MISSISSAUGA, Ont. — Success is undoubtedly a goal for all teams, indiscriminate of sport, league or level.
Yet the G League is somewhat unique in that squads value connectivity just as much, if not more, than simply winning on a nightly basis.
As much as it’s about Ws and Ls, it’s also about how those victories come together. Front offices want minor-league teams to play the same way as their NBA counterparts — adopting identities — to build cohesion in preparation for potential call-ups and roster evaluation.
Which is why the 905’s win on Friday night meant more than just a 1-0 start to the year.
Call it synchronicity or a bit of serendipity. Still, the junior dinos did their best impression of the Toronto Raptors from their season-opener last month against the very same organization.
The 905’s 130-94 victory — their largest season-opening win in franchise history — over the College Park Sky Hawks stood as proof of concept for the work head coach Drew Jones and his players had put in throughout camp to mimic the tenets of the big club.
“I think the beauty of it is we’ve got a few guys that have already felt our identity (with) the Raptors, right? So defensively, we pressure the ball, we’re intense, we harass the ball handlers,” the second-year head coach said pre-game in anticipation of shellacking the Atlanta Hawks G League affiliate. “We’re sharks out there, you know? We really swarm the ball. When there’s an opportunity, we’re striking. And so one thing that I love is that we’ve got a group that really buys into that level of defensive play. So, you know, first and foremost, I’m looking forward to that level of defensive intensity.”
And if we’re talking about being on the same page, how about the 905 beating the Sky Hawks mere minutes apart from the Raptors taking down the (NBA) Hawks on Friday? Although the drubbing in Mississauga didn’t look like the rock fight in Atlanta, defence-to-offence was very much a theme in both locations.
The 905 held the Sky Hawks to 37.6 per cent shooting from the field (32-of-85) and 22.0 per cent from distance (9-of-41) in an onslaught that was carried out from tip-off and through all 48 minutes. College Park managed to score just 16 points — while committing seven turnovers — in the opening frame, with any effort to initiate actions being met with disruption.
Not to say the 905’s offence didn’t do its part, however, as the squad carved out a seven-point lead after 12 minutes. What ended up as a collective showing with six double-digit scorers on an efficient 54.7 per cent shooting from the field and 17 triples on a 43.6 per cent clip began with a steady effort by the Raptors’ three two-way players in the first quarter.
Alijah Martin, Chucky Hepburn and A.J. Lawson accounted for all 23 of the 905’s points in the opening frame — led by Martin, who started the game 3-of-3 from beyond the arc as he scored 13 of his 22 points in the first quarter, which included 11 of his team’s first 18 points.
But again, it was less about the fact that the 905 were scoring, and more that the points were coming in the intended way.
Make or miss, it didn’t matter. The junior dinos were hustling the other way. (Sound familiar?) Now it helped that they forced a whopping 30 turnovers on the night (albeit to 25 of their own), but even on routine stops — of which there were plenty — the pace was frenetic. Effort that bore fruit in abundance as the 905 carved through the Sky Hawks to the tune of 63.8 per cent shooting on twos, almost all of which came at the rim.
“It’s that next man up mentality,” said Hepburn — former ACC Defensive Player of the Year — after spearheading the squad’s defence-to-offence approach with game highs of five steals and 10 assists to go with 12 points on 4-of-5 shooting from distance. “When one guy comes out, it’s the next man up … when you have a whole team that’s just ready to go, it’s really good for us.”
The undrafted guard later credited his time with the Raptors in training camp, soaking up insights from the likes of Immanuel Quickley, Jamal Shead and Garrett Temple, as vital to him feeling “in sync” as a point guard within the organization.
Meanwhile, in his first non-exhibition minutes as a pro, Hepburn said he was simply focused on “running the team right,” and after leading by example with countless hustle plays, it’s safe to say he met the moment on Friday night.
