Tag: Toronto Raptors

Raps the first to take the plunge towards re-start of the NBA season — Toronto Sun

The games are still 51/2 weeks away but the Raptors made their first big move towards the resumption of the 2019-20 NBA season. Read More

Raps the first to take the plunge towards re-start of the NBA season — Toronto Sun


Raps the first to take the plunge towards re-start of the NBA season

Mike GanterMore from Mike Ganter

Published:June 22, 2020

Updated:June 22, 2020 8:36 PM EDT

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The games are still 51/2 weeks away but the Raptors made their first big move towards the resumption of the 2019-20 NBA season.

Those players and team staff who either reside in Toronto or remained here once the pandemic began boarded a flight for Fort Myers, Fla., where they will remain until the NBA’s Campus at World Disney World in Orlando opens in early July.

The Raptors are the first team to make a move but players from all over the world are returning to their teams this week where they will undergo testing for the Coronavirus in an effort to ensure that all NBA employees entering the bubble in Orlando are virus free.

As the lone team residing outside the continental United States, the Raptors had the option of doing their pre-training camp in Toronto at their own facility. That would have meant bringing over half the team back from the U.S. for a little over a week and then having them cross the border again as a group to head to Orlando. It just made sense to avoid as many border crossings and as much travel as possible.

By Wednesday any player on any of the 22 teams eventually headed for Orlando must inform their respective teams if they do not intend to take part in the re-start of the league.

Obviously there are risks involved and it will be every player’s right to make that decision. Those who choose not to partake will not be penalized although the percentage of their salary they would accrue had they agreed to go will be docked.

Already one ESPN report has confirmed that Washington’s Davis Bertans will be opting out of the games, although he is reportedly joining the team to take part in the training camp portion prior to the re-start of the league.

Bertans is a 27-year old Latvian forward and one of the best three-point shooters in the league. He’s slated to become an unrestricted free agent at the end of the current season and should cash in nicely.

But with two previous ACL injuries on his resume, he and his agent have made the decision not to risk a somewhat rushed prep period in order to play eight games in the remaining regular season. The Wizards playoff hopes are slim as they are starting with a 51/2 game deficit to the present No. 8 seeds in the East, the Orlando Magic.

All told, Bertans would be forfeiting $520,000 by sitting out the final eight games of the season according to ESPN and then playoff money too assuming the Wizards could knock off Orlando in a play-in series again assuming they could get within four games of the Magic at the conclusion of those eight games.

The Raptors will not hold team workouts in Fort Myers, those the NBA has mandated must wait until they get on to the Orlando campus, but will continue their individual workouts at a Alico Arena, home to the Florida Gulf Coast University Eagles.

Testing for the coronavirus for all Orlando-bound NBA personnel begins Tuesday and will be repeated every other day. Tuesday will also see the players and travelling party — all teams are limited to a total of 35 people to enter the Orlando bubble — subjected to antibody testing. That will only be repeated if a person tests positive for the virus.

The entire process all but accepts that there are going to be positive tests. It’s inevitable. But with testing beginning today (Tuesday), that gives a player who does initially test positive a minimum of two full weeks to recover in time to enter the bubble.

The hope and the expectation is that all the precautions the league has taken and will take once that campus opens will mitigate the risks as much as possible but the reality is no one will really know until they’re all in the bubble.

There are plenty of concerns going forward, including what had been a continually rising number of COVID-19 cases in Orange County where Orlando resides. That rise finally was halted Sunday but the numbers remain high in an area the league will be drawing workers from on a daily basis and bringing into the bubble.

For now the majority of players seem to be on board with the plan to resume, but that too could change at any moment.

What we do know is the Raptors have already taken the first step towards seeing how effective that plan can be.

Raptors among some NBA teams that want to go straight to ‘bubble’: report — Canoe

At least four teams are asking the NBA to have players travel directly to the league’s proposed “campus” site to resume training rather than having them first come to the clubs’ home cities, ESPN reported Friday. The NBA reportedly is looking at using one or a few venues to house multiple teams ahead of a […]

Raptors among some NBA teams that want to go straight to ‘bubble’: report — Canoe

At least four teams are asking the NBA to have players travel directly to the league’s proposed “campus” site to resume training rather than having them first come to the clubs’ home cities, ESPN reported Friday.

The NBA reportedly is looking at using one or a few venues to house multiple teams ahead of a resumption of play amid the coronavirus pandemic. Orlando and Las Vegas have been mentioned prominently as candidates to host teams in a bubble-like environment in which all players and staffers would receive regular COVID-19 tests.

At issue is the plan for teams whose areas have been hard hit by the pandemic.

