Title: “ALL HE DOES IS WIN”: Meet Raptors rookie Jamal Shead
Date: October 23, 2024
Original Source: Sportsnet
Synopsis: In my latest at Sportsnet, I profiled Raptors rookie Jamal Shead, the high-IQ, high-motor Defensive Player of the Year who watches film like a coach and might be the next Raptors success story.
Kelvin Sampson couldn’t help but chuckle. His point guard of the last four years, Jamal Shead, had just checked into his first NBA preseason game and all of a minute later everyone watching had been introduced to what Sampson’s known since he first started recruiting Shead to the University of Houston in high school: Jamal Shead is a winning basketball player.
“As soon as Jamal got in, I just sat there and shook my head,” says Sampson, who’s coached the Cougars since 2014. “I said, ‘That’s Jamal.’ I saw that for four years. I saw it when he was 15. That’s what Jamal does: He’s going to help you win the game.”
First, there was a steal where Shead appeared to get caught on a screen and lose his man, only to then jump the passing lane. Next, he got in at the hands of a big man trying to collect a pass on the roll, coming up with another steal that he took coast-to-coast for a score. Message received about his screen navigation, the Wizards hit him with an illegal one the next time down, leading to another turnover. Finally, he drew a foul on an aggressive push-off from Bub Carrington, against whom he was holding a small grudge from a pre-draft workout that didn’t go Shead’s way.
Blake Murphy Sports Writing 