The Toronto Raptors made a statement opening night, laying the smackdown on the rebuilding Chicago Bulls 132-95. The entire starting five did its thing, with Immanuel Quickley setting the tone as a scorer, and Scottie Barnes, Kawhi Leonard, and RJ Barrett joining him in the 20-plus-point club. As for Jakob Poeltl, he played his role, finishing with 3 points on 1-of-1 shooting and 6 rebounds in 21 minutes.
Jak did an excellent job all game picking his spots, not forcing anything, and making himself the fifth priority on offense. Offensively, I have no other notes because he got up the floor well, set good screens, and was a post presence, which is all you can really ask of him. My issue is that, despite the Bulls' atrocious frontcourt, there were still moments when Jak looked lost defensively or outmatched on the interior. The Bulls were without Nic Claxton and rolling with a center rotation of Jalen Smith, Zach Collins, and a revolving door of different long forwards playing the five, yet Jak didn’t dominate.
I understand I just said he did a good job not forcing things and was playing his game all night, but there were points, especially on the defensive glass, that were concerning to me.
I'm still not sold on Jak
I went back and watched all 21 of the Bulls' offensive rebounds, and nine of them came with Poeltl on the floor. To be fair, midway through the third quarter Chicago brought in Toby Awaka, an incredible athlete and high-motor rookie who eats up rebounds. So in that situation I don’t think it’s fair to criticize Poeltl for giving up offensive boards. Where it is completely fair to criticize him is against a guy like Jalen Smith.
With Smith, he’s not a second-jump beast and may actually fall more on the undersized side for a center in the NBA, yet Jak failed to box him out several times. Most of the second-chance opportunities Toronto gave up while he was on the court came down to a few things: bad positioning, bad hands, and a lack of physicality. At times, especially in the first quarter, a shot would go up, and Poeltl looked like a deer in headlights, unsure where his man was. For a big fella in his 30s on his contract, you can’t be losing the mental and physical game like that.
I know who Jak is. He isn’t a bruiser, especially anymore, and he's a player who often has to beat you with his IQ. But throughout the preseason and now into opening night, he doesn’t seem as sharp as I remember him being. Lapses in awareness and understanding of where to be or where his man is when a shot goes up can’t happen if this team wants to contend.
Defensively, it was a similar problem. Whether it was getting lost in screen-and-roll coverage or looking lost against a Bulls team that had zero flow to their offense, his basketball IQ didn’t look great, especially to open the game.
Did both his rebounding and defense improve over his 21 minutes? Yes. Pretty much after that first quarter, he was super serviceable and, as I said, played his role for this team.
While a team like the Bulls, who project to finish in the bottom five of the league this season, struggled to capitalize on his so-so play, playoff-level teams won't have the same problem. It’s just one game, I get it. But the Jak situation is definitely something to monitor, and we'll see its first real test Friday against a Wizards frontcourt featuring both Alex Sarr and what looks like a rejuvenated Anthony Davis.
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