3 surprising Raptors who emerged in preseason win vs. Taipans
By Mike Luciano
1. Javon Freeman-Liberty
The Raptors may have waited late in the proverbial game to officially bring Freeman-Liberty into the fold, but the former DePaul star and Chicago Bulls standout has quickly made himself a fan favorite in Toronto on the back of some wicked scoring skills that ill only get better with time.
After stumbling out of the starting blocks against the Kings, JFL torched Cairns for 15 points in 14 minutes on 7-11 shooting. Freeman-Liberty made his name as a solid perimeter player, but most of his points in this game came from attacking the basket and finishing in close.
Javon Freeman-Liberty is worth developing for the Toronto Raptors.
While he needs to work on his defensive game and shake the reputation of being a volume scorer, very few players on two-way contracts across the league possess as much basic offensive talent as Freeman-Liberty has. No wonder Ujiri and Bobby Webster jumped at the chance to take him away from the rival Bulls.
The fact that Bulls fans were ready to rip their own hair out after Toronto snatched JFL up shows just how tantalizing of a prospect he can be viewed as through the right lens. A Chicago native who stayed local and went to DePaul, Freeman-Liberty will get his chance to prove the doubters wrong.