A rising tide lifts all boats. By that aphorism, the timing couldn’t be better for Raptors 905 to find their footing as a team.
This week marks the annual D-League Showcase and the first trip to said event for the expansion 905 team. Scouts and executives from all 30 NBA teams and several international clubs will be on hand to get a close look at the best players on the fringes of the best leagues, with big opportunities waiting as the NBA enters “cut week,” when 36 contracts will become fully guaranteed if they’re not waived. It’s a pivotal week for players at the individual level, but a week in Santa Cruz, Calif., could do teams some good, too.
The 905 enter the five-day scouting mega-event with a 5-14 record, a half-game from being the league’s worst team. Things haven’t been easy for a very young, very inexperienced team in their inaugural year, and the hope is that the mid-season reprieve from the Mississauga cold that had Shannon Scott in two winter jackets this week helps give the roster a new lease on the remainder of the season.
“For the players, we’re trying to recharge them and re-juice them,” head coach Jesse Mermuys said Monday. “It’s almost like a college team going to the Bahamas or Hawaii for a tournament. It’s kind of like a new season. It’s only two games, but we’re trying to use it almost as a fresh start.”
It is only two games, and they’ll be tough ones. The 905 draw the 14-3 Sioux Falls Skyforce for the fourth time since Dec. 22 on Thursday at 8 p.m. (on NBA TV or streamed on YouTube and Raptors905.com) and then the talented, 10-8 Rio Grande Valley Vipers on Saturday at 8 p.m. (streamed on YouTube and Raptors905.com).
The 905 took Sioux Falls, perhaps the best team in the league, to overtime on one occasion and have shown that they can play with the best teams in the league, at least for short stretches. They’re a bottom-three offense thanks to persistent turnover issues, issues that have made things more difficult on their transition defense. Once set, the defense is actually quite stout, and the 905 are in the middle of the pack in terms of defensive efficiency. They block a lot of shots, rebound well, and while they allow a lot of 3-point attempts, that’s a strategic choice meant to help seal off the rim and to take advantage of the team’s great athleticism for the purposes of closing out on shooters. (Opponent 3-point percentage has been shown to be difficult to control over the long-run, but opponents are hitting a below-average 33.2 percent of their triples against the 905, the fifth-best mark in the league.)
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There have been a lot of losses, some of them by blowout and some of them even more painful narrow defeats, but it’s been the hope of the staff that small, incremental improvements and lessons in how to win will eventually reach a crescendo and begin leading to on-court results. Given what’s at stake for several of the individuals on the team this week, the Showcase would be a great time for things to come together.
“Absolutely, we’ve talked about it,” Mermuys said of the call up window that opens up this week. “I want these guys to be playing their best basketball going into The Showcase and going into an opportunity where everybody in the NBA is watching them. They want to display what they can do, and to do that, we have to be playing at a high level.”
Players can’t go out gunning to get noticed, however. Mermuys has preached playing within a defined role and playing a team game to his charges, using the example of early Washington Wizards call-up Jarell Eddie to make a point. Eddie was putting up modest but efficient numbers, and he’s now getting regular run for a banged-up Wizards team.
“It’s the perfect example. The guy was on a winning team. They’re in first place,” Mermuys said. “He’s not averaging 20. He’s shooting a high percentage. To shoot a high percentage, you’ve got to take good shots. And he gets rewarded for it. That’s what all these guys should use as a wake-up call: People want to be a part of winning and they want guys down here playing like they would in the NBA.”
Scott Suggs may represent the best in-house example of that. Somehow the team’s elder statesmen at 26, Suggs opted for another go-round of the D-League instead of a more lucrative overseas opportunity for the chance to be close to the NBA. He’s averaging 15.6 points, 3.3 rebounds, and 1.6 assists bouncing between a bench and starting role as assignments dictate, and he has exactly the type of offensive game that would lend itself to taking over a game if he decided to try to do so in Santa Cruz. But Suggs, a 43.1-percent 3-point shooter on the year, is of the mind that everyone putting the team first is the best way to put themselves first.
“We understand how important this is, so I’d expect us to come out,” Suggs said. “Obviously, if you get some wins under your belt, that’s always gonna be uplifting and encouraging moving forward. That’s our goal. Obviously, individually, everyone wants to perform well, but if we perform well as a team, then individually, everybody will shine.”
Ronald Roberts has more on the line than maybe anyone at the entire Showcase, as he’s on a short list of the most likely NBA call ups. He’s second in the D-League in rebounding at 12.6 per-game and has been the team’s best overall player, averaging 17.8 points on 66.2-percent shooting. Like Suggs, he’s somewhat of an unlikely leader at just 24, and it speaks to his patience and maturity that it’s him, with so much riding on The Showcase, trying to calm the less experienced players down.
“Go out there, get wins, and just have a great time,” Roberts said of his locker room message. “I can’t put too much pressure on myself and I tell my guys, too, just go out there and have fun. It’s basketball. We’re doing what we love for a living. So not to put too much pressure on ourselves and just make it happen.”
If Suggs or Roberts get the call from the NBA, the 905 will miss their presence a great deal. They’re not the only ones who could get the nod, and while Mermuys thinks Roberts, Suggs, and Axel Toupane are “right there,” he’s not ruling out losing someone else. “One of our other guys has a great game and does some things and falls in love with him, you just don’t know,” he said. Anyone who’s on the 905 roster is someone the Toronto Raptors organization saw value in developing, and it stands to reason that a team with more roster flexibility could want a closer look at the NBA level if someone stands out this week.
That would represent a bit of a Pyrrhic victory for the 905 – there’s no short-term compensation for losing a player to the NBA – but it’s one they’d be more than happy with. “It’s a good problem to have because it means that our guys are good enough for the NBA,” general manager Dan Tolzman said Saturday. “I hope they all get called up,” Mermuys added.
Given the pressure of the environment, Mermuys expects some nerves from his young charges. While over-thinking in transition and over-eagerness in help defense have occasionally been issues on the court, Mermuys is hoping to channel the additional nervous energy for good.
“If there weren’t (nerves), there’d be something wrong,” Mermuys said. “That’s part of developing as a player, using that care level as a positive and not making it a negative. These guys should be really excited about the opportunity, and play hard and play together.”
Playing together seems to be the common refrain, and everyone’s bought in to the play of the team lifting the chances of each individual. If the 905 were ever going to find a groove, now seems an opportune time.
Photo courtesy IG: Raptors905.
