Raptors exit Vegas Summer League with a loss and a win
did not leave Las Vegas with the first
Summer League
championship in franchise history, but the trip was more than well worth it.
Losing Saturday's semifinal — 98-88 to the Sacramento Kings, after cutting a 22-point deficit to one late in the second quarter — will be a disappointment to the players and staff, without question.
But when it comes to debriefing after five games and nearly three weeks in Nevada, there will be much important information now available to
head coach Darko Rajakovic,
his staff and
general manager Bobby Webster.
And in the grand picture, which is the coming season, that's more vital than the championship rings they could have earned.
In his weekly Raptors Insider, Doug Smith writes about what he saw and heard regarding the
What the Summer League does is get players who might play in
the NBA regular season
used to the schemes that will be needed then, and in that respect it was a success.
The Raptors will be looking for backups to increase the tempo, scramble the game with gambling, disruptive defence and inject energy. And even though the likes of Jamal Shead, Ja'Kobe Walter, Jonathan Mogbo, Jamison Battle and Collin Murray-Boyles will rarely get the NBA minutes they had in Summer League games, and the opposition will be immeasurably better, they showed enough in Las Vegas.
'Some people are born to be models, like me,' Summer League coach James Wade joked early in the Vegas stint. 'Some people are born to be firemen. Some people are born to be policemen.
Walter was tremendous in his rookie season when he was healthy and in game shape, which is why
'That group in the locker room, they're born to play defence. So they have to really buy into it.'
And they did, Saturday's loss notwithstanding. So the first order of business, instilling a style, was accomplished.
Individually, there was enough for Rajakovic to see to devise developmental programs for the younger players.
The rookies? They were as advertised.
Everybody wants to talk about the departure of Raptors president Masai Ujiri as teams take part
The work done in practices and games in Vegas was a scene-setter for the overall organization. A team style has to start somewhere, including having a half-dozen young players exposed to it.
The fact is that probably eight of the top 10 roster spots are taken by Immanuel Quickley, RJ Barrett, Scottie Barnes, Brandon Ingram, Jakob Poeltl, Gradey Dick, Ochai Agbaji and Sandro Mamukelashvili, with Shead and Walter probably leading for the other two going into training camp. What happened in Vegas gave deep-rotation players extended time so the coaches can find out what they need to work on.
On the whole, the success wasn't four wins, although winning any game beats the alternative. It was learning more about players with some questions answered, others posed and more than enough information gleaned for the behind-the-scenes preparation for the season to be done in earnest.
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