The Toronto Raptors are reportedly adding free agent swingman DeAndre’ Bembry, a long, athletic wing who at just 26 still has upside Toronto’s talented player-development department might be able to draw out.
Here’s a little more on Bembry and what he might bring to the Raptors as a likely end-of-rotation depth piece.
Age: 26
Position: Shooting guard/small forward
Height: Six-foot-five | Weight: 210 lbs
Former team: Atlanta Hawks
2019-20 stats: PPG: 5.8 | RPG: 3.5 | SPG: 1.3
Wears No. 95 for a special reason
First, before talking about any of his basketball skills, it’s important to point out that Bembry wears a rather unique number on the court: 95.
The reason why he does this is, tragically, in honour of his younger brother, Adrian, who was shot while trying to break up a fight in Charlotte, N.C.
So, to honour his brother, Bembry wears No. 95 in honour of his brother’s birth year, 1995.
We highly recommend you check out this piece Bembry penned himself shortly after he was drafted in 2016, where he opens up about what his brother meant to him.
An athletic defender
As for what Bembry brings to the team on the floor, he’s a prototypical strong, long and athletic wing who, in four years in the league, has found his niche as a capable perimeter defender.
Bembry has the lateral quickness to keep up with twos and threes and his size bothers point guards should he get switched onto them. Additionally, his long arms, quick hands and gifted anticipation of plays allow him to make plays on balls that others probably wouldn’t attempt.
This past season, he averaged 1.3 steals per game and boasted a strong steal rate of 2.8 per cent.
The weakness in Bembry’s game is he has yet to develop a good outside shot. He made only 23.1 per cent of his deep looks last season, only attempting 65 of them. So he has the D, but without the three finding opportunity to play him may prove to be problematic, particularly because the Raptors play such a spacing-and-movement focused offence.
Still, Bembry’s a legitimate NBA athlete, is already a good defender and, as The Athletic’s Blake Murphy reported, with him potentially coming in at the veteran minimum he’s a low-risk flyer that could develop a jumper with the help of Toronto’s development staff.
Does this mean Davis is gone?
This off-season the Raptors have added a pair of athletic wings in drafting Jalen Harris and now picking up Bembry in free agency.
Now, if you look over at the team’s depth chart you’ll see a lot of the same mould of player -- although of differing talent and skill levels, obviously.
As such, it has to make you wonder if there might not be an odd man out somewhere in there and logic might dictate that player would be Terence Davis II.
Davis, of course, was arrested for allegedly assaulting his girlfriend in late October and there’s been no word from the Raptors about what his fate may be.
However, as fortune may have it, the guarantee on his contract (and Dewan Hernandez’s) is next Sunday, Nov. 29.
So then, given all the athletic wings the Raptors have acquired, will we hear of the guarantee on Davis’ deal not getting picked up in a week’s time?
