Impressions from the First Game of Summer League | Raptors Today

Impressions from the First Game of Summer League | Raptors Today

basketball fans welcome into the Thomas and Mack and Cox Pavilion Inside Las Vegas Nevada joined by The Wolverine Javon Shephard keil Augustine breaking down the Toronto Raptor performance in their first game 1 and0 and they had a healthy lead throughout most of it your takeaways from game one well you talk about a healthy lead I really like how they went out there in this game there was so much emphasis on ball pressure and defense and you see guys like Jamal shed go out there and you really you know OKC really could run any offense with him on the floor blowing up every screen um and just his toughness permeated throughout this team but also Grady di he looks a year more mature like he looks a bit stronger we talked to him just a while ago and this is the heaviest that he’s been I think he’s put on about 9 10 pounds um but how he went out there and he was hunting shots confidently did he have a great shooting day no but 10 rebounds 18 points believe it was a six assist so flirting with a triple double but his confidence was just Skyhigh out there being a leader for this group really like what I saw from from the guys all right well in case you missed any of it check out the highlights right now just off the strip in Las Vegas it is day two of the NBA 2K 25 summer league tonight the Oklahoma City Thunder and the Toronto Raptors do battle in their first games of the 2024 NBA Summer League so here’s our starting lineup we start on the left side of your screen with the Thunder as they roll out Dylan Jones their other first round pick number 26 overall out of Weber State Adam Flagler joins keante Johnson who’s going to be a very intriguing storyline we’re going to track all game long we talked about Mitchell and Kyler Kelly for the Raptors it’s Grady dick jacobe Walter Jamal sh Sheed oai abaji the 2022 national champion and Brendan Carlson that rounds out your starting five for both the Thunder and Raptors and we cannot wait to see the Utah Jazz who basically are bringing their full roster out here we’ll talk more about that later Brady dick steals the opening tap for Toronto in the white jerseys goes up and misses and the ball comes loose off of Jamal shed ma laela pardon me his third stin here with the Raptor organization he is one of the best assistant coaches in the NBA shed drives to the basket it’s no good picked right up and put in there by Carlson a journey to get to this point in his very short NBA career Carlson fires on the three no good G dick comes in on the rebound gives it back to Carlson who scoops and scores he looks at Dam inspiration actually said his go-to move is the Dame Lillard step back he’d watch him do it at Weber State and he’s been really trying to implement that in his game Brady dick bucket and the foul Toronto’s defense has been unbelievable to start again another turnover up ahead Javon Freeman Liberty turns the fifth turnover from the Thunder into now six points so far it’s a 10-point lead the largest of this first quarter coup Thunder now three for 22 from the field they’ve committed six turnovers in the early going of this game mobo behind his back whips it to Dick drives Baseline gry dick reverse style and you know what everybody’s going to see the finished play AJ Mitchell gives it up to Williams now to be Adam Flagler who is in the starting lineup now back in takes a step back [Applause] Flagler Flagler out of bayor for the Thunder he finished in first in the west last year Corner three ball DJ Mitchell in the summer and now practice as part of V camp that will take part here in Vegas over the next week oai abaji going strong to the C and you let hardenstein do all of that banging and rebounding if I was going to talk about one thing that they struggled withes Dylan Jones there the tough bucket for OKC there’s one thing that they struggled with it was it was rebounding back to Mitchell now Williams gives it back to Mitchell push shot from Mitchell and Mitchell doing a great job here comes carton quickly up to dick dick bucket and one Brady dick doing it all tonight for the Raptors Brady dick flips it no good Carlson the hustle aaji to dick and that’s the ball movement that needs to be rewarded right carton for three I wish that there was a statistic when the ball touches multiple players hands that ball has energy done the little things it’s 53 to 35 on the [Music] glass 16 unanswered for the Raptors Toronto looking for more aaji gives it to him sound up that’ll do it on this one as the Thunder will dribble it out Toronto opens up play in the 2024 Las Vegas Summer League 1 and0 with a 94 to 69 win behind Grady dicks 18 and 10 double double to go along with six assists impressive performance by the seconde pro out of Kansas dick with 18 the bench was tremendous as well Freeman Liberty had 12 Raptors end the game on a 21 to5 dominant run sending the Thunder to an 0 and one St and of course this game was the very first performance in the Toronto