TORONTO – Tristan Thompson has come to know Bismack Biyombo quite well. After three games of battling and scrapping and banging in the Eastern Conference Finals, the Cleveland Cavaliers‘ starting big man has come to respect his counterpart with the Toronto Raptors.
“He’s playing well, he took the challenge, he took the challenge,” Thompson was saying earlier in the series. “His number was called, he came in ready to play and he’s played well; really well in the playoffs. He’s given them the motor they need.”
Warming to the subject, Thompson can see why Raptors head coach Dwane Casey describes the two of them as mirror images.
“We have a lot of similarities, strength-wise,” said Thompson. “He’s tenacious, he has a high motor and that’s his bread and butter in the league. To have a high motor and play hard every possession.”
They were both lottery picks in the 2011 draft – Thompson went fourth, Biyombo seventh – but the parallels end at the pay window.
Last summer Thompson was able to leverage his status as one of LeBron James’ trusted lieutenants into a five-year, $82-million contract extension that kicks in next year.
Biyombo? The Charlotte Hornets let him walk as a free agent after they drafted Frank Kaminsky to join a frontcourt that already included Al Jefferson, Cody Zeller and Spencer Hawes.
It seems unfathomable now that Biyombo would be the odd man out in that scenario. He remains unpolished with the ball in his hands, but everything he does without it or to get it back – his screen-setting, his shot-blocking, his rebounding– has proven elite. He averaged nine points and 13 rebounds and 2.6 blocks per 36 minutes in the regular season and has matched those totals in the playoffs.
His energy, dunks and blocked shots – complete with the finger wag he says he licensed from Hall of Famer Dikembe Mutombo – have provided the Air Canada Centre some of its most electrifying moments so far in the post-season.
But his impact is even more interesting when you factor in how little he actually does with the ball in his hands.
According to basketball-reference.com, Biyombo is one of just 14 players all-time to have a season with at least 5.9 WinShares and a usage rate of less than 12 per cent. Biyombo is one of an even smaller group to have done it off the bench, and no one has done it at age 23 or younger (Thompson, 24, is also on the list). It’s a group that includes several players who had great careers devoted to playing without the ball – Dennis Rodman, Ben Wallace and Mutombo among them.
But the data dive is unnecessary with the memories of some of Biyombo’s performances as a starter in these playoffs, filling in for an injured Jonas Valanciunas.
His 17 points, 16 rebounds and two blocks in Toronto’s Game 7 win over Miami comes to mind, not to mention the 26 rebounds, seven points and four blocks against Cleveland in Game 3, a performance so significant that the Cavaliers have decided to alter their rotation to play deep-shooting Channing Frye more with the starters and Thompson – scoreless and with only eight rebounds in Game 3 – more with the second unit.
Helping the Raptors stop the Cavaliers’ playoff winning streak at 10 and forcing a lineup change the next game is a remarkable feat for a player signed for just $3 million.
Biyombo is a free agent again this summer and it will be fascinating to see what kind of contract he can command in a market where the salary cap jumps from $70 million to a projected $92 million. The Raptors will have to make some very difficult decisions in order to keep him in an off-season when DeMar DeRozan is a free agent and big dollar extensions for Terrence Ross and Valanciunas come onto the cap.
There is no doubt he’s due a massive raise, if Thompson’s deal is any indication. Other young big men in the same league are Enes Kanter (23), who got four years and $70 million from Oklahoma City, and Valanciunas, who got four years and $64 million from the Raptors. The latter are more offensively gifted, but Biyombo has proven he can affect games at the highest level while barely touching the ball, itself an attribute as the league becomes more guard and perimeter driven all the time.
As well, Biyombo’s work rate and willingness to set good screens and give hard fouls are rare qualities to find — elements that make him a beloved teammate yet someone who can throw opponents off their game.
“When he was in Charlotte, I hated Biz,” said DeRozan. “Hated him. He was a fouler, always blocking shots. He always went for the pump fake, though, but I hated Biz. I told him myself, I told Bismack, I hated you. Now by far he’s one of my favourite teammates of all time. It’s great when you get to meet a person like that that was your rival, so to speak, from another team. To be on your team, now you understand why everybody else hated him so much, and I love it now.”
Said Casey: “He was a nightmare at Charlotte for us. Blocking shots, just being a nuisance, hitting you. You just have some guys who accidentally bump into you and hurt you and that’s Bismack. Not trying to be dirty, that’s just how he plays.”
Biyombo, who came to the NBA from the Democratic Republic of Congo via Europe, can speak multiple languages and is as relaxed and approachable as they come off the court, but he’s got no qualms about using his strength, length and power against the opposition, no matter who they are. He’s had several hard fouls against James already in the Eastern Conference Finals and is facing a suspension if he’s assessed another flagrant 1 foul.
“It’s all part of competing,” says Biyombo. “[DeRozan] actually told me that personally, that he really hated me, until he got to know me as a person. And then he turned out to love me. I’m sure there was a lot of feeling-out there, but until you really get to know the real side of me, then you know who I am. But on the floor I don’t have friends.”
It’s an approach that has paid dividends already in this series, and should get Biyombo paid handsomely in the off-season as well.
“There is value in what he does,” says Thompson, who would know. “Playing hard is a skill. A lot of people say people don’t play hard these days, but playing hard is a skill and being able to do it for a long period of time is important and that’s part of the puzzle piece of being a very good team and he’s bringing that for the Raptors and you can see it … playing hard every night wears on a team.”
