MONTREAL — The Toronto Raptors didn’t have a first-round pick in the NBA draft this past June, which is a little disappointing when you are coming off a 25-57 season.
But they didn’t stand pat when it came to talent acquisition. Their most significant move on draft night was a trade where they acquired Davion Mitchell and the rights to Jamal Shead, the 45th pick in the draft, from the Sacramento Kings.
Mitchell was the more proven commodity. The sturdy, lightning-quick guard was a lottery pick (ninth overall) out of Baylor in 2021 and with the guard depth the Kings had and the salary cap crunch they were facing, they were not in position to sign him to a significant extension.
The Raptors got him for the low, low price of Jalen McDaniels.
Mitchell’s fit with the Raptors is obvious in that they have been a team crying for quality guard depth since Kyle Lowry left for Miami, breaking up his tandem with Fred VanVleet.
The payoff has been immediate. As the Raptors started their exhibition season at the Bell Centre against the Washington Wizards, starting point guard Immanuel Quickley remained sidelined with a thumb sprain and Mitchell got the start.
It would probably be an overstatement to credit Mitchell with everything that went right in what ended up being a 125-98 win for Toronto, but more importantly, was a blowout in both the first and second quarters before each team went deeper into their bench and played combinations that won’t likely see the light of day.
We’ll mention that RJ Barrett looked to be the best player on the floor for either team and looked almost casual in putting up 17 points on 10 shots (3-of-4 from three) in just over 14 minutes, and that second-year wing Gradey Dick looked stronger and more decisive as put the ball on the floor and scored on multiple baskets, while making some nice passes too.
The only downnote was that Barrett left the game just before halftime and then was ruled out for the rest of the game with a bruised right shoulder. He is expected to be re-evaluated in Toronto on Monday.
In general, the Raptors played hard, and for one night delivered on their pre-season mandate of improved defence as they held the Wizards to 42.1 per cent shooting and forced 19 turnovers. The Raptors shot 54.8 per cent from the floor and 15-of-37 from three.
But what stood out was how competent the Raptors looked with Mitchell in the game and running the point. The ball was pushed. Sets were arrived at quickly. There was paint penetration, and the ball moved inside and out crisply.
There was no coincidence that by the start of the fourth quarter when each team emptied its bench, Mitchell was plus-22 in his 20 minutes of floor time, a number that better captures his impact than his tidy stat line of four points and five assists, with no turnovers.
“He did a really good job,” said Raptors head coach Darko Rajakovic. “I thought he did a really good job in the pick-and-roll, just making some really good reads, finding the shooter, or finding the big in the pocket, and he had a good balance of attacking the rim as well. When they gave him some opportunities, he used his speed and got to the rim.”
Mitchell is doubtless looking for an opportunity to be an NBA starter — he’s just starting year four and players of his pedigree don’t give up on those ambitions easily — but if he is your backup, chances are your team is in good hands at the point guard spot.
The question mark with Mitchell is if he can shoot well enough from the perimeter to make teams respect him from deep. If that happens his speed and ability to penetrate play even better.
And that’s without even noting his defence, which has been first-class since he entered the league.
But it was Mitchell’s backup who almost stole the show.
Without a first-round pick to help make up for last season’s disaster (the Raptors pick was transferred to San Antonio to complete the Jakob Poeltl trade) Toronto is looking to bolster talent anywhere they can find it, and it was Shead who — for one night of exhibition basketball against a team projected to be among the league’s bottom feeders — looked like he may be closer to NBA ready than might have been thought.
Shead picked up exactly where Mitchell left off when he checked in. He made a steal on the Wizards’ first possession, one of his three for the game and then went on to make a personal statement when matched up against Bub Carrington, the Wizards rookie point guard who was taken 14th overall in the draft, 31 spots higher than Shead.
Carrington got so frustrated with Shead’s pressure that he appeared to swing across Shead’s face trying to get open for an inbounds pass at one end — somehow no foul was called — and then did pick up a foul when he simply threw Shead to the ground when he couldn’t get open at the other.
Shead never changed his expression, and never let up the pressure either. Carrington finished 0-of-6 from the floor and coughed up three turnovers.
“Me and him have a little bit of a history, he got the best of me in a pre-draft workout,” said Shead. “So I had to come out and make it as hard as possible … he’s going to be really good, but I had to give him a taste of NBA-ready defence.”
No one is worried about Shead’s ability to guard. He was defensive player of the year in the Big 12 for the University of Houston and has already shown the ability to guard on and off the ball, at least in Summer League.
But his offence was a nice surprise. On his first touch, he worked a nice pick-and-roll action with Raptors big man Kelly Olynyk, held up his dribble as he managed the defender on his hip before finding the Raptors big man on the pop for an open three. He made a nice drive, drew the defence and found Olynyk on the pitch out for what would have been a buzzer-beating three at the end of the first quarter. At the end of the second quarter, he drove and kept it, scoring on a twisting lay-up that drew whooping admiration from the Raptors bench.
It all added up to 10 points, four assists, three steals and just one turnover in Shead’s 17 minutes.
Why did the offence come so easily?
“It’s a little bit different when Davion Mitchell isn’t guarding you, so I felt a lot more comfortable,” Shead said. “… When Davion is guarding you, it’s really hard … but with him not in front of me, everything kind of opened up.”
It’s one night of exhibition basketball, but the Raptors showed in that environment at least, they have some answers at point guard if Immanuel Quickley isn’t on the floor.
