Joey's in, Jamario's not with Summer League team

A wee bit of a surprise, maybe, that Joey Graham is on the Raptor summer league team that's just been announced and that Jamario Moon isn't.

The thinking behind Moon, I'm told be people in the organization, is that he's played more than enough summer league-calibre games in his career and he needs to be spending the time working on technical aspects of the game, which he can get on his own and working with various Raptor coaches and conditioning gurus than he can playing five or six games in Vegas.

Graham, though, needs games, he needs to make better, quicker decisions when he gets the ball in the heat of action and that's why he'll be out there.

The roster also includes Hassan Adams, who I'm now told won't officially sign his Raptor contract until tomorrow.

Oh, and there's a Bosh on the team, as you'll notice. And John Lucas III gets his chance to impress enough to get an invite to the real training camp in October. It'll be he and Daniel Ewing who'll be handling the point guard duties in Vegas.

One name that's not on the list is Nathan Jawai, but not to worry. He's not officially a Raptor until July 9 when the trade with Indy goes down and he'll be added to the summer league team as soon as he's officially Toronto's property, I'm hearing.

Here's the roster we just got:

Player                      Pos.       Ht.       Wt.      Birth Date       School/Country

Hassan Adams           F          6-4       220      06/20/84          Arizona

Deji Akindele               C         6-10     240      04/03/83          Chicago State

Sean Banks                F          6-8       210      01/20/85          Memphis

Rod Benson                C         6-10     235      10/10/84          California

Joel Bosh                    F          6-7       185      03/11/86          Alabama State

Coleman Collins         F          6-9       236      06/22/86          Virginia Tech

Daniel Ewing               G         6-3       185      03/26/83          Duke

Thomas Gardner        F          6-5       213      02/08/85          Missouri

C.J. Giles                    C         6-11     240      09/25/85          Oregon State

Joey Graham              F          6-7       225      06/11/82          Oklahoma State

John Lucas                 G         5-11     165      11/21/82          Oklahoma State

Comments

[Joe]

I'm curious to see how CB$'s brother plays. have you seen his game much doug? if so, do you think he has what it takes to maybe at least get a rotation spot on an nba team some time in the future?

Blogger's note: Never seen him play; there are very, very, very few undrafted players who ever make the league, let alone a rotation spot.

[Bryden]

Hey Doug,
I read that the Celtics gave Darius Miles a workout and were actually impressed. Would the Raptors give him a chance as an end of the bench guy and see what he can prove during the season?

Blogger's note: I'd be shocked if he was of any interest to them at all.

[Travis]

Doug - Rod Benson also appears on the Suns Las Vegas roster, any idea which one is 'more' correct? http://www.nba.com/suns/news/2008_summer_roster.html (note: I'm not nuts for checking, just for actually GOING to the summer league this year... will you be there?)

Blogger's note: I'm spending 24 days away in Beijing, the last place I want to go is summer league.

[K.Wright]

Joel Bosh??? Is this just a coincidence or relative of CB4?

[Darryl Ralston]

Should we make anything of the fact that Benson is on this team?

Blogger's note: No, nothing serious.

[Chad N.]

Who the heck are these guys and do any of them besides Adams and Graham of being Raptors? Is this just summer D-league?

Blogger's note: At its best, it's a summer D League.

[Steve G]

is this to give Bosh's brother a chance to be noticed by other teams? Doing him a favor?

I'm assuming they aren't actually interested in him

[B. Simmonds]

Are the summer league games televised at all?

Blogger's note: Yeah, some will, the schedule's still in the works.

[Christian, Mississauga]

Hope Ukic will also be included in this line-up... Is he?

Blogger's note: No, he'll be in Athens with Croatia. As has been mentioned a few times.

[Ryan G]

Where's Roko?

Blogger's note: He'll be in Athens, with his Croatian teammates

[Andy]

Yes! Daniel Ewing! I've been wanting the Raptors to get him for a while now.

A lanky, defensive, 3rd pg with good size. Meh Shooter, Meh on offense, but he can bring the ball up and is decent in transition.

No more Darrick Martin!

[Dan]

Hey Doug, Do they only have 11 players because they can't announce the 12th player untill tomorrow. Hopefully Daniel Ewing will show a bit more ball handling. I know he likes to shoot. He has good size for a pg.

Blogger's note: The 12th player is going to be Nathan Jawai, as soon as the deal is done, I believe

[mfdc5]

Where's Roko?

[Migs]

I say this every year, but I think THIS is the year that "Good Joey" finally cracks the rotation...

[Dagomar Degroot]

Not exactly Team USA, but here's hoping Graham finally, finally, finally gets it.

[Brian]

Rod Benson is on the Raptors summer league team? Weird, he's been announced on the Suns summer league team for Vegas too.

Blogger's note: Yeah, we'll have to try to figure that out in the morning

[Uncle Zeke]

I see Chris Bosh invited his brother to camp. Too bad Anthony Parker didn't do the same with his sister. As it stands she'd be a big upgrade at the SG spot. Hey Doug any chance you invite your brother to sports blogger summer camp? I bet he has as many NBA connections as you do....

[sackman]

Doug - has JB30 got game? is he a slasher?

[jk]

Gerald Green signed with Dallas....do you bother to do research?

Blogger's note; I presume, in your own little ray of sunshine style, you misread a question on the weekend about whether Green was on the Raptor radar or not. But that's okay, my crack team of researchers will look for other information readers may misinterpret and bring to my attention.
Thanks, as always, for your continued insightful contribution to the discussions here.

[David Guy]

So, Doug, is Joel Bosh related to Chris then?

Blogger's note: Brothers

[Marc]

It appears as if there are a few players on the summer league roster who had pretty decent college careers. Although long-shots to make the Raptors roster which prospects have the best chances of receiving a training camp invite? Any insight? [It must say something about the organisation that they can garner serious interest from a Lucas or Ewing when so many other NBA teams require PG help.]

Blogger's note: Let me get into this in the morning.

[Doug W]

Is Joey the most veteran player to play in summer league? If that's not a sign this guy is a bust I don't know what would be.

[Anthony De Silva]

Did John Lucas & Joey Graham play together at Oklahoma State? If so do they have good chemistry?

Blogger's note: Yeah, they were teammates, I have no idea about the chemistry, though. And don't think it really matters much.

[Jon]

Where's Roko? How come we don't get Gerald Green? What's mid-level exception? Can we sign Maggette? ... Nah I'm kidding ...

But to be serious here, if Joey Graham doesn't "get it" this year or in the Summer League, are we gonna let him go after next season when his contract expires?

Blogger's note: I would certainly assume so.