Yuta Watanabe, Stanley Johnson giving Raptors just what they need — a little bit of everything

To suggest that Yuta Watanabe and Stanley Johnson were unknown commodities when the NBA season began is an overstatement.

There were very much “other” guys at the end of the Raptors roster, the former a guy on a two-way contract whose biggest contribution was expected to be with the G League Raptors 905 and the latter someone who barely got off the bench a year ago, someone who was expected to be kept around mainly for the salary-cap ballast he might provide at the trade deadline.

But here they are, two key contributors off the bench — Watanabe as a frontcourt backup despite size limitations and Johnson as a multi-faceted swingman who plays all over the court. They aren’t being asked to do anything specific but they are being asked to do a little bit of everything. It’s hard to discern which of them has been the biggest surprise.

Watanabe really came out of nowhere, a 26-year-old Japanese left-hander who had spent two seasons bouncing between the Memphis Grizzlies and the minor leagues in a career that may be best described as ordinary. But he works hard, he runs hard, he knows what he isn’t, and he’s often the second frontcourt player off the bench for the Raptors.

“I think he plays kind of a high-paced game, he certainly makes the right play most of the time,” Raptors coach Nick Nurse said. “I think he gets it off the glass, really injects some pace into our offence … gets it out quickly and runs hard.

“He’ll take the shot if it’s a rhythm three, he’ll make the read, he’ll get to the next action. He’s played good, he’s been a nice bright spot of energy and solid, hard play at both ends.”

Johnson has been much the same, only a physically smaller, right-handed, North American version.

He was buried on the Raptors bench a season ago, picked up his contractual player option to return this year because there weren’t likely to be a ton of offers on the open market, and has worked himself into the rotation. He, too, doesn’t do anything spectacularly but many things solidly, and being able to be counted matters much in the Raptors reality.

“We focus on the things that help the Raptors win games,” Johnson said of the off-season preparation he put in so he would at least have a chance to play. “We focus on our system, doing things that will help me get on the court so I can help us win games. That was pretty much it.”

It worked. He is playing more than anyone expected him to.

“He’s in such a utility role on offence, sometimes he’s the wing and sometimes he’s the five, so he ends up being involved in a lot of screening situations and he’s got to shift gears a lot even from possession to possession,” Nurse said. “I’ve been happy with his rhythm shots, he’s knocked down a few threes, which is great. And he just does things at a high pace on offence.”

There’s no reason to think Johnson and Watanabe will lose the jobs they have now; their commitment to playing hard will keep them on the court. Their roles aren’t likely to expand but that’s not really necessary as long as they keep doing what they have been.

“I think (Watanabe is) a facilitator,” Nurse said. “He gets other people shots, he gets (the ball) side to side, and takes rhythm plays. I don’t know if he’s ever going to be a high-volume guy that you’re kind of going to, I think he’s an opportunity-type scorer.”

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Put simply, the two are pacesetters.

“I think both (Watanabe) and Stanley have been doing a good job … when they check in to get our offence into another gear.”