VanVleet Leads Raptors While Bembry and Siakam Show Offensive Development
Two games into the preseason and the Toronto Raptors appear to have found themselves one of the steals of the NBA Draft.
It's too early to pronounce anyone a winner or loser from the draft, but the 22-year-old Malachi Flynn has certainly looked impressive through two games, following up his nine-point preseason debut with 17 points in a 112-109 victory over the Charlotte Hornets on Monday.
Defensively, Flynn already has NBA-level footwork and his offensive game appears refined. He led the Raptors on an 8-0 run early in the fourth quarter, nailing a floater to take the lead 96-94, a 3-pointer to put Toronto up five, and then he made a beautiful pass to find Terence Davis II in the corner to put Toronto up for good.
"They picked him first round so he must be pretty good," Fred VanVleet said of Flynn.
Considering how impressive Flynn was in the opening game, I'll focus on a few other things that jumped out in preseason Game 2.
1. Fred VanVleet is Still Very Good
Re-signing VanVleet was a really good move. There's not really much more to say about VanVleet considering it's just a preseason game and he's a borderline all-star level player, but he once again showed can score from anywhere on the court.
Just when things started to get a little ugly for the Raptors, down ten points in the second quarter, VanVleet began to explode, scoring 14 points in the final six minutes of the half.
"We needed somebody to kind of step up," Raptors coach Nick Nurse said. "Felt like we were in a lot more trouble than we were in, he was letting us hang around kind of single-handedly."
A couple of those buckets came with VanVleet playing more off-ball even without Kyle Lowry in the lineup. For a few possessions, he let free agent signing DeAndre' Bembry handle the playmaking duties.
"I told him during the game, 'I’m like yo, let me bring the ball up, I know you’re tired, I know you’re in shape, but let me bring the ball up as well,'" Bembry joked after the game. "I think it’s just getting comfortable with each other. Tonight was definitely one of those days where we got better and learned."
VanVleet finished the night with a game-high 21 points including a wild double-clutch 3-pointer to end the half.
2. DeAndre' Bembry Isn't a Zero Offensively
The 26-year-old Bembry signed with Toronto this offseason and was expected to be a defensive standout with limited offensive ability. He's averaged just 6.2 points per game in his career and shot just below 27% from behind the 3-point line in his career. But on Monday night he showed there might be a little bit more to his offensive game.
"People enjoy my defence so much they might overlook that I can play with the ball," Bembry said. "I’m a real good cutter, but I mean, I don’t mind being under the radar, I’ve been under the radar a long time in my life."
He showed off that impressive cutting ability a few times, slicing into the lane through two Hornets defenders to receive an easy layup from VanVleet.
The highlight of his night, however, came late in the third quarter when he received a pass in the corner from Yuta Watanabe, took what felt like an eternity to seize up the shot, then sidestepped around a Hornets defender and drained his first 3-pointer of the game. As he ran back on defence he seemed to signal to the Hornets' bench to quiet down.
"You know, that’s just normal, just talking smack, hoping that you miss, but I just told them 'calm down, calm down, relax, it’s going up,'" Bembry said. "It definitely happened how I wanted it to happen. So I just told them 'relax, take this L, it’ll be alright.'"
3. Pascal Siakam Not Forcing Shots
Siakam seemed to play a lot more within himself on Monday, not forcing up shots and facilitating when Charlotte sent a double team. It was a good sign after an up-and-down performance in the Raptors preseason opener.
"We’re still figuring it out; all this stuff is new to all of us," VanVleet said. "I think that'll be more on the coaching side of putting him in spots where we know we're baiting a defence to pass and we know the spots where he's gonna look to score so it's just a rhythm that we got to find and his game because every defence is different. But he's going to be getting every team's full attention, probably for the rest of his career so we work on it every day just trying to find the right spots for guys to be in."
Siakam finished the night with 12 points on 71% shooting while tallying three assists, a number that certainly could have been higher with a few more made buckets from his teammates.
Up Next:
The Raptors will wrap up their preseason schedule when they return home — sort of — to Tampa to take on the Miami Heat at 7 p.m. on Friday.
