If you didn’t catch the game, consider yourself lucky. Not only was this a summer league game, the Raptors were outclassed from the tip-off. The commentators talked about everything other than the Raptors, and when they did, they concentrated on Caboclo being taken out of nowhere and how they call him the Brazilian Durant. Overall, I liked what I saw from Caboclo and Daniels, and think that Buycks looks less impressive than he did last summer; he can’t be getting lazy after a year on the Raptors.
Dwane Casey, on @Bruno_Caboclo: “I love people saying he’s two years way from being two years away. They don’t know anything.”
— Chris Mannix (@ChrisMannixSI) July 13, 2014
Toronto definitely had to take Bruno Caboclo at 20. Spurs at 30 and Mavs at 34 would have taken him accoding to scouts
— NBADraft.net (@nbadraftnet) July 13, 2014
Game Notes
Overall
- Nogueira doesn’t seem to have the right instincts to be a center in the NBA; he looks like he’s just happy to be here and that things will work out (they might, cause he’s a seven footer, but he needs to give more effort). He’s going to need to at least to appear to work harder while on the floor. I was super disappointed.
- Buycks needs to do better; yes he’s getting his, and his box looks full, but the guy didn’t distinguish himself against guys trying to make the league, and was badly outplayed (though they weren’t on each other for most of the game) by rookie Gary Harris, who might just be my favourite player in the draft.
- Speaking of Harris, the guy was making big boy moves, taking good shots, and hitting them. I realize he’s playing against boys, but you want your guys running the floor with the others at summer league which is why I’m disappointed with Buycks.
- Caboclo looks closer to contributing at a high level in the league than Buycks does; in fact, he didn’t look like he was four years away from anything and will be nice in limited minutes this year. He moves well, is athletic, his length can disrupt passing lanes, his shot isn’t terrible; we’ve seen much worse players in the league who people thought would have staying power (Joey Graham). In the short term, he just needs to put on some weight. In fact, his biggest barrier to success is being labelled the Brazilian Durant…how the hell do you shake that????
- Daniels was intense, and worked hard the entire game. He looked like he was there to learn, improve, and make the Raptors as soon as possible. Exactly what summer league is about.
- Reggie Miller is the worst thing that’s happened to broadcasting. Dude is so boring I watched the game on mute.
1st Quarter
- Bruno late to contest a layup at the rim
- Buycks with a lazy penetration and kick; turnover…didn’t run back the other way
- Caboclo hits the corner three
- Caboclo with a steal, then draws foul on the other end on the break
- Zero pressure on the perimeter; Denver is popping threes and sticking them at will
- Bebe does not have a nose for rebounding; that afro is distracting all of us
- Buycks out of the timeout with a pull up three in motion; looked legit…hopefully not an anomaly
- Buycks with another lazy layup; gets swatted at the rim after a wide open lane
- Gary Harris looks nice; playing within himself, owning Buycks, making smart plays #jealous
- Raptors perimeter defense is ridiculous; at least 6 threes have been put up without much of anything trying to affect them
- Schurna shoes shoots like my sister; not as accurate
- Denver finishes the quarter with a three at the buzzer; Caboclo rotated to contest, but was late
2nd Quarter
- Kabongo already looking better than Buycks and he’s only dribbled the ball three times
- I change my mind, he’s pretty bad, but doesn’t have the excuse Buycks does
- #4 on the raptors got man handled off the rebound from the foul shot (he had position) #sigh
- Bruno had an hour to get position on #15, but failed, and got dinged with the block
- Raptors give up the rebound on the missed free throw again
- Caboclo needs to gain 30lbs of muscle to be something in the league
- Buycks with the open trey in the corner
- Bruno needs to work on setting pics
- Another three from Denver
- Ujiri looks really bored; picking at his fingers (not even tapping away on his phone)
- Will be surprised if Buycks gets signed this season by someone
- Plain white t-shirts seem to be the gear of choice of NBA players sitting on the sidelines
- Gin and tonic time; this game isn’t watchable sober 55-27 Denver
- My cold, gluten free pizza is much more interesting than this game; I have no idea what is going
- Thankfully this game is half-done
3rd Quarter
- Caboclo making his early in the quarter offensive push
- Buycks doesn’t box out his check (who shot a three), let him grab his own rebound inside the three point line
- Raptors marking the Nuggets to put the ball on the ground and forcing bad shots
- 8-2 Raptors run to start the quarter
- Raptors making a bigger effort on the defensive boards; at least 3 guys collapse and go for the ball while Buycks flashes down the court
- Caboclo making himself available and getting the ball in nice spots around the rim to make things happen (ally-oop layup on the semi-break)
- Caboclo gets the ball in the corner, hesitates, puts the ball on the baseline and gets to the rack for the layup +1
- Caboclo on display this quarter; handles are better than his jumper
- Nogueira with a one-handed ally-oop layup as the quarter came to a close; that was bloody pretty
4th Quarter
- Nuggets open up the game after a couple back-to-back threes on weak Raptors possessions
- This game has been over for most of the quarter; no one really doing anything of note on the Raptors side
