Houston Cougar Alum Jamal Shead Lands in Perfect Situation with Toronto Raptors

Houston Cougar Alum Jamal Shead Lands in Perfect Situation with Toronto Raptors

house God never makes mistakes he may work in mysterious ways but he never makes mistakes so I waited for my blessing and headed to an organization that wants me and I’m ready to work for them Jamal shed Toronto Raptor Jamal shed [Music] today you are locked on coups your daily podcast on the Houston Cougars part of the locked on podcast podcast Network your team every day welcome to lockon cougs Da the podcast by your Houston Cougars I’m your host Houston born teacher and Coach Parker andth whether you’re a Houston fan or just a hater who came to stop by thank you for making lockon CS your first listen of the day join the conversation but don’t know what to say tell us if you like poutin or even know anything about the Canadian dish Today Show was brought to you by fan dual America’s number more sports book and it is all about for however long we end up going today Jamal dead going to the Toronto Raptors Jamal was drafted by the Toronto Raptor we’re going to talk some about the fit the decision what went to the process Etc it was not necessarily your most normal NBA draft Affair but if you’re watching it on TV Jamal shed did go in the second round to the uh I guess he was technically drafted by the Sacramento Kings at pick 45 15th pick of the second round um however this is where things get a little trickier at the start of the second round um which had its own day this year Adrian wowski ESPN Insider uh outlined a trade that Sacramento had made with Toronto the trade included sending Dave Van Mitchell the 25-year-old from Baler Sasha vov uh a 68 Greek Bulgarian forward 28 years old and the 45th pick from Sacramento to Toronto uh Toronto ascending back Jaylen McDaniels a 26-year-old power forward went to San Diego State a few years back um this is essentially sloughing some contracts that looks like for the 45th pick going to Toronto they’re taking on little bit bigger contracts and michell and vinnikov um both are in the final year of their contract and expiring deals U the Raptor had picked 31 the first pick of the draft of the second round of the draft and kind of wanted to ensure they had more picks later on uh and then with the first pick of the second round they took a guy named Jonathan MBO uh 66 long armed Wing from San Francisco um and it kind of feels like they want to make sure they had the 45th pick before doing that pick um because MBO is friends with one Scotty Barnes a star player for Toronto a player that just signed to play there for a long time a young player and to kind of encourage him to sit there through this rebuild it makes sense they bring on one of his other young buddies um but they didn’t make that pick before knowing they had another pick later M BBA is a pro I don’t mean to say he’s not a pro but I do think it’s worth pointing out that like that’s an interesting way to go about this so Toronto makes that pick at 31 has the 405th pick later um for where Scotty Barnes at the celebration party for MBO I mean they’re that close to friends so I like I think that that is a fair statement but they get their guy our guy Jamal shed at 45 now we’ll talk obviously about his fit and things like that but the draft of Jamal shed’s current teammates they also added in or Kaman uh Chachi Cham Chi I’m learning that one still uh or chash is uh 610 big guy um they picked up chobe Walker the Baylor kid we talked about when we played Baylor earli this year star star star the first round at pick number 19 uh if you want to go check that out you can watch locked on Raptors they do a full 40 minutes on the Raptors draft in their Thursday episode is really really well done I thought um but if you look at the whole draft I think there’s a number of things that work in Jamal’s favor and how he gets to Toronto um first they took on expiring deals in s and Mitchell and vinnikov to bring him in right that means they wanted that pick to go get him uh dve Daven Mitchell had the great career Bor but has had kind of a declining career in the pros played Just 15 minutes last year had just five points per game uh just under two assists per game uh and again that’s on decreased usage year after year um it’s no longer crowded back court the at one point you could have said they had too many guards they decreased that right because off uh the perimeter forward has never really had a big role there um and was traded to Toronto after threatening to go back to Europe um if they didn’t send him somewhere where he’d play more so he may not even even get to Toronto right we’ll see how that goes meanwhile they get Jamal shed at 45 15th pick the second round um and per Kelly Aiko right for the athletic Houston based Rider mostly covers the Rockets but obviously in this instance has connections to people in front offices and is in Houston and aeko reports that um part of the reason Jamal sh was drafted here is that he already has a guaranteed NBA contract not a two-way or or a g-league contract and what happens there for people like wait how could you be drafted and have your contract already guaranteed what’s happening there is you you’ve got adents doing a lot of talking behind the scenes this is not uncommon for any NBA player although it was apparently talked about mostly in the NBA draft if you watched it for a very famous NBA player’s son who was being tell very specific to some teams but team agents will say things like hey so and so says they’re going to give my guy an NBA deal are you talking NBA deals what are we talking about if you pick him right those kinds of things are working out in the second round especially where like those things are not guaranteed right and so it does sound like Jamal shed has a guaranteed deal per kello of the athletic to go play in Toronto that’s a big deal for a second round pick that’s a really really big deal and it kind of reassures us that that move before the second round where they did all that trading to make sure they had another second round pick besides just the 31st pick was to make sure they pull could pull in Jamal at least have a shot to right that 45th pick was right around the part of the draft where he was being projected at the late