Javon Freeman-Liberty Popped
The lone bright spot for the Toronto Raptors against the Utah Jazz was Javon Freeman-Liberty. The combo guard, fighting for a roster spot as he plays on a non-guaranteed contract as the 16th player of a 15-man roster, repeatedly roasted the Utah defenders en route to 24 points. No other Raptor reached double-digits in scoring.
Freeman-Liberty was aggressive attacking the rim, taking advantage of a lack of traditional rim protection on the court to get to the rim again and again. He not only scored baskets but he drew multiple fouls, getting up a game-high eight free-throws. As the game went on that drive game opened up space and he went 3-for-6 from deep; the rest of the team shot 3-for-20. In his 24 minutes the Jazz were +4, and were -14 in the other 16.
Ulrich Chomche Popped
In the strict sense, Ulrich Chomche had a terrible game on Wednesday night. He committed a whopping seven fouls, he was roasted when defending in space, and he finished a game-worst -18 in his 19 minutes. He failed to record a single block and scored just 6 points.
All of that is to be expected for a player with no experience playing at a high level, drafted with the 57th pick and expected to be a project. Yet what Chomche did show were flashes. He very nearly led the team in assists with three, willing to hit cutters around him instead of getting tunnel-vision or hot-potato-ing the ball. He pulled down seven rebounds which did lead the team. One of his three baskets was an alley-oop dunk that showed off his vertical upside.
Chomche showed flashes. That's all you could ask of a player in his position, and it was likely already enough to justify the pick for the Raptors' front office. That's good, because another pick they made is already looking rough.