Morning Coffee – Sun, Apr 19
I’m unclear if we’re supposed to do a season-in-review post.
If there was one word to describe Norman Powell’s NBA career coming into this season, it was inconsistent. He’s always had the potential to be an impact player off the bench – the Toronto Raptors wouldn’t have signed him to a four-year, $42 million extension in the summer of 2017 if they didn’t believe he did – but he’s never quite been able to put it all together.
This season has been a different story.
Through 44 games, Powell is averaging 16.4 points per game. Not only is that the highest mark of his career, it’s almost double his scoring average from last season (8.6). A bump in minutes has something to do with that, but Powell has managed to increase his scoring without experiencing any drop off in efficiency. He’s shooting 50.2 percent from the field and 39.8 percent from the 3-point range; the former being a career high, the latter being only slightly below his career high.
Throw in his free throw percentage, and Powell’s true shooting percentage is above 60.0 for the first time in his career.
Those numbers give Powell a solid Sixth Man of the Year and Most Improved Player case on paper, but there are a couple of things holding him back from being a finalist for either award.
First and foremost, Powell has started in more games than he’s come off the bench, the result of the Raptors being one of the most injury-ridden teams in the league. Fred VanVleet began the season as Danny Green’s replacement in the starting lineup, but injuries to both him and Kyle Lowry have paved the way for Powell to start in 23 games, the most games he’s started in since his rookie season.
Best power forwards in Toronto Raptors history, ranked
3. Pascal Siakam
Pascal Siakam is undoubtedly the Raptors’ best player this season and he will have a shot at being the best power forward in franchise history once it’s all said and done.
This year, the 26-year-old Cameroonian received his first of probably many All-Star citations after leading Toronto to a 48-16 slate (2nd in The East) prior to the suspension of the season.
The 6-foot-9 forward is a terror on both ends of the floor, blending his athleticism with slick ball-handling and on-point decision making.
Spicy P’s ascent to stardom has allowed Toronto to not miss a beat, even when superstar Kawhi Leonard left Canada over the summer to join the Los Angeles Clippers.
In just four years, Siakam is already an NBA champion and Most Improved Player winner. He will be the Raptors’ cornerstone for years to come after signing a four-year, $130 million extension last year.
2. Serge Ibaka
Siakam’s frontcourt mate Serge Ibaka doesn’t get as much credit as he deserves for his contributions for Canada. Known more as a defensive linchpin during his early years with the Oklahoma City Thunder, the 30-year-old Congolese-Spanish has evolved into a complete modern-day bigman.
Ibaka’s impact on both ends of the floor was crucial in the Raptors’ title conquest against the Golden State Warriors in last year’s Finals. This year, the seven-foot slotman is having a career-year shooting the ball, draining 51.8 percent of his field goals and enjoying a 39.8 percent clip from distance.
Some pundits questioned why the Raps chose to give him a three-year, $65 million contract extension in 2017 and he is proving that he deserves every penny (and more) this season.
Michael Jordan: How the Chicago Bulls inspired the world – Sports Illustrated
“Honestly, at the beginning of 1991, my life changed because I discovered basketball and the Bulls embellished my love for the sport,” says Alonso, now an illustrator and writer in Lima. “And even though it’s widely accepted that the Dream Team lifted the game to epic global proportions in ‘92, I’d actually argue it was the 90s Bulls—alongside satellite TV—who were responsible for the start of this phenomena. Especially where we grew up.”
For Alonso, his love for Michael Jordan and the Bulls was also personal. “Watching them became a means of bonding with my dad,” he says. “I remember how he used to talk about their great chemistry, the grace of Scottie Pippen, the strength of Horace Grant and later Dennis Rodman, the clutch play of John Paxson and later Steve Kerr. And as the seasons went by, we became one while watching their games, and even congratulated each other for a good job after every championship clincher. It was as if we were two of ‘the guys’. And whenever I watched Phil Jackson on TV, I saw my dad: a throwback grey-haired man who was strict, but also very kind.”
“The endless summer days in which I saw more hardwood than sun, all the ups and downs of the seasons (including the 93-94 team) and that final Bulls salute after game 6 of the 1998 Finals, when I embraced my dad in the same fashion as Jordan and Phil Jackson. We saw history together, and all those precious moments will remain with me forever.”
After our conversation, he confessed to me that though this team was important to him, he didn’t realize just how much the Bulls meant until he realized they were a connector, a bridge that united a father and son.
Predicting how the 2020 NBA playoffs would’ve played out – Sportsnet.ca
No. 2 Toronto Raptors vs. No. 7 Brooklyn Nets
Another cake-walk first-round series, the Toronto Raptors will beat the Brooklyn Nets in either four or five games and yawn through it.Why is this so easy? Well, outside of the talent difference between the two sides, the Nets let go of what was probably their best asset right before the NBA hit pause by firing head coach Kenny Atkinson, a man who was able to squeeze a lot more out of his players than many expected.
This, of course, was before Kyrie Irving arrived and – surprise! – seemed to derail some of the built-in chemistry the Nets had in 2018-19. As a result, the Nets have been up and down all season, and now without the stabilizing presence of Atkinson, the Raptors have no problem steam-rolling Brooklyn.
No. 3 Boston Celtics vs. No. 6 Philadelphia 76ers
Speaking of a team out of sorts.That’s the best way to describe what the Philadelphia 76ers have been this season. Mired by mediocre play despite making splashy moves in the off-season to add to their star duo of Joel Embiid and Ben Simmons, the Sixers have bordered on being an outright disaster in 2019-20.
As a result, they will be exposed by a Boston Celtics team that, thanks in part to the departure of Irving and the addition of Kemba Walker and the ascendance of Jayson Tatum, has quietly been one of the NBA’s scariest teams.
Morning Coffee – Sun, Apr 19 originated on Raptors Republic.