Morning Coffee - Dec. 9, 2024
Quickly fits | Finally have a solid big rotation | Knicks tonight
Four Raptors rookies join doubleheader club, make history - Sportsnet
Raptors outcome aside, the four rookies got to etch their names in a spreadsheet maybe only I keep, but one that is nonetheless a fun part of the Raptors’ player development history: Walter, Shead, Mogbo, and Battle became the 16th, 17th, 18th, and 19th Raptors to ever appear in games for Raptors 905 and the NBA Raptors in the same day, and the 53rd-through-56th in G League history.
It also marked the first time any team has ever had four players do this in the same game, topping a record of three that the Raptors shared.
“It was a lot of fun. I think those games are very valuable,” said Rajakovic, who watched the 905 courtside after the Raptors finished shootaround on the practice court upstairs. “You know, there are so many games in the season, there are so many games in the career of a player, but I guarantee, that all of our rookies, all of our guys going to remember that game.
“I think those opportunities are not very frequent, but when you have those opportunities, I think they're awesome for, overall, showing the unity of 905 and Raptors that we are one team. And then for those guys to get more minutes and then play the morning and night, it's amazing.”
While the doubleheader list is not exclusive to Raptors 905, it’s an honour that is filled heavily with Raptors. Including players who have appeared in multiple, 26 of the 70 instances in league history came from the Toronto team.
Current Raptors Jakob Poeltl and Chris Boucher have done it, and major 905 success stories like Fred VanVleet and Pascal Siakam double-dipping, as well. Sometimes, those have been 11 a.m. starts and nightcaps both at Scotiabank Arena, but the history is dotted with trips down the Gardiner Expressway after early afternoon tipoffs and, in the case of Malachi Flynn once, an unlikely trip from the G League bubble in Florida to Milwaukee.
“From my time in the G league this, this particular setup was one of the more impressive ones,” Thunder and former OKC Blue coach Mark Daigneault said. “I think they've done a really good job creating synergy with the programs here. I think we've done the same thing in our market
“There are huge benefits to that. You want to develop all your players, all the time. Especially in the current modern salary cap system, player development is a huge equalizer or competitive advantage for every organization. And you can only commit 240 game minutes every night, and so you're capped to a certain degree, and the G league uncaps you and allows guys to get real game minutes. It changes the developmental environment, it changes his role on a team, it puts more responsibility on those guys, it helps their conditioning, rhythm, there's a lot of benefits to it and Toronto's a team that I think has done that well.”
The doubleheader isn’t quite as daunting as it may sound, though no player can recall playing two games in a day since AAU. The morning game effectively takes the place of an arduous shootaround, and the 905 are careful to monitor minutes in the event a player is needed later. Until Thursday, the 905ers usually just saw end-of-game minutes in blowouts (except for Lorenzo Brown, who once had a great showing in a rout of Lebron James’s Cleveland Cavaliers on ESPN during the G League Showcase). If you were Joe Wieskamp, the last player to play the double, you only had to worry about getting subbed in once the later game was out of hand.
What made Thursday unique is that all four Raptors rookies are firmly in Darko Rajakovic’s rotation. The chances of them playing for the Raptors were extremely good, enough that the 905 didn’t play any of the players more than 21 minutes in their blowout victory.
Raptors rebuild is about more than just tanking and NBA Draft position - The Athletic
This is a reasonable, if predictable, reaction. This season started with talk about the need for a high draft pick, and that comes with a lot of losing. The Raptors were well on their way to that sort of volume of defeat before Scottie Barnes’ return from a broken orbital bone two weeks back. Since then, they have gone 4-4, and now the likes of the Washington Wizards, New Orleans Pelicans and the Utah Jazz are looking way up at them. The gap created could be permanent. For a bad team, the same energy and time required to win a game is roughly equivalent to what is necessary for a good team to win seven. We’re looking at a reverse-dog-years calculation here.
After the Raptors beat the struggling Indiana Pacers (only two wins ahead of Toronto!), my colleague Michael Grange of Sportsnet wrote that these results were getting a little worrisome. The Raptors are a little too good to be necessarily bad, and that is bad for the long-term health of the franchise.
I get the sentiment, but if you view getting to 58 losses as, by far, the most important assignment of this season, you are missing something pretty fundamental about team sports and the structure of the NBA. Additionally, if that is the only lens through which fans are watching games, maybe turn off the television and flip it back on in May for the draft lottery.
For one thing, this seems like an overreaction, at least right now. The Raptors currently have more wins than all of five NBA teams. They are exactly where they were at the end of last year, with the sixth-worst record in the league. That resulted in the Raptors getting (and immediately losing, via the Poeltl acquisition) the eighth-overall pick, but they had a 37.2-percent chance of moving to the top four. This year’s Raptors could have gone 0-82, and they would have had a 52.2 percent chance of a top-four pick. We are getting worked up about a 15 percent difference.
Raptors still no match for NBA's best despite nearing full strength - Sportsnet
On a rare Saturday night start at home, Toronto didn’t get blown out by the Dallas Mavericks in what ended up being a 125-118 loss. But even if the Raptors did cut what had been a 24-point Mavericks lead to five with a minute to play, they were mostly out-classed, much like they were when the Oklahoma City Thunder whomped them on Thursday night.
