There was much debate regarding whether or not the Raptors should overpay Bismack Biyombo to come back after his inspiring performances in the playoffs last season. 18 million dollars a year was ultimately too steep of a price, but the Raptors may very well have been better off without him thanks to the sudden emergence of Lucas “Bebe” Noguiera this season.

Often joked as “A friend for Bruno” and “That guy with funny hair”, Bebe has never really been considered a viable piece for this team. Coming into the season, it was expected that his rotation minutes were only there with injuries, and that his minutes were backing up Jakub Poeltl. Bebe was not seen as a guy fit to play on this team, but he has certainly turned a corner and taken a big step forward in his career this year. Let’s take a deeper look at his progress from both ends of the court.

Defense:

Bebe has always been an intriguing player on defense. Despite having no positive results over the first few years of his career, and looking lost during his cameos in the playoffs, the Raptors had the urge to not give up on him. It’s hard to find length and wingspan like Bebe has, and sometimes it takes a while for these sorts of players to develop. Hello Hassan Whiteside. The Raptors made the mistake of cutting Hassan Whiteside from their summer league squad in 2014, and perhaps his emergence into a star is what led the Raptors to giving up on Bebe. The results on defense are staggering.

Opposing Field Goal Percentage When Contesting Shot: Out of all the regular rotation players on the Raptors, Bebe holds opponents to the lowest % on shots from within 0-5 feet, 5-9 feet and 10-14 feet. Opponents are shooting 55.8% at the rim when contested by Bebe, which is nearly 7% better than Jonas Valanciunas’ 62%. For reference, Nerlens Noel, Dwight Howard, Kristaps Porzingis and Hassan Whiteside and Joel Embiid all hover around that 55-56% plateau, and it shows the tier of players Bebe is in at protecting the rim.

Looking out towards shots from 5-9 feet, Bebe is holding opponents to an NBA best of regular rotation players to an eye popping 32%. This is 5% better than Karl Anthony Towns and Rudy Gobert.

Bebe is an elite rim protector and the numbers back it up.

Block Stats: While I’ve shown that Bebe alters shots at the rim, he is also in an elite class for swatting them away as well. Bebe blocks an elite 73% of his block attempts, and this is second only to Salah Mejri on Dallas. This may make it seem like Bebe is just someone who goes out of his way to pad blocks and overhelping, but this is simply not the case. Bebe is the 2nd most efficient shot blocker in the NBA, and only Joel Embiid averages more blocks per 36 by 0.1. Bebe is blocking an absurd 3.2 shots per 36, and doing so in a far more efficient manner than Embiid.

Rebounding: Bebe’s biggest weakness on defense is his rebounding. He only picks up 15% of the team’s defensive rebound opportunities when on the court. This is far too low a number, as the Raptors generally go with a 4 out 1 in look with Bebe on the court. Bebe plays the majority of his minutes with Lowry, Joseph, Ross and Patterson according to nbawowy.com, and if he is going to see himself turn into anything more, he’s going to have to bulk up and improve on his rebounding ability.

Ratings: With all that said, Bebe is not perfect, but hey, neither is anyone on this team defensively. The Raptors have a +12 net rating with Bebe on the court, and it is nice that he has been a positive force on this team this year for a fraction of the cost of the struggling Bismack Biyombo in Orlando.

Offense:

There is less to be excited about here, but Bebe is really excelling in two things. The first is setting good screens and the second is finish on the pick and roll. Bebe has great hands, and he gives ball handlers more room to orchestrate with defenses having to respect his role to the rim. On a team that is very dependant on Lowry and Derozan to create their own shot, this sort of rim option is very valuable to have and a big part of the reason why the Raptors have a 120 offensive rating with Bebe on the court.

Nogueira is shooting 72% on shots at the rim, and with his ability to set screens and create looks for others, knowing that he will finish most of the time inside, is a major factor to the Raptors’ success.

Sure, he has no post game and his 9% usage rate shows that the Raptors will never rely on him to create anything for himself, but Bebe has certainly been a positive addition on both ends, and his rim protection has really taken away minutes from Jonas Valanciunas, and this is deservedly so.

In a sport where production is usually so predictable from year to year, Bebe’s emergence has been a genuine surprise to me, and it will be interesting to see what Casey chooses to do when Sullinger returns from his injury. Hopefully we will still see Bebe and his hair on the court throughout times of the playoffs.