Have Ulrich Chomche, Ja’Kobe Walter and Jamal Shead All Made Their Own LEAPS?

Have Ulrich Chomche, Ja’Kobe Walter and Jamal Shead All Made Their Own LEAPS?

Is Chamch ready for the Raptors rotation? How good have Walter and Shed been? Are Heburn and Martin ready to shine in Missaga? That’s up next on today’s Locked On Raptors. [Music] You are Locked On Raptors, your daily Toronto Raptors podcast, part of the Locked On podcast network. Your team every day. It’s your favorite part of the day. Thanks for making Locked on Raptors your first listen every day. I’m Vic Jacob. I’ve been covering the Toronto Raptors for eight seasons across several outlets. You can follow Locked On Raptors on X, Instagram, and YouTube. And be sure to check out the Locked On Raptors Discord where you can talk all things basketball, but especially the Raptors. It is Wednesday, July the 16th. I’m joined by the man juggling both the Jays and Raptors peaking this summer. Blake Murphy, the one and only. You have a haircut to get to. You asked me if I wanted to do it before or after. I said before, cuz I can’t have someone with a fresher cut than me on here. No, I figured if anyone would understand me needing to juggle a podcast time for a haircut, it’s the the man who leads the league in haircuts in fake Jacob. What’s up, man? How you doing? I’m great, man. I’m great. Glad you’re joining me for this one. uh done a bunch of recaps obviously as the Raptors uh have looked good through summer league and I thought this would be a good checkpoint as you know they’re kind of on course to make the semis of uh summer league uh got to get that W against the Golden State Warriors. Uh but uh I thought this would be a good point for us to kind of look back on the three games that we’ve seen so far and there’s several places that we can start off but I thought no better than Orish Shomch who has you know I think just caught the eye of a lot of fans with the way he’s moving the way he’s defending. I think the biggest thing is, you know, especially if you compare to last summer league, it looks like the game is legitimately slowing down for him and he’s able to just hang with the pace of play. Yeah, he knows how to play. That’s a it’s a huge step forward. It’s why even when he was being successful with Raptors 905. I always try to preach patience, you know, like it it’s really exciting when he slides over from the help side and blocks the shot, but you got to watch the like three possessions where that doesn’t happen and you’re, you know, you’re out of position or you can’t do much offensively. It is compared to last summer league night and day. And it’s such it’s so cool to see he was he started progressing by the end of his G-League time so rapidly where you start to get really excited. Um, like there was one point in the season where it’s like last year it’s like, well, is is Shamsh a potential tank lever where you want to get him development? He’s fun to watch, but he’s not actually going to help you win basketball games down the stretch, right? Um, and but by the end of his G-League tenure, I was like, well, he’ll hurt the offense, but he like he might already be better defensively than some of the the G-League guys that they were turning through. And now I think that’s like definitive. Like, he’s definitely better than Colin Castleton defensively. and probably where Orlando Robinson was. Um, and then so, you know, to see where he was at at the time that his injury happened and to see that that progress wasn’t slowed down at all. And who who knows what it would have looked like if he was able to stay healthy and get NBA reps and things like that. Um, but very very cool to see that it hasn’t slowed down. I also appreciate that he got a knee injury and seems to have decided upper body day every day while I can’t use my legs. He’s much wider like like he always had a good frame and this is why you know when you’re the Raptors and you you dream on what that could look like you know Bruno Koko was another guy who he was so so skinny but you can see where he could get to power forward if not center size whereas you know a Chris Buché type I could talk to him every training camp about putting on 10 or 12 pounds and then it’s going to be off by the start of the season. So with Shamsh, you can physically see now that he has the potential to be a center, not like a four slash5. So all that’s cool. And then yeah, I think kind of the the highlight of summer league, whatever happens these next couple games, because they’re probably going to shut a couple guys down and strip us of the championship again. Um, but I think the highlight that’s going to stick with people is the block on one end, the take three or four strides after someone else gets the rebound and you have beat like several opponents up the floor and then you get the ball and then you make this soft euro and then you make the layown for Colin Murray Boils dunk that sequence of things has so much going on where it’s the defensive instincts, it’s the ability to make the footwork on the Euro, it’s the stride length to beat guys down the court, it’s the soft touch to first recognize a transition lay down like that and make the pass smoothly to Murray Boils. There’s so much going on in that clip. Um, you know, don’t don’t get too far ahead of yourself at summer league and it’s just one play and things like that, but really really cool to see that the progress he was making with the 905 has just kept on while he was on the shelf. Yeah. I mean, obviously he has those huge flashes, the the things that really pops, you know, everyone’s eyes and uh gets you excited for what the potential could be. I’m, you know, as much as I’m happy to see plays like that, I’m just as happy seeing