First, let me explain the wording. The last time at least four top-five picks were named to the first team was 2018-19, when the top five picks swept the spots. Before that, it hadn’t been since 2008-09 that at least four of the top five picks all made All-Rookie (Derrick Rose, Michael Beasley, O.J. Mayo and Russell Westbrook, if you’re curious.). Barring injuries, I think first pick Cade Cunningham, second pick Jalen Green and fifth pick Jalen Suggs are near-locks for spots on the team given their leading roles on otherwise uninspiring offensive teams.
Barnes won’t be in that type of position. Barnes averaged just 9.8 points per game in the preseason, and that was with Siakam and Chris Boucher unavailable to play. He led the team in minutes per game, but was sixth in scoring average. It was just the preseason, but it is hard to believe that he is going to score more if/when the Raptors get healthier on the wing.
Yet, you can see why NBA obsessives will gravitate toward Barnes’ game. He is going to fill the stat sheet and play some of the best defence in his class, with the most positional versatility on both ends. It’s possible he will average more than five assists and rebounds per game and more than a steal and block per game. He will be on highlight reels for all sorts of reasons. I think he squeaks in because of all of that, despite how far his scoring has to come.
Bonds forged during fight for Raptors’ final roster spots are made to last – Sportsnet
“Sure, the unguaranteed guys are fighting for spots like Isaac Bonga, Ish, Freddie Gillespie, but those guys are some of the kindest human beings you could ever meet. So that is the hardest part of the job. For the coaches it’s the hardest part of the job, for the front office it’s the hardest part of the job, for the front office it’s the hardest part, for agents and you can go down and down and down. … So these are guys that I’ll stay in touch with for a long time, no matter what happens and I’m always going to cheer for them, no matter what because it’s the weakness of a man to root for someone to fail. So whatever happens I want those guys to have success in whatever they do.”
Added Wainright: “It’s a brotherhood. We’ve been playing against each other for years, it’s a basketball community, it’s a brotherhood. I mean, I’ve been playing against Sam since the sixth grade, just played against him a few months ago overseas. I mean we have a special bond but on the court we’re competing for spots.
“I’m competing not just with Isaac, Sam, and other guys, I’m competing with OG [Anunoby], Scottie [Barnes], guys like that. We take whatever is on the court, we don’t take it off the court, we still have our bonds, we’ll still go to lunch, go to dinner no matter what happens we’re still going to be OK, we’re still going to be cool, still going to text, still going to have our group message. We’ll see down the line with whatever happens.”
This is a positive attitude for anyone to have, but it feels like it’s essential for guys like Dekker, Wainright and Bonga who are on the fringes of the NBA. Being supportive and empathetic to the plight of others who are going through similar experiences is a solid way to make a good impression not only with your teammates and even those you’re competing with, but with front-office personnel and the coaching staff.
An upbeat, optimistic disposition will carry all of these guys far, even if their destination won’t necessarily be in Toronto.
“I’m going to be able to go to bed at night happy with what I was able to do and proud of myself for this whole summer, this whole fall, the way I performed, the way I approached each day, the relationships I made,” Dekker said. “Those are the things I’m proud of, I think I showed who I am as a player and a person and if one of us isn’t chosen, it’s not a knock on you as a person or a player. We have 20 good players coming into camp so it’s not, oh, we don’t need that guy. It’s more of we’ve got to go in a different direction. It’s the art of the business.
“Again, I’m proud of myself for the way I’ve handled all of this, all the pressure, and coming back. The biggest thing that it solidified in my own mind is I am an NBA player. Sometimes the biggest person you have to prove that to is yourself. That’s where I am right now.”
“No matter how it goes I’m not going to hang my head,” added Wainright. “My parents and my family always told me once one door closes another one opens up. So I’m coming out of this a better man, a better basketball player, a better person, period. So I’m not going to hold my head, I think nobody’s going to hold their heads.”
And Bonga: “I think for me the thing is always I want to learn as much as possible. It’s the same thing as winning games. These last weeks have definitely done that. As a basketball player I think I’ve gotten better. As a person I’ve gotten better. A hundred per cent.”
In this relatively new era for the franchise — with a team that’s good but built for a year or two out, a solid group that has championship experience but a lot of new pieces — VanVleet is going to emerge as the wise old soul and the leader.
“I think that was one of the things that allowed me to be here is, they saw some of that leadership potential, just my character and who I was as a man, a young man,” he said. “My first year, DeMar (DeRozan) really wasn’t that vocal in terms of talking. Kyle (Lowry) is really not as vocal as you might think on a daily basis. He speaks when something needs to be said. He checks things as they go.
