,

Young Raptors bigs don’t have the luxury of feeling pressure

As if things weren't thin enough up front.

by

The Toronto Raptors didn’t have a choice.

Down Jared Sullinger for months and Jonas Valanciunas for at least Sunday night, head coach Dwane Casey had little recourse but to turn to youth in the frontcourt against the Sacramento Kings. Tasked with attempting to contain DeMarcus Cousins, of all opponents, the Raptors called upon Jakob Poeltl to make his first NBA start, upon Pascal Siakam to play some small-ball five, and on Lucas Nogueira to play his first minutes of the season.

That the Raptors lost and Cousins went off for 22 points, 14 rebounds, four assists, and three steals is almost beside the point (he shot 7-of-21, by the way). To a man, the young bigs said after the game that they would have preferred their opportunities to come in a victory, but when injuries conspire to force a team’s hand like this, a search for moral victories is almost necessary. Through that lens, the Raptors have to have emerged from a bad loss at the team level encouraged by the speed at which their rookies and pseudo-rookies are coming along, and with how they answered the bell for a very tough challenge.

“It’s a challenge. But they’re our rookies, and the only way they’re gonna learn is to put ‘em out there,” Casey said earlier in the week, with almost haunting foreshadowing. “We’ve got people hurt, and we always say the next guy, take advantage of the opportunity. Last year, our guys did it. This year, these young guys are doing it. And they’ve gotta learn quickly, ‘cause the league is unforgiving.”

Unforgiving it was, especially with respect to the whistle. Poeltl lined up across from Cousins and forced him into some tough shots throughout the night, but the Austrian also struggled through a loose whistle and a couple of fouls he owned up to as “stupid” on his part. After the game, Poeltl offered a mature take on how the game was called, the kind of thoughtful response that illuminates why Casey and his staff haven’t showed a great deal of concern with their hands being forced in the frontcourt rotation.

And if higher praise were needed, Cousins reportedly offered it in private later.

Poeltl didn’t exactly come out even against the Olympian, though he did come out with six points, a pair of offensive rebounds, and two encouraging assists. That the Raptors were outsccored while the Cousins-Poeltl matchup played out isn’t surprising nor is it a criticism of the rookie, and the Raptors recognized the difficulty of the task by perhaps over-helping in the post, or at least helping in a somewhat scattered fashion. Cousins’ passing makes doubling him a risk, and the Raptors’ perimeter defenders who weren’t digging in as the second man fell asleep a couple of times.

And of course, there were occasions on which Cousins just ate Poeltl’s lunch, like an emphatic dribble-drive from the top of the key for a dunk on which Poeltl had little chance. In losing, the Raptors are hoping the 21-year-old is picking up some important lessons, at the very least.

“It’s tough. As a young guy, you should want that challenge. It’s a heck of a challenge,” DeMar DeRozan said after the game. “It’s something you can definitely learn a lot from because there are not many DeMarcus Cousins out there. You can learn a lot from a matchup like tonight and apply that to the next game and the next game, and it’ll make you a lot better.”

Poeltl didn’t find out he was starting until shootaround. Nogueira, on the other hand, had been waiting several games for the opportunity after an ankle sprain in the preseason finale allowed Poeltl to jump him in the rotation. This is the story for Nogueira, one of constant promise but perpetual setbacks, and it sounds as if he’s growing annoyed of always waiting on a teammate’s injury to get a chance. He understands his current lot, though, and has little choice but to make the most of it.

 

“Unfortunately, sometimes in the NBA – or maybe all the time in the NBA – your chance comes when a teammate’s hurt,” Nogueira said. “For example, with JV. Personally, I don’t like this. I like it when you have a chance because you work hard, not when somebody’s hurt, unfortunately. This is sometimes the only way to have your opportunity in the league and you gotta be ready to go, you know? Unfortunately, we didn’t have the win today, but I hope next time, next game we can bring the win.”

Nogueira came away pleased with his individual performance, happy that he was able to keep the energy level high after more than two weeks without playing time. He turned in 21 quality minutes, too, protecting the rim from guards on a few occasions, finishing lobs, and matching Cousins’ physicality inside. He wasn’t perfect – the Raptors bigs combined for just four screen assists after averaging 14 through the first five games, for example, something DeRozan and the bigs will have to adjust to as defenses treat the yougnsters with less respect than Valanciunas, and Casey correctly urged that the team’s rim protection needs to improve – but the 24-year-old was able to show why he looked to be penciled into the rotation just a couple of weeks back.

It went somewhat unnoticed in the loss and because the center position was the story, but Siakam turned in perhaps his best offensive game of the season, too, scoring a career-high 10 points and using the transition game to put the Kings on their heels. The Raptors outscored the Kings by seven in the eight minutes Siakam spent at center, too, and while those looks will be matchup-dependent, it’s an encouraging sign. Siakam’s defensive versatility opens up a lot of lineup options, and sliding him up a spot with Patrick Patterson (or an extra wing) on the floor could help alleviate some of the spacing issues the team has dealt with early on (so, too, would shooters actually hitting wide-open shots, but that’s a different column).

Sunday’s loss was a frustrating one, with the Raptors coughing up a very winnable game against a sputtering opponent. Zooming out, though, a triumvirate of young bigs played well in roles far bigger than the ones that were originally expected for them, and that could pay off in the long-term.

“See, I’d rather have JV get injured right now than late in the season, obviously,” Poeltl said. “And if Pascal and I can learn from that and get out there and play some minutes at the game at the NBA level, then that’s great for the team, also. Preferably, I’d just have everybody healthy and play with our whole roster the whole season, but you can’t always pick and choose.”

That’s the hope, that the Raptors survive the current trial-by-fire and come out better for it later in the season.Not that they have any choice but to try.

“They’re gonna make mistakes. But that’s the only way they’re gonna learn, is to go through it and live with the results,” Casey said.

 

Previous: Checkmate – Raptors Lose to Kings at Home
Next: Trade Rumors and the Fun of Speculation