With the 45th pick, the Raptors select Jamal Shead

[LoveMyRaps]

Absolutely no one expected Shead to be a 36% 3pt shooter this season.

I'll give Darko credit for transforming Ochai and Shead into 3pt shooters.

[Dennis 37]

Shead with 11 points, 10 assists (3tos), 6 rebs, 3 steals and 1 block (on a 3pt attempt by 6'11 Jabari Smith Jr! )

He outplayed FVV and on the season is shooting better from 3 than FVV.

Davion Mitchell is traded by the deadline.

I like the depth Davion gives us and he'll probably resign for peanuts. But will he be okay becoming a 3rd PG slowly as Shead takes it from him?

Probably not.

With his lack of offense, would any other team offer more than injury replacement, garbage time, and defense over offense substitutions at ends of quarters?

[Thaddy]

Mitchell is a minimum level player. No gives a **** about the third stringer, and most teams lean towards potential. Mitchell is likely done in the NBA after this contract.

Shead hasn't had great BPM numbers but it's due to the make up of our team. We need more shooters to play him with. Brown, Agbaji, Mogbo, Boucher and the others add to the problem.

[raincityraptors]

Absolutely no one expected Shead to be a 36% 3pt shooter this season.

I'll give Darko credit for transforming Ochai and Shead into 3pt shooters.

I live in Austin, where Shead is from and posted that I hoped we would draft him in the second round but it didn't seem likely given our position and his projection in mocks.

I was thrilled when we picked him at 45.

If anyone thought he would be shooting this well in his rookie year, I don't think he would go so late in what was considered a weak draft.

To me he never looked that comfortable shooting the three from the college line. I thought it would take him years to shoot the 3 respectfully.

I give the coaching staff full credit for getting him to work on the right things. He looks more comfortable shooting the NBA 3 than he did shooting the college 3. That confidence and comfort has a lot to do with the coaching staff.

Shead is always working but they are the ones that got him to work on the things that made him comfortable with his shot.

As I have said before, I hope he's our back up PG for years to come. He is already looking good coming off the bench.

[bballsparkin]

Absolutely no one expected Shead to be a 36% 3pt shooter this season.

I'll give Darko credit for transforming Ochai and Shead into 3pt shooters.

When he hit those tonight it made me a believer. Nice game.

[Ell Curry]

Mitchell is a minimum level player. No gives a **** about the third stringer, and most teams lean towards potential. Mitchell is likely done in the NBA after this contract.

Nah. There's a spot for him hassling opposing star guards for a few shifts in a playoff series. Look at the Lakers for example, who are they putting on Morant in the playoff series they would play if the season ended today? 12-15 minutes of Mitchell might stem the bleeding on nights he's killing Max Christie or Gabe Vincent. He'll be a 3rd stringer for a few more years.

Agreed on no trade value, though. He needed to shoot as well as he did last season (36% from 3, makes him playable as a bench guard on a team with frontcourt stars who handle the ball like Luka, LeBron and Banchero) and he hasn't.

[Psubs]

Huge fan of this kid.

Those HOU dawgs never disappoint.

Is it too late to trade for Jarace Walker?

[Los_29]

I get FVV/Lowry vibes from Shead. Obviously a ways to go and the chances of him being as good as either of those guys are slim. However, he does share some of their positive traits. Real chance he develops into a capable backup point guard.

He may not be better than Kyle. He will be better than Fred. I don't recall one drive into 3 taller players. Not one.

lol, Fred continues to live rent free.

[Sidthekid87]

He's been super impressive, might have a real bench mob being formed, which is nice. Been quite a few years since we've had real depth, and between Shead Walter Mogbo and even Battle I think we're trending towards having a really solid bench as early as next year.

[Duffman100]

I get FVV/Lowry vibes from Shead. Obviously a ways to go and the chances of him being as good as either of those guys are slim. However, he does share some of their positive traits. Real chance he develops into a capable backup point guard.

He may not be better than Kyle. He will be better than Fred. I don't recall one drive into 3 taller players. Not one.

lol, Fred continues to live rent free.

It's a bold take to say Shead will be better than 20,7 and 5.

And he "may not be better than Lowry". If he becomes better than a top 10 impact player season over season, I'll eat a shoe.

[Los_29]

He may not be better than Kyle. He will be better than Fred. I don't recall one drive into 3 taller players. Not one.

lol, Fred continues to live rent free.

It's a bold take to say Shead will be better than 20,7 and 5.

And he "may not be better than Lowry". If he becomes better than a top 10 impact player season over season, I'll eat a shoe.

lol that was such a wild take. People don’t understand how good Kyle was in his prime.

[Psubs]

He may not be better than Kyle. He will be better than Fred. I don't recall one drive into 3 taller players. Not one.

lol, Fred continues to live rent free.

It's a bold take to say Shead will be better than 20,7 and 5.

And he "may not be better than Lowry". If he becomes better than a top 10 impact player season over season, I'll eat a shoe.