these plays where I fully expect him to fall for the pump fake or get, you know, overexited to block a shot, he’s staying down more often, I feel. Uh, and I think that shows growth and a better understanding and reading of, uh, his opponent and the game in general. So, that’s the stuff that, you know, maybe is starting to get people thinking, hey, is this a guy that may actually figure into the Raptors rotation? Now, in terms of the progress he he’s made, I lean towards thinking that he may be a year ahead of schedule, but I still think he’s a year away from being an NBA contributor. Is that how you see it? Yeah, I think you know there’s there’s reason for patience and you said a couple things there that are good and I think that’s a great point about the the not jumping on pump fakes and things like that because like one of the best compliments you could give him this time last year or early in the G-League season was oh when he makes that mistake he’s got the bounce to jump up again right like it’s a second jump block and then within that his foul rate has been much lower in summer league where you know one of the tough things with the G-League time was he was averaging three fouls a game in like barely over 20 minutes. You get that down to two fouls per 20 minutes in uh you know in summer league here that uh you know that suggests a learning curve as well and keeps you on the floor more. Now in terms of NBA utility, yeah, I mean this is a couple summer league games by the end of the his G-League time before the injury. I thought the defense was starting to get there. Offensively, that play with the layown to boils aside and the 60% field goal percentage aside, you know, he’s mostly going to be a garbage man at this point. Offensively, there is a lot of skill to like Andrew, like again, the euro, the layown, um the the nice touch around the basket, the fact that he’s getting stronger inside, all of that is there. If you put him in an NBA situation right now, you’ll be like screen, get to the rim, maybe you get a dump off or an offensive rebound. That’s that’s what the package looks like right now. So, I think we can pump the brakes on that like a tiny bit. Now, I don’t think it’s the worst thing in the world if to start the season, you know, because there’s a little bit of gap before the G-League season starts, right? Um maybe he’s pushing Sandrew Sandro for those backup center minutes and you see how it goes. But long-term developmentally, you want this guy playing 30 minutes a game this year. That’s something he hasn’t done. He didn’t play, you know, he averaged, I think, 23 minutes in the G- League last year. You want him playing 30, 33, 35 minutes. You want him closing out games. you want him being the most important defender, expanding the offensive package. So, you know, even if the answer was yes, he’s ready for some small bench minutes, I still think developmentally it’ll make sense for him to spend a lot of time with the 905. Um, and then even in terms of like what is your best usage like Sandro’s so far ahead of him offensively right now, depending on what you want that second unit to look like, you can make the case for Mo or Murray Boils as the small five in the second unit as well. And I know we’re going to talk some some kind of rotation possibilities and things like that. So, uh, I’m really excited by Shamshay. I think where I’m at is I’m so excited to see if he can be the most impactful player on the 905 to start and then we can see, you know, December, January, what that looks like for NBA purposes. Yeah. Kind of look at it similar to a player who’s deciding whether to take that extra year in college and, you know, potentially move up. I mean, and that’s his age, right? Like, yeah, exactly. Still be one of the younger rookies in this class. Yeah. And so when you’re thinking about it from a Raptor’s perspective, it’s like, okay, you might put him, you know, in that opportunity early where the 905 aren’t in action yet and you can get him some meaningful game time where get him some meaningful film that he can then take to the 905. Uh, but if you were to try to fit him into the rotation or try to get him minutes with the Raptors and then he’s struggling, you might set him back a little. So why not put him in an opportunity where he can consistently, as you said, play 30 minutes a game and then similar to the growth that we’ve seen over the past year, maybe he takes everything that’s coming with the 905 this season and becomes that much better going into 26 27. Yeah. And it’s not unheard of for a guy to do two years in the G- League. Like I know the Bruno Kaboklo example is one people make half jokingly and it obviously it turned out with Bruno Kaboko being an unbelievably good FIA level player and Euro League player and things like that just not you know an okay stretch for the Memphis Grizzlies at one point in the NBA. Um so you don’t you maybe don’t want a guy doing four years in the G-League as a full-time guy. But Chris Bush took two basically full G-League years to get where he was going. He was an older prospect who went to I know he got a late start to basketball, but he went to a major program in Oregon, right? And then still took two years in the G-League. So you don’t, you know, I don’t think it’s an indictment of Shamshay if at 19 years old he needs more G-League time. So I think kind of in my head the way I have it and this is true of anyone on a two-way but I kind of think of the trade deadline in my head as like the next big checkpoint for him because coming out of that if you have an open roster spot if you have a little bit of your say mini mid-level left or something like that that’s when you start thinking about well what does a contract conversion look