Choosing A Raptor for Each All Star Event

 Ok a little idea I had while the Raptors are still on a long all star break. I wanted to pick a Raptor for each all star event. Since the only Raptor present in the festivities was Gradey Dick in the rising stars game, I am going to leave him out for the purposes of this exercise. Sorry Gradey, you got the real accolade instead of the Lohensports one. Otherwise I will be selecting a Raptor for each of: Rising Stars, Skills Challenge, Slam Dunk Contest, 3 Point Contest, All Star. I will only be choosing 1 Raptor for each category. I can't wait!

Rising Star: Jamal Shead

Honorable mentions: Ja'Kobe Walter, Jonathan Mogbo, Jamison Battle 

This was a tough one since the Raptors rotation for most of the season included the 4 rookies mentioned above and our actual rising star Gradey Dick. I think especially as the season has gone on, Shead has emerged as the best rookie in the bunch so far. Starting off the season playing with his hair on fire, Shead took a while to adjust to the pace of the NBA. While he did come in and try to make an impact, a lot of the time he was rushing his process leading to mistakes and turnovers. In the second half of the season, Shead has calmed a lot of that stuff down. Still a great playmaker on defense with his high intensity style of play, Shead has shown some positive improvement on offense as well. Once thought of as a poor 3 point shooter, Shead is shooting now 38.5% from deep in his last 20 games and is up to 35% overall on the season. He's got lightning quick speed that surprises defenders a lot of the time and he's a good decision maker once he gets in the paint either kicking it out or going up with a funky floater or layup. As of right now, Shead is looking like a solid backup PG in the NBA but with his already notable improvements in his rookie season, I see no reason why Shead can't be a starter in his prime, that's a rising star!

I will quickly shout out the honorable mentions who have all contributed to the Raptors this year. Walter has shown he plays the game the right way on both sides of the ball, despite his wirey size as a 20 year old rookie. He has some shot creation and playmaking flashes that should get Raptors fans excited as well. Mogbo has been a jack of all trades small ball 5 who's shown signs of being a very good wing defender already. His shooting comes and goes and his finishing around the rim is suspect at best, but his handle, IQ and speed at his size all offer really intriguing tools for the Raptors going forward. Battle I won't talk too much about here but he's a shooter man, he can really shoot. 

Skills Challenge: RJ Barrett

Honorable mentions:  Immanuel Quickley, Scottie Barnes

Ok what is the skills challenge? Usually it's a basketball themed obstacle course featuring running, dribbling, passing, shooting and finishing. I think RJ Barrett offers the best mix of all of those skills on the Raptors today. In terms of running, RJ Barrett is the best transition player on the Raptors and actually one of the best in the entire NBA. Only Giannis Antentokoumpo has more transition points per game than RJ Barrett per NBA.com. Dribbling? RJ has one of the better handles on the team, though that may be saying more about the ball handlers available to the Raptors than it does for RJ. Still though, RJ is able to utilize his handle and footwork to efectively get himself to the rim over and over again. Passing? RJ Barrett is second to only Scottie Barnes in assists per game on the Raptors averaging 5.6. Shooting? RJ is shooting a comfortable 35% from deep good for 5th on the team at a decent volume. This is obviously his weakest of all the skills needed for the challenge, but something he is at least average at overall. Finally finishing, RJ is the best player on the team at getting to the rim and watching any Raptors game that he's playing will tell you that with certainty. RJ has the most attempts and makes inside 5 feet out of anyone on the team. He attempts 8.1 shots per game inside 5 feet, the next most for a Raptor is Jakob Poeltl, a center who does not shoot, attempts 5.9 and Scottie Barnes, a massive PF attempts just 4.5. The skills competition is about being a jack of all trades on offense and I think RJ Barrett is exactly that for the Raptors. You could argue Scottie Barnes is as well, but his shooting this year has fallen off hitting only 26% of his 3s. A good catchall for a jack of all trades is triple doubles, this season RJ Barrett has the most triple doubles on the Raptors (with just 2, but don't look at that). RJ is our Skills Challenge representative. 

