It was a much-needed step in the evolution of the Toronto Raptors franchise, somewhat rushed because it was so vital to the growth of players and the organization, and now that the first year of Raptors 905 is in the books, the value of the Mississauga-based D-League team is wildly evident.

Norman Powell, who played a handful of games with the 905, is starting for the parent club as it prepares for the NBA playoffs. Lucas Nogueira and Delon Wright have made contributions to both teams. Bruno Caboclo found a place to play regularly and his incremental improvement continues. In short, the Raptors 905 did what they were asked to do.

“As the season went along and we got comfortable with the processes, just kind of getting into the flow of the season, everything really smoothed out and we kind of got it rolling at the end,” Dan Tolzman, the 905 general manager said at his end-of-season media session.

On the court, the expansion franchise evolved precisely as expected. Despite being thrown together in about a six-month period that had an impact on everything from finding players to scheduling home dates at the Hershey Centre, the team finished 23-27, sixth in the East and ahead of their expansion cousins in Delaware (21-29).

They drew a respectable average crowd of 3,104 over 25 home dates (their 25th was a “home” game at January’s D-League Showcase in California) and provided the kind of relatively inexpensive basketball alternative fans seemed to glom on to.

“We finished pretty strongly . . . that’s the kind of thing you can be proud of and kind of build off,” Tolzman said.

The prospects

From the day the idea was hatched in Masai Ujiri’s mind, the D-League was about development, a geographically close team where he could hothouse some of the kids who represent the Raptors’ future, nurture them in the way the franchise wanted and give them every possible chance to succeed.

“That’s the only way in this day and age where you can win now and develop,” 905 coach Jesse Murmys said. “If you don’t have your own D-League team, it’s like you’ve got to make a choice to do one or the other and we’ve fortunately been able to do both and develop valuable assets for the future of our team.”

Cases in point:

Norman Powell, who had eight D-League games and countless practices with the 905, and has a significant role with the playoff-bound Raptors.

Lucas Nogueira, with 11 D-League appearances, may not have liked the shuttling back and forth, but there is no question it allowed him to contribute in Toronto when he got a chance.

Delon Wright, with 15 D-League starts, is an emergency backup point guard with Toronto.

“I just truly believe they are not going to have that type of rhythm and confidence without getting those types of minutes and games under their belt down in the D-League,” Murmys said. “They’d probably end up getting to that but it shortens that process of development.”

The project

Yes, Bruno.

Of all the developmental issues the were important with the advent of the 905, none were greater than Caboclo, still an intriguing prospect who is only in his second year of North American basketball and North American life.

Having the ability to control his minutes and usage, to provide off-the-court support and have him close at hand was vital to his future.

He played 37 D-League games, averaged nearly 15 points and 36 minutes, and was force-fed responsibility to see how he responded. He may turn into a player or he may not, that’s impossible to predict right now.

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What is undeniable is that he has an exponentially greater chance at success being in Mississauga and he’s grown because of it.

“The fire that he’s now playing with is something you’d never see out of the guy before and he’s now building a little bit of confidence . . . he knows that he’s good enough and he’s getting closer and closer to being ready for the NBA level,” Tolzman said.

“He’s still playing catch-up but the strides he made are so large from what it would have been had we not had this opportunity for him.”

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