Norman Powell, the internet’s favorite Toronto Raptor, is poised for another increase in his role after signing a four-year, $42 million contract extension this offseason that will tie him to The Six for the next five seasons.
Powell has made his name on both ends of the floor as an above-average 3-and-D wing coveted by teams across the league. He’s a career 35.1 percent 3-point shooter and he possesses a 6-foot-10 wingspan, which helps him guard opposing wings larger than his 6-foot-4 frame would suggest. His ability to fill that 3-and-D role is incredibly valuable for the Raptors and earned him every dollar Toronto could give him this summer.
But to truly take the next step and round out his game, Powell will be given more of an opportunity to be a secondary ball handler this season.
The Raptors deployed Powell as a secondary ball handler in bench units last season, and even some when both Kyle Lowry and DeMar DeRozan were on the floor with him, allowing him the freedom to run pick-and-roll and do what he does best offensively: get to the basket.
Powell scored 179 points on 185 possessions as a scorer in pick-and-roll last season — a better rate than 84.7 percent of his counterparts in the league — and his variety of finishes shows up on the tape. Most impressive is the gliding pseudo-Euro step he picked up from Dwyane Wade, in which he brings the ball above his head and slides past the big man defending the rim before finishing with either hand.
Beyond being a nuclear athlete ready and willing to dunk on anyone in his path, it’s this sort of finish that bodes well for Powell’s future as his early-20s athleticism leaves him. Craftiness around the rim has extended Wade’s career into his mid-30s because he’s still an above average finisher at age 35. Powell has shown a similar guile at the rim that puts him near the top of the league already — he finished 23rd of 139 players last season in field goal percentage on drives.
One area in which Powell will need to improve is in his passing in these situations. His finishing prowess makes him efficient despite the turnovers, but they’re still more plentiful than the Raptors would like. He only has two passes in his pick-and-roll arsenal: a jump pass and a wraparound bounce pass to the rolling big man.
The jump pass works for Powell. He’s able to use his long arms and the extra vision afforded to him in that split second to read the defense and find the rolling big man or the spot-up shooter in the weakside corner. That same jump pass can get him into trouble, however, when the defense doesn’t react the way he expects and he gets stuck in the air. He’s only two years into his career, so it’s reasonable to expect that he can work out these issues as he gains experience and is given more opportunity to run pick-and-rolls.
Next: What does C.J. Miles bring to the Raptors?
The Raptors will use Powell more as a secondary ball handler as he perhaps surpasses C.J. Miles in the rotation. Given Powell’s versatile, jack-of-all-trades skill set, he may fit better with bench units that need more of his shot creation, but then his defensive acumen is slightly wasted going up against the opposition’s backups. Raptors head coach Dwane Casey will have to strike that balance to both get the most out of Powell and the rest of his team as the Raptors look to capitalize on the uncertainty at the top of the Eastern Conference this season.
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