He just put the Raptors on Notice...

He just put the Toronto Raptors on notice as last season, Trace Jackson Davis was traded to the Toronto Raptors and ended up in the doghouse, didn't get any run, and what he's done over preseason is going to change things, certainly this year, but we'll discuss that, including some very important insights we got from a game where the Raptors just rested their starters, and we got a strong, solid look at a lot of the players that are fighting for minutes, fighting for rotation spots, and even fighting for their NBA careers, and it's going to make Bobby Webster's decision with this roster, with the back end of this team, a lot more difficult, so lots of stuff we're going to jump into in this vid, but folks, I appreciate all the support we've been getting out there on these recent vids, you guys, you know, it means a little to me, from putting more, you know, editing out there into the vids, you know, the post games, can't do that, because they take too long, but I appreciate you you're joining the content make sure you hit that subscribe button but let's dive into this game because the Toronto Raptors just faced off against the Detroit Pistons and Trace Jackson Davis just made a statement now the Raptors lost this game you might be like oh Ben what are we taking positives for from a loss 129 to 125 you know but you look at the lineup that was played no Kawhi no Scott no RJ no IQ no Jacoby Walter no Jamal Shead no Jamison Bell they rested they rested their top eight guys out there on this team and playing against the Detroit Pistons they played their entire roster Cade Cunningham Jalen Duren Sir Thompson John Collins Stunker all these dudes again they they played decent minutes you know 26 minutes is a decent amount out there for preseason and the Raptors for a large chunk of this game were competing against the Pistons top lineup and Trace Jackson Davis looked outstanding and he's been good like he has been good in the G League he's been good when he's been given stretches with the Raptors and over the course of preseason he has been fantastic in this game 23 points three rebounds zero assists you know four or five shooting from the field and 15 or 16 from the free throw line having a big man that can shoot free throws having a big man that can reliably knock down those shots at the stripe is such an asset to have for your team especially when you're starting Jakoby Walter out there at that position but he was fantastic no blocks in this game but there were a bunch of moments at this one where he was a deterrent around the basket people were driving in on him you know a couple times Jenkins drove in and he didn't block the shot but it felt like his presence out there underneath the rim despite being a bit of an undersized center he did have that ability to just change things out there in the paint and people are knows people are talking about it you know Trace Jackson-Davis 10 to 10 for the free throw line you know 50 to 60 out there in that game it's uh it's good and uh 23 points 10 and 10 he made he made more of those free throws but at that point he had a career free throw percentage of 55.7 so it's encouraging that he's developing that area of his game now i've seen clips of him working on the jump shot working in these different areas but uh you know he scores from around the basket scores at the you know gets the line and stuff you can see a shooting chart yeah while the free throws are improved all of his buckets are out there from around the rim so we don't have much of an area to expect him you know spacing out from behind the three-point line even if the free throws are encouraging 15 to 16 out there from the stripe so that is uh you know that's good that's good stuff out there from uh Trace Jackson-Davis and he's been uh effective scoring the basketball consistently And, you know, in terms of his game, because he's a bit undersized for the NBA center position, but he's an active rim finisher for Toronto, creates cuts and rolls opportunities. You know, he's a natural interior scorer. We see that like this dude spins underneath the basket looking like a slow-mo Pascal Siakam at times with that weird one dribble. You know, if you guys watch Blue Jays Digest, he stole Nick Goss' spin move. You know, I play men's league ball with, you know, with Nicky Goss. He has that men's league, that one dribble, right hand spin. He did that twice in this game. I thought that was pretty crazy to see. But overall, really, really impressed with Trace Jackson Davis out there in this game. And, you know, is he going to be our backup center, right? And this is, you know, 10 and 10 free throws. I plugged this in early. But basically, CMB is going to have the opportunity to, you know, of course, have that backup center to close games. But there are going to be a lot of nights, a lot of moments where the Raptors need someone to step up. they need someone if Jakapertelis is unhealthy or Jakapertelis is just playing poorly especially with his interesting trajectory in terms of rebounding over the course of preseason those are minutes that are up for grabs for a guy like Trace Jackson Davis and some guys that we'll get into in this video but was very much impressed with him I the Raptors are sneakily kind of deep here now at this point we'll see if it continues but I would not be shocked if he gets some minutes I don't think He's going to get a lot, but some