The Toronto Raptors are set to host the Houston Rockets at 6:30 p.m. on Sportsnet One, the third game on a three-game home-stand and an opportunity to extend the team’s franchise-record home winning streak to 13 games. And that’s pretty cool, but it’s not super cool.
Beas in the Trap
In a very disappointing turn for yours truly, Michael Beasley landed with the Houston Rockets instead of the Toronto Raptors last week. After averaging 31.9 points, 13.2 rebounds, 3.8 assists, two steals, and 1.3 blocks while shooting 54.1 percent overall and 37.1 percent on threes during the Chinese season, Beasley deemed himself ready for a return to the NBA, and the Rockets agree.
It’s the same path Beasley followed last year before landing with Miami for a 24-game stint that saw him average 8.8 points. Super Cool Beas saw four minutes of action in his Rockets debut on Saturday, scoring two beautiful points on five perfectly reasonable shot attempts.
Now in what has to be his…what, fourth, fifth NBA opportunity, Beasley’s surprisingly played in the league in eight consecutive seasons. Over 434 games, he’s averaged 13 points on 50.6-percent true shooting, with a 14.9 player efficiency rating. Strange as it sounds, the No. 2 pick in the 2008 draft has proven a capable, if slightly inefficient scorer, though his defensive limitations, shot selection, and off-court issues have conspired to limit his overall utility and ability to stay on a roster.
| Rk | Player | From | To | G | GS | MP | FG | FGA | FG% | 3P | 3PA | 3P% | 2P | 2PA | 2P% | FT | FTA | FT% | ORB | DRB | TRB | AST | STL | BLK | TOV | PF | PTS |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Michael Beasley | 2009 | 2016 | 434 | 200 | 10679 | 7.7 | 17.1 | .449 | 0.8 | 2.3 | .343 | 6.9 | 14.8 | .466 | 2.8 | 3.7 | .759 | 1.6 | 5.4 | 7.1 | 1.9 | 0.9 | 0.8 | 2.6 | 3.3 | 19.0 |
| 2 | Derrick Rose | 2009 | 2016 | 391 | 390 | 13736 | 7.9 | 17.5 | .449 | 0.9 | 2.9 | .302 | 7.0 | 14.6 | .479 | 3.7 | 4.6 | .814 | 0.9 | 2.9 | 3.8 | 6.4 | 0.8 | 0.4 | 3.0 | 1.5 | 20.3 |
Sigh. Jason Thompson will have to suffice.
Rockets updates
The Rockets have also signed Andre Goudelock and recalled Sam Dekker, K.J. McDaniels (!!), and Montrezl Harrell from the D-League. They waived Ty Lawson this week, too, so this could be a drastically different Rockets team than the one the Raptors were scouting even a week ago. They’re kind of a mess, even at 30-32 and with a one-game hold on the final playoff spot in the Western Conference.
It’s unclear if Goudelock will be available for Houston on Sunday, as he had a baby yesterday (congrats, and goude lock with parenthood!). Terrence Jones is also questionable due to an illness that cost him Saturday’s game.
Their rotation will look something like this:
PG: Patrick Beverley, Jason Terry, (Goudelock)
SG: James Harden, McDaniels
SF: Trevor Ariza, Corey Brewer, Dekker
PF: Donatas Motiejunas. Josh Smith, (Jones), Harrell, Beasley
C: Dwight Howard, Clint Capela
What a weird team.
UPDATE: Jones is out. No word on Goudelock.
Raptors updates
The Raptors recalled their D-League detachment from Mississauga, and it stands to reason that Lucas Nogueira could see action opposite Capela on Sunday, rare as that’s been.
Otherwise, the only real update is that DeMarre Carroll has now progressed to one-on-one drills and is, according to head coach Dwane Casey (per Ryan Wolstat of the Toronto Sun), is “still on schedule.” The initial public timeline given by the organization was six-to-eight weeks, and today marks nine weeks since his last appearance, so the rumored/worried longer timeline appears to have been the one the team was actually working with. From here, Carroll will need to get cleared for contact, then regular practice, then game action. It’s no longer looking likely Carroll will return on this homestand, and the hope has to be that he can return some time in March, giving him at least two weeks to shake the rust off and discover a chemistry with what’s essentially still a new team for him.
The guess here is that James Johnson, assuming his foot is feeling better, draws back in to the starting lineup. Norman Powell had a great outing against Portland on Friday, but the Raptors probably don’t want the smaller Powell on Harden, or to task DeMar DeRozan with that job. Casey isn’t much for juggling his starters, but Harden and C.J. McCollum are pretty different assignments, basically the leading examples of when you’d want Powell and when you’d want Johnson. It’s worth noting, however, that Johnson has played terribly since returning from an ankle injury a few weeks back. Still, someone‘s gotta stop Beas.
The Raptors’ rotation will look something like this:
PG: Kyle Lowry, Cory Joseph, Delon Wright
SG: DeRozan, Powell, T.J. Ross
SF: Johnson, Bruno Caboclo
PF: Luis Scola, Patrick Patterson, Thompson
C: Jonas Valanciunas, Bismack Biyombo, Nogueira
Casey probably won’t reveal his hand until 30 minutes before game time, so check back then.
UPDATE: Johnson will start, the team announced at 5:50.
The line
The Raptors opened as seven-point favorites and the line has since moved to Raptors -7.5. With Toronto comfortably at home, Houston having gotten in late following a game in Chicago last night, and the general weirdness of the Rockets right now, that seems fair. The Raptors will probably get a big lead and let them claw back into it, only to later pull away again.
Raptors 111, Rockets 101
