Quickley gives Raptors reliable presence
Point guard has posted 56 assists over five games
What seemed like a pointless exercise as the Toronto Raptors basically play out the string to a lost and utterly regrettable season has suddenly discovered some redeeming quality.
The Raptors will be in the City of Roses on Saturday night to face the Portland Trail Blazers. And the proverb that goes along the lines of “Every Rose has its Thorn” aptly describes both teams.
Portland, which tipped off a six-game homestand by losing 128-120 to Oklahoma City, was scheduled to play host to Houston on Friday night, while the Raptors began a four-game road trip Thursday night by showing fight in Phoenix after getting torched early by the Suns.
Moral victories have become the name of the game for the Raptors and Blazers, teams that are joined at the hip when it comes to games lost and players lost to injury.
After getting blown out by the Pelicans in what would be the worst home loss in franchise history, the Raptors at least didn’t endure a similar fate in the Valley of the Sun.
A loss was nonetheless produced, Toronto’s fourth in its past five games.
For the Blazers, they took some solace in dropping close games to two of the West’s best in the Timberwolves and Thunder.
“You see it as a quote-unquote, win, in the aspect of being able to compete with them and keep it close,” said guard Anfernee Simons, who scored a combined 63 points against OKC and Minny after pouring in 30 in a Portland win over the Memphis Grizzlies.
“Obviously, as a competitor, you’re like, ‘Nah, forget that, I want to win.’ As a team, I think we played good enough to win the game.”
Good but not good enough.
The Raptors are not good and figure to be hardpressed to win any game with the likes of Scottie Barnes and Jakob Poeltl sidelined following respective hand surgeries.
Barnes is Toronto’s best player, its most valuable and indispensable. In a different way, Poeltl isn’t far behind, despite his lack of foot speed when trying to defend the perimeter that often leads to the paint getting compromised.
The fact remains the Raptors are 2-11 without Poeltl, who first injured an ankle during a West Coast trip when they whipped the Warriors.
Without Barnes, the Raptors are 1-2 with the lone win produced against the lowly Charlotte Hornets, who led late in Toronto.
Toronto has been rolling out units featuring names not even the most hard-core hoops fans would blink an eye.
Ditto the Blazers, who have doled out minutes to the likes of a Duop Retah, Rayan Rupert and Ashton Hagans.
Heading into Friday night’s game against the visiting Rockets, Portland stood at 17-44. Heading into Saturday’s meeting, the Raptors sit at 23-40.
Numbers can get crunched and interpreted to suit any narrative, but what has emerged with the Raptors of late has been the play of Immanuel Quickley.
Take, for example, his past five games going into Toronto’s date at the Moda Center. During that stretch, Quickley has posted 56 assists, while turning the ball over only a combined 10 times.
The players around him, for the most part, shouldn’t be in the NBA or at best require more refinement to be considered Nba-ready.
As currently built, the Raptors have no bona fide backup to Quickley on the roster, an area of weakness they won’t be able to address, in all likelihood, until the off-season.
At least the Raptors have found a legitimate point guard in Quickley.
All that’s required is for the Raptors to extend Quickley, a restricted free agent whom many in basketball believe will be a staple in Toronto for the foreseeable future. He’s quicker than Fred Vanvleet, has more range on his jump shot than Kyle Lowry, can attack off the dribble or pull up in transition.
He has demonstrated an ability to protect the basketball, an area to Quickley’s game that can only get better once a deeper and more competent lineup gets assembled.
Barnes hasn’t shown he can be an efficient shooter from distance and perhaps he may never develop into that consistent knock-down presence from beyond the arc.
The mandate for Raptors management is to find shooters and allow players such as Quickley and Barnes to fully flourish.
As of now, the Raptors are very limited and have shown no signs that anything will change, the team’s improved play in the second half against the Suns notwithstanding.
Speaking of which, a Grayson Allen type player would look awfully good playing on a team featuring Quickley and Barnes as its two primary offensive options.
Allen isn’t the type capable of creating his own shot, but he doesn’t have to on a Kevin Durant-led team.
Offensively speaking, Durant is as unique a player the NBA has seen.
No one is suggesting Quickley is the second coming of K.D. because he isn’t and won’t be, but at the same time he can be a presence, the type of point guard the Raptors will need moving forward whose presence will only expand.
AS A TEAM, I THINK WE PLAYED GOOD ENOUGH TO WIN THE GAME.