Morning Coffee - Feb. 20, 2025
Raptors need to be unimportant for the rest of the year | All attention directed towards the draft | DeRozan and Lowry hated each other until they didn't
The 2025 NBA Draft is the Most Important Draft in Years - Raptors Republic
A quick flashback to the Wembanyama draft brings back some painful memories and lessons learned in asset management. Despite it being obvious to everyone with eyes that the Raptors were not competitive and held a worse record than the eventual team picking third in that draft, they opted to sell a very poorly protected future lottery pick, grab Jakob Poeltl, and make an uninspired run at barely .500 basketball.
The impact of acquiring Brandon Ingram remains to be seen. As it stands now, acquiring an all star level player for relatively cheap seems to be a quality move. The goal remains the same this season: keep the draft at the forefront of our priorities. Ingram is sitting out with an injury and it’s unlikely he’ll impact the Raptors’ win total this year.
Even with Ingram’s addition, the Raptors still need talent. They aren’t a free agency destination, and they don’t really have the assets to swing a trade for a true superstar unless other front offices feel like pulling a Nico Harrison and trading their top 5 players for pennies.
That leaves us with this draft. As of now, the Raps are positioned in the top 5 of a very good class. Bringing in a high pick in a stacked class combined with a healthy Brandon Ingram could quickly change Toronto’s fortunes in the not-so-distant future. It’s important to be unimportant for the rest of the season.
Immanuel Quickley’s ‘old-school mentality’ braced him for new chapter with Raptors - The Athletic
Quickley wants to lead. He just does not do it in a scowly, in-your-face way.
Justus, now with Ohio State, remembered one frustrating period of Quickley’s sophomore season when nobody was especially happy. A practice became chippy.
“It was getting a little handsy,” Justus said. “And I can remember him really speaking, saying, ‘Hey, we’re not doing this. We’re gonna get better in here.’ … I think that’s where his leadership was coronated, that day.”
Be loud, but be loud about the right things. Payne called Quickley a “giver and not a taker at a time when most people are takers.” He also referred to him as a pleaser, which he saw in the guard when he devoured both Calipari’s and Thibodeau’s playbooks.
Quickley said he was very frustrated to get injured so early in the season. Still, his voice did not quiet. As Quickley sat courtside in Detroit at a shootaround before a game earlier this month, he looked to his right and saw Jamal Shead. The 45th-overall pick has become the Raptors’ backup point guard. Without Quickley, he split time with Davion Mitchell. If Quickley had been healthy, Shead would have probably been in the G League with Raptors 905.
“Actually, my first preseason game was here, and I didn’t get on the floor at all when I was playing with Thibs,” Quickley said. “I know what it’s like to have to work your way up from the bottom. Part of doing that is taking advantage of every opportunity you get, no matter how many minutes you get.”
“That injury didn’t stop him from being a great leader and being a great teammate,” Shead said. “Him just being himself and being a good light around here and also trying to teach and help me with as many things as possible that just speaks to his character and his leadership all right there.”
Quickley can even rationalize his setbacks.
“It was probably not in my best interest that I was hurt, but guys were able to have bigger roles and have to step up in that light,” Quickley said. “Everything happens for you, it doesn’t happen to you.”
A few weeks later, following his groin injury, Quickley contemplated how his first two-thirds of the season have gone for him. Before this year, an ankle sprain that cost him a summer of skill work was the worst injury he had dealt with. It certainly wasn’t followed by a series of other ailments.
“Individually, I’m proud of the way I’ve been able to battle mentally,” Quickley said. “I think it’s credit to who I am as a person and who (God is) in me.”
“To me, it’s the mindset,” Raptors president Masai Ujiri said on media day when asked why he felt comfortable paying Quickley more on projection than on prior performance. “What kind of mindset do you have and what kind of work ethic do you have and what kind of person, character are you? Quickley has actually been showing us that he’s very, very capable of these things. And he will try. He will try his best. … And that’s all you ask.
“We’re in professional sports. We’re getting paid to do it. His time and payday came, and business continues as usual for him. That’s what he showed us.”
Play-in? For what? Raptors coach has a different goal in mind after NBA all-star break - Toronto Star
Now, after the departures of Bruce Brown, Kelly Olynyk and Davion Mitchell and the acquisition of Brandon Ingram (still recovering from an ankle sprain and not expected back soon) at the Feb. 6 trade deadline, there are more opportunities for unproven players to show what they can do.
It’s up to Rajakovic and his staff to allocate those minutes and make things work on the court. Those decisions will include Raptors 905 guard/forward Jared Rhoden, signed to a 10-day contract Wednesday.
“I think he improved tremendously over the course of the season playing with the 905,” the coach said of Rhoden, who has been around since training camp. “He looks stronger. He’s somebody who is trying to play on both ends of the floor, offensively and defensively. We have a lot of respect for him and we’re looking forward to getting to know him more with our team here.”
While development is the focus, the Raptors still expect to pick up some wins and maybe even make a push for a play-in spot in an Eastern Conference where only six teams are over .500. With Mitchell and the Miami Heat coming to town Friday, the Raptors trail the 10th-place Chicago Bulls by five games.
“Definitely, we have it in us,” said centre Jakob Poeltl, who was a key part of the team’s stretch of success earlier this year before suffering a hip pointer and sitting out five games prior to the all-star break. Poeltl participated in some drills Wednesday, but the team had yet to determine if he will suit up against the Heat.
“Obviously we want to get as far as possible during the season, and for that to happen we’re going to have to make a push. But ... we also want to get better as a team. We want to look at our long-term goals as well as our short-term goals.