like? What does locking this guy up longterm look like? Prior to that like the chances of Shamshay burning all 50 of his NBA eligibility days prior to that are like pretty I haven’t even looked at the schedule. Maybe you don’t even play 50 games by then. I think you play a little over 50 usually uh by the deadline. So there’s not there’s not a real urgency to it other than like it’s exciting so you want to see him on the floor. Um there’s like a fan level urgency to it. But practic in in practical terms, you know, you can you can take this as as slowly as you need as a team and as slowly as he needs developmentally. And that’s not a negative. It’s a you know, there’s a reason you signed him to a two-year two-wave right out of the gate, right? as you figured it would take you know and it would take until 2026 to get this guy NBA ready. Yeah. Coming up next we are going to talk some Coloray Boils, Jamal Shed, Jacobe Walter and what we’ve seen uh from those guys so far. Ever wish managing your money felt easier? With Monarch Money? It can. Whether you’re growing your savings or planning a big purchase, Monarch puts you in the driver’s seat. It’s like having your own personal CFO, giving you full visibility and control over your finances. Monarch Money is more than a budgeting app. It’s a complete financial command center. You can track all your accounts, investments, and spending in one place. So, in addition to managing your money, you’re also building wealth. Having all my accounts in one app has been a gamecher, and it’s just so much easier to figure out exactly what I’m doing with all my money. Take control of your finances with Monarch Money. Use code lockdown NBA at monarchmoney.com for 50% off your first year. That’s monarchmoney.com code locked on NBA for half off your first year. All right, Blake, we are going to talk some columnary boils. Obviously missed uh the first game with a strained adductor and got into the second one watching, you know, the contrast between game his first game and his second game. For me, I look at it as kind of I call it the Goldilocks equilibrium where he came in first game, tried to do too much and, you know, wants to show off the drive, show off the three, do a little bit of everything, and it w it wasn’t quite there. You know, we saw him turn turn the ball over, struggle with the dribble a bit. Then the second game, it it very much felt like he was going to let the game come to him. Didn’t really get involved in the offense too much. And then the second half, he kind of comes on a little bit offensively. we saw uh you know the defensive potential throughout, but uh what have your impressions been through the the two games that he’s played? Yeah, honestly my biggest takeaway in trying to eva evaluate CMBB offensively so far has been man summer league is so guard dominant and like you just like I know you said that that you made the too hot illusion in the first game but I think like a switch hit for him at some point where he’s like if I don’t take the ball myself like I’m not going to get the ball and that’s not necessarily a Jamal shed thing that’s a summer league thing that’s the way we see it in the G-League a little a little bit too um yeah you gotta you got to get your shots up. Um, so I don’t know the offensive side. Look, there are two things that stood out for me. The the fact that he comfortably hit an above the break three is great. It’s only one three, but you still like to see him taking it with confidence. Um, and then you see the strength even when he’s taking like an unconventional driving angle or like not the way you would draw it up for him to attack. Guys bounce off of him in a in a pretty cool way. So, um, as he learns, you know, as the handle gets a little better, as he learns, you know, angle of attack and things like that, I think that pretends pretty well. We know that he has a pretty versatile finishing package from his college time. Uh, but yeah, the big thing to me that popped on that end is like, man, if he can get ahead of steam, if he can get the right angle to protect the ball and still have a shot at a finish, like no one at his positions is going to out physical him at the the spot of contact. Yeah. And I think one thing I’d love to see is obviously on the drives we’ve seen so far, I felt like he’s almost been in a foot race where, you know, he knows he can use his strength as he’s rising up, but I’d love to see, you know, him sort of land, gather, jump off two feet, and really use his body uh and clear space. Uh maybe that’s something we’ll see in the games to come. Uh, and then defensively, I think that what I really like is for a rookie to have his positional sense. That’s the biggest thing for me where and then he just lets his physical attributes take over, right? Where it’s like, okay, you’re in the right positions most of the time. You’re you’ve got good anticipation and that’s where we’ve seen him get deflections, anticipate passes, and then the Raptors are able to get out on the break. And then we’ve seen here and there where he’s able to help protect the rim as well. You know, there was that uh drive I remember where Jacobe Walter gets beat and you know the Magic Guard goes all the way to the rack and then Murray Boils is able to come over from the other side and get the block and then the Raptors go down the other way. So plays like that definitely get me excited. Um what’s stood out to you on the defensive side of the ball? Yeah, it’s it’s been pretty exciting. I I love some of that stuff. Obviously, the physicality and the the hands are on everything, right? You can even see it when he doesn’t when he doesn’t get the rip in on someone. He’s still like he’s still trying uh and his his hands kind of have