Quick Reaction: Wizards 98, Raptors 125

Was the best player on the court early. Stayed efficient, drove in straight lines, found Poeltl with very nifty passes, and controlled the court in pick and roll. He sprinted off the court after hitting his shoulder on a Valanciunas screen. The beat guys from the arena report he didn’t seem in much distress, but better safe than sorry, especially in preseason. The team listed him out with a shoulder contusion.

He wasn’t finding his driving lanes as the starting power forward. But he was rebounding aggressively and was slinging passes, catalyzing fastbreak chances. That seemed to diminish by his second stint, as his inability to finish over the enormous size in the NBA seemed like it might have discouraged him. Rough first outing, but he’s a long-term piece, and he was showing a few positives for stretches, at least.

So good, as always. He’s a really strong player. Threw great passes, defended very well, nothing we don’t know. He blew a couple bunnies around the rim – I don’t care, not in preseason, not for such an established finisher. The Raptors are going to be passable with him on the court this year, it will be hard to tank when he’s suiting up.

Was very aggressive looking for his shot, hitting a couple from 2-point range even though he missed his first triple, a pull-up after snatching a board in traffic and dribbling it up. He hit his middy pulls, and he even threw in a lefty scoop layup to wrong-foot the shot-blocker. He was ramping up the defensive activity at the point of attack, which Rajakovic has said will be a point of emphasis. Even though he missed his jumpers, he looked excellent.

He took a charge early, but his defence was a little outshone by Shead’s. In the second quarter, he hit a gorgeous snatch-back pull-up 2 against a closeout. He’s not an offensive star or anything, but he might just be closer to “dependable vet” than a lot of other guys on this bench. Looked like he tweaked a hamstring in the second half, hopefully he’s fine, but he looked very solid in the first half, showing all the team really needed to see from him.

Transition dunk in the first quarter, corner triple in the second. He was playing footloose and fancy free in Montreal, well deserved. The jumper was splashy, and he collected a block at the absolute summit of his jump as a helper.

He was the first guard off the bench and immediately stole a pass to his man, cutting ostensibly past him. He might be an even more impactful defender than Davion Mitchell, or at least one more guy who can do what Rajakovic wants at the part of attack. On offence, he looked a little better than he should have because defenders were going over at the point of attack, but he really found his spaces, attacking in transition, using his body, and generally playing winning ball. A really nifty reverse layup after a decel to the rim. No surprises that he’s great, at least at this level, he’s done that for a long time — he was one of the best players in college last year.

He looked very out of place in the first half, but then he started for Barrett in the second half and cut for a nice layup, then cut for a nice extra-pass dime to Poeltl. Then hit a corner triple later off a nice Olynyk dime. Truly a tale of two halves. It’s nice to have something good.

Shooter! Pick and pop is a nice option to have for the Raptors. He ran some clean actions with Shead, which is a nice punch in preseason, even if it doesn’t manifest in the real games. He had some nice hub work, twerking in the post before slanging cross-court skips to the corner. He still has game to give, it looked like.

The scoring started slow but heated up, and he was an active and handsy defender, and he gets downhill even when the jumper isn’t falling. I think if Rajakovic does emphasize the point-of-attack defence thing, Carton and Ramsey are solid deep-bench options there. Carton should offer more on offence, theoretically, even if Ramsey put up bigger numbers tonight.

Missed a corner triple on one possession, but Raps got the offensive rebound, and Good Guy Poeltl threw the ball straight back to Ramsey to drill the same shot he just missed. Hit another from the same spot a minute later, thanks to a great transition push from Mitchell.

Not much to see in quiet minutes. He checked in and immediately got shelled on the glass by Valanciunas. That happens to most bigs, but Toronto really needs help on the defensive glass this year. Then he bullied on the glass in the fourth, with both teams playing the Summer League guys. He’ll have to show it against the better, bigger players. He still probably has the inside spot on the last roster spot, but Ramsey really contributed in this one.

Hit a triple almost immediately after checking in, then another. It’s what he does. But Toronto shelled Washington with its vets in the game, and lost ground all game when they weren’t playing. Battle kept the lead going in the fourth.

Was really active cutting, even if it didn’t result in much. Hit a very quick-release triple. He’s good, even if he might not be ready to be a center in the NBA.

I really like his jumper, it’s clean and fast and smooth.

Putback dunk! Then dimed a cutting Carlson on a high-low bouncer. Defensively he just wasn’t in the places that he needed to be in. A long-term project, of course, so don’t get too high or too low, at least not for a while.

I just have no judgement for a coach in preseason. Can’t talk about lineups, or rotations, or anything like that. Guys look engaged, let’s just say that. And happy to be on the same team. That’s worth an A, why not.