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Norman Powell continuing to build on breakout season despite COVID-19 shutdown
Toronto Raptors shooting guard Norman Powell was in the midst of a breakout year when the NBA suddenly shut down indefinitely in response to the COVID-19 pandemic.
The 26-year-old Powell had always been a talented scorer with a knack for coming up clutch whenever the Raptors were stuck in the playoffs, but he didn’t truly establish himself as a consistent threat until his fifth season. Powell doubled his scoring from 8.6 to 16.4 points per game, and earned Player of the Week honors before the season was suspended.
Powell attributes his improvements to a change in mentality.
“I always talk about how hard I work, how much time I put into my game, and the skill side of it, but I really focused on the mental aspect of the game,” Powell told reporters during a conference call on Wednesday. “Not only just with basketball, just with the way I approach things with life in general. I think that really helped me stay even keeled and locked in with what was thrown my way.”
Powell showed flashes in his first four seasons with the Raptors, enough to earned a four-year, $40-million extension after his sophomore year. However, Powell’s path has been anything but linear. At first he was blocked by DeMar DeRozan, Terrence Ross and DeMarre Carroll when he first came into the league. He lost out on the starting spot in 2017 to rookie OG Anunoby, and spiralled from there. Last season, Powell was supplanted by veteran guard Danny Green and spent another year as a reserve.
This year, Powell seemed to be heading down the same path as Fred VanVleet emerged as the starting two guard of choice for head coach Nick Nurse, but Powell was able to establish himself as a clear threat in a sixth man role. Powell was even brilliant as a starter when VanVleet missed time, averaging 19 points on 52 percent shooting across 23 starts. And although Powell suffered his fair share of injuries that could have sabotaged his progress, Powell’s zen-like approach allowed him to bounce back strong each time.
“With the injuries and things like that, not being frustrated, not being upset, not being down, but looking at it like, ‘I’m hurt, I’m out, but what can I do now, how can I improve and how can I get back and I didn’t let that affect me?.’ Even when I wouldn’t have a good game, or when I didn’t make shots or made mistakes, I didn’t let that affect me. I stayed locked in on the now, the moment, and what I can do next,” Powell said.
He’s applying that same mentality towards the COVID-19 shutdown. In his down time, Powell says he is brushing up on American Sign Language, which he first picked up in college, and learning some Spanish. But mostly, he’s working to improve his game and trying to stay sharp in anticipation of an eventual restart to his breakout season.
“I’m pretty self motivated. For me, goals don’t change based on the situation. There’s things that I want to achieve and work on. It’s the same mindset, same focus, just trying to change your workout to adjust to what is available to you, but other than that, the motivation hasn’t changed at all. I’m still the same motivated person, it’s just that I have to change how I approach the work,” Powell said.
With limited access to a gym beyond home equipment, Powell is diving into film work, roughly two hours per day. He’s looking to tighten the details of his game — improving his court awareness on defense, and his reads on offense — so that he can come back stronger than ever.
“Coach (Patrick) Mutombo and coach (Adrian) Griffin, they’ve been sending me film to look at and break down to see where I can improve and how I can get better. Honestly, for me, some of it is just off-ball defense. I tend to get a little bit too attached to my man, and trying to stop to my man, a step or two late on my rotations,” Powell said.
“My attacking, going downhill, or reading the next line of defenses, I think I’m getting a lot better with that but there are still sometimes where I miss read whats happening or I get a little too aggressive and miss the open guy, or I’m anticipating what I’m trying to do in the pick and roll with the ball, and stuff like that.”
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