Nobody really appreciated CV's passing and dribbling skills, but they were always there. He played guard in high school until he got a growth spurt and jumped to 6'10".
Here's a recap from RealGM <div class="quote_poster">Quoting "Sonrise":</div><div class="quote_post">Let me begin by saying that this was one of the most entertaining games that I've seen in a long, long time. The atmosphere was electric like a NCAA basketball tournament game. The Raps won 118-117in o.t. A very high score for a regular season gamelet alone a summer league one. In the 2nd half the arena filled to capacity as the Lakers fans filled the place in anticipation of the 2nd game. Well I won't keep y'all waiting any longer. Charlie Villanueva, in a word is OUTSTANDING!!! He is better than advertised. Keep in mind I was very down on the pick and criticized Babcock. Well, let me apologize right now for questioning the gm. CV is NBA ready in every way. He can shot, can pass and can rebound. He's one of the best passing big men that I've sen in a long time. The questions about his ball handling are not valid in any way. He handles the ball like a guard and made several great passes, one in particular was a drive to the hoop taking 2 defenders with him and at the last minute dishing off a no look pass to Pape Sow for a monster jam to tie the game at 104 with 1 second left. The whole place jumped up and cheered like crazy. CV also blocked a shot, drove to the hoop and jammed. He passed the ball to Cooke for a fast break layup. CV finished with23 points and at least 10 rebs and 6 asists. He was the best player on the court and it wasn't even close. As a matter of fact, I stayed for the Lakers vs Memphis game and Charlie was the best player the whole day. Now I have to make one thing very, very clear. He is NOT a center. He spent most of the time at the college 3 point line, either shooting or passing or driving to the hoop. The few times they posted him up down low he looked uncomfortable and passed it right away. CV is a 3/4 which means Bosh will probably will play center. I was initially terrified at this situation but after watching him my fears have been put to rest. I was surrounded by Lakers fans and it was interesting, in the beginning of the game they talked about how he was a bad pick and how all the pundits were making fun of Babcock. Well by the end of the game he was getting standing ovations and oohs and aahs from everyone. It was so cool to see. He is a legit candidate for rookie of the year. He is so fundamentally sound that all the criticism I've read and said myself isn't true. The comments about his pacivity are totally unfounded. he was high fiving, chest thumping all night. He's going to be a stud! Now some comments on other exciting players. The second best player on the Raps was Pape Sow. The guy is pure high energy and has added to his almost non existent offensive repitoire. He made great up and under moves, great head fakes and scored 19 points. He was constant hustle. The 3rd best player cames as a shock to me and will to you also. Toronto native Olu Famutimi is the most athletic player on this deam. Hands down. I expected nothing from him but was curious since he is a Toronto native. He made an ally oop jam from almost half court that got the whole stadium up on its feet. He shot the ball well, making long range jumpers and played defense. He scored 12 points and most importantly was in the game during o.t. I believe he has a real shot at making this team since we have such a need at the 2 guard. He was very impressive with his hustle and power dunks. Now the other rook. Joey Graham. Hustle, hustle and Hustle. He scored 12 points but didn't shoot very well. His jumper isn't there yet but he scored a lot of his points on put backs. The 3rd string pg battle is going to be a good one. I loved Cooke from last year but Kevin Braswell out of Georgetown played very well and is a much better shooter than Omar. KB had 12 points and made smart decisions. He made a 3 pointer . Cooke scored 8 points, 6 of which came in o.t. Our other Canadian, Nate Doornecamp scored 4 points and rebounded very well for the time he was in there. He has a very nice mid range jumper. Slokar was okay but Nate played more minutes and was the better player. He should've been the last pick not Uros, but no biggie. Our other pick Ukic was on the roster but wasn't there. Not sure why. In summation, yeah this is summer league but the Raps team looked great. I'm going to try and make Saturday or Sundays game and I'll report back. I know that it's really late in Toronto right now so feel free to ask questions and I'll respond asap. It's cool to stixky if any mods want to.</div>
<div class="quote_poster">Quote:</div><div class="quote_post">The 3rd best player cames as a shock to me and will to you also. Toronto native Olu Famutimi is the most athletic player on this deam. Hands down. I expected nothing from him but was curious since he is a Toronto native. He made an ally oop jam from almost half court that got the whole stadium up on its feet. He shot the ball well, making long range jumpers and played defense. He scored 12 points and most importantly was in the game during o.t. I believe he has a real shot at making this team since we have such a need at the 2 guard. He was very impressive with his hustle and power dunks. Now the other rook. Joey Graham. Hustle, hustle and Hustle. He scored 12 points but didn't shoot very well. His jumper isn't there yet but he scored a lot of his points on put backs. </div> I'm disappointed in Joey Graham. I realize that it's only a summer league game, but only 12 points in overtime against this kind of subpar competition? I hate to rehash an old argument, so I'm not going to brag about the fact that he struggled in all the areas I thought he would struggle. I'm rooting for the kid. I still think Granger would have been a better pick, but I'm rooting for Graham none the less. As for Famutimi, I'm proud for the kid. For some reason, I feel like I have ties to him like I have ties to all the Michigan State players. Maybe it's because he's from Flint or because he played for former Michigan State assistant coach Stan Heath at Arkansas, but whatever the reason is, I'm praying for him to make the team, and I'm standing by my comments that with his athleticism he can be a very special player.
