The Raptors Young Guns are Dominating Summer League

The Raptors Young Guns are Dominating Summer League

Hey everybody, welcome to another episode of the Poet Trey podcast. The podcast hosted by myself, Samson Folk and also hosted by the one, the only rich Sham Trey who has come here. He is the Trey that pulls up everybody. We are finally covering an elite team at least in this tournament. The Raptors are the one seed in summer league. They are winning that, you know, the game against Chicago was a big deal. that blow that points differential is a big time. But they also have forced more turnovers than anybody. They’re winning. They look good. They’re playing a very identifiable style. They’re playing hard. They’re getting after it. There’s lots of There’s some surprise performances that are really, you know, interesting, but there’s also some, you know, performances that we needed to see that are really encouraging. Trey, one AirPod in. How you doing? How you feel after a trip to Vegas, babe? It incredible. Look, um I think Summer League is like one of those like special special places where like similar to like a Comic-Con in the same sense or like there’s all these people that have this weird insane obsession about the same thing that I have. And I think the really cool thing about it is like you can walk into an arena and you can see the most hardcore Sacramento Kings fan that knows who they drafted from first round to second round, all their history from the team and you’re both just watching this game talking about it and striking up a conversation. So like um it was great to meet all the all the people that we we talked to there. Any fan that we met was was incredible. Just like the overall like community of there was just incredible. Yeah, it’s not only it was obviously cool that you got credentialed and we get to go through all the motion like you get to be part of the scrums, talk to players, be baseline, sideline watching the games. That’s all great and but on top of that is when we just go to the other building like Thomas Mack after a Raptors game and just sit with fans, everyone strikes up conversations cuz everyone there is a, you know, a basketball sicko. Everybody is super interested in all of the machinations of everything going on. We’re sitting behind a guy who’s like, “You know who was my sixth grade basketball coach?” Mazujiri. And what kind of shirt he’s wearing? He’s wearing a shirt with Patrick Beverly, like a Hawaiian shirt where Patrick Beverly’s head is like the top of the tree or whatever. It’s just like, I don’t know what’s going on here, but this is a man who loves basketball. He was asking me about the the second apron, right? And then also, you meet up with all the media members and I still have all the, you know, international or like American media members like, “So, you really you still like Scotty, huh?” so many people. Yeah, dude. I think he’s gonna be an allNBA player. It was just it’s so much basketball all the time. And I mean, Red Rock Canyon was sick. Taranian Runs, I had fun. Like, it’s just basketball, man. Uh the Raptors to keep it there. I just think they’ve played a really fun brand of basketball. They obviously have the significant uh limit on what they can do offensively. They go through droughts. They can be a little bit like huh. They just have to wait until that rising tide of ball pressure overwhelms the other team for a stretch. Against Denver, they’re having trouble. Liddell, he’s a bully out there. The physicality, it’s not going the Raptors way necessarily. Then you get a 190 run where the shot making mixes with the ball pressure mixes with all that intensity. And this team 3 and 0 leading has a chance at the chip finally and leads the leads them in just like they have so much ball pressure. They cause so many turnovers. Where are you on this team after you know a short little bit and I’ll play some ball pressure in the background so that people know exactly how nuts it’s been. We’re a force. We’re we’re the greatest team ever assembled. I think they’re the best like the best team in the tournament from we watched we watched a good amount of the teams that that were there. I think the Raptors just like top to bottom have the most talent. Like they do have a lot of like NBA players that played on the roster. Obviously they drafted four rookies last year which which really helps. Um I think it’s just very clear like their defensive talent is going to allow them to get like easy baskets. Like there is obviously like clear shooting um clear shooting issues with with the team and why a guy like AJ Lawson in battle are super important, but there’s plays like this where CB can get to multiple spots on the court, utilize his size and utilize his length and especially his reflexes. That was the one of the craziest things about seeing him actually live is his the size of his hands and the reflexes he has to just rip the ball out of guys and really time time plays. um they get easy baskets be because of that and I think um for summer league you often don’t see that type of like intensity and ball pressure from from this sort of scenario. So it’s really good to see that the Raptors are instilling like within their culture within their within the the young guys that they have is that they’re going to go after it. they’re gonna try to win. And you saw that sort of from um I think one of the cool things from like being on on media row is that you see the interactions with the players. You see what they’re working on and trying to build and they are trying to impose their will on on every single team and you see it got EJ Liddell gets frustrated because the Raptors are kicking are kicking their head in for two minutes and they go on a 19-0 run of defense. He was that was coming the whole game, dude. That that was that was like you knew that kid growing up who like anytime something went wrong playing sports, he’d like slap his thigh really hard like you’re like uhoh. Yeah. A fuse has been lit. Something’s about to go off. Um, on top of that too, I’ll just say for any any listeners or viewers, you can actually, unless so at the Thomas Max Center, but if you get, you know, make a trip out to Vegas for summer league someday, the Cox Pavilion, you don’t have to be a media member to get that. You can you can sit very close to sideline. Some of it is reserved, but for just the price of admission and going early, you can sit like a few feet away from what’s happening, right? Like when when we were watching the first game we went to was the Pacers game and it’s Jenny Busousk and it’s Buchanan and it’s Kevin Pritchard and it’s Rick Carile and it’s Ted Woo and everybody sitting there. It’s like the fans just walked by and took