Early report on Nathan Jawai at the summer league: Smooth, energetic.
Raw. Very raw.
But more promise than disappointment in his first game, according to people who saw it out in Vegas last night.
One thing to remember, though: Jawai is behind two all-stars, a former No. 1 overall draft pick and the Hump as the Raptors head into the summer. Expecting him to get more than garbage minutes is asking a lot.
Notice that Roko Ukic was a DNP-CD in Croatia’s first game in Athens yesterday. All I can think of is that his contract status kept him out of the game because I haven’t heard that he’s banged up or all.
Was told the other day there’s no real glitch in the process, it’s just taking time to finalize the buyout, get the FIBA clearance letter (all players need one when they move from Europe over here) and get him signed to his Raptor deal.
That should get done this week, I’m sure his country wants it cleared up so he can play when the Olympic qualification tournament gets serious on the weekend.
“Since I began coaching, it’s always been a goal of mine to coach a Euroleague team and to be an assistant coach in the NBA,” Herbert said in a telephone interview yesterday. “This opportunity allowed me to get into the NBA and come back to Canada, too.”
It was his work in Europe that caught the eye of Raptors management, who wanted to add a basketball development specialist to work with their younger players. Development will be Herbert’s focus on the five-man staff of Raptors head coach Sam Mitchell.
“I always had smaller-budget teams, so developing our own players was essential for us to compete,” he said. “So we had to spend a lot of time on it.”
In particular, Herbert will be working with Croatian guard Roko Ukic, about to start his rookie NBA season, and third-year centre Andrea Bargnani, who regressed last year after a promising rookie season.
Herbert is familiar with both from his time in Europe. Australian rookie Nathan Jawai will be a focus, too.
“You have to develop a real trust with the players,” he said of his approach. “But you there is no substitute for work.”
With each player, he will develop an individual “game plan” based on his own observations and the desires of Mitchell and the Raptors’ front office. He is already beginning to study video to get a feel for each players’ strengths and weaknesses.
But it’s not just about making jump shots in the gym.
“The goal isn’t to be able to be effective in a one-on-zero situation in the gym, the goal is to be able to make plays at game speed in a five-on-five situation,” Herbert said. “You have to work on mental toughness, self-confidence, physical toughness. It all goes into it.”
He will begin to work with Bargnani when the big Italian arrives in Las Vegas this month. Before those sessions start, he will “pick the brain” of David Blatt, Bargnani’s head coach at Benetton Treviso and a close friend of Herbert.
“He has tremendous potential, but he’s young,” Herbert said of Bargnani. “But of course, there are a lot of expectations on him as the No. 1 pick.”
Right from the opening tip the Nuggets jumped on the Raptors leading 11-2 at the first timeout. They extended that lead in the following minutes to make the score 28-14 at the period buzzer.
The duo of Joey Graham and John Lucas combined for 14 of the Raptors 20 points in the second quarter, that helped Toronto cut their deficit from as much as 15 down to five at the half; 39-34.
The second half saw the Nuggets consistently hold on to their five point lead or so, until 8:27 left in the fourth quarter when the Raptors tied the game at 67. Denver responded with a 17-5 run to secure their 11 point win.
Toronto was led by their three-year pro Joey Graham’s 16 points.
(Video) Raptors/Nuggets
“It’s a great move if O’Neal is healthy,” says ESPN analyst Hubie Brown. “But that’s a helluva ‘if.’ And they’re going to miss the Ford kid, no doubt about that.”
Last year the Raptors finished 41-41, losing in the first playoff round to the Orlando Magic in five games. That series exposed Toronto’s weaknesses, primarily rebounding and defense. The 6-11 O’Neal, who has averaged 9.6 rebounds and 2.4 blocks since becoming a regular in 2000-01, could help there.
“We know he’s motivated and determined right now,” Colangelo says. “He’s poised to have a breakout year. The health concerns are there, but my medical team is fairly conservative and they have given him the green light. He’s doing everything he can to get himself ready for the season.”
In 13 seasons, the Raptors have advanced to the playoffs five times, losing in the first round all but once and never advancing past the conference semifinals.
The team’ star remains Bosh, 24. Last year he averaged 22.3 points, 8.7 rebounds, 2.6 assists, 0.9 steals and 1.0 blocks and is just now entering his prime.
“He plays power forward the way George Gervin played the two-guard,” Brown says. “He’s not demonstrative and he won’t knock anybody on his bottom. He’s never going to be a brute. But he’s smooth and he’s got a lot of tools. He’s never played with a center who’s been double-teamed before, so having O’Neal should open up his game, open up some offensive rebounds for him.”
Both O’Neal and Bosh (6-10) played power forward last year, but Colangelo believes their styles are different enough to co-exist.
“Chris is more of a face-up big who can out-quick people,” Colangelo says, “while Jermaine is more of an interior post presence.”
Bosh, a three-time all-star, calls O’Neal “a dominant low-post scorer; that’s what he is. He can take care of everything inside. He can block shots, he can use both hands around the basket and he’s a big, strong guy. I think we can find a way to complement each other.”
