Raptors Summer League Discussion (July 9th-18th)

[Built Ford Tough]

Am I the only one that is really excited for the Summer League this year (that shoulds strange)? The Raptors are going to have Sonny Weems and DeMar DeRozan on the wings and Ed Davis and Solomon Alabi down low. Joey Dorsey will be coming off of the bench as well.

 

I know it sounds strange to say, but I am actually really looking forward to the Summer League this year. Should be fun seeing what kinds of improvements DeRozan and Weems have made and seeing what Davis and Alabi look like. I'll admit to having never watched Davis play before, so I'm looking forward to see him in action.

 

At the very least, I'm sure you can expect some highlight reel dunks and blocks.

 

EDIT: Here is the roster, at least so far, and the Raps SL schedule.

 

Toronto Raptors Summer League Roster

 

PG - Curtis Stinson, Dee Brown

 

SG - Sonny Weems, David Kool

 

SF - DeMar DeRozan, Ronald Dupree

 

PF - Ed Davis, Joey Dorsey

 

C - Solomon Alabi

 

Coach -

 

Toronto Raptors Summer League Schedule

7/10 vs Phoenix

7/13 vs Houston

7/14 vs New York

7/16 vs Sacramento

7/17 vs New Orleans

 

http://www.ridiculousupside.com/2010/6/28/1540775/nba-summer-league-rosters-vegas

Edited July 5, 2010 by Built Ford Tough

[BasX]

Thing is, most of those players will be rotation players in 2010-2011. That said, I'm damn excited for it.

[Flight]

Weems is gonna score around 20-25 a game in the summer league this year IMO. I like the Alabi acquisition.

[moeroadkill]

i dont really care about this years SL for some reason idk why. i will watch them if i dont have to wake up at ridiculous times like last year. i just want next season so start already

[Check my Stats]

I hope Sonny doesn't gun, I hope he and Demar excel above the competition though, excited to see this Davis kid play since it sounds like we stole him at 13. Funny that 3 of those guys could wind up being starters for us next year depending what happens with Hedo we gonna be so bad :D

[Doc]

ahh I hope Amir plays too. Just the energy him, Demar, and Weems bring would be so much fun to watch. Let them run the games lol.

[Built Ford Tough]

ahh I hope Amir plays too. Just the energy him, Demar, and Weems bring would be so much fun to watch. Let them run the games lol.

 

He isn't going to play in the Summer League this year. He mentioned that a couple of weeks ago.

 

To be honest, I'd rather Amir not play anyways. We basically already know what he is going to bring to the team and already know the kind of player that he is. I'd rather see Davis, Alabi and even Joey Dorsey get the majority of the minutes at the 4 and 5 simply because they are more unknown than Amir is.

 

I wouldn't have any problems if he changed his mind and decided to play, but I'm really more interested in watching Davis and Alabi play and the improvements that DeRozan and Weems have made since the season ended.

Edited June 25, 2010 by Built Ford Tough

[Built Ford Tough]

I updated the first post with the Raptors SL schedule and what the roster looks like so far.

 

How awesome is it that the Raptors have possibly 3 of their starters playing in the SL and also their possible primary backup center?

 

I'm so pumped for the start of next season.

 

PS: Does anybody else want to see Belinelli play PG during the SL? I know it won't happen with the Italian National team and all, but I think it would be really great to see him work on his point guard skills and playmaking. He would be so much more valuable to have if he was able to still contribute when his shot isn't falling.

[Built Ford Tough]

Dee Brown has been added to the Raptors Summer Leage team. I remember watching him, Deron Williams and Luther Head run that three guard offense back when they were at Illinois and I absolutely loved watching that team. Brown was my favourite player to watch on that team and I actually thought he would become a pretty good point guard in the NBA, but that didn't turn out to be the case. I'm pretty excited to see him play during the SL, although I doubt he gets any sort of consideration to actually make the Raptors considering their depth at PG already.

 

Another name that I have heard mentioned is the former Clipper Bobby Brown. I don't think that he is officially on the team but it is sounding like he will be playing with the Raptors SL team.

 

I'm curious as to who the backup center is going to be. If Patrick O'Bryant was still on the team I would assume that it would've been him, but I think he is on the Timberwolves SL team.

 

Also, still no word on who the coach will be. If I had to guess, I would say Alvin Williams, but that may be more because I actually want to see him as the coach, haha. I do think that he would do a good job of relating to what these players are going through as he wasn't exactly gift wrapped his NBA career.

