Toronto Raptors Summer League Media Availability | July 11, 2024

Toronto Raptors Summer League Media Availability | July 11, 2024

ever seen a practice court in a hotel Ballroom before yeah I mean I was I was actually here last year with the Kings uh and we kind of worked out here a couple times uh but this is super dope I can just come down here anytime I want what was your reaction to the uh trade when you heard the news um I mean I was excited um I just think that it’s a business uh like everyone knows um it’s a Toronto’s a really young team they have really good pieces uh Scotty bars a man quickly kind of their franchise people um there’s a lot of things I can learn from them um build with them over the years um I mean it’s a lot of good things I heard about it do you know I mean obviously played against them and bumped into guys over the years do you know any of these guys really well um I kind of knew Emanuel briefly just cuz we talked over the time over the lead um and I mean I seen him work out a couple times in Miami um just kind of watching him watching his whole career um he’s a really good guy who can score the ball but he’s also just a genuine nice guy um just to hang around to be around he’s a good person what do you bring to a team as a point guard for me I mean just kind of just this year’s kind of try to be leadership um the defensive mindset coming in um being that dog doing the little things um on the floor and also I mean play behind quickly played with quickly um things I like to do to to win win basketball games from the moment you got to soccer about it was sort of a stacked guard situation it never really let up uh you know do you view this as like a real opportunity to find your Niche not that you didn’t have moments there but like a you know a wide open opportunity yeah for sure um I think that I mean just as being like I said like a young group um I’m going have more opportunities to to play on the court uh to to kind of show what I can do um but also just being a leader um I kind of played with dearen Fox who was kind of like a vet in our lead so learning things from him learning things from domas and is trying to pick those things and and bring it to Toronto perimeter perimeter defense is something that this team lacked last year um obviously that’s one of the things that you bring to the table how can tages do you feel like something like that is that maybe other guys can kind of build off what you do I think um for me over my career is playing basketball like every team I’ve be on I’m I’ve been on um the the guy that’s on the ball kind of just brings that energy and I think that me putting pressure on the putting pressure on the ball up top I mean a lot of people are going to want to play just as hard um everyone no one wants to stand out and not play as hard so me bringing that energy is going to show why are you good at that why am I good at it um think CU I love doing it um uh I think I really I’m really strong my cars are really strong uh I’ve been gifted with a lot of abilities that God has given me I really know why I’m good at it did your game evolved say it again is your game evolved yeah I think that I think that just learning um the pace of the game um learning from dearn Fox when to when to score uh when to find teammates want to when to look for teammates who are hot um just a little things like that how much of defense is like instincts technique IQ versus like effort all that stuff I mean I think it’s both um I think that uh you got to have definitely like IQ but a lot of is like like I said uh gifted abilities I think for me I really fast feet um I can stop on the dime like better than I think than anyone in the world um I can I have really good recovery speed so a lot of this got gifted but also it’s just a you just got to have effort um you just got to play extremely hard and want to do it what kind of things Kobe Walter he was saying that Baylor dude he was saying that he went to Baylor cuz you um what are your thoughts on him so far man seeing him grow uh I remember playing against him last year I went to Baylor and he was like he wasn’t really I didn’t really know of him but I seen him playing and he was killing I about who is this guy he was like oh this is Kobe Walter I mean he’s just a really nice guy um I mean he cares about his teammates um he works extremely hard uh he puts the time in the gym his family is great I met his family the other day so he’s have a really good group around him and he’s going to be successful in this league you mentioned learning from doas and in Sacramento what kind of did you learn like off the court habits that kind of stuff cuz you’re kind of like a young vet on this team yeah yeah um just kind of just building routine also learned from uh Harris of Barnes we was always in the gym in the morning just seeing his routine every single day um he’s being consistent U no matter if he had a bad night or a good night he was still being consistent so kind of just building that and bringing it here in Toronto what do you want to show here that you maybe you weren’t able to or didn’t show in Sacramento as M uh me just kind of being a point guard um a lot of times I was playing off the ball um being a a really good point guarders lead making the right reads for teammates um shooting the ball with confidence kind of having that confidence and also just being a really good defensive guard when did you first get your someone start using your off Knight as your nickname oh uh it started in college uh my last year in college and it kind of just ran from there like a broadcaster person who did it like where did it come from actually uh one of my really good friends he was a ga bayor well a couple of them couple G at Baylor and uh it came from just me having really good nights against really top guards in our league who are projected to be NBA draft picks and they had off nights and we just stuck with that you like it yeah I love it actually I love it Impressions with uh actually around the team and like somewhat of a practice or game setting uh just high intensity uh you know coach R emphas say ball pressure I feel like we’re going to have a great team defensively and offensively too you know bring intensity bring energy you know that’s one of our key pieces and I feel