Vegas Odds and Ends I

by RaptorsHQ - Archives on Jul 14, 2008 12:00 AM EDT in General

Could late Vegas addition Jaycee Caroll be the answer for the Raps final roster spot?

It’s funny what lengths you’ll go to as a basketball fan to get your b-ball fix come off-season. Exhibit A of this line of thinking is the NBA’s Summer League. Friday night I ended up watching the Clippers Summer-League squad take on the Mavericks entry (featuring former Raptor Pape Sow) and you would have thought I was watching Game 1 of Raptors-Magic last year I was that excited.

Yep, I guess you could say I’m anxious for the season to get going.

The reality however is that we’re still a good three months away from anything resembling real NBA basketball and if you’ve watched any of the Vegas action, you’ve seen some of the sloppiest, most horrific basketball there is. Yesterday morning I had a WNBA game on briefly and it was superior in quality in almost every way.

(Although it didn’t feature any dunks like this.)

And thanks to some compatibility issues on my Mac, I could only hear the audio of Toronto’s game against Sacramento on Saturday, a 93 to 86 loss. From the highlights however and various other reports, it sounded like Joey Graham had an MVP-type performance however I’m not sure I’m going to agree. It seemed from the audio like Graham was constantly getting called for fouls (he finished with EIGHT) and you could hear Toronto’s coaching staff shouting instructions at him through most of the affair.

You can watch highlights of the game here at Raptors.com and from these select cuts, it looked like Joey did some nice things. Obviously a few less fouls would be nice, especially considering he’s a three-year pro playing against mostly fringe NBAers, but seeing on the box score that he got to the line 15 times is encouraging. This is an area Toronto is still going to need help in next year so here’s to more stat-lines like this over the next few weeks.

The player though who really stood out from the footage I saw was Jaycee Carroll. Carroll, an undrafted shooting guard from Utah State, was a last minute addition to Toronto’s roster but ended up playing 15 minutes in the loss, scoring 14 points and dishing out four assists. He’s undersized at the 2 spot in the NBA (he’s only about 6-2) but has a lighting quick release ala Jason Kapono and can really shoot it. Carroll is actually Utah State’s all-time leading scorer and from yesterday’s highlights, you can see he really knows how to fill it up, being able to score in a variety of ways.

However there are quite a few questions about Carroll’s game. In college, many draft experts actually thought he was a more efficient shooter and scorer than JJ Redick however lacked Redick’s strength and athleticism. Well considering that Redick is not exactly the picture of elite athletic ability, this really paints a picture about Carroll. He’s going to struggle to create his own shot and taller and more athletic wings in the NBA so the question is, regardless of these potential issues, is he someone who Toronto may still take a flyer on?

I’d have to say yes and only because of his ability to play the 1. He ran the point for his team at the Orlando pre-draft camp and while it’s not his natural position, he did a fairly decent job. In Vegas, his only competition at the spot would be Daniel Ewing and John Lucas Jr and really, Carroll has more upside to his game than either. Ewing struggled on Saturday with five fouls and only two points and no assists in about nine minutes of playing time. Lucas was better with 10 points and six assists but shot only 3 of 13 from the field.

Therefore, it will be interesting to see who gets the minutes at the 1 spot today when Toronto takes on Denver. Something to keep an eye on though is the chemistry between former college teammates Joey Graham and John Lucas Jr. The two seemed to play quite well together and one idea might be to have Lucas Jr. become the third stringer simply to inject some confidence and familiarity into Joey’s game.

A final note from Saturday’s action, Rod Benson and Joel Bosh both got the DNP status however that’s not too surprising. I expect to see both get minutes today and two others to sit out the action. Usually in Vegas coaches like to get a good feel for each player and therefore tend to limit their bench. On Saturday Graham, Lucas Jr. and Hassan Adams (who had a tough night shooting the ball) all saw nearly 30 minutes of action or more.

Coaching Toronto’s Vegas entry is Eric Hughes, not Sam Mitchell, however Mitchell and co will have some more sideline help next year. Toronto has hired Gord Herbert as an assistant coach/player development lead and the ex Canadian National Team member brings with him an extensive resume.

From the official press release:

The Toronto Raptors announced Saturday they have hired Gord Herbert as an assistant coach/player development. Herbert, a former
Canadian National Team player, has extensive coaching experience in Europe.

Herbert began his professional coaching career in 1994 and led three of his teams to a spot in Euroleague play. He coached last season in Greece, guiding Aris to a third-place finish in league play and a berth in the Top 16 in Euroleague competition. Prior to working for Aris, he coached three seasons in France, with well-known French teams Paris Basket Racing (2004-06) and Pau Orthez (2006-07). He guided Pau Othez to the French Cup championship and a Top 16 finish in Euroleague action.

Hebert's first head coaching experience came in Finland. He coached U.U. Korihait from 1994-96 and Honka from 1996-99. Herbert coached in Austria in 1999-2000 and then moved to Germany for five seasons. He led Wurzburg for one campaign (2000-01) before coaching the Opel Skyliners from 2001-04. He captured the German Cup Vice Championship in the 2001-02 and 2003-04 seasons.

Herbert's coaching experience also extends into international competition. He coached the Finnish Junior National Team from 1995-97, the Georgian National Team from 2005-07 and was an assistant to Jay Triano with the Canadian National Team at the 2002 World Championships.

Herbert was a player on the Canadian Junior Team in 1979-80 and for the country's National Team from 1982-87. He teamed with Triano to win gold at the 1983 World Student Games. A first-team Big Sky Conference selection at the University of Idaho in 1982, Herbert played professionally in Finland and Belgium from 1982-84.

