Jamal Shead Names the One Area He Must Fix This Season

Plenty of young guards spend the preseason talking about confidence and rhythm, but guard Jamal Shead went right at a flaw in his own game after the Toronto Raptors practiced on Monday.

He also talked about learning from smaller guards like Knicks guard Jalen Brunson, which lines up nicely with Brunson and New York coming to Scotiabank Arena on Tuesday night.

Shead, who is heading into his third NBA season, gave a plain answer when he was asked which part of his game needs the most work.

"My rim finishing has to be better from last year. Point blank period," Shead said in a clip from Monday's practice.

His numbers from last season back him up.

Shead played all 82 games with 12 starts and averaged 6.6 points and 5.4 assists on his way to 12th place in Sixth Man of the Year voting, but he made only 36.7 percent of his shots overall and 57.3 percent of his attempts within three feet of the basket, down from 62.4 percent as a rookie, according to Basketball Reference.

I like hearing Shead name the problem himself, since his passing and defense have already earned him a steady spot in the rotation.

He has come off the bench in both preseason games, with 8 assists and 2 steals but 1-of-7 shooting against the Miami Heat, followed by 13 points on 5-of-9 shooting in the 114-106 win over the Los Angeles Clippers in Vancouver.

The whole team looked sharper in the bounce-back win on Saturday, and his shooting night was a lot more encouraging than the opener.

Brunson makes sense as a model for a player of Shead's size.

Shead does not need to turn into a 25-point scorer, but finishing a few more layups each night would force defenses to guard him closer and open up more passing lanes for the rest of the Raptors.

There is also less room on this roster for a guard who cannot score, since guard Immanuel Quickley started both preseason games and forward Kawhi Leonard is now in the mix.

Toronto landed on one list of the teams under the most pressure this season, which makes every bench job more important.

TSN reported that Leonard is available to make his preseason debut against New York on Tuesday.

After that comes a trip to Madison Square Garden on Thursday and a game at Detroit on Friday, and Shead said he would rather face that back-to-back now than after seven or eight games of the regular season.

That stretch gives Shead two shots at New York before the Raptors open the regular season at home against the Chicago Bulls on Oct. 21.

Leonard has talked about how mature this young group is, and I would point to Shead calling out his own weak spot as proof of that.

If his 57.3 percent mark near the rim climbs back toward where it was as a rookie, I think he can push for a much bigger role than the 12 starts he got last season.