INDIANAPOLIS — Sandro Mamukelashvili figured a win was a win.
On Halloween, the Toronto Raptors snapped a four-game losing streak. It wasn’t pretty, with the Cleveland Cavaliers playing without three of their four All-Stars. The Raptors outlasted the Cavaliers more than they defeated them. Still, they figured out a way to get the victory, with Mamukelashvili chipping in 11 points, six rebounds and three assists off the bench. Good stuff.
Or so he thought until the next day’s practice, when head coach Darko Rajaković made a beeline toward the Raptors reserve.
“I go in the gym and he snaps on me,” Mamukelashvili told The Athletic in Indianapolis before the Raptors beat the Pacers on Saturday, recalling the story with a wide grin. “He tells me I don’t run into (setting my) screens. He tells me sometimes I’m jogging, and I’m not doing this and that. He just takes the ball and kicks it. And I just go, ‘Ohhhhhh!’ It was crazy.”
“I very well know where Sandro is coming from. I know his motivation,” Rajaković added. “I know his family as well. His father gave me the green light to coach him hard. So that’s what I’m doing.”
Neither should change a thing, based on the results. Along with point guard Jamal Shead, Mamukelashvili has animated the Raptors’ bench this year, turning it into one of the league’s most effective supporting crews. He is second on the team, behind only Gradey Dick, in raw plus-minus, with the Raptors outscoring their opponents by 73 points in his 232 minutes. The 26-year-old leads the reserves with 9.4 points and 3.6 rebounds per game, playing almost 18 minutes on average. That bench has played a big role in the Raptors rattling off eight wins in their last nine games, turning into one of the league’s nicest early-season surprises.
On his podcast Monday, The Ringer’s Zach Lowe said Mamukelashvili has been one of the best free-agent pickups from the offseason on a dollar-for-dollar basis. The Raptors signed him for $5.5 million over two years, the veteran’s minimum, with a player option for next season. This feels like the best value the Raptors have got at that price point since they signed Bismack Biyombo 10 years ago. At this rate, Mamukelashvili could hit the market next year with much more leaguewide interest. (Biyombo turned his one excellent year in Toronto into a four-year, $72 million deal with the Orlando Magic in 2016 — the cap spike season.)
Importantly, Mamukelashvili feels like a team has invested in him.
“It’s great, just being coached like that,” Mamukelashvili said. “For somebody to hold me accountable and tell me I can do so much better is amazing. It feels like I didn’t have that direct coaching through my years in the NBA. I never had a direct message coming from the head coach. … I’m loving it.”
Since being drafted near the end of the second round in 2021, Mamukelashvili has hung on near the back of rosters, whether with Milwaukee or San Antonio. He played when injuries required but didn’t stay in the rotation when his teams returned to health. The Raptors presented an obvious chance to change that, due to their limited depth up front. This year is his first true opportunity at consistent minutes, which comes with its own pressure.
“I tell myself that you waited for this opportunity for four years, and no matter what, you go out swinging,” Mamukelashvili. “In Georgia, we have a saying: ‘You don’t risk it, you don’t drink champagne.’ So you’ve got to make sure you come out swinging. I tell that to myself every game.”
His game radiates that mindset, but in a way that meshes with the Raptors’ uptempo, high-pressure style. When Mamukelashvili signed in Toronto in the offseason, it seemed from the outside like he would be the backup centre behind Jakob Poeltl. Mamukelashvili doesn’t really consider himself a centre, nor should he — Scottie Barnes and rookie Collin Murray-Boyles are as much Toronto’s backup centre as Mamukelashvili.
Watching Mamukelashvili sprinting at the feet of Indiana’s Tony Bradley to get two free throws illustrates the difference between him and more traditional bigs. He isn’t trailing in transition. He is either running the wings or, sometimes, handling the ball.
Mamukelashvili gives the Raptors more freedom to switch across positions. The Raptors are allowing just 101.9 points per 100 possessions, stingier than Oklahoma City’s league-leading defence, when Mamukelashvili has been on the floor. (It’s just a point of comparison; Mamukelashvili is largely on the floor against reserves, while the Thunder’s number accounts for all minutes.) Those lineups are working not because he is swatting every shot that comes his way, although he can do a little bit of that. Rather, he fits in with what the Raptors are trying to do. He is big enough to provide a bit of resistance in the paint if the situation requires it, but he is more or less switchable with Barnes or Murray-Boyles.
“He’s learned to stay in front of the ball. We require help only if we get completely beat,” Shead said. “A lot of us give a lot of second effort, and then we give another third effort to try to get the rebound. … He’s bought into (what we’re doing) on defence.”
The real revelation has happened offensively, though it shouldn’t be a huge surprise. With Victor Wembanyama out of the Spurs’ lineup after the All-Star Game last season with his deep vein thrombosis blood clot, Mamukelashvili averaged 8.4 points in close to 15 minutes per game. His 34-point, nine-rebound night against the Knicks — in not even 20 minutes — was one of the most bizarre individual stat lines to those who weren’t paying attention to his game. (So, most people.) He hit all seven of his 3-point attempts that night.
Mamukelashvili’s numbers suggested an explosive, offensive-minded player was hiding in plain sight. Per 36 minutes, he averaged 20.4 points, 9.9 rebounds and 2.5 assists, the latter the lowest number of his career. He shot well across the board. Most importantly, he is decisive, helping the Raptors play with the half-court flow and movement Rajaković wants.
The question for low-minute players with great per-possession statistics is whether things will carry over to longer stints. Mamukelashvili’s numbers have been fairly stable so far, minus the rebounding, a team-wide issue. It’s unlikely he will maintain his 45.2 percent shooting from deep, as he came into the season at 34.8 percent for his career. But he is a shooting threat on a team that needs it. He can also hunt a mismatch in the post when it’s there.
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“He’s good at just about every little thing,” Shead said. “He can handle it a little bit. He can create off the dribble. He can finish off the dribble. He can shoot it. He’s just good for everything that we want to do, which is spacing and sharing the ball. He’s very unselfish.”
“It’s a big opportunity, and I’m grateful, thankful, blessed,” Mamukelashvili added. “I just want to keep getting better, keep getting more comfortable so I can prove I belong and prove I deserve the opportunity.”
In the process, maybe he’ll save some more basketballs from being punted.
