Quick Reaction: Raptors 82, Wizards 119

Made a couple of iffy gambles on defense but otherwise looked spry, moving well without the ball and crashing the offensive glass. He got through preseason healthy, which is all I care about.

Your potential opening night starter continued to play to the book on him – he’s incredibly fun, his energy will lead to some extended possessions and transition baskets, and he’ll make the mistakes you’d expect from a somewhat raw rookie.

William Lou damn near had a Twitter meltdown as the Lithuanian lumbered his way through an abhorrent defensive first half. There’s nights guys don’t have it, and then there’s the week Valanciunas had, where it’s looked like his conditioning has actually regressed. He’s too good to be having back-to-back nights like this.

Weird minutes from the Top Guy tonight. Uncharacteristically sloppy with the ball, his shot was errant despite some nice space over top of screens, and he didn’t seem to be in top gear on defense (though guarding twos for a stretch with VanVleet may have contributed). I am exactly zero percent concerned. Lowry’s maybe just preseasoned out. Like all of us.

Did everything in his power to make sure he had taken enough preseason field-goal attempts, firing off 24 in 30 minutes. And he was really efficient with those touches, scoring 34 points thanks to an EZ Pass to the free-throw line. We’ll always quibble with some of the longer mid-range stuff, and his defense was emblematic of the team’s as a whole, but so long as the mix leans toward drives and the post game, he can be efficient.

It’s nice that he’s trying new things by putting the ball on the floor and attacking off the catch. Those are important elements for him to have so opponents can’t close out as aggressively when he spots up. But they remain a work in progress, and he either needs to improve as a finisher or commit to trying to draw contact in the paint (he’s strong enough).

Hard to judge from such a small run – Ross sat the second half to ice his knee, likely according to plan – but he didn’t look uncomfortable or anything. Would have been nice to keep him on the floor to keep his momentum going, but it’s perhaps telling that he played ahead of Powell, so he hasn’t lost his First Wing spot.

Saw a brief stint at center while Siakam was guarding Oubre in a small-versus-small end-game scenario. He did that with the 905 a bit, too, and it stands to reason that his switch to “four-three” from “three-four” will include more minutes as a funky rim protector. Had a nice left-handed drive and kick to Siakam that led to a bucket.

I mean…come on. Nogueira finally has a healthy camp, shows some progress and consistency, locks down the backup center job, then comes out as the ONLY Raptor playing good defense early (what a world)…then he rolls an ankle on Marcus Thornton’s foot. Hopefully this is a day-to-day thing and the four days off get him right without losing momentum.

He might be looking at an opportuinity with Sullinger and Nogueira banged up, and I think he’d be fine in small minutes. He’s still going up to frantically around the rim, and it comes off as “weak” (I think it’s more “rushed”), but he’s had some nice moments on defense and really hit the glass well in this one.

Not the best of last-minute extended auditions, but outside of one tough turnover, he continued to play within himself and provide a steadying presence. Even saw time alongside Lowry, which was probably cool given how big a fan he is.

Not a great closing argument for Crawford, who has had a mostly solid preseason. Then again, garbage time isn’t exactly where you’d expect a potential low-usage, defense-first guy to shine, and he was behind Ross and Powell for minutes here.

Isn’t nine feet tall, and as such couldn’t catch the pass sent his way for a corner look. Came in, hit a bucket, made a hustle play. He’s third in line for the 15th spot, despite doing everything asked of him the last few weeks.

Still trying to find the balance between role player and bench-unit gunner, Powell was a little over-aggressive when not playing with primary rotation guys. He was also one of the only Raptors playing defense, showed some nice vision on a few drive-and-kicks, and continued shooting the ball well – he’s 7-of-16 on threes this preseason, an encouraging sign.

Just giving him this as a placeholder grade because I don’t know how to hang a 37-point preseason loss on a coach.