Relative to his draft stock, no other player came out of the NBA draft with bigger buzz than Gradey Dick. Followed on Instagram by Drake, stunning in sequin, and powered by two factions of fans: those that love his game, and those that love his name. The Raptors were ready to bring some talented youth into the roster. The fanbase and organization welcomed him with open arms.
The add seemed simple. Over the past 3 years, the Raptors have been one of the worst shooting teams in the whole of the NBA, so they select a player who is considered the best shooter in the draft by many, and one of the best shooters to come out of the draft in the past few years. Only, he shot 5-22 from downtown across his 3 summer league games. The big selling point of his game didn’t initially pop.
“A lot of guys are gonna see me as a shooter, which I am.”
– Gradey Dick
I spent a good amount of summer league talking to scouts around the league, asking for thoughts on Gradey’s slow shooting start and underwhelming box scores. The thing that kept coming up: how great his movement off-ball is on both sides of the floor. The people I had talked to watched him through high school, college, all the way to Vegas, and no one mentioned cause for concern about the jumpshot.
A few scouts labeled him one of the steals of the draft, waving away the shooting concerns and highlighting the lightning quick reads of the floor. The Raptors newest, large wing player was getting up and down on both ends to fill lanes, playmake a little bit in transition, hunt for the Kyle Lowry-style steal of swiping at bigs who just corralled a rebound, and grabbing a ton of rebounds himself – a hair over 6 a game. That motor was something he said he wanted to work on with the bigger NBA floor, having cited the relentless work that the best shooters provide while sprinting around it in the past.
“The first game, right off of tip-off, going up and down was what kind of hit first. But, after that it just kind of feels like basketball. The court, it’s kind of underrated. People don’t understand how coming from a high school and college court, then coming here, there’s a lot more space.” Gradey said to me in Vegas. “But, I like having that for my game and what it opens up. In college you beat a defender, you get past, it’s everyone coming in and playing team defense, so, just being able to do that and the conditioning to do that is important and something I’m still working on.”
Not that “.5 basketball” is Darko Rajakovic’s intellectual property – you could even hear Jarrett Jack yelling “POINT FIVE” to his players during the Raps-Pistons game – but he is a proponent of leveraging quick decision making into advantages that have long been created with on-ball skill. At times, Gradey struggled with off-ball physicality to get open and on-ball, but when the ball found his hands be it on a cut, off a rebound, or just while spacing out he made a lot of tremendous reads.
While connective passing is the hallmark of his playmaking skill, his on-ball creation at Kansas was often tied to empty-side actions where his shooting gravity can create big lanes to the rim for his roller. “Just knowing how they’re going to guard you. If they’re gonna stay on my hip when I’m coming off (the screen), their guy is gonna be right behind me. Maybe with a little bit more help from the big on the pick n’ roll because they don’t want me shooting.” Gradey said. “That’s gonna open up different facets for different guys. So, that’s something I’m trying to read and something I’m still working on.”
His usage ratcheted up as the games kept chugging along, taking more shots with each game that passed. In game 1, when opposing teams pushed him downhill, sometimes the dribbling got over long and led to turnovers. After the game, Markquis Nowell offered a bit of insight, having played against Gradey in college and seeing how he was being defended at Summer League: “Use the shot-fake a lot more, because he’s a deadly shooter. Once he raises those defenders up he can get to that one-dribble, two-dribble pull-up. Just taking what the defense gives him, not overdoing it with the dribble, just playing his way. I’m pretty sure he’s gonna figure it out himself, because he’s a professional and he’s a really good player.”
“I’m tryna learn what the defense is doing to me. Pushing up on me when I’m trying to come off screens, and that’s one thing I can take away by just getting my work done early as a shooter and finding what can get you open. Being set early, and coming off of screens where I can kind of create that space. A lot of guys are gonna see me as a shooter, which I am. So, I’m going to continue to get a lot of pressure in that way. But, I kind of knew coming into it. I just keep saying, I’m gonna learn from this and build on it.”
– Gradey Dick
Defensively, he’s just as impressive shaping up to the ball. He has a keen awareness of where to be on the floor, and despite his eagerness to playmake on defense getting him into a little bit of trouble in game one — accompanied by his now infamous “AAAaaahhhhhHHHHH” yell of frustration — those reads, even though he missed on steals by a smidge, are a great indication of how he’s reading the opposing offense.
On ball defensively, when he was asked to guard initiators, it went poorly. The bigs on the Raptors summer league roster couldn’t play much besides drop, Gradey was dying on screens, and ball handlers were very comfortable getting downhill. However, that context isn’t one we’ll likely see at the NBA level very often.
All in all, Gradey underwhelmed a little bit. Underwhelming at Summer League isn’t a death knell of someone’s career, though. And his reputation as a shooter didn’t come from a hot month or wide-open looks. He’s been a heat pump on difficult shots for years. It would’ve been great for him to get off to a torrid stretch, but 3 games of below average shooting doesn’t redefine someone’s actual skill.
The Raptors have been employing a lot of players who succeed in the in-between and they’ve prayed for unlikely shooting development for them. Gradey is a wonderful change of pace, in that he’s extremely likely to provide elite NBA shooting.
So, while Gradey didn’t look how people thought he would, and the Raptors Summer League team was really bad at winning basketball games, the broad strokes and belief in their drafting choices this year still look great. It should be exciting to keep tabs on.
Have a blessed day.