the magnet for the bong doing something physical that the camera can’t see, right? Baby’s first video podcast. Um no, there were there were a couple plays. There’s one in particular, I think it was him and Jacobe, where they navigate a pick and roll defensively and they do a really good job of it and then Jacob’s man starts driving and Murray Boils is still able to kind of dig in on the drive with an arm in there. Um, him and Mo had some nice stuff kind of when to stick to the guy, when to time the switch. Obviously, that much length in a trap situation as you get across half court is going to be hell for a ball handler. Uh, I just think there’s a lot there to work with. Like his instincts seem very good. He moves his feet and his hips while staying with guys. He seems to have a a really good sense of, you know, when the pick and roll happens, the exact line at which, okay, I got to switch now. I can stay with my guy until this and then emergency off. Um, that’ll be really interesting to see how that works, you know, within the larger Raptors context when he’s around the other guys and, you know, they do a little bit more peel switching and things like that than I think they’re probably going to ask guys to do at the summer league level. U, but it’s been cool, man. The whole the whole thing defensively has been unbelievable. I think he’s probably been their most interesting individual defender still, but the this team would be like like it’s villainous to to watch this team play defense. Yeah. No, they’re so intense. They’re so physical and the ball pressure is just relentless. And maybe this is a good way to transition into the ball pressure. Like Jamal Shed and Jacobe Walter, I feel like what they’ve done up top uh to set the tone has been outstanding. I mean, Walter, we can talk about the scoring, the 26 points, and the way he pops off, but seven steals, and he is always, you know, down in the stance, active hands, ready to poke at the ball the second he can see it. Um, and I feel like that just in combination with shed makes life so so difficult for opposing teams to get any kind of daylight to run their offense. Yeah, it’s it’s maniacal. Uh, and the the cool thing about Walter is like obviously shed’s good defensively. Like we knew this coming out of college. A some of that is like the physical skills to pick up full court. Some of is it the mentality to pick up full court. But something that pops to me with Jacob’s defense is one of the first things I started hearing around camp and he was injured so he we didn’t get to see him a lot in camp in Montreal last year. Um and then even when he started getting in games a lot of the assistant coaches would be like this guy picks up stuff so quick. Like the level of the the level that he thinks the game and kind of picks up the reads and stuff like that is a lot. And you go back and you watch some of these steel highlights and it’s like he knows where the pass is going. He has a really good sense of Jamal’s going to pressure this guy here. this is what we’re going to do in the pick and roll. That is going to force the ball over here and then boom, I’m through like a like a cornerback jumping the read, right? And running through pick six. So, I like what that says just about where he’s at in terms of thinking the game after one year in the NBA. I think you see some of it offensively, too. But it it really does the anticipation levels defensively. And then, yeah, there’s good length. He has good footwork. The the agility is there and everything like that. Um, obviously, a good part of defense is just like your want to. It’s like, “Oh, I know the ball’s going to go over there, but I got to run. I got to sprint over there.” Um, it’s funny. I made the joke to Samson the other day that this this and you’ve seen me play before. This Raptors team defends like if I had cardio and uh anyway, yeah, the the Jacobe stuff’s been great. Jamal Shed is kind of like not I don’t mean to like downplay what he’s doing, but like given the role he played last year, given how good I thought he was coming out of college, if he didn’t look like this defensively in year two of summer league, I’d be like, “What the heck, man?” Um, but yeah, Jacob’s popped and I I really think Jacob’s done a nice job of turning what we thought he was going to be coming out of college initially. Um it’s kind of like a different player projection now a a year and change later than I remember the talk being as we kind of scouted him up for for the draft last year. Like both on both sides of the ball too, but I think you know at least right now like his calling card is going to be as part of that second unit defensive identity. Um and not necessarily like he can obviously get a bucket uh and this summer league team needs him to, but yeah, I think that’s kind of going to be where where it comes from. Yeah, my hot take has been that, you know, depending on how things play out at the trade deadline, he could be the starting shooting guard uh at the end by the end of the season. Uh we’ll see we’ll see how that plays out. But, you know, just uh looking at some of these other guys between actually, you know, just quickly on Jamal Shed because I thought the last game against the Nuggets was interesting in the sense that, you know, the first quarter, they were obviously giving him the three and he was willing to take it. And I think in general, we’ve seen him step into that shot, but he missed his first three threes. And then I thought he made a good adjustment of kind of working his way into the paint, saying, “Hey, okay, they’re dropping so far back that I am getting a bit of a runway here, getting himself into the paint.” and then throwing up, you know, runner, push shot, um, and getting