The Toronto Raptors have recalled Norman Powell and Lucas Nogueira from Raptors 905 of the D-League, the team announced. Taking their place will be Anthony Bennett and Bruno Caboclo, who were assigned to the 905 immediately after.
All four players were with the Raptors for Tuesday night’s game against the Washington Wizards, with all but Caboclo seeing garbage time. The Raptors then assigned Powell and Nogueira, along with Delon Wright, for Wednesday’s 11 a.m. tip-off in Mississauga, though Wright was recalled before the game as Kyle Lowry insurance.
Powell continued his run of strong play, helping lock down Tyler Harvey as the 905 won their fifth consecutive game. He finished with just five points on 2-of-4 shooting but worked primarily as a stopper and facilitator, adding eight rebounds, six assists, and two steals. Nogueira, meanwhile, had nine points, four rebounds, three assists, and five blocks in 28 minutes, finishing four alley-oops.
The reasoning for sending those two down and then swapping them out for Caboclo and Bennett is fairly clear: The 905 are about to head out on another road trip, and this was the last opportunity for some time for Powell and Nogueira to get meaningful run and shake off any rust without losing the chance to have them at practice. Since those two are closer to the fringes of the rotation than Caboclo and Bennett, who remain longer-term projects, it made sense to get them quick work before sending out the players with less present-day utility.
The 905 next play Friday, the first night of a back-to-back, then don’t play until another Friday-Saturday back-to-back the following week. It seems likely, then, that at least Bennett will be recalled for the Raptors’ own road trip that begins Monday and extends through the All-Star break.
Bennett has struggled some when on assignment, and this represents a nice chance for him to get in a lot of work in a short span considering he hasn’t seen non-garbage time at the NBA level since Dec. 22. He’s now played 84 minutes over four D-League outings, averaging 11 points and 3.3 rebounds with a 41.6 true-shooting percentage.
In 20 games with the 905, Caboclo is averaging 13.4 points, 5.5 rebounds, 1.7 assists, and 1.7 blocks,s hooting 37 percent from the floor and 31.2 percent on threes. Despite modest numbers, his game has improved noticeably since the summer, particularly with respect to attacking closeouts, shot selection, and help defense.
We’ll have a recap of today’s 905 game up shortly.
