THE BALL’S IN BEBE’S COURT
Even a seven-footer has trouble standing out on the Raptors, who suddenly have a handful of tempting options up front with Lucas Nogueira showing signs of improvement,
DENVER— Kyle Lowry knows what Lucas Nogueira can do. So does Dwane Casey.
Now it’s up to the Raptors big man to get it done — with regularity.
In Monday night’s 99-85 win over the Portland Trail Blazers, Nogueira delivered a performance that had Lowry calling him “unbelievable” and the coach singing his praises.
After missing two games with an ankle injury, he returned to action — on a night when frontcourt mainstays Serge Ibaka and Jonas Valanciunas were sidelined — and starred. The 25-year-old used his speed to get to all the right places on the court on the way to a career-high 17 points with nine rebounds.
The Raptors have seen spurts like this before from the oft-injured Nogueira, moments that dazzle and ignite hope for more. But as the Raptors prepared for Wednesday night’s date with the Nuggets in Denver, Casey echoed a challenge that Lowry had set out for his teammate a night earlier: Make Monday night’s success the start of something, not just a one-off.
“His (next step) is consistency,” Casey said. “Doing it for weeks at a time, months at a time, every day. You saw (Monday) night how talented, how much he can have an effect on the game.”
Getting to that point is a mental challenge, Nogueira said.
On the court, he knows where he needs to be. He knows what his coaches and teammates expect, and how to play his role within a unit. But before any of that can happen, he needs to make sure his head is in the game.
“If I don’t play well, they’re going to stop trusting me so my minutes are going to (be) cut down,” Nogueira said. “Every time I go in the game or in practice I try concentrating on the small things and do everything right, so (Casey) can keep trusting me and giving me minutes.”
With the active roster bigger than Casey usually goes with — plus Pascal Siakam and Jakob Poeltl putting up impressive performances of their own while Valanciunas and Ibaka have been out — Nogueira knows there’s no time to waste when it comes to making a lasting impression.
“Everybody’s playing well, so I think it’s hard for (Casey) to figure out who he’s going to put in the game,” he said. “Every time I step on the floor, I’ve got to give my answer, too.”
Casey — who often says that any player who earns it will see action on any given night — plans to give Nogueira the opportunity to make his mark. For now, the coach said that despite Nogueira’s recent ankle trouble and up-and-down performances, the big man is in great shape.
“There’s different ways to approach each player — whether you put your arm around him, coddle him, kick him in the butt,” Casey said.
“It’s a little bit of everything with Lucas. He’s a very jovial young man, a very intelligent young man. It takes a lot of different approaches with Lucas, and I promise you we’ve used them all.”
Ultimately that consistency Nogueira is searching for — and that Casey is hoping to see from all of the young Raptors — will play a big part in deciding who gets playing time when the regulars return and minutes are harder to come by.
“That’s what this league is about,” Casey said. “You can’t just do it one night and say, ‘OK, I’ve arrived, I’ve proven myself, I’ve earned it.’ ”