Toronto Raptors Summer League Thread

[Built Ford Tough]

Not sure if anybody else is planning on catching any Raptor Summer League games or not, but I figured I would make this thread just in case and if I do end up as the only person that watches the games, at least I can do my best to update you all on how the Raptors roster performs.

 

The Raptors played their first game of the Summer League tonight against the Los Angeles Lakers and ended up losing the game by a score of 85-84. I only managed to catch the second half of the game.

 

The Raptors were led in scoring by Roko Ukic (16 on 5-9 FG and 2-4 3PT), Quincy Douby (16 on 6-12 FG), Patrick O'Bryant (15 on 7-9 FG) and DeMar DeRozan (10 on 5-12 FG). Paul Davis led the team in rebounds with 9.

 

What ultimately cost the Raptors the victory was their inability to hit from the free throw line as they shot 17-28 from the charity stripe. They were doing a good job of attacking the rim and getting to the stripe (they shot double the amount of freebies as the Lakers did) but they didn't make them count when they got there.

 

On an individual level, DeMar DeRozan looked alright in his first game as a member of the Raptors. He showed some nice moves with the ball and had a couple of really nice pull up jumpers from mid range. He played within himself and didn't try to do too much with the ball (although at times his decision making could've improved but that it to be expected). He showed flashes of potential, but watching him tonight reminded me just how raw DeRozan really is and he is definitely going to need time. Raptor fans, we are going to have to be patient with him. On defense he did a good job of moving his feet and contesting shots, but he was matched up with Adam Morrison and Morrison just used his experience to get his shot off. Although Morrison scored 24 points, DeRozan didn't look too bad on defense. He could've played better, but again, we can't expect too much from DeRozan, especially if he is matched up against a player like Morrison who is 6 years older and has played in 130 NBA games. All in all, it was a pretty decent debut for DeRozan, but he definitely showed why he is labelled as a project and raw. Compared to other rookies though, he did not have a bad showing by any means as a lot of the rookies struggled today:

 

Stephen Curry 4-14 16pts

Austin Daye 3-9 8 pts

Brandon Jennings is 0-3 so far.

Tyreke Evans 4-10

 

So in comparision to them, it doesn't look too bad for DeMar. He is still raw though, that was proven today.

 

Roko Ukic looked pretty good in the second half of the game. He was turning the corner pretty well and getting into the paint effectively. His floater in the lane was his biggest strength during the course of the game as it was looking prettygood. His decision making once he got into the paint could've been better but his jumper looked like it has improven from last season. He was breaking down the Lakers defense and just did a good job of directing the offense. He hit a very nice pull up 3 at the very end of the game to make it a one point lead for the Lakers. His assist to turnover ratio was unimpressive as he had more turnovers then assists (4-3) and I would like to see that improve as the games go along but he looked pretty good. If he continues to add to his game over the course of the summer I don't think that having him play about 10-15 minutes a game as the backup point guard will be too big of a concern (but then again it will be a different story when he plays against NBA caliber players).

 

Patrick O'Bryant had a nice game in the paint and showed a couple of decent post moves. He had a nice turnaround hook shot from about 10 feet away and looked very impressive pulling that move off. Whenever he was working inside the paint he was scoring efficiently and effectively and the Lakers defense didn't have an answer for him, but once he stepped out of the paint he was not the same player. The only two missed shots that he had came from outside of the paint when he started to shoot jump shots. If he plays within himself and doesn't try to do too much, he looked pretty good but once he started drifting further away from the paint his game wasn't as effective. Defensively he did a good job of moving his feet but got burned a couple of times because he was out of position or failed to get a hand up on the shooter.

 

Those three are the only players that I can really comment on because although Douby had a solid game, I didn't really notice him too much on the floor so he must've done most of his damage in the 1st half/early second half (or I just wasn't paying much attention). He had a couple of nice drives that resulted in trips to the charity stripe, but other then that I didn't notice him all that much.

 

Here is the box score to tonights game:

 

http://www.nba.com/summerleague2009/games/boxscore.jsp?gameId=1520900003

 

All in all, it was a pretty good debut for the Raptors Summer League team. They would've gotten the victory if they were able to knock down their free throws, but wins and losses in Summer League isn't a major concern for me.

[Check my Stats]

Heard Roko's jumper was looking good throughout the game, didn't watch just what I heard.

 

I'm not so much interested in pre-season, more as to what the Raptors and BC are going to be doing in the coming days to improve the NBA team

[AtTheDriveIn]

I didn't watch the game, and wont have access to watching the games unless they're archived somewhere other than NBA.com (so if anyone has a site, feel free to share) =). But just thought I'd share some stuff:

 

- Smush Parker is on the Raptors Summer League team. LOL!

- It's good you guys are giving Paul Davis a run. He's always a back-up fan favourite wherever he goes

- O'Bryant and Ukic seemed to have played well

- Even your Summer League team can't play post defense or any perimeter defense with consistency, haha

[KurbyFX]

Here's what I thought of today's game:

 

- DeRozan was playing well. Still raw but was doing his thing today.

 

- Douby is a hog.

 

- The Raptors backcourt don't know how to play basketball. Final seconds of the game, O'Bryant grabs rebound and the guards just storm out not caring about the outlet pass. O'Bryant threw it to half court and almost got it stolen and this is when the Raptors were down by 3 [iirc]. Raptors guards have to realize to score, you need the ball in your teammates hands.

[Built Ford Tough]

The Raptors played their second Summer League game earlier today against the Detroit Pistons. They dropped their second game in a row by a score of 91-87. Quincy Douby (21 points on 8-13), DeMar DeRozan (20 points on 9-20) and Patrick O'Bryant (10 points on 3-9) were the Raptors leading scorers on the day.

 

Unfortunately, I wasn't able to catch the game as I was at work so I can't really give a detailed post like my first one as I can only go off of the box score, game recap and what other posters have said. Here is the jist of what I gathered from reading around though:

 

- DeRozan continued to show flashes and had some very nice moves off of the dribble as well as some nice shots from mid range, but he looked tenative and cautious out on the floor. He had a strong 3rd quarter but cooled off in the 4th. Judging from what I read though, it looks like he had a better game than against the Lakers and his jumper looked strong (with some extended range as well) which is obviously great to hear.

 

- Douby looked good apperantly. He was driving the ball well and had his jumper going. Apperantly he played a much better all around game than against the Lakers.

 

- Patrick O'Bryant was taking too many perimeter jumpers and missing them all. For some reason he thinks that he is a good shooter and whenever he stepped out of the paint bad things happened. The Raptors coaching staff needs to get into O'Bryant's head and tell him to work in the paint.

 

- Roko Ukic didn't look as good as yesterday, but he still showed improvements on his jumper and that last game wasn't a fluke.

 

That is about all that I can really say as, like I said, I missed the game. The Raptors next game is on Monday against the Portland Trail Blazers.

 

Here is the Box Score for all of you that are interested in looking at it:

 

http://www.nba.com/summerleague2009/games/boxscore.jsp?gameId=1520900005