I will be keeping this briefer than normal because the trade deadline is still looming large. However, Toronto has added two rotation players, so let’s talk about their on-court performances.
The player who is easiest to describe is Kelly Olynyk. Imagine Darko Rajakovic’s transgression: Making cuts, passing, and firing.
That’s Olynyk, indeed. Over the course of his career, he has quietly developed into a 10-point-per-game scorer, give or take a point or two.
Although his lifetime 3-point percentage is only 37%, he has shot 40% over the last two seasons.
That’s absurd for a big man, but he can also play power forward with ease. In addition, he’s assisting 4.4 times a game this season (! ), which is among the top records for a center in the league. The man is a baller.
It will be interesting to see if he stays a Raptor. I won’t get too far into Olynyk since we just don’t know where he will be at the end of the day. I’ll write more if I go to Toronto.
Even though Agbaji is only in his second year of play, he is already nearly 24 years old. During his four years of college at Kansas, he made steady progress. He has been relegated to the corners of Utah, more or less.
Despite being a mediocre 3-point shooter overall, he attempts 25% of his shots from the field and has hit in the mid-40s in both of his career-ending seasons. He is among the better corner shooters in the league. At six feet five inches, he is about average for a shooting guard.
He essentially engages in no initiation at all, neither in pick and roll nor in solitude. He doesn’t drive the ball very often. However, he is a shooter; he frequently employs wide pindowns and other off-ball screens.
Which seems logical that his main action would be to run somewhere from the corner given that he resides there.
Agbaji was occasionally used by the Jazz as an on-ball screener, but it never truly had a significant negative impact.
There, the statistics are appalling. After a subpar rookie campaign, he is shooting better from the rim this year.
Toronto will undoubtedly want him to improve his scoring capabilities, and getting to the rim is the next area that needs work.
Instead of just cutting away from the rim with pindowns, the Raptors will want him to extend his legs as a cutter in that direction.
And if he wants to become the finest version of himself, his driving skills must improve. Players who can’t do anything with the ball when they’re forced to put it on the floor have no place in today’s NBA.
He currently lists himself as a 3-and-D player. Those kind of peaked in 2017, but Toronto’s rotation should have enough movement, cutting, and driving (hopefully) to make adding a pure shooter beneficial.
Alternatively, he improves and becomes a more proficient screener, cutter, secondary initiator, and so on. Toronto will undoubtedly learn in due course.
Agbaji has mostly been used in the attack point when it comes to defense. That’s what Toronto needs! He can easily navigate between screens, guiding players across the arc or maintaining the shell by alternating.
He has a propensity to open up his hips to allow drives and can die on screens, but he recovers quickly enough to remain in the action.
When the team is in rotation, he fights and isn’t hesitant to help box out a large. He blocks a lot of shots and is a decent option at the rim for a shooting guard.
Agbaji and Jordan Nwora will most likely compete for rotational minutes. With a focus on shooting, they are both shooting guards.
Agbaji is better at forcing misses, especially in the paint, while Nwora is more at ease slithering around the perimeter.
In any case, the Raptors have added a pair of rotation players of NBA talent. They deployed Otto Porter Jr. and Kira Lewis Jr., who weren’t part of the rotation.
This year’s first-round selection is extremely late, and Toronto ought to have several picks ahead of that one. This agreement will make the team stronger.
