The Toronto Raptors announced their roster for the 2018 Las Vegas Summer League on Friday. The roster is as follows: NO. PLAYER POS HT WT BIRTHDATE PRIOR TO NBA/HOME COUNTRY NBA EXP. 1 Rawle Alkins G 6-5 220 10/29/1997 Arizona/USA R 3 OG Anunoby F 6-8 232 7/17/1997 Indiana/England 1 25 Chris Boucher F 6-10 200 1/11/1993 Oregon/Canada 1 32 Fuquan Edwin F 6-6 213 9/17/1991 Seton Hall/USA R 15 Tryggvi Hlinason C 7-1 260 10/28/1997 Valencia (Spain)/Iceland R 6 Augusto Lima C 6-10 235 9/17/1991 UCAM Murcia (Spain)/Brazil R 18 Jordan Loyd G 6-4 210 7/27/1993 Indianapolis/USA R 34 Alfonzo McKinnie F 6-8 215 9/17/1992 Wisconsin-Green Bay/USA 1 13 Malcolm Miller G-F 6-7 210 3/6/1993 Holy Cross/USA 1 11 Codi Miller-McIntyre G 6-3 205 6/1/1994 Wake Forest/USA R 20 Giddy Potts G 6-2 220 8/8/1995 Middle Tennessee/USA R 22 Malachi Richardson G 6-6 205 1/5/1996 Syracuse/USA 2 30 Andrew Rowsey G 5-11 180 6/18/1994 Marquette/USA R 12 Marquis Teague G 6-2 180 2/28/1993 Kentucky/USA 3 27 Shevon Thompson C 7-0 242 6/10/1993 George Mason/Jamaica R The Summer League team will be coached by Nick Nurse himself. Their schedule for the tournament is as follows: Friday, July 6 – 12pm PT vs. New Orleans (ESPNU) Sunday, July 8 – 12pm PT vs. Minnesota (NBA TV) Monday, July 9, 12:30pm PT vs. Oklahoma City (NBA TV) From there, teams will be bracketed based on record and point differential. Every team is guaranteed at least five games in total, so the Raptors will be in Vegas until at least July 13 and possibly as late as July 17 if they make a run to the championship. Coaches Nick Nurse: Following in the footsteps of a few other first-time NBA head coaches, Nurse has made the decision to coach the Vegas squad himself, surrounded by a still-developing staff. This makes a ton of sense on several fronts, and it’s a great sign of Nurse’s desire to hit the ground running that he’s opted to do so. While Nurse has head coaching experience, it’s been several years since he was in the driver’s seat, and five or six games of reps ahead of the preseason should help him shake any rust off with the process of calling the shots himself. It’s also a good way to help build chemistry within the staff ahead of the regular season, and for him to begin developing a rapport with a number of Raptors who are on the Vegas roster. It should also give us a glimpse into the kind of tweaks and experiments Nurse has planned – it’s still too early for wholesale changes, and Nurse doesn’t have the personnel here he will in Toronto, but this should be a nice peak into his thinking for the year ahead. Raptors OG Anunoby: This is a great opportunity for Anunoby, who is probably a little too advanced for the Vegas stage impact-wise but who hasn’t had the chance to play a featured role as he will here yet. Anunoby missed all of Summer League last year following knee surgery and was relegated to strength and conditioning work and set shooting. He also didn’t see any time with Raptors 905, immediately jumping into the NBA rotation. Here, the team can funnel more possessions his way to expedite his development and experiment with his face-up game and ability to create in the pick-and-roll. Last summer, Pascal Siakam wowed with the progress he’d made in a similar opportunity, and Anunoby will get his first chance to make a case for a larger share of the offense here. This might be the team’s biggest window yet into just how much higher Anunoby’s offensive ceiling can push than was originally expected before the 2017 draft. Malachi Richardson: This will stand as an interesting look at the Raptors’ player development incubator. So far, they’ve been the ones identifying, signing/drafting, and developing talent, and they’ve had a great deal of success. Richardson is the first real piece they haven’t had their fingerprints all over, and how he’s progressed since coming over from Sacramento’s woeful development setup at midseason will be worth monitoring. If he suddenly looks like a potential NBA player – he has not, through two years, looked the part with any consistency – then the Raptors’ confidence in their ability to develop distressed prospect assets could grow, providing more market opportunity moving forward. Richardson has great size for the two and a sweet-looking stroke, so his progress will be a matter of conditioning and beginning to think and read the game at a higher level within the Raptors’ system. Alfonzo McKinnie: With a July 20 guarantee date on his deal – essentially a team option for the minimum for 2018-19 – perhaps nobody has more to lose at Summer