet here we are defending our crown with the third best record in the league and the second best mark in the East. This is what makes this team so damn special.
This is also how you build a roster. Who says you need to tank in order to win?! Come on, that’s such a primitive way of thinking. You just need to have a smart organization that knows how to develop and get the best out of young players. Thanks to Masai, Bobby, and Coach Nurse (and even Dwane Casey before him), the Raptors are reaping the benefits of having a world-class organization.
So, let’s speak to what Davis has brought to this team. He has played in all 64 games which is just incredible when you think about all the injuries we’ve sustained. He’s averaging 7.3 points in 17.0 minutes. On the surface, his point total is low — but you know what? This is more than VanVleet put up in his rookie season (2.9) and it’s more than Siakam put up in his first two seasons (4.2 and 7.3). This is really good progress people!
Davis is also EARNING minutes on a team with championship aspirations. He’s not being spoon-fed playing time on a team going nowhere. He’s also hitting an impressive 55.0% of his twos and 39.6% of his threes (on 3.5 attempts per game). In his 64 games, he has scored in double-figures 23 times. He has scored 15 or more points 11 times and has scored 20 or more 4 times — and he even dropped a career-high 31 against the Bulls in early February.
In those 23 games where he has scored in double-digits, the Raptors are…wait for it…wait for it…wait for it…20–3! Wow! Read that again: 20–3! Basically, that tells me that Coach Nurse is going to need to find some more minutes for Terence Davis II — and guess what? He’s earned it!
RONDAE HOLLIS-JEFFERSON
What can we say about RHJ other than he’s the ultimate wild card; he might miss all his shots or he might score in double-figures. Anything is possible when Hustle-Jefferson is on the floor. He’s an agent of chaos (and I mean this as the highest compliment). You always need a player like RHJ on your team.
Sure, his stats are pedestrian. He’s putting up 7.2 points in 19.2 minutes to go along with 4.9 boards and 1.7 dimes. He’s also hitting 49.3% of his two-pointers (this is good); however, he’s hitting just 11.8% of his triples with a shooting form that can best be described as bowling-shoe ugly (this is bad).
I know some would rather he didn’t take those threes, but I politely disagree. The defense is always going to sag off him, so I don’t mind him taking 1 or 2 threes per game just to see if he can hit them (thus keeping the defense somewhat a tad more honest). It’s better than not taking them at all and bull-rushing into the crowded paint.
But somehow and someway, RHJ has made himself an important piece of our end of the bench rotation. At the beginning of the season, he played in just one of our first eight games (he missed two games because of injury and was DNP-CD’d the other five outings). But since that point, he’s been a regular addition in Nurse’s rotation.
RHJ has had 15 double-figure scoring performances; the Raptors are 13–2 in those games (which basically means anytime we get some points from him the other team is in trouble). On February 10, against the Wolves (with no Ibaka or Gasol available), RHJ had his best game of the season. He put up 21 points (8-for-13), 3 steals, zero turnovers, and finished a +20 (see, this is how you use plus/minus). But most importantly, he took a perceived size disadvantage going up against Karl-Anthony Towns and simply outplayed KAT. Towns finished the night shooting 5-for-13 with 5 turnovers and just looked uncomfortable going up against RHJ’s relentless energy.
Bottom line: You never know which RHJ you’re going to get on any given night — and that’s exactly what makes him so interesting. He’s a roll-of-the-dice kind of player and I’ll always bet on Rondae Hollis-Jefferson.
PATRICK McCAW
Much to the chagrin of Raptors Twitter, McCaw is averaging 24.5 minutes per game. That’s a lot of minutes. His previous best was 16.9 in 2018 with the Warriors (his actual best was 17.7 with the Cavs last season in the three games he played but we aren’t really going to count that). Last season with the Raptors he played 13.2 minutes in 26 games.
Yet, for some reason, he’s playing almost double the minutes this season versus last. Look, I’m a McCaw guy but even I have to admit that’s a lot of minutes for him. He hasn’t exactly made the most of his extended run either: he’s averaging 4.6 points and is often hesitant to shoot, passing up open looks by either hot-potatoing it into a worse shot for his teammates, or driving right into traffic with an awkward finish that leaves everyone baffled as to what they just watched.
If he’s going to get this much playing time, he should at least shoot more (he’s putting up just 1.9 threes per contest). Perhaps it’s a lack of confidence? Whatever it is, Coach Nurse clearly sees something in McCaw that we’re all missing.
However, I do expect that McCaw’s minutes will decrease come playoff time and also to make room for more Terence Davis minutes as TDII has earned a larger role. Perhaps Nurse didn’t want to overexpose a rookie in TDII so early in the season as it’s Davis’ first time playing a marathon NBA season. Who knows! Either way, it’ll be interesting to see how Raptors Twitter reacts to what happens with McCaw and his minutes.
MATT THOMAS
Matt Thomas sure receives a lot of hype for a player who gets DNP-CDs on the regular (and for someone averaging just 9.7 minutes when he does play). To be fair though, the hype he receives is definitely more on the comedic side rather than based on anything he’s actually accomplished in the NBA.
For every little thing that Thomas does that any other functional NBA player would do (hit a 3, make a pass, look competent on defense), Raptors Twitter erupts like we’re celebrating another championship. Don’t get me wrong, I enjoy the Matt Thomas Propaganda on a comedic level — but to Thomas, this type of reaction, can only be seen as insulting and disrespectful.
He’s not treated like every other player on the Raptors. He’s treated almost as a mascot or a human victory cigar — which means he’s not seen as an equal to his teammates. He’s treated as some sort of everyman who somehow woke up and now plays in the NBA. The best thing that Thomas’ supporters could do is to treat him like every other player on the squad. He should be open to criticism for his poor defense. He should be criticized for not being able to get more playing time despite shooting a ridiculous 46.7% from downtown.
Instead, Raptors Twitter treats him like a child whose every passable moment on the court is over-celebrated. I have zero doubt that Thomas doesn’t want to be treated this way. It’s time we started treating him with respect — which means fair criticism. Just sayin.
CHRIS BOUCHER
With all the games that Gasol and Ibaka have missed, the Raptors have needed to rely on Boucher a little bit more than they probably would have liked to. If Boucher is your third or fourth big, then you’re doing okay. Anything more than that, then we’re probably in trouble.
This season, his third, Boucher has played 55 games after playing in just 28 last year. He’s also getting more minutes: 13.2 versus 5.8 last season.
For as much as Boucher likes to let it fly from downtown, he’s hitting a hide-your-eyes 28.3% of his triples. He is also 27 years of age. I often find that many Raptors fans don’t know this; they think Boucher is some young prospect that will only get better. He’s 27. He’s probably only going to get marginally better over the next few seasons, if at all.
But to be fair to Boucher, he has filled in admirably when Gasol and Ibaka have missed time by soaking up some much needed minutes while providing the occasional energy spark-plug with his blocks and rebounding.
Come playoff time, we’ll only need Boucher in garbage time or if Gasol and Ibaka miss any time. Other than that, Boucher has done his part as any third-stringer should do.
Until next time…
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