Jared Rhoden likes to keep it simple.
He goes to work, goes home to his apartment, spends time with his girlfriend, walks their dog – a miniature poodle – and sticks to a consistent routine. Granted his job as a pro hooper is anything but ordinary, but that’s just even more reason to maintain normalcy in the areas of life that can be controlled. Lately Rhoden has liked keeping it simple in Toronto.
“I got a chance to go to Centre Island, I think it’s called. I went there with my girlfriend, that was really cool,” says Rhoden. “We drove the little ferry boat in and went over there, like I’ve seen a couple spots. I walked around and went to some parks, and I just really love it man. With my Caribbean background, it feels like home, interacting with the people. I went thrifting, I went to Kensington, I went shopping and I just got the whole experience. It was really cool.”
The Toronto Raptors clearly like Rhoden too. Following an outstanding run of play in the G League this past season, they signed him to a two-year two-way contract in early March.
One week after signing that deal, during the dog days of the Raptors’ season, Rhoden put up an NBA career-high 25 points in a win against the Philadelphia 76ers, also adding 12 rebounds for his first career double-double. Simple, run-of-the-mill stuff.
He did a little bit of everything in the game – he often does – crashing for offensive rebounds, spotting up and draining a variety of triples and operating as both a primary ball-handler and off-ball cutter. But when asked what he would remember most about his monumental performance, Rhoden took the most pride in his four steals.
Perhaps his best sequence that night started with him making an errant skip-pass that was picked off. Rhoden hustled back the other way and leapt to tip an attempted lob on the two-on-one break, getting the ball back and making up for his mistake. He proceeded to force another turnover on a rearview contest moments later. Offence materialized soon after as he 45-cut for a dunk, made a great read on a skip pass to Jamal Shead for an open corner 3, and made a couple shots himself. This included an impressive pump fake, sidestep, second reset to avoid the recovering defender, and finally – splash. And it all started with a resilient play on defence.
Sometimes for a player like Rhoden trying to break into the league, it can be best to keep it simple. Darko Rajaković has spoken to the merits of having a couple standout NBA skills rather than too many in reference to Scottie Barnes. Rhoden does so many things well that, unlike Ulrich Chomche’s cavalcade of blocks or Jamison Battle’s deadeye shooting, he can blend in a little. Raptors 905 head coach Drew Jones singled out Rhoden’s defensive versatility and ability to guard multiple positions as one of the defining factors of his game.
“I would have to agree with that,” Rajaković told me following that game against the 76ers, the NBA club and affiliate ever aligned. “Obviously, this is a different level than playing in the G League, but he’s stepping up. He’s showing he’s got very long arms; he’s doing a really good job on ball being really disruptive, comes up with winning possessions for us. He’s just out there competing and trying to execute the gameplan. Really, really proud of his performance tonight.”
Rhoden is on the same page as Jones and Rajaković, saying that his role in the NBA is going to be as a defender first. Both the players and coaches have echoed the idea that running similar systems has helped make it easy to “directly translate” what they do in the G League to the Raptors. And not a lot of players end up in Rhoden’s shoes – spending their third straight season on a two-way contract – without establishing that they can step into an NBA rotation and guard if needed. He too mentioned his “long arms,” when I asked about his defence. (Rhoden’s wingspan is listed at six-foot-11 on various draft and prospect websites.)
But he’s no slouch on offence either, using his outlier athleticism to feast in transition while also showing an ability to score at all three levels in the G League. He’s a fluid mover, can finish with both hands at the basket and does so fearlessly and with efficiency. His jumper has also only improved in his time in the pros, hitting at a 39.9 percent clip from distance on 571 career G League attempts, compared to his 31.2 percent mark in college. And he isn’t satisfied, still looking to add more to his game.
“I’m more known as a transition player on the offensive side. So just showcasing that I can create a little bit in the halfcourt, when needed to,” Rhoden said when I asked what he was working on following his career night against the 76ers.
But the other side of the floor always stays front-of-mind.
“I think my main focus is really on defence,” he added. “I think that’s my main calling card, is just showing that I can guard the point guard, switch on to four men and just be a physical defender out there, giving Quickley, Scottie and all those guys breaks when they need them. That’s my job, that’s my role and I’m ready to do all the intangible things.”
Yet Rajaković noticed Rhoden’s efforts to create shots in the halfcourt. His ability to get to his spot or hit a pull-up jumper is one thing, but the ability to generate quality shots for teammates adds a whole other dimension to his game on offence.
“I think that he did a really good job of driving the ball and then finding solutions at the rim,” said Rajaković. “Some of those kick outs, some of those easy layups; I think he did a really good job touching the paint.”
