Allen Graves played well in summer league for the Raptors, showcasing his 3-point shooting and defense and responding well to on-ball reps. Still, Graves is only 19 and inexperienced after just one season of college basketball as a backup at Santa Clara. If Kawhi Leonard joins the Raptors as intended this summer, the team will have a lot of pressure to win and might want to take Graves’s development slowly.
He will get minutes, especially if he can continue to knock down 3-pointers against better defenders, but he probably won’t be a priority in the rotation—at first. As The Athletic’s Sam Vecenie outlined on the Game Theory Podcast episode from July 18, Graves should have a chance to overtake certain players in the rotation by the end of the regular season.
“Maybe I will be wrong about this, but I would guess that coming into the season, the start of the season, Jamison Battle is ahead of Allen Graves in the rotation,” Vecenie said.
He also added, “By the end of the year, I think it will be a win if Graves pulls ahead of Battle. I think that is very possible for Allen Graves, and it’d be a huge success if he’s able to do that.”
The Raptors can afford to be patient with Graves and play more experienced players ahead of him, but, as Vecenie said, it would be a massive win if Graves finishes the season as a reliable top-nine rotation player. That would be great value out of a nineteenth-overall pick in his first season.
Depth will be key for the Raptors
If Kawhi Leonard returns to Toronto, the Raptors have to be prepared to play several regular-season games without him due to load management and maybe even a suspension. Regular-season success will matter little if Leonard isn’t healthy enough to play through a deep playoff run.
So, depth will be crucial to make up for his absences, and Battle and Graves should get plenty of chances on the court. However, for now, Battle has a slight edge over Graves because he has NBA experience—he even played some notable playoff minutes despite being in and out of the rotation before—and Darko Rajakovic knows that his 3-point shot is effective at the NBA level. Battle shot over 40% in both of his first two seasons. Plus, the Raptors don’t have a ton of wing depth.
Most of the frontcourt minutes will be distributed between Scottie Barnes, Jakob Poeltl, and Collin Murray-Boyles, but Poeltl has been anything but durable in recent seasons. So, Graves should get a few opportunities to fill a bigger role than when everyone is healthy. If his outside shot falls consistently and he can defend multiple positions, the Raptors could even roll out some jumbo lineups with one of Barnes, Murray-Boyles, or Graves out of position at the three.
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