The Toronto Raptors have had a busy start to their off-season. They’ve reportedly inked their All-Star, Scottie Barnes, to a max extension that makes him the highest-paid player in franchise history. They shuffled their coaching staff, moving Raptors 905 Head Coach Eric Khoury up to the Raptors, and made a draft day trade to take on Davion Mitchell and Sasha Vezenkov from the Sacramento Kings for pick compensation.
Oh, and by the way, they picked four rookies in the 2024 NBA Draft: Ja’Kobe Walter at 19, Jonathan Mogbo at 31, Jamal Shead at 45 and Ulrich Chomche at 57.
Rebuilds tend to be tumultuous and rocky, but one of the most fulfilling aspects is getting invested and excited in any and all rookies that enter the building. You have to take your wins where you can get him, so to speak.
But what do these four prospects provide to the Raptors? Let’s break it down.
Ja’Kobe Walter
When the Raptors were on the clock at pick 19, they did not expect that Walter – who was projected to be a top 3 pick in the early stages of the 2024 draft cycle – would be available. In fact, according to Walter and Raptors General Manager Bobby Webster, Walter didn’t work out for the Raptors during the draft process. All the mock drafts leading up to the yearly event pegged Walter as a lottery-level talent, unlikely to slip to the Raptors. But he did. And the Raptors couldn’t resist taking a chance on the 6-foot-5 Baylor guard with a 6-foot-10 wingspan and tremendous 2-way potential.
Shooting As A Pathway
Walter’s overwhelmingly positive skill is his 3-point shooting. He knocked down 34% of his looks from behind the arc on over 6 attempts a game, but that doesn’t tell you the full story. Walter might be the best movement shooter in the class, hunting out looks off-ball, sprinting into open spaces on SLOB plays, catching going left or right, and knocking down shots every which way. According to a source with data from Synergy, Walter shot 37% on catch-and-shoot threes, knocking down over 42% of his ‘unguarded’ looks. He shot 40% on threes coming off of screens.
The dude can flat-out shoot the leather off the ball. If you have the time, here is an hour of Walter’s moments from Baylor. The good and the bad.
But, what has brought his overall shooting percentages down (he shot 38% from the field at Baylor) is all the other areas of the court. He shot 47% at the rim and 35% on pull-up jumpers. His handle is shaky and he struggles to create separation using it. His slight frame, weighing in at 198 pounds, means he’ll likely get pushed around a bunch by stronger, wider defenders and he’ll spend the first few seasons of his career trying to fill out his body. At the same time, his .478 free-throw rate is elite and he has shown a knack for settling into floaters and baiting defenders into fouls which could prove handy in the pros.
There’s potential that with more space in the NBA, Walter can jitter his way into openings at the rim and as he bulks up, he’ll be able to apply pressure on the rim and create his shot more frequently.
But still – when you have an elite skill like Walter’s potent three-point shooting, you’re provided a pathway to more minutes and more time to develop the other aspects of your offensive game and fine-tune any areas of growth.
It’s easy to imagine Walter working off of dribble-hand-offs, leveraging his shooting gravity to find openings and spacing the floor to allow Scottie Barnes and RJ Barrett to do their damage on the inside – especially early on. Wherever and however he grows offensively from there is a mystery – one that the Raptors are banking on. But the upside is there.
Defense As A Resource
‘Upside’ is the way to describe Walter on the defensive end. His plus wingspan provides him with a useful tool off the ball, and while he was expected to be a defensive-minded player at Baylor – it was more theoretical than practical.
Walter’s footspeed isn’t the quickest and he’s often late to flip his hips defending pick-and-rolls. He got burned frequently guarding faster players and doesn’t have the frame (yet) to guard up either.
But still, there’s potential. Baylor still won their minutes on defense when he was on the floor, he took on the challenge of guarding the best players on the opposing side and his high-motor helped him nab over 1 steal per game in his one-and-done season.
Again, more theory than practice – but the Raptors are hoping they can shape him into a 2-way stud. And buying in on the defensive end could be another pathway to more minutes for him early on.
At worst, he turns into an elite shooter who tries to expand his offensive arsenal and becomes, at least, a neutral defender – a good role player in the NBA. At best, he could become a star. That’s the potential Walter has. We’ll see if he can reach it in Toronto.
Jonathan Mogbo
Let’s first address how incredibly cool of a story this is. Scottie Barnes and Mogbo are both from West Palm Beach, Florida, and are very close friends who often work out together, and now, they’re teammates in Toronto.
Mogbo was a 5’9, 125-pound combo guard entering high school who had no Division 1 offers. He worked his way from community college in Kansas to a D1 program in San Francisco in 4 years in college and grew to a 6-foot-8, 225-pound point-forward who can do a little bit of everything on the floor.
The 22-year-old has gotten comps to Kenneth Faried, Precious Achiuwa, and Pascal Siakam and while there might be shades of each player present, Mogbo is unique to himself – showing off the playmaking and decision-making chops of a guard and the athleticism and power of a modern-day forward. All of this makes him an advanced stats darling. He was in the 94th percentile in overall offense and finished 64% of his 2-point attempts, most of which were dunks.
His 7-foot-2 wingspan helped him average a double-double at USF. Combine that and his unbelievable motor and you have the potential for a very talented defensive player.
That being said, he isn’t without questions. He’s under-sized for his position (6-foot-6 Center without shoes), shot 69% from the free-throw line, and only attempted two threes through his 2 seasons playing D1 hoops.
He’s a project with boatloads of potential that will likely spend tons of time with the 905 but there is a pathway for him to become an impactful player in the league.
Jamal Shead & Ulrich Chomche
On the day they traded for Davion Mitchell, the Raptors acquired his clone at the NBA draft with Houston’s Jamal Shead. The National Defensive Player of the Year and BIG 12 Player of the Year is likely the best point-of-attack defender in the draft. Shead is undersized, standing at 6 feet tall, and struggled from the 3-point line, shooting 29% in his 4 seasons with the Cougars – but the Raptors are trying to address their defensive problems and he likely will spend the bulk of his time in the G-League with the 905.
Ditto goes for the super raw big man out of Cameroon, Ulrich Chomche. He played in just 3 games in the Basketball Africa League, averaging 13 points, nine rebounds, three assists, three steals, and one block. But the 6-foot-10 prospect projects to be your typical rim-running, shot-blocking big man and like Shead, will likely spend a lot of time with the 905. Still, with the Raptors only having Jakob Poeltl (28) and Kelly Olynyk (33) as Centers on the roster – having a young player in the frontcourt to develop is a huge bonus.
