The biggest part of the Super Bowl halftime show wasn’t Bruno Mars. It definitely wasn’t Coldplay. It wasn’t even Beyonce, who dropped the most fire video in recent memory on Saturday only to turn around a day later and perform it at the Super Bowl, with an all-time power move of starting out on the actual field instead of the stage.
No, the most monumental part of halftime was the late addition the Toronto Raptors made to their Super Bowl party. With the team home for a few days in the middle of a double-abbreviated six-game road-trip, they had the opportunity to take the game in together. Something was missing in the first half, though. Maybe there were a lot of Panthers fans in the house. Maybe Lucas Nogueira messed up the empanadas and Jonas Valanciunas’ kugelis didn’t come out right. Maybe everyone recently saw Concussion at one of Patrick Patterson’s move nights.
Whatever the case, something was off until a little after 8 p.m., when the team made an important addition, calling up a key figure from the D-League team’s Super Bowl party.
The Toronto Raptors recalled Bruno Caboclo from Raptors 905 of the D-League, is what I’m saying. And you know he brought that good bifana.
This is no surprise at all, with the 905 now home from a Friday-Saturday back-to-back in Texas. The D-League will have their All-Star Game in Toronto this weekend, too, and the 905 are taking an extended break – not only are they off until Feb. 17, they’re not even practicing this week. Instead, Caboclo gets to rejoin the team for a quick two-game road-trip this week, potentially even getting in a game if there’s a blowout, considering the team’s down a pair of small forwards in DeMarre Carroll and James Johnson.
Caboclo is not, however, ready to help fill the void left by those two injuries. That’s entirely fine, just don’t expect meaningful contribution yet – he might not still be two years away from being two years away, but he’s probably still one injury away from being one injury away. The Raptors aren’t going to rush him into non-garbage time duty, and they’re fine trying to get by with Norman Powell and some atypical lineup iterations.
To be clear, Caboclo has definitely improved over the course of the season. Comparing his play now to the start of the year, to summer league, and to last season shows his growth, he just started from a point very far from an NBA level. In 24 games, Caboclo is averaging 13.6 points, 5.8 rebounds, 1.5 assists, 0.9 steals, and 1.8 blocks while shooting 38 percent from the floor. He’s improved his 3-point mark to 34.4 percent thanks to a hot month or so, the most encouraging number in his statistical profile. But his progress isn’t really about numbers, nice as that 3-point mark may be. This year is all about getting him regular playing time and he’s getting that in spades, which has resulted in improved defense, decision making, and overall awareness.
The 905 enter the break at 12-20, a far cry from where they were just a few weeks ago thanks to a 7-2 run. They’ve moved out of the league’s basement (they’re now fourth-to-last), and while they don’t have much of a shot at the playoffs, their record is beginning to reflect the talent on the roster in their expansion season. They;re still just 14th in offense thanks to a league-worst turnover rate, but the defense has climbed all the way to seventh. Despite the record, they’ve essentially built themselves into a middle-of-the-pack team, impressive progress in such a short amount of time.