pictures and talked to them. And that’s the cool thing about Summer League, too, is like everyone has a little bit more time for a chat. And obviously we there was that heartbroken young man who didn’t get the Tyrese Maxi picture and he had he had uh vent to us. But you you get to interact with players a little bit more and you don’t have to be a media member for anything like that. Um, I’m going to play the the film once again just to highlight some of this stuff. And for audio listeners, I’ll I’ll try and be a little bit more descriptive. But this this play is just to like I want to basically they’re picking up at half court all the time. And I really like this play because it’s the pressure. You know, if this is instead of Jameson Battle above the break, maybe help comes a little bit more uh fullthroated, but also having Shamsh who has been fantastic at the rim to stop plays and provide that coverage. It’s they the pressure with guys like Mo and Shamshay and CMB at the back is so impressive. And they they swarm. Yep. They really they swarm like a a pack a a beehive or whatever it is a bee a colony. I don’t know what it’s called, a pack of bees, but they’re but they’re able to show pressure. You can see CMB, as you said, the reaction time, jumping into the lane, getting his hands on places. I referred to it in the piece I wrote about him as hand-to-hand comment. You can see here like sliding up, walling guys off, just doing a tremendous job of providing that pressure and preoccupying guys so that the doubles actually are effective because they can’t pay attention because he provides so much pressure on the ball. It’s different like there’s pressure where a guy, you know, it’s it’s a back down and you keep surveying the court, but then if CMBB pressures you, he’s poking at the ball. He brings your attention so that if you do double, it’s a blind double where you can frustrate players. And he fits so well into what they do. It’s he’s not gotten a lot of the ball. I I don’t think like the Raptors are playing it very much like a a Jamal shed offense to start things off. Chucky Heburn also gets a ton of possessions. In the same vein, they’re running a lot of actions through the short roll and through the floater and hoping that they get rotations so that they can spray to the weak side corner for three-pointers for guys like AJ Lawson, Jacobe Walter, and Jameson Battle. That’s what they’re doing. And that hasn’t left a lot of room for guys like CMBB to take the reigns. And AJ Lawson actually hasn’t even got that many possessions. They just ask him to attack when there’s openings. and he’s been arguably one of the best players, if not the best player in summer league so far. A truly a professional scorer. And the Raptors, you have to give credit to their guys. Whether it’s Jacobe Walter, whether it’s Chucky Heburn, whether it’s Jamal Shed, whether it’s Elijah, you know, whether it’s Elijah Martin, whoever is stepping out on that ball, they’re providing that pressure. You know, there’s guys who are worse at it, obviously, like Jameson Battle isn’t going to do the same thing as Jonathan Mobile can. Mo’s been their best defender so far. U that that’s Jacobe has been I think sublime as well. That kind of stuff getting that effort in the summer league. We heard it before when Darko got hired that you could hear at summer league so many coaches young like.5 that the.5 offense is something that all offenses aspire to. It isn’t unique to the Raptors. But on top of that, we just watched the Pacers and the Thunder in the finals. Pickup points are popular now. Pressure is very popular. A lot of teams want to do it. However, the Raptors are the best. A lot of teams try this. The Raptors are doing it and doing it for 48 minutes. It is a credit to the the guys who are there competing for spots. It’s it’s a credit to guys who are there who have spots guaranteed but want to better themselves. It’s a credit to James, you know, head coach. It’s credit to the the staff. I just I’ve been really impressed with what they’ve been able to do. you have any thoughts on that and then let me know what player you want to zoom in on because there’s a couple guys who are pretty exciting. Yeah, I think it just goes to show like the level of like defensive talent that they have. Like they they showed that in the second half of the year that they they at least have the bare bones regardless of of opponent to be a good defense and they were top 10 second half of the year. I think what’s really interesting and I think that’s what’s causing a lot of issues for teams is that they have that level of versatility and talent essentially one through five like they’re the bigs that they’re playing have incredible foot speed. you can often the actions that we’re seeing is that Jamal Shed is being picked on um as a screener, but Jonathan Mobile is the next the next guy stepping up in in terms of defense and he’s able to switch on to guys, switch on to opposing guards and be okay. Jamal is also very strong and before they scram, he holds his own. Um Urri, he he has incredible feet and length for his size. We we’ve saw multiple possessions where he was asked to defend at the top of the key and was able to hold up with defenders and funnel them into the into the middle. And then you have a guy like CMBB that kind of assumes both of those both of their um skills and talents in terms of size, length, um reaction time. and he’s just sort of been like similar to where Scotty is in in the defense like all event um creation happens with him off the ball being being able to be the guy that comes in weak side pokes at the ball swarms in be the weak side um help defender and I think some of the biggest flashes we’ve seen on defense um would have come from him. You have that weak side block. You have the the play that you showed just a second ago coming coming in and poking at the ball multiple times. You have even possessions where he’s he once he has you on the sideline, his hands are sort of like a vice grip and his his timing and being able to time passes and rip it out. You saw multiple times in college u is second to none in terms of the draft class. But who I want to focus on is I guess Messiah Jerry’s last parting gift to us or Chamsha who’s been like absolutely incredible. I’ I’ve been extremely impressed with him and I think he’s the biggest win for the Raptors during like during summer league for sure. I agree. It’s not just that cuz one he probably hasn’t been the Raptors best big. I think you could ar I would argue that it’s been mobile. Mo’s last game wasn’t that big a game, but against Orlando, I would argue that he was outside of AJ the best player. Not only as as you said, like the bring up ball handler