Join us on Discord on Tuesday March 1st at 9pm for our “Almost a Raptor $RAPS Coin Trivia Tuesday.” Top three get $RAPS Coins and NFT’s. Come through
Along with the Skilled Trades Colleges of Canada, Scottie Barnes will award four scholarships annually over the next three years, paying for tuition, textbooks and related costs at schools in the Greater Toronto Area.
— (((Eric Koreen))) (@ekoreen) February 24, 2022
10 NBA storylines to watch: Siakam, VanVleet chasing rare air – Sportsnet
Siakam shook any residual rust off quickly when he returned to the Raptors in November. You can chop his season into smaller samples to help illustrate your point about his candidacy as a top-20 player in the NBA this year, if you want. You don’t need to, though, because even his full-season numbers at this point are pretty staggering: 21.9 points, 8.7 rebounds, 5.2 assists and 1.3 steals per-game, with a 56.4 per cent true-shooting mark on 25.2 per cent usage and career-bests in rebounding and assists on a per-possession basis.
Only 15 players in the league this year can boast that blend of high usage, above-average efficiency and strong playmaking. Factor in his rebounding, and the list shrinks to four: Siakam and three MVP candidates in Nikola Jokic, Joel Embiid and Giannis Antetokounmpo. Siakam doesn’t have quite as strong a case for All-NBA inclusion by advanced impact metrics. Still, when factoring in that he’s also performing at an All-Defensive level at the other end, Siakam warrants discussion among the league’s meatier second tier of players over the last three months.
So, does he have a chance at his second All-NBA nod despite not being an All-Star? There have historically been three justifications for a player accomplishing this rare award dissonance: You missed some time before the All-Star break that mattered less by the end of the season (Jimmy Butler, 2020-21), your team was bad early on and made a strong push late (Damian Lillard, 2015-16) or you’re Rudy Gobert (Rudy Gobert, 2016-17 and 2017-18).
Siakam is not Gobert, but missing 13 games due to recovery from offseason shoulder surgery and a bout in health and safety protocols likely kept Siakam from the Cleveland showcase. While the bar for All-NBA is higher — top 15 in the league rather than top 12 in the conference — the recent history suggests All-NBA voters won’t hold an All-Star snub against a player in April.
The role shift, if not change, means Siakam is working far more in those multiple-coach settings than he is in normal shooting or driving drills with his teammates after the contact portions of practices end. Nobody is confusing Siakam with Jason Kidd, Steve Nash or Chris Paul, a floor general trying to balance the shots of all his teammates or dribbling up top as he waits for Gary Trent Jr. to come off a pindown screen. Still, the notion that anybody other than Siakam is running the show when VanVleet is not on the floor — and sometimes even when he is — is silly. Sure, Barnes has some playmaking chops, and Banton can add passing and pace, but it’s Siakam who is in charge of the reading and reacting.
In the Raptors’ post-championship season, Siakam took on the primary scorer role, using 28.1 percent of possessions. That number has gone down each of the past two years, and comes in at 25.2 percent this year, barely highest on the team. The willingness to get off the ball is magnified late in games. VanVleet, OG Anunoby and Trent all have higher usage percentages in clutch situations — when the margin is within five points in the game’s last five minutes — than Siakam. In clutch scenarios, Siakam also has the highest assist ratio, which measures how often a player assists on baskets versus how often he takes shots. VanVleet gets more aggressive in looking for his shot late in the game, so Siakam distributing more often in those situations helps the Raptors’ offence retain its balance. The Raptors score 112.5 points per 100 possessions in the clutch, the seventh-ranked offence in those late-game moments.
On the 30th-ranked team in the league when it comes to assist percentage, Siakam is averaging career highs in every assist-related category: per minute, per game, per possession, percentage and ratio.
“From where I come from, I feel we always had to beat the odds,” Siakam said when asked why it was important to transcend the notion of just being a scorer or a forward. “As an African player, as a big, and just the way the game is going, for me, it was important (to diversify my game). Even in my life, I never wanted to do what my brothers wanted to do. I always wanted to be different.”
Indeed, Siakam, who comes across as energetic and fun-loving, has a bit of a contrarian streak.
“I never wanted to play basketball (when my brothers did),” Siakam said. “There was so much shit. Whatever they did, I just wanted to do something else, to be honest. Obviously, I ended up playing basketball. I wasn’t as into it. Even in school, I always wanted to be different. It doesn’t matter what it is. If there was something everybody wanted to do, I wouldn’t want to do it. I wanted to do something else.”
