Days of the Bench Mob are gone

Reserves can contribute one or two at a time in Nurse’s evolving lineups

It actually makes no sense to talk about some mythical second unit with the Raptors, as fun a narrative as that used to be.

The reality today is that the team has a group of seven that will do the bulk of the heavy lifting every night and a gang of what should be termed special teamers who will see their chances dictated by circumstances that will change game to game, and series to series, once the NBA playoffs begin next week.

“That, to me, is the mojo of the team and … each game’s always different, right?” coach Nick Nurse said. Right. The seven are obvious: Kyle Lowry, Fred VanVleet, OG Anunoby, Pascal Siakam and Marc Gasol will start and Norm Powell and Serge Ibaka will play basically starters’ minutes in backup roles.

Beyond that, it’s a grab bag of semi-specialists and it’s foolhardy to put one of them over the others because their skills are so different. It will depend on what’s needed.

So those days of the Bench Mob, or the Bench Mob 2.0, when there was a group of five that played together and changed the tempo and style of some games are gone, likely forever.

The group now, which will comprise eight through 10 or 11 when the full roster is intact and games matter, includes Rondae Hollis-Jefferson, Matt Thomas, Terence Davis and Chris Boucher.

Their diversity will give Nurse a chance to stretch his rotation to eight or maybe nine, but seldom with the same one or two players.

Hollis-Jefferson is the generalist. He does a lot of things, none spectacularly but all efficiently. He can defend multiple positions, he’s an energetic rebounder and the hustle guy who can change a game with his work ethic.

“He’s going to have an everevolving role, even the minutes,” Nurse said. “He may be playing the five, he may be playing kind of a utility two, three, four.”

It will be that versatility that forces Nurse to use Hollis-Jefferson as the eighth man more often than not. The top seven can carry the load but HollisJefferson can fill in multiple positions.

“Just kind of accepting that we like him as this X-factor guy, right?” Nurse said. “His energy, keeping a loose ball alive, keeping the ball alive here or there, getting on the floor, taking a charge. And making some plays on offence.

“He can score. It’s not pretty a lot of times but he can score a little bit, give us a boost to keep the offence kicking over.”

The others are more specialized and will get their minutes depending on the game.

Thomas has added some different offensive weapons and is an adequate on-the-ball defender but he is, first and foremost, a shooter who can kickstart a sluggish offence like he did with a pair of quick gamechanging three-pointers against Memphis last Sunday.

“Some of those moves he’s making — you know, dribble separating to the right and vaulting up, that’s very JJ Redick like,” Nurse said. “We talked about watching film with him and working on that stuff. He looks like a better player to me since the restart and the skills have improved, the confidence playing the game and attacking the paint, not necessarily having to do anything other than make the right play. Sometimes it’s a pull-up, sometimes it’s a kick-out.”

Davis has struggled to have an impact in the first six seeding games and his inexperience may work against him. But his athletic abilities are undeniable and, if he’s not fazed by the stakes, it’s not a stretch to see him in the same game-changing role that Norm Powell had as a rookie.

Boucher’s energy and unpredictability allows Nurse to use him when things get bogged down and the intensity wanes. Boucher’s going to fly around the court, chase down rebounds, block shots and make the out-of-nowhere threepointer. The way he can help turn a game with his floor-running is unique.

“Every time you get a chance to play 20-25 minutes, everyone on this team is going to take it,” Boucher said after an extended run in Monday’s win over Milwaukee.

“Just get ready, and the opportunity is there to play hard and show what you’re capable of doing.”