DeMarre Carroll grateful for opportunity with Raptors | Toronto Star
Raptors general manager Masai Ujiri said the team started courting Carroll as soon as he was up for free agency. His dynamism as a player, ability to play on the wing or small forward, and his highly-touted “blue collar” work ethic were huge selling points, Ujiri said. Carroll added that the prospect of joining a lineup with DeRozan and Kyle Lowry made him “drool at the mouth.” Now all he has to do is wrest the No. 5 away from rookie Bruno Caboclo — a foregone conclusion, really — and have a sit-down with Drake. “I’m pretty sure we’ll be in touch,” Carroll said. “Hopefully he’ll put me in a song like he did Lou Will . . . a junkyard dog song.”
Pickering’s Cory Joseph pumped to be a Toronto Raptor | Toronto Star
When Cory Joseph was a little kid, the hoop in his driveway in Pickering became the basket at the Air Canada Centre; the pavement beneath his feet, hardwood. And when he’d pull up to shoot, in his boyhood imagination, he’d be draining a buzzer beater for his favourite team. “You know, ‘Five, four, three, two, one. He scores! Raptors wiiiiinnnn!’ ” recalled Joseph, sharp-dressed and grinning at the centre of a crush of journalists holding microphones in his face. A grown man now, the fancy of a young kid from the suburbs is an official reality: the Toronto Raptors announced Thursday that they have signed Joseph to a four-year contract that’s reportedly worth $30 million. “I’ve always dreamed to join this organization. This one particularly,” Joseph said. “I thought it over in my head, I still don’t know how I’m going to feel when I put that jersey on and I go out and play that first game for the Toronto Raptors. It’s still kind of surreal to me. I got to let it settle in a bit.”
Argentina's Scola joins Toronto Raptors | Shanghai Daily
Argentinean basketball player Luis Scola confirmed on Thursday he will be playing with the Toronto Raptors in the U.S. National Basketball Association (NBA) from this season. "I'm going to the north. I hope that what happened to Dady (Brieva)'s cousin doesn't happen to me," wrote the player on his Twitter account in reference to a story that an Argentinean actor tells about a family member's experience with the cold and snow in Canada.
Carroll, Joseph newest members of ‘Raptors family’
Carroll started 69 games to help Atlanta to a franchise-high 60 wins and the No. 1 seed in the playoffs last season. He's also a proven post-season performer, which Toronto could use, having been dispatched in ugly fashion by Washington in the first round of last year's playoffs. Carroll was Atlanta's leading scorer through the first two rounds. He had a run of six games with 20-plus points, and recorded 25 points and 10 boards in the close-out game against Washington. He suffered a knee injury in Game 1 of the third round against Cleveland, but said Thursday he was 100 per cent again and ready to play. Joseph spent his first four NBA seasons with the San Antonio Spurs, helping them win the league title in 2014. He played in 79 games last season with the Spurs, averaging 6.8 points, 2.4 rebounds and 2.4 assists. Both players also pointed to Toronto's fervent fan base as a selling point. "I think they have they have the best fans in the NBA, and I'm not just saying that"
Raptors GM seeks better balance | Wolstat | Basketball | Sports | Toronto Sun
“We are a 49-win team and we didn’t have enough good success in the playoffs, but I think we’re learning, we’re growing,” Ujiri said Thursday. “Our main players, our star players are Kyle (Lowry) and DeMar (DeRozan) and these (new) guys just come and learn. Cory’s been a reliable backup point guard in the NBA and he’s grown. DeMarre has gone through all the works of the NBA to become the player he is, but he said it there, he’s come to play a role come to fit in and I think he’ll do exactly that. “You never know with these things, I’m always cautious, you add good players, everything looks good on paper, it looks OK, but when the time to play comes, that’s another question too. They have to gel, chemistry, they have to figure it out. Our expectations are minimum, we keep plugging away, if it doesn’t work we’ll try to make it better.”
Boston Celtics Sign Amir Johnson | Boston Celtics
The Boston Celtics announced today that they have signed free agent forward Amir Johnson. Per team policy, terms of the deal were not disclosed. “Amir is a proven, young veteran and an exciting addition to our team,” said Danny Ainge, Celtics President of Basketball Operations. “His length, athleticism, rebounding and shooting ability will help us on both ends of the court.”
Ujiri makes big investment on newest Raptors – Article – TSN
With Wilson Chandler on his way back to the league from China, where he played during the NBA lockout, Carroll was being cut for the second time that year. Ujiri remembers that day well, though it's not his proudest moment. "It was a tough thing to do, and a stupid thing to do," joked Ujiri, now that he's able to laugh about it. "I brought him into my office and he [looked me] straight in the eye. Funny thing was, he thanked me for the opportunity. That resonated so well because he's a good person, good kid." Cory Joseph was a rookie with the San Antonio Spurs that same season. Drafted 29th overall – the second-last pick in the opening round – out of the University of Texas, the Pickering, Ont. native made eight trips back and forth from San Antonio's D-League affiliate in Austin, once at his own request, hoping to go down, get more playing time and hone his skills.
