Here are some news, notes and observations from the Toronto Raptors NBA Summer League in Las Vegas.
The Raptors NBA Summer League record of 3-1 is another encouraging sign as the team now looks towards the start of training camp in late September. Several players made a case that they belong on the 15 man roster and their impressive performances speak volumes about the depth of the Raptors heading into the season.
You can’t win in the NBA without depth and the Raps appear to have that at four of their five positions with small forward remaining as the only major question mark.
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Here are some news, notes and observations from the Raptors Summer League experience:
Fred VanVleet was outstanding. The second-year player out of Wichita State showed he’s NBA ready by dropping 31 points on Portland last night. He averaged 18.8 points with 5.0 assists over four games.
Pascal Siakam has been drawing rave reviews for his Summer League. The second-year player was one of the team’s two first-round picks last year out of New Mexico State where he was the Western Athletic Conference (WAC) Player of the Year. He showed that he has still yet to reach his ceiling and is continuing to develop into an NBA regular. He averaged 14.3 points per game in Las Vegas.
Folks I've spoken to around the team are raving about Siakam's summer. Poeltl too. Both putting in a ton of work and it's shown in SL so far
— Josh Lewenberg (@JLew1050) July 11, 2017
Jakob Poeltl was equally as impressive as Siakam in Vegas. He averaged 13.5 points with 9.0 rebounds per game but it was his work ethic and improvement with ball movement that really stood out and should serve him well heading into camp.
Little know Jordan Loyd was impressive for Toronto. This is a guy who played Division II basketball at the University of Indianapolis who averaged 10.7 points per game for the Raps. DII ball is on par with OCAA basketball in Ontario.
Can you imagine a guy from Durham College or Seneca making the leap to the NBA?
Jordan Loyd's given the Raptors some good minutes today. Had a solid rookie G-League season last year.
— Blake Murphy (@BlakeMurphyODC) July 8, 2017
Its great to see underdogs like Loyd making the most out his opportunity.
Alfonzo McKinnie has also impressed. The G League all-star showed he is deserving of NBA minutes with his performance last year and he continued that in Vegas with 9.3 points and 8.0 rebounds per game.
i've seen enough. i want alfonzo mckinnie to take caboclo's roster spot.
— Sahal Abdi (@sahalabdi_) July 14, 2017
Other News and Notes:
Wondering who the heck is Bryn Forbes? Forbes led the Summer League in scoring with an eye popping 29.3 points per game. He went undrafted out of Michigan State and played last year with the Spurs G League team in Austin.
.@brynjforbes drops 35 (again) and the #SummerSpurs win (again). https://t.co/rnsvxNj6Db
— San Antonio Spurs (@spurs) July 11, 2017
Toronto officially waived Justin Hamilton today after acquiring his rights from Brooklyn in the DeMarre Carroll trade.
The Raps also officially acquired the rights to Emir Preldzic in the Cory Joseph trade to Indiana. Preldzic is a 29 year-old 6-foot-9 forward who has been playing in Turkey League for the past 10 years and was the Turkish Cup MVP in 2011.