<div class="quote_poster">Quote:</div><div class="quote_post">My report from Long Beach. Thanks to a strong 1st half from Uros Slokar, and a great 2nd half from Joey Graham, the Raptors defeated the Miami Heat 97-89 in summer league action. Charlie Villanueva had 16 pts, and struggled with his shot in the 2nd half. Slokar showed off his range in the 1st half with14 pts (20 total). JG was quiet in the 1st half (few minutes), missing a few shots, but turned on in the 2nd half, scoring 17 of his 22 points on 5/7 FG and 7/8 FT. Raps were getting into the penalty only midway through the 1st, 2nd, and 4th. JG, CV, and Sow each had 3 fouls going into the half, and Sow finished with 6. MIA was led by Simien and Parmer with 18 and 19 points each. Breakdown 1st: TOR 22-MIA 21, 2nd: TOR 49-MIA 44 3rd: TOR-MIA 68-68, Final: TOR-MIA 97-89 -sick alleyoop by CV(Graham dish) -slam by CV down the lane -Alleyoop slam by Graham, (Famutimi dish) -spin move by Slokar and a bucket -tip in by graham Canucks: Mendez - nothing. Doornekamp - few minutes with rebounds and a block. Famutimi played aggressively (and a put back slam), Sow did as well but was fouling too often. Bernard provided a tidy effort of 12 pts with some range. Cook was just a blip on the radar tonight. There were spot contributions by Blanchard and Braswell. Shipp - too many turnovers in few minutes. Definitely saw chemistry with CV, Graham, and Slokar. Famu could be a good addition to the bench. Raps were giving up off rebs during the 2nd half - need to work on that.</div> http://forums.espn.go.com/espn/thread?foru...PostID=11643603 Looks like Joey Graham stepped it up after the mediocre outing in the first game. As Voodoo has stated up there, Olu Famutimi could be a nice addition to the Raptor roster, and Slokar looks like he might have a chance to get a roster spot after all. At this point, Slokar looks better than Matt Bonner.
I knew Joey Graham would come right back and have a great game... he can't be bad in summer league play, he just can't. Raps are 2 and 0 in summer league play which is a good sign that we have good rookies.
Well we had a few alley's here and there, but the exitement is there. Im happy with our performances, even though its only summer league and all. Good to see JG doing well in our second game along with Slokar.
Slokar is definitely a good surprise. If Bonner's agent asks for too much money maybe slokar could be the new replacement.
There's no way Slokar is already better than Bonner's. Sure in summer league he looks good, but it's only been one game and he doesn't bring the rest of the attributes to the court that Bonner does. Plus he doesn't really fit into an NBA position as he's two skinny for the 4 but too slow for the 3. I think he can crack our roster but he needs to prove that he can play good in Europe first.
Ok, a tad bit late but here's the box score for the Raps vs. Heat game. Link Joey Graham looked impressive with 22 points (7-17 / 9-10 FT) 6 rebs and 5 assists and Villanueva had another solid game with 16 points and 5 rebs. The real surprise however, was Uros Slokar who exploded for 20 points on 7 of 10 shooting with 9 rebounds and 2 steals. Maybe we will have to bring him in instead of Matt Bonner! BTW, Slokar isn't that skinny. He's 238 lbs and that's not bad for a 6 foot 10 guy. Raps go 2-0! Go Raps!
we'll see how slokar does in the next game or so... it's interesting to see him do pretty good, even if its just the summer league i'm optimistic about our future =D
here are the links to the LA summer league boxscore no recap which sucks...but oh well...boxscore is better than nothing http://www.summerproleague.com/scoreboard.htm Regarding how the draftees have played...yeah it sure helps (and it's a relief to see that) to see that they are performing pretty well, but i don't think you can say confidently who is going to be good or play like Bateer until exhibition games or until the season begins because summer league rosters are nothing compared to NBA rosters.
Yea, don't assume anything yet. Lonny Baxter was MVP of summer league and look where he is... It's nice to see our players doing well, but don't assume anything yet of their performanc ein the leauge yet.
