With the 45th pick, the Raptors select Jamal Shead

[Scase]

I genuinely believe he should be ahead of Mitchell in the rotation.

His hustle & intensity is infectious. You can see he really puts team first and tries to be a real floor general. I’m NOT saying he’s Lowry 2.0 but there’s some similar intangibles. Unless his jumper really falters, I’m guessing it improves, I think he’s gonna end up a fan favourite in that vein..

I was gonna say just this. If we are looking at a developmental season, we should be prioritizing him over Mitchell easily. He's not better, but he's also younger, cheaper, under contract, and just as bad on offence so not much of a loss there.

Let's see what the kids can do this year, wins be damned. Gimmie some Mogbo and Shead getting decent minutes.

I genuinely believe he should be ahead of Mitchell in the rotation.

His hustle & intensity is infectious. You can see he really puts team first and tries to be a real floor general. I’m NOT saying he’s Lowry 2.0 but there’s some similar intangibles. Unless his jumper really falters, I’m guessing it improves, I think he’s gonna end up a fan favourite in that vein..

I think Mitchell is destined to be traded at the deadline to open up space for just that. I think he is destined to be traded regardless.

I think there can be room for both if the system is so predicated on ball pressure. You can see how high our pick-up points were on defense yesterday. Darko wants disruption but I am not sure if IQ and Barrett can manage that as starters.

I think mixing in Mitchell with the starters is going to happen eventually, and having two PG bench line-ups is also interesting, especially with Mitchell who might be better in an offball shooting role.

What we saw last night was brief, but we saw a different type of defensive team. I would not even leave Carton out of the mix because he looks NBA ready.

IQ would definitely get burned out Quickley doing that all game, and I don't think RJ is good enough defensively to do it without getting burned more often than not, so we will need someone to take that pressure for sure.

[Tripod]

Of he proves he can play well in NBA already, it just opens up so many more lineup options depending on the opponent.

Fast small PG? Slap Mitchell then Shead on them.
Slightly bigger but a step slower PG? Brown can guard them.
Need a little more size? Start Ochai
Need 3pt scoring? Start Gradey

We for sure need more high end skill...hell another star would be great. But we do seem to have much better playable depth entering this year AND we still have lots of youth to develop.
Need a

[Appostis]

Just get his shooting up.. possible steal.

[deck]

Of he proves he can play well in NBA already, it just opens up so many more lineup options depending on the opponent.

Fast small PG? Slap Mitchell then Shead on them.
Slightly bigger but a step slower PG? Brown can guard them.
Need a little more size? Start Ochai
Need 3pt scoring? Start Gradey

We for sure need more high end skill...hell another star would be great. But we do seem to have much better playable depth entering this year AND we still have lots of youth to develop.
Need a

Fully realizing it was Washington, but we played a stretch last night in the 1st / 2nd quarter where Mitchell and then Shead were really applying pressure. It was so refreshing to see us forcing the other team's offence to react where usually it would be us reacting to getting blown by.

[Psubs]

Watch on YouTube

4 assists to 1 turnover, 3 steals to 2 fouls (senior year had more steals than fouls).

Nice handles, quick 1st step and nice layup package. He looks like a pro already, with little to no hesitation. He's like rich man's FVV.

3-pt shooting might keep him as just an elite backup PG.

[HiJiNX]

Steal

[PhilBlackson]

We got ourselves our (smaller) TONY ALLEN...remember the comparison because I bet he's gonna start hearing it more soon.

Watch on YouTube

Watch on YouTube

He's on a different level defensively even from Kyle & Davion...just a relentless defender with great anticipation and stay in his opponent's chest. Just a gnat, all over his opponent, they can't get away from them.

Like Tony, he's just a DAWG!

[WhatsaTDot]

Watch on YouTube

snip.
He's like rich man's FVV.
snip.

In FVV's first year you mean?

[HangTime]

OKC has the Dorture Chamber

We have the Wood-Shead.

[Basketball_Jones]

I think he’s poised to do well against second units and be a real spark off the bench. Against starting level defense they are going to dare him to shoot and contest his drives more. But hey, we’ll worry about that next year. Just enjoy the season I say.

[DelAbbot]

Finally we have our own PatBev in Shead

[Thaddy]

You could see Bub Carrington got flustered by Shead. The defense and energy was great. Its going to be a competitive between him and Mitchell.

The real value will be in practice when they push Barnes, Barrett and IQ to be better.

Shead is the type of player you want as a culture builder. I want him as a career Raptor, he built a defensive culture in Houston. We would be stupid to let him go and not build that here.

I could realistically see us pushing a 2 PG line up with him and IQ. He's that good on defense and we need someone to ignite us on that end.

[WuTang_CMB]

https://www.tsn.ca/nba/video/-the-guy-plays-with-a-big-time-motor---armstrong-impressed-with-~3005030?collectionId=TSN%2FRECS%2FMIX%2FRFY

[ConSarnit]

Watch on YouTube

4 assists to 1 turnover, 3 steals to 2 fouls (senior year had more steals than fouls).

Nice handles, quick 1st step and nice layup package. He looks like a pro already, with little to no hesitation. He's like rich man's FVV.

3-pt shooting might keep him as just an elite backup PG.

If he doesn’t learn to shoot he’s probably not even an NBA player. He can’t score outside of 5ft (shot 37% from midrange in college). He has a lot of intriguing skills but non-shooting 6ft guards don’t really have a place in the league. There’s not a lot of precedent for players of Shead’s current skillset and size sticking in the league. Shead’s career will be made or broken on shooting.

[YogurtProducer]

Watch on YouTube

snip.
He's like rich man's FVV.
snip.

In FVV's first year you mean?

Annnnnd this is why this board turns on players.

If Shead ends up having half the career FVV has had it is a massive success. But if he even becomes serviceable the fans will start to blame him. Pathetic.

[WiggOuts]

OKC has the Dorture Chamber

We have the Wood-Shead.

Poor Bub Carrington, he got taken around back to the Wood Shead

[WhatsaTDot]

snip.
He's like rich man's FVV.
snip.

In FVV's first year you mean?

Annnnnd this is why this board turns on players.

If Shead ends up having half the career FVV has had it is a massive success. But if he even becomes serviceable the fans will start to blame him. Pathetic.

I just think its pretty unfair to give him a comp higher than a guy who ended up an All Star.

[Dalek]

In FVV's first year you mean?

Annnnnd this is why this board turns on players.

If Shead ends up having half the career FVV has had it is a massive success. But if he even becomes serviceable the fans will start to blame him. Pathetic.

I just think its pretty unfair to give him a comp higher than a guy who ended up an All Star.

Shead played one NBA game against the pre-season Wizards against an 18 year-old rookie and Jordan Poole. Time to pump the brakes on pick 45.

[webeye]

I think the thing I like most about Shead so far, is that you can absolutely see him landing somewhere between Lowry and FVV as a Raptor, even if it's all a fever dream this early on. His shot is dreadful, as it was in college, but his free throw shooting was decent, so there's hope for him working it out.

I still enjoy watching him more than anyone on the team not named Barnes.

[Blazing_royale]

if he develops a 3 pointer, he gonna be one them core players. The intensity is infectious to the team. Our Tony Allen or Marcus Smart