Samson Folk & Trevon Heath detail the latest in the Raptors realm.
From Samson’s piece on Battle:
“So, Battle. He has been serviceable defensively in limited minutes. He hasn’t been a painful point of breakdowns. He’s held his own. His feet are actually really good, to my eye. Offensively, he’s been a total heat pump. He’s shooting over 70% on triples this season. He shot 40% last season. He went on a torrid run against a limited Cavaliers team, scoring 20 points on 7-7 shooting and helped steal a win for a Raptors team that was on the verge of dropping five straight. He’s won his 68 minutes this season by 59 points (only behind Dick on the season, who is at +74). He helps the Raptors.
I have been a little confused at his lack of minutes. Although, my read is probably a little different than a big swath of the fanbase. I value Dick’s skillset a lot and wouldn’t play Battle at his expense, I’d like to see them play together a bit actually, but I know that a lot of people want him to swap minutes with Dick. Frankly, my analysis or bias aside, Battle deserves to steal from anyone at this point. Just to see it.
From the organization/coaching perspective? Dick is a lottery pick who is up for extension this year (and still has boatloads of potential at 21 years old). Walter had a promising defensive start to his career and is only 21. Agbaji is heading into free agency this upcoming season. There is a mix of basketball politics and development here. I’m not going to point fingers, but having talked to a lot of people around and in NBA organizations over the years, teams try to play nice with agents and in turn will offer guys runways to try and play themselves into money. I don’t even mind that. Guys deserve to have a look, especially when their next year isn’t guaranteed. It’s all part of the calculus.
Battle’s contract is friendly to the team, available next season, and he’s a pretty consistent and unflappable player. His route to the NBA has shown a repeated ability to out play guys who were considered better than he was. Players who had a larger organizational vote of confidence than he did. He just shows up, hits triples, does his job. Does his thing.”
Have a blessed day.
