The Toronto Raptors are back — sort of.
Summer League tipped off for Toronto in Las Vegas on Friday night against the Chicago Bulls. It’s always tough and, frankly, silly to read much into Summer League games. It wasn’t all that long ago that Malachi Flynn was opening eyes in Vegas, for example. But we’ll do our best to break down an 83-74 loss.
Gradey Dick Struggles
All eyes coming into Game 1 in Vegas were on Toronto’s first-round pick Gradey Dick, the No. 13 pick in the 2013 NBA Draft. Again, we won’t read too much into one game, but it wasn’t exactly the opener Dick and the Raptors would have hoped for.
Dick started the game 0-for-4 with a turnover before finally breaking through with a transition three in the corner courtesy of Ron Harper Jr. His jumpers were short most of the evening and his handle looked a little loose. The passing IQ that Toronto gushed about was there on the offensive end and the passing skill came through, but it was an overall disappointing showing for the 19-year-old former Jayhawk.
In one sequence he turned the ball over twice in the third quarter, letting the ball slip through his hands in the corner due to a lack of concentration, and he airballed a jumper earlier in the second. His best play of the night came in the third, snaking his way through the defense off the ball and nailing an above-the-break behind a pair of screens.
Dick finished the game with 10 points on 3-for-12 shooting with three steals, three turnovers, and two assists in 30 minutes. He did throw a stellar pass to Joe Wieskamp that should have been converted for a three, but Wieskamp couldn’t connect.
The Legend of Markquis Nowell Grows
Dick may have been the headliner Friday night, but undrafted rookie Markquis Nowell stole that show. The 5-foot-7 Nowell took his first step of many to silence his NBA critics with a game-high 17-point and five-assist showing against the Bulls.
His passing chops are every bit as impressive as they’d been in college. He’s simply magical with the ball, working the pick-and-roll with Moses Brown for easy buckets at the rim or whizzing skip passes from deep in the paint to find shooters in the corners. He found Brown with a pair of no-look passes inside that were Scottie Barnes-esque in their beauty.
Nowell’s lack of size did show at times, as expected. He made an acrobatic finish through contact for an and-1 layup in transition but was also smothered at the rim by Chicago’s bigger defenders. But his three-point shot, especially from very deep, coupled with his tough-nosed style of play and pesky hands on defense showed why he’ll compete for backup point guard minutes for Toronto in training camp.
Moses Brown on a Two-Way?
An added two-way spot to NBA rosters this year has brought a little more opportunity to Summer League this year and the 7-foot-2 Brown certainly turned some heads in his stint. He and Nowell appear to have great pick-and-roll chemistry, hooking up repeatedly for field goals in the paint.
Brown, who is in his fifth NBA season, has the kind of size Toronto could use on its bench alongside Jakob Poeltl and Christian Koloko. He collected three blocks and was a force inside, finishing the night with 14 points and nine rebounds.
Up Next: Cavaliers
The Raptors will continue their Summer League schedule on Sunday at 3:30 p.m. ET against the Cleveland Cavaliers.
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