stuff, but the Raptors are able to apply pressure full court, not just with their guards, but when teams want to give their guards a rest, they hand it off to forwards and mobile steps up and CMBB steps up. And during the regular season, that’s going to be Scotty as well, right? They provide pressure no matter who you have bring the ball up. but also Mo in Orlando was able to beat the ball pressure that was being applied to him to get them into early offense. He’s been the best defender on the team to this point, but Mo wasn’t the milliondoll buy at pick 57 just to take a shot. This little known prospect, you know, he was known to some, but a guy who didn’t have much attention, the Raptors make sure they got him. Shamshay has a pretty serious injury that he comes back from. He is not lacking for his foot speed. He’s not lacking for his explosivity. He’s not lacking for his strength. He comes back into this thing. And the expectations for him are low, yes, but he punches well above those. And it’s not just like, oh, I wonder if he’ll be able to do this or that. It’s just that he is succeeding at it. He’s accomplishing scheme at relatively the same level as Colin Castleton and obviously with his gifts is performing far better in them. The Raptors are getting away with truly like pressure at the front and drop defense with him back there. He’s able to create as a defender because he’s able to make plays. He’s able to remove the ability to score from the other team for stretches at a time with his size and he’s made high low reads which every big man has to make. And on top of that, he’s getting after it on the glass. He’s dunking and he’s sprinting out in transition. Man, there’s a play that Josh brought to my attention. He was like, watch his first four strides after the block. And the get up and go that Shamsh has is so special. We’re going to put it on screen here. The way he’s able to So, he rotates, gets a block at the rim. Great. He is so quick getting going. Usually it takes, did, you know, like not only is there a wrap pass there, and it’s it’s a wrap pass. It’s not It’s not exactly Magic Johnson, okay? It’s not exactly Magic Johnson. Not exactly Jon Santako. However, the thing here is that bigs are really fast once they get going. They have long strides. They’re athletes, you know what I mean? But Shamshay, it took him so little to boom. The engine is running. There’s it’s into fifth gear from the jump. And that’s what’s impressive to me. And also here, like he has big hands. He has great wingspan. The thing that impresses me too is that he’s a quick jumper. A lot of the guys around 6’8, 67 who succeed in the front court roles are really quick jumpers and really good second jumpers and they usually carry a bit of weight so that they can bounce around and keep balls alive and playmake around near the basket. That’s what we hope for Jonathan Mobile. Sh is really big and he’s a quick jumper. Look at him bop. Go get that out of the air. Go put it back up for an N1. He is, you know, for his size and we’ve done some, I guess, like auditing of what fluidity is in in our draft coverage, right? Like we’ve been like, I don’t think this big’s feet is that good. I don’t think he’s that quick. Shamsh has quick feet. Shamsh has a quick jump. He has a upper a good upper limit jump. He’s very strong and he’s just coming into himself. I’d say relative to expectations, and I’ve gone long on this, but he’s well above expectation. The the developmental curve, he’s ahead of where I expected him to be. And maybe I’m late, but he’s he’s ahead of where a lot of people expected him to be. I agree. I I think in in like you said, in terms of expectations, he’s probably exceeded them the the most. I think what you wanted to see and what like we touched on in the previous episodes is that you wanted to see that his feel for the game and like the game was actually slowing down. Like last year within summer league, a lot of it is speeding up too quickly in in the pick and roll, not understanding rotational um rotational situations and when and where he should extend himself to to go for blocks. and he’s gotten to a point where the game has slowed down and his tools have really shined. The the Raptors have gone on most of their largest stretches in summer league with with Shed and Jacobe pressuring the ball and him in drop it offers so much resistance for other teams and even when they’re able to get past the Raptors ball pressure, he has enough length to step up and the the foot speed to offer rim deter still. Um, I’ve been super impressed with him offensively as well. Like within the pick and roll, he’s a lot of the times last year, you would have saw him run for a lob. He’s stopping short within the within within um the pick and roll and going for a floater. His touch has been really good in those spots. He’s been more comfortable within delay actions. And that’s one thing the Raptors obviously run a lot with their bigs and he’s making the right and correct reads. He was one of the actually few players that found CMBB early once he had had to switch onto the small, which blew my mind. But he’s he’s gotten to a point where I think overreaction or not, he’s earned the right, I believe, to be in competition with Mamu for a backup big job or at the bare minimum be their third big heading into the season and seeing how that goes. What you want from the season, what you want from the team is competition throughout every single position so that the Raptors can figure out who’s this core is and who they should build upon. Him him doing this and showing that he has upside potential and possibly to become a starter one day is enormous for the Raptors cuz they haven’t had many wins through the draft or through free agency in a really really long long time. and he’s just 19. Like the the amount of like growth that he’s shown within the the last year or so both super well for for what you what they want to accomplish and what he’s he’s doing. And for for me like I think at the bare minimum he should be on like the Delano Banton plan where he’s with the roster the entire team entire time learning with the team but also going up and down with the 905 just to maximize his time and maximize his minutes. I think there’s going to be a stretch in the NBA season where he provides positive minutes, whether that’s five, whether that’s 20 minutes. But I do see that he’s he’s shown enough to be given the opportunity. It’s he’s put himself in the conversation at the very least because he wasn’t really in that conversation. People were like, he’s still a long ways away. And summer league is probably pretty friendly for him, right? because the the guards are smaller and the bigs are less skilled and that makes