“So, there was a void there. You always need the leaders of the team and guys who can lead each other.”
Lowry, who was a force on and off the court in nine years in Toronto, is gone. The strength of his personality will be missed, but it’s not like VanVleet was a shrinking violet with Lowry around.
“He’s carried a lot of that load already,” coach Nick Nurse said of VanVleet’s responsibility within the team framework. “Will it expand some from a leadership standpoint? I suppose.”
The truth is that VanVleet has been a predominant voice in the Raptors locker room for years. He may not have had the public profile that Lowry did as the face of the franchise, he certainly wasn’t the Type-A on-court personality that Kawhi Leonard was, and he wasn’t as accomplished as DeRozan in his run of all-star seasons.
But VanVleet has for years been a commanding and demanding presence behind the scenes. He understood the “load management” that Leonard operated under and might have bristled at it privately, but knew how important it was to the team and held his tongue. He let Lowry be Lowry, good and bad, because it was best for the team.
Now? Now he’s the undisputed voice of reason.
“I’ve always been comfortable there. I was allowed to have a voice pretty much from my first year, second year, and it’s just been steadily growing,” he said. “And everybody else’s perception or expectations of me have changed, maybe. But for me, I’ve been vocal in the locker room for the majority of my time here. That’s not really going to change.”
His on-court role will change this year, though.
With Lowry gone to Miami — and it remains to be seen how much VanVleet will share the court with Goran Dragic, acquired from the Heat, in the two-guard system Nurse likes — VanVleet’s going to be the orchestrator of whatever the Raptors become on offence. His three-point shooting will be vital to a roster that isn’t littered with proven shooters, and his ability to get the team organized offensively will be vital.
The candidates for final Raptors’ roster positions | Toronto Sun
As Nurse said following the final pre-season game, it’s going to be a very, very tough decision.
They already made one tough cut when the ever-likable Freddie Gillespie was waived earlier in the week.
One more needs to go and all three have a case for staying.
Here is a selected breakdown of what the Raptors have to choose between.
SAM DEKKER: 27, Forward, 6-foot-8, 229, NBA Experience: 200 games
The case for Dekker is an obvious one. He’s a guy who can shoot the basketball and scoring appears to be a need on this team.
Dekker is the lone first-round pick in the bunch but bounced around from Houston to the L.A. Clippers to the Cleveland Cavaliers and Washington before spending the past two years overseas in Russia and Turkey.
“I’ve had seven different staffs in seven years,” Dekker said. “A lot of people get a chance to grow within an organization and massage the process of getting ready to go. Seven or eight games into my rookie year, the Rockets fired Kevin McHale, so eight staffs. Two staffs that year, then D’Antoni, Doc Rivers, Ty Lue then a firing, Larry Drew, get traded, then Scott Brooks. Then go to Russia and go to Turkey.
“I feel like I’ve always had to prove myself.” Dekker said. “And that sometimes, makes you a little anxious and I think that’s where it got me. I was looking over my shoulder, trying to prove hey, I’m doing this, I’m doing that and kind of driving myself crazy.”
The two years overseas, Dekker said, was all about growing up.
First, one of the possibly three open spots is locked up for Watanabe. I’m not sure that was ever really in doubt but he had such a good camp and one good game that it became obvious after just a couple of days that that he’ll be sticking around.
But who else?
Like I said, tough call, especially after Dekker went berserk shooting the ball in the fourth quarter in Washington.
The last time we spoke with Bobby Webster, there was no clear indication if they would fill out the roster to 15 (three jobs) or leave one spot open (two jobs) but the sense is that they’ll go to 15, especially now with the injuries, and worry about luxury tax implications later because those calculations aren’t final until the last day of the regular season and there will be many possible financial shenanigans that arise.
So, two jobs for five guys.Well, I think you can take Reggie Perry out of the equation, primarily because he never played and he’s probably been destined to be cut and moved to the G League 905 from the start.
So, two jobs for four guys.Wainright.
Gillespie.
Dekker.
Bonga.You can make a case for each of them, actually. Dekker’s a shooter and you can’t have enough shooting.
Gillespie knows the team and the program and played last year, well at times.
Wainright shot it pretty well and he’s a banger on a team that’s not overly tough.
Bonga plaed more than the others, even starting on Tuesday and he’s got the length and athleticism that make you think he’d fit on the roster perfectly.
Me?
I’m keeping Bonga and Wainright.
