There haven’t been a ton of notable battles at Raptors camp, largely thanks to injuries, but the jockeying for the backup point guard minutes is an exception.
Newcomers Davion Mitchell and Jamal Shead have both been able to play quite a bit because starter Immanuel Quickley hasn’t played at all due to a thumb injury (Quickley might be back for Friday’s pre-season finale). In fact, Mitchell, the ninth pick of the 2021 NBA Draft and an NCAA champion and defensive player of the year while at Baylor, has averaged a team-high 25.6 minutes over his four games, all starts. While he hasn’t scored much (4.5 points per game), Mitchell has notched 24 assists against only three turnovers. His best offensive performance came in Tuesday’s win over Boston. Mitchell hit three three-pointers on six attempts after taking (and missing) only four in the previous three games, along with 10 assists. He was also at times excellent defensively. That’s what Mitchell has been known for since his time at Baylor and it’s the main reason he was a Top 10 selection. Toronto needs all the defensive help it can get, especially at the initial point of attack, and that’s a Mitchell staple.
Interestingly, though, Raptors head coach Darko Rajakovic was far from effusive in his praise post-game Tuesday when asked about Mitchell.
“He is very capable to disrupt offence with his physicality, picking up full court,” Rajakovic began. “He’s doing that in a good way. I still think there is another layer to it, to be honest with you. I think there is more that he can bring on the ball and that he can bring a lot off the ball as well,” Rajakovic said.
Clearly Rajakovic has high expectations for Mitchell and how he can help the team.
“I love when he’s really competitive and he gets lost in competition on defensive end,” Rajakovic said. That was most evident at the start of the fourth quarter in an air-tight game. Mitchell blew up Boston’s offensive gameplan on multiple occasions with his hustle and anticipation, eventually resulting in a 24-second violation.
Mitchell told reporters in Toronto following practice Wednesday that he’s talked to the coaching staff and everyone is “still trying to figure out” what his role will be. “Right now, my role is a little bit bigger. Of course, everyone’s injured, but when Immanuel comes back and RJ (Barrett) and all them, people are coming back, I know my role is gonna get a little smaller, but I’ll still keep playing to the best of my abilities defensively, get my teammates open what I’ve been doing the preseason,” Mitchell said.
Shead left Tuesday’s game early with an ankle injury, but Rajakovic said Wednesday he was fine. Rajakovic had spoken very highly of Shead’s compete level and defensive abilities throughout camp. Like Mitchell, Shead has an NCAA defensive player of the year award under his belt. They are different players — Mitchell has a couple of inches on Shead and is longer, but Shead is built like a tank and weighs about the same (yes, there are some Kyle Lowry similarities physically). Both can create on offence, but Mitchell has better shooting form and a far bigger track record of success shooting the ball.
It will be interesting to see whether Rajakovic can work both into his rotation with Quickley expected to log more than 30 minutes a game, Gradey Dick likely to get plenty of time at shooting guard, Barrett splitting his work between guard and forward, and veteran Bruce Brown doing the same whenever he’s back. Rajakovic would probably have to go 10-men deep to get both Mitchell and Shead in regularly. With Kelly Olynyk, Brown, and Ochai Agbaji, who is having a good camp, likely being bench regulars, Mitchell and Shead could be in a dogfight to play alongside them (plus Scottie Barnes will see plenty of time on the court along with four reserves, lessening the need for a true point guard out there too, since Barnes is an excellent creator himself).
It’s been a long time since Toronto had real guard depth, so this is a nice problem for the franchise to have.
@WolstatSun