He should be more efficient than FVV already. FVV was able to put up empty numbers because he was the #2 option for a few years.

[Los_29]

lol, Fred continues to live rent free.

It's a bold take to say Shead will be better than 20,7 and 5.

And he "may not be better than Lowry". If he becomes better than a top 10 impact player season over season, I'll eat a shoe.

He should be more efficient than FVV already. FVV was able to put up empty numbers because he was the #2 option for a few years.

I don’t think you understand what empty numbers are. lol. And why on earth would you think a guy who put up a 49% TS% in college would be more efficient than Fred?

[Duffman100]

lol, Fred continues to live rent free.

It's a bold take to say Shead will be better than 20,7 and 5.

And he "may not be better than Lowry". If he becomes better than a top 10 impact player season over season, I'll eat a shoe.

He should be more efficient than FVV already. FVV was able to put up empty numbers because he was the #2 option for a few years.

Conversely he's putting more efficient numbers because he isn't carrying the same offensive load.

Start Shead, have him play 35 minutes and let him have the same usage, what do you think the result is?

And all advanced say Fred's empty numbers impact winning despite his efficiency issues. Fred isn't great, but he has been good. It'll be shocking (pleasantly shocking) if Shead gets to his level.

[Psubs]

It's a bold take to say Shead will be better than 20,7 and 5.

And he "may not be better than Lowry". If he becomes better than a top 10 impact player season over season, I'll eat a shoe.

He should be more efficient than FVV already. FVV was able to put up empty numbers because he was the #2 option for a few years.

I don’t think you understand what empty numbers are. lol. And why on earth would you think a guy who put up a 49% TS% in college would be more efficient than Fred?

If Shead's 3pt shooting becomes consistent even at current levels, his efficiency at the rim would put him ahead of Fred. The eye test also has Shead as being more athletic.

[Psubs]

It's a bold take to say Shead will be better than 20,7 and 5.

And he "may not be better than Lowry". If he becomes better than a top 10 impact player season over season, I'll eat a shoe.

He should be more efficient than FVV already. FVV was able to put up empty numbers because he was the #2 option for a few years.

Conversely he's putting more efficient numbers because he isn't carrying the same offensive load.

Start Shead, have him play 35 minutes and let him have the same usage, what do you think the result is?

And all advanced say Fred's empty numbers impact winning despite his efficiency issues. Fred isn't great, but he has been good. It'll be shocking (pleasantly shocking) if Shead gets to his level.

I could see Shead maintaining %'s and increase FT% close to 80% while being a better finisher at the rim. Also he doesn't force the issue at the rim and has better passing instincts when getting down there instead of tunnel vision.

[ConSarnit]

Absolutely no one expected Shead to be a 36% 3pt shooter this season.

I'll give Darko credit for transforming Ochai and Shead into 3pt shooters.

If Shead can keep up this shooting then I have to ask: how bad are college programs at developing players? Shead has made more shooting progress here in 4 months than in 4 years at Houston.

[Duffman100]

He should be more efficient than FVV already. FVV was able to put up empty numbers because he was the #2 option for a few years.

Conversely he's putting more efficient numbers because he isn't carrying the same offensive load.

Start Shead, have him play 35 minutes and let him have the same usage, what do you think the result is?

And all advanced say Fred's empty numbers impact winning despite his efficiency issues. Fred isn't great, but he has been good. It'll be shocking (pleasantly shocking) if Shead gets to his level.

I could see Shead maintaining %'s and increase FT% close to 80% while being a better finisher at the rim. Also he doesn't force the issue at the rim and has better passing instincts when getting down there instead of tunnel vision.

And again, I'd say that' a bold prediction for a 4 year, 2nd rounder right now. Could he maybe be better than FVV if the development hits a perfect trend, sure.

[Los_29]

He should be more efficient than FVV already. FVV was able to put up empty numbers because he was the #2 option for a few years.

I don’t think you understand what empty numbers are. lol. And why on earth would you think a guy who put up a 49% TS% in college would be more efficient than Fred?

If Shead's 3pt shooting becomes consistent even at current levels, his efficiency at the rim would put him ahead of Fred. The eye test also has Shead as being more athletic.

That’s great but Fred was the far better college player and far more efficient. But we can all dream.

[MEDIC]

I thought Shead would find his 3 point shot by year 3. He might be ahead of schedule. Hopefully he can keep this up. It looks sustainable. Form looks great. One thing I said about him when we drafted him was that he was a worker & he would do what was necessary to figure things out.

It looks like he has made some adjustments defensively as well. Unfortunately the NBA neuters elite defenders like Shead. You can see that he has toned down his aggressive/ physical style that he learned to play in Houston. NBA won't let you play that way. It's a positive sign that he is making the adjustment so quickly. Davion is actually a great mentor for him.

One thing I really like about Shead is that he is a fun player to watch on both sides of the court He hasn't even figured out how to use his elite speed/ athleticism yet.