Bench comes up big amid injury bug
Boucher, Hollis-jefferson, rookie Davis have earned coaching staff’s trust
Remember those early days in the season when all the talk was about the lack of depth on the Raptors’ roster?
Yeah, not so much anymore. It took some time, and some persistence on the part of Nick Nurse, and even then a couple of injuries, before the question of what the Raptors have past their starting five was revealed.
What they have is a tireless worker and the self-proclaimed Hustle King in Rondae Hollis-jefferson; a fearless rookie in Terence Davis II, the second coming of Fred Vanvleet; and a fearless sophomore in Chris Boucher who, once he figured out his role and bought in, has been a revelation to everyone.
We’re not talking Bench Mob quality just yet, but that may not be far off.
Vanvleet, who is reluctant to compare this group just yet to that bench group two seasons ago that included himself, Pascal Siakam, Delon Wright, C.J. Miles and Jakob Poeltl, knows they are still a unit in the making.
There will come a time not too far down the road when Norm Powell, now in the starting five with Kyle Lowry out, will join them.
Also on the mend and almost ready to step back into a starring role on that second unit that he found a comfort level with a year ago is Serge Ibaka.
No, Vanvleet has not heard any catchy nicknames for this year’s second unit, nor is he apt to put one out there himself, but the guard is excited about the group that is beginning to form right before his eyes.
“They have the talent and that is what we have been looking for,” Vanvleet said of the Raptors’ bench.
“We were waiting to see who was going to step up and I think we found it.”
Vanvleet, because he was in those same shoes not that long ago, knows there’s another challenge looming for this group.
“The hard part is going to be when we have a full team,” Vanvleet said. “How do you manage that? Less shots, less reps, less minutes. That time you get to play through your mistakes is shortened and that’s a mental hurdle you have to get over. That’s something we’ll have to see.”
Davis, like Vanvleet, is a testament to the Raptors’ player operations and scouting departments. Headed up by Dan Tolzman and still basking in the success of that Vanvleet steal as an undrafted signing three years ago, Davis, also undrafted and signed, is shaping up to be every bit the success story.
Nurse, knowing there is a need at point guard with both Vanvleet and Kyle Lowry (when healthy) in the starting five, has been handing Davis a steady, though limited diet of point guard minutes going all the way back to training camp.
It’s not his forte, but he is capable and growing into the role. It’s his shooting and his willingness to test himself in that area at every moment possible that has set him apart this early.
Davis is shooting the basketball at a 48.8 per cent clip from the field and a deadly 43.8 per cent clip from three.
Hollis-jefferson, after some very early season injury issues that prevented him from the opportunity to show his fit on this team, is playing like he’s making up for lost time. His energy, particularly in going for loose balls and rebounding, has been infectious.
If that weren’t enough to put him in Nurse’s good books, his defence, in particular his ability to slide his feet and stay in front of an opponent, has won the head coach over.
Finally the Canadian Boucher, who even last year looked too physically overmatched to be the rim protector and rebounder Nurse needed off the bench, has proved all the doubters, this one included, wrong. Watching Boucher stand in against the likes of Lebron James, Anthony Davis and Joel Embiid has been not only impressive but opinion altering. Offensively he’s always had the ability to step outside and hurt teams from the perimeter, but his own fearlessness in attacking the rim and getting those putbacks and extra possessions with offensive rebounds has been invaluable to his team.
They have the talent and that is what we have been looking for. We were waiting to see who was going to step up and I think we found it.
That’s a ton of progress from a group that through training camp had not earned their head coach’s trust.
“They’ve done a really good job as far as competing. I think that’s the main thing,” Nurse said of his second-unit guys.
“They’ve gone out there and they haven’t been afraid, they’ve stepped in and tried to guard their assignments, they’ve stepped in and taken shots when they’ve been available, they’ve gotten on the glass, and that’s really the main thing. And then I think the next step that you do with young guys or newer guys or anybody, really, is can they do it consistently?”
Nurse will gladly take his current situation over the earlier predicament, when he basically held his breath every time a starter needed a rest.
Good thing too, because one look at the NBA leaderboard in minutes played and you’ll notice it is so Raptor-starter dominated that you just know workload has to start getting shared.