It is immensely valuable to be able to create advantages, not just take advantage of opportunities in transition or with the defence already shifted. Playmaking is far from Rhoden’s defining skill; his defence will always be what gets him on the floor and “sustains” him. But some additional offensive juice could help keep him there. Rhoden also averaged a G League career-best 3.4 assists this past season and set his single-game career-high in scoring there as well with a 40-point outburst in the 905’s final game of the season.
Resiliency is a trait inherent to players living on the NBA’s margins. The uncertainty of moving cities year after year, constantly grinding for an opportunity and having to be ready to uproot your life because of one phone call is undoubtedly a stressful existence. While Rhoden credits his resiliency, faith and consistency for his development this season, he also commends the Raptors for putting him in a position to succeed.
“I think it’s a testimony to the organization, and just the confidence that they instill in you,” says Rhoden. “The environment that they provide, it’s very high energy, it’s very loyal, it’s very easy to communicate, it’s very easy to fit in. And I think that makes it easy to play. When you go out there on the floor, you just feel connected with everybody.”
And this connection doesn’t stop when Rhoden steps off the floor at Paramount Fine Food Centre or Scotiabank Arena. Every time I bring up the city of Toronto to him, his response is full of the word “home.”
In the Raptors’ final home game of the season against the Charlotte Hornets, Rhoden tore the labrum in his right shoulder after his arm was pulled awkwardly while attempting to box out veteran big Taj Gibson. However, after undergoing successful surgery to repair the cartilage in April, he has still been hanging around the city while he recovers. Rhoden was spotted alongside a group of Raptors teammates including Garrett Temple, Jonathan Mogbo, Immanuel Quickley, Shead, and Chomche in a box at the Toronto Maple Leafs 5-4 Game 1 win over the Florida Panthers earlier this month. Even those of us who prefer hoops know that supporting the Maple Leafs – despite their flaws – runs deep in Toronto. It’s just another of the many examples of Rhoden fully embracing the city.
“It’s been quite the experience man, I really love it here, to be honest with you,” says Rhoden. “I think it just fits to my background, my culture. I come from Jamaican and Ecuadorian descendants, so I think just like the vibe here is just kind of more so my speed. It’s easy, it feels like home, when you’re interacting with the community, when you’re interacting with the city, getting cultural food. It goes such a long way. It really feels like it’s becoming home a little bit.”
Considering the success Rhoden’s had here, the way he’s gelled with the organization’s philosophy and the way he’s taken to life in Toronto, it’s understandable that he’s looking to make the arrangement more permanent heading into the second year of his two-way.
“I think it’s just continuing to establish myself within the organization, continuing to show my high character and showing that what I do can translate to being a part of the team next year,” says Rhoden. “That’s my goal is to potentially get converted and be a part of this organization for hopefully a long time. That’s my goal, that’s where I’m at and I think I can do it. So, I’m looking forward to that.”
The pathway to a standard contract for Rhoden won’t be an easy one. Toronto has a glut of similarly sized wings ahead of him on the depth chart. The timeline for his recovery means he will miss Summer League – a valuable opportunity to showcase what he can offer – and even potentially some of training camp and the pre-season if it ends up on the longer side of the four-to-six-month timeline. Jamison Battle parlayed his exhibit-10 deal into a two-way contract last season with his Summer League and pre-season play and now has a spot on the roster.
But this situation is nothing that Rhoden isn’t already familiar with. He called returning to the 905 after being waived on his two-way deal with the Charlotte Hornets this past season “the toughest point” of his career. Yet he came back better than ever, posting career-high averages and standalone performances and earning another shot at the NBA. And while he faces an arduous way forward again, he knows how to approach adversity.
With simplicity.
“One of the biggest things for me that’s held me emotionally stable this year is homing in on my routine,” says Rhoden. “And believing in that the outcome may not always be exactly how I envisioned it, but if I continue to work on my process every day – my process, which is my routine – then I know that if I stack those days over and over and over time, and you look up from a couple weeks or a month, you created a good trajectory of increase in your skill or your confidence or your ability. So that’s just kind of where I see it as like I’m running an 800, not necessarily a 200, you know what I mean? So, I’m just running a long, long marathon and each day and each moment that I get is just a chance to improve.”
This same process-driven mindset will serve him well in his injury rehab. He maintains this same repetition in his daily habits in all aspects of life, even saying that he keeps a small circle and talks to the same people every day – family and close friends. Once Rhoden finds something that works for him, he sticks to it, that way there is an expectation of what the outcomes are going to be, he says. This might sound monotonous, but if you truly care about what you do, nothing else is necessary.
“My life is pretty simple,” says Rhoden. “I feel like life is very straightforward. You enjoy the free time you get with the people you love, and you use that as a way to channel it into doing whatever else you love as well.”
