THOMAS GETS OFF TO GOOD START IN BID FOR MORE PLAYING TIME
Rookie Flynn also makes strong impression in the Raptors' first pre-season game
Nick Nurse came into the first live look at his Raptors against hostile competition looking for some separation in those 8-through-10 spots in his rotation.
As Nurse sees it at this early stage in the NBA pre-season, he has the first six, probably seven spots in his rotation spoken for.
But the next few spots appear to be open and Nurse wanted to see if someone would grab his attention.
“I think there's a lot of competition there,” Nurse said of that latter part of his rotation. “I think it's gonna be fit and role, and I always say, who can execute first on the defensive side of the ball for us, and then it's up to us to figure out how they fit in at the offensive end, and hopefully they can make rhythm shots that come around to 'em.”
Well, the first of three pre-season games is in the books, and if you're Matt Thomas, you have to feel pretty good about your situation.
Thomas, who Nurse mentioned midway through the week of training camp as a guy he wouldn't mind seeing earn a steady dose of minutes if for no other reason than he felt it would give him the best chance to take that next step with his game, couldn't have helped his own cause more than he did in a 111-100 win over Charlotte.
“He's a shooter, obviously, but he's also a good player,” Nurse said of Thomas. “He cuts and he moves. He does the right thing on defence. He'll get overmatched once in a while sizewise or strength-wise or whatever. But I think for as much as he does at the other end, and his good decision-making at both ends, I'm wanting to lock him into a role this year where he's a big factor.”
Thomas, from his arrival on the NBA scene last September at training camp at Laval University, has been knocking down three-pointers with regularity.
It's a single skill many an NBA player has turned into a career, but to play with the Raptors, Thomas had to be much more than just a shooter.
Thomas, as much as any Raptor, used the hiatus between the shutdown in March and the return in August to add to his game. He showed up in the bubble with a more focused defensive approach, and in general, a guy who had added a ton of highspeed movement to his offensive game.
Against the Hornets, Thomas came off the bench and put up a team-high 16 points and a team-tying five assists in a teamhigh 22 minutes.
Another guy who opened eyes was the Raptors' first-round pick, Malachi Flynn.
Flynn showed no signs of rookie timidness, taking over from Fred VanVleet when he came out of the game and running the show like he had been in the league for years.
Flynn was a force on both ends of the court, putting up nine points with four assists, but it was his game-best plus-35 number in the plus-minus column that really jumped out, indicating not only a solid night running the offence, but a real knack for keeping the opposing offence from having much success.
Flynn was on the Hornets' best scorers for much of the night when he was on the floor and looked extremely comfortable containing and generally keeping opponents in front of him.
“He did what we've been, you know, trying to coach him into the system,” Nurse said.
“He did that. And similar to Fred ( VanVleet) he's got great side-to-side feet and he's got a toughness and he's got a `want to' and he's kind of got an attacking mindset at the defensive end and that's good to see.
“That's how we like to play.”