Javon Freeman-Liberty’s introduction to some Raptor fans came during Summer League when he and Markquis Nowell got into a yelling match, as Freeman-Liberty was still a part of the Bulls organization and leading their Summer League team in face off against the Vegas Raptors. For many more, it came as an end of bench substitution late in the Raptors first preseason game. If you stuck around to watch the former, you saw a lead guard dominating the SL runs. The latter? A two-way player on the periphery of a rotation, trying to mine every action for what it was worth – be that as a cutter or rebounder.
At Summer League, JFL was one of the premier guards and premier scorers. Only 7 players averaged more points than Freeman-Liberty at Summer League this year, two of which are lottery selections from 2022, and five of which are first round selections. Before that? He was one of college basketball and the G-League’s best scoring guards. His ability to get paint touches off the bounce is uber-impressive and fueled by a rapid first step. He’s slowly added a jumper, both off the pull and off the catch. In the G, he took almost 5 threes per game, hitting 39-percent of them; at summer league he took just over 5 a game and hit 46-percent of them. With that pull-up, he’s far more comfortable hitting it out of isolations; breaking off combos that end with a step-back triple, rather than in the downhill flow of the pick n’ roll.
On the Raptors, he won’t be afforded the opportunity to get into his bag for healthy chunks of the shot clock. Not only are the Raptors trying to rid themselves of some of their iso tendencies under the banner of Darko Rajakovic’s “.5 offense”, but what two-way player is ever given that kind of offensive responsibility? Even though JFL has shown an elite scoring ability at other levels, the Raptors (and all other teams) ask two-way players to make it in a role before anything else. Higher paid, higher drafted players get the ball and the opportunities. No one is shifting that hierarchy.
That adjustment was easy for Yuta Watanabe, whose length and activity on defense was more than welcome on a fairly hapless, Tampa Raptors team. Watanabe leaned into the inherent ‘3 and D’ principles of his game, had his two-way converted, signed an NBA deal, and went on to shoot the hell out of the ball. Even in some of the more wide open games, Watanabe didn’t press to create much, and he certainly didn’t try to do so when surrounded by stars and starters. This league finds it easier and easier to fall back on size, length, shooting ability, and low-usage players who pair all those things. You don’t need players who built their game by scoring at lower levels, because creation opportunities are already spoken for, or desired heavily on the roster.
How does JFL, an elite scoring guard at the G-League level — as Jeff Dowtin Jr. was before him — crack a Raptors rotation, and have his contract converted? How do you shrink your game and still make it big?
For starters, the bulk of JFL’s points in the preseason came off of cuts. When we think about guards and cutting, we typically think about a slip backdoor while being part of an action, something into an empty paint. Why? Because guards are small and they have a hard time finishing in congested areas. An Achiuwa cut, a Barnes cut, there’s no worry about a congested paint, just an expectation that putting the ball in their hands while moving downhill should result in points. When we think of guard movement, a lot of times we think of relocation rather than cuts. It’s a happier marriage in skillsets where big players try and get closer to the bucket, and smaller players try to weaponize their (typically) better shooting on the perimeter.
It wasn’t that JFL chose his cuts very carefully, lying in wait for the ultimate moment, but rather that he cut constantly and with intention. Dragging the weak-side zone in with him to support a pass to the corner, making the strong-side baseline cut when his man had to provide help; spying the 45 cut from the weak-side when the strong side collapses and the weak-side tenses up – he did it all. And while he shot poorly from three point land in the preseason (1-5), that’s worth nothing. Preseason is for process, not results, and shot-making is best observed over large samples – Freeman-Liberty has a healthier sample size across the G and Summer League (48-121 39.6%). The most important thing is that JFL did well to form up off of drives, provide support to his teammates when they needed to pass out, and took the shots he was supposed to. He played like a guy who can shoot, and given his history, that’s more important than how many he makes across five attempts.
In addition to cuts, JFL wormed his way into a whole bunch of offensive rebounds. These can be pretty random, and the Raptors have moved on from special and unique offensive rebounders before in Dalano Banton and Justin Champagnie, but at the very least we got to see JFL show a keen sense of awareness in tracking down loose balls, competing in-air near the rim, and using those extra possessions to fuel playmaking opportunities.
We saw him push the ball in transition and do the classic Kyle Lowry ‘cross transition lanes to occupy defenders and leave the ball behind’ pass. We saw him turn the corner in the pick n’ roll, collapse the defense and find Gradey Dick for a triple. We saw him flatten out in an iso and get to the bucket for a layup. And hopefully we see more of these things, because these would be big plays at the NBA level. However, the in-between on offense is how he’s going to introduce his value most often. Cuts, timely rebounds and poke outs, and maybe most of all 3-point shots against closeouts – and attacking them with advantage when they come.
We’ve already seen the Raptors look past a guard that can outperform Malachi Flynn on defense (Dowtin), and with some more size and athleticism the hope is that Freeman-Liberty can as well. However, I think the way to a converted two-way contract is to leap frog Flynn on offense. JFL has the potential to do so.
I guess we’ll see.
Have a blessed day.
