Heslip hoping the point gets him to the NBA
To D-League players, this Thursday becomes a curious hybrid of Christmas and mid-term exams.
January 5 is the first day that NBA teams can offer 10-day contracts to unsigned players, most of whom labour in the top, but lowpaying, pro development league on the continent.
“Essentially that’s kind of what you play here for, that period of time,” says Brady Heslip, the laser-eyed sniper from Burlington who is making the transition to point guard with the Raptors 905. “Everybody here is vying for a chance to get called up and that’s when it can happen. It’s a grind travelling, practising and playing a lot, but that’s why you do it. You’re trying to show the scouts what you can bring to the table for their team.”
Heslip, who played pro the last two years in more lucrative European leagues in Bosnia, then Italy, signed a partially-guaranteed contract with the Toronto Raptors this autumn – although any team can sign him from Thursday one – spent training camp with them and was subsequently released to the 905. He had a similar situation with the Minnesota Timberwolves two years ago, when he got a full training camp, then set a Dleague record in his first pro game with for most three-point baskets (11) , but eventually headed to Europe in late January.
But North Americans rarely get to the NBA by lingering too long in Europe. So Heslip came back to the team he followed as a kid – his uncle Jay Triano was a Raptors coach for nine years – and agreed to school up on a new position. At Baylor, and with the Nelson Lords, he was a two (shooting) guard because unspeakably long and lonely hours in the gym had turned him into one of the best threepoint shooters on either side of the 49th.
However, NBA talent evaluators believe he won’t be able to ramp up his defence enough to cover shooting guards, so his only door goes through the point guard spot.
He’s got to concentrate on defence, learn to quarterback a team from the floor, surrender shots to other players and generally create shots for himself rather than rely primarily upon the receive-plantdeliver rhythm of the pure shooting guard.
“I feel like it’s a good year for me to learn and transition,” Heslip said after a practice in Mississauga late last week. “I don’t feel like I’m shooting the ball as well as I can, but that just comes with playing true point guard for the first time, and only point guard. You’re running a team, and a lot of my shots are coming off the dribble, as opposed to catch-and-shoot. For me, it’s just a lot of fun to learn and gain experience.”
Heslip, starting in place of Fred VanVleet who was with the Big Raptors, nailed 10-three pointers in the 905’s win over the Knicks DLeague team two days before Christmas. That’s just three shy of the league record he set two years ago. Currently, he stands fourth in 905 points per game, second in assists and fifth in minutes played.
Raptors 905 coach Jerry Stackhouse thinks Heslip can make the NBA, probably as a reliable backup, and is working with the 26year-old Canadian to adapt to new offensive and defensive responsibilities.
“Brady has an ability to shoot the basketball at the NBA level,” says Stackhouse, who played 18 seasons in The Association. “For him, it’s the other things: just being able to show that he can run a team, that he can defend at the NBA level.
“I think I can help him. I played for Avery Johnson, and he was as hard as anybody on point guards. Brady will probably tell you I’m a little hard on him, but it’s about getting in the scrum, doing the little things. He’s proven to me that he can man the position offensively, now show me that you can do it defensively and do the little things that top point guards do. He’s getting better. He’s working to get there, and he wants to get there.”
Heslip’s favourite Raptor in his youthful fandom was Rafer Alston, a streetball legend who was summoned from the D League to play guard for the Raptors in 2003 and turned the trial into seven more NBA seasons.
But he isn’t necessarily using Alston’s career as a template.
“When you’re a kid you don’t really know some guys’ journey to get to where they get to, but now I’m kind of writing my own,” he says. “It’s not about anyone else, I’m trying to get better along the way.
“Showing I can play the point guard here is what I need to do because in the NBA that’s the position I’m going to have to guard and be able to play.
“It’s an expedited learning curve for me especially because I haven’t got to run a team before. I believe 100 per cent I can play in the NBA and I can help a team out. I just need the opportunity and the right organization to take a chance on me.
“This year I’ve signed a contract and I had a pre-season, but I did that with Minnesota too.
“It’s not good enough until I play in a regular season game, and that will be solidified as something nobody can take away from me.”