Death, taxes, and Bruno Caboclo at the Hershey Centre.
The Brazilian had been synonymous with the Raptors 905 since its inception, and there’s a bit of an empty feel to the games Toronto’s G League affiliate have played in since he was traded. Just seeing him in a Sacramento Kings jersey is weird.
https://twitter.com/SacramentoKings/status/968329725864067072
Caboclo started 102 of the 115 games the 905 have played in their history, and cemented his status as Mississau-god with a career-best 31 points to go along with 11 rebounds to lead his team to victory in the then D-League Championship game.
Since being dealt on Feb. 8 to the Kings for Malachi Richardson, the 905 have posted a 5-3 record to improve to 26-17 on the season, but are getting stretched at the forward positions where Bruno provided so much flexibility.
Richardson is a six-foot-six guard who plays primarily as a shooting guard but can play some small forward as well. Malcolm Miller has earned playing time with the parent club after emerging as the club’s best perimeter defender and three-point shooter, even starting as recently as Sunday.
That has left Fuquan Edwin and Kuran Iverson to pick up the leftover minutes. Canadian Negus Webster-Chan has struggled to find playing time this season after recovering from a hip flexor injury.
With just seven regular season games remaining, here are some of the key storylines that will play out down the stretch.
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New playoff format means 905 need a strong final push
In a quest to add some intrigue to the NBA G League playoffs, the format has been changed to a knockout tournament that culminates with a best-of-three Finals. Only the top two seeds from each conference receive a bye through the first round.
The 905 trail the Westchester Knicks by 2.5 games while remaining ahead of their closest competitor, the Long Island Nets, by the same margin. They dropped a heartbreaker to the Nets on Feb. 28, after which head coach Jerry Stackhouse was — to put it kindly — quite displeased after letting a third-quarter lead slip away on their home floor.
“It’s a tough one to swallow,” Stackhouse said after the game. “This could easily be a game that we needed to have for tie-breaking purposes and everything so this could be real detrimental if we don’t find a way to tighten this thing up really quickly.”
The concern is understandable as the 905 face a tough four-game, West-coast road swing before playing their final game of the season at home against the Maine Red Claws on Mar. 24.
Stackhouse and his team will be hoping the Nets can do them a favour, as they play the Knicks in a home-and-home set this week.
Decision-making time for the two-way contracts
Miller and Lorenzo Brown were rewarded with two-way contracts by the Raptors this season, and since both will be playoff ineligible, the remainder of their time with either team will be vital in determining what next steps the organization should take.
Miller, in theory, offers much of what Dwane Casey’s squad likes at small forward. He can comfortably defend multiple positions, has a track record of knocking down threes at a high rate — 39 per cent on 392 attempts — and has a smooth enough shooting stroke to suggest it’s a rate that can be maintained.
Go ahead and judge for yourself.
As far as Brown is concerned, he’s been out of action since Feb. 12 since he sprained his ankle against the Red Claws. The hope is that having an entire week off will be enough for him to recuperate and be back at full strength, but time will tell.
He has had an excellent season with the 905 at the point of attack, much improved now as a distributor than when he joined the team at the beginning of the season. Primarily recognized as a scorer coming in, Stackhouse challenged him to make his teammates better and Brown had a rough beginning, turning the ball over 51 times over his first 10 games.
Brown turned a corner since, almost doubling his assist-to-turnover ratio from 1.71 to 3.38, a period of time over which the 905 accumulated 15 wins and lost just three times.
He’ll be a point of intrigue in the summer, too, as the senior club will have to make a decision on Fred VanVleet, who will be a restricted free agent. The former Wichita State star has had a breakout season with the Raptors and so a lofty offer from a rival may see him move to a new team, leaving Brown to potentially become the new VanVleet next season.
I know, this is blasphemy, VanVleet deserves to have any offer matched.
Canadian content
Kaza Keane and Aaron Best have been the “Steady Freddies” of the 905, bringing composed play and strong defence on a consistent basis. Their efforts were rewarded with selections to the Canadian national team for a pair of 2019 FIBA World Cup qualifiers, and Stackhouse, despite being thrilled for them, was happy to have them back.
“Good to have those guys back,” Stackhouse said last week. “I thought those guys did a good job with Team Canada, both played well there, so hopefully that translates back to what they’re doing here. They both fully understand what we’re doing. AB [Best], what he brings for us defensively, it’s a no-brainer that having him back makes us better.”
The 905 have maintained the best defensive rating in the league this calendar year and both players are a big reason why.
Best will be hoping to provide a more consistent shooting threat down the stretch, but he’s another whose playmaking has improved and has been trusted with running the offence at times.
His outside shooting stroke has also been red hot of late, connecting on 20 of his last 44 attempts from beyond the arc. As if it were ever in doubt, the six-foot-four guard effectively showed what he can do at the rim when he participated in the G League dunk contest.
Flat. Out. Robbed. He missed the final because of that nine from the final judge.
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