Allen Graves | Grade: A
I’m ready to admit that Graves is much better than I thought he was coming out of the draft. I liked his pick-and-roll creation early on, as the Raptors had him handling with Chucky Hepburn out with injury. He picks up his dribble a touch early, but he has the size and timing to find his rollers deep in the paint. He did fantastically to minimize turnovers. And he just reads the floor and the rotations of the defence so smoothly. It looks like he’s trying to speed up his jumper, which is a very nice sign; he’ll need to shoot faster at the NBA level. He shot well against Miami, too. He even cut backdoor when he was off ball. Hunted offensive boards, and even if he didn’t put any in the box score, he drew fouls doing so. His finishing wasn’t fantastic. Another offensive negative was that he couldn’t create for himself in isolation, but that simply won’t be an element of his job in the NBA, so it doesn’t matter at all.
Defensively, he had some elite rim protection as a helper with a fantastic swipedown in the second. Those hands, man. In the third, he swatted a shot as a helper when Bittle got lost chasing the ball-handler and gave up and easy lay-down pass. Those hands, man! The broadcast was gushing over him.
27 MIN, 23 PTS, 6 REB, 4 AST, 1 STL, 8-16 FG, 4-6 3FG, 2-2 FT, 2 BLK, 0 TO, +13 +/-
Nimari Burnett | Grade: B
He joined the jumper party, even hitting a much-needed one in the third after an offensive rebound to stop a Heat run. He ran well in transition. But when he wasn’t shooting, he committed a silly turnover in the second, Toronto’s first of the game. He had some very active hands defensively, especially when helping in the gap.
22 MIN, 10 PTS, 2 REB, 1 AST, 2 STL, 4-9 FG, 2-5 3FG, 0-0 FT, 1 BLK, 1 TO, +15 +/-
Nate Bittle | Grade: B+
If his jumper is as real as it has been so far, the Raptors should probably get this guy a big-club contract yesterday. He opened the game with a wing triple, and followed that with a pump-and-go drive that created a layup (which he smoked), and later hit another pick-and-pop wing bomb. He actually won some contested defensive rebounds, too, which had been slightly disappointing in Summer League. He passed well, as always, with the highlight being a backdoor bounce feed to Graves for the and-1. (He also had some backdoor passes that went to the defence, too.)
Defensively, he fell for some fluff and was out of position in the paint as a helper a few times. I didn’t love his work there.
18 MIN, 13 PTS, 7 REB, 3 AST, 1 STL, 5-9 FG, 3-4 3FG, 0-0 FT, 3 BLK, 3 TO, +8 +/-
Seth Lundy | Grade: A
Another very strong performance. At this point, it’s pretty clear who he is, at least in Summer League. He wants to score, and the jumper is a real weapon. He passed more than he did in the first three games, and it actually led to a bushel of assists. He went to some turnaround jumpers against Miami when they ran him off the line, and he finished well around the rim, too. His defence was quite impressive, too.
27 MIN, 19 PTS, 3 REB, 6 AST, 3 STL, 6-11 FG, 2-5 3FG, 3-3 FT, 0 BLK, 0 TO, +19 +/-
Jaden Bradley | Grade: D
The Raptors moved him off the ball against Miami, letting Graves and Hoggard initiate more possessions. It helped the offence. He found some assists in the flow of Toronto’s offence, but his attempts at creation still weren’t excellent. When he took some possessions at the very end of the game, he missed Graves in a mismatch, and then committed a turnover.
26 MIN, 4 PTS, 4 REB, 6 AST, 1 STL, 1-4 FG, 0-0 3FG, 2-3 FT, 1 BLK, 4 TO, -4 +/-
Tyson Degenhart | Grade: C
He had a clean baseline drive and finish in the second, then got out and ran in transition for another layup.
15 MIN, 4 PTS, 2 REB, 0 AST, 0 STL, 2-5 FG, 0-2 3FG, 0-0 FT, 0 BLK, 0 TO, -6 +/-
Tyreke Key | Grade: B-
It was a quiet game for Key. He had trouble scoring, and he didn’t find other ways to chip in, either. At one point he drove and drew a foul before taking five or six steps to spin the wrong direction into his (missed) finish. But he hit a big triple late to push Toronto’s lead into double figures.
15 MIN, 11 PTS, 1 REB, 1 AST, 0 STL, 2-8 FG, 1-4 3FG, 3-3 FT, 0 BLK, 0 TO, +4 +/-
Jamarion Sharp | Grade: B
A legitimately fearsome shot-blocker. That seems like it would port over to the NBA pretty cleanly. He timed the Heat well, even swatting a reverse layup in the second that took great patience. As always, he dunked everything on the other end, too. He rolls well, and I think his pick-and-roll game has looked better than it did at the start of Summer League. It’s hard to see an NBA team not taking a chance on him this upcoming season.
17 MIN, 8 PTS, 4 REB, 0 AST, 0 STL, 4-5 FG, 0-0 3FG, 0-1 FT, 2 BLK, 0 TO, -12 +/-
AJ Hoggard | Grade: C+
More nifty passing to start, as he found Sharp in the pick and roll for a big dunk. He had a very poor possession in the late third when he couldn’t get off the ball and turned it over when forced to create for himself. I’ve been a fan of his Summer League performance, but he needs to improve as a scorer.
17 MIN, 5 PTS, 1 REB, 4 AST, 0 STL, 2-7 FG, 0-1 3FG, 1-1 FT, 0 BLK, 1 TO, +1 +/-
Brandon Angel | Grade: N/A
Snuck in to steal an offensive rebound early on.
7 MIN, 0 PTS, 3 REB, 0 AST, 0 STL, 0-2 FG, 0-0 3FG, 0-0 FT, 0 BLK, 0 TO, +1 +/-
Aziz Bandaogo | Grade: N/A
Played late.
2 MIN, 0 PTS, 0 REB, 1 AST, 0 STL, 0-0 FG, 0-0 3FG, 0-0 FT, 0 BLK, 0 TO, +7 +/-
Ivo Simovic | Grade: N/A
Raps win, but didn’t qualify for the playoffs on point differential. All in all, an extremely fun Summer League. Graves! He looks real.