Five Things I Dig and Don’t Dig about the Toronto Raptors

Five games in and, already, there’s so much.

So much fun. So much up-and-down. So much to look forward to. So much to commiserate over.

The latter particularly so, with BBQ (RJ Barrett, Scottie Barnes, and Immanuel Quickley) already missing a combined 8 games between them. Barnes fracturing his face just as he was rediscovering his mojo gives us all the more to lament.

Still, these Raptors are zesty. And for a fan of a team touted to win few, that’s all one can ask for.

Let’s roll.

1. Coach Confidence and the Frisky Youths

If that’s not a good band name, I don’t know what is.

Seriously, though, this might be the best Raptors storyline of the year…already.

Ephemeral or real, the aura of the previous Raptors iteration hindered head coach, Darko Rajaković, last year. He teetered upon giving space to the established guys while also attempting to encode a brand new culture and system in Toronto.

It made last year clunky, to say the least. Now free of legacy and expectations, it’s Darko’s way. A plan implemented with the careful balance of discipline and empowerment. Darko’s particular and instructive. He’s tender and intense. His energy vibrates through cameras. I’m at my desk ready to fucking go to battle for this guy:

Seems like everyone else is too. Especially, the new guys.

It’s a wonderful algorithm. Masai and company drafted – Jonathan Mogbo, Jamal Shead, and Jamison Battle – and “redrafted” – Ochai Agbaji and Davion Mitchell – a cast of intelligent, hardworking, selfless players. In turn, Darko develops and, most importantly, instills confidence in them. And voilà! A true, functional organization at work [eyes current employer]!

The plan’s well on its way. Mitchell and Agbaji, both “given up on” by their respective former teams, are reversing a once waning claim to NBA status. Shead and Mogbo, each late draft picks, have emerged as fearsome defenders and stabilized (8th in scoring!) a bench unit rife with injury .

Maybe the shine will dull. Rookie walls and road bumps are sure to come. That’s okay, that’s what this is all about. The path is a good one, regardless of the obstacles ahead.

What matters is the synchronicity between players and coach. They’re committed to each other. Confidence given to one. Execution in return. It’s a testament to the culture and recommitment to development at all levels of the Raptors organization.

Refreshing, considering the mmm controversy, lets say of the last two years or so.

2. Dick Dangles

If you’re picturing it, that’s on you. Not on me.

There’s aspects of Gradey Dick’s game I expected this year.

His shooting, for one. Obvs. Though, his sudden comfort shooting off the bounce and on the move came a bit more quickly than I anticipated.

His gracefulness, for another. We saw glimpses last year amidst his strength and speed woes [hurrah for two-week strength training regimens!]. Gradey flows move-to-move seamlessly. Tai Chi-like patterns of jabs and shot-fakes and rips. They’re not the fastest movements nor most explosive. But they’re emphatic. Enough to make a defender hesitate. All Dick needs to rise up or get by.

All that I mostly expected. It’s what, I suspect, others anticipated too, once Dick became more comfortable with the game’s physicality.

What I did not expect, and what has had me gawk at my entirely disinterested partner sitting at the kitchen table across from me and repeatedly asking me “What!?” every time I look up at her and moan “Ohhhh” as I watch the game, are his finishes.

His freaking finishes.

Louis put them all together for me:

Where are these coming from? Where’s he learning these? I need the data recorder in Gradey’s brain to see the coding firsthand.

I know he was capable of this in college. But the ol’ adage – what was doable there is not, necessarily, so doable in the NBA – made me think, at the very least, it would come in time. Not now. Not so aggressively right now.

I’m truly incredulous to it. Yes, it’s the athleticism. The touch too. Oooo the touch is sweet. In traffic too. So sweet. But it’s the movements. They’re what continue to mesmerize me.

Have we seen windmill underhanded lay-ins so commonly before? It’s becoming patented. They’re Dickesian.

And they’re useful too. The up and unders, in and arounds, and whatever else. They give him a range of finishes from various points of attack near and at the rim. Defenders fade out of frame as Dick soars past, rotating the ball from one angle to an entirely different one. Just look where he takes off and finishes and where Isaac Okoro challenges and ends up.

Then there’s the floaters. Golden brown heaves of pure softness lofted skyward as gifts to the Gods above. No mortal, not even defensive Demigod, Rudy Gobert, himself can reach such heights.

