A First Look at the Summer League Squad | Raptors Today

A First Look at the Summer League Squad | Raptors Today

basketball fans of keil Austine joining you from Las Vegas Nevada inside the Toronto Raptors Private Practice Facility here at the wind Hotel in Las Vegas Nevada on the strip and now it’s time to check in with who will be practicing Encore here and playing in games over at Thomas and Mack and the Cox Pavilion so we take a peek at the Toronto Raptors roster and you know already there’s going to be a steady dose of Grady dick as this team continues to push the young man in his second year coming out of Kansas as well as the other Kansas product oai abaji looking to improve his three-point shooting and then you’ve got the two draft picks who we’ll talk to one of them Jonathan mobo later in this show but right now we got to talk to the man in charge and that is coach Darko 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 make the trade uh and we got David 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’re 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 I also 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 this 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 cuz it feel like almost like a clean slate this year with 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 year one of our rebuilt we’re starting our rebuild now so uh the team that we’re going to establish this year uh everything that we’re doing uh right now and 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 and 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 locker room uh somebody who’s going to help relay my message to the whole team uh somebody who can help young players to understand what it means to be professional uh on NBA level and what it takes to 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 uh in this setup of practice and in our play groups all right now from coach to the players it’s time to check in with Jonathan mobo a late grow spurt changed him from a guard to a big and he’s going to be pitching in in the front court for your Toronto Raptors so let’s learn more about him from the man himself First Impressions with uh actually around the team and like somewhat of a practice or game setting uh just high intensity uh you know coach has emphasiz 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 see 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 vers though 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 it’s great uh personally for yourself like Hing 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 great game for me so you know just going out there playing hard and uh being important just doing our role and you know you see a bunch of vets kind of around um how’s that um you know how have they been how do that help you kind of you know in the integration process it’s great you know I feel like you know having the vets 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 impressions of jacobe and Jamal shed just knowing them College obviously those guys Jamal shed played all four years I believe what’s your impressions just them great group of guys um you know we hang out a lot uh you know starting to get to know them 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 with 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 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 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 back inside the lure Ballroom in The Win Las Vegas Nevada summer league rolls on and the Toronto Raptors were active both the draft post-draft and pre-draft but let’s talk about the incoming point guard for the Toronto Raptors Avon Mitchell a bayor grad this is a guy that got in trade we spoke with him earlier but Jonesy your impressions of how he can change things in the back court for this Raptor group well listen you always need quality players he’s a he’s a quality player um he’s a dog known for his defense you know his nickname for those of you that are unaware and don’t follow follow the NBA off night is off night and you know he told the story I was aware of it before but it was given to him by his buddies and a coach who seemed to figure out that a lot of the top players seem to have off nights against him and it’s stuck and he likes it and you will notice that when you watch him play he is as you said aille a dog defensively that’s what gets him on the court but listen let me tell you this do not sleep on this kid’s offense in his senior year at Baylor he was the number one isolation scorer on that team and one of the tops in the NCAA so yes defense gets you on the court but you need to be a complete player and this guy can also score it as well yeah post Allstar break too he really picked up his three-point shooting numbers and you talk about that off night reputation that he earned in college well he had some memorable nights in the NBA holding both Steph Curry and wle Russell Westbrook to a single made bucket in some matchups so right now we check in with one of the newest Raptors Davon Mitchell 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 and man quickle counted their franchise people um there a lot of things I can learn from them um build with them over the years um mean it’s a lot of good things I heard about it do you know I mean obviously played against them and and bumped into guys over the years do you know any of these guys really well um I kind of knew Emanuel briefly just because 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 just 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 played behind quickly played with quickly um things I just do to to win win basketball games from the moment you got to soccer B it was sort of a stacked guard situation it never really let off 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’mma 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 a veter Al Le so learning things from him learning things from domas and just trying to pick those things and and bring it to Toronto primtive 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 contagious do you feel like something like that is that maybe other guys can kind of build off of what you do I think um for me over my career as playing basketball like every team I 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 every no one wants to stand out and not play as hard so me bringing that energy is going to show did your game evolved yeah I think that I think that just learning um the pace of the game um learning from dearon 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 that does it for day one of our coverage here from summer league but do remember NBA TV Canada and raptors.com has you completely covered but now it’s time to look ahead to the games and for your Toronto Raptors they take on the Oklahoma City Thunder on July 13th that’s an 8:30 tip off if you’re on the East Coast 5:30 if you’re on the west side and that’s on TSN but stay tuned to NBA TV and raptors.com for all your Toronto Raptor updates I’m ail Austine and I’ll see you guys tomorrow [Music]

Akil Augustine and Paul Jones are in Las Vegas keeping up with the Toronto Raptors summer league squad. We catch up with head coach Darko, one of the newest Raptors Davion Mitchell, and second round draft pick Jonathan Mogbo.
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