Raptors’ rookie Koloko working on strength, finish at the rim

TORONTO – In the corner of the Raptors’ training facility, just after a team practice late last month, Christian Koloko faced off with a familiar foe.

For about 15 minutes, over and over again, Koloko would start his dribble at the free-throw line, drive to the hoop, and attempt to finish over assistant coach Jamaal Magloire, who would try to stop him by any means necessary.

Magloire works with all the team’s big men, but Koloko has become a priority for him since the club selected the 22-year-old centre with the 33rd-overall pick in the draft this past summer. As a 6-foot-11 former all-star centre, who transitioned to coaching in 2012 following a 12-year playing career, The Big Cat – as he’s known – makes for an appropriate sparring partner.

You can find the two of them going head-to-head after almost every practice and before almost every game. On that October afternoon, they were evenly matched, with Koloko dunking on Magloire on one drive and then getting blocked at the rim on the next. They were not what you would consider to be clean defensive plays. Magloire, now 44, has been known to commit a foul or two during these drills, but that’s the point.

“This is my house,” Magloire barked at the rookie. “My house, my rules.”

“Big Cat has been helping me a lot, just going out there and being strong with the ball,” Koloko said in a recent interview with TSN. “I’ve got to get stronger. I’ve got to go up stronger. I’m going to continue to work on it, and having somebody like Big Cat, who was an amazing big man, there with me every day, I think is really gonna help me.”

Koloko’s NBA career is off to a promising start. He’s appeared in all 12 of Toronto’s games to open the campaign, starting seven of them. He’s tied for first among all rookies in blocks and ranks 10th in minutes played – he’s logged more of them than any other second-round pick from his draft class.

With his massive 7-foot-5 wingspan protecting the rim, Koloko has made an immediate impact defensively. The Raptors are allowing just 97.1 points per 100 possessions with him on the floor. Not only is that the best mark among the regular rotation guys, but it’s also nearly nine points better than the next best player, O.G. Anunoby, who’s an early Defensive Player of the Year candidate.

To keep his defence on the floor, Nick Nurse and his coaching staff are trying to find ways to utilize Koloko’s skill set offensively. Without a reliable jump shot – he’s missed all three of his three-point attempts as a pro after going 0-for-5 from long range in three college seasons at Arizona – it’s about taking advantage of the things he’s proficient at.

With his length and athleticism, Koloko is already the best lob threat Toronto has had since Lucas Nogueira. Yes, it’s been that long since Raptor guards have had the luxury of collaborating with a springy 7-footer capable of catching passes above the rim.

Koloko also has pretty good hands for a big man, as his teammates are learning. He’s converted all four of his alley-oop passes this season, including one from Scottie Barnes against San Antonio last week and another from Fred VanVleet in Sunday’s win over Chicago – a career night for the rookie, who finished that game with personal bests of 11 points, seven rebounds and six blocks in 31 minutes.

According to NBA.com/stats, Koloko has made 11 of his 15 dunks this season. However, he’s just 6-for-20 on layups. The Raptors’ freshman is shooting 46 per cent inside of eight feet from the basket, the worst mark among centres with at least 20 attempts from that range. Koloko is 17-for-37 and has been blocked on eight of those attempts.

Magloire is one of several people in the organization tasked with helping the rookie get stronger and finish stronger through contact at the rim. Listed at 230 pounds, Koloko is working with the team nutritionist to optimize his diet, and the trainers to help curate his weight room routine. But not unlike most first-year players, adding muscle to his slender frame will take some time.

Until then, Magloire has given him some tips of the trade, which include going up strong, showing his elbows, protecting the ball and embracing – and selling – the contact. Nurse is also encouraging him to use his size to dunk the ball, as opposed to laying it up.  

These last couple contests – Monday’s loss in Chicago and Wednesday’s win over Houston – have been full of learning moments for the rookie. He shot 3-for-12, including 2-of-8 on layups, and committed nine fouls in 25 total minutes.

Early in the second quarter of Wednesday’s game, Koloko caught the ball on the roll just a couple feet away from the bucket. With Rockets big man Usman Garuba coming over to challenge, Koloko tried to bank in a layup but missed off the front of the rim. He got his own rebound and flipped up another shot but was blocked by Garuba before Dalano Banton ultimately tipped in the put-back. Clearly, Koloko thought someone made contact with his arm on the attempt, if not Garuba then fellow rookie Tari Eason, who challenged the shot from behind. But such is life for a young player in the NBA.

To his credit, Koloko went up strong when he caught the ball off a Barnes pass to open the third quarter. He missed the dunk but drew a foul.

“It’s definitely tougher [than it was in college] because, here, everybody is bigger, everybody is stronger, everybody is more athletic,” Koloko said prior to that 116-109 win over the Rockets. “But at the end of the day, I’ve just gotta put it in my mind that it’s on me, basically. I’ve just gotta get better with it.”

The valuable reps he’s getting should help expedite that process. Instead of learning in practice or at the G League level, which was where the bulk of his early-season minutes were supposed to come, Koloko has been thrown into the fire.

It’s not just that he’s playing, it’s who he’s playing against. Starting games in the absence of Pascal Siakam, Koloko is matching up with some of the very best and most physically imposing big men in the NBA.

On opening night, he faced Cleveland’s elite frontcourt duo of Jarrett Allen and Evan Mobley. His first start came opposite Bam Adebayo in Miami last month. He’s gone toe-to-toe with a perennial MVP candidate, and fellow Cameroonian, in Joel Embiid. Recently, he’s started games against Atlanta’s Clint Capela, San Antonio’s Jakob Poeltl and Chicago’s Nikola Vucevic.

“It’s a process,” VanVleet said. “It’s not like you can give a guy a handbook and it’s a magic pill. You’ve just got to learn how your body feels game to game. The five is probably the most changing position on a night-to-night basis. You have traditional [centres], [modern bigs] like [Alperen] Sengun [on Wednesday]. He played against [Vucevic] for two games. It’s going to continue to change for him. He’s gonna see different looks. It’s just good experience for him.”

And despite his ups and downs, Koloko should continue to accumulate that experience, at least for the time being. Siakam will miss at least two weeks with his groin strain, though it’s likely to be closer to three or four. Precious Achiuwa is out indefinitely after sustaining partial ligament tears in his right ankle on a hard fall late in Wednesday’s game. Khem Birch remains sidelined with knee soreness.

So, down three bigs, the Raptors will lean on their rookie centre and hope that there are more peaks than valleys. Either way, Koloko will be better for it.

“It’s trial and error,” said VanVleet. “He’s gonna mess up. He’s gonna look crazy out there at times. He’s just got to continue to get stronger. It’s his first stint in the NBA. He’s getting valuable experience. But he’s got to learn to be a pro and take care of his body and try to get fresh and get ready for the next game, get that pop back and dunk some of those [layups].”