League than McKinnie, who turned his audition here last year into an NBA contract with a sizable guarantee. His progress stagnated a little bit this past season, as he spent the bulk of his time with Raptors 905 and didn’t take a major step forward as an outside shooter, the one biggest skill he needs to discover to stick as a 3-and-D weapon in the NBA. There’s still plenty to like, as McKinnie is hyper-athletic, a solid defender at either forward position, and an absolute hawk on the offensive glass or in transition. There’s not a lot of downside to locking in a minimum-salaried 25-year-old, so his goal here will be showing enough shooting and playmaking progress to warrant keeping him over the flexibility of an open roster spot to sign a different minimum player. Malcolm Miller: It’s possible that Miller and McKinnie are in a bit of a competition here (and maybe through Rawle Alkins in, too) as the team looks to fill out the back of the roster with versatile wings. Miller got the chance to show he can excel in the role he’ll be asked to play in the NBA last year, proving the best individual defender on the 905 and even stepping into some starts with the Raptors.<doc-sep>The Toronto Raptors announced Friday their 15-man roster for NBA Summer League 2018 in Las Vegas. Raptors head coach Nick Nurse will serve as the team’s head coach for the tournament. With all 30 NBA teams participating for the first time, NBA Summer League 2018 will expand to 12 days (July 6-17) and 82 games. Teams will compete in three preliminary games before being seeded in a tournament that culminates with the championship game on Tuesday, July 17. Each team will play at least five games and as many as eight. This year marks Toronto’s 11th appearance at NBA Summer League in Las Vegas (2006, 2008-10, 2012-18). The Raptors finished NBA Summer League 2017 with a 3-2 record after reaching the second round of the tournament. Toronto holds an overall mark of 27-23 (.540) at the event. The Raptors open the preliminary round Friday, July 6 vs. the New Orleans Pelicans at Thomas & Mack Center (12:30 p.m. PT / 3:30 p.m. ET).<doc-sep>CLEVELAND, OH - MAY 5: Malcolm Miller #13 and Malachi Richardson #22 of the Toronto Raptors looks on prior to Game Three of the Eastern Conference Semi Finals of the 2018 NBA Playoffs against the Cleveland Cavaliers on May 5, 2018 at Quicken Loans Arena in Cleveland, Ohio. NOTE TO USER: User expressly acknowledges and agrees that, by downloading and/or using this Photograph, user is consenting to the terms and conditions of the Getty Images License Agreement. Mandatory Copyright Notice: Copyright 2018 NBAE (Photo by Jeff Haynes/NBAE via Getty Images) The Raptors are ready for the next step in the year-round NBA dance. This one is Summer League, and our team should be competitive. The Toronto Raptors released their roster for the 2018 NBA Summer League [SL]. The Las Vegas-based tournament (it’s not a League, NBA execs…please rename) begins on July 6 and wraps on the 17th. I’m most surprised to see OG Anunoby listed. He started 62 NBA games last season for a 59-win team, so seeing him among the G League hopefuls is strange, and worrisome. Even if he’s there for a conditioning assignment, I can think of safer places for him to spend the summer. If OG blows out his previously injured knee or otherwise becomes damaged goods, there will be hell to pay. The youngest player is an Icelandic giant, Tryggvi Hlinason. One of our FanSided colleagues, Mike Oppland at Sir Charles in Charge, put together an admirable analysis of this fellow. I strongly recommend you have a read if Hlinason intrigues you. I’ll be watching to see if he can keep pace with the fleet-footed swingmen he’ll be opposing, and whether he has any offensive capability at all. He’s a sign and stash candidate. Marquis Teague surely didn’t expect to be job-hunting after three NBA seasons. He’s worn a lot of jerseys in his far-flung pro career, and will need a spike in performance if he’s ever to return to the bright lights. As of this writing, he’s an undersized combo guard who can’t shoot. The intriguing trio of Malachi Richardson, Malcolm Miller and Alfonzo McKinnie will be trying to distinguish themselves enough to earn invitations to Raptors training camp. Richardson is the youngest, so should have the highest ceiling. However, it’s tough to tell, as he’s had so few NBA minutes. Miller started four games for the Raptors last season. He has a Qualifying Offer in his pocket from the team, so has some security. He might make the big team, but I