Raptors 905 Report: Porter, Nowell shine at G League Showcase

It was the type of tweet that team social media handlers must execute carefully when their team is in the throes of an extending losing streak. The Detroit Pistons X account can do little other than move the WingSpot logo around their post-game graphics. Other teams, when being blown out, resort to just posting a score update without further comment. You don’t want to lie to your audience and ignore the reality of a bad game or record, and threading the needle of being both engaging and realistic is difficult. 

After Raptors 905 beat the Delaware Blue Coats on Dec. 12, the 905 account fired off a tweet that landed perfectly: “THEY DON’T WANNA SEE A HEALTHY 905.” 

The win moved the 905 to 2-12 on the season, easily the worst extended stretch of games in the history of the Toronto Raptors’ G League affiliate. The implication was as follows: The 905 team from the beginning of the season is not the 905 team you’ll see the rest of the way, and the G League standings resetting after the G League Showcase ends on Dec. 22 will serve as both a refresh of the table and a warning to the rest of the league. This isn’t a 2-12 team, in other words. 

Within that record was an unbelievable amount of poor injury luck — the 905 lost two-way player Ron Harper Jr. for the season, lost two-way pieces Markquis Nowell and Javon Freeman-Liberty for extended periods of time, didn’t have veteran leader Justise Winslow ready to go yet, and at other times lost standout rotation pieces Mo Gueye, Makur Maker, Jaysean Paige and more. They played one game with three emergency hardship exception players, and have used emergency players on multiple occasions, sometimes Uber-ing a player into town on the road so they had the mandatory eight players. 

Over the last two weeks, the 905 have slowly inched back to health. Nowell, Gueye, Maker, and Paige are all back and healthy. (Freeman-Liberty remains out with a frustrating ankle injury; Omari Moore’s broken  hand is the only other active injury.) Winslow is now playing after a ramp-up from ankle surgery back in March. The 905 acquired Kobi Simmons for extra guard help, and the Raptors acquired Jontay Porter as a two-way player. 

The pieces have clicked together quickly, now that those pieces are available. The 905 narrowly dropped a rematch to Delaware, then blew out a Sioux Falls Skyforce team that had four Miami Heat players active in the first game of this week’s G League Showcase in Orlando. 

On Friday, they closed out the Showcase Cup portion of their schedule with a 113-98 victory against the Memphis Hustle, finishing 4-12 for the initial part of the season but winning three of their final four games. 

Even without Freeman-Liberty and Moore, it’s clear from this 3-1 stretch what the team could be: They defend like hell, are versatile at both ends and have playmakers at multiple wing and big positions to complement Nowell’s lead-guard duties. They have a mix of vets and rookies, of win-now pieces and upside plays. They don’t have a lot of shooting — they are the Raptors affiliate, after all — but they have more than before, at least enough to keep pace given the potential of the defence. 

The second part of the G League season begins Dec. 27. It is a 34-game “regular season,” and only those 34 games determine who will make the post-season. (All 50 games count towards statistics, end-of-season awards, and, of course, the potential to be called up by an NBA team.) The 905 have a strong history of second-half play and have almost always made the exciting one-and-done playoff format.  

There’s no guarantee Raptors 905 will be a top team from here. Injuries happen, as do NBA call-ups for the G League players and Raptors call-ups for the two-way players. But it’s true what they say: The rest of the G League doesn’t want to see a healthy 905. 

What follows is a notebook on a handful of 905 players.  

Jontay Porter, an immediate fit 

I have a longer feature coming on Porter after the holidays. Without spoiling that story, it’s worth noting that Porter not finding his place in the NBA since coming out of college in 2019 has everything to do with health and not with his game. Now on the Raptors as a two-way player, Porter has hit the ground running with the 905 (18.8 points, nine rebounds, and 2.4 blocks per game) and should be on the NBA club’s radar the second they need additional big-man depth. 

The quick fit is not surprising. Porter is an incredibly smart player, a skill that reveals itself on both ends of the floor. On offence, he’s a tremendous passer, fitting perfectly in the Raptors’ more high-post heavy system this year, capable of finding cutters or shooters as a passer and setting bone-crushing screens in pick-and-roll or dribble-handoff situations. Defensively, Porter has excellent timing that helps make up for a lack of traditional rim-protecting burst. He is almost always in the right place, whether an opponent puts him in pick-and-roll coverage where he can drop or if head coach Eric Khoury lets a Gueye or Maker defend the screener and lets Porter help from a corner instead. He’s also a vocal defensive quarterback, talking to teammates throughout possessions. 

