Toronto Raptors: Lucas Nogueira Emerges As Quality Backup Center

After not getting many chances to play in his first two NBA seasons, Lucas Nogueira has emerged as a strong backup center for the Toronto Raptors.

There were legitimate concerns this summer than the Toronto Raptors had gotten worse, not better. The large deal the Raptors gave DeMar DeRozan was criticized by many, and Toronto lost important role players like James Johnson, Luis Scola and Bismack Biyombo.

Toronto is still very thin at the power forward position after losing those three big men, but the emergence of Lucas Nogueira has significantly lessened the pain of losing Biyombo. Nogueira, also known as Bebe, played a combined 248 minutes over his first two seasons.

This season, he’s already played 809 minutes. And although Nogueira was unproven coming into the year, he’s been fantastic so far for the Raptors. It can be hard for end-of-the-bench players to step into important roles, especially when they’re on teams as good as Toronto is. Bebe has made it look easy.

His per game averages are nothing too spectacular — Bebe posts 5.2 points, 4.9 rebounds, 1.8 blocks and 1.0 steals in 21.3 minutes per game this season. Nogueira’s role on offense is understandably tiny in a system dominated by DeRozan and Kyle Lowry.

Most of what Nogueira is asked to do lines up with DeAndre Jordan‘s responsibilities in Los Angeles — catch lobs, grab rebounds and play strong defense. Nogueira isn’t on Jordan’s level in any of those areas just yet, but he is shooting a DeAndre-esque 67.5 percent from the field.

Nogueira is fast, and he’s got long arms, even for a legitimate seven-footer. That makes him dangerous both in the pick and roll and in transition, as evidenced by the clip below.

More importantly than what Bebe himself does is how he affects the rest of the Raptors. It’s not always easy to find role players to go around ball-dominant guards like Lowry and DeRozan. Nogueira fits in well because he doesn’t use many possessions at all — he’s last in usage percentage in Toronto, and uses just 9.5 percent of the team’s possessions when he’s on the floor.

That’s allowed the other, more potent offensive players on the Raptors to shine while Nogueira is on the floor, and the results there speak for themselves: Toronto outscores opponents by 13.8 points per 100 possessions with Nogueira on the floor. That’s the best such mark for any Raptor, aside from 23 glorious minutes of Bruno Caboclo.

On/off numbers can be noisy, especially for role players. Oftentimes, a player looks good because his team outscores opponents by a lot of points with him on the floor, even if the team is as good or better with that player off of the floor.

The numbers don’t shake out that way for Nogueira. The Raptors outscore opponents by 2.0 points per 100 possessions without him, the third-lowest net rating Toronto has without a certain player on the floor. They outscore opponents by just 0.7 points per 100 possessions without Patrick Patterson, and the Raps get beat by 3.3 points per 100 possessions without Lowry on the floor.

It’s almost ridiculous how much Nogueira has impacted Toronto thus far this year. The team gets marginally better on offense with him on the floor, and the Raptors defense makes a huge leap in Nogueira’s minutes.

The Raptors typically have a defensive rating of 108.8, which ranks 19th in the NBA. With Bebe on the floor Toronto’s defense allows just 101.9 points per 100 possessions. That’s 1.5 points per 100 possessions better than the Golden State Warriors‘ first-ranked defense this season.

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The sample sizes here are still tiny, and a lot of Nogueira’s playing time comes against second units. Still, it’s impressive how good he’s made the Raptors on both ends while he’s on the floor, especially compared to a good starting center in Jonas Valanciunas.

Valanciunas is actually a net negative for the Raptors this season. Toronto outscores opponents by 4.2 points per 100 possessions with him on the floor, but stomps teams by 8.5 points per 100 possessions without him.

Part of the difference between Valanciunas and Nogueira might be stylistic. Toronto’s backcourt uses tons of touches — with Nogueira on the floor, they have even more to work with.

Valanciunas uses nearly 10 percent more of Toronto’s possessions while on the floor than Nogueira, leaving less for Lowry and DeRozan. In addition, Valanciunas isn’t the rim protector that Bebe is already. Just watch Nogueira effortlessly block this Eric Bledsoe layup:

Nogueira is almost three times as likely to block a shot while on the floor than Valanciunas is. He’s just a hair better than Valanciunas at defending shots within six feet of the rim as well, although the difference there is essentially nonexistent.

Let’s be clear here: Valanciunas’ job likely isn’t in danger anytime soon. Nogueira has struggled to rebound at times, an area where Valanciunas excels. The sample size for Nogueira is small, and Toronto’s best lineup this season is still Lowry, Derozan, DeMarre Carroll, Patterson and Valanciunas.

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Nogueira is the man in the middle of the Raps’ second-best group of five this year though, and the third-best lineup to play at least 50 minutes together consists of both Nogueira and Valanciunas. Despite losing Biyombo, Toronto continues to have one of the NBA’s most effective center rotations thanks to Bebe’s emergence as a legitimately good backup center.