end of things and then ESPN did a mock dra did a breakdown of mock second round um after the first round was over and they put him at 43 so that’s in the same window right um and so I think it’s safe to say all of that is is that Jamal landed at a place that wants Jamal and that’s important he said it himself right um and I I opened with the quote but I’ll say it again he said God never makes mistakes he may work mysterious ways but he never makes mistakes so I waited for my blessing and I’m headed to an organization that wants me and I’m ready to work for them again this is after the emotions after talking with them on the phone after talking to his agent after doing like that’s him calming down and say okay they want me I’m ready to go work for them now I want to spend some time in the second segment talking about the fit because think Jamal shed is an excellent fit in Toronto that’s why they wanted him frankly uh Raptors are reading leaning into being a young team they’re really kind of Shifting Gears they won in 2019 trying to run it back without Kawhi lonard for a couple years had to do some resets got Scotty Barnes and build around him Jamal shed fits great with Scotty Barnes and I we get into how he fits into all those plans in a second but first today’s episode is about building a great team around Jamal and if you’re building a great team in terms of your ride you need passion drive and patience of winning formula for championships it’s also what keeps your ride or dieet Alive eBay Motors is everything you need to maintain your vehicle and level up to Peak Performance supercharges roof racks exhaust GS L headlights and more whether into speed power or style eBay monor has got you covered with over 122 Million Parts to choose from always find exactly what 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just look at the guard room who else he’s playing with here right um so guards that they have under contract next season right now in Toronto Manuel quickley Grady dick jacobe Walter who they just drafted RJ Barrett H they just traded for Daven Mitchell they probably resign one of i’ probably get Bruce Brown and OA baji is in the last year of his deal after being drafted a couple years ago in the first round that’s seven guards however all of those seven guards even Daven Mitchell his last couple seasons in Sacramento get the bulk of their minutes playing the shooting guard or the offguard right now part of this is by Design because Scotty Barn their go-to forward is a point forward he does a lot of creation on his own don’t the point guard in the same kind of way but also he can’t be the point guard in every setup that’s not we’re going to get into why that is in second but Jamal shed steps in and in some ways you could argue he might be the only real point guard on the roster and I I don’t mean that to say he’s gonna guaranteed walk in and start I I I do think he’s a 8 to 10 year NBA career guy at least I do think he’ll start for a number of teams if not a long career with one team I don’t know if he walks in the DOR away that’s really hard to do as a rookie point guard is a really hard position to do that point guard and Center are the two hardest positions to do that I would say right but I will say theyve got a really good chance to make an impact out the gate now with a guaranteed contract as it again this is Kelly Eco reporting I’m echoing the report I’m not I don’t have any sources except for reading Kelly’s tweets right but with the guaranteed contract he probably will play the early part of the Year some back and forth of the G League just to get some game reps and experience especially with Toronto whether the 905 right there uh you don’t have to even you know go back and forth across the border it’s all very close right so you can kind of like play on Saturday for 905 and play on Sunday for the Raptors right that’s not a hard thing to do we saw jarus Walker do that some early in season with Indiana the difference between what jarus was doing in Indiana and what I think Jamal’s going to do in Toronto is Toronto’s trying to develop their young guys to win in like 2027 right 20267 build winning habits right have the right guys on the bus right those kinds of things JIS walked into Indiana and while they thought that was going to be what they were doing very quickly they got Pascal seaka trying to win the whole thing right they got pretty far doing Eastern conf finals right Toronto ain’t doing all that that’s not going to be the fear for uh Jamal shed fear I guess is a weird way to say winning is problem they’re going to be practicing winning getting ready to build win right Jamal sh’s a great guy to do that they don’t have a whole lot of point guards in the roster who been through that um I do think it’s interesting that like he also walks in as one of the better Defenders they just acquired Daven Mitchell right it’s a great defender as well and for all his things he lacks on offense Davon has proved to be a very good Defender he’s not a true point guard and so I think that’s where Jamal in terms of next season we’ll have a little bit of an edge Jamal’s also a little bit younger so in terms of developing your guys for that run in a couple years you know you invest in the younger guy those kinds of things um but like Emanuel quickley gr dick RJ Barrett not great Defenders on the perimeter certainly not Jamal shed National Defense Player of the Year kind of Defenders right so be that as it may um I also think it’s worth pointing out that while Scotty Barnes is position they hired a new coach in the summer of 2023 uh Darko rovic now I had to look up some on Darko rovic because I didn’t know a whole lot about him he did a whole lot of his head coaching in Europe before coming to the states in the states he head coached the Tulsa 66ers the Oklahoma City g-league team at the time right he then has been on the staff um at Oklahoma City and handful of others he got to be on the allstar okl City with Scott Brooks uh he was in Phoenix for hot second anyway in all those spots right even with creative scoring off ball guys right dark was around offenses that needed a true point guard right they needed somebody to be that true point guard fit insert Jamal shed right like that’s that’s the purpose of that for sure right um for its