DeMar DeRozan becoming one of Raptors greats | Toronto Sun
Today’s professional athletes are known to be hard workers, but DeRozan takes it to a different level, which is why he has been able to steadily improve, to the point that he made his first all-star appearance in 2013-14. Earlier this summer, former Raptors head coach Jay Triano said he was not shocked at all about DeRozan’s progression, since he had always been a relentless worker. “Even when I was coaching and he was a young player and we were playing him to gain the experience that he has now, the kid came back every night at 6 O’clock, it was like clockwork,” Triano told the Sun. “The door in the locker room would open and it was almost like a beeper on a watch going off. You’d look and you’d go, ‘it’s got to be 6 o’clock and it’s got to be DeMar,’ and sure enough, he was coming back and getting extra shots. The great players don’t just do what everybody else does, they find something else to do to make them better and DeMar was like that.”
DeMar DeRozan Says Chris Bosh Made Him The Player He Is | FanSided
“He was tough on me from the standpoint, I think he knew how good I could be,” DeRozan told Basketball Insiders. “I was the starting guard with him, (Hedo) Turkoglu, (Andrea) Bargnani, Jose Calderon. I was the only rookie out there. A lot of mistakes I made, he would just be hard on me about it so I could be better. He was a good dude. He’s a good friend of mine.” In what proved to be a changing of the guard, Bosh ended up leaving the Toronto Raptors to join LeBron James in South Beach with the Miami Heat while DeMar DeRozan took over as the franchise player in T-Dot.
Raptors Celebrate 20th Anniversary Nights | Toronto Raptors
The Toronto Raptors will play host to the Washington Wizards this Friday, November 7 in the first of seven 20th Anniversary Nights presented by Air Canada. The team will wear the original road purple jersey for the first time since May 4, 1999. All fans in attendance at Friday’s game will receive a special edition throwback purple t-shirt, which features the names of every player in team history designed within the claw logo. Former Raptors Alvin Williams and Antonio Davis will also be on hand to help kick-off the anniversary celebrations. Four Raptors alumni will be featured with a bobble-head giveaway throughout the season.
Armstrong: Five thoughts around the NBA | TSN
JAMES JOHNSON (Raptors): Been very impressed with his energy and play making ability. Has had some wonderful drives and neat passes so far. His defensive awareness and ability is top shelf and is a game-changer at the three or four spot off the bench. A good get the second time around. Just keep playing under control and good things are ahead for him.
Views From The 6: Early Season Trends | Raptors HQ
With the caveat — and it holds for almost everything in this piece — that it’s early, the Raptors are allowing 105.3 points per 100 possessions, which currently places them in the bottom third of the league. Early numbers need to be taken with a grain of salt, but just by the eye test, games like the first half about Oklahoma City and the entire game against Miami (save for a bit of the fourth) where guys were just getting to the basket at will is concerning. The lack of effort thing is another eye test measurement, but in the last three games, the Raptors have trailed 31-26, 30-23 and 35-23. This team is talented enough to fight back from these deficits, but it’s almost as if they know that, and succeeding from coming back to win (which they did against the Thunder, and last night against the Celtics) is a type of positive reinforcement for them. These poor starts will eventually catch up to them, and they’re not going to get away with that against better teams. It should be pointed out we’ve been working with a patchwork front court last few games, and the presence of Amir Johnson on both ends of the floor and how he solidifies the rotation has played a role in the inconsistent play. Casey should eventually figure out how to maximize his bench and the best five-man lineups to put out there in terms of mixing and matching all the pieces he has.
Raptors, comfortable and confident, taking advantage of roster cohesion | ProBasketballTalk
Of course, the Raptors’ goal is not only to get a head start on clicking during the regular season. They want to go deeper in the playoffs than last season, when they fell in the first round. Again, their familiarity should help. In the previous five years, four teams returned five players who started at least 60 games from a team that lost in the first round. All four – the 2011-12 Spurs, 2011-12 76ers, 2010-11 Thunder and 2009-10 Spurs – advanced in the playoffs. Obviously, there’s a selection bias. Only teams that believe in their starters bring them all back. But that’s the point. Toronto has a good general manager in Masai Ujiri, and he chose to keep this team intact. Maybe Lowry deserves the most credit. A free agent this summer, he received interest from the Heat and Rockets before re-signing with the Raptors. But after taking care of his team’s top player, Ujiri re-signed Patterson and Vasquez on player-friendly contracts in order to keep the core together.
Why Raptors James Johnson Isn’t The Same Guy This Year | Pro Bball Report
Johnson learned the hard way that teams in the NBA don’t owe a player anything. After the Kings opted to let him go following the 2012-13 season, he was waived by the Hawks before the 2013-14 season started and Johnson ended up in the NBA D-League until the Grizzlies needed an injury replacement in December. Johnson played well for the Grizzlies, but didn’t make a big enough impression to stick after the season ended. He has good reasons for knowing he can’t take anything for granted. However, Johnson is better than before, picking up the nuances of the game from players like Zach Randolph last year and Kyle Lowry as he prepared for this year. Already Johnson has displayed the defensive energy that he has been known for and an unexpected ability to finish through contract, something he often struggled with earlier in his career.
