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Mailbag Exclusive: Bobby Webster subs in and answers Raptors fans’ questions | The Star
QUESTION: Besides some of the obvious highlights of playing for the Raptors (i.e. country, fan base, winning), what smaller, but in your opinion, very significant qualities would you highlight to a free agent considering the team? — Nathan
I think the first one, and I don’t want to gloss over it, is the winning. It’s always first, it’s foremost in any presentation that we give or any meeting that we have with a free agent.
It’s something that we’re proud of, that we built here and that we’re trying to sustain. Obviously the expectation to win comes along with that and that presents its own challenges and motivations but that’s always been our goal, to attract players that care about winning because we do.
The next one is our ownership group and MLSE. They are in a position to provide us with all of the resources we need and that kind of shows itself in whether it’s the Raptors 905, which is our G League team out in Mississauga, which is really important for the development of our players and staff. It’s our practice facility that we have, it’s in the staff that we’re able to hire, put literally the best staff in the NBA around these guys.
And it’s not a given. I’ve been around the league a bit and it’s not a given – or in any industry – that you have that type of support above you. I think the players feel it, I think hopefully the city, the country and our fans feel that we’re all on the same page and that we’re in it together. I think it’s really important to get that sense from ownership in order to achieve what you want to.
QUESTION: My son Ethan, aged 9, is interested in your career path. Do you have plans for a different role after being a GM? — Katie
Hi Katie and Ethan.
Ethan, you’re ahead of your time thinking about your future GM career. I grew up loving basketball from as young as I can remember, but didn’t realize all of the jobs that went into creating an NBA game until I graduated from college. Whether you watch a game on TV or in the arena, there are so many different roles — you can play, coach, sell popcorn, take videos or photos, dance, scout, etc.
Like many first jobs, I started right out of college as an intern, and I was lucky enough for it to be in the NBA with the Orlando Magic. I don’t really remember exactly what I did, but the most important part was simply doing a great job in whatever I was asked to do — staying late to make the last FedEx delivery, driving visitors around town, helping my boss move houses, and sometimes it was even fun stuff, like playing basketball whenever the CEO flew into town. Thinking back, I was trying to be as helpful and thoughtful to everyone I worked with, but at the same time I was also listening and observing everyone and everything to learn about the business.
From Orlando, I moved to New York City where I worked for seven years at the NBA offices. I continued to grow and mature as a person, while learning even more about the NBA and how it operates. Masai called me seven years ago to come work for the Raptors and the rest is history! Time flies, and I’ve been incredibly fortunate to receive a lot of good advice over the years.
The Last Dance news: Kobe Bryant's 'big brother' moment with Michael Jordan
The Lakers great spoke about one moment in particular, when he asked MJ about the turn-around jumper and, in exchange, received a big brother figure:
“I had a question about [MJ’s] turn-around shot so I asked him about it,” Bryant said. “He gave me a great detailed answer and on top of that he said if you need anything give me a call. It’s like my big brother.”
Bryant took plenty of notes when it came to Jordan’s scoring abilities, incorporating many of those methods into his own game on his way to superstardom.
In fact, Bryant told Howard Beck of Bleacher Report he copied Jordan’s fadeaway after watching then-Toronto Raptors star DeMar DeRozan hit a game-winner against the New York Knicks.
“It was a carbon copy of my stop-pivot-turn-fade, which I learned from Michael,” Bryant tells B/R Mag. “I mean, it was just amazing to see that.”
The truth can now be told: Yes, Kobe Bryant says, he did copy Jordan—”Damn near 100 percent of the technique,” he says. “Damn near 100 percent”—and Bryant in turn became the living example for his young peers, a conduit from the NBA’s greatest of all time to a new generation of stars.
Rap Soundtracks the Michael Jordan Doc. The N.B.A. Wasn’t Always That Way. – The New York Times
The “How Ya Like Me Now” we hear in “The Last Dance” is actually not the 1987 original, but a rerecorded take that removes an impossible-to-clear James Brown sample. Speaking over the phone, Kool Moe Dee said the producers had incorporated “the wrong version.” Still, he thought they had done “a very good job in terms of using hip-hop music as a storytelling mechanism.” He noted the contrast between today and the late ’80s, when he stood relatively alone as a mainstream hip-hop artist. “I was absolutely the guy that when people didn’t like hip-hop, they’d always say, ‘I don’t like hip-hop but I like Kool Moe Dee.’”
