Rawle Alkins dropping dimes and getting praise from Raptors coaches

Former Arizona Basketball combo guard helped his NBA Summer League Raptors team get their first win in Las Vegas.

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The No. 29 Toronto Raptors who haven’t won a game until tonight upset the No. 4  Denver Nuggets in the NBA Summer League tournament tonight. Rawle Alkins ended with a +/- of +8 and was +11 at one point as the only starter with a positive +/-. This performance was much like his game on Monday when he was the only player on the Raptors who  started and ended up with a positive +/- in 25 minutes.

Alkins was allowed to show his talents playing point guard. He made his teammates better by dropping dimes. And not just dropping dimes, he did it when Toronto went on a 16-0 run. Alkins ended the game with five points mostly from drawing fouls and one late-game dunk. He shot 75% from the charity stripe. The official stats say he made three assists, but we counted five and proved at least four of them with video on our Twitter feed.

Add one steal and three rebounds, you wouldn’t understand how he affected the game from his stats. But we have always known that what Alkins brings to his team is pushing the tempo and rising to the occasion at the end of the game to help his team wins and that’s just what he did tonight.

The Raptors trailed as much as 12 points at one point. Raptors Head Coach Nick Nurse who is coaching his summer league team was happy after the game. “We have a lot of young guys, a lot of guys right out of college, so we knew it was going to be a process,” explained Nurse, “Playing longer minutes better — but we’ve been seeing growth every day, and I’m glad they got a win to show their hard work paid off.”

Raptors coaches spoke to Alkins on draft night about Fred VanVleet, according to Raptors writer Blake Murphy of Uproxx.com. VanVleet worked his way onto the roster as an undefeated free agent and ended up being a finalist for Sixth Man of the Year. VanVleet just signed a two-year $18 million contract.

The Raptors did not have a draft pick, but they fully believed he would be drafted. So when he went undrafted, and we are still stunned, they were excited to get the chance to get him on their team for the Summer, to begin with.

After his first game, Alkins scored 12 points in 14 minutes all in the second half including a sweet reverse behind the head slam. His head coach Nick Nurse was gushing:

"“He was excellent, right?” head coach Nick Nurse said after the game. “He’s growing quickly. His first few days in Toronto, practice, we weren’t sure at all. But he’s really making leaps and bounds. I was impressed because he came in in a situation where he had to produce quickly. He was like the 11th man in the game in a tough game and he had to make something happen. That can go one of two ways, and usually it goes the wrong way, and he made play after play after play. So, really impressed with that. Let’s see if he can show consistency now.”"

Here is Rawle talking to the press after his first game, thanking the Raptors for the opportunity.

Here’s what Raptors assistant GM Dan Tolzman had to say about King Rawle:

"“I’ve always liked him because he brings great energy to the floor and he’s got a really good positivity about the way that he plays,” Raptors assistant general manager Dan Tolzman says. “Always gives a ton of energy. He’s still a developing player to where he’s gonna have some ups and downs, but he never wavers on how hard he plays, which is awesome about him. He was one of the conversations afterward where we’re kinda like, ‘man, I can’t believe he went undrafted.’”"

Follow the thread of this inciteful tweet from Analytics guru Joseph Gill for four of Alkins assists that came in a matter of a few minutes of play:

This assist off a spin move was a great highlight! But it seems the NBA didn’t log it.

Alkins provided some pregame fireworks:

Must Read: More on Arizona Basketball from ZZ..

Toronto moves on undefeated and will play the Charlotte Hornets or the Golden State Warriors in Round two of the NBA Summer League tournament. Better to come on strong in the tournament than being the No. 4 seed and 3-0 and losing to the No. 29 seed. We’re just happy we get to continue to watch King Rawle play.