TORONTO — The Toronto Raptors’ not-so-secret weapon for a while now has been their excellent player development program that’s helped turn overlooked players like Pascal Siakam, Norman Powell and Fred VanVleet into starting-quality NBA players, rising stars, and in the case of VanVleet, a possible market-setter.
As just about everyone who follows the NBA — and Raptors in particular — is acutely aware, VanVleet is an unrestricted free agent and has made no bones about his desire for a big-time payday — whether it be with the Raptors or another team.
And regardless of anyone’s opinion of how much VanVleet may be worth or if he should give Toronto a so-called hometown discount or not, he’s undeniably one of the top free agents this off-season and should expect to see some generous offers in front of him. If you think back to where he came from, that’s pretty damn cool.
“I think it’s fun to see an undrafted player just work so hard,” said Raptors 905 head coach Jama Mahlalela in a conference call Friday. “And I think that’s why we all know Fred so well. It’s the work he puts in and for him to be in a position right now where he sort of controls the marketplace is really great for him.
“I think it’s a testament to his work and his effort and I think for someone who helped him get to a place where he can probably make a few more dollars this coming season, it’s wonderful to be part of that and see that growth. So super proud of him. He put the work in. We just kind of assisted him along the way.”
Mahlalela has been an instrumental member of the Raptors’ player development program since he was first hired by Bryan Colangelo to work in off-court player development in the 2012-13 season, leading him to take on various roles within the Raptors’ coaching ranks until he was eventually named head coach of the 905 inn June 2018, a position he’s held since.
And while Mahlalela didn’t get to coach VanVleet when he won the 2017 D-League championship with the 905, he’s still overseen a good portion of VanVleet’s development, so the pride he feels in seeing the Raptors star now on the verge of signing a contract that figures to set his family up for generations to come is genuine and makes a lot of sense.
But the player development program the Raptors boast that Mahlalela is such an instrumental part of looks to be under siege this season because of the truncated nature of the NBA’s off-season, thanks to the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic.
After the draft and free agency, the organization will usually have the luxury to slowly bring guys along by getting them in-house to start working out with the team. They typically then play summer league, then continue to work over the course of the summer before heading to training camp. By then, a mapped out development plan should be in place and determinations in regards to how the 905 may be used in conjunction with the big team are made.
This year with any young players the Raptors are bringing in they’ll be looking to do the same, just on a much tighter timeline.
“I think that young group and that development system will remain pretty much as it is because I think it’s an art form to do it and we’ve just got to be really efficient now,” Mahlalela said. “Literally, from the day we draft these guys or we select them as Exhibit-10s we’re going to go to work right away and I think it’s just a smaller timeline, but we’ve got to pump out the same results.”
A tall task made all the more difficult when you consider that during this pre-draft process, Mahlalela and the Raptors haven’t had the luxury of being able to see guys in-person. Instead they’re relying on Zoom calls and data collected previously to make a decision on players they may be looking to draft or, perhaps, even look to sign as an undrafted free agent, like VanVleet in 2016.
With that said, the Raptors’ process when bringing guys in to work out was never really about seeing what they could do on the court in the first place, and doing interviews with prospects hasn’t really hindered their process.
“If you look at the past five years, doing a draft workout was never about sort of checking their basketball skills,” said Mahlalela. “That’s sort of something we did while they were in-market and you might as well check it out while they were there. It was much more about the interpersonal and who they were and sort of getting that face-to-face time and sort of getting to know the athlete.
“I think our group has done an amazing job trying to do it over Zoom, as the whole world has adjusted to these Zoom calls. We’re still getting some of that interpersonal sort of touch but again it’s different when you don’t have the person right in front of you.”
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Expanding on this, while a bit weird, Mahlalela has seen some advantages in doing Zoom interviews over the normal process.
“I think we all have all sort of adjusted, right? I think we’re all doing Zoom calls every single day, all the time, and I think we have all figured out how to make them work,” he said. “So I think for our group we feel pretty confident that our process has been good to understand who these people are.
“I think sometimes Zoom you can even really focus on that person even more. You spotlight them and they are it. There are no distractions in the room, there’s nothing else happening. So you can really get a feel for them directly, sometimes even moreso because it’s sort of a one-on-one scenario even though there might be other people on the call. So I think we’ve adjusted.”
So, with the draft this coming Wednesday, even with the stranger circumstances because of COVID, the Raptors appear to be a team ready for draft night and beyond, at least when it comes to the development of any young players they bring in.
There are certainly challenges ahead of them — some they’ve likely already worked out and others they may not know of until they arise. But given the Raptors’ player-development track record, you have to think they’ll be able to navigate any hurdle that comes their way, paving the path for the next VanVleets to set their respective families up for life in the future as well.
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