Today, it’s difficult to imagine the N.B.A. without hip-hop. Roddy Ricch’s “The Box,” which topped the Billboard singles chart for several weeks this year, references an iconic Vince Carter dunk. Drake is the designated “global ambassador” of the Toronto Raptors, and a frequent courtside presence. (During the 2019 N.B.A. playoffs, he was unofficially reprimanded by the league for trash-talking Toronto’s opponents.) Roc Nation, an entertainment agency founded by Jay-Z, represents multiple players, including the superstars Kevin Durant and Kyrie Irving of the Brooklyn Nets.
“I think the popularity of basketball as a cultural sport — not just as an athletic sport — is a testament to that connection,” LL Cool J said.
The N.B.A.’s growing comfort with rap music mirrored rap’s own absorption into — and later domination of — mainstream culture, where by the turn of the millennium, it wasn’t just the players who were devoted listeners. “The executives behind it are growing up with hip-hop,” Kool Moe Dee said of the league. “They’re way more comfortable making those kinds of choices. It’s very hard to understate the racial tones that go on in every aspect of business in America.”
Balancing those demands remains an ongoing process. In 2005, the league instituted a dress code that some saw as targeting the influence of hip-hop style on players. “The Last Dance” was jointly produced by multiple companies, and Hehir said “there were certain partners who thought there was too much hip-hop in this.”
Judging by the final product, he prevailed, and the predominance of rap in the series further revises not just the N.B.A.’s legacy with the music now inseparable from its culture, but Jordan’s personal relationship with the genre, as well.
Trudeau: NHL players would need to follow quarantine before season could resume | CTV News
The NHL could face another hurdle if the league decides to continue the 2019-20 season in the near future — getting non-Canadian resident players across the border to join their respective teams.
Prime Minister Justin Trudeau said Sunday that players would — at a minimum — need to follow quarantine protocols if they were to arrive in Canada while the border remains closed due to the pandemic.
“I think it’s a question we’ll have to look into,” Trudeau said in a press briefing. “Certainly at a strict minimum, anyone who arrives from another country will have to follow all the rules of quarantine in an extremely strict manner, but we’re not there yet in our discussions with the NHL.”
“We recognize that it’s a possibility, but it depends on an enormous amount of things, and I don’t want to speculate on this until there’s more discussion.”
The Associated Press reported earlier this week that Edmonton and Toronto were being looked at as possible “hockey pod” cities that could host the remainder of the NHL season during the summer months. Games would be played in air-conditioned arenas without fans.
A person familiar with discussions told The Associated Press that the most aggressive timetable would have players returning to their home rinks as early as May 15, followed by a training camp and possible exhibition games in June.
Under that timeline, the regular season would resume in July with the Stanley Cup final likely stretching into September.
The league and NHL Players’ Association have formed a joint committee to determine a path forward that could get games back on the ice sometime in July without fans in attendance.
The Lamelo Ball effect: Toronto will try to trade Kyle Lowry and company to Philly, Ben Simmons to GSW, Raptors will try and move up the board and draft Lamelo Ball. Melo is ranked my top ranked prospect on my board. Visit https://t.co/Gv2F7KXe7j #TalkSoon pic.twitter.com/tFhhWMO1cj
— Rashad Phillips (@RP3natural) May 3, 2020
Toronto Raptors guard Fred VanVleet had a perfect view of teammate Kawhi Leonard hitting his legendary buzzer-beater against the Philadelphia 76ers last year, but his memory of the shot is similar to everyone else who was watching.
VanVleet discussed what he remembers from the moment Sunday on SportsCenter:
“Just how long that it bounced up there on the rim. I think that we all kind of knew what the play was. Obviously, we knew he liked that spot on the baseline. And then once he let it go, I think from where I was on the bench it didn’t look like it was going in. And it bounced and those four bounces felt like 20 minutes. And then once it dropped, I think the whole arena just felt, our fans, felt a sigh of relief.”
