The Raptors are far from a deep team right now. This is not to say they don’t have talented players, but rather a reminder about how many players on the Raptors roster are simply not ready for the NBA in this moment.
Toronto entered the season with a clear starting line-up (although power forward remained a minor debate between Luis Scola and Patrick Patterson), with a defined bench as well. The question marks were found in the youthful players sitting at the end of the bench.
After all, Ujiri made it clear since his arrival in Toronto that his philosophy included stocking the end of the bench with young prospects rather than the traditional veteran presence players that often fill these spots. When Ujiri made this statement though, I never would have imagined he would have gone as far as he has towards this goal.
Delon Wright (23), Nolan Powell (turned 23 in spring), Bruno Caboclo (Baby Bruno just turned 20 in September), Anthony Bennett (Maple Daddy is a few months away from being 23), and Lucas “Bebe” Nogueira (turned 23 in July) make up the youth movement at the end of the bench, and collectively have left Toronto unsurprisingly thin when it comes to injury or absence from any of the top 10 players.
And here we are. With Jonas Valanciunas out with a broken hand and DeMarre Carroll absent with a bothersome knee, the Raptors are having to overtax their remaining top 8 players, while also calling on the youth to be ready ahead of schedule.
This was my biggest concern coming into the season, because I really do enjoy the make-up of the roster at the moment. It certainly has flaws and issues that cannot be corrected with the current personnel, but it’s generally a fun group to watch and to cheer for.
Both for their current success, and for the long-term success of the franchise, Toronto desperately needs a few of these young players to make their mark in the NBA. The dream is that one could become a home run, the goal is for at least one to be a triple, and the expectation is for at least two of them to be solid doubles (I just listened to the Raptors Weekly Extra Podcast with Blake and Will and now I’ve got baseball terms on the brain…). At least one or two of the youth need to become solid contributors for the overall success of the franchise moving forward, and that begins with hopefully seeing some development this season.
Which is what makes the emergence of Bebe Nogueira so enjoyable to watch. The man is living up to our hopes at the moment, and letting us dream that the same might happen for the others. If Bebe can do it, does that mean Bruno can? Or Powell? Or Wright? Or Benn…let’s move on.
Bebe is beginning to fulfill some of the potential that made him so appealing when he was drafted 16th overall by the Boston Celtics in 2013. He was traded twice the same night (first to Dallas and then to Atlanta) before coming to Toronto as part of the John Salmons trade with Atlanta.
I still get giddy thinking about this trade. John Salmons netted the Raptors both Lou Williams (despite his faults, Lou contributed far more to the Raptors last year than could have been expected) and Bebe Nogueira. Bebe was the just icing on the cake in that deal, and John Salmons was…well, he was John Salmons.
Bebe went from being an afterthought on this year’s roster, to potentially threatening some of Biyombo’s minutes when Valanciunas returns from injury in early/mid-January (if the original timeline holds). Bismack has been a solid contributor to the Raptors so far, and is well outplaying his $2,814,000 salary to date. He has been a deterrent at the basket for opponents, a solid screen setter, a capable rebounder, and a player who never needs a play run for him.
But Bebe has one thing that Biyombo doesn’t…actually, he has two things that Biyombo doesn’t: hands. Where Bebe has displayed a soft touch and capable court vision (on display more fully in his D-League stint), Biyombo has struggled to catch passes with the two paddles (mallets? noodles? clubs?) at the end of his arms. This problem has seemingly been less of an issue recently for some reason, even if speaking in the most minor sense, but it is still an issue.
Opponents leak off of Biyombo in the offensive end and effectively force the Raptors to play 5-on-4 in the half-court. For everything that he provides on the defensive side of the ball, he takes away a good amount of it on the offensive side.
Bebe is not yet the defender that Biyombo is, but he has shown steady growth on that side of the ball already this season. It will take time, and he will be hard pressed to grow to Biyombo’s level of pick-and-roll coverage, but he could come close given the necessary minutes.
As I think about it more though, it isn’t just a matter of having hands that has made Bebe so appealing to many when compared to Bismack. A piece of his appeal is his potential. It’s a phrase that we throw around often when it comes to sports, and all it typically means is that the player is young and could grow. They could become something as they get older, something more than they currently are.
At 23 years old and in his second season in the NBA, Bebe still has the allure of potential. Bismack on the other hand is in his fifth season and feels more like a finished product. We’ve been able to watch him for the past four seasons in Charlotte and we now know what we can expect from him. He has lost the allure of potential and is now more of a finished product, generally speaking.
And yet Biyombo is a month younger than Bebe. Sure, it’s only by a month, but he is younger. Bebe has potential and is viewed as young because he is new to the NBA and carries himself like a young player. Biyombo carries himself more like a veteran who has been around the block, and one fighting for his next contract no less.
I know this, at least logically speaking, and yet my heart still leads me to cheer for Bebe more than Biyombo. I badly want to see him continue to develop, threaten Bismack’s minutes, make the coaching staff have a difficult decision to make each game, and become a well-rounded big man for the Raptors, even if only due to his contract situation.
Biyombo has a player option for next year, one that he almost certainly will waive to become a free agent. Based on his play to date, he should be worth more on the open market than the $2,940,630 he would be owed next season on his current deal. I don’t think this makes him expendable this season, as the Raptors are desperately thin at the moment, but it does mean that Raptors need to consider life after Biyombo.
Ideally the Raptors can afford to let Bismack walk next summer due to Bebe being under team control through 2017-18, before he becomes a restricted free agent in the summer of 2018. If the Raptors want him, Bebe will be with the team for many years to come, and the same can’t be said with certainly about Biyombo.
It’s not just a matter of age, but money/contract/control are why the Raptors are likely hoping that Bebe still has more room for growth compared to Bismack. We evaluate potential based on more than age, ability, and production, we evaluate it based on contract, contract, and perception. Bebe is becoming a success story at this young age, while Biyombo is the finished product.
Funny how potential works.
