Gradey Dick shows why he’s worth patience in Raptors win
Coming into the Toronto Raptors’ game against the Portland Trail Blazers, Toronto’s best high-minute lineup was an unexpected one. It included four starters, but the surprise addition was none other than quiet sophomore Ja’Kobe Walter. Though the Raptors have desperately needed RJ Barrett since his injury, Walter has replaced Barrett and in fact (statistically) dramatically improved Toronto’s start to games. The Wheel of Shooting Guard Fortune has spun in Barrett’s favour at the same time as it has been coming up Walter. Strange, that.
Though Walter himself has turned in quiet box scores as a starter, he has had impressive performances nonetheless. He was Toronto’s primary defender against Donovan Mitchell and Jalen Brunson less than a week apart, and they shot 6-of-20 and 6-of-19 in those two games, respectively. On one possession against the New York Knicks, Walter pivoted with superstar Brunson through a patented step-through and blocked Brunson’s push shot.
Against the Portland Trail Blazers, Walter didn’t quite find that juice, at least not early. He had a highlight moment as he pressured the first pass above the break, tipped it away, and shoveled the ball to Immanuel Quickley for a transition triple. But there was no consistency in that first shift. His defence didn’t have its traditional teeth, and Portland found easy points, no matter where Walter was stationed on the defensive end.
So the Raptors just decided to start the game when — as has become tradition — the bench entered the game.
The odd man out during Walter’s surge up the depth chart has been Gradey Dick. Mired in the bottom of a pit of missed triples, Dick has seen his minutes, effectiveness, and even alacrity wane. In Toronto’s last outing, he didn’t even attempt a single triple — the first such game since Dick’s rookie season.
But Darko Rajakovic hasn’t nailed him to the bench. Dick has seen his minutes slip, but he’s had a chance in every game. If it’s not working, Rajakovic has gone elsewhere. But he’s giving Dick a chance to play his way out of this hole. That’s exactly what Rajakovic gave Walter early in the season, when it was Walter who couldn’t find his way. That has paid off and borne fruit since Barrett’s injury. Now it is Dick’s turn to reward his coach’s trust.
And, yes, Dick missed his first triple of the game against Portland. But he also followed that up by running in transition and finding a layup, then cutting to draw free throws. He dashed to the corner on a peel switch to steal a pass intended for a shooter, leading to an uncontested Toronto layup the other way. He attacked a closeout, spun in the middle of the floor, and drilled his fading mid-ranger. The jumper will come, or it won’t come. But Dick showed against Portland that he is going to find ways to win minutes regardless.
And about winning minutes? Dick has the best on/off differential on the entire team so far this season. He’s turned in the best differentials on offence and on defence. Sure, he’s in the middle of a slump. He’s won his minutes regardless.
That’s how it went against Portland. When he checked out midway through the second quarter, he had won his almost eight minutes by 17 points, a team-high.
Dick is always moving. He cuts harder than any other player on the team, and his back cuts draw real defensive attention. Yes, it would be nice for him to make his shots. He’s at 31.3 percent from deep on the season, which is a problem. But his ability to win minutes is no fluke. Entering the game, he had won his 340 minutes by 116 points, the only Raptor in triple digits. His own individual play has some warts. But even his warty performances have been benefiting his teammates. Dick is a remarkably low-usage player (32nd percentile for his position) whose defence has taken real jumps towards competence.
Unlike Walter, Dick has practically not played alongside the quartet of Quickley, Brandon Ingram, Scottie Barnes, and Jakob Poeltl. Those five total minutes represent a real question mark. Whether or not Dick is hitting shots, how would those four starters perform alongside an offensive mover who doesn’t require the ball, cuts to open lanes for teammates, and runs in transition like he’s being chased by loan sharks?
Walter came back into the game alongside the starters late in the second. Shaedon Sharpe had been torching the Raptors, and Walter turned the tap off, chasing him around a screen and contesting a mid-range pullup to force a miss. He stripped a Blazer in transition, off his leg, to steal possession from what had been sure points. Walter’s defence had been slow, but he finally found somewhere to sink his teeth.
Rajakovic played some micromanagement games to end the first half. He inserted Dick into the game on the front end of a two-for-one opportunity, and Barnes scored an and-1 as a roller. Then Rajakovic played Ochai Agbaji for the defensive possession, which saw the Blazers commit a turnover. Dick came back in for the final offensive possession, and Ingram drew free throws. The plus-minus god continued to win his minutes.
Walter settled into the third quarter. The defence calmed around him, letting his length and positioning actually impact the floor. His jumper started to find the bottom of the net. Toronto’s lead grew. When he committed one foul too many, Agbaji entered the game, then Dick. He hit a jumper, though not a triple. Then had a triple blocked when trying to force one against a zone. He chased a defensive rebound and clobbered a Blazer when the ball bounced into the opponent’s hands. He exited the game after committing a weak foul to give up an and-1. Again: There were warts to Dick’s game. But in this one, at least, they didn’t define his game. Perhaps the two definitive moments came as he pump-faked out of a triple and drilled the mid-ranger. That let him find his range, and he hit a pull-up triple on the next possession.
Those two jumpers don’t exorcise everything, but they help.
Ultimately, Dick contributed, and he was a crucial component of Toronto’s response to the two-game losing streak. Things got close late, but the Raptors had built juuust enough of a cushion to survive. You don’t need to be perfect to help, and you can help even when you’re in a slump. Dick ended up winning his minutes by 14 points, the second-largest margin on the roster behind only the resplendent Barnes. And Dick earned those won minutes.
“Let’s be honest when we talk about Gradey. Gradey is the player that, he needs to score. He is a scorer. He is a great shooter. That is a very important part of his game,” said Rajakovic. “But at the same time, he understands and we understand, for playing in this league…you’ve got to be a two-way player, and he’s doing so many little things that it’s hard to put into the box score.”
Facing their second test of the season, Toronto found answers from up and down the roster, including from a shooting-guard position that has been as dynamic and inconsistent as any position on Toronto’s roster. (Jamal Shead, who closed as Toronto’s shooting guard, saved the team’s bacon as he drew a charge from Deni Avdija with 40 seconds remaining and the team up two points. Revelatory.) This game could have been a turning point, and not for the better. Coming into the game, the Raptors fumbled away a win, then came out flat for another loss. With a delicate offensive ecosystem, and players all buying into a system that doesn’t necessarily emphasize individual playstyle preferences, there could have been slippage coming into this contest. Instead, Toronto righted the ship.
Instead, the Raptors weathered a storm in the first quarter, and a near-collapse in the fourth, and turned into the ones who knock.
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