According to ESPN, as part of a Thursday call with NBA general managers, the Boston Celtics, Brooklyn Nets, New York Knicks and Toronto Raptors were among the teams who stated their desire to avoid having players come back to their usual team training sites.

In theory, some players might need a quarantine period of up to 14 days before they would begin training at team facilities. They then might be subject to another quarantine stretch when the team heads to the site where it would resume games.

Per the report, the NBA general managers discussed multiple restart options on Thursday. Continuing the regular season with all 30 teams ahead of the playoffs reportedly remains a possibility, as is a revised playoff format with a play-in round expanding the postseason field.

The New York Times’ Marc Stein tweeted Friday that the NBA is also leaning toward limiting teams’ traveling parties to the “campus” environment to a total of 35 players, coaches and staffers. Typical NBA road-trip parties feature more than 50 people.

The NBA suspended its season March 11 when Utah Jazz All-Star centre Rudy Gobert tested positive for COVID-19. Teams have played between 63 and 67 games in the 82-game regular

The slow process of the NBA’s return in Toronto begins in the practice gym — Toronto Sun

Raptors forward Malcolm Miller hasn’t had basketball in his hands with a hoop in front of him in over two months. Read More

The slow process of the NBA’s return in Toronto begins in the practice gym — Toronto Sun
Raptors forward Malcolm Miller hasn’t had basketball in his hands with a hoop in front of him in over two months.
So when word came that the Raptors, in conjunction with health officials and local government, had hammered out an agreement that would see the Raptors be able to safely use their practice facility in limited fashion, Miller was the first one requesting entry.
Monday morning he and assistant coach Brittni Donaldson entered the OVO Athletic Centre, were checked in by a single security officer, had their temperature taken by an on-site health official and then filled out a health form before entering the gym.
Once in the gym it was only Donaldson and Miller. The Raptors, under NBA guidelines could have up to as many as four players in the gym at one time to adhere to social distancing mandates, but in an effort to be as careful as possible, the team has opted to allow just one player in at a time with just one on-court coach.
That could change in the coming days, but for now, that’s the format.
For an hour Donaldson put Miller through his paces working on his shooting, his ball handling and not much else for the time being given how long it has been since Miller was actually able to do any basketball activity and the fact that with only two people in the gym, options are limited.
Still, Miller couldn’t say enough about the opportunity.
“It definitely felt strange,” Miller, the third-year forward said of the experience. “I missed it. It was a good experience just to have the basketball in your hands, feel the basketball and just get back to the game you love, even in a different format.
It’s still a good experience.”
For Donaldson there was no trepidation re-entering the working environment that has been closed off to her for more than two months because of the on-going pandemic. She saw the process unfold as the team prepared to safely start bringing their team back to work and she felt fully secure returning to work.
“It’s all completely voluntary for everybody,” she said for both the players and the coaches. “I think we’ve been in contact with everybody in the organization from the top down about this possibility happening, about the facility possibly opening. We’ve covered all of our bases, we’ve been really deliberate about making sure everybody feels safe and we’re taking the extra precautionary steps to go above and beyond even what the NBA mandated. We’re only allowing one player in the gym at a time, we’re not allowing the players to bring their phones in, for example. I felt a sense of comfort just for the work our organization has done logistically to make this as smooth, organized a process as possible.”
Miller, whose off-season home is in Gaithersberg, Maryland chose to remain in Toronto since the league shut down back in early March because there wasn’t the access to a private gym or facility where he could work out.
He stayed in Toronto and got his workouts in at home whether that was his own P90X program or the group yoga sessions via video the Raptors do a couple of mornings a week. He also has the stationary bike the team delivered to this Toronto digs and a bench and weights.
But he had no where to actually get up shots or play basketball so on Monday, while just a small step in the broader scheme of a return to work, was still very big for him.
“I wouldn’t say it was a race but I definitely requested to be first,” he said of getting his time in the re-opened team practice gym. “I like to always be in there early, get my work done. Been heavy on the piano and into video games (lately) so that gives me a little extra time for that.
“Just trying to get back to a normal routine,” he said. “During the season, we’d come into the gym before 11 o’clock, before 12 o’clock to get our work in so I’m just trying to make it feel as normal as possible.”
Miller says the plan is to take advantage of the opportunity four or five times a week. Again this is strictly voluntary. Teams cannot pressure players into these workouts. Chris Paul, president of the Players’ Association took care of that when he mentioned it to commissioner Adam Silver on a conference call last week.
Silver at the time said such a move by any team would be “disheartening” and assured Paul and the rest of the players on the call that he would reiterate this to all team management groups.
Miller said he was surprised how quickly his jumper came back but admitted his dribbling skills (his handle) wasn’t quite what it had been before the pandemic shut down sports worldwide.
As it stands right now about half the team is in Toronto and as of Wednesday about half of those had decided to take the opportunity to get some shots up. That could change at any point.
“I think that’s kind of fluid, you know, It’s kind of day by day,” Donaldson said. “We take a poll of who would be interested in coming in and we try to put out a schedule but obviously it’s all voluntary, there’s no pressure, no repercussions if somebody doesn’t want to come in. We’re just trying to keep a rolling a schedule and keep it as organized as possible.”