[Built Ford Tough]

Raptors vs. Phoenix is on Raps TV right now, for those of you that are interested. The game has already finished and this is a replay, but I didn't watch it live.

 

Raptors are up 23-13 with 2 minutes left in the first.

 

DeRozan has attempted around 8 free throws already as he has been driving by Taylor Griffin at will.

 

Joey Dorsey has been dominating the glass and has about 7 boards in 5 minutes. He also has 4 points I believe.

 

Ed Davis has 4 points, a couple of boards and had a very nice block as well. He hasn't really been given many touches on offense but his defense has been solid so far. He did make a nice left handed hook shot over two defenders though.

 

Sonny Weems has played basically the exact same way that he did during the season. He has hit a couple of mid range jumpers, missed a three and got to the line I think 4 times, going 2-4.

 

DeRozan and Weems have been the majority of the Raptors offense though, which is what we expected.

[Real Deal]

Defense! Man, I think Toronto can be a much better defensive team this year, and years after. I like what Ed Davis did today, too.

 

Did you guys see my boy Weems? He had three notable dunks in the game, including that one on the fast break and another a minute later (the reverse oop).

 

Sure, it's summer league, but I think Davis, Alabi and Dorsey can be good for the Raptors.

[Check my Stats]

I want Reggie Evans to get waived, Dorsey is better.

[Built Ford Tough]

Good thing the announcers are completely ignoring the Raptors during this game. I know that they are the MSG announcers and all, but I've been watching for 5 minutes and I have heard them say one thing about a Raptor player. The only player they talk about is DeRozan (probably the only one they have heard of, haha)

 

I didn't watch the game against the Rockets but I'm not liking the defensive effort so far, at least in comparision to the defense that they played against the Suns team. I do realize that the Suns SL team was pretty weak (not sure of who is on the Knicks team other than Rautins, Douglas, Walker and Jordan), but the effort and hustle was much greater in that game. I'm also very unimpressed with the poor free throw shooting, which has been a problem all SL long so far.

 

Despite the poor FT shooting and defense, the Raptors are still up right now. DeRozan has looked impressive so far with 14 points on 5/8 shooting so far. So far I have seen him with a very nice second chance jam, a nice driving layup, avery nice turnaround jumper from the right elbow and a three pointer that he looked comfortable taking (I think it was a three at least, hard to tell). I'm not going to get too excited because it is the SL and all, but I am loving what I have seen from DeRozan so far.

 

I'll finish his post here so that I can actually pay attention to the game, haha.

 

I want Reggie Evans to get waived, Dorsey is better.

 

If he isn't traded, which I think he will be, he actually would be a pretty good guy to have around this season. He could be a decent mentor for Davis, Dorsey and Alabi. Keep him around as a veteran presence until the deadline (if he isn't moved before the season) and then move his expiring then. With all of these young bigs on the roster it would be nice if there is at least on veteran big man on the team.

Edited July 14, 2010 by Built Ford Tough

[Check my Stats]

I am probably going to miss this game, might catch the tape delay on NBATV later. Demar is just having his way with everyone in the summer league though, it is really good to see him dominating these guys, if he wasn't I would have been concerned... his game looks a lot more polished and he looks so much more comfortable than last year, it is almost night and day.

[Built Ford Tough]

Sonny Weems won't be returning to the game. I guess he bruised his knee earlier (I wasn't watching when it happened) and he is out for the rest of the game.

 

Looks like it will be the DeRozan show in the 2nd half, which I have to admit, I'm glad about. It sucks to hear that Weems is a bit banged up, but with how effective DeRozan was in the first half and how easily he was scoring, I want to see how big of a game he can have.

 

I don't know much about Michael Roll other than he played for UCLA, but he has a very smooth game. He is a very good shooter and does a great job of utilizing pump fakes, head fakes and ball fakes to create space for himself to get his shot off. There probably isn't any room for him on the Raptors roster considering Calderon, Jack, Banks, DeRozan, Belinelli and Weems have the guard spots on lock, but I think he could be a decent shooter off of the bench for some team. He would have to improve his defense though because he would get abused by both point guards and shooting guards. That would probably be the reason why he never sticks with an NBA team, but he is a very good shooter and a very smart player.

 

I love Dorsey though. That guy seems to get every rebound and is an absolute tank down low. Once he gets position he is basically impossible to move and he throws his weight around very well. I figured that it was a 50/50 chance that he would even be on the team this upcoming season (his contract isn't guaranteed) but I'm guessing he is basically a lock for the team considering the fact that he is an ideal fit on the team with his skill set.