all the things that Shamshay wants to do a lot easier. And the transition to the NBA is a big one. It’s a large one. Like we see a lot of players who are dominating other G-League games that even have a history with the Raptors where they couldn’t cut it, right? Like DJ Carton just had an awesome game playing off of Handsome Yang. And it’s just Shamshi still has a long way to go, but the pro progress that he’s made in this short amount of time and especially with a big chunk of time being taken away from him because of injury and that injury didn’t allow him to play and read the game. I mean, he’s done a fantastic job. You know, S posted like what what has Shamshay learned the most watching film? And he said angles. That’s really great. Understanding stuff on that level, understanding what angle to take allows your athleticism to really shine. Uh the point you made about his timing on the pick and roll is a huge one. He he doesn’t have a bad jumper by the form. It’s just about the comfortability of like working that into his game, knowing when he’s going to take those shots. He improved as a screener. Quite frankly, I don’t know what he didn’t improve at and some of it he improved marketkedly. So, it’s I understand why people would be excited. I’m excited and honestly proud. Like I look at him like like well done, man. Look what you’ve added to your game. Like, hell yeah. He’s I think that was I think that was a reaction of watching him live every time we play like did he just do this? Did he Wow, look at what he like what he’s actually doing. I think like there’s there’s he hasn’t even hit like the surface of like how good he actually can be because of how how athletic he is and the type of tools that he does have. I I’m hoping to see we see him try to put the ball on the floor within the I know the Raptors are trying to win a gym, but he I think he has a fluidity to be able to take the ball on the floor and and get to the rim at at times as well. And I want to see him try to develop his his ball handling skills just just in the sense that he needs to be a constant threat with with the ball at all times. It makes things fairly easy. It make it made Yaka Purle lethal in in pick and roll situations. So I I think he that and obviously being like really active on the offensive glass, I would like to see him use his physicality a bit more there too. But o like overall like he’s he’s won to a part I know s tw tweeted about it where like the Raptors have to consider like how do we maximize like his his time and usage on the team and his and his contract cuz he has probably earned to gotten to a point where you’re he’s going to max out his like two-way ability. Sam Hanky would be just slobbering at the idea of like can we get you on a fouryear 6.5 million please. Uh for for the stats the biggest one I think is that he’s turned the ball over once once. Wow. Just once. Uh he’s basically scoring twice as much as last summer league. He’s rebounding about the same. He’s playing about the same amount of minutes. He’s fouling less. He’s turning the ball over way less. He’s averaging like four stocks a game. Basically, two blocks, two steals, 60% from the field, 73% from the line. It was 44% from the line in year one. Just as I mentioned, he’s been awesome. People should be excited. I’m excited to see him keep going. And I know you said like his usage is kind of a well, they want to win the championship, yes, but his minutes have been tied to winning. And so that’s probably the most exciting thing. and whether or not, you know, this Raptor summer league team is actually a able to carry over into like the bench mob that everyone so, you know, dra like really wants. That’s one thing. But this team has the chance to be a special little footnote in summer league Raptors history because they play awesome basketball and they play hard. Can I interest you in We’ll have Jacobe at the back end, but a little Colin Murray Boils discussion. Would that would that is can I wet your appetite on that one? That would behoove me. Thank you. That’s very good. We got two games under the belt for CMBB. The big takeaway is obviously his defense. As we said before, the Raptors offense is not looking to utilize him as a hub really at all. He’s like there is some passivity there. But also this is a if you want to be a big man who touches the ball, be a guy who hands the ball off. And if you want to be a big man who touches the ball, screen and catch in the short roll. Otherwise, go go chase a rebound down. Something like that. Uh he is averaging nine points per game, five rebounds, two assists, three and a half stocks, three turnovers. He had a terrible turnover game in his first one. Yeah, bad bad hands. Uncomfortable hands. He’s one of four from downtown. He’s 62% from the free throw line, 60% from the field. It’s been low usage on one end, it’s been high usage on the other end. His defense, if I can pull this back up actually, cuz he’s part of a lot of these possessions. His defense, we’ll just let this run normally, has been tied to a lot of what makes the Raptors successful. That pressure and ability to provide it at a bunch of different levels of the defense. He can be at the front end, yes, but he can also be at the back end with the big sweeping blocks. He can be in the middle showing a body and dissuading guys from going to the rim one, but also getting those hands in those big meaty hooks for what? Steals, run outs, putting guys up the other end. He covers a lot of space. He’s very predictive in what he can tell that the defense wants to do. And he’ll just pick up. He’ll pick up and pressure. Then he’ll then he’ll leave the ball and go pressure the ball as a guy in the lane. Then he’ll just keep jumping into the lane. And he’s a guy who some of the best defenders in the league, you feel like you can’t escape them. They just keep showing up. I don’t know. There was this video that went viral where it’s like you’re guarding Steph Curry in the 2015 and it was just Draymond setting the screen for him like 19 times. It was just always Draymond. when you’re trying to drive against the Raptors, CMBB is the guy who keeps showing up in the lane. And I’ve talked about this before on Caitlyn and I’s coverage is that the guy who you know is rotating is not the guy you worry about defensively as an offensive player. When you know where the rotation is coming from, you’re like, great, I understand this. There’s an advantage somewhere. But the best defenders are the ones who just show up and you’re like, “God damn, man. Where the hell did you come from?” And they show up. They’re aggressive with their hands. They’re able to playmake. And with off like in his first game, CMBB created nine extra possessions