Norman Powell’s been here before, but never quite like this.
At UCLA, Powell spent two years as a reserve, waiting for his opportunity to take on a larger role. He understood that would be his lot again this season as a second-round pick who more or less forced his way onto the roster with a ridiculous summer league performance. Up until Tuesday, his NBA career consisted 100 minutes over 20 appearances in the Toronto Raptors’ first 48 games, with multiple D-League stints to help further develop his game.
“I feel like the D-League is really helping me develop my game,” Powell told Raptors Republic in January. “That’s how I take it. I’ve been part of this, waiting my turn. It’s nothing new. This is just a part of it. It just motivates my grind. Keep that chip on my shoulder, continue to work, continue to keep that hard-hat on and know that my time’s gonna come. You gotta pay your dues as a rookie.”
Powell’s time came in the second half of Monday’s game against Denver, after James Johnson – starting to the injured DeMarre Carroll – sprained his ankle. Powell would play 13 second-half minutes, most of them in garbage time, and then draw the start Tuesday against Phoenix.
Head coach Dwane Casey giving Powell the starting nod was at the same time surprising and expected. Casey values role consistency and, like with Johnson starting for Carroll instead of Terrence Ross, having Powell leapfrog the team’s top reserve wing is a way to preserve the team’s rotations and the robust chemistry of the second unit. At the same time, Powell had been used sparingly and stood to exasperate spacing issues the starting lineup has long struggled with. Starting him also meant moving DeMar DeRozan to the three with less freedom to switch on the wings – Powell projects as a high-end defender across three positions, but he’s mostly checked ones and twos at either level this year because of his quickness. (Powell played 12 of his minutes as the nominal two [he team was a minus-4] and three at the three in the two-point guard look [plus-3 in three minutes].)
The results from Powell’s start were somewhat mixed, which should have been anticipated given the situation he was being thrown into and where he was being thrown in from. His final stat line – zero points on 0-of-3 shooting with one rebound, one assists, one turnover, two steals, and a minus-1 rating in 15 minutes – doesn’t do his performance justice. He didn’t blow anyone away, mind you, but he acquitted himself well in his first career NBA start.
In his current (temporary) role, Powell’s primary task is to provide defense. He’s a tenacious on-ball defender and generally chases players well off the ball, using his strength and footwork to get over or around screens. That was a tough task Tuesday against Devin Booker, who’s already improved leaps and bounds as an off-ball threat, a major development given his beautiful shooting stroke. It’s especially difficult when Tyson Chandler is the screen-setter, as Chandler freed Booker from Powell with a great screen early.
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Compare that to how Cory Joseph, the team’s best player at chasing around screens, fought through a Chandler screen and reversal.
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Powell got lost on a Booker stagger screen later, too, though the second one pretty clearly wasn’t called out and he still managed to get a hand up for a late contest.
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There was also an instance where Powell got caught floating too far off of Booker, guarding nobody in a help scenario.
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That’s a possession Powell has shown as recently as Monday that he can handle.
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You can see the exact moment Booker lost Powell, as there’s some confusion as to whether he or DeRozan is the weak-side help on Archie Goodwin’s cut.
DeRozan collapsed to help as Markieff Morris reached the restricted area, too.
DeRozan boxed out P.J. Tucker, at least, and Powell bumped Goodwin on the rim-run, but nobody noticed Booker stepping out. Powell recovered too late, but it’s not entirely on him – Lowry looked for a second like he may need the help on Goodwin, Scola was kind of just floating, and the Suns deserve credit for some nice misdirection with Tucker and Booker stacked on the weak-side and Goodwin cutting to the rim.
Other than those instances, Powell’s defense was solid. He made life mostly difficult for Booker, though the Suns sharpshooter went off (he had nine points on five shots in 11 minutes against Powell and 18 points on 14 shots in 27 minutes with Powell on the bench). He also showed he can stick with bigger players some, guarding Mirza Teletovic when the Suns went with their Three Big White Guys Lineup.
He proved to be the defensive pest most were hoping for, timing his help well to disrupt the flow of Suns’ ball-handlers. Some of those plays were gambles, but his gambles are also generally well-thought out ones. He’ll leave his man, sure, but he has a good feel for the spacing around him, and his quickness closing out affords him a valuable extra split second.
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The Suns’ offense was better with Powell on the floor, a symptom of several starters having an off defensive night, but Powell’s presence was a positive in terms of forcing turnovers. Phoenix coughed it up on 21.5 percent of possessions with Powell on the court. It helps, too, that Powell is quick up the floor and aggressive in joining the transition rush.
Off of a third-quarter steal, Powell quickly got back into the play and ran a solid low pick-and-roll with Scola, attacking off the catch and floating a nice pass for an easy bucket. (Not sure why I clipped these highlights together, but they’re back-to-back, at least.)
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The primary skill Powell has been working on with Raptors 905 is his ability to distribute for others off the bounce, and that’s an encouraging example. His straight-line drives are tough to stop, even if he’s not finishing well around the rim yet, and the next step is him being able to make smart, crisp passes when he meets traffic. Until he shows he can dot hat – he has at the D-League level, but that’s much different – NBA teams are going to sag off of him, defending his drives straight-up. That cramps spacing but also presents an opportunity, either for forays to the hoop of pull-up jumpers.
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Both of those shots missed but Powell made good decisions. He probably should have found Jonas Valanciunas on the attack from the corner, but even still, that 14-footer is something he can hit. He also saw a third body come his way because DeRozan was nearby and still isn’t being guarded like a 3-point threat, with recent opponents appreciating sample size. Powell will need to be more cautious of this kind of trap when attacking from the corner (his primary spot in horns sets), because unless he’s paired with Ross or Patrick Patterson, there isn’t going to be a great deal of room to operate.
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The biggest growth in Powell’s game in the D-League has been his passing off of high or side pick-and-rolls, but it’s unlikely the Raptors will ask him to do much of that outside of garbage time.
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So there was some bad but a fair amount of good, or if not good, decent. He didn’t play as poorly as the box score suggests, and I can’t imagine Casey was anything but pleased with 15 solid, if unspectacular, minutes from an untested rookie under dire circumstances.
It’s unclear if Powell will draw the start again Thursday. Johnson is set to receive MRI results Wednesday and the Raptors could opt to elevate Ross, sacrificing some continuity to help lift a space-starved starting five-some that hasn’t been very good even when healthy. Should Powell start, he’ll face another tough defensive test in C.J. McCollum. If Powell starts, it would behoove Casey to try to sub him out quickly, allowing him to be re-inserted when DeRozan sits (either alongside Ross or in two-PG lineups) to help relieve some of the pressure on the offense.
