The Raptors 905’s season may be over, but for the five Raptors rookies – Ja’Kobe Walter, Jamal Shead, Jonathan Mogbo, Jamison Battle, and Ulrich Chomche – who made both their G League and NBA debuts this season, their careers are just getting started. Here we are going to breakdown the plays they ran and the situations they were put in while playing in the development league context.
The rookies have seen ample time in larger roles with the Raptors this season, given the injuries, trades, and eventual lineup decisions, but their time with 905 serves as a macro version of that. The idea of this piece is that looking at how the organization used these players in a setting that allows for more experimentation will help inform us on future plans for their development.
It seems fitting that I write these pieces at the conclusion of my own rookie season at Raptors Republic and on the 905 beat.
For the third and final part of this series, we’ll cover the organization’s efforts to develop Jonathan Mogbo into a jumbo wing, what that looked like with the 905, and how his skillset could be applied in that role going forward. We’ll also take a quick look at Ja’Kobe Walter’s creation chops.
The wingifcation of the NBA has become a growing trend in recent seasons. Positions have become more fluid, and some even argue there aren’t as many as there used to be. Brad Stevens, former Celtics coach and current GM distills it down to three. “I don’t have the five positions anymore,” Stevens told the Associated Press. “It may be as simple as three positions now, where you’re either a ball-handler, a wing or a big.”
Jonathan Mogbo is a great example of this. He played as a big in college, and a dominant one, finishing with a better field goal percentage than Zach Edey during the 2023-24 NCAA season. Yet despite his seven-foot wingspan and six-foot-nine frame (at least according to his NBA.com listing) Mogbo has proven to be undersized and overmatched physically as an NBA big. He saw a handful of minutes there first while Kelly Olynyk was hurt at the start of the season, and then after he was traded at the deadline, and the results weren’t great. Five-man lineups with the rookie at the five were bad at rebounding, defending the rim and finishing at the rim. The main advantage he provided was his switchability at the point of attack, helping deter drives and flatten out opposing offences.
This is a valuable skill and one that can also be enacted from the wing position. Really, it was always the Raptors’ intention to develop Mogbo as a wing. Here he not only has the size, strength and athleticism to be an extremely versatile and effective defender, but also the potential to be a matchup nightmare on offence. Mogbo also has the handle and passing chops to act as a secondary playmaker and while he isn’t a perimeter shooting threat yet, he’s been working on it. He shot 25-of-90 from three (27.7 percent) between the NBA and G League this season after taking a grand total of zero attempts during his senior year in college.
In the first clip, Mogbo is playing the four and sets a ram screen (comes off an off-ball screen to set the ball-handler) for Ja’Kobe Walter. Ulrich Chomche drifts to the dunker spot after setting the initial off ball screen, drawing the opposing big with him. This leaves the defence in a tough spot where they must switch or hedge to keep Walter from open space.
As a result, the help is late as Mogbo steamrolls down the lane and the defence fouls to prevent an easy bucket.
Mogbo is an experienced roller, and while this is traditionally thought of as a big man play type, he has the potential to be effective screening and rolling as a wing if the Raptors find a way to draw the big away from the paint, as they did here. Even if the big stays put, Mogbo is a capable and willing passer, creating the opportunity for laydowns if the big steps up.
Next, the 905 throw the ball out to Frank Kaminsky at the three-point line to run delay action – a go-to set that the Raptors run through Jakob Poeltl – with Mogbo stationed in the weak-side corner. Mogbo takes advantage of his size and makes a nice duck-in, gaining post position on a smaller defender, forcing the Valley Suns to send a double or risk a high-percentage attempt at the rim. Again, Mogbo’s ability and willingness to pass results in an open three for Evan Gilyard. This is another example of how Mogbo’s size and skillset on the wing can create mismatches and advantages.
Similar to Jamal Shead in our previous Raptors rookie edition of this series, Walter didn’t spend a ton of time with the 905 this season – only six games – but there were flashes of developments to come. The rookie guard was entrusted with handling the ball a lot more during his time in the G League, and showed he was able to get his own from a standstill often, beating defenders off the bounce and either pulling up from mid-range or getting to the rim and finishing.
This is encouraging, and an ability that we saw grow as the season progressed. Where I want to focus is not just on him creating for himself, but also for others. Not something necessarily expected from a player that came out of Baylor with a score-first reputation.
To start the first clip, we have an example of Chomche running delay offence, something the 905 had him do more and more often over time. Eventually Kennedy Chandler swings it to Walter, who beats his man and gets into the paint before dumping it off to Chomche. Then, we have another example of Walter getting downhill, this time with a crafty behind-the-back dribble before finding a corner shooter.
Walter started to flash this same kind of playmaking vision and touch later in the season with the Raptors, particularly against the Brooklyn Nets where he had six assists, including two where he drove and touched the paint, collapsing the defence, before finding open shooters.
Walter adding this element to his game on top of his already promising cutting, shooting and on-ball defence would be a massive boon to his case for a rotation spot as competition for minutes grows next season.
Then to finish off the 905 film we have Walter setting a back screen for a Eugene Omoruyi post up. Nothing materializes so Walter flows into a pick n’ roll and calmly drains the jumper over the drop defence. Simple and effective.
That’s all for this series folks. It’s been fun watching this Raptors rookie class flourish and I’m intrigued to see how they continue to grow their games over the summer and into next season. Ulrich Chomche is still incredibly malleable as such a young player so early in his basketball career, so watch out for more film breakdowns of his progress with the 905 next season.
