Photo credit: Trung Ho / TrungHo.ca
The Toronto Raptors are elevating another Raptors 905 player within the organization, as Raptors Republic has learned that Fuquan Edwin will be joining the team for Las Vegas Summer League.
Edwin joins Shevon Thompson as members of the 905 to earn the invite, continuing a trend of the Raptors rewarding 905 stand-outs the following summer. In 2016, Davion Berry and E.J. Singler earned the nod with Singler eventually getting invited to NBA training camp, and last year saw Goodluck Okonoboh and Will Sheehey get a look in Vegas. Both Edwin and Thompson had strong enough G League seasons as mid-season acquisitions to earn invites to the G League Mini Camp in Chicago earlier this offseason, and both should be on the radar for training camp invites with a strong showing in Summer League, whether with the Raptors or another organization.
The 905 picked Edwin up as an in-season waiver claim as he re-entered the G League player pool after a partial season in Finland. Edwin quickly found a role as a two-way wing specialist and earned the trust of head coach Jerry Stackhouse for a handful of end-of-game scenarios, plus a few starts toward the end of the year. An All-Defensive G League Team player in 2014-15, Edwin quickly got back to his ball-hawking ways to help fuel the 905 transition game, posting an elite steal percentage of 3.6 percent (good for third overall) and ranking second in the entire league in defensive rating. Synergy Sports graded him in the 61st percentile as a man defender, a solid mark given he often drew tough assignments and guarded as many as four positions in a given game. At 6-foot-6 with a 6-foot-8 wingspan, Edwin has the requisite size to be a versatile defender at the next level, particularly if he can add a bit more bulk to his 215-pound frame.
He also has the “three” part of 3-and-D largely down, to the point that it was a bit curious he was even available to the 905. Edwin was a solid, if unspectacular, shooter at Seton Hall but knocked down 40 percent of his threes as a G League rookie in 2014-15 and 37.3 percent of them this past season with the 905. Synergy ranked him in the 57th percentile as a spot-up shooter – he hit 41.5 percent of his corner threes – and the 67th percentile in transition, where his open-court speed was a factor. His decision-making sometimes left a little to be desired and he has a hair trigger, but there’s plenty to like in a more defined role. Edwin should fit in with how the Summer League team projects to play, as the roster is heavy on speed and wing versatility.
Also joining the Raptors in Summer League will be Codi Miller-McIntyre and Augusto Lima, per Clevis Murray and David Pick, respectively.
Miller-McIntyre is a 6-foot-3 point guard who can really get up and offers a different look from Giddy Potts and Andrew Rowsey, the other two lead guards confirmed for the roster. Where those two are shooting specialists, that remains the weakest part of Miller-McIntyre’s game – he never topped 32.6 percent on threes in four seasons at Wake Forest and shot 23.7 percent in his first pro season in Belgium and 31.9 percent in Russia this past year. What he can do is score in a hurry, though. In 34 games with Parma Basket Perm this season, he averaged 16 points on 54.4-percent true-shooting, making up for his lack of shooting with an ability to get to the rim and to the free-throw line, ranking in the 89th percentile as an isolation scorer in the VTB United league, per Synergy. He also averaged nearly eight assists per-game, possibly pointing to further growth as a playmaker since he was a Demon Deacon.
Lima is a 6-foot-10 center from Brazil whose rights belong to Real Madrid but who has played all over the last two seasons, both on loan and as he jumped to other leagues. He spent 2016-17 with Sarunas Jasikevicius’ Zalgiris squad, winning a Lithuanian title and playing in the EuroLeague, where he featured as a part-time starter and regular rotation piece. The year prior, he won a Spanish championship with UCAM Murcia. This past season, he was loaned to Besiktas, eventually opted to go play in the Chinese league, then landed back with Murcia at the end of the year. Across his three stops, he averaged 8.9 points on 58.2-percent shooting with 6.8 rebounds and 0.9 blocks, all in 19.6 minutes. Canadian basketball fans might remember him from AmeriCup and Tuto Marchand action, too, as he’s had some nice games against the Canadian squad.
Here’s how the roster stands right now:
PG: Potts, Rowsey, Miller-McIntyre
SG: Richardson, Alkins
SF: Anunoby, Miller, Edwin
PF: McKinnie
C: Thompson, Lima
The full roster will likely be released later this week.
