1 Stud and 4 Duds from Raptors Summer League embarrassment vs Heat

Things went from bad to worse for the Toronto Raptors.

After a strong 2-0 start that showed off some of the upside of the Raptors' young players, the Raptors lost to the Utah Jazz on Wednesday to be functionally eliminated from the Las Vegas Summer League playoff, then were positively wallopped by the undefeated Miami Heat on Friday, falling behind 32-7 after the first quarter and ultimately losing by 36 points, 109-73. The Raptors, playing again without the injured Gradey Dick and Jonathan Mogbo, had no answers for Miami.

The Heat were led in scoring by Cole Swider, who was +34 in his 25 minutes and scored 21 points. Rookie center Kel'el Ware chipped in 17 points and 10 rebounds of his own while Josh Christopher had 17 of his own, and the Heat starters absolutely demolished the Raptors. Miami is moving on to the playoffs, and the Raptors are limping into their consolation game.

There were very few bright spots for the Raptors and a colossal number of disappointing performances. Let's look at four of the worst and the one encouraging sign from the embarrassing loss Friday night, starting with the most inexcusable and ending with a player whose NBA career may be slipping away.

Jamal Shead was a dud

Being embarrassed in a basketball game is not easy for NBA players, whose personal pride and competitive drive are essential for them getting to the league. Sometimes that embarrassment can lead to emotional outburst and bad decisions; NBA history is littered with such examples. Add another to the ledger courtesy of rookie guard Jamal Shead.

Shead had a terrible game on Friday night, going scoreless in 11 minutes on 0-for-4 shooting, and Toronto was outscored by 26 points in those 11 minutes. Surely ashamed and frustrated, Shead closed out on a Cole Swider 3-pointer and instead of putting a hand up to disrupt the shot, he knifed his hand forward and struck Swider in a sensitive area.

Shead was subsequently ejected from the game, the inglorious punctuation to a truly awful game. In what is ultimately a meaningless Summer League game, such a lapse of judgment does not speak well to his ability to control his emotions on the basketball court.