The Raptors have added another body to their center group, signing Trey Jemison III to a two-way contract as they look to shore up the middle.
Jemison arrives with three years of NBA experience and a league tour that has already taken him through Washington, Memphis, New Orleans, the Lakers and, most recently, the Knicks. He turns 27 in November, and Toronto is betting on the same thing the Knicks saw: a big man who can bring force, even if the offensive package is limited.
To get a better read on what Jemison actually is, Toronto turned to New York Knicks On SI contributor Kento Kato for some perspective.
Kato said Jemison was far down the pecking order in New York. Karl-Anthony Towns “struggled at times but was the the key to winning them a championship.”
Mitchell Robinson missed back-to-backs but still played 60 regular-season games and was “pivotal for much of them.” Ariel Hukporti handled the backup work when Robinson sat, leaving Jemison as “more of a break in case of emergency center, and was deployed as such.”
The clearest selling point, Kato said, is the physical edge. “His physicality.
Jemison is a very physical center who is not afraid to use his body on either side of the ball. He’s as much of an old school enforcer as you’re allowed to be these days and sets very solid screens, which may not seem like a big deal, but is still a dying art.”
That toughness comes with a pretty firm ceiling. Kato pointed to the parts of Jemison’s game that are missing: “Jemison’s lack of skill definitely caps his ceiling.
He isn’t a floor spacer, isn’t a ball handler, and isn’t a passer. That pretty much limits his contributions to hustle plays and defense.”
Asked whether Jemison can grow into something more than a fringe option, Kato said it could happen, but only in a narrow set of circumstances. “I do.
But I think it only happens under very specific circumstances. He’d have to back up a workhorse of a center like Nikola Jokic, who averaged 34.8 minutes per game last season, and do so on a team that could even play small ball or have other options at the position.
Besides a scenario like that, I think he’s stuck being an end of the bench depth piece unless he takes a massive leap as a shooter.”
For now, the Raptors are simply giving him a lane. Toronto needs depth at center, and Jemison will get the chance to fight for minutes there. What comes next is still open, but the opportunity is real.
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