that to go. And I thought that was really effective for him. What have you made of his individual offense? Uh, and are what do you maybe see as the biggest point of concern or area for growth uh, going into the season? Yeah, I think right now probably the if there’s a point of concern, it’s, you know, some of the reads are maybe a dribble too slow. And Fred Vanmple went through this as well, right? like as an undersized guard who and shed is burstier than Fred Vanble Vleet, so it’s not a perfect comp. And then Vanble’s obviously established three-point shooter, so what you can and can’t do is a little different, but just that like I’m going to come off a a screen and I know if I if I wait x amount of time, the pocket pass is going to be there, right? Like he fed Castleton yesterday and Castleton couldn’t couldn’t get a single one of those Yak shots to to to drop. So like Shed should have had a few more assists. it would have looked a little better, but I think he’s going to have there’s going to be some eb and flow to figuring out, you know, okay, at what what’s my timing on letting that floater range shot go? What’s my timing on that pocket pass? How do I look for those two as my a read without if that’s not there, the whole offense has to reset and come back out a little bit. Um, and you saw that a little bit where like there were periods where nobody but shed and the and whoever the center was touched the ball, right? Um, and again, this is his learning as like a quarterback of the offense and stuff like that. Um, so that’s probably the one thing I’ll be I’ll be watching for progression wise. Um, on the positive side, I love that he was willing to let that floater go. I think there was a stretch in the third quarter maybe where he hit a couple of them in a row against that defense. And um, I mean, that’s how teams are going to defend him. Especially if it like maybe it won’t be because it’s the second unit, but let’s say it’s Yak out there with them, right? like in that below the three-point line pick and roll. They’re going to go under Ron Jamal and they’re going to stay tied to Yaka Purle. So that floater that low elbow Etoan Moore is going to be there all day. Um you know maybe with Sandro it’s probably going to be more pick and pop if they go to that. Um Shamsh they’d probably shade shed a little bit more right now until Shamsh shows he can throw down those lobs and stuff like that. But that’s going to be there for him. So uh the aggressiveness to take it is going to be important because he’s going to need that, you know, long term. He’s going to need that floater range shot to be probably like a high 40s, low 50s percentage shot. Um, and that’s a little tough for like a 12-footer when you’re not when you’re not a big guy, but that’s probably what he’s going to need it to be to be like an overall efficient score. Yeah. Yeah, he was 41% uh between 3 to 10 feet last season. So, we’ll see if he can bump that up. Yeah, I think it like 45% at a minimum given the volume that they’re going to give him that look at. Maybe we need to expand it like four to 14 feet or whatever because the elbow I guess is is a little further than that. But yeah, he’s going to need to refine that a little bit. Um I think he he can he he has good touch and and good sense for it. But and obviously you don’t actually have to be awan Moore the float goat, but uh yeah, it’s a it’s a it’s a necessary tool. It’s a necessary tool even for guys like like Fred Vanble and Kyle Lowry if we’re talking undersized point guards. uh those guys could hit the three and they still had to develop that as a part of their game, right? Because you just it’s the only way to counter a defense for the fact that you can’t put pressure on the rim the same way someone else can. So, you’re going to need it at some point. Yeah. Uh let’s quickly touch on Jonathan Mo, AJ Lawson, and Jameson Battle. I think, you know, we’ve seen Lawson as probably stand the standout of the three and, you know, he’s talked about being the summer league vet and this being his fifth year. Uh, happy 25th. Uh, but I I think the probably, you know, beyond the fact that he’s super engaged defensively, the fact that he’s able to consistently get to the line when the Raptors have had some halfcourt issues uh running the offense has been, I think, kind of a saving grace for them at times. and uh he’s got that straight line drive where he’s able to draw the contact and even when he’s not like for a guy moving that quickly to have the touch where you know I was saying this in the last episode where it’s so easy on those to go strong off the glass but he seems to have such a good touch where he’s making them more often than he’s not. Yeah, he’s so fast, right? So you got to slow yourself down uh kind of to not hammer that off the backboard. So I think that’s great. I mean, he hasn’t shot the three super well in this tournament, but it was something that or sorry, he has um uh it was something that he didn’t shoot super well with the Raptors last year, but he showed progression there with the 905 as well. So, it’s interesting when they picked him up as a two-way, I was like, “Huh, I really like the defense and like he’s obviously very fast, but how does he fit a Dark Oak style offense?” And now you see it’s like the ability like the speed and the ability to get in the paint. He’s almost in like the RJ role with the summer league team, right? hit a little bit of a three, but you’re the only guy that we can get in the paint with, so you’re going to need to bang that, bang that. It’s to the point where they signed Sandro, I looked at the cap sheet, I’m like, they’re really tight to the tax. Like maybe they just run 14 guys because it saves you a little bit of breathing