https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kkxCC6eZ5P0
News & Updates – Basketball World Heritage Centre
’This court project combines my love of basketball and my New Brunswick pride. My passion for both, along with the fantastic vision for the court and the experience centre, led to our family’s full support for the project. The court’s rich history will spark growth in the region and enable it to become a major hub for basketball fans and players, from visits to the centre to hosting tournaments at nearby facilities.” Tom Liston, donor.
The initial fundraising goal of the campaign was set to $1 Million. Thanks to the generosity of founding benefactors such as John Irving and Anne Oxley of the Isles Foundation, Tom Liston, Frank McKenna, TD Group, and many other supporting New Brunswickers, phase 1 of the fundraising continues to move forward. Phase 1 consists of the purchasing of the court, related construction costs surrounding the infrastructure, and the conceptual design of the experience centre. On November 29th, the world’s oldest basketball court became the property of the town of St. Stephen, on behalf of the non-profit group behind the Canada Basketball Experience Centre.
‘’Contributions such as this are meaningful to us, as they demonstrate the support we have had all along the planning process. They also help us spread the word about the Centre and all we have planned to contribute to the growth and development of our region.’’ Richard Fulton.
‘’This is a prime example of New Brunswickers building on a rich history and heritage. I believe that, as people, we are used to being welcoming and proud of our culture – this is us using basketball as the vehicle to propel the region forward and welcome tourists from all over North America in our beloved New Brunswick.’’ Liston added.
Every NBA team ranked by their 2022 championship chances – SBNation.com
21. Toronto Raptors
The Raps are officially spunky. Toronto plays a breakneck defensive style often without a true center on the floor. Rookie forward Scottie Barnes has been a revelation, bringing non-stop defensive energy, some serious passing flashes, and a little more scoring than expected from day one. OG Anunoby is leveling up into a possible All-Star on the wing. Championship era holdovers Pascal Siakam and Fred VanVleet are still really good. I could write a poem about Dalano Banton, but I’ll spare you. This team is cool and fun even without much in the way of real expectations. Ain’t that right, Fred?
The Raptors have versatility, but what they’re really missing is adaptability – The Athletic
In other words, it is probably a bad time to make any definitive conclusions about the Raptors’ why-don’t-we-make-the-whole-plane-out-of-OG-Anunoby-and-similar-body-types plan. (Needs a catchier name.) Call this, then, an emerging thought, and not a declaration.
In the 12 games the Raptors have had both Birch and Achiuwa, the two players on the roster who could most accurately be called centres in the sense that their specialties are rebounding, screening and finding their scoring opportunities in the paint, they are 7-5. After a 98-91 loss to Memphis, they are 2-8.
“It allows us to … kind of do what we want to do rotationally a little bit more,” head coach Nick Nurse said before the game, referring to the games when both players are available. “You guys have seen it. It’s been fairly clear. It’ll be clear again (against the Grizzlies). There’s one big, strong big, and Precious pretty much has to match minutes with them. So we’re almost reacting to what they’re doing with that. And when we have them both … we can do what we want to do, play whoever we want at any time.
“I think any game where we’ve had both those guys have been good games for us rebounding-wise, rim protection-wise, and minutes-wise, because it allows us (to) kind of rotate the other guys down a position. Nobody has to bump up — Scottie doesn’t have to bump all the way up to (centre), OG doesn’t, Pascal doesn’t.”
The Raptors’ poor record without both big men isn’t explained away entirely by that fact. However, it’s a substantial part. The Grizzlies were playing without Ja Morant. The Raptors were without Anunoby, Trent and Birch. Neither team could score effectively. It was a wretched display of offence, honestly. Memphis’ 18-11 advantage on the offensive glass and 26-17 lead in second-chance points — 17-5 in the first half — was the difference, essentially. Nurse matched Achiuwa’s every minute, and then some, to those of Steven Adams, but it’s not as if starting power forward/backup centre Jaren Jackson Jr. is notably less imposing from a size standpoint. Anyway, Achiuwa fouled out in the fourth quarter, and the Raptors were forced into going super small, with Siakam and Watanabe up front.
The Raptors are now 28th in defensive rebounding. And with their lack of presence at the rim, they couldn’t play a conservative drop-back scheme even if they wanted to.
They don’t, and that’s the point. This is a roster choice the Raptors’ front office made. There were no proper 7-footers — or even proper space-eaters a few inches shorter than 84 — at training camp. Perhaps they didn’t want the fallback option of getting away from their ultra-switchable, hyper-aggressive defensive schemes. Perhaps the merit in not signing such a player is to make sure the Raptors get this experiment as far as possible down the road this season. (To be clear, even with a full roster, the Raptors would have to scrap hard to be average on the defensive glass. The injured Birch and Anunoby are both solid contributors on that end, but they do not solve the problem on their own.)
