It didn’t take long for Jamal Shead to earn more minutes with the Toronto Raptors.
The 22-year-old rookie may be counted on to play a bigger role with starting point guard Immanuel Quickley listed as questionable on Thursday, a day before Toronto hosts the visiting Philadelphia 76ers.
Quickley’s potential absence would move Davion Mitchell up into the starting lineup and make Shead, a combo guard drafted just four months ago, the first guard off Toronto’s bench.
“It’s just something that I’ve tried to be prepared for and try to play to our expectations here,” said Shead, who wants to meet the standard set by Quickley and all-star forward Scottie Barnes. “I’ll just go out there and try to play as hard as possible.
“I think that I’m ready for those minutes, and I’ll just try to go out there and prove that.”
Quickley was leading Toronto’s offence in Wednesday’s home opener when Cleveland Cavaliers guard Darius Garland undercut him when contesting a rebound late in the second quarter.
He fell hard on his tailbone on the play and left the game shortly after that with a right pelvic contusion.
Quickley had 13 points, four assists and two rebounds over 14 minutes of play. The Raptors folded after his departure, with Cleveland going on an 18-4 run to close out the half before the Cavaliers emerging with a 136-106 victory.
It’s a devastating injury to a Raptors roster already thinned by several injuries.
Swingman RJ Barrett (sprained shoulder) of Mississauga is still day to day. Centre Kelly Olynyk (back) of Kamloops, B.C., small forward Bruce Brown (arthroscopic knee surgery), and rookie combo guard Ja’Kobe Walter (sprained shoulder) will be out too.
Although that will make an already tough schedule harder on Toronto, it does open the door for Shead. He had 10 points, four assists, two steals and one rebound in 19 minutes off the bench in his NBA regular-season debut, with 12 of those minutes coming in the second half after Quickley had left the game.
Shead said that he made adjustments during the intermission.
“I didn’t feel like I played as hard or played to my identity or our identity,” he said after practice at OVO Athletic Centre. “I just tried to go out there and just play as hard as possible and try to pressure the ball and try to get as many possessions as possible.”
Shead was selected 45th overall out of the University of Houston in this past summer’s NBA Draft. He led the Cougars to a regular-season title in his final U.S. collegiate season.
He averaged 12.9 points, 6.3 assists, and 2.2 steals per game for Houston and was named the Naismith Defensive Player of the Year. He was also named the Big 12 Player of the Year and Defensive Player of the Year, in the Cougars’ first year in the conference.
Raptors head coach Darko Rajakovic said that he was impressed with Shead’s performance in his first NBA game.
“We’re going to expect what we always expect from him: to bring that defensive toughness and defensive mentality,” said Rajakovic. “He’s learning the speed of the game. He’s learning what it looks like to guard all-star calibre players like he had matchups last night with Donovan Mitchell.
“We just continue to monitor his progress and improvement.”
Although Shead will be eating up some minutes at the guard position with Quickley possibly shelved, the absence of the point guard creates larger issues.
Quickley averaged 18.6 points, 6.8 assists and 4.8 rebounds over 38 games for the Raptors last season after being traded from the New York Knicks on Dec. 30. He transitioned from backup shooting guard to starting point guard after the move and, along with Barrett and Barnes, considered the offensive core of the team.
Sophomore swingman Gradey Dick will be called upon to carry more of the offence with Quickley and Barrett’s status against the 76ers still unknown.
“You never know who’s going to be in and out and what happens throughout the game,” said Dick, who wished Quickley a speedy recovery. “There’s so many things that you’ve just really got to be prepared for.
“In a time like that if it calls for [more ball handling], then I’ve got to step up.”
Barrett has been out since injuring his shoulder trying to fight through a screen in Toronto’s first preseason game against the Washington Wizards on Oct. 6 in Montreal. Rajakovic said that Barrett was able to absorb some contact during drills on Thursday, his first time being able to get physical during practice since the injury.