The Toronto Raptors announced Thursday their 15-man roster for Samsung NBA Summer League 2016 in Las Vegas.
First-round draft picks Jakob Poeltl (YAH-cub PUHR-tuhl) and Pascal Siakam (Pass-CAL See-AH-kum) along with current Raptors Bruno Caboclo (cuh-BO-clo), Norman Powell and Delon Wright will headline this year’s squad. Raptors assistant coach/player development Jama Mahlalela (MAH-la-LAY-lah) will serve as the team’s head coach.
Poeltl played two seasons at Utah and one season (2013-14) for the Arkadia Traiskirchen Lions in his native Austria. He was the 2016 Pac-12 Player of the Year, an AP second-team All-America and the recipient of the Kareem Abdul-Jabbar Award for the nation's top centre. Poeltl averaged 17.2 points (second in the Pac-12), 9.1 rebounds (fourth in the conference) and 1.6 blocks (eighth in the Pac-12) in 36 games this past season. He ranked first in the Pac-12 and seventh in the nation in field goal percentage (.646).
Siakam played two seasons at New Mexico State. He averaged 20.3 points, 11.6 rebounds and 2.2 blocks in 34 games in 2015-16 en route to unanimous Western Athletic Conference Player of the Year honours. He led the nation with 27 double-doubles. The native of Cameroon was the 2015 WAC Freshman of the Year, averaging 12.8 points, 7.7 rebounds and 1.8 blocks in 34 outings. He ranked first in the conference in field goal percentage (.572) and blocked shots.
Caboclo will make his third appearance in Las Vegas at NBA Summer League. He averaged 12.0 points (second on the team), 4.2 rebounds and 29.4 minutes in five games with the Raptors’ entry last year.
Powell was named to the All-NBA Summer League 2015 First Team after averaging a team-high 18.3 points in four games. During his rookie season, Powell averaged 5.6 points, 2.3 rebounds and 14.8 minutes in 49 games (24 starts). He also appeared in 18 postseason games, scoring 13 points in Game 7 versus Indiana.
Wright returns to NBA Summer League after averaging 9.5 points, 5.5 assists, 1.5 steals and 21.0 minutes in two games last summer. He averaged 3.8 points, 1.4 rebounds and 8.5 minutes in 27 games (one start) during his rookie campaign with the Raptors. Wright appeared in nine playoffs contests.
NBA Summer League 2016 in Las Vegas will feature 24 teams participating in a tournament-style schedule which culminates with a Championship Game for the fourth consecutive year. Teams will compete in three preliminary round games from July 8-12, before being seeded in a tournament that starts July 13 and concludes with the Championship Game on July 18. Each team is guaranteed to play at least five games.
This year marks Toronto’s ninth appearance at NBA Summer League in Las Vegas (2006, 2008-10, 2012-15). The Raptors finished NBA Summer League 2015 with a 3-2 record and hold an overall mark of 20-20 (.500) at the event.
Toronto opens the preliminary round Friday, July 8 versus the Sacramento Kings at Cox Pavilion (7 p.m. PT / 10 p.m. ET).
TORONTO RAPTORS NBA SUMMER LEAGUE 2016 ROSTER
(as of June 30, 2016)
15 Davion Berry G | 6-4 | 185 | 11/1/1991 | Weber State / USA | R 20 Bruno Caboclo F | 6-9 | 218 | 9/21/1995 | Pinheiros/Sky (Sao Paulo) / Brazil | 2 11 Drew Crawford G | 6-5 | 215 | 10/18/1990 | Northwestern / USA | R 22 DeAndre Daniels F | 6-9 | 196 | 4/15/1992 | Connecticut / USA | R 12 Jalen Jones F | 6-7 | 223 | 5/27/1993 | Texas A&M / USA | R 53 Alex Kirk C | 6-11 | 252 | 11/14/1991 | New Mexico / USA | 1 13 Yanick Moreira C | 6-11 | 220 | 7/31/1991 | SMU / Angola | R 42 Jakob Poeltl C | 7-0 | 248 | 10/15/1995 Utah / Austria | R 24 Norman Powell G | 6-4 | 215 | 5/25/1993 | UCLA / USA | 1 43 Pascal Siakam F | 6-9 | 230 | 2/4/1994 | New Mexico State / Cameroon | R 25 E.J. Singler F | 6-6 | 215 | 6/6/1990 | Oregon / USA | R 32 Evan Smotrycz F | 6-9 | 235 | 8/2/1991 | Maryland / USA | R 2 Quinton Upshur G | 6-5 | 207 | 6/16/1993 | Northern Arizona / USA | R 23 Fred VanVleet G | 6-0 | 186 | 2/25/1994 | Wichita State / USA | R 55 Delon Wright G | 6-5 | 183 | 4/26/1992 | Utah / USA | 1SUMMER LEAGUE COACH: Jama Mahlalela