Rookie Shead hopes to follow VanVleet’s footsteps with Raptors

TORONTO – Jamal Shead is hoping to be the next in a long line of small guards to find success with the Toronto Raptors.

It’s a history that dates back as far as the franchise does, 30 years ago, to its first ever draft pick and star, the 5-foot-10 Damon “Mighty Mouse” Stoudamire.

Muggsy Bogues was already an established vet by the time he came to and finished his illustrious career in Toronto, but at 5-foot-3 – the shortest player in NBA history – he become a quick fan favourite on those Vince Carter-led teams of the early 2000s.

T.J. Ford came along a few years later, and while back injuries shortened his tenure and ultimately his career, he was Chris Bosh’s co-star on a couple of Raptors playoff clubs.

Of course, so much of their recent success – and 2019 championship run – was driven by a pair of 6-foot guards: Kyle Lowry, widely regarded as the greatest player in franchise history, and his successor, Fred VanVleet.

It’s not hard to see what the Raptors liked about Shead when they acquired him on draft night this summer, or why he’s confident he’ll be able to make a name for himself in Toronto. His profile looks familiar.

In his four college seasons at the University of Houston, Shead played in nearly every game, won multiple Defensive Player of the Year awards, and led the Cougars to a 120-18 record. He comes in known for his basketball intellect, high motor and tenacious on-ball defence. And yes, generously listed at 6-feet, he plays bigger than his height.

He’s barely a week into his first training camp as a professional, but so far, the fit has been seamless. The Raptors went into the off-season looking to improve their backcourt depth and perimeter defence, and in one draft-night trade with Sacramento, they addressed both.

By most metrics, Jalen McDaniels was one of the worst players in the NBA last season, but thanks to some salary cap flexibility created in the Pascal Siakam deal, they were able to turn him into Davion Mitchell, another hard-nosed defender at the point guard position, and the 45th-overall selection, which they used on Shead.

After struggling to guard at the point of attack last season, the hope is that those two can help change the way this team approaches its work on the defensive end and bring some much-needed toughness to the court. Naturally, Mitchell – a former lottery pick who gets a fresh start in Toronto – is expected to slot in as the backup behind starter Immanuel Quickley. Projecting Shead’s role as a rookie second-round pick is more challenging, but he appears destined for more than third-string point guard duties.

Pre-season injuries to Quickley, veteran Bruce Brown, rookie first-rounder Ja’Kobe Walter, and now starting small forward RJ Barrett have opened the door, and Shead isn’t one to waste opportunities. He’s been a standout throughout camp and impressed in Toronto’s exhibition opener, a win over Washington on Sunday. That head coach Darko Rajakovic has spent the better part of the past few months preaching the very thing he specializes in certainly doesn’t hurt.

“What they’re looking for is what I do,” Shead told TSN this week. “They told me to come in and try to do that to the best of my ability. They also gave me a role immediately, and that helps. When your coach tells you what to do and you accept your role, you can try to excel in it from Day 1.”

It didn’t take Shead long to endear himself to his coaches, and the fans, in his Raptors debut. He needed just 11 seconds of court time to record his first NBA steal, intercepting an entry pass from Jonas Valanciunas. Then, in the span of 13 seconds, he forced another turnover, went coast-to-coast for a tough layup, and drew an offensive foul.

While his defence and hustle came as advertised, his ability to get to and finish at the rim – where he shot a perfect 4-for-4 – also stood out, especially as the smallest player on either roster. On the final play of the first half, Shead beat Wizards rookie Alex Sarr off the dribble, changed hands mid-gather and finished with his left to evade the outstretched arm of the 7-foot-1, second-overall pick.

“I’m not the most athletic; I’m very athletic, but there are more athletic guys than me and so I try to use my brain,” Shead said. “When I get into the paint, that deep, sometimes it’s not my turn to shoot, sometimes it’s my turn to pass. I’m just trying to figure out when and where to use my abilities at the rim. I’m just trying to be an unselfish teammate.”

Fortunately, the blueprint has already been laid out for him. The comparisons between the 22-year-old rookie and VanVleet, the long-time Raptors guard, are hard to miss, and they’re not lost on either player.

They were both four-year college players with winning pedigrees, who fell in the draft – or, in VanVleet’s case, out of the draft – because of their age and size. Shead has tracked VanVleet’s career – from undrafted free agent to NBA champion, all-star and max player – and got an up-close view of it after the vet signed with the Houston Rockets in the summer of 2023.

“He's somebody that you look at as a role model,” Shead said of VanVleet. “Being in Houston, I got to see him [last season], just going up to [the Rockets] facility, watching him workout, watching him play. He’s somebody that’s my size, does what I do and shoots the ball a lot better than me. So, he’s just a role model and somebody that I can look at and try to be like in this league. Toronto’s known for doing smaller guards justice, so he set the pathway for me and I’m just trying to figure out how I can do what he did.”

When Shead’s phone was blowing up on draft night, he noticed a text from the former Raptor. VanVleet isn’t big on offering unsolicited advice, but he did extend his support.

“I just let him know [that] I see him and he’s on the right path,” VanVleet told TSN, via text, on Wednesday. “Just [wanted him to] know I’m easy to find whenever he needs anything on or off the court.”

“I love Shead’s game. I’ve been watching him since he was in college. He was always super tough and competitive, and he won at a high level. I see some similarities because he’s a dog. You see the spirit defensively, and being able to impact the game defensively at that size is not an easy task. He’s (probably) much more athletic than me.”

Another similarity: Shead will wear jersey No. 23, the same number that VanVleet wore for seven seasons in Toronto. Serendipitous, perhaps, but it’s just a coincidence; it also happens to be the number that Shead’s older brother, Jaylen, wore at Washington State.

“23 is in good hands, for sure,” VanVleet said.

Shead has his work cut out for him, first to crack Rajakovic’s rotation as a rookie, and then to establish a long, successful career in a league filled with bigger and more athletic players. To do that as a 6-footer playing below the rim there are certain prerequisites – common denominators that you’ll find in any of the smaller guys that have ever done it, locally or around the NBA. You need to be willing and able to out-work and out-think everybody else on the court if you’re going to have any chance at out-playing them. You need to be relentless. You need to be a pest.

“Just going back to Fred and Kyle, those guys are dogs,” Shead said. “They bring it every day, they’re really smart, they know how to use their bodies, they know when to cut and when not to cut. They play games within the game. You have to be a little extra when you’re smaller.”

Those are all qualities that Shead possesses. That doesn’t guarantee him anything at this level, but it does give him a shot and make him easy to root for.

“He’s a winner,” Rajakovic said. “Obviously, he’s a really, really good on-ball defender. He’s doing a good job of pressuring the ball. But he’s also very coachable. Coming from a program like Houston with Coach Kelvin Sampson, it really prepared him for this moment. We have great communication and I’m really able to coach him on the fly. He’s getting better every day and every week.”