There was some interesting timing to Lucas Nogueira’s return to Raptors relevance against Utah on Wednesday.
Bebe, of course, unexpectedly became a key factor in Toronto’s comeback win, supplying energy, enthusiasm and strong boarwork in his 4:30 of action. When Nogueira entered the game, the Raptors trailed by six points. By the time he exited (at half-time), he had hauled in four rebounds, completed a big alley-oop off a pass from Kyle Lowry (they still have great chemistry, regardless of how long it has been since they were on the court together) and played some good defence and the game had swung 11 points, with the Raptors now up by five.
Nogueira said he had been told earlier Wednesday that he would likely get some run and wanted to make sure he made an impact. He also praised his time in the D-League (he was to play in a game for Raptors 905 on Thursday as well) for helping him stay in game shape for whenever he is called upon.
Ujiri has made it clear in the past that he values Nogueira and is intrigued with his skill-set. He likely wouldn’t have done the Lou Williams deal with Atlanta without Nogueira being included and has always backed the centre when given reasons to slag him in private.
“Hopefully I think here and there coach will find time for Bebe to continue to develop, but he’s someone we see as a big part of our program going forward and a really, really big part,” Ujiri said.
“You don’t find bigs like that, that skilled and he’s shown us a little bit, has to do it more consistently, but we all know bigs take time so hopefully we can find a little bit more time (to play him).”
All of this leads to next season, where it’s far more likely than not that Nogueira will need to become the backup centre. Bismack Biyombo has a player option that nobody in their right mind would pick up. With the cap set to rocket up, Biyombo should be able to make four or five times what he is owed for next year – in just one season. Toronto doesn’t have his Bird Rights and doesn’t have the cap room to bring him back unless other moves happen (like DeRozan signing somewhere else or Terrence Ross or Jonas Valanciunas being traded into cap space for cheap prospects or draft picks in return. Again, each of those things are unlikely, so it’s hard to see Biyombo back, despite his close relationship with Ujiri).
NO ISSUE
Dwane Casey has been making it clear – Kyle Lowry is not injured and his night off in Detroit was merely a team decision to get him some rest. Then Lowry made Casey’s words redundant with another spectacular effort, proving he is indeed in top form.
Casey also said he’d like to get his youngsters in more down the stretch, to help Lowry and DeMar DeRozan stay fresher, but it’s not easy when you are gunning for top spot in the conference and as high a seed as possible in the East.
“We’re in this business to win. Are you best playing one of your best players a couple more minutes? (the answer is yes). (But) if there’s minutes for us to steal (here and there, they will).”
AROUND THE RIM
Valanciunas has hit double figures in scoring in 12 straight games, a career high. The team is 22-7 when he does that. Toronto is now 32-3 when holding opponents under 100 points, including 26 straight wins … The regression of James Johnson is troubling. He is no longer defending at a high level. Even when he’d make some mistakes, he’d still make up for a lot of them with good plays. He just doesn’t look like the same guy. With DeRozan struggling to defend and the Luis Scola-Valanciunas combo still a mess, no wonder Toronto has fallen defensively (even Wednesday, while the final Utah numbers came down, early on it was a Gordon Hayward offensive clinic) … The game should have been over far earlier and probably would have been had Patrick Patterson not had a horrific shooting night (1-for-9, including a startling 0-for-6 on uncontested looks). The Raptors only managed 12 assists, largely because shots weren’t falling (6-for-22 on three-pointers). Amazingly, Patterson was again a net positive despite his worst shooting night of the year, thanks largely to his work on the boards (seven rebounds) and good defending (Utah shot just 2-for-5 at the rim against Patterson vs. 6-for-8 vs. Valanciunas). Despite the woeful three-point shooting, the Raptors still shot 50% from the field, meaning they got it done against the usually scary frontcourt of Rudy Gobert and Derrick Favors. DeRozan, in particular, had some absurd finishes inside and Lowry was 10-for-12 on two-point attempts, including 6-for-8 at the rim. As Jazz coach Quinn Snyder predicted, either the Raptors hit tough shots, or got Utah big men into foul trouble.
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Freed Bebe steps up a day after Ujiri talks him up; Weird night as Raptors lose outside touch but dominate Gobert/Favors combo inside
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