New York — Tell Jamal Shead that his assists tend to be more grey sweater than colourful plaid, and he takes it as a compliment.
It’s meant as one, which helps. It’s not that Shead’s growing assist totals are boring; they just don’t tend to jump off the screen. It’s more that one simple play leads to another.
The second-year Toronto Raptors point guard is certainly capable of making passes that raise eyebrows, whether it’s dragging the defence with him before he drops a no-look hand-off behind his back to create an easy dunk for whichever big man is trailing in his wake, or pushing the ball at full speed and threading the needle crosscourt for a teammate’s lay-up in transition.
Shead has skills, and more than anything, he makes a lot of passes that lead to baskets, so his helpers inevitably come in a variety pack of flavours.
“He’s able to do a lot of things,” says Brandon Ingram, the Raptors’ leading scorer, who has developed a nice chemistry with Shead when they share the floor. “We know what he can do on the defensive end, but he’s able to attack the paint, he’s always searching for guys. He knows he’s playing with scorers, so when he gets the ball, he’s trying to attack, and he always knows where guys are.”
And he delivers the ball quickly, neatly and with minimal interference.
Among players coming off the bench this season, Shead’s 50 assists through the Raptors’ first 10 games had him tied for second in the NBA. Among those with 35 or more, none have fewer than the 11 turnovers Shead has made delivering buckets to his brethren. His 4.65:1 assist-to-turnover ratio is fifth among all point guards.
Which is where the ‘boring’ assists come into play. Shead had five assists in the Raptors’ loss to the Philadelphia 76ers on Saturday, and on three of them, he didn’t even take a dribble. On the other two helpers, the Raptors’ back-up point guard dribbled once in the backcourt before hitting Sandro Mamukelashvili in stride on a fastbreak, and the other, he took one dribble over centre before finding Scottie Barnes at the foul line for a jumper.
It’s why Shead’s assist numbers are up over last season (5.0 per game or 10.3 per 36 minutes this year, compared to 4.2 or 7.8 per 36 last season) even though his playing time and usage rate are down, dipping from 19.6 minutes per game to 17.4, while his usage had dropped from 18.6 per cent to 15.7 (where 20 per cent is considered averaged).
“For me, I’m just trying to put guys in position to be successful,” Shead told me as we spoke after the Raptors practice in Manhattan Monday in advance of their game Tuesday night against the Brooklyn Nets. The Raptors are 1-1 on their five-game Eastern Conference road trip, which began Friday night with a win over Atlanta and extends to Saturday in Indianapolis, with stops in Philadelphia, Brooklyn and Cleveland along the way.
“I’m just trying to know how to play with every guy on this team, where their hot zones are and knowing how to make them be successful in their own spots,” he says.
Even last season, Shead had a relatively light touch at point guard as a rookie. He wasn’t one to waste a lot of the shot clock with a lot of probe dribbles that went nowhere. But this season, the ball is in and out of his hands even quicker, which is exactly as Raptors head coach Darko Rajakovic likes it.
“He’s made big strides this year. He used to be a point guard, especially in college, who would bring up the ball, get set, organized and run the offence. But he’s learning the pace of the league, and especially this year, when teams are running more, so he’s doing a better job of allowing the ball to go up the court.
“Not just kick ahead (passes), but also in the half court, he does a really good job of creating advantage early in the shot clock and playmaking from there.”
He’s done so by honing his technique — he spent a lot of time in the off-season developing his left-hand so that he’s essentially an ambidextrous passer, able to throw a skip pass to either corner with either hand.
His approach has impressed starting point guard Immanuel Quickley, who benefitted against the Sixers when they played some minutes together in the third quarter, and Shead found him immediately for a pair of quick threes.
“He makes the game easy for everybody,” says Quickley, who leads the Raptors in assists per game with 6.3. “He makes quick, decisive decisions, which you love to see in a young guard … it’s a simple game, really, and Jamal’s doing a great job of that.”
For Shead, it’s a matter of making the smart play rather than trying to force a perfect one.
“I think I just really react to the game,” Shead says. “You know. I think sometimes over-dribbling or over-complicating something is every point guard’s worst enemy. I think if I’m in the next pass position and I know that I have Gradey (Dick) or JB (Jamison Battle) next to me, I’m probably not gonna shoot the ball, you know? I’m gonna move it. But if I know that the next guy is helping out and won’t let me pass it to Gradey or JB, OK, I’ll be ready to shoot, but it’s really just being prepared for whatever in the moment.”
It’s an approach that keeps the turnovers to a minimum. Shead has always been pretty frugal with the ball. Among first-year guards who played at least 800 minutes last season, Shead’s 2.7:1 assist-to-turnover ratio was the league’s best. He says it’s a mindset that was drilled into him by his college coach, Kelvin Sampson, who was never shy about expressing his opinion, and was of the opinion that turnovers were to be avoided like mayonnaise left out in the sun.
“I still have flashbacks from Coach Sampson with all the turnovers I had, in my freshman year (at the University of Houston),” says Shead. “So that kind of sticks into me. When I have one in the game, I’m like, ‘All right, no more. I try to talk to myself, try to give myself a little self-confidence on that.
“But also, it’s just easier to make the right play, because we have such talented guys that the right play can lead to somebody getting dunked on, or open three, or just being unselfish and letting somebody else create for themselves.”
Not that Shead is above playing favourites. The 23-year-old struck up a friendship with Ingram almost from the moment the Raptors’ leading scorer arrived last season. In the minutes they share the floor while Ingram is anchoring the bench unit, Shead has a very clear objective.
“Anytime that I’m in a game, I try to make BI (Ingram) at least touch the ball every play, whether he shoots it or whether he’s the creator,” Shead says. “This is a team where his usage needs to be up there in the 30s, 40s, for us to be successful. Because he can create his own shot, and he creates for others.
“(But) we have a lot of scorers, so to me, I’m just making sure they all touch the ball.”
It’s a simple approach, and maybe a little boring (in a good way), but through 10 games, Shead has done his part by doing things the easy way.