actual rotation minutes while this team is healthy. And then, of course, his big moments, his big opportunities will come when Knights, Jakapertelis' resting or he's dealing with a minor injury. Hopefully, it's all minor and everyone's relatively healthy over the course of this year, but he's going to have some moments where he's going to be crucial for this team, given our lack of depth at that position. And Cole Murray-Bowles can play it, but you don't want him playing it 48 minutes a night. He's not the only guy that was out there in the rotation that impressed me, at least, in this game. And the guy I'm diving into next is Elijah Martin. Was given a full-time, a full-tilt roster spot over the course of this summer. And especially in the first, especially against the starters, Elijah Martin was fantastic out there in this game. You know, 15 points, one rebound, no assists. But was driving the basket, was hitting some middies, was hitting some stuff. Obviously, he is extremely aggressive out there on the defensive end. Did have a few turnovers and all that, but that's fine. Elijah Martin proved to me that in this game he's someone I don't mind like I don't feel uncomfortable usually you're 11th you're 12th man I feel a little bit uncomfortable if they're getting a ton of run if they're getting a ton of minutes but if the Raptors have some stretches we know Kawhi is going to rest some games we know that uh you know injuries are a part of basketball but Elijah Martin is someone I feel more confident after this game in saying hey if someone's out if someone's injured if someone's resting if someone's sick Elijah Martin can step in and not be a negative for the Toronto Raptors and honestly might provide a spark especially with that defensive intensity and his ability to score from all those different areas so I was happy I was very very happy with what Elijah Martin did you can see he was scoring from basically everywhere out there uh you know some three balls that mid-range some floaters yeah he had some nice moves they're actually a lot closer to the basket but he was uh you know he was getting some buckets he was getting some buckets out there for uh for this Toronto Raptors team which I don't I uh I don't mind out there for this squad this first quarter he combined with uh malachi smith uh for 22 of the raptors 33 points in the first quarter so they're getting some buckets they were doing their thing out there for this team you know he's scoring at the rim a bunch he's scoring in the paint not a lot of minutes out there for elijah martin even though some of those in the paint shots are these weird little fadeaway floaters which i did find very interesting and uh it's gonna be interesting to see how this uh how he actually plays when he is called upon over the course of this season Blake Murphy said the Raptors reserves were super competitive against the Pistons core early on it's nice to see Elijah Martin and Malachi Smith in particular standing out among the positives and you know I'm 7 30 minutes into this one and a guy that already has a contract with our team in Malachi Smith you know a two-way contract he was fantastic he was really really good in this game especially in the first like especially early on he exploded out for this group 24 points 7 rebounds as well for our guard 3 assists you know 8 of 18 shooting is what it is but 4 or 7 from the three-point line is really the area that you're going to look at and be like okay that's what uh yeah that's what we need if we're our Toronto Raptors squad our Raptors team you know given the floor spacing I made a couple videos on it so much you know so he's taking shots from all around the all around the court showing the versatile scoring out there in all these different areas looking confident as a scorer I mean the average eight points per game in the NBA last season for the Brooklyn Nets we know he's capable of scoring but will he fit into the Toronto Raptors system what will he show that's going to be something interesting but I was very much impressed with what he did in this game and uh you know people are talking about it right these uh you know we just read this quote from Blake Murphy these guys are playing well this first quarter was absolutely fantastic it's it's what we like to see out there for uh you know Malachi Smith coming in and you know we've had Malachi's in the past we've had Malachi's in the past he gets some big buckets at least you know for the Detroit Pistons but uh Malachi Flynn put him in 50 but uh you know he's scoring in all these different areas can play make he has energy he has defensive effort yo some people I saw this I saw this people and uh do you guys think he should be on a two-way because there is an open roster spot is Malachi Smith after one game been too good to be out there on a two-way let me know in the comment section down below but one of the most important players that we had to watch in this game was Allen Graves who has mixed reviews from me out there over the course of this preseason now he's a guy that shows a ton of energy a ton of aggressiveness and it looks like he's hustling out there on the court so that is as advertised but in this uh game you had 22 minutes nine points eight rebounds two assists which on the surface isn't too bad but the efficiency was gross 4 of 13 from the field 0 of 5 from the three-point line and one of four from the free throw stripe now