 

I haven't noticed much of Davis or Alabi so far though, other than one very nice big-to-big feed from Davis to Alabi that resulted in a dunk. I haven't been paying too much attention to them though as my raging hard on for DeRozan's first half is blocking basically everything else out.

 

EDIT: Looks like Weems is back and on the floor.

Edited July 14, 2010 by Built Ford Tough

[GoldenBaller]

The Highlights are pretty much Sonny Weems and DeMar DeRozans dunks and Ed Davis blocks.

[Built Ford Tough]

I was watching a stream on ATDHE of the Raptors game against the Kings but it was terribly choppy and laggy, so I'll just watch it in on Raps TV in an hour and a half. From what I saw (about 6 minutes of the first quarter), the game was really sloppy with a lot of turnovers and careless mistakes. The Raptors held the Kings to something like 3-19 shooting in the first quarter (Cousins was 0-6 before I stopped watching) so that is nice to see.

 

I'll try to post more observations when I watch on Raps TV though.

[GoldenBaller]

I was watching a stream on ATDHE of the Raptors game against the Kings but it was terribly choppy and laggy, so I'll just watch it in on Raps TV in an hour and a half. From what I saw (about 6 minutes of the first quarter), the game was really sloppy with a lot of turnovers and careless mistakes. The Raptors held the Kings to something like 3-19 shooting in the first quarter (Cousins was 0-6 before I stopped watching) so that is nice to see.

 

I'll try to post more observations when I watch on Raps TV though.

The Young Have Good Defensive abilities. All BC has to do is keep them as long as they can and next thing you know it the Raptors are named #1 defensive team of the year.

[Built Ford Tough]

Raptors improved their record to 4-0 so far this summer with an 88-82 win over the Kings.

 

DeRozan was the best player on the floor once again. He finished the game with 22 points, 7 rebounds and 3 assists on 6-12 shooting. He set up Ed Davis for a wide open jump shot that sealed the game with about 30 seconds left in the game. He did a very good job of getting the the foul line and, more importantly, he was converting when he got there (10-13 from the stripe). He was also very active on defense from what I saw, much more so than in previous games. His handles have definitely improved since the season ended and he looks a lot more comfortable when he has to put the ball on the floor.

 

The lesser competition is probably part of the reason why, but regardless he looks a lot better at putting the ball on the floor. If he can continue to get more comfortable putting the ball on the floor, it is going to be huge for him considering how good he is at drawing contact and getting to the foul line.

 

Weems had a nice statline with 19 points, 5 rebounds and 3 assists, but this wasn't his best game of the summer. To be fair to him, he did a lot more ball handling and seemed to play the point for stretches so he was in uncharted waters for parts of this game. He shot poorly (6-19) and forced things that weren't there (7 turnovers), but you can see he is more comfortable handling and passing the ball. The next step for him is to be able to read the defense better as he was trying to force passes into areas where there was no room.

 

On the bright side, he did finish the game strong and seemingly made the right decision with the ball all of the time down the stretch. He stopped trying to be too cute with the rock, stopped settling for jumpers and got to the line to help seal the game.

 

Davis was very, very impressive today. That was the best game of his that I have seen so far. He finished with 17 points, 7 rebounds and 5 blocks (I think he had around 7 though). He was all over the place on defense disrupting the Kings whenever they went inside. His rotations were very sharp and a lot of his blocks were because he was in great position because of great rotations. He still needs to get stronger as he was pushed around a bit whenever he was matched up with Cousins, but you can just see that he gets it on defense and that he has the potential to be a very good shot blocker.

 

On offense, he did a nice job of taking what the defense gave him. When they sagged off of him, he nailed the jumper. When they bodied up on him he did a good job of getting to the stripe (6 free throw attempts). He hit a 16 foor jumper that put the game on ice as well. Considering he hasn't really played since January, I have been very impressed with his play so far. He seems to be a lot more NBA ready than I had originally thought, but playing against NBA competition and SL competition is obviously a huge difference to I'll with hold judgement until I see him in NBA action.

 

 

I spent most of the game watching these three so I'm not going to comment much on anybody else. Dorsey did a great job of guarding Cousins and Davis gave him a lot of help. Alabi did a nice job of being where he needs to be on offense and was the recepiant of some nice passes as a result, but it is also clear that he needs to add a lot of strength as he was getting pushed around on the block whenever he was matched up with Cousins.