“I think Coach always tells us there’s a couple of those guys that are real fives, and when we play those guys, we have to suck it up and do a better job,” said Siakam, who had 20 points, six rebounds and five assists. “Sometimes, we go out there and help on the big guy, but the ball just drops, and somebody else gets it. We have to get those loose balls. This is what we have, so we gotta step up. This is what we have: We have 6-8, 6-9 all over the (floor), and we know we can do it. We’ve done it before, so we just gotta do it. It’s tough going against those (bigger) guys, but we gotta do it.”
Other Raptors need to step up as defences give VanVleet extra attention – Sportsnet
VanVleet might get some help Thursday night when the Raptors host the surging Milwaukee Bucks as Toronto tries to nip its losing streak at three games and avoid losing their fourth straight at Scotiabank Arena, where they are a concerning 2-8 for the year.
Trent Jr. practiced on Wednesday which bodes well for his return. But Anunoby and Birch did not practice and are likely to remain sidelined.
In their absence, it would be handy if someone else would step up and take advantage of the extra shots and extra minutes that are available. It’s worth noting that when Toronto used VanVleet to successfully limit Warrior star Curry to just 12 points and 1-of-6 from deep recently, the rest of the Warriors combined to shoot an astounding 21-of-39 from beyond the arc in an easy Warriors win.
The Raptors aren’t the Warriors, but they’re not going anywhere if teams can load up on VanVleet or Pascal Siakam without fear of consequence. The Raptors are last in bench scoring — getting just 26.3 points a game, in part because they are the worst shooting bench in the league, converting on just 26.3 per cent of their attempts from deep.
“There’s gonna be opportunities, definitely opportunity across the board and just waiting for one of those guys to breakthrough,” said VanVleet. “I thought Yuta [Watanabe] played pretty well but we just need more, we just need more. We’re trying to play winning basketball and with that being said, I could try to fight the game and I could… go shoot 20 times in the second half tomorrow but I think our team is gonna be at its best when we’re playing team basketball.”
Watanabe is showing some signs of returning to form after missing the exhibition season and the first 18 games of the regular season with a calf strain. In his fourth game he hunted his shot more and knocked down three triples on eight attempts — a career-high for the late bloomer who the Raptors have been pushing to be more aggressive offensively.
And rookie Scottie Barnes is beginning to set up behind the three-point line more often and has shown more confidence pulling the trigger on what have been wide-open looks, for the most part. He’s taken 15 threes (making seven) in his last two games after taking 13 triples (making two) in his first 15 games.
But after that?
The pickings have been slim.
It will help, of course, if the Raptors get some scoring punch back in the lineup. Gary Trent Jr. practised Wednesday, so that’s a positive sign even if OG Anunoby and Khem Birch are already ruled out for Thursday against the Milwaukee Bucks.
But it would also help immensely if someone could start making shots with any regularity. Yuta Watanabe and Scottie Barnes each hit three three-pointers in the loss to Memphis. But Pascal Siakam, Svi Mykhailiuk, Malachi Flynn, Dalano Banton and Chris Boucher were a combined 3-for-19 from three and 17-for-43 (39.5 per cent) overall and that’s just not good enough for a Raptors team with such a limited roster.
The galling — and telling — part is that the majority of those shots would be considered “good” and were simply missed.
“There’s going to be nights when they go in, there’s going to be nights where we score 140 points, it’s going to happen at some point,” VanVleet said. “There’s going to be nights when you score 80, or 39 in a half. It’s going to happen.
“So, are you generating enough good looks? I thought that we generated some pretty good looks. Now, a lot of them didn’t go in … We could attack the paint a little bit more get to the free throw line and to get some easier looks, but I thought we generated some looks. Just the rhythm and the flow wasn’t really there, which you know, you can expect.”
One place the Raptors might get a boost, especially with a reduced second unit, is from Flynn. He is getting substantially more playing time now than he did in the first 15 games of the season but he is 3-for-18 from three-point range over his last seven games.
He missed six in a row Tuesday before making his last one in the final two minutes of the game.
“He’s got some quickness or some stop-starts to get free but the bottom line is he’s got to shoot a lot higher percentage than he’s shooting,” Raptors coach Nick Nurse said. “He gives us a lift when he can come in and bang one. He usually can do that right away.
Fred VanVleet, Doing Everything He Can
Another week goes by where Fred VanVleet continues to lead the NBA in minutes per game. Fred, very much to his credit, is doing everything that he can with those minutes.
Unfortunately, the game disintegrates for the Raptors whenever Kyle, excuse me, Fred hits the bench. While there are myriad factors as to why this happens, one of the biggest is VanVleet’s shot making and creating ability. Fred shot 41% from 3-point range over the four game stretch. The Raptors? Well, they fired away to the tune of a miserable 28% less VanVleet’s shots. Many things have got to give.
Raptors Can’t Shake Scotiabank Arena Struggles – Sports Illustrated
Throughout his career, VanVleet has been a touch better on the road compared to at home. He’s averaged 13.5 points per game on the road compared to 11.8 in Toronto (or Tampa) and a higher offensive rating, better defensive rating, and higher field goal percentage when traveling.
