What Will Trayce Jackson-Davis Role Be?
Besides acquiring Paul, Toronto acquired Trayce Davis-Jackson from Golden State to provide insurance while Jakob Poeltl deals with a back issue. Poeltl has only played 21 games, though none since December 21. He will miss his 24th straight game, per Murphy, before today’s contest against Indiana.
“Poeltl is out. He’s “very close,” Murphy tweeted. “The last 5-7 days have been reconditioning, trying to get that aspect back before he plays. Quickley is expected to play, but it’s still technically a game-time call.”
Jackson-Davis is available against the Pacers and will likely see some time as the Raptors’ second big man off the bench. Darko Rajakovic has been using either Sandro Mamukelishvili, Scottie Barnes, or Collin Murray-Boyles at the five in his starting lineups lately. But the 25-year-old will likely see sparse action, as he did with the Warriors this year. Murray-Boyles got the start versus the Pacers today.
Jackson-Davis is highly efficient around the rim. TJD has a high motor and is a relentless rebounder, particularly on the offensive end. While he is limited offensively, the 6-10 big man is a capable low-post defender and rim-protector.
“We’ve always had our eye on him in the past, but timing matters too,” Webster said, per Grange.“We called on him before, but Golden State got another big (Kristaps Porzingis) and I think it was sort of time for him to be free. So, when we did the Ochai (Agbaji) deal (to get below the tax), we had the ability. We didn’t have a lot of money to spend, but we looked at anyone under $3MM that we could bring in, and he quickly rose to the top of the list.”
Jackson-Davis made his practice debut with the Raptors on Saturday and made quite an impression on his coach.
“Really good first impressions,” said Rajakovic. “You can see that he’s a very smart player. He’s picking up things very quickly. He’s also asking really good questions in the parts of practice today when we went [with] a little bit of live.”
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