No matter where the Toronto Raptors go, in this new era of the team, there is one certainty that will follow them: The team will play hellacious defence.
The Raptors were missing Collin Murray-Boyles in their opening game of the 2026 Summer League, but that didn’t matter a lick for their defence. The Boston Celtics committed seven turnovers before they converted a field goal. And when they weren’t turning it over, Nate Bittle was swatting shots at the rim, or forcing wild attempts due to his presence. With Jamal Shead no longer on the Summer League squad, Chucky Hepburn stole his move of drawing offensive fouls by chasing around screens. Allen Graves’ magnet hands ripped balls away on drives. When Jamarion Sharp entered the game — seven-foot-five reigning G-League Defensive Player of the Year — he immediately swatted a pull-up jumper. At halftime, the center duo of Bittle and Sharp had combined for 10 blocks.
It was a defensive masterclass against a Celtics team led by Huge Gonzalez and Chris Cenac jr. Boston would come back and tie the game, sending it to overtime. And they would go on to win the game. But it wasn’t the fault of Toronto’s defence.
Toronto’s offence was far less certain, though there were positives flashes. Graves ran like a madman in transition; he got the memo when it comes to the Raptors’ identity. He lofted in a nifty reverse layup midway through the second quarter. He missed his early triples, but he settled in and eventually finished 3-of-8 from deep. He won extra possessions on the offensive glass, which is a real selling point to his game. He played exactly how he has been advertised: smart, effective, and reliant on teammates to create shots for him in the half court. The jumper requires a slow load, but he eventually started banging them in. Ultimately, his strengths traveled from college to Summer League.
In the third quarter, he had perhaps his most impressive moment of the night, at least for projecting forward. He drove a closeout, took a few dribbles, and finished in traffic plus the foul. Driving and finishing was a question mark as to whether it would translate to the NBA, and though it wasn’t the NBA, that he found success doing so in Summer League is a good sign. The defence was rock solid, and the offence was perhaps ahead of schedule. He finished with an outrageous stat line of 22 points, 13 rebounds, three steals, and two blocks. He won his minutes handily in the loss.
Jaden Bradley, Toronto’s second-round draft pick this last draft, had some flashy moments of his own early on. At one point late in the first quarter, he dribbled calmly, patiently, slowly through Boston’s entire defence only to smoke the reverse layup. He threw a lob to Sharp in a high-tempo pick and roll that drew free throws. But at the same time, Toronto’s offence clearly lost pace when Bradley replaced Hepburn, and the Celtics clawed their way back into the game. If he couldn’t beat his man clean with his dribble, he often picked it up and was forced to reset possessions.
Despite those flashes, the offence truly was clunky. Toronto’s shooters missed from deep, and there were few individually capable isolation scorers and self-creators. (Yet more continuations from the big club.) The Raptors were forced to drive into crowds, with no players really capable of penetrating them with proper handles.
Seth Lundy was Toronto’s poppiest offensive player early. The 26-year-old subsisted on jumpers, and his willingness to hoist them up meant he was Toronto’s leading scorer at halftime. It was his triple attempt at the buzzer of overtime that went in and out to seal the loss. Nimari Burnett cut with aplomb. Bittle hit a triple in the third quarter, another in crunch time, threw some deft passes, and annihilated Gonzalez with as hard a screen as I’ve ever seen. He was remarkably comfortable and could well fight his way onto the big squad with more performances like that.
The Raptors finally got out in transition in end the first half with a lineup that featured all of Hepburn, Bradley, and Graves. The defensive-minded group forced oodles more turnovers and actually converted on the run, building a double-digit lead. It wasn’t pretty, but it was Raptors basketball.
Which also meant that a couple triples in the second half gave the Celtics the lead with relative ease. Hepburn fought Toronto back into the game with enormous effort, again drawing charges chasing around screens. Graves gathered more steals, more transition buckets. It wasn’t enough. Ultimately, the Raptors’ bench couldn’t hang in the game, and their starters couldn’t score enough to build an insurmountable lead.
Graves did had a letdown at the end of the game, as he failed to hustle back into the final play of regulation and ultimate gave up a triple to Boston to tie. He made up for it in overtime, as he grabbed two offensive rebounds to give Toronto a variety of chances to tie the game. They could not.
The Raptors made sure they supported their Summer League team. Among other attendees, leaders Scottie Barnes, Immanuel Quickley, and Darko Rajakovic were in the building watching their would-be teammates brick their shots and strip the ball from the Celtics. There were plenty of other teammates in attendance, too. That may not cause the continuity in identity between the big club and lesser squads like the Summer League roster, but it sure doesn’t hurt. Barnes spoke on the broadcast briefly about the theory of adding Kawhi Leonard to the Raptors. He mentioned “taking candy from a baby.”
When it came to the Celtics, the Summer League squad had the same idea in mind. The Raptors had plenty of blocks and steals, and Graves — the most important member of the squad with Murray-Boyles in street clothes — performed well. Sure, they lost. That’s just about the least important element of the night. It’s only been one Summer League game, but Graves looks more than ready. On a night of identity continuity, he, too, showed he can be a perfect cog of continuity in identity and fit when he joins the Raptors for his rookie season.