“Playing at home you play off the crowd and you play with your emotions, I’m not really an emotional player or interacting with the crowd, celebrating and things like that so that never really was a part of my makeup,” he added. “But, going back to college and the way that I was coached in college, I was coached to play on the road and it’s just something I developed over time.”
Scottie Barnes’ college stats point in a similar direction. He averaged 9.8 points per game at home with the Florida State Seminoles compared to 10.9 points on the road or in neutral site games. His field goal percentage was also noticeably better, 55% away from Florida State compared to 45% at home.
“I like playing on the road,” said Barnes, who added playing at home is fine too. “The fans are going against you, they’re trying to hype up their team, so you’re going to get that hostile environment.”
But unless Raptors fans turn Scotiabank Arena into a hostile environment for the home team — which could happen if Toronto continues to win 20% of its games at home — the Raptors are going to have to adapt. And with 15 of their next 19 games at home, it better happen soon.
Star Raptors rookie Barnes adjusting to grind of the NBA | Toronto Sun
Nick Nurse promised in the pre-season he’d give Barnes “all the minutes he can handle” and Toronto’s coach has delivered, playing Barnes 25.4 minutes a night, including 38, 37, 35 and 39 over his last four.
The result has been what Nurse has termed “peaks and valleys” in Barnes’s game — moments of brilliance mixed with a bunch of stuff to work on, but an overall gaudy line of 18.5 points, 7.5 rebounds, 3.3 assists, 1.5 steals and 1.5 blocks and two made three-pointers a game over those last four.
“I’m just trying to play hard, play to win. Sometimes you get caught not being focused out there, just gotta try to pull yourself together,” Barnes said after practice on Wednesday.
It’s unclear if adjusting to the heavy workload has anything to do with the lulls, but Barnes is definitely feeling it physically.
“For sure. You have one night off and the next one you’ve got another game and then you play a lot of minutes,” Barnes said.
“So, I would say the main difference is just my body is feeling it a lot more than how it felt in college. You would come in and you’d have a few days off (while at Florida State), didn’t really play so much especially with the COVID and stuff like that,” he said.
“You just sort of found (now, upon entering the NBA), that as the game goes, as soon as you’re done you start feeling it right away.”
He’s definitely taking advantage of the NBA-level medical care.
“You’ve just got to keep coming in and get more treatment (such as massages, ice baths, stretching and so on). You’ve got to learn how to take care of your body. I would say that’s the main thing,” Barnes said of his adjustment.
Toronto Raptors Gary Trent Jr Milwaukee Bucks OG Anunoby sidelined – TSN.ca
Gary Trent Jr., who’s missed two games with a deep bruise in his right calf, practised on Wednesday and could return to the lineup when the Raptors host the Milwaukee Bucks on Thursday.
The bad news however is that OG Anunoby — whose excellent play was abruptly halted by a hip injury that has seen him sit out seven straight games — did not participate in practice, nor did Khem Birch (knee swelling).
“OG is not ready for tomorrow,” coach Nick Nurse said in delivering the bleak news.
The Raptors have been hit hard by injuries already this young NBA season, missing Pascal Siakam for the first 10 games, and now Anunoby and Birch.
The pair of big men are sorely missed as Toronto (9-13) has tumbled down the standings to 12th in the Eastern Conference. They’ve won just three of their last 13 games, and are an uncharacteristically terrible 2-8 at home this season.
Nurse has no explanation for why his team has fared better on the road.
“I don’t know,” he said. “We have in general some really good road players. Kyle (Lowry) was a great road player. We’ve had a real band-together mentality on the road, a real grittiness on the road. I guess we have this year too more times than we have at home, that’s for sure.”
Is it easier to play on the road?
“I think it can be,” Nurse said. “Once the ball goes up it should seemingly be harder with the crowd and all that stuff. Things leading up to the game may be more difficult at home.”
Canadians answer the call again in World Cup men’s basketball qualifying | The Star
Kyle Wiltjer had 25 points and Kassius Robertson 15 for Canada, which routed the Bahamas for the second straight day in the FIBA Americas bubble in Santo Domingo.
For the Canadians, it was a typical trip: a group of kind of familiar players, who get together every now and then, met for a week and quickly figured things out.
The roster was built from European pros who were able to get releases from their teams to take a week off, North American-based players who have been integral to the program for years, and players such as Kyle Alexander who were making their senior team debut.
It’s what Canadian players do.
Raptors assistant coach Nate Bjorkgren was the head coach for Canada, handling the responsibilities on an interim basis for Nick Nurse. He had about three full practices with the team in Houston before a couple in Santo Domingo ahead of the games.
“In the week we spent together we were really focused,” he said. “Our overall team focus was very, very elite every day.”
Canada is now 2-0 in the first round of the long process of qualifying for the 2023 World Cup in Asia. They have two windows of games left in this stage — in February and July against Dominican Republic and U.S. Virgin Islands — and three of the four teams advance to a second group stage that begins in late 2022.
Eventually, seven teams from FIBA Americas will qualify for the World Cup, which is the most direct path to getting a berth in the Olympics, something that has eluded Canada since Sydney 2000.
