Toronto Raptors: Examining Norman Powell’s Starting Stint

The Toronto Raptors recently inserted rookie Norman Powell in the starting lineup, but is it a move that will pay off for the team going forward?

For the Toronto Raptors, it’s all about getting to the finish line fully healthy.

Injuries have affected the Raptors all season, with the most prominent one coming to DeMarre Carroll.  They’ve picked up over the last week, though, as Jonas Valanciunas, James Johnson and most recently, Patrick Patterson have picked up various afflictions that have caused both Valanciunas and Johnson to miss games.

Those circumstances have forced Raptors head coach Dwane Casey to start experimenting with the team’s starting lineup and given the team’s sterling 47-21 record, they can afford to take a look at some of their more unproven players.

That’s where Norman Powell comes in.

A second round pick in last year’s NBA draft, Powell has seen his fair share of ups and downs throughout his first year in the association.

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He had regularly flirted between both the NBA and the D-League for much of the first half of the season and put up some remarkable numbers (24.9 points per game, 5.1 rebounds per game and 4.6 assists per game in eight games) during his time as a member of the Raptors 905.

Despite his D-League success, Powell had trouble translating his game to the NBA level early on and that left him with very little playing time for much of the season before the All-Star Break.

But it’s been a different story for Powell since then.

Due to the injuries to Johnson and Carroll, Casey has turned to Powell to start at the team’s small forward spot and it’s a move that has paid off for the Raptors.

Since the All-Star Break, Powell has averaged 5.3 points per game and has greatly improved his shooting percentages from both the field (40 percent) and from three-point range (38 percent).

It may not impress some, but Powell’s production has brought some consistency at a position where the team has lacked some for most of this season.

While Powell’s recent production has been big for the Raptors, it could potentially be a bigger factor for the team down the road.

The Raptors are expecting to get their big free agent acquisition, DeMarre Carroll, back on the court within the next two weeks.  However, due to the severity of his injury and his subsequent recovery, it’s hard to expect Carroll to return without some rust and play a significant amount of minutes instantly.

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Additionally, due to James Johnson’s limited role and Casey’s wariness to insert Terrence Ross in the starting lineup, this experiment with Powell could continue well beyond March if Powell can keep up this encouraging production for the Raptors.

More importantly, though, Powell’s ongoing development gives the Raptors another option and with the playoffs looming, his recent production couldn’t come at a better time for the team.

It’s still hard to expect Powell making a significant impact on the NBA’s biggest stage or even getting major minutes, but he’s providing much needed depth for the Raptors and is proof that a raw, unproven player can crack Casey’s rigid rotations.

Powell still has much to prove and he’ll still have to keep up his growing consistent production to show that he’s worth his starting spot on a regular basis.

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But Powell is starting to prove why the Raptors were right in taking him in last year’s draft and a promising career looks to be in store for the 22-year-old product out of UCLA.