Raptors Banner for jacobe Walter the 19 overall pick your thoughts on his game I’m excited about him right the first game you could just see there was some Jitters he’s trying to adjust to the speed of the game the strength of the NBA game the spacing and these guys are a lot more long and athletic but he’s also putting the basketball on the floor he looked really comfortable doing that so he’s not just a shooter yes he didn’t have the best shooting night and he’s probably going to hit those shots tomorrow but when you look at what he did at Baylor a guy that was shooting six threes per game so that tells me more about his belief and his ability shooting the basketball I think he showed more than just being a shooter and there’s a lot more untapped in his game so I’m excited to see how that unfolds but really liked his length like the way he moves really fluidly and just the ability to put the ball on the floor because he’s not just going to be a guy that you can park in a corner can create shots for himself as well and create for others all right still more to come here from Las Vegas we got to check in with the coach jamama Mala and of course here from Grady dick I guess I’ll start with the draft picks and what you saw from your young guys they are not the biggest numbers but obviously something for you to walk away with and looking on film yeah really impressive I think all of our young guys did a good job uh on the basketball our defense has been what we’ve been focused on our on ball defense and really having extreme ball pressure I thought jacobe did a wonderful job Jamal the same thing and then oi obviously has our veteran leader sort of doing the same thing so watching those guys play was really fun uh to see us disrupting what that other team was trying to run from my eye it looked like there were some opportunities for oai to be a little bit more assertive with his body and contact what are your thoughts on him when he was driving in the lane and kind of getting in some situations there really impressed with his defense I think oi really is sort of putting the the the focus on the onus on the defensive side and that’s wonderful I think offensively he moving well I think a few sort of Miss opportunities but not by lack of effort he’s doing the right thing just missed the actual opportunity so I think he continues to grow we’ll watch his film and he learn a few things but really impressed with his first outing wasn’t the best shooting game for Grady but is that the sort of assertiveness and all-around impact that you’re looking for from him yeah I think Grady were we’re kind of really figuring out is he that all-around player can he do some stuff defensively and offensively can he be on the ball can he do knockdown shooting and I thought we saw touches of everything today I think sometimes his his choices of which shots he’s shooting he’s got to continue to work on those uh but he’s a shot maker he’s a big game player and I think it’s fun for him to get out there and be able to make some shot summer league all we’re going to go from coach to the players it’s time to check in with Grady dick you heard about it earlier from Javon he flirted with a triple double so he was showing all facets of his game they were working on with Player Development this summer let’s check in with him now did year two feel any different feels like a you know a year under my belt um and I know I talked about a little bit earlier but just you know kind of a sense of a more of a leadership role that I can kind of pass on to the new rookies so yeah a little bit we saw you driving the ball a lot is that been one of the points of emphasis for you coming into this summer league yeah I mean I think it’s just you know be aggressive you know any chance I can get um I feel like I say every you know interview is just doing what the team needs and you know when I see a lane you know I want to um get down and you know try to finish around the rim and you know make extra plays you finished through contact a couple times today I know you mentioned the other day that you’ve kind of gotten stronger over the summer is that something that you’ve really worked on putting on muscle is that sort of been an emphasis of course you know as a 20-year-old I feel like you know I’m just you know getting bigger every single day so um it’s definitely an emphasis of kind of sh my versatility at the same time and um I feel like you know summer league is a great chance to you know showcase that all right we’re wrapping up our show tonight do remember up next for your Toronto Raptors and match up with the Denver Nuggets at 9:30 eastern time from here in Las Vegas Nevada catch it on sportset but as always stay tuned with the Raptors on raptors.com X Instagram Tik Tok wherever we’re at stay tuned I’m kustin see y’all later

Akil Augustine and Jevohn Shepherd break down the first game of summer league for the Toronto Raptors. Who were the best performers and how did rookie Ja’Kobe Walter do in his debut?

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