Road To The Six: Week 17 Recap

Francis Chow - Raptors905.com

A big congrats goes out to two of our Raptors 905 players. Axel Toupane and Greg Smith have been signed to the Denver Nuggets and Minnesota Timberwolves respectively. Not only have they been called up, but the two players have earned double-digit minutes and played well enough to earn a second 10-day contract with their squads.

Three home games this week for Raptors 905 with three very different results. A wire-to-wire victory against Iowa followed by a blowout defeat at the hands of the same team the very next day. The club then were on the opposite end of a blowout in a 17-point victory in front of one of the largest crowds in NBA D-League history at Air Canada Centre.

Player Watch

Shannon Scott has turned a corner, starting all three games this week and playing stellar. Scott has been more aggressive looking for his shot, with double-digits attempts in all games and averaged 14.6 points per game. Scott’s aggression getting into the paint and finding his own shot didn’t affect his ability to set up his teammates, as he continued to average 5.6 assists and 6.3 rebounds per game this week from the two guard position. Despite being undersized at the two, Scott has done a great job starting alongside Delon Wright this week in a small lineup and has been one of the key contributing players in the wins.

After the trade deadline, two new faces came in to lessen the loss of Toupane and Smith. Raptors 905 acquired Davion Berry from Maine and E.J. Singler from Idaho.

Davion Berry has been slowly easing his way into the rotation and has made it a point not to force anything. Berry has improved with each of his games and has clearly been getting more comfortable in the flow of the offense. Berry went scoreless in his debut but played great defense while adding three assists and three rebounds. He then followed up the performance with 10 points and three rebounds as a starter against Idaho. He finally topped it all off with a well-rounded game of 11 points, six rebounds and eight assists in the win against Fort Wayne. We can expect Berry to only head up from here and seems to be the best candidate to replace Toupane’s production.

E.J. Singler has been solid from day one and has played big minutes. The former Oregon product has averaged 10 points, 5.6 rebounds and three assists per game in three games with Raptors 905. He’s also lived up to his reputation as a three-point shooter, knocking down six of his 12 attempts in a 905 uniform. Singler has shown to be a gritty defender and has drawn charges and pulled down key rebounds, even getting a double-double with 11 rebounds in the game against the Mad Ants this week.

Former Raptors draft pick, DeAndre Daniels finally made his return to the court against Iowa this week. Daniels did a good job using his length to pull down six rebounds in 13 minutes and made a long two pointer for his first basket for Raptors 905. He has shown rust however, turning the ball over twice and not scoring again in his limited minutes. Expect Daniels to be eased into the rotation as he did not play in the following game against the Mad Ants.

The Assignees

Delon Wright played two games this week. The rookie had a monster game against the Energy and was a key contributor in the win. Wright had his fingerprints all over the game and put up a monster stat line, narrowly missing a triple double with 17 points, 13 rebounds, eight assists, three blocks and two steals. Wright also did a much better job controlling the ball, committing only three turnovers for the night. Wright did a great job getting to the rim and consistently finishing or finding teammates. His ability to get into the paint is what makes him a valuable piece for the Raptors. In the next game, Wright played just 14 minutes but still managed to put up nine points on a solid 4-for-6 from the field.

Similar to Wright, Lucas Nogueira had a quiet outing in low minutes followed by a huge game. Bebe came off the bench for Sim Bhullar and converted on two shots within a minute of each other but would not have much of an impact the rest of the way, playing just 16 minutes and contributing eight points with two rebounds in the game against Iowa. The Raptors big man played 31 minutes against his former D-League team in his next game and showed what he can do. Nogueira led the team with a double-double of 17 points and 11 rebounds and was an absurd +25 for the game. The Brazilian was throwing down dunks all night and even extended his range on a straight away three pointer.

Some positive and negative takeaways for Bruno Caboclo this week, as consistency continues to be a challenge. The former Raptors first-round pick has managed to stay out of foul trouble, which was an issue that plagued him early on in the season and has was able to play 35 or more minutes in all three of his appearances this week. Caboclo has started at the power forward position as Raptors 905 look to play small ball and has been able to use his length to block shots, averaging 2.3 per game. He’s also done a good job rebounding, with a double-double against the Mad Ants and averaging 7.6 rebounds per game. The forward’s scoring has been up and down however, going from 20 points down to seven and then back up to 14. 24 of his 43 shots have been from beyond the arc in the three games this week and we’d like to see him take it to the basket more to improve his scoring consistency and field-goal percentage. He’s shown lately that he’s a capable finisher when he gets to the rim.

Looking Ahead

Just seven games left in the season, with three of the games at home. Raptors 905 will play at home this Saturday, March 19th against the BayHawks for a 7pm tip-off (GET TICKETS) before heading off on a two-game road trip in Maine (March 20, 5pm) and Westchester (March 24, 7pm). Follow along and stream all the upcoming games on Raptors905.com