for the Raptors through offensive rebounding and through steals and blocks. Nine extra possessions for his team. And it it wasn’t as much in game two, but my god, the playmaking and the in between stuff is going to pay off big time. And the rest of it is just waiting on I guess the offensive stuff to come around. He got like three chances to drive the basketball. A couple of them went good. Went to the line. Big body on another guy. He was obviously on the receiving end of Shamsh’s gorgeous wrapound pass. Oh, what a pass. Oh, man. But CMBB, where are you on him so far? I’m I’m impressed. Um I think the offense has has gotten about how how they how I thought it was going to go, es especially with like in the context that the Raptors have been playing. But like just to touch on like that point, I think his strength like shows up on offense like immediately. You you can tell even like um instinctually he knows how to use his strength. He’s getting tons of early seals within the offense. And you see like and I’m picturing like 2001 Scotty that’s how he won and scored tons of points early early in his like career winning on the glass early seals punishing small players and like scoring effectively. He has good understanding of that and like his strengths on offense which is really really good. And like on that on that fast break he he sent the other dude flying in the air because of his his natural strength. So, I think overall like he’s going to be fine there, but defensively to like see see that live like his his like instincts his instincts like rotationally are absurd. Like the just the play that you showed, he is picking up Don Holmes full court, switches off, appears within the nail and and is able to swipe the ball. that isn’t that isn’t something that like the average NBA player can can pull off because they don’t have the size and foot speed. And also just instinctually knowing when to be able to to switch and peel off of guys is super important in defense. And just right here, he appears in the nail. 21 has no idea he’s ever going to appear there. Typically on defense, you you aren’t able to make that rotation and and he’s able to get to the rim. That’s how turnovers happen. That’s how you’re able to create more possessions for for your team. And I think like overall like you can see the vision on how he’s going to be impactful as a rookie like with the big club. And it’s just like being like a little things king and stacking that upon multiple things and allowing him to stay on the on the court. I think he’s been he’s going to be tied to winning and he’s going to be able to help the Raptors like significantly as a rookie. So like I’m I’m fairly happy to see the things that we saw on tape are translating immediately in summer league. Yeah. And I guess we also know now at this point that like after the the Rockets had they not gotten the Durant trade through that was who was going at 10 to the Rockets. Obviously it ended up going nine at the Raptors. Obviously, Mwatch ended up going 10 for for the the Suns, but it wasn’t just the Raptors who were excited about him in that in that area of the draft. He was very highly rated by a few other teams. Um, and by the way, that’s a this is a pullup Trey insider uh note. This wasn’t this one reported elsewhere. You can you can take this one to the bank. The He impressed me so much. What did you think of the the touch, by the way, early returns? How do you feel about it? See, ear early early on I attribute a lot of that to just nerfs. Like he wasn’t his hands weren’t weren’t the greatest. He wasn’t catching the ball a ton. But I think like overall like touch, especially at the rim, like I’m impressed of how he can finish with contact especially. He he can he can blow up guys um vertically heading into the rim and with he has enough touch where I think um that’s going to show up like in in other areas, especially in the mid-range. I want to see him take a mid-range jumper. It was good to see him hit hit a three, similar to like Scotty early on. Just any any make is is is good reps for him in this sort of scenario. I don’t I want him to continue to keep shooting irregardless of where the Raptors are like in in winning the championship. But I think his touch around the rim is like fairly good. It showed up in in college as well. I I what I was really interested and what helped get the Raptors going is some of some of the playmaking that he had off of Jacobe. You have the one play where Jacobe dives to the rim. He’s able to find and finish over and and pass over the big which is which was a much harder pass than than it looked on TV because Don Holmes the jump. Yes, exactly. He had to time Don Holmes’s jump and and feed Jacobe um perfectly at the right time because if he throws that earlier, that’s a turnover. And also he also faked it, right? Like he brought the ball to two hands as a means to to get the jump to get his defender to slow down. It was it was, you know, clever savvy stuff. Yeah, you’re he’s feeding which we’ll show in a sec. He’s feed he feeds Jacobe um at the top of the key hits above the break three and gets a guy who’s already going more shots. It’s just you could tell he knows how to play and that’s really hard for young players and and rookies just in general. So, I’m I’m I’m excited and he’s played how I expected and he’s shown that the that the pick that like in theory you can see how him and Scotty will be able to play together and wreak havoc defensively. That’s what I’m really excited to see. He’s also It’s what you said, you know, the Raptors Brandon Ingram is going to be fun. I’m really excited to see him play, but he does not profile as that big wing that the Raptors need outside of Scotty defensively. And Jonathan Mo, as much as the hope is for him to progress into a wing type player, he’s been good in summer league. He’s not close offensively. He’s just not. He’s really far away from that being something like there’s they’ll be able to do stuff defensively, but offensively, no. Um, CMBB I I understand why people at first blush were worried about the fit. I never was. I obviously advocated for him to be the one who’s picked. I liked him a lot. And and also there’s a there’s another thing here. You could make the case that he is not as explosive right now as he’s going to be. He had an adductor strain. He’s like he’s coming back from something like Jacobe when he came back from the AC joint sprain. It happened twice to him. It wasn’t like he was at his best, right? And as far as what we’re expecting from Colin, who is kind of devastating in his ability to cover the ground going sideways, that’s your adductor, man. Like, that’s the spot. So, I think you could make the argument that he’s going