Nick Nurse Impressed By Henry Ellenson in Raptors Debut

Henry Ellenson played pretty well in his Toronto Raptors debut, catching the attention of head coach Nick Nurse

It's tough being on a 10-day contract with the Toronto Raptors these days.

It was just two weeks ago the Raptors signed forward Donta Hall out of the G League to take a quick peek at the 23-year-old 6-foot-9 small-ball big out of Alabama. Hall had played in nine games with the G League Ignite before Toronto swooped in to sign him to a 10-day contract.

It's always tough to make a good impression on a 10-day contract, but Hall hardly even got a chance. He played in three G League games with the Raptors 905 before being recalled to the Raptors on March 2 to help add some depth to Toronto's depleted roster. The problem for Hall wasn't just that he never got playing time with the Raptors, but his only opportunity to prove himself came in practice while head coach Nick Nurse was sidelined due to COVID-19 protocols.

"I was on vacation so I didn't get a chance to get much of a look at him," Nurse said Saturday. "I probably got the same look you guys got. Television. From the bench. So that one wasn't as good."

With Hall's contract up, Toronto turned to former Raptors 905 star Henry Ellenson to add a little more frontcourt depth. The 6-foot-10 centre was outstanding in the G League this season, averaging a team-high 21.2 points with 8.1 rebounds and lights-out 43% 3-point shooting. Unlike Hall, however, Ellenson actually got a shot to prove himself a little bit in a blowout loss to the Charlotte Hornets on Saturday night.

Things didn't entirely go as planned. Normally Ellenson is a marksman from deep, but some early jitters seemed to affect his shot. He clanked his first three 3-pointers off the rim — all wide-open looks — before settling down to shoot 4-for-6 for the rest of the night, tallying nine points and nine rebounds.

"I thought he was good, I think that he showed some resiliency and some IQ out there, looks like he knows how to play," Nurse said. "His kind of specialty is pick-and-pop. He finally hit one, but he had three really good looks when I put him in. He hits a couple of those, and he looks great tonight.

"I like the way he battled, I liked his finishing around the basket, I think he was around the basket pretty well, I thought he did a nice job tonight."

That's about all you can ask for on a 10-day contract, especially these days with hardly any practice time to prove yourself to the team. It's possible Ellenson will get a little more playing time Sunday night on the second night of a back-to-back against the Chicago Bulls but other than that his only opportunity to really prove himself will likely come on Tuesday when the Raptors hold their only practice of the week. If things go well, he could add a little bit more offensive firepower to the end of Toronto's rotation this season.

Further Reading

Norman Powell has thrived as Toronto's top offensive option over the last three games

Vegas expects the Raptors to drop their fifth straight game Sunday night against the Bulls

Raptors rule out Siakam, Anunoby, VanVleet, McCaw, and Flynn for Sunday