“Even if we don’t make the play-in tournament, I think we can still have a successful rest of the season if we grow as a team, if we really get our chemistry right, if we keep this attitude and work ethic that we’ve been working with this whole season.”
'Couldn't stand him': How best friends DeRozan, Lowry started off on wrong foot - Sportsnet
Before joining the Raptors, Lowry had established himself as a player who would go about things his own way and march to the beat of his own drum. He was a steady point guard on the Rockets who was perhaps more known for his attitude than his play, and the prospect of Toronto trading for him came with all kinds of uncertainties.
"Kyle had a bit of a reputation for being something that needed to be managed," then-general manager Bryan Colangelo said.
Reining him in was tough in that first go-round, as Lowry's averages dipped to 11.6 points and 6.4 assists while shooting 40.1 per cent from the field and 36.2 per cent from three-point range.
And the fit with DeRozan was anything but obvious, both on and off the court, as the Raptors finished with a 34-48 record in the 2012-13 campaign and missed the post-season after finishing last in the Atlantic.
“It just felt like it didn’t mesh well," DeRozan said, "But I admired how he approached the game. He had everything that I wanted.”
As time went on, DeRozan, who was only 23 in that first year alongside the 26-year-old Lowry, took the time to observe his older compatriot. His quiet and reserved personality started to find ways to complement the more brash and in-your-face Lowry.
The Raptors traded forward Rudy Gay the next season, and though DeRozan and Lowry thought they would be next up on the chopping block after a slow start to the year, they both stuck around.
During a flight from Los Angeles to San Antonio in December, both players stressed about their imminent future but found ways to bond through it, spending the entire time talking and asking each other if they had been traded yet.
Then they landed and nothing had changed, other than perhaps a newfound appreciation for one another and a chemistry that was only beginning to blossom. The team rattled off wins in nine of their next 12 games en route to a 48-34 record on the season.
As the bond between the two grew, success followed.
“To see them grow as friends in a really, really, I think, authentic way — it wasn’t natural at first — it was really cool to watch from afar," general manager Bobby Webster said.
“They relied on each other. They knew what the other was going to do. Really like a dynamic duo," team president Masai Ujiri added.
What began as a cold shoulder turned into one of the most warm friendships the team has ever seen — one that came to define an era of Raptors basketball. And though they were split up in the summer of 2018, the bond they shared is etched forever in the hearts and minds of the city they came to embrace in their own way.
Toronto Raptors sign Jared Rhoden to 10-day contract - Raptors Republic
The 25-year-old has averaged 15.9 points, 6.4 rebounds, 3.7 assists, and 1.1 steals in the 18 games he’s played with the Raptors 905 this season. Rhoden is also shooting 50.7 percent from the field and 41.9 percent from beyond the arc.
The 6-foot-5, 210-pound guard initially joined the Raptors back in training camp on an Exhibit-10 deal before being waived with the intention of joining the 905. Plans changed, however, when Rhoden was claimed and then signed to a two-way contract by the Charlotte Hornets, appearing in four games for the club and two for their G League affiliate, the Greensboro Swarm.
Prior to this season, Rhoden has also been a member of the Detroit Pistons, also on a two-way contract. The native of Baldwin, New York, holds NBA career averages of 3.8 points, 2.1 rebounds, and 0.6 assists across 35 games with the Pistons (31 games) and Hornets.
Rhoden played four collegiate seasons at Seton Hall University, averaging 15.5 points, 6.7 rebounds, 1.2 assists, and 1.2 steals his senior season (2021-2022) en route to being named to the All-Big East first team.
Rhoden has shown with the 905 that he can do a multitude of things, playing on or off the ball, defending the opposing team’s primary option, and rebounding. He’s even shown the ability to bring up the ball and play point guard, something he’s done with the 905.
Final AmeriCup Qualifier Roster Announced - Raptors Republic
The most noteworthy addition to the squad is Isiaha Mike, who will hopefully be suiting up for Team Canada for the first time in his pro career. The 6’8” forward is arguably the most talented player on the team (he plays for EuroLeague club, Partizan) and his re-introduction into the SMNT player pool is a welcome sight to see (he was last invited to the 2021 Olympic training camp in Victoria), especially considering the lack of wing depth on this team in the absence of Jackson Rowe, who recently signed a two-way contract with the Golden State Warriors.
If you’ve read any of my work in the past 2 years, you’ll know how hard I have been campaigning for a SMNT call up for Mike (and Kabengele for that matter). Seeing Rowan Barrett and co. bringing them in at the beginning of this Olympic cycle has been a welcome sign of a competitive front office hungry for more talent. As it stands right now, Mike and Kabengele would be on my shortlist of non-NBA pros that should be in consideration for the eventual Olympic team in LA. They are both immensely talented, impactful and fill positions of need.
With a win against the Dominican Republic on Feb 21st, Canada will officially clinch a spot in the 2025 FIBA AmeriCup, the first SMNT event enroute to the 2028 LA Olympics. It’s a small, but necessary, step that will allow Canada to continue along the primary qualification path (red). However, it will not be easy as the Dominican Republic, who were severely short handed in the previous matchup in Saskatoon, have called in their heavy hitters in Andrés Felix (Real Madrid, EuroLeague), Jean Montero (Valencia, EuroCup) and Angel Delgado (Galatasary, FIBA BCL). A win against Mexico to close out the window on Feb 24th should also be enough for Canada to qualify. Overall, the SMNT is in a good spot and just need to take care of business on the road.