As the members of last year’s Raptors team received championship rings covered in more than 650 diamonds Tuesday night, a potential diamond in the rough took note from the bench.

Terence Davis Jr., the undrafted guard who played four years at the University of Mississippi before agreeing to a two-year deal with the Raptors this past July, emerged from the pre-season as the only new face in Toronto’s set rotation, a dream gig for the 22-year-old. And watching the ring ceremony served as added incentive.

“Motivation to be in that position sometime in my career,” Davis said. “It was just amazing watching those guys, (seeing) them get emotional.”

Davis was the pre-season standout among the handful of new Raptors who have so far failed to prove themselves the next man up. He was the eighth man in Toronto’s rotation on opening night, putting up five points and adding five rebounds, two assists and two steals in 15 minutes against New Orleans. He is expected to drop down the pecking order when Patrick McCaw returns from a knee injury, but just being in the mix is opportunity enough for Davis.

“I just wanted to bring the energy off the bench,” he said. “In the minutes I did get, I just wanted to just prove I belong in this league and just bring energy and effort to the game.”

That kind of hustle will be appreciated by Raptors coach Nick Nurse, who ripped into some of his rotation candidates less than a week before the season tipped off. Nurse was asked specifically about veterans Rondae Hollis-Jefferson and Stanley Johnson when he went off about players not understanding how hard the Raptors play, their schemes, and that defence is a priority.

“We’ve got some work to do with that crew,” Nurse said.

Davis is not without flaws, but his coach likes the player’s foundation. “He’ll learn but there’s a lot of tools there,” Nurse said. “I think the biggest thing is he competes. He’ll fly around and go get balls and rebound and make plays and guard people and that’s a great starting point.”

If there is anyone who knows what it took for Davis to get to this point, it is teammate Fred VanVleet, who went undrafted in 2016.

“He’s got to bump his head and make mistakes and air balls and blow assignments and turn over the ball,” VanVleet said. “He’s got to do that like we all did. But try to speed up the learning curve so he can get on the floor, and then you know that experience will be the best teacher that he’ll ever have.”

The difference between the speed and physicality of pre-season and regular season were both jumps for Davis, who also noticed that guys in the league were set down in the defensive stances and quick with their lateral moments from the moment the first regular-season game got underway.

Playing off the ball, where he worked throughout college, comes more naturally, but Davis is developing as a point guard as well.

“It’s coming along pretty good,” he said. “I’m learning a lot, day by day. I’m excited to play both (guard positions) because I love to learn. There’s always room to grow. I’m definitely learning a lot.”

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For all the differences between the rookie and the veteran players, Davis can see at least one common thread — dedication. It is it what got him to the league, what got the Raptors their rings and what Davis hopes will help get him some bling of his own one day.

“These guys work and that’s how I came along, that’s how I came about, just putting in work, putting in effort,” he said. “I just adapt, I adapted right away, just the work that the guys do makes me want to work even more.”