The Toronto Raptors dropped their preseason opener in Quebec on Saturday to the Miami Heat 129-105. While Kawhi Leonard didn't play and it's only one preseason game that doesn’t carry much weight, I find it hard not to be concerned about Jakob Poeltl. I chose to be Mr. Optimism with Jak all summer and even suggested that maybe he could find a second wind going into his 30s. But Saturday made me realize that thought may be incredibly unrealistic.
For more context, obviously this is a tough matchup, and the Heat probably have the best frontcourt in the league between Bam Adebayo and Giannis Antetokounmpo. That being said, the lack of lateral quickness, imposing strength on the glass and boards, and overall defensive awareness was concerning.
He led the team alongside Ja’Kobe Walter in plus-minus with a plus-eight, and his offense still looks good. Around the rim, he has a soft touch and is still comfortable driving to the lane, posting up or finishing plays. But the defensive side of the ball can’t remain this way if Toronto is chasing a championship.
Poeltl problem
When you look at the Eastern Conference, there is a ton of tough frontcourts Toronto would potentially have to go through on their way to a deep playoff run. Between what Miami has going on, the Knicks with Karl-Anthony Towns, Cleveland’s bigs, and even a team like the Celtics, who are so active on the glass. The glass was honestly where his lack of athletic tools was exposed the most. You could tell he was trying to be all over the place, but his body wasn’t letting him; he looked like he was moving in quicksand.
The physicality too was super concerning. At points, he was getting outmuscled on the boards by Davion Mitchell, who does play super hard and is a pit bull type, but no one wants to see their big getting outmatched by a 6-foot guard on the glass.
Between Giannis and Bam, the Heat are going to be a team that’s super physical coming downhill, so I can feel a bit better about how unphysically imposing Jak was. But even then, his lack of switchability and his defensive awareness were a tough watch. There were several times where Bam would pop out to the corner or wing three and Jak would switch onto the guard unprompted. By the time he realized that there was an open man to recover to, Miami had already scored.
That’s where my biggest concern is: we always knew coming into this season Jak was a weaker link in the starting lineup, but that was because of his body and age. The whole idea was that he would still have the basketball IQ to make the right reads, even if opposing teams occasionally punished his lack of athleticism. Saturday he was the opposite, playing super undisciplined and flat-out looking lost the majority of the time.
If, going into next season, Jak can’t at minimum provide value as a high-IQ big in matchups where he is going to be physically outmatched, the Raptors have a major problem. Obviously, this was one preseason game, and Kawhi Leonard just being on the court changes a lot for this team, especially in their defensive approach. But seeing Poeltl look as overmatched as he did Saturday is definitely a huge hit to my personal confidence in his ability to hold it down this year.
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