you can look you can look at a stat line and be like you're hitting your threes that's fine that can come and go the best shooters have off night one of four from the free throw line on top of the bad three-point shooting that is a bit concerning because he had very good percentages from the three-point line in college but shot them at a low volume so he needs to prove himself out there at the NBA level in terms of being a guy that can space the floor out there for our team along with the defense and energy and hustle that's very very important now after the first game against the Knicks where people did criticize his performance as well Darko said I thought he had a great game it was great that he was aggressive on defense and from the eye test I did like the energy I did like the aggression again from Alan Graves in this one but he does need to you know he does need to be able to knock down shots right inside a clear shot 41 from three low volume and summer league average 17 and seven very good stuff but went one of seven shooting and four fouls against the Knicks and nine and eight in this game but the shooting was fairly ugly but if we look at the rotation right he's going to be fighting for minutes on this Raptors squad the team does have high praise for him they like what he said and that's why he's above Jamison Battle in my you know rotation depth chart here right now but that could easily change I mean the Raptors desperately need some shooting and Jamison Battle is a proven elite NBA level three-point shooter it's going to be tough even if you are a better defender even if you are doing this given the roster construction it's going to be tough to keep Jamison Battle on the bench it's going to be tough to keep a lot of these guys on the bench I mean Kyle Anderson he's a vet steady will be able to fit has chemistry with Kawhi Leonard Elijah Martin sliding up in different places he looked very very good in this game here today and of course Kawhi, Scottie, Colin Murray, Boyles they're all going to get They're all going to get missed. Jacoby, RJ, the wings are pretty bloated right now. So Allen Graves definitely needs to be able to knock down shots in order for him to be a consistent rotation player. I like what he's doing. I like the upside. I like this stuff, but I've also been someone that really liked how Grady Dick was developing on the defensive end and rebounding, which I do stand on. I think he developed very well in those areas, but if you can't shoot the three when you're projected as a three-point shooter then that becomes an issue now Graves has been definitely a different player than Grady Dick but i'm just bringing up these points here we have this comment as well from Window Man saying i thought tonight we'll see uh 25 30 minutes from Allen Graves and Elijah Martin wouldn't be surprised if Trace Jackson-Davis plays at least uh 15 to 20 so he called he called that pretty good called that pretty good but um no starters in this one but i want to give a little shout out for the the right prediction out there from Window Man but that's not the only I highlighted the main top guys that played out there in this game out there for this team a lot of players played uh gave some interesting performances for this team Gene Bradley uh he he's a guy that I was worried about after pre-season or sorry after uh summer league he's looked less scared in these games this by no means was a phenomenal performance but he facilitated a little bit still had four turnovers looked out of control for moments i'm not as scared i'm not super hyped you know i was pretty excited because it was the Jamal Murray clone you know when we uh when we drafted him saw him in summer league i'm like okay this is this is a bit of a scary sight and then they gave him a full-time roster contract which you look at a guy like Malachi Smith not getting a contract and Jaden Bradley getting a guaranteed contract those are things that uh you look at and you're like okay what's going on but he has scared me less from the eye test at the NBA level but still not fully sold on him being a reliable rotation player for this team at least this season you know of course Damari Burnett he's one of those guys that's fighting for one of those two-way spots I think he's done a pretty good job like made a very strong case for himself he's aggressive on defense he has you know strength 17-5 two steals two blocks you impress on both ends of the court in this one and knock down three threes which is going to be crucial honestly it's going to be between uh Burnett and then also Tyree in my opinion for who the heck is going to get that final roster spot because Key doesn't do it on the defense side and plays a little more uh bloated position for the Raptors however he knocks down the shot at a late rate so that's something that's gonna be very very valuable for this team but i have a full video previewing that tomorrow taking a look at the Raptors schedule pre-season is done pre-season is complete and then this game coming up is Wednesday we will be live watch along in that game so be ready the live streams are back this season so they'll be rocking they'll be going very very excited for all of that but uh let me know in the comment section who impressed you most Trae Jackson Davis Malachi Smith or Elijah Martin in this one but i appreciate all the support we can get down the channel you guys the best i'm signing out cheers