to look more explosive as time goes on as well. He’s also a guy who you can tell there’s a little bit of work to be done with the body, too. It’s just there’s there it’ll happen. and the three-point shooting. I understand the the jumper is the mechanics are not good. However, he does have relatively like he has strong touch and even as he works through this whether it’s in the mid-range or from three, I think it’s not going to be like staggeringly bad cuz no matter what your jumper is and there’s ideal mechanics and there’s less than ideal mechanics, NBA players with good touch can still find a way to get the ball into the basket. I think he’ll fit more into that than the other, but obviously a bunch of stuff to clean up. He has been uh not like awesome awesome, but he’s been fun and you can understand the selection. We said like, oh, wouldn’t it be cool if he gave us that that Scotty kind of performance? And Scotty averaged, I think, 20 in his summer league games when he stepped in there. And Scotty obviously, but Scotty was a huge feature of the team. And Scotty, when he stepped into summer league, he was like, “Whoa, I’m seeing stuff that I didn’t see at Florida necessarily.” Uh, there’s one other guy we really got to focus in here on. Jacobe Walter. He just had 26 points and seven steals. Do you know how insane that is, man? 26 points and seven steals. So the stats for him in summer league this year through three games, 18 points per game, basically four rebounds, like no assists. The the off the dribble creation for him has not created more structure for the offense. It’s been kind of like if Jacobe can create his own shot, typically a jumper, good. We like that. And that’s what they’re asking of him. 3.3 steals per game, 42% from the floor. That’s up like he shot 35% his rookie season. He’s 33% from three. He’s been I I would argue probably their best pressed defender. I don’t like Jamal has had really good playmaking off the ball and he’s been those digs. Jamal has always been so good at especially when he gets to play with pressure forwards like CMBB and like like Mo. But Jacobe as far as like sticking guys and being able to puck guys and and corral them away. Uh he’s been probably their best uh point of attack defender. Chucky and Elijah and Shed all have all have their merits, but it’s probably Jacobe. Some of the jumper stuff. It looks really encouraging. The handle is still relatively limited for his size and like position, but that’s something we paid attention to in the regular season. What we do know though is that he can get shots up. He’ll cut off ball. He’ll take threes, make some of them, and he’ll be a just a hellhound on defense. I’ve been like he’s not blowing me away as a creator, but he looks damn good as a player. I I think outside of Chamch, he’s probably been the most impressive. Um, I think he’s put himself in like a conversation where he has an opportunity to start because the Raptors really in the current idea of their roster construction, the starting five really struggles with ball pressure. And what we’ve seen that Darker wants to play this aggressive defensive style that that pressures the ball and has high pickup points. He he can as a fifth starter, he can he can operate and be off of the ball and allow IQ, Ingram, Scotty to do what they want and be an active cutter, guard the the first the the first guard on any team and make things easier for Emanuel quickly. And if his shot sticks, he’s going to be able to be within tons of winning lineups. And what I really loved about last game is that he hunted his shots. Um, a lot of, um, what he was focused on, I think probably within the first couple games was a lot of live dribble creation. That’s what we wanted to see from him and see if there’s growth there. And I still think he’s like a good amount of way of being a live dribble criter. But a shot like this within transition and and being a pull-up shooter, I believed in his shooting talent since high school, I think he’s going to be able to be like a fairly good shooter in the league. And when he’s aggressive and is moving off the ball, you see the bones of uh Aaron Kneesmith, he doesn’t have to be that level of shooter, but within that archetype of that position where you’re aggressive, you’re a bulldog on on defense, you’re a threat to hit tons of open shots, and you don’t hurt the construction of the overall offense because you’re you move around the ball. You’re willing you have willingness to cut and finish. and he has a willingness to be physical whether that’s on the glass or whether that’s also defensively. So I I think he’s put him in he’s put himself in a really good situation and again more competition throughout the throughout the organization. Like there is no guarantee that Grady Dick’s going to play more minutes than him next season and there’s no guarantee that he’s going to play tons of minutes and both of those guys might start. you have the that you have sort of that that ethos within the team that everyone is trying to get meet their desired um like ceiling and earn minutes. Nothing is really going to be earned. And you kind of saw that from teams like the Rockets early OKC where you have this like glut of prospects and younger players and they’re all fighting and and scratching and clawing to be within that core that core unit. And once you have that core unit and understand who’s going to be here a long time, that’s when you’re you’re able to flip a flip a pick and draft and get Alex Caruso because, you know, Josh Giddy isn’t a part of this crew and it makes things a lot easier and more crystallized. So, I think this is the era where we’re going to really see the Raptors have tons of guys that have the ability to play and they’re going to be fighting for a minute. So, it’s going to be really interesting to see. Yeah. When it comes to Jacobe and Grady, I don’t think there’s a chance either of them falls out of the rotation. But I tell you what, agree. This year will probably produce a winner of the top of that role between the two of them. It would it would shock me if a guy doesn’t step out as like I’m ahead. Grady Grady was ahead last year because he was the secondyear guy, but Jacobe came along pretty quickly, especially physically. And you know, I know we’re means testing the pounds put on. It doesn’t really matter. He’s out there playing, but as you said, Jacobe, despite being more limited offensively than Grady, is far more expensive defensively than him. And if the Raptors are a team that I don’t know what’s going to happen with R.J., I don’t know, you know, the the the I don’t think the organization values him the way he values himself, you know, or the way some fans value like it’s just he clearly