Leaving Las Vegas
The Summer League Raptors have concluded their 2018 Las Vegas Summer League campaign. After dropping an 82-68 decision to the Cleveland Cavaliers in the tournament quarterfinals, the Raptors were eliminated after six games in 10 days.
Final game
Things fell apart for Toronto in the third quarter against the Cavaliers where they were outscored 21-4, leading to Cleveland taking a 15-point lead into the final quarter. Chris Boucher led the Raptors in the loss with 18 points, eight rebounds and four blocked shots. Giddy Potts added 12 points, and Alfonzo McKinnie and Malachi Richardson each added 14 points.
An OG summer
After leading the team in minutes through the first four games, the Raptors rested OG Anunoby for the final two contests. In four games in Vegas, Anunoby averaged 15.8 points, 6.0 rebounds and 1.3 blocks in 27.3 minutes per contest. He shot 40 percent from the floor.
Numbers to know
Malachi Richardson ended up leading the team in minutes, playing six games and averaging minutes 27.7 and 12.8 points per contest. Chris Boucher had a strong showing in Vegas, averaging 10.8 points, 6.5 rebounds and 3.2 blocks per game. Alfonzo McKinnie finished averaging 7.5 points and 4.5 rebounds per game. Unfortunately, Malcolm Miller’s time in Vegas was cut short when he suffered a nasty fall and dislocated his shoulder in the team’s third game of the round-robin session.
Fresh on the sidelines
Though OG didn’t suit up for the team’s final two games, he showed off fresh kicks on the bench:
Highlight reel
Check out a compilation of some of the best plays from the Summer League Raptors here:
Nurse checks in
Though the ending wasn’t as desired, Raptors head coach Nick Nurse was pleased with his team’s time in Vegas. Watching the team improve from the first day onward, getting to work with his coaching staff, and seeing the growth of OG Anunoby were all things Nurse mentioned after the team’s final game:
Final wrap
Matt Tierney delivered the final Summer League post-game recap outside the Thomas & Mack Center before the team officially signed off from Vegas:
They said it
“For my coaches, for OG, for Malachi, Chris Boucher, Rawle [Alkins], Giddy Potts, there were some real bright spots that went pretty deep. I would imagine some of the names, a couple of them will help the Raptors and a couple will help the 905 Raptors and eventually help the Raptors one day too. It was really productive.”- Nick Nurse highlighting the bright spots of this year’s summer league session
“I waited, being patient. I was waiting for my chance. We have a good team. We just needed to find a good chemistry to make it happen. As soon as we found a chemistry it was easy for me to find a place and do my job and recognize what my role was on the team.”- Chris Boucher on getting more comfortable as summer league went on
“I love Coach Nurse. It was fun playing for him this summer league. We got to know him as a head coach. We knew him as the assistant least year, but now we get a chance to know him as a head coach, just see the different schemes he wants to incorporate with the big club come this season. It was good playing for him. I learned some stuff from him this summer and I’m going to take some of those things with me and it’ll always be with me.”- Alfonzo McKinnie on Nick Nurse
“He did a nice job with skill development to this point. Working on some new things, we tried a few of them out here. He will go back, take a little time off here, and then get into his body maintenance work. Getting himself as healthy and strong as he can and then he’ll get back on the floor with more skill development. He’s gotta continue to work on his perimeter shooting. He’s still going to be a catch and shoot three guy. I’d really like him to work on his post-up game in case there’s any switches, he can get them down there. And then just overall ball handling and passing.”- Nick Nurse on OG Anunoby’s summer league
“It was nice. Toronto, Canada, is back home for me. It felt good just to put the Raptors on my jersey. Its a learning process. I feel like I got a lot better. I didn't know what to expect when I got here. I definitely got better. I know there’s still things I can fix, but that’s what you’re here for, to learn how to fix the stuff you’re not good at and get better at everything.”- Chris Boucher on getting to play with the Raptors summer league team
Up next
Players will go their respective ways, continuing on with summer training as they prepare for their upcoming seasons. Whether they will be played in the NBA, G-League, a combination of the two, or somewhere else entirely, the work continues.