Also from the Raptors’ PR department, the announcement late Friday of Nathan Jawai’s signing:

The Toronto Raptors announced Friday they have signed forward-centre Nathan Jawai to a two-year contract. Per team policy, financial details were not disclosed. The club acquired the draft rights to Jawai from the Indiana Pacers. He was the 41st overall selection in the 2008 NBA Draft.

Jawai (pronounced JA-why) was the unanimous 2008 Rookie of the Year in Australia's National Basketball League. He averaged 17.7 points and 9.6 rebounds in 30 games for the Cairns Taipans. He ranked third in the NBL in rebounding, fifth in field goal percentage (.575) and ninth in blocked shots (1.0). He also captured MVP honours of the 2008 NBL All-Star Game after registering 24 points and 12 rebounds.

Jawai, 6-foot-10, 280 pounds, scored 20 or more points 12 times and posted 13 double-doubles for Cairns. He had a career-best 28 points on 13-for-16 shooting and pulled down 15 rebounds at Townsville. He grabbed a career-high 18 rebounds and added 22 points at Sydney. Jawai also recorded a 25-point/16-rebound effort against Singapore.

Jawai attended Midland Junior College in Midland, Texas in 2006-07. He appeared in 13 games, averaging 11.4 points, 5.8 rebound and 1.0 blocks, before returning home to Australia.

He is the first indigenous (Aboriginal) player from Australia to be drafted by an NBA team.

Jawai will participate for the Raptors' entry in the Las Vegas Summer League (July 11-19).

Did Toronto just draft the next Tractor Traylor? We may get a good idea starting this week during the Vegas action.

FRANCHISE

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Comments

You make it sound is if being the next Tractor Traylor is a bad thing (lol). Ok Traylor was a bust but that is because he was a high first round pick with huge expectations (if I recall, wasnt he the player used to get Dirk to Dallas?). If Traylor had been drafted in the second round and not traded for Dirk, his number's don't look so bad. Jawai, only has to provide a little muscle and rebounding and I would say he is a worthy pick. As long as he is better then Arrujo and Yogi, I will be happy.

by McGateway on Jul 14, 2008 12:00 AM EDT reply actions

Another nice read FRANCHISE; keep up the good work. I watched the entire game and had a few observations. This is what I took away terms of player performances:

Joey Graham – looked good when he was slashing to the basket. He was aggressive on offense and looked a cut above the rest as he should having spent 3 yrs in the league. On defense however he seemed to have some slow footwork which caused him to get called for some silly fouls. Played well enough overall though

John Lucas III – looked good at the point. He’s very quick with good ball handling skills. He seems to be a natural PG unlike Ewing. He didn’t shoot very well though and his size might be an issue defensively. Having said this he did a decent job of staying in front of his man on defense. He had a decent overall game but I’m not sold on him yet.

Daniel Ewing – Did a fair job in the first half but seemed to lose his way in the second. His ball handling skills aren’t much different from when he was with the Clippers. I was disappointed to see that he hasn’t improved this aspect of his game. Defensively he got caught making some fundamental mistakes and got called for some really unnecessary stuff. His size should allow him to do well in the league but his lack of ball handling skills may be his downfall. Although he is my pick to make the team I must say he didn’t do well on Saturday and will need to improve leaps and bounds to get a call back.

Sean Banks – I’ve never seen this guy play before Saturday but read (on this site) some good reviews on him. My impression was that he had some good athleticism but really didn’t do anything special or eye opening. He seemed a bit raw to me but its only one game and I need to see more of him before I really comment.

Hassan Adams – Hassan was disappointing. I didn’t expect him to score 40 points and just dominate things but to be honest his defense was one of the worst on the entire team on Saturday. He fell for every fake, every single time and didn’t move his feet on defense. He also got blown by numerous times and frankly was surprisingly weak defensively. On the positive side, his has a good body and showed some explosiveness attacking the rim. He’ll need to do a lot better to make a fan out of me though.

J. Carroll – This guy came out of now where and played a downright economical game. He took good shots, hit them, and held his own on defense. He looked good and if he could play PG he’d be my pick (based on just this one game) to get a call back. The one negative thing though is he seemed a bit weak. That may be an issue against some of the opposition he’ll face in the NBA.

Anyone else take in the game?

by Member29 on Jul 14, 2008 12:00 AM EDT reply actions

Somebody got there first, Ettore Messina is helping the cavaliers instead :((

by renato on Jul 14, 2008 12:00 AM EDT reply actions

Maybe a bit off-topic but... how do you guys feel about Canada's chances at the Olympic qualifiers this week? There's a nice preview up there in The Painted Area:
http://thepaintedarea.blogspot.com/2008/07/preview-fiba-olympic-basketball.html

Greece and now-with-Kaman Germany look like favorites, but I agree that the third spot is up for grabs considering Brazil and Slovenia will be without many of their best players... I still feel like one of those two or Croatia should earn it, but it wouldn't be a stretch for Canada or Puerto Rico to make it instead.

by Sergi P on Jul 14, 2008 12:00 AM EDT reply actions

i watched the game as well but the one point that I disagree with member29 on is that john lucas is a good point guard. He lacks ball handling skill in my opinion, he is very one dimensional, being that he can only dribble with his right hand. He cant take it left at all, and when he does you can tell he is uncomfortable with it. At the NBA level to make it as a point guard you gotta be able to work both sides of the court and take the dribble both ways..i mean seriously that is expected at the highschool level.
He also makes up his mind about what he is gonna do before it comes to it, most of his passes were forced and into coverage, I know he is trying to run the set plays, but when the defence over plays the ball handler or the guy flashing up on the wing, you need to work on the fly and change things up a little, dont always run plays by the book.
overall i was not impressed with either point guard prospect in yesterdays game, hopefully today they can be a little more impressive and at least show that one of them can back up jose for 10 minutes

by big d on Jul 14, 2008 12:00 AM EDT reply actions