Olynyk might help the Raptors bench and the eventual return of Quickley might bolster the starters, but the Mavericks, coming off a Finals appearance a year ago and determined to make it back, have some serious wattage.
Luka Doncic had 30 points, 13 rebounds and 11 assists for Dallas, and Kyrie Irving had 29 points, six rebounds and four assists. Combined they shot 18-of-34 from the floor and 12-of-22 from three. That level of superstar production is hard to compete with. Dallas improved to 16-8, has now won 11 of its past 12 starts and is tied for second in the West, 2.5 games behind OKC.
The Raptors lost for the second straight game and fell to 7-17 on the year. They wrap up their five-game homestand on Monday against the New York Knicks.
Toronto got some nice performances from some key players. Scottie Barnes had a career-high 14 assists to go along with 19 points, while Gradey Dick has looked good since coming back from his calf injury and added 27 points while shooting 5-of-14 from three.
Perhaps the most encouraging development on the night for the Raptors was the continued strong play of Mogbo. The rookie finished with eight points, seven rebounds, two assists and two blocked shots while making two triples in the same game for the first time in his career, needing only two attempts.
He took turns guarding both Doncic and Irving – “he was awesome,” was Rajakovic’s assessment of the assignment – and fit in well alongside Olynyk while playing power forward.
“Jonathan's super versatile. He can guard one through five,” said Olynk. “ … So that's really exciting, and he can rebound, he can run, he can put the ball on the floor and handle it a little bit. He made some shots today. As he continues to develop that three-point shot, it's going to be, obviously, big for him and for us, but he has that athletic ability around the rim. He caught a lob today that looked like he got boosted in the air. It was unbelievable. But you know, his skill set will definitely, I think, complement mine, and mine will complement his. So looking forward to that.”
The Raptors at full strength — or approaching it — may not match up well with the league’s best teams at the moment. But they are still interesting and maybe getting more so as they get healthier and deeper.
Raptors @ Mavericks, Dec. 7 Takeaways: Hearty comeback in vain as Doncic, Irving dominate - Raptors in 7
Out-talented but punching back
This was one of those nights where you have to tip your hat. Luka Doncic and Kyrie are two all-world players and boy oh boy did they put on a show.
If you’re a fan who was lucky enough to be at this game, you know you got your money’s worth despite Scotiabank Arena’s exorbitant prices these days. Doncic made several passes that dropped your jaw, hit some patented fadeaways, and a running banker from halfcourt at the halftime buzzer for good measure.
Irving had 18 first-half points on 5-of-6 shooting including four 3-pointers and looked like he could get whatever he wanted, whenever he wanted. For the game, the duo combined for 59 points on 34 shots including 12 made threes. If you missed it, below are some of their best plays from the night. This is probably the first time I’ve clipped some opposition viewing together in my takeaways, but as you’ll see it was well earned.
To the Raptors’ credit, despite trailing by 24 with 2:47 remaining in the third quarter, they kept battling. A 13-0 run made things very interesting by the start of the fourth, and they even got within five points with 95 seconds remaining before the Mavs were able to weather the storm.
Kelly Olynyk’s return to Raptors lineup puts the spotlight on this intriguing rookie - Toronto Star
A three-man front-court rotation of Poeltl, Olynyk and Mogbo seems to fill all the needs of a modern-day roster. Poeltl is a great passer and can roll to the basket and finish at the rim; Olynyk is a crafty passer who can step back and take three-pointers; Mogbo is athletic, plays at a quicker pace than the other two and has emerging shooting skills that still need to be developed.
He’ll get every chance. It’s unlikely there will be any minutes for Bruno Fernando, other than in the most dire circumstances, and the trickle-down effect will certainly cost Chris Boucher playing time.
Boucher, mired in a 3-for-24 three-point shooting slump in his last seven games, did not get off the bench against the Mavericks on Saturday. And if the Raptors are going to heavily invest in Mogbo with Poeltl and Olynyk, it’s hard to see Boucher getting a break from purgatory.
“We talked about it a couple of days ago, that there might be situations where (Boucher is) going to be in and out of the rotation,” Rajakovic said. “He’s a professional, he did a great job, he’s always staying ready, he’s trying to put extra work in, so I think he’s doing a good job for us this season. But we’ve got to take a look at different lineups and opportunities for others.”
Those lineups will include Poeltl and Olynyk; Mogbo and Poeltl; and Olynyk with Mogbo.
“Jonathan’s super versatile, he can guard one through five,” Olynyk said. “He continues to develop that three-point shot (and) it’s going to be, obviously, big for him and for us.
“But just the athletic ability around the rim. “He caught a lob (Saturday) that looked like he got boosted in the air. It was unbelievable.”
Olynyk’s return also adds some much-needed experience to Toronto’s second unit. The group will ultimately include Olynyk with rookies Mogbo and Ja’Kobe Walter and, if the Raptors really want to look at young players, Jamal Shead over Davion Mitchell. In any setup, it’s Olynyk and kids.
“I think I can help them get organized, get good shots, keep the ball moving, and kind of connect the pieces together,” he said. “And I think that’s kind of what my job right now, for that second unit, will be.