room. You keep that flexibility until a trade deadline and things like that. Like I think Lawson’s an NBA guy and I think you got to I I know positionally it’s like not the most it’s not as obvious as carrying one more center on the roster or something like that, but in the 15th slot on your roster, you just need guys who can play. And I think Lawson can like pretty clearly play. Yeah. Yeah. Uh Jonathan Mo, you know, I think watching him, it’s been hard to evaluate if there’s been any real progress with his touch around the basket just cuz he’s either, you know, he’s pretty much been dunking everything that he That’s progress though. They had to like beg him to dunk last year. That is progress. That’s true. That’s true. Um but I guess I mean more, you know, when there’s a bit of a contest, can he actually like rise up with confidence? We haven’t had a chance to see much of that. Uh, I will take the dunks. That’s better than what we saw last season. Defensively, there’s no concerns. Uh, one of the things that I’ve found interesting is it feels like for the most part, I know we’ve saw it in the closing stretch uh, of these last couple games, but for the most part they’ve used him at the four and then we’ve seen a little bit of them going small ball where I think that’s had a bit more to do with the opposing team trying to go small and pick up the pace and try to come back in these games. Um, do you think the Raptors are slowly maybe transitioning to seeing him exclusively at the four? Uh, I mean, I think a little bit at least. And like it’s always going to be a little weird because if you project what the Raptors bench units are going to be like, you know, Sandro is not very good defensively at the five. And you know if like let’s so if he’s in there for sure like if he’s in the rotation for sure then Mo’s only path to rotation minutes is in the backup for spine. Him and Colin Murray Boils are are competing and things like that. If Sandro is not in the rotation you’re probably doing a lot of those lineups that we’ve become pretty used to the last couple years which is where you know let’s say in last year would have been like Barnes, Mo and Buché and you don’t really know who the center is. There’s just three big guys and you kind of take the matchup wise. Um, so I think they could do some of that with Murray Boils, especially in Scotty Barnes and bench units and stuff. So I think the non Yak guys are going to get treated kind of as four SL5s defensively anyway. And maybe it’s matchup based or or maybe you just mix it up. Um, I think like pretty safely he’s better at the four right now defensively. I think just like his range and his switchiness like is more it’s like similar to to Precious when Precious would look so much better at the top of the floor when he’s out switching around and stuff like that because that’s an uncommon skill for a big man. Um whereas mobile like might be fine at the five, but you’re kind of taking away his best asset unless you’re like switching every pick and roll, which you’re not going to do if you have, you know, Jamal Shed or Emanuel Quickley on the floor as your as your point guard. So, um I don’t know. I think it’ll probably be a little fluid depending on who how the guys around him run with the role. Um, yeah, he’s looked solid. I honestly don’t have much to say about mobile from this that the aggression the aggression looking for the rim on offense was basically all I wanted to see from him when he went to the G-League last year. All I really needed to see from him from summer league here. Um he I I’m curious how the him and Murray Boils like if that’s going to be a iron sharpens iron kind of thing and it gets mobile a little bit more aggressive because the path to minutes isn’t as obvious this year. I think that could be a fun subplot early in the year. Yeah, for sure. No, I’ve been thinking about that as well. Lastly, battle. I don’t know if there’s much to say here cuz like he’s pretty much playing the same role that he’s going to play at all times. Shooter shoot. Yeah, shooter shoot. Um, and I think, you know, didn’t shoot the ball as as well a couple games ago, but, you know, we’ve seen as he’s he’s got the greenest of green lights uh on this team and he needs that and uh that’s going to be, you know, the most important skill that he brings to this roster. Yeah. I don’t Yeah. And like obviously you have to do enough other things to stay on the floor. You got to defend a little bit. You got to rebound a little bit. I think his defense last year was maybe um you know a little bit better than than people had maybe anticipated. Um yeah, I I haven’t he hasn’t like popped like crazy on that end in these three games, but he’s been a big part of really good defensive lineups. He uses his length well like when teams are trying to press break to at least make the the next pass difficult and stuff. But yeah, I mean he’s he’s in a pretty like we we know who Jameson Battle uh is. It’s uh yeah, you know, his path to playing time is going to be well, we need they need shooting in the second unit and and he’s got that. Yeah. Uh to wrap up, we are going to get into some of this benchmob 2.0 talk and a bit of the 905. All right, Blake. You know, it wouldn’t it wouldn’t be a podcast with you if we didn’t get into the 905. Uh Chucky Heburn, uh Elijah Martin, I think those two guys, you look at the defense, you you look at what they could provide as potentially a starting back court for the 905. I think it it’ll be fun for fans to watch. Obviously, we’ve we’ve seen how Elijah can take off from anywhere, and that’s probably the most exciting aspect of it, but I think watching Chucky defend in itself is like an experience. Yeah. My main problem is Elijah Martin is such