Poeltl making himself at home in second stint with Raptors

TORONTO – Truth be told, Jakob Poeltl had mixed emotions about the timing of the All-Star break.

On one hand, it was nice to get some much-needed rest and relaxation. Losing more than three quarters of the games he played with the rebuilding Spurs over the first four months of the season took its toll, as did the hectic week that followed his deadline-day trade to Toronto.

Still, the Raptors’ recently acquired centre believed he was making good progress in getting readjusted to his new but familiar surroundings. He was staying late after every practice and feeling more comfortable with each game. He didn’t feel right about hitting pause on that progress to go on vacation, even if it ended up doing him some good.

“I got some time to get off my feet and reset mentally,” said Poeltl, who spent the weekend at a resort in Mexico. “[The break] gave me a little bit of time to get more adjusted, get some stuff done. At the same time, I’m trying to get some work in, get that rhythm going. So, it was what it was.

“It was good to take a break and reset, get the body ready to attack the last part of the season.”

It’s not just the time off that has the 27-year-old centre feeling reinvigorated these days. After enjoying a career year in 2021-22, Poeltl’s production had taken a bit of a dip this season. It wasn’t entirely surprising, with San Antonio playing for the future at the expense of the present and the soon-to-be free agent hearing his name come up repeatedly in trade speculation. One way or another, it seemed like his almost five-year tenure was nearing its end.

He couldn’t have asked for a better landing spot. Rejoining the Raptors, who drafted him in 2016, has been the perfect fit for player and team. For one, he’s addressed Toronto’s long-time need at the centre position. But most importantly, the organization’s intention is to win games now and in the future, and it’s clear they consider him a big part of that future.

Many wondered why a 10th-place club would operate as buyers at the trade deadline, parting with a lightly protected 2024 first-round pick in order to add to an underachieving core. The Raptors viewed it as a long-term investment. Considering they don’t project to have meaningful cap space in the off-season, think of it as them doing their free agent shopping early.

If he could help them salvage their disappointing campaign in the short term, great, but they were looking beyond the next few months. Although his addition further complicates the Raptors’ cap situation, with Fred VanVleet and Gary Trent Jr. also expected to hit the open market after the season and several others due for extensions over the next couple years, they fully intend to re-sign Poeltl this summer.

In terms of what his next contract might look like, league insiders have speculated that it could approach $75 million, with an annual salary double what he’s making now ($9.4 million). Given how well he’s played with Toronto, that price tag may continue to rise.

The 7-foot-1 Austrian has made an immediate impact on both ends of the floor. In four games since the trade, the Raptors are nearly 28 points per 100 possessions better with him on the court than when he’s off it. They’re scoring 118.9 points per 100 possessions, better than the NBA’s best offensive team (the Nuggets, 117.7), and they’re holding opponents to 103.0 points, better than the league best defence (the Cavaliers, 109.5).

The sample is still quite small, and the numbers are due for some natural regression – like his remarkable 83 per cent shooting, for instance – but the early returns are encouraging. With his size, intellect and ability to protect the paint, he’s raised the Raptors’ ceiling defensively, as they hoped he would.

Poeltl has been even better than expected on the other end of the floor, breathing new life into the team’s unimaginative half-court offence with his passing, screening and knack for rolling to the bucket and finishing around the rim.

Initially, there was some concern that his limited range and poor free throw shooting might keep him off the floor in crunch time, depending on the matchup, but he silenced that narrative in the first game back from the break.

As well as the Raptors played on Thursday night, a late Pelicans run cut their lead – which was once as large as 15 points – to two inside of the final minute. It was the type of game they’ve lost over and over again this season. This time, they came away with a 115-110 win, and the biggest difference was Poeltl.

The big man scored 10 of his 21 points in the fourth quarter, while also grabbing six of his career-high 18 rebounds, including a couple of crucial offensive boards down the stretch. Even when New Orleans took former Raptors centre Jonas Valanciunas off the floor to go small late in the game – sound familiar? – Poeltl made them pay.

He picked up right where he left off. In his past two contests, a win over Orlando before All-Star and the New Orleans game, Poeltl scored 51 points on 24-of-28 shooting and recorded 27 rebounds, seven blocks and four steals.

You wouldn’t know it from watching, but his biggest adjustment has come on the defensive end, where he’s learning and getting accustomed to a very different style than what he was used to in San Antonio. With the Spurs, he was almost exclusively playing in deep drop coverage, while Nick Nurse’s system is far more aggressive.

Before the break, Poeltl told his new head coach that he’s already feeling pretty comfortable with the offence, but he would need to play catch-up defensively. Nurse spent the week off putting together a short package of clips and concepts that would help him get up to speed on that end of the floor. Over time, they hope to do some tinkering and start adapting the defence a bit more to fit Poeltl’s strengths.

“Besides the obviously things, like learning plays, learning play styles, I’d say the defensive principles are the biggest difference here compared to almost any team in the NBA, but especially the Spurs,” Poeltl told TSN. “I feel like the styles are almost counter-intuitive if you go from one system to the other. So, I’m trying to re-teach myself a lot of things because a lot of the time on defence you don’t really have time to think about it. It has to come as second nature; you have to be in the right spot at the right time. So, it might take some time for me to really figure it out to be in the right spot all the time, but I’ll get there.”

They should have plenty of time to figure it out together. If there was ever any doubt about his plans for free agency, in a four-minute interview with TSN this week, Poeltl made a couple of unprompted references to his Raptors future beyond this season.

The Spurs were in the middle of a long road trip and, coincidently, playing in Toronto the night that Poeltl was traded. He got some of the necessities shipped to him from San Antonio that first week and is expecting more of his clothes to arrive soon, but for now, he’s living out of a suitcase. The big move will have to wait.

“It’s more or less a temporary situation for the rest of the season here,” said Poeltl. “And then in the summer I’ll have a lot more time to really move in and get adjusted.”

And how is he feeling about his fit on the team?

“With every game there’s more opportunities to learn my teammates, learn their tendencies, know where to be to play off them, know who to give the ball to in what situations,” he said. “Stuff like that is going to keep getting better with time, not only this year but after this season. That’s how you really develop chemistry is by playing together for years on years.”

Things are starting to look up in the near term. The Raptors have won six of their past seven games and are back within two games of .500 for the first time since they were 13-15 in mid-December. They’ve passed Washington for ninth place and are now four games out of the coveted sixth seed and final guaranteed playoff spot.

Poeltl’s arrival has given them the lift they so desperately needed. Suddenly, there’s hope that they can save what was looking like a lost season.

Regardless of how these final 22 games shake out, there’s something to look forward to. In Poeltl, the Raptors finally feel like they’ve found their starting centre. In Toronto, Poeltl has found a home, again.