CALGARY – The Toronto Raptors wrapped up their training camp on campus at the University of Calgary with a spirited game against each other.
It’s an annual tradition as the Raptors move their first week of the pre-season to various locations around the country — in recent years they’ve been in Montreal, Vancouver, Victoria and Quebec City, among others — they finish the week with an open practice followed by a live scrimmage.
They are always well attended — it was a full house at Jack Simpson Gymnasium and a very enthusiastic crowd, evidence that the Raptors brand and the appetite for NBA hoops is strong well outside the GTA.
Still to come is a game against someone else, something Toronto can look forward to on Monday in Vancouver when they host Jamal Murray and the Denver Nuggets in the NBA Canada Game.
That will be something to look forward to. As Raptors centre Jakob Poeltl said even last week: “It’s very unique in a way where, like right now in practice, we’re playing against our own teammates, young guys who just who bring a lot of energy, play our style of basketball, which not a lot of other NBA teams do. So I think I’m curious on how the challenge is going to be once we play against teams that maybe play a little bit slower pace, that play a more traditional style of NBA basketball, with individual guys that are going to come at you.”
That will have to wait. For now, here are some impressions of the Raptors teeing up against each other:
1. Brandon Ingram is pretty darn good. This is not groundbreaking stuff, but it’s pretty obvious he’s going to give the Raptors offence something they haven’t had for a while which is why they went out and traded for him and then signed him to a $120-million extension. There was nothing really spectacular about his showing in the scrimmage, which might be the point. For a premier scorer he doesn’t command the ball or force any of the action. He’s comfortable drifting off the ball, looking for easy ways to get it back, and is a crafty small space cutter and post sealer. With the ball he goes slow, slow, slow … and then makes one quick move and spin and finds himself a good look. He finished with 14 points by my count, and there’s no way he needed more than eight or nine shots to get them.
2. Collin Murray-Boyles was also as advertised. The rookie taken ninth overall has earned praise from his teammates and coaching staff for his energy and athleticism — “a beast, a monster” — was how Scottie Barnes referred to him the other day. He was aggressive defending Barnes in the halfcourt and had the game’s best dunk, a convincing putback in the first quarter. He would have another had Jakob Poeltl not blocked him at the rim. Also encouraging, he looked very comfortable unfurling an open three off a swing pass, a development that will go a long way towards determining his NBA ceiling. “He’s been doing a really, really good job,” said Raptors head coach Darko Rajaković. “He’s not afraid of anything or anybody.”
3. Based on practice jersey colour, the Raptors starters, in black are — as has been widely projected — Poeltl, Immanuel Quickley, RJ Barrett, Ingram and Barnes. More intriguingly, the second unit (wearing grey) would appear to be Jamal Shead, Sandro Mamukelashvili, Gradey Dick, Ochai Agbaji and Murray-Boyles. That leaves the likes of Ja’Kobe Walter, Jamison Battle, and Jonathan Mogbo — who averaged 21.2, 20.4 and 17.7 minutes per game last season, respectively — battling for opportunities behind those five. An interesting game within the game will be the battle between Dick and Walter for minutes in the second unit. Walter looked fast and smooth in his stints and knocked down a pair of threes early and a very confident turnaround in the lane late.
”Everybody is competing for minutes on this team,” said Rajakovic. “He did an outstanding job this summer, improved a lot.”
Dick didn’t have the most efficient game on offence (there were no official stats available, but he missed his share of shots) but had a great sequence where he hit an open three off a swing pass, a step-back three over Ingram. He then picked Ingram’s pocket, went the other way and got fouled. He missed his second free throw but grabbed his miss, got fouled again and made those two, for a nine-point spurt in the space of barely a minute.
4. The Raptors have officially made it through their training camp unscathed, with the minor exception being Ulrich Chomche, the second-round pick from 2024 who is starting the second season of his two-way contract this season. He’s been held out of practice for most of the week, but the Raptors aren’t providing any kind of update until he gets some medical imaging done on Monday in Vancouver. An encouraging sign is that when he was introduced before the game he jogged out comfortably and dapped up his teammates with both hands, so that would seem to rule out grievous injury to his feet, ankles, knees and thumbs. There was a brief scare when Barnes left the game after getting his hand tangled up in a mix-up with Murray-Boyles, but he returned with his left thumb wrapped apparently none the worse for wear.
5. It’s always fun to see which jerseys seem to resonate with people. Not surprisingly — in my very unscientific survey — the leader was Barnes’ No. 4. Vince Carter’s No. 15 remains a timeless classic. There were some tributes to the past with Kyle Lowry’s No. 7, DeMar DeRozan’s No. 10, Pascal Siakam’s No. 43, OG Anunoby’s No. 3 and Fred VanVleet’s No. 23 represented. Among the current crop of Raptors Mississauga’s very own Barrett had his fans. But by far the most random jersey sighting of the evening — and quite likely for the season — was a gentleman wearing a Jermaine O’Neal No. 6. The former Pacers star, you may or may not recall, played 41 games for the Raptors during the 2008-09 season before he was traded to the Miami Heat in the deal that brought the Raptors Shawn Marion. It’s nice to see that someone remembers.