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

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.

© 2020 Postmedia Network Inc. All rights reserved. Unauthorized distribution, transmission or republication strictly prohibited.

New Bulls boss could give friend, Raptors assistant Griffin, a long look as coach — Toronto Sun

A big hiring by the Chicago Bulls, aimed at starting the process of restoring that franchise to glory, could have reverberations north of the border too. Read More

New Bulls boss could give friend, Raptors assistant Griffin, a long look as coach — Toronto Sun


Ryan Wolstat

A big hiring by the Chicago Bulls, aimed at starting the process of restoring that franchise to glory, could have reverberations north of the border too.

The Bulls have agreed to a deal with Arturas Karnisovas to be the team’s executive vice-president of basketball operations, according to numerous reports. Karnisovas spent seven years with the Denver Nuggets, first as assistant general manager, before being elevated to GM under president Tim Connelly. Karnisovas helped build Denver into a top team in the Western Conference and previously worked for the Houston Rockets and the NBA’s basketball operations department.

The connection to the Raptors comes from his playing days. Karnisovas, a former European Player of the Year, played for Lithuania (winners of bronze medals in both 1992 and 1996, with help from Karnisovas) against the Dream Team in the 1992 Barcelona Olympics and was a star for Seton Hall, including for two years alongside Nick Nurse’s lead assistant with the Raptors, Adrian Griffin, who replaced Karnisovas as Seton Hall’s top player after he graduated. Both are members of Seton Hall’s hall of fame.

The Raptors denied the Bulls permission to speak with general manager Bobby Webster for the job that eventually went to Karnisovas, but it isn’t expected they would stand in the way of a promotion and homecoming for Griffin, who played for the Bulls and was an assistant coach there from 2010 to 2015. The team, whether it’s Nurse, other coaches, or the front office, has long touted his future as a head coach.

“I mean, he is awesome,” fellow Raptors assistant coach Nate Bjorkgren told a few beat writers in February, ironically before the entire staff went to Chicago, for the NBA all-star weekend.

“He has a great demeanour, he’s going to be a great head coach in the NBA,” Bjorkgren said. “He’s got a nice calming presence about him when he’s showing film to the team when he’s talking to the team. So just his overall feel and approach and knowing how to talk to the players is probably his number one strength.”

more…New Bulls boss could give friend, Raptors assistant Griffin, a long look as coach — Toronto Sun

Raptors’ Boucher sorry for breaking isolation, thinks he has proven he can play in NBA — Toronto Sun

Don’t call Chris Boucher one of those ‘Covidiots.’ Read More

Raptors’ Boucher sorry for breaking isolation, thinks he has proven he can play in NBA — Toronto Sun

Don’t call Chris Boucher one of those ‘Covidiots.’

He has nothing like the idiotic partiers down south who went ahead full-bore on Spring Break, despite the spreading COVID-19 pandemic. Or the Snowbirds who returned to Canada and immediately went shopping like it was business as usual.

Yes, Boucher, a third-year big man with the Toronto Raptors, would be the first to tell you that he shouldn’t have gone to a downtown grocery store on March 12, but he thought in the moment it was OK because he had tested negative for COVID-19.

“What really happened to me was just that for a minute I needed to get stuff for me to survive, really. Like I didn’t have nothing and I didn’t want to trust Uber Eats or anything and all that, especially knowing the way the virus was spreading,” Boucher told English and French-speaking reporters on a conference call on Wednesday afternoon.

“So I got my test and they were saying that I was negative. So now I know that I can’t do nothing to people so I just wanted to get my groceries done. It’s not like I wanted to be seen. Somebody just took a picture, knew where I was. It’s unfortunate,” Boucher said.

Toronto had played the Utah Jazz only days earlier and all the players had been tested and ordered into self-isolation.

“I can’t do nothing, but that’s not something I was trying to do. Nobody wants to get that virus. I don’t want to give it to nobody if I had it. Definitely I should have just stayed home and that’s why I felt like I had to apologize because, even if I knew that I didn’t have it, it’s not acceptable,” said Boucher, who was born in Saint Lucia, but moved to Montreal when he was five and was raised there.

