Raptors must carve out more minutes for Norman Powell
By Brian Boake
The Raptors uncovered a second-round gem last season in Norman Powell, and must determine how to use him more in 2016-17.
One of the many pleasant surprises of the 2015-16 season for fans of the Toronto Raptors was watching the emergence of Norman Powell. This fellow was all but unknown save to fans of the UCLA Bruins, and was the #46 pick of the June draft. [20-second timeout: there have been a few decent players chosen at this number, including Jeff Hornacek and Voshon Lenard. The best of all was Jerome Kersey, who enjoyed a 17-year career, but sadly died last year of a pulmonary embolism.]
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Norman, a smallish shooting guard, defied the odds by making the Raptors out of training camp but spent a great deal of time on the pine. He was sent to the Raptors 905, where he found his shot, and returned to the big club ready to challenge for minutes.
Norman came into his own as the season wound down. His most remarkable result was a 30-point gem against Brooklyn in the season’s final game, but he poured in 27 against Indiana 3 games prior.
Powell is a sound defender. He gets very low and maintains active hands, and is consequently a bother to attempt to dribble past. It’s seldom a guard will block a shot, but Norman had a couple of 2-block efforts, which is a tribute to his timing. He also avoided the rookie trap of frequent fouling, which bodes well for his future.
So does the trust coach Dwane Casey showed in Powell. In games from March 15 to season’s end, Norman played fewer than twenty minutes on only one occasion.
On the depth chart, Norman sits behind DeMar DeRozan. DD is second on the Raptors in MPG [Minutes Per Game] usage at 35.9, so one would think Norman’s opportunities for playing time would be constrained. Not so – the Raptors’ fifth most popular lineup last season included Norman as a member of a three-guard set. Surprisingly (well, I was surprised anyway), Norman didn’t spend much time with Cory Joseph. In a depth chart-driven world, Kyle Lowry and DeMar would sit down, and CoJo and Norman would step in, but Dwane Casey clearly didn’t like that idea.
In 2016-17, I can easily envision the Raptors employing a super-small lineup of Norman, TRoss, Kyle or CoJo, DeMarre Carroll and a big man (Jakob Poeltl?). That’s a group that should be able to defend, and pour in 3-balls off fast break opportunities.
The Raptors didn’t win as many blowout games as their 56-26 record would hint at. More easy wins will translate into more minutes for this fivesome to become comfortable and effective together.
I strongly suspect coach Casey would like to decrease Lowry’s minutes from 37 PG to around 34, to ease the pounding the long NBA season places on his 30-year-old body. Norman should be a candidate for those, particularly now that Delon Wright won’t be back before the new year.
Norman might also be a valuable man to get in the face of smaller shooting guards. For example, Portland, Washington and Boston rely on deep shooting from regular-size human beings like C.J. McCollum, Bradley Beal and Avery Bradley, and Norman has the skills to give all of them a battle.
I’m not prepared to predict stardom for Norman. His handle isn’t quite what it needs to be, and his shooting can disappear at bad times. But he’s come a long way in a short time, and we’re glad he’s a Raptor.