The NBA’s global expansion continued last night as the Raptors beat Israeli side Maccabi Haifa 92-85 in a lacklustre affair. One of the biggest reasons it’s fun seeing European teams come over to North America is because their playing style is so different – typically playing only a single big at a time and relying on a loose passing drive and kick attack rather than the NBA’s ball-dominant offence. At its best, it can lead to some fun positional battles and wild finishes. At its worst, though, neither team does a great job of adjusting, and the game ends up a pretty sloppy affair. This game was a lot closer to the latter than the former – but we’ll get to that.
The most exciting development of the night for Raptor fans was the preseason debut of Lucas “Bebe” Nogeuira, AKA the other 7 and a half feet of Brazilian wingspan, and he didn’t disappoint. I don’t know if he’s ready to for regular NBA minutes, but he showed the same kind of raw athleticism and promise that we’ve seen from Bruno Caboclo, and his ability to be effective in spurts cast a bit more doubt onto the outcome of the two-way-plus-Will-Cherry battle for the fifteenth roster spot.
Let’s take a bit of a deeper look at some of the storylines, rather than simply rehashing the game (click here for Will’s Quick Reaction):
All Bebe Everything
Although we’d seen a bit of him in summer league, last night was the young Brazilian’s preseason debut, and he didn’t disappoint. At times, his huge arms were downright disruptive under the hoop, where he took advantage of playing at the 4 alongside Greg Stiemsma to record some massive weakside blocks. He wasn’t a focal point in the offence, but was effective, getting to the line 4 times on a solid roll game, largely alongside Greivis Vasquez and the Raps’ second unit.
One thing that surprised me in a good way was how mobile Bebe seemed to be – playing the 4 against the four-wing lineup of Maccabi forced him out to the perimeter against much smaller checks. His side to side foot speed was up to the task (albeit against sub-NBA competition), as he hung with his man and managed to avoid the blow-by, which you would certainly expect from a raw center.
It’s clear, however, the Bebe is raw, and when he made a mistake, the entire crowd could see it. His anxiousness to contest the shot had him leaving the floor before opposing players shot the ball on occasions, and it led to his man leaking underneath for an uncontested put-back dunk just before the half. It scares you a bit to think of him out there as the sole rim protector, though obviously that won’t be happening often.
All in all, though, it was an eye-opening performance that cast a bit of doubt on to the 15th man candidacy of assumed leader in the clubhouse Stiemsma. I’d still lean towards keeping him – Nogeuira does make big mistakes and those will undoubtedly prove costly, as opposed to the solid-but-most-definitely-not-spectacular Steamer. However, who knows how long it’ll take him to correct those mistakes? It’s entirely possible he’ll have clearly supplanted Stiemsma on the depth chart within the year, which would then render the roster spot less useful in later months.
The Hunt for 15th Spot-tober (I’m so sorry.)
Stiemsma’s chief competition for that 15th spot is wing Jordan Hamilton, who has been impressive this spring but had a bit of an off-game tonight. Hamilton still managed to find his shot, but missed a couple open looks and wound up 2 for 5 for four points (along with a surprising 6 rebounds). My notes for Will Cherry, reflecting Will’s, read “Dwight Buycks with better defence,” and while I was somewhat impressed with his hustle on that end, he’s a complete nonfactor offensively and it’s really hard to see him winning a spot.
However, Hamilton, like Nogeuira, makes those kind of mistakes defensively that you notice. In one sequence tonight, he committed a bad turnover on a drive and dish attempt and then lost his man in transition for an easy finish, and it seemed like his check often swung past him easily. It’s an interesting conundrum, because if Hamilton was competing for, say, the 9th man position, his offensive abilities would far outweigh his defensive shortcomings, and he’d wind up a net positive in second unit situations.
As the last man on a roster, though, your goal is to not rock the boat, and when you only play a couple minutes, big mistakes are amplified. I’ve waffled on this a bit, but give me the solidarity of Stiemsma in a 15th man role (and Landry Fields on the wing, who may be comically overpaid but is a solid defensive option and won’t take shots he shouldn’t). It’s a risk/reward scenario either way – and Hamilton offers the greatest upside of all the options, but this team is dripping with upside in the form of Valanciunas, Ross, and the Brazilians. A defensive veteran who doesn’t rock the boat is probably what this Raptors team needs.
Maccabi Haifa
The Raptors’ opponents were largely outmatched, save for American forward Jeff Allen, who dropped 24 points in a “don’t send me back there” performance for the ages. Cast as a power forward but likely an NBA 3, Allen impressed with his athleticism and scored the ball in a variety of ways, particularly capitalizing on some sluggish defence from a larger, slower Amir Johnson and firing at will from the high post and wing. I don’t know if Allen is an NBA talent, but he’s probably good enough for the Sixers.
Like I said, Maccabi’s playing style was typical for a European squad, with a four wing, one big approach heavy on rotations and ball movement. Surprisingly, it was the Raptors’ bench that came out looking solid against the unconventional lineup, using the smaller, more mobile abilities of Patrick Patterson (who was phenomenal defensively) and Tyler Hansbrough, as well as the length of Bruno and Bebe to deal with the odd rotations.The more conventional, larger starting lineup struggled to keep up at times, particularly Amir Johnson, who looked checked out.
All in all, it was a typical preseason affair that offered little insight into Casey’s playing style and rotations for the regular season, while offering some intrigue at the fringes of the team’s lineup and another look at Raptor prospects. We’re just over 1000 words now, so I’ll leave it there – one week to go until games start to count. The Raptors sit at 6 and 1 for the preseason and and wrap up their slate on Friday against the Knicks in Montreal.
One last thing: on behalf of all of us here at RR, we wanted to offer our sincere thoughts and condolences to everyone impacted by the terrible tragedy in Ottawa yesterday. Sometimes, you get a reminder that life is bigger than basketball, and it’s important to keep in mind that while the Raptors will stay here in Canada, Maccabi Haifa will head back to Israel, a country rife with turmoil. We’re truly lucky to have what we have, lucky to have the great police and military forces that kept our citizens safe yesterday, and lucky that events like this happen so seldom that they do come as a shock.
Anyways, back to basketball. One week until the games start to count. Go Raptors go.