Porter’s most notable skill, though, is his shooting from the power forward-slash-centre position. A 36.4-per cent three-point shooter in college, Porter has hit 15-of-22 on his threes with the 905 to push his G League three-point percentage to 35.3 per cent over the last two years. If that stabilizes in the high 30s, this is pretty clearly an NBA skillset on the offensive end. The question is primarily about staying healthy, and to some degree how he’d handle more NBA-level coverages that ask a big to cover a lot of space. 

You’ll see Porter with the Raptors before long. I think he could give depth minutes right now, and more longer-term has a potential future as a rotation piece. 

Justise Winslow, an immediate anchor 

You know how whenever Otto Porter Jr. plays with the Raptors, they seem to play better even if Porter doesn’t do much? Winslow is adding a lot more statistically than that, but the impact feels similar with 905, as having a 27-year-old with a ton of NBA experience helps settle everything down, especially at the defensive end. 

In 75 minutes with the 905, Winslow is plus-36 with 61 points, 22 rebounds, nine assists, three blocks and five steals. He’s also shooting 55.6 percent from the field (3-of-14 on threes). 

Friday was just Winslow’s fourth game, and given the length of his injury history, NBA teams will probably want to see a bit more playing time before giving him the call. He’s shown very little rust and is still the defender and passer you remember, so consider his NBA call-up a “when,” not an “if.”

Markquis Nowell and the importance of a lead guard 

Over nearly a decade covering the G League, one thing has been made very clear to me: There is no position on the court more important than point guard. The best 905 teams have been led by lead guards who can get everyone else the ball in their preferred spots, organize the offence, and be steady at the point of attack on defence. Lorenzo Brown won an MVP and Jordan Loyd nearly did the same. A big reason the 905 have struggled is that Nowell’s missed time with injury; as good as Simmons, Jaysean Paige, and others have been, none are quite the floor general Nowell is. 

The assist numbers speak for themselves. Nowell is averaging 10.1 assists in nine games, and the 905 offence improves by more than 12 points per-100 possessions when he’s on the court. He’s also hung in there defensively despite his 5-foot-7 frame, even pulling the chair out when Grizzlies forward Jake LaRavia posted him up on a mismatch Friday. 

Given the Raptors’ thin point guard position, it’s not unrealistic to think Nowell could get a look at some point this year. The size disadvantage might prove to be too much at the NBA level. In addition to the defensive element, shooting and passing over and through NBA length (and better defenders) could sap some of his playmaking. Even in the G League, he hasn’t shot particularly well inside the arc. 

Still, given everything Nowell has overcome to get to this point, considering he’s been one of the best passing guards in the G League when healthy, and acknowledging he has off-the-charts dog-in-him, it’s difficult to doubt him. 

Kevin Obanor, and trying to make the jump 

Despite the team’s record, the 905 had a number of players who could have benefitted from two games in front of a ton of NBA scouts and executives. Paige and Simmons both have NBA experience and have been solid. Gueye and Maker have real upside — Gueye was the 905’s best player over the first 10 games of the season — though they both lost some momentum with their more recent injuries. Every team is surely checking in on Winslow. 

Obanor might be the one who got the closest look this week, due to strong play and less familiarity. 

Originally not on the draft radar this June, the Raptors scooped him up on an Exhibit 10 contract on draft night, bringing him into their system for the summer and, now, the 905. He’s fit in very well, providing a lot of scoring in an energy role, crashing the offensive glass and flying in transition. Given he’s six-foot-eight and has more of an interior skillset than a perimeter one, Obanor is going to have to show NBA teams two things: That he can be a menace defensively, and that he can knock down at least a respectable amount of threes. 

The former is still a work in progress. He’s been good on defence, but not quite to the level where a team would overlook the lack of shooting. You have to be Gary Payton II level of defender to overcome that, and so Obanor needs to hit his triples. His shot is not particularly pleasing, aesthetically. It has, however, gone in more than expected, as he’s 25-for-62 (40.3 per cent) on the season now. His ability to make secondary reads if the shot isn’t open or he isn’t in the paint is still limited, as you’d expect for a rookie. 

I think Obanor is probably more likely to get a summer look from an NBA team, but he’s done a good job raising his stock, averaging 18.6 points and seven rebounds in the first chunk of the season. 

What’s next
Expect Nowell and Porter to rejoin the Raptors for Saturday’s home game against Utah. From there, the 905 open the regular season portion of their schedule on Dec. 27 in Westchester, Dec. 28 in Capital City, and Dec. 30 back home against Wisconsin. Perhaps Gradey Dick rejoins them. 

With a clean standings slate and much better health, it should be a much more enjoyable 2024 for them.