Terence Davis no longer needs a vet standing over him telling him what to do. Read More

Raptors rookie Davis wants to be reliable playoff piece — Toronto Sun

erence Davis no longer needs a vet standing over him telling him what to do.

Technically still a rookie until the season is mothballed, if it comes to that, Davis is diligently putting himself though daily workouts in the hopes that there is still a playoff schedule to be played in this his rookie year that was suspended by the Coronavirus pandemic.

He’s been doing it every day since the league shut its doors seven weeks ago and the way he speaks, he’ll be following that routine until those doors are re-opened.

Davis spent 14 days in quarantine in Toronto after the league suspended the schedule. A few days after that he and another Raptors’ rookie, Dewan Hernandez, arranged for the use of a private gym in Miami and made their way there.

He left those workouts recently to return home to Mississippi to be with his 10-month-old son. But he’s been fortunate enough to obtain time there too in a private gym where he gets in workouts with a trainer and a rebounder.

All of it is done with an eye towards being ready to perform at his peak when play does resume, should the time come, and live up to the high expectations of his veteran teammates.

“I really want the veteran guys to be able to trust someone like me in a game in the playoffs,” Davis said. “I’m a rookie, so obviously I don’t know what’s to come in the playoffs — I’ve never been in the playoffs — but I want Fred (VanVleet), I want Kyle (Lowry), I want these guys to be able to trust me when I get in the game in the playoffs — if I get in the game during the playoffs.

“So that’s why I’m in the gym right now, that’s why I’ve been in the gym everyday at 12:00 getting weights in,” he said. “I want to be in the best shape and I just want to be able to be trusted so I can show those guys that I’m ready to be part of you guys.”

On a conference call with the media that cover the Raptors on a daily basis, Davis revealed he came into the season fully expecting to spend at least half the year in the G-League. Instead he dressed for all 64 games of the Raptors’ season, the only Raptor to do that and second to only Coby White of the Chicago Bulls among all rookies in the league. White appeared in 65 games, one more than Davis.

Fact of the matter is Davis has little left to prove to his teammates. He is already very much part of those guys and they do trust him. You see it when they don’t hesitate to get him the ball behind the three point line. As a rookie he’s open more than his veteran teammates might be but he’s shown his teammates that he can deliver hitting that three pointer on just under 40% of his attempts.

And yes there have been times when Davis screws up, as every rookie does. But it’s the good rookies like Davis who learn from those mistakes and take ownership of them and do their best to make sure those mistakes aren’t repeated.

Davis has shown this to all his teammates time and again this season and earned his place among them.

The 14-day self-quarantine period sounds like it was the toughest part of this pandemic thus far for Davis.

He was in Toronto without a basketball and just a bike and some weights to keep him occupied.

It’s why he was so eager to head down to Miami with teammate Dewan Hernandez as soon as those 14 days were up.

“We were able to get in a private gym,” Davis explained. “Dewan knew a guy in a private gym, so I was just getting out of quarantine, I was in quarantine for 14 days, I haven’t touched a basketball, so I’m excited to touch a basketball, get in a gym because, like I said, this is what we do, this is what I love to do, this is my job, so that’s what drove me to go to Florida.”

Davis like everyone in the league these days is unsure of when his next game will come, but he’ll stay ready.

And should the time come that the thought of letting down his veterans isn’t enough to motivate him to stay locked in and stay ready, Davis has another huge incentive in his 10-month old son that arrived six days before the draft.

“He has motivated me to be the best that I could possibly be,” Davis said.

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