The Toronto Raptors announced their 2016 Summer League roster Thursday afternoon, which is headlined by 2016 first-round picks Jakob Poeltl and Pascal Siakam and 2015 second-round pick Norman Powell.
Poeltl and Siakam were taken ninth and 27th overall in the recent NBA Draft by the Raptors and their appearance in Summer League should provide fans their first glimpses of the new Toronto rookies.
Despite both players scheduled to play in the front court, they have a clear difference in style. Poeltl is more of a back-to-the-basket, traditional centre that averaged 17.2 points, 9.1 rebounds and 1.6 blocks per game on 64.6 per cent shooting in his final year at Utah to earn Pac-12 player of the year honours.
Siakam, on the other hand, is much more mobile and athletic with less offensive polish. In his last year at New Mexico State he averaged 20.2 points, 11.6 rebounds and 2.2 blocks per game to win WAC player of the year.
Other notables on the Raptors’ Summer League roster include guard Delon Wright along with, Toronto’s two picks from the 2014 draft, Bruno Caboclo and DeAndre Daniels.
Raptors centre Lucas Nogueira was not named to the squad, despite the fact he was most prominently featured on the Toronto’s D-League affiliate Raptors 905 this season just like Caboclo.
Additionally, there are no Canadians featured on the team with the exception of head coach Jama Mahlalela, who was a former University of British Columbia standout in his college days.
Toronto will be participating in the Las Vegas Summer League for the ninth straight season. The league runs from July 8-18 and the Raptors’ first game will be July 8.
The club will play three preliminary games before being seeded into a tournament, allowing them to run out their new rookies, and whoever else, for a guaranteed five games.
Below is the full Raptors Summer League roster:
| # | Name | Position | Height | Weight | College |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 15 | Davion Berry | G | 6-foot-4 | 185 lbs. | Weber State |
| 20 | Bruno Caboclo | F | 6-foot-9 | 218 lbs. | N/A |
| 11 | Drew Crawford | G | 6-foot-5 | 215 lbs. | Northwestern |
| 22 | DeAndre Daniels | F | 6-foot-9 | 196 lbs. | Uconn |
| 12 | Jalen Jones | F | 6-foot-7 | 223 lbs. | Texas A&M |
| 53 | Alex Kirk | C | 6-foot-11 | 252 lbs. | New Mexico |
| 13 | Yanick Moreira | C | 6-foot-11 | 220 lbs. | SMU |
| 42 | Jakob Poeltl | C | 7-foot-0 | 248 lbs. | Utah |
| 24 | Norman Powell | G | 6-foot-4 | 215 lbs. | UCLA |
| 43 | Pascal Slakam | F | 6-foot-9 | 230 lbs. | New Mexico State |
| 25 | E.J. Singler | F | 6-foot-6 | 215 lbs. | Oregon |
| 32 | Evan Smotrycz | F | 6-foot-9 | 235 lbs. | Maryland |
| 2 | Qunton Upshir | G | 6-foot-5 | 207 lbs. | Northern Arizona |
| 23 | Fred VanVleet | G | 6-foot-0 | 186 lbs. | Wichita State |
| 55 | Deion Wright | G | 6-foot-5 | 183 lbs. | Utah |
Head Coach: Jama Mahlalela