a bully. Uh what he did to Boo Buouie, picking him up and powerbombing him on the scorers table uh to get that flagrant foul and then bullying EJ Liddell and baiting him into a technical foul. No, that that was a joke. um that like that whole sequence was ludicrous. Uh I I like what I’ve seen for both of those guys. It’s I mentioned earlier when it comes to, you know, how guys are getting their offense in the summer league. The G-League is a very guard oriented league. You there just aren’t enough big men who I I guess there are big men there who protect the rim, but none of them can play offense, and the ones who can score can’t play defense and stuff. You just don’t have the same level of help and backline stuff in the G- League that you have in the NBA. So, the offenses are way more guardbased. um or reliant on guard play. And that’s why like Lorenzo Brown and Jordan Lloyd have been such good 905s over the years. So by logical extension of that, the best way to be a good defense is to have unbelievable point of attack defense. And yeah, Elijah Martin and Chucky Heard are going to be an ins like they’re going to be the first G-League team to play defense. It’s it’s going to be pretty remarkable. Um don’t let Jerry Stack House hear that. Yeah, I mean those teams were Yeah, but those teams are like all vets except for Bruno, too. It’s like, okay, here’s here’s two guys that are about to win an NBA championship with the NBA Raptors in a year or two. And then uh um No, it’s it it should be a lot of fun. I think those guys will be a pretty nasty defensive back court by G-League standards. And then, you know, we’ll see what they can do offensively. Obviously, both of those guys, their path to the NBA is going to be dictated on what their growth looks like offensively. Um Elijah Martin’s got the got the bounce, though, man. That’s uh that’s a that guy should be a running back. I know he’s a quarterback in in high school, but that guy should be a running back with that that package of athleticism and burst. If he would have made that second dunk attempt, I think that would have been one of the best dunks I’ve ever seen at summer league like Yeah. What would like Johnny Fury has the best dunk of summer league so far. I I think but it might have been that might have topped it for I think so. Yeah. Yeah. So Blake, uh, there’s been a lot of talk about Bench Mob 2.0 and having this crew that can come in and, uh, not only, you know, keep their head above water, but maybe pushly. That’s that’s what we became accustomed to with the original benchmob. I view next season as having five very good starters. And if at any point you only have one of those starters on the floor, we have to ask questions of Darko. And and and based on that, I don’t see the room for Bench Mob 2.0. What I like about the options on the bench is that the Raptors can go different ways to complement whoever, you know, whichever two starters are on the court. And so, you know, you’ve got obviously Shed as this super defensive point guard. You’ve got Jacobe who can give you, you know, what you need on both ends. Then you’ve got the shooting of Grady Dick. You’ve got Oi as the 3 and D specialist. Uh, and and then the list kind of goes down. So, I like kind of the choices that the Raptors have, but do you think there’s going to be an opportunity for a Benchmob 2.0? No, I don’t think it’s super realistic. Um, you can still see me. Okay, there we go. Uh, I opened basketball reference on my computer first because I just wanted to confirm that I had my ears right. So, like that year, by the way, it wasn’t just the benchmob. Norm was the 11th man and played over a thousand minutes. Like, that’s one of the deepest teams ever. So, I remember I spent a lot of that year being like, “Guys, the bench mob is cool. The fiveman unit being successful is great. This has almost never happened before.” And like the reason for that is like you need your best players on the floor. Like Kyle and Demar got staggered for years. Kyle runs the end of the, you know, the end of the or Demar runs the end of the first quarter and third quarter. Kyle starts the top of the second and fourth quarter with the bench because that’s a better way to do it and that, you know, have a quarterback have a a main focal point and stuff. And then we never really got to see the benchwab in the playoffs because uh Fred busted his shoulder out and then obviously rotations shorten and things like that. But uh so yeah, that’s the first part is nobody runs a fiveman bench unit because they’re not effective. It’s like the 2018 Raptors and there was one Lou Will era like Lob City Clippers team that had a fiveman bench unit that was positive and those are the only two that I could find when I dove in in 2018. Realistically, if you have five starters, especially five starters who are not all a perfect fit together, it’s going to make sense to stagger pretty aggressively. We’ve gotten pretty used to Scotty Barnes and bench units. I think that makes a lot of sense. That’s an opportunity for Scotty Barnes to play a little bit more of a point guard role. Um, you get to do some funky things positionally with the different sizes. You can, you know, you can go pretty big in a second unit like that. Um, RJ Barrett might be the odd man out in terms of touches in the starting lineup, right? relative to where his talent level maybe dictates. When he was in New York, he was the first guy to sub out and then he’d be the guy with the bench unit. Now, Emanuel Quickley was coming off the bench, so um they they kind of had that running together there. Uh but that’s a role that he’s familiar with as well. I think the only guy you won’t really see that with is Yaka Purle because you’re going to want