worth a around M you’ll have some great shooting for all the thing we talk about like not having a point guard not having great Defenders out there uh quickly Grady dick and RJ Barrett each shot over 35% from three last season Scotty Barnes for all the creation he was doing also shot at 34% from three last season right they’re going to be okay in terms of shooting okay it’s going to be about Jamal shed getting to the basket and actually collapsing the defense and I think he’ll be able to do that and then kicking out to those guys getting the ball in action getting the ball in motion um rovic uh rakovich I’m gonna get that right rakovich coach of Toronto um he’s big on movement of the ball European guy European basketball ball never stops right but I think when that’s when the similarities of how Jamal shed and Scotty Barnes both create also overlap some right the ball won’t stop you got multiple creators on the floor at the same time right moving it all around um not okay they’re not they gold State Warriors but it’s not unlike the way Steve cerr runs that offense out there right where they just don’t stop moving right the same kind of thing is totally possible when you have both Barnes and shed on the floor right um and the biggest fit here may be and this is probably we wrap in not necessarily just to fit on the floor we’re going to find out a lot about that in the coming days and weeks uh working on some stuff with lock on Raptors talking to some people other Raptors podcasts uh obviously going to see some Summer League games as well um all that good stuff right but the fit here with Jamal and the organization both from a high class High character culture kind of standpoint just organizationally no one ever say anything bad about the way the Raptors run things but the guy signing the checks Messiah jiri signing off on the checks I should say um took Jamal at 45 and messiri is the perfect guy to take a guy like Jamal and it’s why he’s giving him a contract right uh M yeri came into the Raptors he’s executive the year before he’s won a bunch of awards right he built a champion team in 2019 right but he came in the Raptors in 2013 and Kyle Larry had been traded for the summer before summer 2012 from the Houston Rockets to the Toronto Raptors Kyle Larry is commonly compared to because of his long career at six foot his great leadership his intangibles Etc very go to compare to Jamal but in 2012 he got traded to Toronto and it’s kind of like going off to No Man’s Land right so in 2013 this year he gets the team he walks in he sees the best guy on the team in terms of All-Star status like that is Andre berani big tall Italian he says you’re getting traded out of here s New York he then and this is like KY Larry talks about this as part of like his growing up moments he walks over to Lowry and sits him down and says do you want to be a two million year three million year player for the rest of your career and be done in a couple years or do you really want to dedicate yourself to this thing and be a $10 million $15 million All-Star type of player two years later ky’s an Allstar right like it doesn’t take long but uiri saw it in Lowry worked with Lowry developed with Lowry built a programming system around Lowry so much though that um you know he trades off barani that summer 2013 that fall uh Rudy Gay 6667 perimeter guy and KY Lowry are like not being able to share the ball like but can’t bring out the best of one another both good Pros can’t bring out the best than one another and Messiah Jeri trades Rudy Gay who had been a lottery pick but he Trad Rudy Gay moves him out of the way for Demar D rozan who pairs up with C Larry’s game a lot better right he he favors the six-foot guard in a moment time and time again when others might not have then uiri so those thing around lry L was had a great career uh he and D roseen imp Paar of great they’re great friends they’re winning that division year after year in 2014 15 16 Etc um 2016 Summer comes and a kid gets undrafted or goes undrafted by the name of Fred vanle at wiaw State great winner competitive good shooter too um Great Character guy about 5’11 and M Jeri gives him a call and says listen you’re gonna come play for our summer league team we’re gonna give you a multi-year contract before you even finish the summer league if it works you just got to come work they get Fred Van vet give him a multi-year contract with Lowry Corey Joseph other point guards on the roster to give another short point guard a spot because it’s the right kind of guy and that 201617 season he plays some for 905 play spots here and there 20178 kind of starts off slow by the end of you know 2017 going into January 2018 he’s getting more rotational spot by the end of the year he’s getting third most votes for six Man of the Year 2019 they’re winning it all he’s getting 25 points game of the finals right 20 20 2019 2020 the next season after to win it all fed van Le starting games for them right uiri sees these guys with intangibles that don’t have the measurables insert Jamal shed every intangible every award every ounce of Praise every you watch the film it all leaps off the video but six feet tall and I could not pick a better place for Jamal shed to go that is gonna look past that height and weight thing and say this guy can play this guy plays the right way Etc now I wouldn’t have pricked it it beforehand Toronto didn’t work Jamal out right at least it wasn’t publicized if they did right the Su at the combine the S the college tap unit did they undoubtedly had you know Zoom Skype interviews whatever right but Jamal lands there and my first thought is perfect whatever your thought was tell in the comments down below lock down is proud M lockon podcast Network that means your team every day go CS

Coogs’ House! Jamal Shead is officially an NBA player. The former Houston Cougar Point Guard was drafted 45th overall in the 2024 NBA Draft by the Toronto Raptors and Masai Ujiri. “The 6” is a GREAT fit for Shead, whome Kelvin Sampson has called the best leader he’s ever coached. Shead pairs with Ja’Kobe Walter, Scottie Barnes, and the rebuilding Raps.
What went into the pick? And what makes it a perfect landing spot for Jamal?
Host Parker Ainsworth breaks it all down!

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