With the regular season fast approaching, Sportsnet’s panel of Raptors & NBA experts will be answering the burning questions heading into the 2015-16 campaign. In this edition of the Raptors Roundtable:
How much will Bruno Caboclo play with the Raptors? Are his pre-season minutes a sign that we’ll see more from him than expected?
Eric Smith, analyst & radio voice: I don’t put any stock in the pre-season minutes and I fully expect to see him log heavy minutes in the D-League with the Raptors 905. I don’t imagine he will play much with the Raptors. There simply isn’t a role — or there aren’t minutes for him — yet. Of course that all changes if the injury bug strikes and Bruno is forced to bump up to the NBA.
Craig Battle, senior editor: I don’t think we’ll see him more than expected—which is very little. To me, his pre-season minutes indicate that the team is looking to get him run against NBAers to test what he’s been learning all summer, but his efficiency against those guys (he’s averaging 2.3 points in 14.1 minutes on 22-percent shooting) says he’s not ready to be relied on in the regular season.
Paul Jones, analyst & radio voice: Caboclo has made strides but thankfully for him there is no pressure. Teams rarely develop and win at the same time. Bruno is still on the developmental track and won’t see many minutes with the big club. If he is on the big teams roster he won’t see much time on the floor. With the team in winning mode, Bruno will get his reps with Raptors 905.
Steven Loung, associate editor: He isn’t getting a sniff with the big club this season.
Donnovan Bennett, staff writer: Bruno is still in the research and development stage. His pre-season minutes are only an indicator that they want to see how his training regime is translating to in game situations. Bruno will still be buried at the end of the bench for the Raptors and have things run though him as the star of Raptors 905. Next year is the year Bruno could take a leap from prodigy to producer. The fan base needs to stop rehashing how many years way from being years away Bruno is. He’s a long play with high value.
Dave Zarum, NBA editor: Caboclo’s pre-season burn was a pleasant surprise. But the Raptors organization has no real intention to speed up his development stage (as Masai Ujiri will acknowledge, the whole “two years away from being two years away” thing might’ve been the most accurate thing said about Bruno on the day he was drafted). That said, his performance was, I thought, actually quite encouraging. He’s already one of the team’s best corner three-point shooters and is showing that he’s beginning to grasp certain concepts. Caboclo had a very strong end of the summer, arguably the best player at Tim Grgurich’s camp in Las Vegas after the Summer League, and then excelling in 5-on-5 runs at the Los Angeles Clippers facility, playing alongside Chris Paul, Blake Griffin, Paul Pierce & co. So he entered training camp with a ton of confidence, and it’s great that he was able to parlay that into playing time immediately. Granted, it likely won’t mean anything once the regular season comes around. Caboclo may start the season with the big club, but is expected to spend a lot of time in a Raptors 905 jersey this season. And for good reason—at this stage the priority is to get him meaningful playing time, something he won’t currently be afforded in the NBA.