TORONTO — Do the Toronto Raptors need to do something about their lack of depth at centre?
It was a looming concern when they went into training camp with Jakob Poeltl as their only rostered player over six-foot-nine.
It became a red flag when Poeltl developed a back condition toward the end of training camp and started the regular season playing at half speed before missing some time with it.
But at this stage, it’s become a screaming, flashing siren that can’t be ignored much longer.
The Raptors played their ninth game without Poeltl on Saturday night as the Austrian big man was held out of the lineup for the second straight game and the ninth time this season. The Raptors fell to 4-5 in his absence (compared to 13-7 when he plays) as they lost rather inexcusably, 112-96 to the visiting Boston Celtics.
Boston — in what many thought would be a ‘gap’ year as they lost Jayson Tatum to an Achilles tear in the playoffs and subsequently having shed their three centres from last season in a related cost-savings move — has been one of the surprises in the Eastern Conference. They blew the Raptors out at Scotiabank Arena just two weeks ago. They improved to 17-11 and vaulted past Toronto into third place in the East.
But it shouldn’t have happened.
They arrived in Toronto on the second night of a back-to-back and without their leading scorer and best all-around player in Jaylen Brown, who was out with an illness.
And the Raptors couldn’t really touch them.
There were plenty of areas of concern: Celtics point guard Peyton Pritchard, who is in the second year of a four-year deal for $30 million, absolutely torched Toronto, finishing with 33 points, eight rebounds and 10 assists. The stocky six-footer went off for 19 third-quarter points to help Boston take an 83-80 lead into the fourth.
Meanwhile Raptors point guard Immanuel Quickley, who is on the second year of a contract that pays him $32.5 million per season, had a rough night offensively, finishing 1-of-12 from the floor and 1-of-7 from three, although he did manage seven assists and earned some praise from Raptors head coach Darko Rajakovic for his defensive effort on Derrick White, who shot 5-of-20 from the floor. Still, Quickley is shooting just 29 per cent overall and only 20 per cent from three over his past three starts.
And did we mention the Raptors bench — weakened in part because Sandro Mamukelashvili has been starting in place of Poeltl — was outscored 44-27 by their Celtics counterparts?
But the Raptors’ soft underbelly was fully exposed in the fourth quarter as the Celtics pulled away thanks in large part to six offensive rebounds — the Raptors had none. Boston finished the game with 17 offensive rebounds to the Raptors’ nine, with Celtics back-up centre Luka Garza finishing with nine offensive rebounds alone.
It’s a tough way to live.
“This game was about rebounding,” said Rajakovic. “They had 17 offensive rebounds and 23 second-chance points (to 17 second-chance points by Toronto). Because of that, we were not able to get stops and run and play our style of basketball and we became more of a half-court team, and that was really the problem.”
As long as Poeltl is out, or compromised, chances are it’s going to continue to be a problem. The Raptors’ need for another big was evident when Poeltl was healthy. It’s especially so now that he’s not.
It puts Raptors general manager Bobby Webster in a potentially tricky situation.
There are all kinds of risks associated with waiting to find out if a franchise-changing big man like Dallas Mavericks star Anthony Davis might become available.
In a vacuum, the 10-time all-star would solve nearly all of what ails the Raptors and could conceivably make them more of a factor in the Eastern Conference.
But no one is anticipating that Davis — if the Mavericks would actually trade him and if the 32-year-old who only has this year and next on his contract would sign off on a move to Toronto without assurances of a hefty payday — would be traded until much closer to the Feb. 5 deadline. That’s a long time for the Raptors to wait for help at centre.
And that’s without factoring in that the Mavericks — per league sources — seem to be leaning into keeping what is a reasonably competitive team together when healthy, so that emerging rookie star Cooper Flagg has a positive environment to grow into, compared with floundering around in a rebuild. Those with insight into the Mavs’ operation believe Davis will remain in Dallas.
Then there are issues of acquisition cost, folding a player of that wattage into a team that will inevitably have to be reconfigured on the fly late in the season and — oh yeah — Davis isn’t the gold standard of durability either. And if Poeltl ends up in the deal (which seems doubtful given he’s owed $104 million over the next four years, which is a lot for an ageing centre with a wonky back), the Raptors still have a problem with their centre depth.
Wouldn’t it make a lot more sense and be easier as well to simply find an adequate backup for Poeltl?
After all, according to Rajakovic, Poeltl’s back issue is a temporary thing, even though he’s only been able to play one game in the past 11 days.
“The situation with Jak is such that it’s a day-to-day thing,” says Rajakovic. “He has lower-back pain that comes and goes. It’s pretty unpredictable. He goes in the game and is great in the game. He might wake up in the next morning feeling good or not feeling good. Same thing with practice. We have a long-term plan for him which consists of managing his injury, which consists of building his strength, which consists of him playing through a certain level of pain. Long-term, we are not concerned at all. It’s just something we’re dealing with in the middle of the season. If it were the off-season and we were to shut him down for two weeks, he would be completely fine. It’s something we’re really trying to manage day to day.”
“… I’m a hundred per cent sure that Jak is gonna be just fine and this will be behind us,” said Rajakovic. “In two to three weeks, we’re not going to be talking about this at all, hopefully.”
‘Hopefully’ is doing a lot of work there. In the meantime, so is six-foot-seven rookie Collin Murray-Boyles, who ends up soaking up the back-up centre minutes when Poeltl is out and Mamukelashvili (who, it should not be overlooked, was a Raptors bright spot Saturday, finishing with a season-high 24 points on 9-of-14 shooting).
Murray-Boyles (nine points, six rebounds, four assists in 23 minutes) is a promising player, but if he’s playing centre for extended minutes, he’s probably not being used optimally. And while Scottie Barnes (12 points, nine rebounds, six assists, two blocks, four turnovers) can give you centre minutes in a pinch, it’s not a long-term solution.
Should the Raptors go out and get one of the lower-cost items on the market? Inquire about Nick Richards in Phoenix? Goga Bitadze in Orlando? Kevon Looney in New Orleans? Robert Williams in Portland?
“You’re looking at the wrong guy, I’m not the guy to ask this question,” said Rajakovic. “I think we have depth on our roster. We have a lot of guys who can step up night to night.”
But not every night, keeping in mind that even when Poeltl is healthy, the Raptors get small fast. In Mamukelashvili, they have a back-up centre in name only, given his true advantage is playing above the three-point line as a threat to shoot or drive.
No, this is a decision for Webster. Maybe he can skate on it a bit. Even after losing their fifth straight at home, the Raptors are 17-12 and still in fifth in the East. Maybe the Raptors can tread water long enough to wait until there’s a home run pitch to swing on. But maybe the pitch never comes, or the Raptors don’t have what it takes to connect? Maybe the Raptors’ promising season runs out of steam well before that.
All that’s certain is that as long as Poeltl can’t be relied on, the Raptors will continue to lose games without him, and even when he is in the lineup, there is no harm having another seven-footer to help anchor the second unit when needed.
Maybe it’s time for Webster to do some Christmas shopping.