Since completing protocols, Boucher has been following procedures, trying to stay in shape and stave off boredom while also worrying about relatives he can’t go and see since he’s stuck in Toronto.

“Basically, it’s really hard. I don’t have family close, my family is in Montreal, so Toronto is kind of where I had to stay for the whole time, just trying to figure things out. Sometimes it could be something real easy like (toilet paper) or Lysols or stuff to clean the house, stuff like that. That’s when you realize that (you’re not) going outside,” he said.

Boucher commended the Raptors for doing their best to check in on their players.

“With (video), you actually can lift with Jonny (Lee), our strength and conditioning coaches. I have done a lot of that. The team did a good job to make sure that doctors can call us every day to make sure we’re OK. The rest of it is really a lot of figuring out how it will work when we get busy. Because after like two weeks, you’re like, vacation or not, pandemic now, you just want to be doing something,” Boucher said.

Boucher managed to turn some heads during his third NBA season, particularly with his superb work on the offensive glass and his rim protecting skills. He also has not shied away from launching three-pointers, and though he only shot 28% from out there, he’s a good free-throw shooter (80%) and it’s easy to see his long-range accuracy improving.

It was only a few games before the NBA shut down that Boucher went off in Phoenix for 19 points and 15 rebounds, along with 7-for-8 work at the free-throw line. Once he focused on being an energy player and going out and trying to make things happen in limited bursts, Boucher began to emerge as a potential NBA contributor.

Asked by Postmedia what he feels like he has proven this season, Boucher had a quick answer.

“That I can play. Obviously, there’s a lot of stuff that I can get better at, but I think that my technique I was able to show right out of the door and kind of find ways to help the team win,” he said.

“I think that’s what’s most important. That I could be effective in the game. I think I’ve learned that.”

The Raptors initially brought Boucher in before the 2018-19 season as a two-way player. He would go on to win the NBA G League’s MVP and defensive player of the year awards and, in Feb. 2019, his two-way contract was converted to a standard NBA deal. That contract has an option for the Raptors to extend Boucher a qualifying offer for next season for just under $2 million US, but he’s not looking ahead at this point.

“I mean, at the end of the day, we don’t know what’s gonna happen. You (the reporters on the call) and me are both clueless right now, so at this point I’m just trying to focus on health and making sure my family’s good. I stay online just to watch news about the NBA so hopefully we can finish the season and if not, well, I’ll have to think about a lot of stuff.

“I knew this (contract) stuff was coming, so, obviously, it’s gonna be a process, but for me right now that’s not what I’m thinking about. There’s way more important things to be thinking about right now.”

Nurse hopes special Raptors get to ‘keep this thing going’ but thinking safety first — Toronto Sun

On a conference call with the daily beat media, Toronto Raptors head coach Nick Nurse made it clear that while he’d love to resume his duties sometime soon, there are far bigger things on his mind. Read More

Nurse hopes special Raptors get to ‘keep this thing going’ but thinking safety first — Toronto Sun

On a conference call with the daily beat media, Toronto Raptors head coach Nick Nurse made it clear that while he’d love to resume his duties sometime soon, there are far bigger things on his mind.

Nurse’s priority, for weeks now and continuing for as long as the COVID-19 pandemic goes on, is encouraging his players, staff and fans to focus on safety and best practices during all of this.

“I’ve been really adamant on our safety and health, and doing the right thing,” Nurse said. “I was trying to make those messages clear that we needed to make sure … You know, people were concerned about working out and going to the OVO (training facility in downtown Toronto) and all this stuff, and I was really, really strong in my messaging to everybody that we’re gonna close this and stay shut,” he said.

“(The focus was) lead by example. Let’s make sure we get out and if we can provide any messages, washing hands and those kind of things.”

more….

Nurse hopes special Raptors get to ‘keep this thing going’ but thinking safety first — Toronto Sun

Ujiri focused squarely on the crisis at hand and it has nothing to do with the NBA — Toronto Sun

Anyone who has spent any time around Raptors’ president Masai Ujiri, knows his approach to a task. Read More

Ujiri focused squarely on the crisis at hand and it has nothing to do with the NBA — Toronto Sun

