Raptors’ Jakob Poeltl Shining Late In Season

The Raptors expended a precious lottery pick on center Jakob Poeltl in the 2016 draft. While he spent much of the early season sitting, he isn’t doing so anymore.

Jakob Poeltl spent much of the first 2 months of the season glued to the pine at the end of Dwane Casey’s rotation. Lucas (Bebe) Nogueira was Casey’s preferred backup centre and Nogueira performed well in fulfilling that role early on. Jakob sat and watched as the season went on. He went down to the D-League when asked to and put in work. He then returned and sat on that same pine bench.

He watched the way Dwane Casey sat Jonas Valanciunas during the 4^th quarters of most games for not playing defence. He watched Bebe substitute in and solely focus on his defence. Recently, Poeltl has been watching the way his coach has been utilizing Serge Ibaka as a mobile closing centre who can switch and hedge on everything. Jakob watched and he waited. It was not until recently that Coach Casey has shown a willingness to call on his young rookie in any meaningful minutes. The result? Solid play.

March not-madness

In the month of March Poeltl is averaging a season high 13.8 minutes per game, and that number grows to 17.1 minutes per game over the last 7 games. In those 7 games the Raptors have gone 5-2 and garnered wins over Chicago, Miami, Indiana and Dallas. Jakob has played hard averaging 4.5 points, 5.2 rebounds and 0.7 blocks per game in that time and earned a better look from Coach Casey and the fan base at large.

The former 9^th overall pick in last summer’s draft has largely been forgotten about as a contributing piece on a Toronto Raptors team which is solely focused on returning to the Eastern Conference finals this year. During the lead up to the 2016 NBA draft the top tier talent was widely viewed as being 8 deep, with Jakob being considered the next best player outside that elite 8. He was professed by big boards as being the likely pick to land with the Raptors and the following is an excerpt from his profile on NBADRAFT.NET :

• There are not many 7′ footers who can run the floor like he does … He gets up and down the court very well, giving strong effort on every possession … Often gets himself open just by out-hustling opposing bigmen … Shows the ability to finish with both hands, and his soft touch gives his offensive game some real intrigue … Another very intriguing aspect of his skillset is how well he moves his feet on defense … He shows great coordination and can really show hard on the pick and roll without getting beat easily by guards … He plays really hard every minute on the floor, has a good motor and seems to understand his limitations …

Although that draft profile was from 2015, it does speak to Jakob’s strengths. He isn’t blessed with amazing lateral speed, but he moves his feet well and plays hard on every possession. He challenges at the rim, and tries to out position and out hustle whoever his opponent is. That hustle is catching the eye of onlookers.

Re-united

Not surprisingly, Jakob’s increased confidence on the court corresponds to having been given more playing time with former college teammate Delon Wright. The two ex-Utes have shown a fluidity derived from familiarity and playing together that is bearing fruit in the form of W’s for Toronto.

With the playoffs only 3 weeks away, one can be sure to see Poeltl’s playing time vanish once round one arrives, but for now it’s rewarding to see the Raptors’ newest rookie shining somewhat with increased minutes. When considering his possibilities as a pro the theme of “high floor” remains consistent. He seems to be a player everyone is assuming will be a solid rotational piece for years to come. Though not looked at as a potential impactful player in this league, the likelihood of Jakob turning into a spot starting centre or solid back up seems highly probable. For now though, it’s just fun to see him off that pine for a bit.