Nba | The North Star: Kyle Lowry’s Continued Rise As Raptors Leader | SPORTAL
Lowry’s rise is no longer news, though he shouldered the load in Toronto’s 48-win season beneath a cloud of doubt concerning his motivation. Once viewed as a cantankerous, combative figure in the locker room, few could absorb his development and maturation without remaining conscious of the carrot dangling at the end of the tunnel—unrestricted free agency, and the overwhelming likelihood of a hefty pay day. The Raptors returned the favour in kind during the offseason, committing to Lowry as the team’s defining personality, and locking him up with a four-year, $48 million contract. Five games in (small sample size notwithstanding) and with a handful of new point guard deals since doled out for context, and it looks as if Masai Ujiri’s valuation of the 28-year-old hit the mark.
Johnson’s absence at centre of Raptors’ slow starts | Sportsnet.ca
But it is one of those bench players, Greivis Vasquez, who wondered earlier this week whether the absence of Amir Johnson – missing for three games with an ankle injury – wasn’t a large part of the explanation. Johnson was a good first-quarter performer for the Raptors when the team blossomed into a contender in 2013-2014, collecting more steals and rebounds and posting a higher field-goal percentage in the first quarter than any other player on the team. True, he logged more first-quarter minutes, but Johnson’s energy and ability to produce without needing plays drawn up for him is an important first-quarter asset for any team. Few players on this team have as many recipes for chicken salad as does Johnson, if you catch my drift. “Amir … we’re all just so used to having him out there,” Vasquez said. “It’s not just his energy. It’s what he does. He might not get 40 points but we need him for the rest of us to get baskets.
Toronto Raptors: A Deceiving Start | The Runner Sports
First of all, let’s look at who the Toronto Raptors have beaten so far this year. Atlanta, Boston, Oklahoma City, and Orlando aren’t exactly world-beaters this year. Those teams are 4-13 so far this season, so the Raptors should beat those teams. The one loss was at the hands of the Miami Heat who, at 3-2, are the only team above .500 that the Raptors have played so far in this early portion of the season. Now, there’s something to be said for beating the teams that you’re supposed to, but even those “easy” wins have been much tougher than they should have been. Atlanta was only down 4 with 35 seconds left, Orlando was down 5 with 4 minutes left, and Oklahoma City was down 7 with 3 minutes left. Boston had a chance to tie Wednesday’s game with a 3-pointer at the end of regulation. It’s great that the Raptors came away with the wins, but you’d like to see them put away those teams earlier.
Raptors view Celtics as threat in Atlantic Division | Green Street
The Celtics are hoping to replicate Toronto’s turnaround behind their own headstrong 28-year-old point guard Rajon Rondo and burgeoning young shooting guard Avery Bradley in the second year of coach Brad Stevens‘ tenure. The Raptors are recognizing their effort. “They’re definitely very talented,” DeRozan said after scoring 23 points on 25 shots in a 110-107 win in Boston. “They’ve got a great coach. They’ve got a hell of a point guard in Rondo. They’re still learning and still growing. You’ve got a talented kid in [Marcus] Smart, so they definitely have a chance and we definitely have to look for them, especially in our division.”
#NorthernNostalgia week two: The birth of the Raptors brand | Raptors Cage
Tomorrow night’s contest against the Washington Wizards is marketed as the first “20th Anniversary Night” of the season. Players will wear vintage throwback jerseys and fans in attendance will receive a commemorative t-shirt reportedly featuring the names of every player to ever don the purple/red.
Raptors vs. Wizards preview | Toronto Sun
Washington has looked good early, despite being without gunners Bradley Beal and Martell Webster. Wall has picked up the slack, averaging a career-best 21.4 points per game, little-known Garrett Temple has played 35 minutes a night at shooting guard, averaging 13.8 points, hitting a ton of threes and big men Marcin Gortat and Nene have been excellent. Paul Pierce has been a nice fit, benefiting from the many open looks Wall sets up. Washington has won four straight since an opening night loss to Miami, including a two-point, overtime thriller over Indiana on Wednesday. This will be the Wizards third game in four nights and the fifth in seven nights for the Raptors.
Raptors-Wizards: Friday game preview | Toronto Star
The Raptors still have Jonas Valanciunas (hand) and Amir Johnson (ankle) listed as questionable but if they don’t go, it’s a tough, tough matchup for a smallish Toronto front court . . . Wizards are 4-1 after an overtime win over Indiana on Wednesday, even without injured guard Bradley Beal. Temple has filled in admirably and averages almost 14 points per game . . . Pierce is taking the place of departed free agent Trevor Ariza and gives the Wizards another grizzled veteran to go along with backup point guard Andre Miller . . . Antonio Davis and Alvin Williams will be at the game as part of Toronto’s 20th anniversary celebrations, and the team will wear the purple pinstriped road jerseys that debuted in 1995 . . . Washington is trying to start a season 5-1 for the second time in history; the Raptors have never been 5-1.
Raptors (4-1) vs Washington Wizards (4-1): 3 keys to victory | Raptors Rapture
One difference which favours the Wiz is the presence of ageless Paul Pierce, last season’s Game 7 heartbreaker. He starts at small forward, where Terrence Ross has recently struggled. The Wizards’ bench includes rebounder Kris Humphries, savvy veteran point guard Andre Miller, smallish forward DeJuan Blair and underachiever Kevin Seraphin. The Raptors can win this game, but without Jonas Valanciunas and Amir Johnson (both listed as “questionable”) are in tough.
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