Paul Jones’s journey to the Raptors broadcast booth | The Star
Over the years, Jones has built up an arsenal of one-liners and catchphrases. He glorifies made triples as hitting “the bottom of the well.” A shot that falls gently through the net after bouncing around is as “soft as church music.” Someone with nerves of steel in the post has “the calm of a burglar.” In particularly big moments, he shouts, “What a time to be alive!”
“I want people to think,” Jones says. “I don’t always like to dumb it down.”
Jones has a benchmark he intends to hit with his catchphrases. His friend Robert Fenton is the former president of the Canadian Blind Sports Association, and Jones’ goal is to paint a picture for Fenton on the radio that equals the experience any viewer with sight might have on television. On one occasion after a particularly well-called game, Fenton remarked: “I could do everything but smell the popcorn tonight.”
“I started listening to him call basketball games as far back as 1995,” Fenton says. “He makes me feel like I’m actually there at the game.”
Jones’ sayings are more than arbitrary lines. He cites the inspiration for some of his calls from sources as varied as Muhammad Ali to former Raptor Anthony Parker. Some are Latin translations. Jones and his brother Mark, an NBA broadcaster with ESPN, both say “what a time to be alive” in big moments. They first heard it in 1969 when their father, Hugh, watched a man walk on the moon and said, “Quod tempus esse vivus.” Hugh Jones always emphasized education and clarity of language.
Paul Jones’ personal basketball story extends beyond the team he’s covered since day one.
“We always knew when he was upset at somebody on the phone because we went scrambling for a thesaurus,” Jones says, with a laugh.
When the Raptors won the NBA championship in 2019 — a moment Jones calls the greatest of his broadcasting career — he reinvested that success into those who helped him along the way. When his turn with the Larry O’Brien Trophy came, he brought it to five golf courses in the span of 36 hours to share the experience with his community.
“Almost anybody that was with me on my basketball journey, I tried to make sure they got a picture with it,” he says. “My university coach. My accountant. My golf buddies.”
The Rap-Up: Toronto Raptors Games for February 21 – 27 – Raptors HQ
Toronto has more games remaining (25) than any other team in the NBA, thanks to two additional make-up/re-scheduled games still to be played. On the bright side, the Raptors also have the 7th-easiest schedule, based on opponents’ records. There are five teams below Toronto in the current standings with at least a puncher’s chance of passing them for 7th. The Raptors have already won the season series against three of them (Hornets, Wizards, Knicks), with a fourth team possibly joining the list this week (Hawks).
Meanwhile, many of Toronto’s Eastern Conference foes are battling their own issues. Milwaukee (already without George Hill, Pat Connaughton, and Brook Lopez for the foreseeable future) and Chicago (still missing Alex Caruso and Lonzo Ball for a couple of weeks) have the two worst remaining schedules. The Celtics have the 10th-toughest. Philadelphia has a James Harden beard/ego-sized chemistry issue to work out alongside Joel Embiid. Brooklyn will miss Kyrie Irving (vaccine mandate) for some (not all, apparently) of their 10 remaining home games, Kevin Durant (MCL sprain) does not have a return timetable, and Ben Simmons is a few weeks away from playing.
My exclusion of Miami and Cleveland from the previous paragraph speaks to my appreciation for what both of those teams have done this season and what they still can do moving forward.
I’ve made this mistake before but Leo signs are stubborn, so live with it! Looking at FiveThirtyEight’s projections, Toronto’s predicted to win 15 to 17 of their remaining 25 games. The Raptors are unsurprisingly favoured in each of their 12 home games, with Boston (-0.5) and Philadelphia (-1.0) figuring to be the toughest visitors. Toronto’s also favoured in road games against the Lakers (-3.0), Clippers (-0.5), and Magic (-5.0), with a pair of pick ‘em road games in New York and San Antonio.
Of the remaining eight games, two are this week against teams below .500 (Hornets and Hawks this week), while another three are against teams missing key pieces in Denver (Michael Porter Jr. and Jamal Murray), Phoenix (Chris Paul), and Brooklyn (Kevin Durant, Kyrie Irving, and Ben Simmons). That only leaves road games in Philadelphia (where Toronto has already won this season), Chicago (who may or may not have Ball or Caruso back), and Cleveland (who I still don’t have a bad thing to say about).