Raptors unveil DeMarre Carroll, Cory Joseph and a new approach – The Globe and Mail
The point of the exercise, driven home by Raptors president and general manager Masai Ujiri, was to emphasize his transformation of the Raptors from offence-first playoff pushovers to hard-nosed defensive demons who will go well into the postseason. And who better than Carroll, described by Ujiri as “one of the toughest players in the NBA,” to showcase the change? Carroll came into the NBA in 2009 as a late first-round draft pick who could not find his way as a power forward. Over the next four years he bounced around the league, getting traded once and waived twice, including once by Ujiri when he was running the Denver Nuggets, before landing in Atlanta.
Toronto Raptors’ off-season signings add intangible qualities they previously lacked | National Post
“I always say this saying: ‘If you see me in a fight with a bear, you better help that bear,” Carroll said. Let it be said that Carroll, in the wake of officially signing a contract that will be worth nearly eight times his previous earnings in the league, contains multitudes. Carroll might evoke (and invoke, too) the true essence of Jerome Williams’ self-appointed nickname, the Junkyard Dog, and adjectives such as “gritty,” but he also came to his introductory press conference with the Raptors on Thursday wearing black shoes outlined by golden sequins. These were not work boots. So you can add “flamboyantly fashion-forward” to his descriptors, too. “I’m a fashion guy,” Carroll said. “So you might see a lot of different things.”
Raptors welcome DeMarre Carroll to town | NBA | Raptors | Sports | Toronto Sun
“Finally the blue-collar guy is getting a little recognition,” a smiling Carroll said. Carroll’s wife Iesha was in the front row for the announcement and admitted she was a little surprised to see Carroll let his guard down that way so publicly. “He doesn’t really reflect a lot on what he’s been through but I’ve watched him push so hard through so many things that it was emotional for me to see him get emotional that way and actually acknowledge what he’s been through,” she said. The courting of Carroll was a rather short one. The forward and his family had just returned from Aruba on the final day of June and rather than agree to a meeting just after midnight on July 1 when teams were free to begin to talk to the available talent, Carroll opted for some sleep first and then met with the Raptors travelling party that morning. No other team even got an audience with him.
Toronto Raptors: analyzing the defensive rebuild
Now that Lou Williams, Amir Johnson and Greivis Vasquez are out, and Cory Joseph, DeMarre Carroll, Luis Scola and Bismack Biyombo are in, the Raptors should be far stronger on defence. With the exception of Scola, the new additions are defensive specialists, who have made careers off playing hard on the defensive end and making a difference for their team without scoring many points. This team will be a lot better in many ways. Biyombo is a straight up rim protector, who can swat away shots with his ridiculous 7-6 wingspan. He will also grab some rebounds and just simply give the second unit some energy in relief of Jonas Valanciunas. Scola is technically solid on defence, though his athleticism is pretty minimal at 35-years old. Still, he will play hard and he will make a lot of smart decisions. He will be a meaningful player for the Raps off the bench, offering a balanced and calm approach to basketball.
Dream come true for both Joseph and Raptors | Raptors | Sports | Toronto Sun
“You couldn’t ask for anything better than what that guy has gone through,” said Raptors president/general manager Masai Ujiri. “Play for one of the best coaches in the world ever (Gregg Popovich) and one of the best organizations in the world ever. What more could you ask for? I wish I could go there for four years. “It’s a blessing for us that he has gone through that and we are able to get him now. Now it’s another stage where he comes and he plays a role and he figures it out here. But (his San Antonio experience) was a great help for him.” There is no disagreement on that from Joseph. “He taught me a lot from the game to the mental aspect of the game. I’ve learned a whole bunch. I could go on forever about what Coach Pop and all the players over there did for me,” he said. “On the Spurs, nobody gets anything handed to them. I’ve had to work for everything I got."
Ujiri, Raptors mean business with new signings – Sportsnet.ca
The TV lights had gone dim and the gathering of friends, family, media and agents had thinned out and Masai Ujiri was walking through the semi-gloom of the Air Canada Centre having completed a ten-day trial that could go a long way towards defining his tenure in Toronto. He paused to answer a simple question: Is his team better? “I don’t know man,” he said. “You never know until you play the games.”
https://instagram.com/p/47EBNsmVGs/
Home and family: Raptors introduce free-agent signings Carroll, Joseph
"They included my family. Whenever you include someone's family, that's real," said Carroll. "I didn't only have the negotiations with myself, but also with my family. I felt like that was a big part of it. Beyond this basketball, at the end of the day, all you have is family. "I feel like they took me in as their family and I'm happy to be a part of the Toronto Raptors family." Joseph, 23, of Pickering, Ont., grew up a Raptors fan and couldn't hide his excitement about playing for his hometown team. "I can't wait to put my jersey on," said Joseph, who is expected to back up all-star point guard Kyle Lowry. "I've thought it over in my head and I still don't know how I'm going to feel when I put my jersey on and go out to play that first game for the Toronto Raptors. "It's still kind of surreal to me, so I still need to let it settle in a little bit."