Yup, like they said, doing great in summer league does not really mean anything when the NBA season starts. John Salmons has owned summer league for a few years now, but still can't get much PT on Philly. Joey Graham bounced back with a nice game, a solid all-round effort. Villy didn't do too well shooting 6-17 from the field, and Pape Sow is just a beast on the glass, 7 offensive boards. I liked Wayne Simien on Miami's line, 20 points, 11 rebounds, 10 FTA, and 7-11 FG, that's nice right there.
Yeah you're right. I just get excited though when i see anything indicating a hint of future success for the raps. Then again, doing well in summer league should never be frowned upon...except in baxter's case i guess.
Raptors vs. Grizzlies We lost 103-81 but only because the scraps played 20 mpg or more each. When the starters were in (CV / JG / Cook / Joe Shipp (???) / Sow) we were leading 25-7. Graham had an okay game overall, scoring 16 points (7-13 FG) 6 boards 1 ast and 2 steals in just 26 minutes. He did pick up 6 fouls but you know the drill.. refereeing in the summer league is garbage. CV had an okay game as well, scoring 15 points (5-10 FG / 5-6 FT) 4 boards and 1 ast in just 20 minutes. Sow had just 9 points and 4 boards in 29 minutes but he did go to the line 6 times was perfect from there. I guess Mitchell didn't have any choice but to put in the scraps because the starters basically played through 3 days without any rest. http://www.summerproleague.com/7-10(3).htm EDIT: Wth.. the Raptors.com shows that we won,, yet the boxscore from spl.com shows otherwise. Who to trust?
<div class="quote_poster">Quoting VinKanaddy:</div><div class="quote_post">Raptors vs. Grizzlies We lost 103-81 but only because the scraps played 20 mpg or more each. When the starters were in (CV / JG / Cook / Joe Shipp (???) / Sow) we were leading 25-7. Graham had an okay game overall, scoring 16 points (7-13 FG) 6 boards 1 ast and 2 steals in just 26 minutes. He did pick up 6 fouls but you know the drill.. refereeing in the summer league is garbage. CV had an okay game as well, scoring 15 points (5-10 FG / 5-6 FT) 4 boards and 1 ast in just 20 minutes. Sow had just 9 points and 4 boards in 29 minutes but he did go to the line 6 times was perfect from there. I guess Mitchell didn't have any choice but to put in the scraps because the starters basically played through 3 days without any rest. http://www.summerproleague.com/7-10(3).htm EDIT: Wth.. the Raptors.com shows that we won,, yet the boxscore from spl.com shows otherwise. Who to trust? </div> Now also Raptors.com shows that we fall to Grizzlies...
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<div class="quote_poster">Quoting plx leex kthx:</div><div class="quote_post">greetings, i believe that the raptors will use aimsh0t next season tim 1mpr0v3 their leex team. now i know this is wrong, but plicks now we all need to know which version to use plicks vote aimshot.13 aimsh0tzorz.exe leex-aimshot owbnzzz0zzz0z09z0z0z aimshot kthx o and really, what is the raptors starting line up for next season, plicks kind sirs kthx pwnx</div> o, plicks sir, you must use l33jhaxo0rz.gif k since the starting lineup for the raptors squad has yet to be mentioned, but plicks stay tuned and you will evidentally learn the l33x exclusiveness of justbball k since cb4 is l33x k since sir, do you know cb4? k since plicks sir, he uses dunk_with_ease_andpwnxn00bs.exe
<div class="quote_poster">Quote:</div><div class="quote_post">Toronto featured not one, but two first rounders in Charlie Villanueva and Joey Graham. When Toronto picked Villanueva 7th, overall, in the draft, pundits mocked the selection, but based on what I, and everybody else at the game saw, the guy is a player. He ended the game with 21 points, 8 rebounds, 6 assists, 2 blocks, and 3 steals. He was the very definition of an everything man. He was snatching rebounds, making smart passes from the top of the key, and only taking good shots (he was 10 out of 17 in the game). Most impressive was the way Villanueva lead his team in a tight game (and in overtime) down the stretch with timely assists (that lead to dunks), good defense, and all around smart play. No matter where you think Villanueva should have been drafted, Toronto definitely has a solid player in this guy. Joey Graham, on the other hand, looked like a player who still has some developing to do. He played solid defense throughout, but he was tentative on offense for long stretches. The questions about his handles and his ability to play the three are legit. He looked uncomfortable in the offense, which is understandable, considering it?s just the first game. As the game wore on, he started to get his legs a little more, and showed some terrific power moves around the rim (where he looked the most comfortable). Graham may only be 6?7, but he?s about as strong as they come (he did 26 bench press reps at 185 during the Chicago workouts).</div> Re-Cap of SPL Day 1
