Raptors lose, but continue proving Ja’Kobe Walter their most complete role player in years

The night the spacemen came home, the Toronto Raptors were similarly sent packing by the New York Knicks. But also as with the crew of the Artemis II, the Raptors did not come home empty-handed. Both returned with the memories made along the way. At least for the Raptors, as long as they’re selective, those memories could be enough.

Remember with me: More than a year ago, Ja’Kobe Walter began his NBA career with a hyperactive game defined by jittery activity. 

His first minutes are defined by activity, bordering on hyperactivity. Eating more than he can chew, too much, too fast. Get busy. Do something. He sets an on-ball screen for the point guard, ghosts it into a flare screen, eventually catches the ball and drives, Nash’s the drive to the other side of the rim, passes to Jonathan Mogbo on the wing, who misses the shot on his drive. Go. More. Faster.

Then a quick lil get action with Jakob Poeltl, passes to the big man behind the arc, dashes towards him to receive the ball again, steps back behind the arc, fires. Misses. Go go go. 

Since then, Walter has changed almost everything about his game — minus the activity part. What was once movement for the sake of seemingly pacifying a nervous itch has become driven by intent. What was twitchiness has become predatorial. And most importantly, his mediocre 3-point shooting has morphed into one of the hottest strokes in the game; among 122 players to have attempted at least 4.0 triples per game in at least 20 games since Feb. 1, he’s ranked fifth in accuracy, at 45.2 percent. (It will be higher after his 4-of-7 performance from deep against the Knicks.) And that has unlocked a tremendous amount of the court to the sophomore. 

First he hits a corner triple. Establishes himself. Hello, nice to meet you, my name is Ja’Kobe. Heard of me? Nothing else is working for the Raptors’ offence, so he drives and hits a right-handed, off-glass floater from the left-hand side of the court as he falls out of bounds. Later he sets a screen on the wing, darts towards the corner, catches and cans it. He scores eight of Toronto’s first 10 points. 

And, look, the Raptors were not going to compete with the Knicks in this one. Down three major rotation players in Immanuel Quickley, RJ Barrett, and Collin Murray-Boyles, the Raptors’ delicate offensive ecosystem lurched towards disaster. This happens with the team is not healthy. Jonathan Mogbo played real rotation minutes, and though his defence was pristine, his offence remains extraordinarily limited. He was bull-rushing defenders trying to create something, committing wildly unnecessary charges. 

But meanwhile, there’s something real happening beneath the surface for Toronto. In Toronto’s two-game homestand against the Miami Heat, Murray-Boyles defined the team and its identity with grinding physicality. Now Walter stepped into the position of quietly perfect role player.

In the second quarter, Walter is in the dunker spot, and Sandro Mamukelashvili drives towards him. There are two defenders waiting for him –his own, and Walter’s. So Walter sprints into the corner, pulling both defenders out of Mamukelashvili’s way, opening a relatively uncontested layup. This is what respect looks like — layups for teammates. 

He opens the third by recognizing his defender overplaying him as he waddled towards a ball screen, so he jets backdoor, catches the ball, and draws free throws. That’s activity with intention. He hits a few more triples in the second half, setting plenty of ball screens as Toronto tried to jump-start its offence. After he hits a straightaway triple midway through the fourth quarter, his 15 points are at that point a team-high.

It wasn’t all perfect, of course. Brandon Ingram, perhaps trying to recreate his magic against Miami, was overly aggressive trying to get his own. Scottie Barnes was virtually invisible. As a result, Walter didn’t get much help or see much of the ball — he remains limited at creating for himself. To be fair, with the Raptors able to clinch a top-6 seed in a far easier game against the Brooklyn Nets at home in the season finale, there was no real reason for Toronto to give its all in this contest. And yet the Raptors didn’t fold. Their defence was mostly ferocious, and they managed to scavenge their way to enough points to keep the game more or less interesting. But the outcome was predetermined.

The Raptors didn’t quit. As with the world’s space programs, who have been to the moon before, they didn’t rest on their laurels. They exerted themselves on defence, though they were doomed by some inexplicable turnovers. They were simply outplayed by a team with more talent, especially with Toronto missing such a large chunk of its roster. This wasn’t a moral victory as much as a meaningless loss. An orderly retreat to a more defensible position. And Walter showed that when the Raptors are healthy, he, along with Murray-Boyles, is ready to punch up.

As long as the Raptors take care of business against the Nets in their season finale on Sunday, they will be in the playoffs without having to go through the play-in. That can be a treacherous tournament, as the Raptors were taught by Diar DeRozan. And, because fate has a sense of humour, the Raptors will likely face these Knicks in the first round of the playoffs.

If that does end up being the case, it will be a difficult series, certainly. The Knicks have gone 97-0 against the Raptors since the two teams traded OG Anunoby for Quickley and Barrett, approximately. The Raptors would not be favoured. (There will be plenty more analysis on the matchup to come on the site when and if it becomes certain.)

But with Walter playing like this, the Raptors finally have the bench punch to make a series of it. It took a full season — and for Walter, longer than that — but the Raptors could at least be putting together a playoff-worthy roster. New York is a terrible matchup for Toronto. If the Raptors are going to make some magic, the situation will not be favourable.

All the better proving ground for Walter to show how far he has come.

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