“I love his poise, I love his toughness,” Jones added post-game when asked about the 22-year-old’s performance. “He’s a quiet leader. He leads with his force defensively, he leads with his pace offensively.”
Pretty accurate praise from the coach, considering one of Hepburn’s standout sequences came as a result of his “force” on defence and “pace” on offence when he single-handedly stopped a 2-on-1 fastbreak in the second quarter by swiping the ball away from Jacob Toppin. Tyreke Key would then dive on the loose ball — following Hepburn’s lead — and was promptly rewarded by his floor general, who fed the ball right back to him for an easy layup on the other end.
Key, one of two returnees from last season, scored 15 points off the bench, with 11 coming in the second quarter. As for another of the other players who came back in Lawson, last year’s leading scorer, he picked up right where he left off. The Brampton, Ont. native put up a team-high 24 points and finished a monster plus-34. Three of those points came right before the break as he nailed a buzzer-beating triple (after getting freed up with a nice screen assist from Julian Reese), sending the 905 into halftime with a 57-41 lead.
It was smooth sailing for the squad and the 2,205 in attendance (which included the recently waived Ulrich Chomche) from that point, the lead ballooning to 90-67 after the third en route to the record-setting 36-point victory.
The highlight of the fourth quarter came courtesy of Martin, who, after hitting three triples in the first four minutes, saved his fourth and final long-ball for the closing frame. In the dying seconds of a possession that looked to have all but stalled entirely, the guard caught a floating pass from Hepburn into the left corner and immediately rose up to drill the off-balance fadeaway with a Sky Hawks defender draped all over him. Talk about feeling it.
All in all, it was a win that checked multiple boxes for a 905 team that’s hoping to mirror the Raptors in more ways than one. It’s time for all the potential that’s flashed throughout a handful of down years to turn into some progress. Expectations have arrived at all levels.
“We all get to coach and play because of a much bigger purpose,” Jones said. “So we’re here to serve the Rpas, so everything we do, they do. Our identity, our standards, although we’re the G League team, we maintain that same standard, that same culture.”
Mogbo’s mission
It’s no secret that Jonathan Mogbo has been on the outside looking in on the Raptors’ rotation to start his sophomore season. The 2024 second-rounder has fallen down the depth chart with the emergence of Sandro Mamukelashvili and Collin Murray-Boyles, relegated to spot minutes and garbage time duties throughout these first couple of weeks. Which is why it was hardly a surprise that Mogbo was assigned to the 905 for their season-opener despite the Raptors playing on the same night in Atlanta.
The G League environment offers the 24-year-old a proving ground to work on his game, specifically his ability to “be aggressive,” as Jones described pre-game.
“(Mogbo’s) role changes a bit here,” the 905 coach added. “Obviously with the Raps, he’s a jack of all trades, but here, I want him to be a little more aggressive. There’s an opportunity for him to really develop his offensive game, and we know who he is defensively. Just challenging him to be assertive, be aggressive on the offensive end.
And while a one-game sample size might not be enough to say mission accomplished, things at least appear to be heading in the right direction. Mogbo took the third most shots on the 905 in the win, finishing with 16 points on 7-of-11 shooting to go with 12 rebounds. His baskets came in pretty rudimentary ways — lots of garbage collecting with a team-best five offensive boards — but his willingness to operate under the basket against a sizeable College Park frontcourt was promising for a player who struggled in the paint as an undersized big last year. All the while, his defence remained as advertised — Jones credited Mogbo’s leadership on that end as a catalyst for Friday night’s win. He did, however, finish with a game-high seven turnovers. Some on bobbled catches and others on overzealous dribbles into traffic, so it was by no means a seamless showing.
Either way, so long as he’s not a mainstay of the Raptors’ rotation, Mogbo will have a spot in Mississauga happily waiting for him.
Up next
The 905 return to action Sunday, hosting the Sky Hawks for a rematch from the Paramount Fine Foods Centre at 2 p.m. ET / 10 a.m. PT.