Yaka Purle, you know, tethered to other star players. He’s a he’s a kind of um exponential guy. He’s a multiplier for good players more than he would be for for lesser players. But those other guys, you could all see how they could, you know, you look at what a benchmob would look like and which five guys and then you take one of those guys out and you’re like, “Yeah, but how would they look with like Brandon Ingram helping them or Scotty Barnes helping them or Emanuel Quickley helping them?” And then those lineups instead of just being fun and young and hungry, they actually look like they could be good units, too. Um, and the Raptors are going to want to win this year. like you you’re going to try to find minutes for 10 or 11 guys where you can because it’s still a developmental time, but you are not going to sacrifice entire games or or four minute stretches of play to run a fiveman bench unit just to run a fiveman bench unit. Um, so I think, you know, there’s a little, it’ll be interesting to see how they work in like that year where Norm was the 11th man and got a thousand minutes. Like, if you sit down with a 48m minute grid and 11 players and you try to fit in enough minutes for 11 guys, it’s really hard to do. It’s hard to find regular minutes for more than like nine guys to where you look at the minutes total at the end of the game and be like, I’m happy with that. Obviously, injuries happen and things like that, but yeah, I think it’s I think it’s pretty unrealistic you’d run a fiveman bench unit for all of those reasons. And then also, your five starters just wouldn’t play enough if you did that. Um, which, you know, if you’re paying those guys what you’re paying them, you probably want them out there 35 minutes uh as well. So, it’s very fun. And I think the more important thing than like is this actually Benchmob 2.0 is let’s look at what Benchmob 1.0 did. What was that identity? what made them so successful. Look at where each of those guys have gone on after that. Yaka Purle, long-term starter with big money. Dolon Wright still in the league uh and getting playoff minutes uh whether whether Tibido wanted it or not. Fred Vanble big money guy. Pascal Seakum obviously a big money guy. Like all of those guys wanted to have individual success. CJ Miles the best photographer at summer league. All of those guys went on to have big individual success, but at the first step, and not all those guys were rookies. CJ Miles was a vet, but like all of those guys had to buy in to a role on a winning team that included some G-League time or had included G-League time the year before and it included some nights. It wasn’t your turn on the rotation cuz it’s norm. It required a lot of sacrifice and a lot of team first stuff up and a really defense first oriented identity. I think if you look at the package of seven or eight guys who could fit in the second unit for the Raptors, that’s the lesson you want to take away from benchmob 1.0, not necessarily, oh, we played five bench guys together. Yeah. Yeah. And, you know, for me, when I watch this summer league and I see some of the, you know, halfcourt offensive wos, I’m like, yeah, this is exactly where if you have a couple of starters in there with those guys now, you know, you mitigate that weakness to an extent where you could have some really positive lineups. Uh, you know, you mentioned CJ. I gotta ask CJ if uh Elijah Martin is a cricket fan because he got him, you know, doing the sign for six. Nice. But, uh, but besides that, you know, I think we’ve touched on, uh, pretty much all the fascinating points of summer league so far for the Raptors. Hopefully, they can maintain that point differential. Hopefully, they can get that W against the Dubs. My My concern from here is like they’re going to sit, guys, right? Like like do they need to see more of Jacobe Walter and Jamal Shed? I I want to see more, but they probably need to get like Cliff Omarui and Tyson Denhart are on exhibit 10ens. Um, you know, Jarkel Joiner they brought in from the G-League, Tyreek Keith. They might want to look at these guys and that’ll be disappointing to us because, you know, I I want that banner. I want that ship. Well, hey, Keith Belly said he’s going to be measured in terms of championships and there’s an opportunity right here. Look, the the Jays won the spring training championship and look at them now. Exactly. So, uh, that’s going to wrap it up for us. If you want to carry on our discussion, head on over to the Lockdown Raptors Discord. Link is in the description. Blake, let the people know where they can find your work. Uh, yeah, I am at Sports. I have a Blue Jays show from 10:00 a.m. to 12:00 p.m. every day called Jays Talk Plus. I sneak in a little bit of Raptors talk here and there, but uh, yeah, I don’t know. You guys know where to find me. I’ll be back on Locked on Raptors with V or doing something with Samson or I I’ll scratch the itch at some point before preseason, I’m sure. Thank you for making Lockdown Raptors your first listen today. For your second listen, find the Lockown NBA podcast where there is no offseason. Doug, Matt, and Hayes keep you up to date on contract negotiations, rumors, and everything you need to be the most informed NBA fan. Find Locked on NBA on YouTube or wherever you listen to podcasts. Part of the Lockdown Podcast Network, your team every day.

Taking a deeper look at the Toronto Raptors’ Summer League performances through three games. Vivek Jacob is joined by Sportsnet’s Blake Murphy to see just how much Ulrich Chomche has progressed in a year, where Ja’Kobe Walter and Jamal Shead are heading into Year 2, and if Bench Mob 2.0 is an actually possibility this season.

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