like that’s one’s going to separate from us from different teams you see I was saying do you how do you yourself fitting into that identity obviously seems like that’s the kind of game you play and want to play yeah that’s the game I play you know since College um since growing up you know just high energy uh defensively I’m a defensive guy first so you know just bringing uh energy both ways on the court uh having a high motor uh being versatile defensively with my wingspan and everything you know just losing my length and you know just being uh an advantage so having that advantage on guys so you know that’s great uh personally for yourself like coming into summer league what do you hope to take from this experience uh just a learning experience you know um it’s our rookie season so you know just coming and learning new things you know picking up quick I’m a great learner so you know I feel like first game you know is going to be a great game for us uh great game for me so you know just going out there playing hard and uh being important just doing our role and uh you know you see a bunch of vets kind of around um how’s that um you know how have they been how’s that help you kind of you know in the integration process it’s great you know I feel like you know having the vs around is just shows how you know together we are so you know that’s a great thing um I feel like you know they’re giving us knowledge little pointers quick and there so um you know Scott uh Bruce um everybody here so you know just you know small things and it just kind of separates from other teams you know it’s a family so I like it what’s your impressions of jacobe and Jamal shed just knowing them College obviously those guys Jamal sh had played all four years I believe what’s your impressions just dumb great group of guys um you know we hang out a lot uh you know starting to get to know him a little bit more so you know just having them around uh defensively you know trying to see what they see um I feel like we jail together you know we’re all the rookies so you know I feel like it’s a great thing we have what was the adjustment coming to Toronto obviously I know you’ve been in the city before was it easier than you think it would be just obviously knowing the city a bit coming and visiting uh I feel like nothing’s easy you know it was a learning process coming in here you know trying to figure out what the role is what everyone does well so I felt like you know just being me being myself you know I feel like I found a found a quick way to do it and you know I’m just going to keep doing it and doing it better each day what’s been the biggest transitional challenge for you whether it be on the court off the court dealing with the responsibilities of being a draft pick and an employee like what’s been the thing that’s stood out the most to you in this process uh I feel like you know just the the work ethic uh you know a lot of coaches are involved you know just seeing that you know it kind of separates it’s different from college so you know seeing all the coaches around you know encouraging you being there for you so it’s just like you know you’re here to get better so you know that’s that’s a great uh side of it you know I I love it I enjoy it you know it’s going to be a long process so you got to do day by day and I’m I’m loving it so far what do you think of some of these new additions that you were able to make either through the trade or via the draft um what are you excited about I’m excited about the care factor that those guys bring to the table um obviously we made a trade uh and we got davan Mitchell who is here with us in in Vegas uh defensively oriented guy uh guy that that has a mindset of being very aggressive on the ball uh well known as a defensive stopper um improving his three-point shooting uh I think he’s going to fit in in our rotation really well um we’re trying to get him up to speed uh how are we working uh how are we communicating how are we doing uh business over here in in Toronto so really excited to to welcome him on on our team when you look back on the year I mean just thinking about the year I I can remember you talking about you know the defense starting with the point of attack um obviously he’s a guy who addresses that do you do you feel like you’re a bit better situated from that perspective going forward yes uh and also o think uh it’s not just about him it’s it’s it’s all the guys everybody has has have to step up uh we’re working a lot during the summer to really improve on ball defense aggressiveness uh we’re really trying to as you can see in a draft class as well we’re trying to find as many as possible two-way guys that that can be you know we call them a most important guy most important guy is the guy is got who’s guarding the ball he makes it easier for everybody else and we’re really trying to develop everybody on our roster to be able to do better job on the ball in addition obviously to the defense that he brings one of the things that you talked about I think it was towards the end of the season was the need for a backup point guard what do you think he brings from that respect just in terms of giving you another ball handler and playmaker that can take the pressure off of Scotty and and IQ uh definitely he can do that uh but also he can play off the ball really well uh he proved over the last couple of years on NBA level that that he’s very good as a cutter uh that he can uh especially coron threes that that he improved shooting those but definitely having another guy that can get your offense set and organized and uh knowing what we need to run and to to communicate with the guys it definitely helps the I mean uh given the way Manuel can shoot it like does it is it a the potential that he plays off the ball in lineups with Davon like is that a luxury to that you might be able to look at um yes uh I think we’re going to be able to look at different lineups uh the way uh Emanuel is shooting the ball the way Scotty is handling the ball and and playing in pick and rolls and post UPS can get uh quickly of the ball as well and and and use him more as as a shooter but also quickly is improving his point guard skills uh from running pick and rolls from running the team from understanding the balance of being aggressive and