For two players who have known each other and played head-to-head since high school, Deng Adel and OG Anunoby operate in a noticeably different fashion. Anunoby has a reputation for being understated and stoic both on and off the court, and while he’s far more engaging and funny than soundbites would suggest, it would be difficult to guess his mood from afar at any given time. Adel is an easier read, as a wide, bright smile rarely leaves his face.
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That smile was on full display at Toronto Raptors media day, first when Raptors president Masai Ujiri walked by and greeted an almost star-struck Adel and then again when The Athletic asked Adel about the Anunoby connection.
“Yeah, I know OG from high school and throughout college,” he said. “I knew him before I came here. He’s still learning himself, so we’re both learning as we go along.”
Since before college — Anunoby at Jefferson City in Missouri, Adel at Victory Rock Prep in Florida — they’ve been across the court from each other, literally and figuratively. Entering college in 2015, Adel was the more sought-after prospect, ESPN’s No. 32-ranked recruit in the class and their No. 5 small forward to No. 41 at the position (and no top-100 rank) for Anunoby. With Adel at Louisville and Anunoby at Indiana, their paths crossed more tangibly in their sophomore years. Both had been placed on the watch list for the Julius Erving Award as the nation’s best small forward, and while Anunoby would eventually bow out of the running after tearing his ACL, both players made a strong case here — Anunoby scored 14 points with three rebounds and two steals, while Adel scored 17 points with four rebounds and four assists, knocking down three threes in a convincing victory. (Josh Hart would ultimately win the award.)
A few weeks back, their paths crossed again as Adel joined the Raptors for some of their pre-preseason workouts. This was a bit of a surprise, not because of the Anunoby connection but because Adel was originally believed to have been signing with the Minnesota Timberwolves.
After going undrafted and participating in Las Vegas Summer League with the Houston Rockets, Deng worked out with the Wolves for about a week and, in late August, it was reported that he’d signed a training camp deal, providing NBA Twitter with a deep well of Luol Deng/Gorgui Dieng/Deng Adel jokes. Not long after, The Athletic’s Shams Charania reported that Deng was changing course and joining the Raptors. As I reported at the time, the deal is an Exhibit 10 contract that could see him make the roster outright, get converted to a two-way contract or, if he clears waivers and is willing, join Raptors 905 with a $50,000 bonus (Exhibit 10 deals are explained in more detail here). A change in plans during the summer is not entirely uncommon — Rawle Alkins, for example, took a two-way contract with the Chicago Bulls after he and the Raptors had previously agreed to an Exhibit 10 deal — and for Adel, it wasn’t all that hard a decision to make.
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“I’ve been here two weeks, working out, getting familiar with everything, the city, just the guys, everybody’s in the gym every day,” he said. “I was in Minnesota. I worked out there for a week and everything was going well, but I just felt the opportunity here was bigger. Obviously, with the roster spots, and then they do a great job of developing the young guys, especially guys like Fred (VanVleet), OG, a lot of the young guys they developed. So I just felt that it was best for me.”
This is a fairly common refrain around Toronto’s camps these days. It’s one Eric Moreland echoed, too: The Raptors have such a strong track record of player development at the NBA and G League level over the last few years that even if an ultimate goal — a roster spot — isn’t achieved, players and agents seem to feel they’ll be in a better position long-term after being in Toronto’s pipeline.
That suits the Raptors just fine. They have 14 players with at least substantial guarantees on their deals, a 15th man would cost nearly $5 million after luxury tax is considered, and finding players who will buy in to a more long-term development plan with Raptors 905 involved was a key focus as they built out their training camp roster.
Adel is one of the most intriguing of that group. He’s by far the youngest at just 21, and he has a lot of the pieces the Raptors tend to look for in a wing. At 6-foot-7 and 200-pounds with a 6-foot-9.5 wingspan, Adel profiles as a multi-position defender first and foremost. He doesn’t come in with elite defensive pedigree — he recorded only modest steal and block rates and might not be quite quick enough for NBA guards, though he has the athleticism to improve in that regard — but there’s more than enough on the surface to see him as a 3-and-D prospect. Adel hit 34.9 per cent on nearly 300 3-point attempts in college, shot 77.6 percent at the free-throw line, has a relatively clean-looking stroke, and his early work extending that range to the NBA line, he says, is coming along well.
“Yeah, especially, we get so many reps in. We get so many shots up,” Adel said. “There’s always more work. You can never be a perfect shooter, and the more reps you get the more comfortable you get.”
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What Adel can be outside of that generic archetype is still a developmental question. He has a solid handle for a wing of his size and could capably run a pick-and-roll and create for himself in the mid-range in college. The Raptors probably won’t ask him to do much of that, even if an ability to score at three levels in a major conference is a positive indicator, although his assist rate nudging up to 16.7 percent as a junior bodes well for his fit in a Nick Nurse offence. Adel will have to add strength and be more aggressive around the rim and glass at both ends, especially if he’s going to play some small-ball four.
“Just being versatile,” Adel said of the direction the team gave him for camp. “Obviously, playing a lot of different positions. That’s what the coaches want, and they want guys that can attack the paint and share the ball. A lot of things that are in my nature. I’m a very unselfish player, so a lot of that just came naturally.”
Overall, Adel was not firmly considered a likely draft pick in June. Only once did DraftExpress have him mocked in their top 60, and while several draft experts (including The Athletic’s Sam Vecenie) had him as a top-100 prospect overall, he didn’t crack a major top-50. (The Raptors did not have Adel in for a pre-draft workout.) Longer-term, it’s easy to see why the Raptors think they could mold him into something beyond his draft status. For one, Adel got a somewhat late start to basketball, only starting to play at age 14, a few years after his family landed in Australia (via Uganda) from South Sudan. He also improved rapidly across three seasons at Louisville, and he checks all of the character boxes the Raptors usually look for in their young players.
In other words, he seems like a very good candidate to fill a two-way roster spot, allowing him to learn at the NBA level while also getting a consistently heavy run in the G League. That’s stiff competition with Moreland and Chris Boucher both making a lot of sense for the slot, and Adel, as one of two players not to play in Toronto’s preseason opener on Saturday, hasn’t had a chance to make a firm impression yet. While he could play Tuesday, the key date to watch might be Friday, when the Raptors host a Melbourne United team Adel has practiced with in the past.
Whether he ends up seeing the court enough to state his case or has to prove himself guarding his old foe Anunoby in practice sessions, Adel is approaching the next few weeks as a major opportunity for his growth.
“Honestly, for me, it’s just learn as much as I can being around this organization, being around the coaches and the great players they have here,” he said. “Just learning as much as I can and just competing. Everything else, I believe everything else is going to take care of itself. Obviously, the main goal is to make a roster spot, and you’ve gotta keep that in mind. But I just want to learn as much as I can and develop as much as I can.”
However that plays out, it’s a safe bet Adel approaches the outcome with a smile.
(Photo: Steve Russell/Toronto Star via Getty Images)