Bruno Caboclo must have big New Year’s Eve plans.
The Toronto Raptors recalled Caboclo from Raptors 905 of the D-League, the team announced late Wednesday. The team also assigned Delon Wright and Anthony Bennett to Raptors 905, messing up any plans they had to welcome 2016 properly.
The 905 play at 7:30 on Thursday while the Raptors have a practice day. Assigning Wright and Bennett is a chance for both to get some extended run, something that’s paid dividends early in the season. Caboclo, meanwhile, avoids playing in a back-to-back on account of Norman Powell also being on assignment – teams can only assign three players at a time, and with Caboclo’s development a much longer-term puzzle, getting him a day of rest when he’s already well past his career high in minutes at any level makes sense in order to get Bennett and Wright into a game.
Powell will remain with the team to continue his high-scoring ways. He dropped 28 in a loss Wednesday, pushing his averages through four games to 26.7 points, three rebounds, 3.8 assists, 7.3 free-throw attempts, and 2.3 steals. He’s proven he can get to the rim more or less at will at the D-League level and has been focusing on distributing off the bounce, something head coach Jesse Mermuys believes is the next step in evolving his game.
Wright, meanwhile, played seven minutes of spot duty while the team was shorthanded, pushing his season total to 17. In eight D-League games, he’s averaged 16.4 points, 5.4 rebounds, 7.3 assists, and 1.6 steals while shooting 53.8 percent overall and an encouraging 10-of-23 from outside.
Bennett requested an assignment a few weeks back and was sent down for a game, scoring 13 points on 5-of-16 shooting in 24 minutes.
With the Raptors back in action Friday, expect at least one of these names to be recalled and Caboclo re-assigned for the 905’s Saturday game.
