Toronto Raptors management and head coach Darko Rajakovic felt pretty good about the team’s haul after last June’s draft, but you never really know for sure until the players take the court.
It’s early days sure, with only about a quarter of this season completed, but the team has to be feeling even better now after seeing No. 19 selection Ja’Kobe Walter start to blossom with a bigger opportunity, No. 31 pick Jonathan Mogbo bringing a varied toolkit every night, No. 45 pick Jamal Shead providing dogged determination, aggressive defence and an ability to get to the basket. Finally, rookie Jamison Battle, who went undrafted but was quickly snapped up by the Raptors on a two-way contract, was expected to spend most of the year in Mississauga with Raptors 905. Instead, he’s only played one G League game so far and 20 NBA contests, shooting 41% on three-point shots in a floor-spacing role.
For a franchise that was rightly hailed for a while as one of the best developmental organizations in the NBA, only to see the pipeline stall in recent years, the emergence of this class as viable NBA players so quickly is a needed win. Financially speaking, when you’re paying mega-money to franchise player Scottie Barnes and starters Immanuel Quickley and RJ Barrett, plus sizeable amounts to other veterans, you need a bunch of productive players on more manageable rookie scale deals to make it all work. And competitively, the more serviceable players (and ideally ones who complement your top talent) you have, the better you’re going to be.
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Shead and Battle turned strong training camps and preseason games into longer looks and have had their moments, while Mogbo, asked to do more, has had stops and starts. Sometimes he blends in, but in plenty of games he’s wowed with his rebounding and passing ability (including in the two previous games against the Miami Heat, where Mogbo dominated the boards and also excelled as an outlet when Miami went into a zone).
Though Toronto has been hit with a double whammy of tons of injuries and close losses, spirits have remained high, with little signs of frustration. Rajakovic and his staff have done a strong job in that regard and it’s helped that the rookies have brought positive energy. Mogbo credited the coaches, as well as veterans like Garrett Temple for creating the good vibes.
“I feel like everyone takes care of each other here,” Mogbo told Postmedia after Sunday’s home win over Miami. Whether it’s the rookies supporting their peers, the coaches helping them get better, or the veterans getting in their ears, it’s all made the adjustment to the NBA a lot easier.
“You have guys on the bench, all the vets, just giving great advice and tips. We have a great surrounding, so there’s not a time where we should be sped up or we shouldn’t know what to expect,” Mogbo said.
When the losses were piling up, we sought out the sage Temple to see how the youngsters were doing. Keep in mind that Shead was the winningest player in Houston Cougars history and the others are used to winning most of the time as well.
“I think they’ve handled it well,” Temple told Postmedia a couple of weeks ago when Toronto was mired in a tough losing skid.
“I think, the atmosphere has been amazing. On a team that’s (struggling in the win-loss column) … a lot of credit goes to Coach, and a lot of credit goes to the young guys, keeping things fresh, understanding when to be silly and have fun and when to lock in, and that’s difficult for a team with four rookies,” said Temple, who is in his 15th NBA season.
“They haven’t gone through a stretch like this, probably before, definitely not recently, in their college career, so I think they’ve handled it really well, and it’s going to bode well for their growth,” he predicted.
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So far, Temple has been right. An injury to promising sophomore guard Gradey Dick has given Walter a chance to start recent games and he’s flashed intriguing potential at both ends of the floor.
“It’s amazing for him to have this opportunity, he worked really hard during his rehab program (with Raptors 905),” Rajakovic said. “He took that very seriously, he was very professional about it, played really hard, played inside the system and that gave me enough confidence to throw him into the fire and see how he does.”
Rajakovic said he’s liked that Walter is “not afraid” on offence. In the games against Miami he dropped his shoulder to gain a path for a bucket, scored on fadeaways and pull-ups and from beyond the arc.
None of the rookies have looked afraid. All believe they belong and have acted like it from the start, even if none of them were as highly touted as some of the other players in their draft class.
“People might say we’re not this or that, but I feel like we just got to play our roles,” Mogbo said. “I feel like we do a great job of doing that and going out there, playing hard … That’s what we take pride in. The team gets along, the coaches get along, and that’s why we’re comfortable. You can’t get too comfortable, obviously, but I feel like we’re doing good. Everyone has a good head on their shoulders,” he said.
Walter mentioned post-game that the game is starting to slow down a bit for him, making it easier to do the things that have gotten him to this level. Mogbo agreed. “The game is slowing down, you’ve just got to take your time with it. NBA is a high pace. Has its pace, different pace at different times,” he said. “Just being yourself, not trying to do too much. Just play hard. When you play hard everything comes into place.”
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