Morning Coffee - Mar. 12, 2025
What the tank is going on? | Shead has surprising hops | Rhoden's road to starting
What The Tank Is Going On? - Raptors in 7
Things have gotten extremely tight with the Philadelphia 76ers and Brooklyn Nets. The game against the Sixers on Wednesday now looks crucial in tank watch. The Raptors are 22-43, the Sixers are 22-42, and the Nets are 22-42.
Winning both games in Atlanta on Jan. 23rd and 25th and more recently both games in Orlando on Mar. 2nd and 4th are games the Raptors could look back on with some regret if they can’t finish what they started here.
It’s been a bit puzzling to see how the Raptors have tried to toe the line of competing and not, the most egregious being the end of the second game in Orlando when all the starters were benched down the stretch. Ja’Kobe Walter’s shot to win the game and Lawson’s big shots late were awesome in the moment.
Walter’s shot has a similar vibe to Morris Peterson’s miracle shot against the Washington Wizards in 2007, though. It’s a fond memory in Raptors history but it’s also a shot that effectively made Toronto play Jason Kidd, Vince Carter, Richard Jefferson and the New Jersey Nets in the first round of the playoffs instead of a Wizards team without Gilbert Arenas and Caron Butler.
Nothing against how fun that Walter ending was, but the Raptors had things that could have been done earlier to ensure it didn’t come down to that shot.
Masai Ujiri said this was a rebuilding season. Losing 16 of 17 games between December and January made it very clear what this season was about. Bobby Webster saying there would come a time to pray to lottery gods made it clearer still what the final stretch should entail. To not finish the job from here would be an organizational failure.
The Raptors’ Jared Rhoden, a fourth-quarter regular lately, now has his first NBA start. Here’s how it happened - Toronto Star
The Raptors are helping Rhoden improve his decision-making on the court, whether it’s about shooting the ball faster when an opportunity arises, making quick and easy reads on closeouts or reducing the number of dribbles he takes, the coach said.
“I think he made huge strides with the 905 this season, and it’s exciting to see him play with us as well,” Rajakovic said.
Part of Rhoden’s increase in confidence comes from the guidance of colleagues. Rajakovic pointed to a moment before Monday’s game when RJ Barrett grabbed Rhoden and Lawson and talked to them about the need to be aggressive on defence and not be afraid to make mistakes.
“Players are really helping each other, talking to each other and keeping each other accountable,” Rajakovic said, noting it’s a testament to team culture. “My lead assistant coach is Scottie Barnes … We had a lot of conversations during the summer (about) how we want to play, how we want to be aggressive and pick up full court, be disruptive in the half court as well, and he really stands behind all of that.”
Rhoden has been in close games with the 905, where he is averaging 16.6 points and 6.6 rebounds, and he finds it “pretty easy” to complement the Raptors’ stars.
“To have the people that are the engine of the team constantly pushing you, supporting you, telling you to stop turning down shots, it instils confidence in you,” Rhoden said. “That’s what this team is built on. The chemistry, the vibes are high and it’s a really good feeling.”
The Raptors have 17 games left on the schedule and, with Gradey Dick among the regulars out with injuries, it’s possible Rhoden will continue to get more time on the court. That bodes well with his desire to improve heading into the off-season as he hunts his next contract.
“It’s about making better half-court reads,” he said. “I feel like I’m a great transition player but it’s just about being able to pick my spots a little better, understanding where to be on defence and being that defensive-minded player.”
Raptors buzzing from point guard Jamal Shead's rare dunk - Toronto Sun
There was some argument in a jovial post-game locker room about which of the dunks was the best. A powerful Scottie Barnes rim-rocker was the clear No. 3 choice, even though it would have been tops for many contests.
The battle was between an “on your head” fourth quarter posterization by Canadian A.J. Lawson, capping his career-game, which saw him score 32 points, and an emphatic one-handed putback dunk by backup point guard Jamal Shead.
Lawson is 6-foot-7, Shead is listed as 6-feet (and teammate Immanuel Quickley joked he was 5-foot-9 on Instagram with a “99 driving dunk rating (on NBA2K”) while re-posting the dunk after the game. While the banter seemed to indicate Lawson had the nicer aerial move, Shead’s element of surprise won the day.
“I gotta give it to ’Mal. Just because I’ve seen A.J. dunk on people before,” said RJ Barrett when asked to choose. “I haven’t even seen ’Mal dunk really, so I have to give it to Jamal.”
Lawson chimed in at that point praising Shead’s vertical, but wasn’t asked to pick between his own dunk or Shead’s.
Shead reminded the remaining players in the locker room that he’d dunked before this season, against the Los Angeles Lakers, but the other Raptors weren’t having it, telling the rookie it “doesn’t count” because he kind of just dropped in the ball. Shead’s counter was he was way over the rim and, at his size, it was impressive how high he got up.
Barrett was asked if he really hadn’t seen Shead dunk before, even at practice. “No, not really, maybe once (but) not like that,” he said with a smile.
Basketball-reference.com actually credits Shead with a third dunk this season, but even he didn’t sure what they were referring to.
Quickley just threw down his first dunk of the year one game earlier and, before that, few could remember the last time a Raptors point guard had jammed. Kyle Lowry (aside from an unexpected putback in an all-star game) certainly wasn’t going above the rim, and neither were Fred VanVleet, Malachi Flynn or Dennis Schroder.
The point is, Shead’s jam was a rarity. Point guards who live up in the air like Ja Morant are few and far between. Shead said he’d try to dunk once a month or so, saying it takes a tonne of energy to do it at his size. Given the pace he plays at and his aggressiveness at both ends of the floor, it makes sense not to waste anything showing off for his teammates or the fans, no matter how happy it made everyone, even his head coach.
NBA Power Rankings: Nuggets rise, Knicks fall as we assign third-quarter grades - The Athletic
This week: 24
Last week: 25
In the last week: W at ORL, W vs. UTA, L vs. WAS, W vs. WAS
Offensive rating: 110.1 (26th)
Defensive rating: 115.0 (22nd)
First quarter: D+
Second quarter: D
Third quarter: C
Scottie Barnes has only made 23.4 percent of his 3s since late January, a troubling number from a young star whom the Raptors are trying to build around offensively. But Toronto has shown it can be quite good defensively despite the tank formulating north of the border.
Canadian Women’s Basketball Players are Dominating Worldwide - Raptors HQ
Obviously first is the WNBA, and the Toronto Tempo arriving in Canada is only the latest chapter in a mosaic of rich history between Canadian women and the sport.
The WNBA currently has four Canadian players: Kia Nurse (Chicago Sky), Bridget Carleton (Minnesota Lynx), Laeticia Amihere (Golden State Valkyries) and Aaliyah Edwards (Washington Mystics). We’ll touch on three of these four as we go on, so let’s focus on Bridget Carleton for now.
From small town Chatham, Ontario to the biggest stage in Women’s Basketball — the WNBA Finals. The Lynx may have lost in a controversial series-deciding Game 5 against the New York Liberty last fall, but their run and dominance cannot be denied. Carleton was a crucial part of that run — before it even started.
She was the one to make a clutch late-game three-pointer to secure the Lynx’s playoff position ahead of the Connecticut Sun in the regular season. Anytime the Lynx needed a big shot in the playoffs, Carleton was there.
She’ll return to the Lynx this summer to try and get back to the Finals for the second year in a row.