Raps Fall to Kings in Summer League

by RaptorsHQ - Archives on Jul 10, 2006 10:35 AM EDT

74 FOULS CALLED.

Welcome to Summer League.

Yes, the refs controlled last night's match between the Raptors and Kings' summer squads, a match that saw Toronto lose 86-79. Joey Graham led the way again for Toronto with 14 points but was not nearly as effective as in his previous match, including on the defensive end, where the Kings' Kevin Martin terrorized him and the rest of Toronto's defence with his lighting-quick first step. Martin ended up with 27 points but was only three of eight from the field. The rest of his scoring came from the foul line where he shot an absurd 24 free throws making 20 of them. This stat probably best summarizes the foul issues for Toronto and in fact the Raptors only got to the line 18 times compared to Sacramento's 49! Not wanting to read into things too much, it IS only summer league, but Toronto had issues with over-fouling last season and yesterday's game had better not be a sign of things to come.

ESPECIALLY for top pick Andrea Bargnani.

While Bargnani chipped in 12 points, he also chipped in 10 fouls actually fouling out...something I'm not even sure Hoffa did in Summer League play. The HQ is going to blame this however on Italy's World Cup win and hope that "Il Mago" was distracted.

Andre Barrett has his second solid game for the Raptors and looks to be playing his way "at least" into a training camp invite. His control of the game, speed and scoring have been on full display so far for Toronto.

Off the court, there's still no word on who Bryan Colangelo is zeroing in on in terms of free agents. With the first official day to sign free agents being this Wednesday, Colangelo sure is keeping a tight lip on who is being considered. We've heard the Anthony Parker and Eddie House rumours, but they've really only been rumblings up to this point.

Also off the court, all of us here at the HQ want to wish Pape "Spiderman" Sow a speedy recovery from his successful neck surgery. The concern is that Sow might miss the entire upcoming season, something that would be a huge blow to the young forward's development. We're hoping this isn't the case and that he'll be back with the team as soon as possible.

And now we'll sign off with a few random thoughts from Chapman, freshly back from his resort scouting in Cuba, and catching up on recent Raptor news...

- Why can't we watch summer league games live? Despite the fact that Swirsk
tells me if I want to watch them, I need a life, I want to watch these games!

- Bargnani's numbers looked good from his first game - Justin Gray (aka Artest Jr.) did not. 0-5 from the field? Your ticket to the Association is your shot. 7-7 from the line is good, but indicates misdirected intentions (misdirected hostilities like 311?)

- If Anthony Parker can put up Jasekevicius type numbers, I'd be down at the right price.

- Why only 14 minutes for PJ Tucker in his first game and 21 yesterday? It's the SUMMER LEAGUE!

- TJ Ford a "backup point guard?" I like the deal upon further review and John Hollinger needs to stop hanging out with Stephen A. Smith...

- Samaki Walker on our summer league team? Was Benoit Benjamin unavailable? Or for Louisville alums: Pervis Ellison? Larry O'Bannon?

- Chris Burgess on the Wizards summer league roster made me laugh out loud. Remember when he was going to be Duke's next great white hope? More like the next Greg Newton.

CHAPMAN

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FYI, I am going to provide you with a link TO YOUR OWN BLOG discussing Hoff's 12-foul Summer League appearance in 2004:

http://raptors.fan.ca/index.php/archives/2005/11/02/hoffa-the-brazilian-beast-or-bust-part-iii-conclusion-and-a-look-towards-season-2/

Cheers.

by FireShermanHamilton on Jul 10, 2006 1:53 PM EDT reply actions

Hey I'd be down for televised summer leauge I'm hurtin to watch some ball. Plus I want to see what Andrea can do, the blocks are encouraging lets hope the man has a balanced defensive game. Also hopin Joey G's summer leauge translates into a successful season. I don't really care how long it took Milwaukee to accept the trade. I'm no expert but a starting point guard who's young, fast, can score and is pass friendly is equally as valuable as a 4 who can rebound and score, especially considering Ford had a higher overall efficiency rating and I think is just generally more competitive. Matter of fact their shooting percentages were practically identical, that's including 3's, although Ford took less (which is a good thing). The Swirsk said he didn't feel Ford and Redd were on the same page- well same page or not they had some serious on court success. With that being said watch out for Mo pete this upcoming season, Coach Sam is definetly gonna try to recreate the success that Ford and Redd had.

by Blaker on Jul 10, 2006 6:01 PM EDT reply actions

Hmmm.... the officials were a bit whistle happy in the second half of the game. Raptors were up 52-39. In the second half the King free-throw discrepancy was totally out of whack, the Kings hitting 40-49 while Toronto went for 14-18. Something wasn't right......???!! With all the whistle blowing it killed the tempo of the game and they lost.... Ahh it's only Summer league!!

by Fitzy on Jul 10, 2006 7:50 PM EDT reply actions

FireSherman - Good call...I knew typing the first part that we had discussed Hoffa having an inordinate amount of fouls in summerleague...just couldn't find the reference and link...thanks for keeping us on our toes. I seem to recall that in previous summer leagues Toronto was in, you couldn't foul out...guess that's not the case anymore...

by Franchise on Jul 11, 2006 1:58 AM EDT reply actions

bargnani shd. dominate the competition in the summer league. it's inferior after all and consist of rookies and 2nd year players not to mention borderline nbaers.
i noticed one glaring deficieny this early of barganani's game . he's a weak rebounder for someone who is a 7 footer.
he needs a lot of work !

by nike on Jul 11, 2006 10:35 AM EDT reply actions

Nike, everyone has been saying that forever. He is going to struggle defensively and have a hard time rebounding the ball this year. He will get better but dont expect too much. Bosh better be ready to average 10-11 rebs per game because he is going to have to pick up some of the 7 reb Charlie was getting.

by Dan on Jul 11, 2006 11:17 AM EDT reply actions

Want to cringe more on the CV trade? read the comments left by the Bucks fans on this website...

http://journaltimes.com/nucleus/index.php?itemid=6721

by Derek on Jul 11, 2006 11:53 AM EDT reply actions

bargnani got beaten down by aldridge in a mini scrimmage at a high school a couple days ago

by John on Jul 11, 2006 12:59 PM EDT reply actions

http://www.draftexpress.com/viewarticle.php?a=1394

Check out this link to see our new raptor players, anthony parker and Jorge garbajosa..

by RC on Jul 11, 2006 4:22 PM EDT reply actions

Looks like the game vs the Celtics was ugly. How do you only score 62 pts in summer league?

by Dan on Jul 12, 2006 12:48 AM EDT reply actions

hey jerk who talked trash about chris burgess making them laugh out loud....hes getting paid to play ball....while you get nothing for writing about him....what does that say bout u

by sunni on Jul 19, 2006 1:21 AM EDT reply actions

Sunni - No, that's true, and hopefully Burgess gets his and finds a niche in the league. This post wasn't so much a diss on Burgess but a shot at me. If you read this site you know that I'm a big Duke fan so my co-writer, when penning that section, was more taking a little shot at me...

by Franchise on Jul 19, 2006 9:03 AM EDT reply actions