The best part of it all. Gradey’s so blasé. As mild-mannered as he is talking to the great Tracy McGrady in a Gillette commercial.

Just another day’s work.

3. Jamal Shead’s Pick N’ Roll Prowess

Shead Head.

Self-proclaimed.

What’s not to love.

Busts his ass. Defends like an enraged wasp. Attacks with disregard. He’s even hitting the odd 3 (4/12). He’s a rookie!

I love him with every fibre of my basketball soul.

What I’ve also enjoyed, less hyperbolically I admit, is Shead’s presence as a ballhandler, particularly, in the pick and roll.

He’s patient and purposeful using changes of speed and exact timing to get defenders out of sorts. It’s something players can take years to master, in the NBA context. Shead’s figured it out in his first five games.

Jakob Pöltl screens for Shead. This is Shead’s first career game, remember. Rather than accept the screen and the challenge of taking Jarett Allen mano e mano, Shead slows with a hesitation, sees the ripe pickings of Sam Merril, a strongside occupied by the shooting threats of Dick and Jamison, and a last line defence of Georges “Minivan” Niang. Ciao, bye. Straight line to the tin.

You can see Shead’s command of pace more subtly here. That’s what makes it so great. It’s ever so slight. Shead receives a high screen from Bruno Fernando. It’s so high Bruno’s a bit out of position for the roll. What does Shead do? He hesitates for a moment with a sort of hop-skip. Jarett Allen, defending, perhaps, thinks pull-up, and reaches out. That’s all Shead needs to give the lumbering Fernando enough time to reappear and launch for the alley-oop.

The slowing down is all the more dangerous with Shead’s floater game. It’s do or die. In the previous clip, for example, if Allen doesn’t bite, Shead easily tosses it up, like below:

Then there’s stuff like this.

Absolute perfect timing. A minuscule window. Any earlier, Nick Richards gets a hand on it. Any later, Shead’s swallowed up in a mass of Hornets.

Shead Heads unite.

4. Baseline Battle

One of my favourite parts of Scottie Barnes’ game in the early years was his figuring out positioning. It wasn’t easy with Pascal and the rest crowding the frontcourt. One lucrative spot for him was the baseline where poof! there he was ready for dump-offs and putbacks.

Jamison Battle has discovered the same. He’s just one of those dudes – like Scottie – who knows where to be and when.

It might be the spot-up shooter in him. Relocation is key. Gliding and shifting in tandem with the ball and your teammates and the defence. Making space off-ball. That’s how guys like Battle and Klay Thompson and Duncan Robinson thrive.

Battle knows that. His defenders know that. Sneaky, Battle. He improvises.

First order of deceit. Reject a down screen for a backdoor lay up.

Second. Screen and seal an unsuspecting weakside defender.

Third. Wait for the head to swivel.

Battle has taken seven 2-point shots. All have been at the rim. None have involved a dribble. He goes where he’s supposed to be, and in that sense, he makes scoring look easy.

5. Off Night in Charlotte

The jury is probably still out on Davion “Offnight” Mitchell’s offensive game. There’s something there. It’s just never consistent.

No matter. We’re here to talk defence.

It’s a joy to watch Mitchell stalk opposing guards. To enshroud them every iota of a moment they’re on the floor. Typically, though, we only get it in shifts when coming off the bench.

On Wednesday, however, we got to see it in full effect. Mitchell started with both IQ and Barnes out. Great new for Mitchell. Terrible news for LaMelo Ball.

For the entirety of the night, Mitchell made Ball’s life a living Hell. Tracing every step Ball made with or without the rock. Coming into the game, Ball averaged 32 points on 47% shooting, 7 assists, and 6 turnovers. By night’s end, he finished a paltry 7/20 with 17 points, 6 assists, and 6 turnovers.

Best part. Ball was donezo by the 4th quarter. Utterly tuckered. Totally resigned. He took only three shots, had one assist, and turned the ball over twice.

He was so over Mitchell. He even stopped bringing the ball up the floor. Duties deferred to Cody Martin and Tre Mann; Ball slinked off to the corner. His usage dropped from 34% in the third quarter to 19% in the fourth.

LaMelo took the rest of the night off.

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