As many of us know, Chris Boucher is the last remaining member of the championship Raptors that is on the team. In fact, much of the championship rotation is either retired or on the last legs of their NBA careers. Boucher had navigated a turbulent situation with the Warriors organization — he doesn’t even have a ring from that title — landed in Toronto afterwards, and finally got to start working his big sneakers into a foothold in the NBA.
Boucher would go on to win a championship with the Raptors; and while he didn’t come close to cracking the rotation and didn’t register a minute played in the NBA Finals, he did play 4 minutes of playoff basketball (2 games against Milwaukee) and scored 5 points in that time, because of course he did. That’s what Boucher does: he jumps into games with no warmup time, sprints into the lane in transition and towards the rim, sprints towards opposing shooters, sprints to his spot as a shooter, sprints for his full stint, and then sprints to the end of the bench where he sprawls out to catch his breath. It’s no accident that he leads the franchise in 20-point games off the bench. For Boucher, it’s go time, all the time.
Boucher is resilient to every mitigating circumstance, it seems. You can see the malaise, the waxing and waning that affects other players in seasons that lack as much inherent meaning. Boucher doesn’t allow that to touch his game, though. Considering his winding road to get here, it’s not a surprise that he’s, at least a little bit, more mindful of the opportunities that come his way.
He was a bright spot of the Tampa season, where he finished the season as one of the NBA’s most efficient halfcourt scorers and as one of the best roll men (statistically) of that season. He’s a bright spot in this season as well, as he revives then sustains a comatose Raptors offense every time he touches the floor – only, this year he’s not a featured roller playing off of Kyle Lowry (only 5-percent of his plays are coming as pnr roll man), he’s just the most opportunistic cutter, shooter, and driver you’ve ever seen.
In Tampa, Boucher was a 97th-percentile halfcourt scorer and this year he’s… 96th. Feature him, don’t feature him, he’ll find his way. Also, something that matches the eye test 1-to-1: of all the players in the NBA, synergy currently has Boucher as 6th last in unguarded jumpers. Everything he shoots is classified as guarded, and the only other player with a similar amount of volume as him there is Karl-Anthony Towns. Two, big, shot makers.
Even looking back at the Vision 6’9″ era — that was forward thinking in its own way and helped predict and motivate some of the latest meta in the NBA — that was defined by Scottie Barnes, Pascal Siakam, and OG Anunoby; well, Boucher was the bassist providing the slick, thumping backtrack. My favorite lineup from that era, the Funkfest quartet, couldn’t have survived without Boucher’s presence. Even in seasons where the Raptors underperform and are forced to pivot, Boucher provides the much needed entertainment.
Save for the odd, calamitous 2022-23 Raptors season, Boucher has been a resounding minutes winner with the Raptors. You can quibble with on/offs and plus-minus, they can be undercut by lineup configuration and low-leverage minutes etc., but on the whole Boucher has been able to improve the lineups he plays with – and so much so that the Raptors pulled the cord on his minutes last season, as he played only 2 games in the Raptors 15 game losing streak.
His penchant for creating positive change put Boucher at odds with the Raptors attempts to tank their way into keeping their 2024 draft pick, and may very well be at odds with how the Raptors envision the rest of this season going – and just as we creep up to the trade deadline. The pitch is fairly easy to other teams: for a second round pick (roughly), you can nab a player who seems to be able to score in any environment — when he’s on a hot streak anyway — and a guy who might be able to swing a handful of regular season games for you, and maybe a couple in the playoffs. That’s the pitch, and an optimistic one.
Hold up, I’m just remembering the Thaddeus Young trade, wow give me a first for Boucher + the Portland second…
On the other hand, there’s reports about the Raptors & Boucher discussing an extension. I suspect that, that is motivated heavily by Boucher’s ironclad loyalty.
From my perspective, the ideal outcome is the one that includes a nice pick coming the Raptors way, and for Boucher to harness his livewire abilities and unleash them on a team that has a shot at a deep run in the playoffs. Also, by extension, giving Boucher an opportunity to be a bit of an unconventional playoff hero elsewhere. Boucher has always had the capacity for that, but his prime has been spent on Raptors teams that don’t quite have that punch – although he did put up 11 & 6 on 72-percent true-shooting against the 76ers in 21-22, including a 25-point outburst in the closing game.
However the Boucher-of-it-all shakes out, I will always remember the Raptors radical forward who occupies a bunch of different roles, but always remains unflinchingly himself. One of the great bench players in Raptors history.
Have a blessed day.