It wasn’t all that long ago that the Toronto Raptors were in a class of their own when it came to scouting and development. Between 2015 and 2017, the Raptors were nearly perfect. They added rotation players with every single draft pick and signed Fred VanVleet as an undrafted free agent. It was an unbelievable stretch. Since then, though, things haven’t gone so smoothly. Save for Scottie Barnes’ selection, Toronto has found itself in a rut.

None of their other recent draft picks have worked out and their league-renowned developmental program has stalled. It’s resulted in a team that’s been bereft of depth for far too long. But maybe there are reasons for some optimism. Gradey Dick, Toronto’s No. 13 pick from this past year has looked better of late, and Sunday’s 126-125 loss to the Atlanta Hawks suggested Jontay Porter and Jordan Nwora might have something to offer Toronto long-term too.

For a moment, it looked like Nwora might have been the hero for Toronto. He forced a bad pass from Trae Young that allowed Toronto to go ahead by a point with seven seconds to go. Dick found Barnes to give the Raptors a narrow lead before Atlanta called a timeout. But the feel-good story for Toronto was not to be. A missed shot from Young resulted in an offensive rebound opportunity for Saddiq Bey who threw down a reverse dunk to sink the Raptors. With RJ Barrett, Immanuel Quickley, and Jakob Poeltl all sidelined, Toronto looked lost early. The Hawks were 12-for-14 in the paint in the first quarter and jumped ahead by as many as 12, taking advantage of Thad Young’s size inside.

Then the bench checked in and everything changed. In the span of nine first-half minutes, Porter helped turn a 10-point Raptors deficit into a four-point Raptors lead. He nailed a catch-and-shoot three on a find from Dennis Schröder then Dick found him for another three off an inbound pass. As impressive was Porter’s playmaking for his position. He created an open three for Dick by driving the paint and throwing the kick-out to the corner. He found Dick again in the second, making the extra pass out of the pick-and-roll to create another corner three. Porter finished the night with 12 points, seven rebounds, and three assists in 19 minutes as a plus-14. His presence in the paint alone helped slow Atlanta’s attack as Toronto climbed ahead by nine in the second.

It helped that Nwora had his first impact game for Toronto too. The fourth-year forward acquired by the Raptors from the Indiana Pacers in the Pascal Siakam deal was the offensive engine for Toronto most of the night. Nwora opened the second quarter by nailing an impressive, heavily-contested three-pointer above the break then showed off his isolation game, attacking Garrison Mathews for a layup. He nailed a trio of three-pointers for a season-high 24 points on the night to go with nine rebounds and six assists. Toronto’s bench alone scored 56 points with Dick chipping in 15 on 3-for-5 shooting from behind the arc. Nwora found him early in the fourth for five straight first on a breakaway before connecting with Dick for a corner three as the Raptors clawed back to erase another Hawks lead.

This isn’t to say either Porter or Nwora are going to become the type of developmental story Toronto came to expect in the mid-to-late 2010s. They’re both older prospects, 24 in Porter’s case and 25 for Nwora, but even turning just one of them into a rotation player that can join Barnes, Quickley, Barrett, and Dick moving forward would be huge for Toronto. If this rebuild is going to work and the Raptors are going to get back to the promised land, it’s going to take a little luck and a lot of hard work from a couple of these unwanted and unknown NBA prospects to become the type of players who can contribute regularly at the highest level.