“It doesn’t matter where they play,” Mitchell says. “They’ll start off guarding someone and go from there.”
“The key for them is developing backcourt depth,” Brown says. “Calderon is a helluva player, but what if he gets hurt and they don’t re-sign Delfino? Without an experienced backup point guard, they’re in trouble.”
Says Mitchell, “You can’t sign everybody.”
After a series of lackluster pre-draft workouts, Utah State’s Jaycee Carroll continues to turn heads in summer league games.
He was outstanding for New Jersey during the Orlando Summer League and, according to Doug Smith of the Toronto Star, Carroll scored 14 points in “about four minutes” in the Raptors’ game in Las Vegas on Saturday night.
I wonder if finally Jaycee is getting worn down a little bit. He has played 7 games in 8 days. I don’t care how good of shape he is in. It is either fatigue or the fact that he has been trying to learn a new system with Toronto. Also it is just how it goes sometimes. The ups and downs of a pro athlete.
As the third quarter started, so did the increase of the Toronto Raptors’ will to win.
Toronto went on a 6-2 run early in the quarter, limiting the deficit to 42-40, Denver. Bobby Jones scored seven straight points to push the lead back out of reach, though, at 55-46. The Raptors responded with a 12-6 run, capped off by a Lucas-Banks alley-oop, once again cutting it to a one-possession game, 61-58 with 1:25 remaining.
How can Carroll play for New Jersey one week, then switch uniforms and play for Toronto this week? Most importantly, Jaycee has not signed an NBA contract. He is still a free agent, and trying to show off his basketball skills to entice the Nets, Raptors, or any other NBA franchise to offer a guaranteed contract.
He is staying at the plush Palms Resort and Casino, courtesy of the Raptors. Toronto will pay Jaycee a weekly per diem and other expenses, as the Nets did last week.
Toronto, New Jersey and the Phoenix Suns all had shown strong interest in Carroll after the former Red Devil star was not selected in the 2008 NBA Draft. Carroll decided to accept New Jersey’s offer to play with the Nets’ entries in NBA Summer League action at Orlando and in the Rocky Mountain Revue in Salt Lake City July 21-24.
He flew to Jersey two weeks ago, then practiced seven times with his new Nets’ teammates before heading to Florida for the Orlando Summer League competition.
After a strong performance in Orlando, the Raptors called to see if he wanted to play Vegas this week.
“Through the whole process, Toronto has shown considerable interest,” Jaycee said Sunday. “I went down to Orlando and played with New Jersey, and I played pretty well. Some of (Toronto’s) scouts saw me, and invited me to come up and be a part of their summer league team here in Vegas. I’ll play five games with them here.”
This week’s focus turns to helping Toronto win games in Las Vegas, and hopefully improving his odds to ink that guaranteed NBA deal. His wife, Baillie, has joined Jaycee in Vegas. They will spend the week together, with basketball mixed in with some fun.
“Baillie came in Sunday,” Jaycee said. “We’re going to kind of hang out this week and enjoy the experience.”
Ironically, the couple will celebrate their one-year wedding anniversary Saturday, July 19.
If plans don’t change, Jaycee said he is scheduled to fly out of Vegas late Saturday night, arriving in Salt Lake City Sunday about 2 a.m. to begin preparations for next week’s action in the Rocky Mountain Revue.
From what I hear, the “official” announcement RE: Ukic signing with the Raps and coming over to Canada should be made official this week.
He will be the primary back-up for Jose Calderon this season.
Once things wrap up with Croatia and the Olympic Qualifier this week, everything should be finalized.
Though the Raptors don’t have a ton of wiggle room under the luxury tax, my gut tells me that they might spend a little bit of money to secure a veteran PG — a depth guy — to play behind Calderon and Ukic in case Roko struggles in his rookie campaign at any point.
I think this is the best Raps team we have every had in this city and feel they could make a run to the conference finals (with a little luck) but without a turnaround year from Il Mago or some new, crazy, unheard of role player emerging into the starting lineup (a la Jamario Moon) – this team is likely to improve but still find itself falling short come playoff time. Especially with so many “unproven winners” on this team. Most of these guys have only lost (and in a really bad way) in the playoffs. More veteran leadership is needed here – as well as an “Xs and Os” assistant coach who sleeps with his clipboard and dreams of plays that attract the double in the low post and result in wide open 3s for Kapono and Calderon coming out of EVERY timeout and stoppage of play.
Joey Graham is trying to show the Raptors that he belongs on the team and in the rotation, and for the second straight game he did just that. Graham led the Raptors with 16 points and seven rebounds, but he simply didn’t have enough help against Denver’s squad. Hassan Adams, John Lucas, and Coleman Collins each chipped in 11 points in the losing cause.
NBA star center Jermaine O’Neal of the Toronto Raptors drank Moet with a large group of friends on the club’s main stage where Charlotte Bobcats power forward Sean May was also seated just a few feet away.
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