LAS VEGAS — The trophy case at Manor High School in Austin, Texas, has Jamal Shead’s name all over it.

It’s no exaggeration. The Toronto Raptors‘ second-year point guard spent two years at Manor and led them to the state tournament for the first time in school history as a junior and their first district title as a senior before he went on to a decorated career at the University of Houston.

“Every trophy that we have was when I was there,” Shead said as he and his teammates finished up their first official workout in advance of their Las Vegas Summer League schedule, which tips off Friday against the Chicago Bulls. “We haven’t done anything before or after.”

The topic came up because Shead is determined to win another trophy — the one they give out to the winner of the NBA’s summer competition, where development rosters for all 30 teams come every July to show who has improved and what still needs work.

For the most part, that’s all Summer League is: a series of public scrimmages designed to give young NBA players, aspiring NBA players, and new NBA players live reps so everyone gets a frame of reference at the midpoint of the off-season.

But the Raptors have a little bit more invested than most clubs do at this stage of the summer.

Rather than fielding a team made up of players who may or may not feature in their future plans, the Raptors’ Summer League roster looks very much like the group of young rotation players that were routinely winning NBA games (albeit against watered-down competition) during the second half of last season.

And rather than arrive in Vegas and put together a structure in a few practices over the course of a week, the Raptors’ youngsters have been working steadily since the season ended in April, with extended workouts in Toronto in May, and again in Toronto for a few days after the draft in late June, once rookies Collin Murray-Boyles, Alijah Martin and Chucky Hepburn (signed to a two-way contract) were added to the roster.

But the highlight of the off-season build-up was a four-day training camp hosted by Shead in his hometown of Austin, Texas, with individual and team workouts at Shead’s old high school.

And while his teammates got some laughs looking at pictures of ‘young Jamal’ — short hair, clean shaven — they were also hard at work shaping what they believe will be a key ingredient for a successful NBA season to come.

A deep and productive bench.

And it starts with Summer League.

“It matters,” says second-year Raptors wing Ja’Kobe Walter, who had a strong second half to his rookie season after dealing with injuries in the first half. “We’re here for a reason. We’re all trying to win. That’s all of our goal. I know that’s Coco’s (Raptors assistant and Summer League head coach James Wade) goal.

“We’re all trying to win it. We’re trying to show what we’ve been working on all summer. And we have already played with each other. We got chemistry. So, you know, we just kind of got confidence coming in.”

Now, the downside of loading up a Summer League roster with ‘veterans’ — there are seven returning Raptors on the roster and six that played significant rotation minutes at various points during the season, along with first-round pick Murray-Boyles, second-round pick Martin and Hepburn — is that if for whatever reason the Raptors stumble here in Las Vegas, there will be some explaining to do.

As the axiom goes, strong performances at Summer League are less important than bad ones. Put another way, you don’t learn who can play in the NBA at Summer League, but often you get the first glimpses of why someone can’t.

By that logic, the Raptors’ veteran group carries more downside risk. It will be hard to project a second unit that can contribute at the NBA level if they can’t hit the ground running in Vegas.

“We want those expectations,” said Shead. “We want to be the team that everybody thinks we should. I think, going into the summer league, we’re all excited to play. We’re all hungry. So, I think that’s the biggest thing. Everybody here has a chip on their shoulder.”

It wasn’t all work and no play during the Shead-led tour of Austin. There was a catered barbecue that Shead hosted at his apartment complex, a boat cruise, restaurant outings and bowling.

But there was serious work done too. The 10 players in attendance — Shead, Walter, Jamison Battle, Jonathan Mogbo, Gradey Dick, Ochai Agbaji, AJ Lawson, Ulrich Chomche, Colin Castleton and Jared Rhoden (who has since been waived) — were led through workouts by Raptors head strength-and-conditioning coach Jonny Lee, while a number of assistant coaches were also on hand, along with head coach Darko Rajakovic.

It was all part of the Raptors’ youngsters building on the chemistry they showed last season and hope will translate into the season to come as Toronto looks to use their full roster and commitment to up-tempo defence to punch above their weight in an Eastern Conference that seems fairly wide-open after a short-list of proven favourites runs out past the Cleveland Cavaliers and New York Knicks.

“I believe in the first five for sure,” said Walter. “Whoever’s gonna be that first five, we don’t know, but I’m gonna believe in the first five for sure. And I know the people on the bench gonna be ready too.”

They’ll get a chance to show it in a Summer League session where hopes and expectations are more elevated than is typical.

If all goes well, there might even be a trophy at the end of it.

1. That’s Mr. Walter to you: Walter has turned some heads this summer with a new look, trimming off his trademark braids, which he started wearing in seventh grade. They went shortly after the end of his rookie season. “I don’t know what prompted it, honestly. I really can’t tell you. I think it was just time for a new cut,” Walter said. “The decision earned a thumbs up from Shead, who still has his braids in. “I love it,” said Shead, stroking his goatee. “He looks like a grown man. I’m waiting for him to grow some facial hair now, too.”

2. Opportunity knocks: The Raptors’ list of proven NBA big men pretty much begins and ends with Jakob Poeltl, the veteran centre they inked to a three-year $89-million contract extension on Tuesday. For Castleton, a 25-year-old centre who had some good moments with the Raptors in the second half of last season, it’s a door he’s hoping to push his way through. “I’m excited,” he said. “I’m going to play as hard as I can to dominate the boards, protect the rim, and show I’m continuously ready to play at the next level.

3. Ingram sighting: Raptors forward Brandon Ingram took the floor at the practice facility the team has built out for the third straight summer in a ballroom at the Wynn Hotel and Casino. Several other veteran Raptors are expected to be on hand Thursday for workouts and the opening of Summer League. Ingram wasn’t available to the media, but from a distance, he seemed to be moving freely. The 27-year-old played just 18 games last season and none for the Raptors after he was acquired at the trade deadline in February due to a severe ankle sprain.