Battle raging for Raptors’ two-way roster spot with a week to go in pre-season

Introduced a year ago, teams are allowed to carry two additional players under two-way contracts, allowing them to play for both the NBA team, and its G League affiliate — in Toronto’s case Raptors 905.

Adel shot an impressive 5-for-5 on Friday night for 13 points in 12 minutes, earning praise from Nurse. But the wiry small forward, who’s of South Sudanese-Australian descent, said it’s “very tough” for the young newcomers to establish themselves.

“Everybody knows who they are,” he said. “For me, coming out of college (Louisville), you come into a brand new system and nobody really knows you, nobody knows what you really do well. You’ve kind of just got to figure out how you can help the team. Most teams have a lot of different positions and I think for me it’s just being able to play different positions and be versatile, and I think that’s the role I can bring to this team.”

The 22-year-old, who went undrafted but had impressive Summer League showing with the Houston Rockets, has soaked up all the help he can get from the Raptors veterans.

“They’re very welcoming, they’re always talking to me, especially during training camp,” Adel said. “When I mess up or whatever, they’re always talking to me. They have great patience. They’re helpful with the young guys, they’ve been through that.”

The veterans did plenty of talking at Sunday’s open practice at Ryerson’s Mattamy Athletic Centre. Kyle Lowry, who played in a T-shirt and sweat pants, barked directions at his teammates. Nurse watched most of the scrimmage from the gym’s upper level. The notable absences were Norm Powell, who suffered a contusion to his thigh in Friday’s game, and OG Anunoby, who is still away for personal reasons.

With just two pre-season games to go, Nurse is pleased to see the chemistry improving.

“I like the progression, it’s really a tremendous group of guys that’s work extremely hard and listen very well,” he said. “You can just see the offensive chemistry, it’s obviously easier to see, but I think you can see some defensive chemistry building, if you watch just from Game 1 to where we are now, you can see a little bit more locked in, focused, better communication, not as many mistakes, a little more finishing the possessions off, etc.

“We’ve just got to keep building on that.”

The Raptors host the New Jersey Nets on Wednesday at Montreal’s Bell Centre, then cap the pre-season in New Orleans on Thursday.

They host the Cleveland Cavaliers to open the regular season on Oct. 17.

Lori Ewing, The Canadian Press

by Canadian Press

Battle raging for Raptors’ two-way roster spot with a week to go in pre-season

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