is not sitting at the top of the priority list. I don’t know if he’s going to finish the year as a Raptor. I don’t know what’s going to happen with that. And I think it would be a tough pill to tell him like, you’re going to the bench, Kobe Walter starting. I I don’t know. I don’t know. I don’t know if Darko can sell that pen, you know what I mean? But Jacobe, as you laid out, he makes a lot of sense there. Especially if the glut of Emanuel, Scotty, Brandon, and YaKob have a pretty easy time creating offense. Then Jacobe starts to look maybe not as a starter, but as a guy who steps into that that forsome, he starts to look at like a great fifth edition in in transitional lineups. Like it it might be that RJ’s the first one who leaves the floor. Jacobe steps in and R.J. comes in later and leads, you know, as an offensive hub for lineups. And I’ll tell you what, Grady probably wants to be that guy. Like, Grady wants to be the guy who steps in with the starters. Jacobe wants to be the guy who steps in with the starters. These guys are going to not cuz I sure they like each other a lot, but on the floor they got to butt heads and decide who’s stepping into that role, I presume. Pretty interesting stuff there. the most of what he did offensively is what we it was like a continuation honestly of what he’s been really successful at in the regular season is cutting off ball and also taking space and using it for his jumper. That’s that’s a lot of what he’s been able to do at the NBA level. It’s not he it was like that stat where he hadn’t gotten a blowby without a closeout like all season, right? He just is not able to manipulate guys with his handle and beat them off the bounce. He just he hasn’t been able to beat guys with that. But when given space on offense, he’ll cut and he’ll shoot. Those are two of the most important things. His finishing has to come around. Yes. But we’re also looking at a guy who, hey, man, he’s stepping into his own. He’s year two. He’s not an old rookie or he’s not an old secondyear player. He’s young. And look here. He beats the guy. He beats the cameraman. they lose him because he plucks the guy and he’s out running. You know what I mean? Also, this play is great. I just want to point out this is so good because Jacob’s gravity, as you’ll see on screen, is able to move everybody away from CMB. And also number 14, we know who that is. He’s on number 22 or Shamsh because Shamsh has what? Roll gravity. He draws the tag and what’s the result? CMBB is wide open. It’s a little lazy defense here from the guard, but he’s just hanging out on shed because shed’s hit a few floaters. Like that’s that is skill sets operating as intended. That’s offensive structure operating as intended. And that’s three guys that this team really cares about or four guys in Shed, Sham, Shay, Walter, and CMB all fulfilling something. Battle’s also out there to help draw some attention. But like things are making sense on this Raptors team now. It’s up to the guys like Scotty and and Brandon and IQ and RJ and Yakob to really make it make sense on the high level stuff at the NBA level. Y but summer league I think has been an exercise and optimism not just at this tournament but hopefully for what it means going beyond this. Is there is there anybody else from this team that we won’t have film for them but that you think has been really fun that we can spend just a couple minutes on? We we already have, but obvious like AJ Lawson deserves more love. He’s he’s been in incredible. He’s been put in a a in an I guess a very similar situation where Brandon Ingram will be in next season where the the Raptors have have really struggled for creation and shooting and he’s just stepped into that role and and and been able to succeed like exceptionally which is which is very surprising. I didn’t think he would be able to get to the rim as easily as he’s been able to. He utilizes angles really well and understands um like the gravity like his own shot creates which I’ve noticed fairly well. And he doesn’t waste steps and dribbles which has been which is usually like very very characteristic for younger players. I know he’s like 20 he’s 25. He just turned 25 just about. Yeah. Yeah. But he he doesn’t waste steps. he doesn’t waste dribbles and that has led him to be like far more efficient and if the shooting for him it’s always been can he be the level of shooter where he can stay on the floor and in summer league he has when he’s shooting at this level and we saw it in in the season he can put up points in bunches and fairly quick because he has he hunts his shot he has tons of willingness to do so and I think his level of defensive intensity has increased within summer league I think that’s kind of just like the osmosis of being around all these guys that are getting after the after the ball and he’s been able to playmake defensively as well, especially um as like the weak side dig um and been able to come up with tons of turnovers just through activity and willingness to do so. So that’s that’s you with the Raptors, they don’t even need massive wins. If he can be the 10th guy off the bench and be able to provide minutes 5 to 10 minutes within any given game and be a winning player, that’s massive for them. That’s massive for massive for him and that’s an easier that’s an easy contract to help the the overall team in construction of what they’re they’re trying to do. So, he’s put himself in the conversation for for minutes. And again, that’s just more competition. Yep. The the point is he’s done such a fantastic job of limiting dribbles. I love that you bring that up. It’s it’s not Klay Thompson exactly, but at at this level, this is his fifth summer league, by the way. Um, his fifth summer league, he’s averaging 20.7 points per game, six boards, which is a lot in his time. Like, he’s helping out on the glass a ton. 1.3 steals, one block, 2.3 assists, 56% from the field, 57% from downtown, by the way, for people keeping track at home. The big thing here, he shoots whatever shot comes his way. He attacks and punches whatever gap comes his way. And with a team of young guys who aren’t exactly sure about like, am I the shooter in this play? Am I the guy who attacks here? What does it look like? AJ Lawson has that crystalclear idea of what he wants to do and the efficacy of his decision-making has been paid off so much by his shot making and he’s a jittery quick athlete. He’s wiry and he’s busted his ass on defense, too. He’s been sublime. Uh I don’t it’s I don’t know exactly what the Raptors plan is for AJ Lawson. I’m not sure. But he’s he’s going to have to make a compelling argument during training camp and during preeason. He’s going to have to make a compelling argument and he’s