Toronto Raptors: A few takeaways from the start of preseason

Terence Davis

Terence Davis went undrafted in July before joining the Nuggets for NBA Summer League. As a Raptors fan, the addition of relatively unknown players has long ceased to be a cause for concern.

Instead, the trust that Masai Ujiri and the Raptors’ scouting staff has built over the years always makes it an exciting prospect to see them for the first time. Terence Davis is the latest player to have an early performance with the Raptors that tells me that he’s going to be exciting to watch play and develop.

First of all, Davis is physically one of the most NBA ready rookies I’ve ever seen at 6-foot-4, 205 lbs according to realgm.com. And while Real GM lists him as a small forward, basketball-reference.com has him as a guard which is consistent with the minutes he played in Tokyo. As a guard, he’ll be providing some much-needed size for the Raptors at a position where they are flush with undersized options.

Right at the beginning of the fourth quarter in the first matchup between the Raptors and the Rockets, he went to the basket and slammed home the kind of dunk that made me say, “The defender really should have just got out the way.” 

His game is aggressive without even a hit of hesitation which I love to see from rookie players. Nothing about the way he moved or the decisions he made on the floor make him look like he doesn’t belong out there.

And he’s quick. Quick with the ball, moves quickly off the ball. He’s sometimes too quick, quick. I remember seeing the same issues with Siakam a couple of years ago. He was quick all the time and it led to turnovers and mistakes. Now, Spicy P has learned to pace his game a lot more and use the quickness as a tool rather than a default setting. I hope Davis can learn that lesson sooner rather than later.

Davis also has a 3-point shot which is important for any team in today’s NBA but especially so to the Raptors with the loss of Danny Green to free agency. With 8:45 to play in the half of Game 2, Davis took the ball into the paint for a drive-kick, used his quickness to get open and drilled a 3-point shot with an impressively quick release.

Watching him play immediately reminded me of watching Fred VanVleet play preseason basketball a few years ago when there was one open roster spot left and several players fighting for it. At the time, it was obvious to me that not only did Steady Freddy deserve the spot but that he would be a big part of the Raptors’ rotation.

I believe Davis will be the next undrafted player to sign with the Raptors who is going to surprise NBA fans at large. Another, “Who is this guy?” story that Raptors’ fans can just cross their arms, lean back and smile about.