I’m not saying the Raptors are going to run the table (I have limits to my homerism), but the fact that 50 wins is a conceivable target when preseason predictions barely approaching, let alone surpassing, 40 wins is an enormous success!
There’s no telling where the Raptors might finish | The Star
The Raptors begin the final stretch here on Friday night in seventh place, half a game behind No. 6 Boston.
Toronto is, however, just two games ahead of No. 8 Brooklyn which is going to be one of the most fascinating teams to watch in the final third of the regular season. The Nets are light years different from the team that began the season thanks to a blockbuster deal that got them Ben Simmons, Seth Curry and Andre Drummond for James Harden.
The Raptors have two games left against the Nets — Monday in Brooklyn and Tuesday in Toronto. That might work out well, the Nets won’t have the injured Kevin Durant back, it’s unlikely Simmons will be ready to play and Irving must still sit out because of his refusal to take a COVID vaccination.
However, the Nets are going to be dangerous.
“What Brooklyn did is hard to do in the NBA: run out an entirely different team,” Nurse said. “Before the trade they had one team and then you literally run out an entirely different team.
The Brooklyn Nets should be a tough opponent when Ben Simmons, acquired from Philadelphia, joins Kevin Durant, currently out with an injury, and Kyrie Irving, who could soon be playing in both road and home games.
“And they may get Kyrie back for home games, they may get Simmons back at any time here and Durant eventually. Obviously they’re talented, it should take ’em some time to get together but you now how this league goes, stranger things happen. Teams come together pretty quick sometimes.”
What Nurse doesn’t mind is that the Raptors will face some difficult challenges to wrap up the season. Aside from the two games against Brooklyn, they will face Philadelphia — bolstered by the addition of Harden — and Cleveland twice and play all the top teams in the conference as well. They face Miami and Chicago, who are in a virtual tie for first, and also have a game against Boston on tap.
“I don’t mind that much,” he said. “We’re going to have a challenge on our hands every night we go out there, that’s good for us. I think we need that.
“We seem to play pretty well when it’s a really tough competition. I just think most nights in the league for us are a challenge, so we’re going to have to play each night.”
Raptors guard Gary Trent Jr. learning how to handle the grind | The Star
Normally, especially on the tail end of a back-to-back, the Raptors would meet in the late morning or early afternoon to go over that night’s plans. They’d even do that for routine road games but Nurse has started pushing all that back and just doing game prep at the arena maybe three hours to tip off.
“I always think that the mental part of the recovery is vital as well,” he said. “To lay the game plan on them at 11 or 12 o’clock in the morning after we got in at 2 or 3 (a.m.) is maybe just a bit much.
Toronto Raptors guard Gary Trent Jr. is playing about 35-40 minutes a game for the first time in his NBA career.
“We just let ’em continue to recover and rest physically and mentally and just make sure we get through it before the game.”
Trent appreciates the extra hours (“I wouldn’t even say a mental break, it’s just honestly the rest. You’re tired,” he said) and has learned how to maximize it.
His role is vastly expanded from what he had in Portland before joining the Raptors. And now he knows his body, knows the necessary preparation and the end of the season will hold special significance.
“It’s something I’ve wanted to do for a while, be in the playoffs,” he said. “This is the first time in my career where I feel like I can have a footprint or an actual impact on making the playoffs and having a role in the playoffs. Instead of cheering in a suit or cheering guys on, I’ll have significant minutes, it’s a great thing and I’m hungry for it.”
“And ready.”
The frightening aspects of real-world life intersects with sports and impacts a Raptor | The Star
The way that sports have become so global is in many ways wonderful.
It brings together sportsmen and sportswomen and fans in a way that little else does.
Borders are blurred and athletes from all nations spread out across the globe in every sport that brings joy to fans and pride to families who see their sons and daughters do them proud in so many different countries.
But then there is the other side where innocent athletes get caught up in things far out of their control.
Think of Mykhailiuk and Len here while their families live in fear back home.
Think of Canadian basketball players and hockey players who make their living in Russia or Ukraine or wherever who are caught in the middle of something so, so much larger.
It’s scary, it worrisome and it’s unimaginable to people like me.
All we can do is hope for the best for those we know and those we don’t, pray (if that’s your thing) that everyone remains safe and alive.
It’s horrible and it’s frightening. It’s all too real.