By Mike Ganter

Anyone who has spent any time around Raptors’ president Masai Ujiri, knows his approach to a task.
It’s identify the goal, get an understanding of the task at hand to the fullest, and then go at it with everything you have.
It’s the kind of approach that landed the Raptors Kawhi Leonard for a season and ultimately pushed the franchise to an NBA championship.
And while that approach applies to the basketball team he oversees, it also applies to everything else in his life.
So it’s really not a surprise that in a 30-minute or so call with the media that covered his team, Ujiri had little to say about anything basketball related. As close as the game is to his heart, right now it’s just not uppermost of mind.
His focus is on the current pandemic, just like it would be if the task in front of him were a Game 7, he wants a win.
Typical of most of his responses was this one to a question about using this down time in his basketball work to perhaps address his own extension with the Raptors or even that of head coach Nick Nurse.
“No, to be fair that’s not where our minds are at right now,” Ujiri said. “Me certainly, this is a crucial time I think for the world and those things will come,” Ujiri said. “I’m fine. We’re fine. Honestly those are the last things on my mind. I miss the game. I miss basketball. But I have concerns for my team, concerns for my family, and concerns for the world. I have concerns about this pandemic and how we beat it, how we fight it. We have to win this one. In the business of basketball, that one (a contract extension for Ujiri) is the last (concern).”
Rather than stalking the next draft pick and doing his normally thorough due diligence on a player which is what he would usually be doing this time of year, Ujiri joked he’s spending his time stalking Dr. Anthony Fauci, the director of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases who has had his hands full correcting the always-challenged president of the United States on the subject of the coronavirus.
Even the question of whether or not Ujiri thought the NBA season could be salvaged and if so what that might look like was quickly brought back to the real crisis we’re all now facing.
“I’m hoping (the season can be salvaged),” Ujiri said. “That’s all of our hope. We love our game and we love what we do. Honestly, for now, I think we salvage the NBA season is by abiding by the rules and doing everything that we have to do as people, as a community, everything we possibly can. This is not about the NBA, NBA players, NBA fans. It’s about the whole world.
“This is something that hit globally,” Ujiri said. “This is not an earthquake that hit in only one part of the world or a disease that is only in another part of the world or a tsunami — pardon me for mentioning all of these things. But this is affecting the whole world. We can want to plan the NBA all we want, and (want) it to come back all we want. Because it affects the whole world, something is going to stall that one way or the other, because we have not played by the rules.”
None of this is to say that Ujiri is ignoring his responsibilities as the president and CEO of the Raptors.
He spends his days in his home on the phone — web calls, video calls with his players, with his management team, with other team heads and NBA front office types ensuring the people in his care are first of all healthy and the game he loves remains functioning. Then there are calls with various heads of state around the world ensuring his Giants of Africa interests and his work with Basketball Without Borders doesn’t fall by the wayside while the world deals with his pandemic.
It’s a lot and it’s time consuming and to hear Ujiri tell it, it’s all just a little too much all at once.
But he soldiers on and does what he can to keep the people he lives with, the people he works with and the game he loves in as good a position as it can possibly be in these trying times.
And then just when you start to feel it might all be a little overwhelming for a man who does not get overwhelmed, Ujrii finds a silver lining in all of it.
“It’s been a lot but it’s also been good to be able to go between phone calls to do my daughter’s homework with her or play with my son, you know, or spend time with the family,” he said.
And just like that he makes you feel a little bit better about our irregular lives during these pandemic days.
DIFFERENT TIMES
If you’re sitting at home unsure even what day it is, take comfort in the fact that you’re not alone.
“I’ve lost where the other world is,” Raptors president and CEO Masai Ujiri said when asked what he would be doing on April 1st in more normal times.
“I’m so into this (pandemic) world right now and trying to adjust,’ he said. “April 1? I think, I might be wrong, but this might be time when (Raptors director of player personnel and assisant GM) Dan Tolzman is dragging me to the McDonald’s game and the Hoop Summit might be coming up now.
“I think that these are the times when those (games) come up and we kind of start to round up our outside scouting,” Ujrii said. “It’s also a time we hit Europe, if I remember well. Final Four, we’re getting ready for the combine, those kind of things. Those are not there anymore.”
No everyone’s normal is a little off these day.
Ujiri was on the road scouting when the Raptors finished up a west-coast road trip in Utah against the Jazz and first official NBA positive test victim Rudy Gobert. Like his team, he came straight home and hasn’t left his house since, except to get tested as all the team did in those earliest of the pandemic days in North America.
His days now are one phone call after another after another. At this point the day of the week really is irrelevant.


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25 Seasons of Raptors: The rise and fall of Vince Carter — Toronto Sun

With the 25th season of Toronto Raptors basketball on hold indefinitely, Postmedia is turning back the clock to examine the preceding 24 years, which culminated with a championship many thought the franchise would never deliver for its loyal fans. Read More

25 Seasons of Raptors: The rise and fall of Vince Carter — Toronto Sun.