Slam Dunk Contest: Chris Boucher

Honorable Mentions: Ochai Agbaji, Gradey Dick

Yeah ok the Raptors don't really have a great dunker on their team. This category is pretty obvious, most entertaining dunker. My nominee for this is Chris Boucher and it's purely for 1 dunk he had this season against the Warriors in Toronto. With the Raptors down 8 points in the 4th, they were staring down another hard fought game that they just couldn't hold on to. Chris Boucher checked into the contest I believe for the first time and changed everything. Boucher catches a pass in the corner, up fakes and drives towards the middle, rises up over a jumping Trayce Jackson-Davis and hammers down a sick 1 handed jam to get the fans, and his teammates pumped. The Raptors went on to win the game off the back of some more miraculous shot making and hustle by Boucher. Boucher regularly has some nasty jams like this mostly coming off of putbacks or great passes. As a hustle player who finds himself in and out of the rotation, his job is to come in and bring energy to the team. One way to do that is by dunking on a dude, Boucher understands this assignment. While he may not be Mac McClung, Boucher is probably the best dunker on the team and has the dunk this season that immediately came to mind when I started this exercise and so he is our Slam Dunk Contest representative. 

3 Point Contest: Jamison Battle

Honorable Mentions: Immanuel Quickley, Ochai Agbaji

I hinted at it earlier, but Jamison Battle is a freaking shooter man. This category is simple, the best shooter on the team should represent them in the shooting contest. While a lot of people came into the year thinking this would be Gradey's title, he's actually been pretty inconsistent and is currently shooting just 34.5% on the season, albeit on some pretty difficult attempts in comparison. Quickley is the deadly shooter in the starting lineup but he's played just 16 games this season so I would feel wrong awarding him anything just yet. Ochai is the other dude who has a case, which is awesome to see from a total non threat from deep just last season. Agbaji is shooting 39% on almost 4 attempts per game and has really turned himself into a reliable catch and shoot threat from anywhere on the floor. None of these guys are as good at shooting the basketball as Jamison Battle though. Battle is now up to 42.3% from deep, and he shoots from anywhere. If you find Battle wide open for a 3, you can almost guarantee he's knocking it down. There's been games this year when the Raptors have nothing then Battle checks in and hits a couple of 3s to make the game look more respectable. The Raptors locked up Battle on a super cheap 3 year deal and I couldn't be more excited to have a shooter like this growing in our system. It helps that he's got a ginger afro as well, really adds to his vibe. 

All Star: Scottie Barnes

Honorable Mentions: RJ Barrett, Jakob Poeltl

My interpretation of this is the best overall player on the team, and that award at this point can't go to anyone but Scottie Barnes. Scottie is second on the team in points (RJ Barrett is first), first on the team in assists, second on the team in rebounds (Jakob Poeltl is first), second on the team in blocks (Jakob Poeltl is first), and first on the team in steals. He's doing all of this while clearly being the teams best defender by a large margin. The Raptors are 2-11 when Scottie isn't playing compared to 15-27 when he's in the lineup. Neither record is good but he takes the team from horrific to just regular bad all by himself. Scottie has flaws for sure, he's still struggling as a shot maker and go to option on offense. He's asked to do a ton being the team's starting point guard and backup center a lot of nights and the wear and tear shows late in games. Still, he's the undisputed best player on the team right now. Once Brandon Ingram starts playing and taking some of the shot creation load off Scottie's back, I expect Scottie to play even better. People forget that with Siakam, Scottie was putting up similar numbers only with much better efficiency. Scottie is the type of player to raise the floor of everyone playing with him, the better those guys are the better he'll be at that role. Not to mention, Scottie has been a real all star before and had a case for it this year as well if the team's record was better. 

Just to quickly shout out my honorable mentions, I thought about giving all star to RJ and skills comp to Scottie, but Scottie is just so much better than RJ at defense that it just didn't make sense. RJ is putting up similar numbers to some other all stars though, seriously look at his stats compared to Jaylen Brown and Pascal Siakam, counting stats are all almost identical. Again, it's the defense that really kills RJ in these comps. Jakob Poeltl isn't an all star, but he's a really really good player and deserves a mention. He does all the little things out there and is frequently the hub of the Raptors' offense. Since the start of last season, the Raptors are 5-37 without Jakob Poeltl. If Jak sits, the Raptors probably lose it's as simple as that. 

And that's it! That was pretty fun. I can't wait for the games to start again, I am starved for real basketball. As always, go Raptors!