uh at the same time uh making the right reads um I think that that growth of the team is is to be seen does it feel like almost like a clean slate like a young team that knows its identity whereas last year you know you came into with everyone asking who’s going to be here who’s not it is a clean State uh this is uh year one of our rebuild we’re starting our rebuild now so uh the team that we going to establish this year uh everything that we’re doing uh right now in establishing the culture and how we want to work and how we want to operate obviously we have experience with the players that were on a team last year here and that’s going to help us but this is really year one for us in this rebuild process in that regard how happy are you to have Garrett back with you this year Garrett uh brings a lot as you guys know uh he brings a lot on the floor and of the floor uh he’s a great leader uh somebody that I established really close Report with and uh he’s he’s my guy in the lock room uh somebody who’s going to help relay my message to the whole team uh somebody who can help young uh players to understand what it means to be a professional on NBA level and what it takes to win uh he took participation in all the practices all all the play groups and and he’s making our guys better uh every single day behind the closed doors as well that you know it’s easy to say when when player gets on the floor and contributes in in in games but his contribution is much more U um in this setup of practice and and our play groups impressions of jacobe just meeting him and how potentially he fits in your system uh Jacobi is very focused player uh he he’s always has a great eye contact uh he’s listening everything um I want him to be himself I want him to be aggressive I want him to be able to to score uh he’s a player that we see being a two-way uh two-way guard uh I think uh he has very long arms that he can develop his defense to be uh to be really good on defensive end as well but uh what really stands out with him is is his focus and ability to learn and ability to listen Jonathan logo is an interesting player and that he kind of grew up as a guard and then ended up growing so then he became kind of a center have you had a chance to see that part of his game yet it’s probably I know it’s only been a couple of practices but in those uh short time in those practices he was able to Showcase first of all his athletic ability you know uh he did play uh under siiz five men in college he was a lab threat but he was also bringing the ball in transition a lot uh he did really good job playing in in a pocket pass and connecting with his teammates uh there is going to be transition for him uh for more playing position four but also we need to keep his trade stuff that he does well that he’s being able inde chose to connect with teammates to find right passes he’s really good driver somebody who can attack the rim with the lot of force and playmake from there and he did really good job those last couple of days showcasing that grd coming back for a second um you know run of Summer League um how do you think that you know helps him helps his game uh with Grady uh his uh his second Summer League last year he was just getting his feet wet and then learning uh the pace of the game and uh what game brings uh this year is just next step for him um I would like to to see him being more involved in some on ball actions as well offensively uh handling the ball a little bit more in pick and roll just trying to open up uh you know next box for him and what it means uh uh for him and for our team um I think uh he he’s been putting a lot of work this summer and uh those uh those games that we have over here in the summer league are really good checkpoint that that’s all it is to see where he made those strides and improvements but also to to give us information what do we need to focus on for the rest of the summer there aren’t a lot of third-year guys playing so summer league why was it important for oai to play was that something that he wanted to do to get more reps or was that something that you guys wanted him to do was um his uh desire to play but also our um recognition how the the summer league can can help him you know uh he’s a young player and uh playing games cannot hurt you it can only help you to to learn how to handle situations how to have more opportunities and uh to find uh um regular games official games uh with referees in the gym against really good talent that’s not easy to find in the in the in the summer so him being part of our sum league program I it helps him to have better voice with the team to learn how to use his voice more but also to put him in situations where he can continue to grow is there a single thing he needs to do to really establish himself uh as a role player a valuable role player in the league defense on on ball um Defender uh really good uh uh vaks side help uh he has a tremendous athletic ability he needs to learn how good he is and what he can do but I think uh the main thing for him is uh offensively to play Simple uh to be good cutter uh spot up shooter driver and then on defensive end to do really good job of being really disruptive really aggressive and um and um to to step up in that way is there a threshold in terms of a spot up shooter that he kind of has to sort of reach to be a guy who can stay on the floor and not be ignored by defenses that kind of thing um I think uh he made adjustments and uh on his shot uh we were able to to make some corrections and he’s been doing a really good job in uh practice and workout set up uh now it’s going to be time for him to to use those and you know just to be confident in in his shot you know there are definitely situations when he needs to do good job of uh spotting up and being ready to shoot but also there he can do a lot of um setting flare screens and slipping out and rolling and finding opportunities uh to to score different ways so for him it’s not it’s not that much having the ball in his hands to create it’s how he’s going to create when he does not have the ball in his hands

Players and Coach address the media following Thursday’s summer league practice.

00:00 Davion Mitchell
05:10 Jonathon Mogbo
07:52 Darko Rajakovic

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