The following is part of Raptors Republic’s series of pieces previewing the season for the Toronto Raptors. You can find all the pieces in the series here.
When we think about Jamison Battle, the first thing that comes to mind is shooting.
Another quality that stood out during an exceptional rookie year – where his 40.5% from 3-point range led the Raptors and was second among rookies – was his mindset.
Battle spoke frequently about the emphasis he places on staying present, both to Raptors Republic’s Esfandiar Baraheni and Raptors 905 sideline reporter Lindsay Dunn, citing journaling and meditation as techniques he used to remain in the moment.
This isn’t necessarily unique. Nowadays we often hear about top class athletes practicing grounding techniques and expressing similar sentiments. But Battle does place a particular focus on this philosophy and considering the volatility of his signature skill, shooting, it makes perfect sense.
Shooters need to have a short-term memory, thinking only about taking their current shot and having confidence that they’ll make it. They can’t allow their conviction to waver based on past misses.
This mindset has served Battle well so far, as he escalated throughout the season. First, he signed an exhibit-10 deal after going undrafted, then was converted to a two-way after shooting 17-of-29 from 3 through the 2024 Summer League and preseason and finally was converted to a standard NBA contract after using up 35 of his 50 available two-way games with the Raptors. Finally, his contract for the upcoming season was fully guaranteed at $1.96 million on July 10.
The 24-year-old will have to continue shooting the lights out if he is going to carve out minutes for himself in what is shaping up to be a competitive Raptors wing rotation. It stands to reason that presumed starter RJ Barrett, Gradey Dick, Ja’Kobe Walter and Ochai Agbaji are all ahead of Battle on the depth chart.
Yet if Dick is unable to make strides defensively or Walter falters at all in his sophomore season, the door could open for Battle to play meaningful minutes as a shooter off the bench. In this scenario, improving other areas of his game to go along with his shooting would be a boon to his case.
Battle already started to improve as a movement shooter in the second half of last season, an important developmental win, going from making 33.3% of his jumpers off movement before the all-star break to 57.9% after. Both were on small samples of 15 and 19 shots, respectively. But the extreme improvement is at least somewhat notable.
Defensive growth is also needed if Battle is going to be a meaningful contributor. He noted this as a focus in multiple interviews throughout last season. At six-foot-seven he has the requisite size to guard across multiple positions, and throughout the course of the season his ability to shift his feet along with his check and deter drives visibly improved.
While the Raptors allowed an exactly league average 115.1 points per possession (per Cleaning the Glass) with Battle on the floor, the lineups Battle played the most minutes with struggled defensively. Yet there were a couple bench groups he was a part of that held strong guarding the hoop over a moderate sample. Battle isn’t the kind of defender that can lift a unit, but he is able to exist in a transitional lineup that is passable on defence.
Further, his defensive net rating improved throughout last season, and he finished among the top rookies in defensive field goal percentage (45.6). If he can better utilize his size to eat up a little more space when defending off ball that would improve his fit within the Raptors’ high-pressure scheme.
Battle also excels at the little things. He’s displayed savvy cutting ability, had a positive impact on both his team’s offensive and defensive rebounding and has a penchant for making the right reads within a Darko Rajaković offence that requires exactly that.
It’s also encouraging that Battle was constantly looking to grow and fully embraced his time spent developing with the Raptors 905. After already having proven that his shooting was an above-average NBA skill, Battle said he used his time in the G League to focus on the more micro aspects of his game.
“It’s just about the other things,” said Battle to Raptors Republic’s Zulfi Sheikh. “Other things that impact the game, whether it’s rebounding, whether it’s getting steals, whether it’s playing defence on good players. I’ve just got to keep building.”
Armed with a mindset that is all about controlling what he can in the moment and continuing to grow, Battle is well positioned to make the most of an opportunity in the rotation should it arise. Especially if he can keep expanding his game beyond his already exceptional 3-point shooting.