believe a return to the 905 is the most likely outcome. If he enjoys a dominant SL run, I could change my mind. Take advantage, young men I’ve already written about swingman Rawle Alkins, and I’m looking forward to getting a closer look. He’s a dark horse who could crash the party – we’ll see. Nick Nurse is taking this event seriously enough to name himself the team’s coach. The youngsters can’t complain they didn’t get a proper look if the head man is in charge. Of course, on a 15-man roster, minutes are going to be precious. We’ll get a sense of who Nurse likes from who enjoys the most playing time, particularly late in games. I doubt we’ll see many of the older guys receive so much as a contract offer from the 905. A few of them might receive training camp invitations, but it’s too early to say who. We’ll be watching these games with considerable interest. The depth of the Raptors was a critical element of team success last season. This SL group could offer up a few useful people to power that depth for 2018-19 and beyond.<doc-sep>The Toronto Raptors kick off the 2018 summer league Friday July 6th against the New Orleans Pelicans. Here are the five things to watch for this summer. The NBA Summer League means different things to different people. For high draft picks it is a chance for them to get their feet we at a professional level and test their previously unstoppable moves against higher competition. For second round picks and undrafted rookies it is an opportunity to impress a front-office and try to earn a coveted roster spot. For NBA fans and Media, it is a chance for us to watch prospects in a professional, competitive setting, and of course overreact. A list of former summer league MVPs shows that a good performance in Las Vegas certainly does not mean a player is ready for the NBA. Although a player’s performance doesn’t correlate perfectly to NBA success, there is plenty that can be learned in the week-and-a-half spent in Sin City. Last season we saw Jaylen Brown take a huge leap in development, Kyle Kuzma had the potential* to be the steal of the draft, and that Lonzo Ball for all of his flaws was at minimum a great passer. Watching a player dominate summer league is a good sign, it just needs to be taken with a grain of salt. So what can we learn about the Toronto Raptors this Summer League? We take a look starting with the potential emergence of OG Anunoby.<doc-sep>
The Raptors announced on Friday the 15-man roster for the 2018 Las Vegas Summer League. OG Anunoby is the headlining player on the roster, which includes Malcolm Miller, Alfonzo McKinnie and Malachi Richardson — who was acquired from the Sacramento Kings at the trade deadline in exchange for Bruno Caboclo. One interesting detail of note here is that Nick Nurse, who was officially promoted to head coach just over two weeks ago, will coach the Summer League squad. It’ll be a great opportunity to test out a few looks from his playbook, and should be a great primer before the preseason begins on September 27th. Aside from the four players carrying over from last season, the team also includes undrafted rookie guard Rawle Alkins from Arizona, and Brazilian-born centre Augusto Lima, who also went undrafted in 2013, but has spent the last five years in EuroLeague play with Zalgiris Kaunus and most recently, UCAM Murcia of the Spanish league Liga Endesa. Alkins is a multi-dimensional 6’5”, 220 pound guard who missed almost half of the season with a foot injury (which was ultimately surgically repaired) early in the 2017-18 campaign, but a player who clearly impacted the game when he was able to see the floor after getting healthy. The injury and subsequent time missed impacted his draft status, as the one-time projected second-round pick was ultimately passed over entirely in the 60-pick draft. The Raptors do have a knack for finding unpolished gems during the summer months, so if there is one player to keep an eye on before training camp, it’s Alkins. Overall, Nurse will have a chance to test out the shiniest of his new toys, perhaps by featuring Anunoby in a variety of offensive sets. Being an offense-focused coach, fans should expect to see Nurse use Anunoby in creative ways, especially since this will be their first opportunity as a head coach-player duo. The Vegas Summer League kicks off on July 6th, and will play through to July 17th, for a total of 12 days. The Raptors open with a game on July 6th against the New Orleans Pelicans, in the Thomas and Mack Center, at 12:30 p.m. local time, and 3:30 p.m. Eastern Standard.