going to have to beat somebody. But he can beat guys. And you know, even though he’s 25, there are guys who find their way. And the way he’s played as a Raptor, you go look at the efficiency, it doesn’t really jump off the page. He has good games, he has bad games, whatever. But he’s trying his damnedest. And I don’t know what he could be doing better. He’s a professional scorer coming into this, but he’s been a professional ball player the whole way through this tournament. It’s been good, man. He He deserves a lot of credit. And and Jameson as well, like his shooting is important, but AJ Yeah, I you watch him, you just feel good for him, right? He’s also he’s really nice. He’s like a really nice guy. It’s just Hell yeah. AJ Lawson big time. He’s been arguably the best player in the tournament. That’s a fun little thing. Drew Timmy giving him some some attention. Both both the older gentlemen. Has the Raptors ever had Jonas Valentunis? He won summer league MVP, I believe. Did he really? I’m pretty sure he won his as a rookie. I remember thinking he’s going to be the the greatest big that’s ever lived if I’m not mistaken. I kept looking at his per 36 stats. You know what I mean? Like I was just like, “Oh, if he plays 36 minutes, he’ll have like 18 rebounds.” 18 rebounds makes you an MVP, you know. Oh, man. I used to I used to curse at the TV and Dwayne and Casey used to take him out. I’m like, “Oh, we’re going to lose the game. What are they doing?” Well, it was just I remember it was so simple. You know what I mean? You’re watching basketball, you’re like JV shoots 56% from the field, so let him shoot more so that you score at 56% instead of, you know, 44% or whatever. just like no no no care for what creates a shot or what types of shots can be created or what like put backs and dunks look like but yeah man it’s uh that’s also man just to speak to Shamshay again like I know Valenunis apparent I don’t know I can’t confirm that I I hope he did win some game that’d be a nice little thing um but Shamshay he has been one of the most impactful bigs minuteby-minute basis in this tournament so he deserves deserves a lot of credit for that. I’ll keep yapping until you come back to me with an answer on this this Jonas Valentunas thing. But um once you answer the Jonas Valentunas thing, I do want to get from you your works. Y old man still’s got it. Wait, do are his stats there? Do you have his stats that he was able No, I just Wikipediated. Okay. Okay. go look up the stats and after after you get back from this, I’ll say my favorite things about Vegas that happened when we were there was uh the pools. I loved the pools, man. Hanging out with you guys, just like sitting in the sun and the nice water was so fire. It was unbelievable. Red Rock Canyon hike was really great. uh covering a game with you side by side credentialed is pretty special and I I love it for the podcast and uh the run at the end was pretty fun too. So all that stuff was my favorite. Once you come back from JV, I want to hear your favorite parts too. He averaged 18.8.8 10 rebounds on 56% shooting. Holy smokes. There it is. What was your What was your favorite part about Vegas? I think um obviously like being credentialed was was fairly cool like thing to cross off the bucket list and like being being there live be being in the scrum and just like interacting with my friends obviously and it’s cool to see like you s and all of our other friends like I’ve seen you guys grow up within this industry and I get to see you guys like be the bosses that you guys are when you guys are doing stuff. Um, so that that was obviously cool to see, but I think overall like going on a hike with you guys, obviously amazing. the pools and just like chatting just to like NBA fans. Like I think in in your average day, you’re not going to be able to speak to someone that knows like the the lore of We knew people that knew about Gilbert Gilbert Arenas’s youngest son and how much he averages in high school that you’re just not going to interact with that many people that love basketball and love something that you love at like the same level. which is why like everyone whether you’re like media or a fan like going to summer league is worth the is worth the bang for the buck and you’re never going to have this many NBA players in one section for for as low as the prices. You go into any hotel you can run into any NBA player that you’ve been willing that you’ve always wanted to see which is which is cool. Yeah. I mean, it felt like we saw everybody. Like, we didn’t talk to everybody, but it felt like we saw everybody there. It’s It’s the mecca of basketball, certainly. Yeah, 100%. It you you walk past, you’re just like, “Oh, he he’s super tall. Oh, he’s shorter. He’s shorter than I thought. It’s just like you numb isn’t the word, but you just like are just used to just walking past 20 NBA players at a time, which you won’t in your regular day life.” Yeah. Because you think about it like everyone tells these stories or someone gets like a a picture like let’s say it’s Toronto someone’s like oh my god I ran into so and so but it’s like you saw like 18 players that day like you’re if you’re a fan going to watch. It’s it’s a cool little thing. It’s a fun little thing. Uh anything you want to say before we get out of here? We’re we’re going to kick the snot out of the Golden State Warrior. Take that. Take that. I I just think like the Raptors have like been fun for a team that has hasn’t had a lot of fun for several years. Some players have had the darkest days of their lives playing on this team. It’s it’s good to see that like there’s a a new core of players that are young that are having fun and are like buying into what they’re trying to do. So, I’m I’m along for the journey and I’m praying this translates in October. Same. The very same. All right, everybody. Thank you so much for tuning in. Make sure to like, comment, subscribe. It helps out the channel. It does us a real favor. It helps more people see what we do. Hopefully, you enjoyed it. That’s why you want to share it around. These guys have been fun. I’m enjoying it. Uh, whether you got into this in the morning or at night. Thanks for tuning in with us everybody. You can have a blessed day. And for myself and Trey, goodbye.

Samson Folk & Trevon Heath cover the Raptors undefeated run in Summer League + analyze the players.

0:00 – Introductions

3:00 – Raptors basketball is very fun

12:47 – Ulrich Chomche has been great

24:20 – CMB has been fun

35:24 – Ja’Kobe Walter is killing it

40:05 – Gradey vs Ja’Kobe battle

44:40 – AJ Lawson SL MVP

49:08 – Tre, King of Raptors trivia

51:37 – Fav parts of Vegas + Goodbyes

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