Toronto Raptors centre Bismack Biyombo transformed from a lottery-pick disappointment to a folk hero over the 2015-16 season. Here’s his year in review.
Name: Bismack Biyombo
The Year That Was: Biyombo was the afterthought signing of the 2015 off-season, so much so that he didn’t have an introductory press conference like Cory Joseph and DeMarre Carroll before him. Now Biyombo needs no introduction as he was the darling of the Raptors’ playoff run.
In his fifth NBA season, Biyombo changed his narrative from another Michael Jordan draft bust to elite rebounder, rim protector and great teammate. Biyombo broke the franchise record in rebounds in a game with 25 versus the Indiana Pacers in March. In Game 3 of the Eastern Conference Finals against the Cleveland Cavaliers, he broke that record and set a Raptors playoff mark with 26 boards in a single game. The common denominator in both performances is they came in relief of an injured Jonas Valanciunas.
The expanded role did wonders for Biyombo’s production. In just 22 minutes per game in the regular season, he put up averages of 5.5 points, eight rebounds, 54.2% field-goal shooting and 1.6 blocks. In the post-season he logged 25.3 minutes, averaging 6.2 points, 9.4 rebounds, 58% field-goal shooting with 1.4 blocks.
That’s What He Said: “We’ve learned so much this season and we’ve fought through a lot that we were able to overcome a lot of scenarios. How many times have we heard people count us out? How many times have we heard people say Toronto this and Toronto that? We just keep getting better and better, moving series after series. That’s what I’m most proud of.”
Off-season Outlook: This much we know: Biyombo will decline his $2.9 million dollar option by June 4th. It’s been reported that the 23-year-old could make anywhere from $15-20 million on the open market. That would be quite the bill for an offensively limited centre when the game is trending towards perimeter bigs. Tyson Chandler’s four-year $52 million deal will be the floor not the ceiling for Biyombo this summer. Tristan Thompson’s five-year $82 million dollar deal plus an adjustment for cap inflation is probably more likely. It will be intriguing to not only see if Toronto can justify paying and keeping Biyombo but if so, what the cap ramifications mean for the rest of the team.
Moment of the Year: The two-handed block on LeBron James that was called a foul was Biyombo’s poster moment. It was the touchstone interaction that showed off the Congo native’s blend of athleticism, strength and fearlessness. It also was the last straw for Raptors fans who believed the refs were out to get them and that James benefits from special treatment. Even though the finger wag was in vain, Biyombo had fans in the front row Usain-Bolt pointing to the scoreboard taunting LeBron and backing up their centre.
Grade: A+