TORONTO — There aren’t many downsides to being Canada’s team, and communities across the country are keen to accommodate you and fans coast-to-coast devouring your pricey wares.
But one of them is that your pre-season requires some travel. Training camp in Victoria and exhibition game in Edmonton, another in Montreal at the end of the week and trips to Boston and Houston in between.
It was a lot. The Raptors hosted the Chicago Bulls for their only exhibition game at home on Sunday night — they lost 115-98 to drop to 2-2 with another to play — and had to argue they were a bit tired, and that’s before the season started .
“I would never complain about being Canada’s team, but part of that is we’re going to be playing these games in other cities in Canada and that leads to us having a busy travel schedule,” said Raptors head coach Nick Nurse . “We still have commitments to play teams because most of them are in the States, and we still have commitments down there, every now and then… and the reality is that it’s not that easy to get the teams to do that.” bring to take a long journey and play against us somewhere Canada. In return we have to give them back at some point and that’s how it ends up sometimes.
“It’s been a lot of travel and a lot of late nights, but that’s okay, we’ll be fine.”
A drop in road legs could explain the Raptors’ pathetic three-point shooting in their first three exhibition games. They came into Sunday’s game shooting 25.5 percent from deep. Take in Gabe Brown, a camp signer who was 4-of-9 before Sunday, and Khem Birch, who was 2-of-3 — neither of whom are likely to start triples for the Raptors earlier in the season — and Raptors who actually are Expected threesomes will tumble down at 22 percent.
Part of the problem is that the Raptors have been plowing through their schedule to get as much practice time as possible, barring travel issues.
“I mean, listen, we probably did things very differently than we would have done in the regular season,” Nurse said. “I mean, we really put her through a tough time [practice] coming back from the west coast like a really long physique going to boston [on Wednesday] because it’s the boot camp mode…if this was the regular season it wouldn’t have looked like it [and] We still have some guys trying to get in shape and putting a lot of time, energy and physical strength into a lot of exercises and that doubles the effect I think.”
The Raptors have another day off Monday and will be home until they rush to Montreal for Friday’s game, and hopefully some time in their own beds will help. Shooting continues to be an issue for a team that struggled to kick the ball last year. The Raptors led 57-47 at halftime, but that was mostly because they forced the Bulls to 16 turnovers in the first two quarters. Toronto was 4 of 15 deep at half and 8 of 37 for the game. Shooting that bad isn’t going to continue and should improve if sharp-firing free agent Otto Porter Jr. (hamstring) is available, but it’s hard to watch at the moment.
Much more interesting is the fight for the last two guaranteed contracts in the 15-man squad.
Well, check this out: After Dalano Banton put in another impressive performance — he was the Raptors’ most consistent preseason player — the slim Rexdale guard is all but certain to start the regular season with his hometown team and his second too have picked -year option.
“I think the most important thing is that he’s just so comfortable out there,” Nurse said after Banton had 11 points, five rebounds and two assists in 17 minutes of play. He’s now shooting 65.5 percent from the ground, mostly on his signature swooping drives, but with just enough jump shots to hint at what the future might hold. “He plays at the pace he wants to play and I think he does a little bit of everything, not just on offense.
“I think he’s playing in transition. He runs the team pretty well, he runs the sets, things like that. But he was really good defensively, right. He’s really noticeable when he gets his hands on the basketball and knocks it off or grabs it from the weak side or whatever rips you away. He did a good job, I think he used that length and he also has a really good instinct for where the ball goes, maybe a little bit early right so he can get his hands on them. So that part was good to see, his defense and his kind of success on and off the ball.
Banton credits a busy offseason, including playing on the Raptors Summer League team in July, competing with the Raptors against other NBA pros in heats organized by assistant coach Rico Hines in August, and at the AmeriCup for Raptors assistant Nate Mitchell played for Team Canada in September.
“I definitely feel like I’m just confident, I feel like the guys out there trust me to do what I think they’re good at,” Banton said afterwards. “And then definitely the game in the summer – lots of games in the Summer League, playing with Rico and then playing in Brazil with Team Canada. I just feel like a lot of live reps over the summer helped me get going and I will continue with that. My trust is there. I feel like these guys are looking for me in my positions, helping me to play to my strengths, trusting me and being there for me as a young man has been great for me and my development.”
With Banton’s spot looking increasingly secure, it’s a mess afterward, with DJ Wilson, Josh Jackson and Gabe Brown showing up well enough to make a case. Still waiting for his chance was Justin Champagnie, the second-year forward who converted his two-way contract at the end of last season but was distracted with a broken thumb last summer and then missed last week – and the exhibition of the Raptors Three games – with a hip strain.
“I think that’s really important for him [to perform well in games]’ said sister. “Because it’s not like the other guys haven’t sparked interest. Some of the guys did some things too, you know. So you want to say, “Justin did some good things for us last year, he was in the system, he’s had a pretty good summer, his shooting is improving a bit,” you tend to as part of the [evaluation because] It’s a lot of time and investment that we’ve already made.
“But he has to play because as you guys have seen some of the other guys all really made a fall.”
After the Bulls fought their way back 80-77 in the third quarter to start the fourth quarter, Champagnie finally took the floor. It was neither a resounding success nor a cavalcade of failures. He made a nice play to pick up a loose ball in the middle of the field — the kind of heads-up play he seems to make routinely — and drove the lane and drew a foul, but a moment later he was called out for one Schnitts beat for a lay-up. He found his way inside on a missed free throw and somehow corrected an offensive rebound that nearly resulted in extra possession for Toronto, though the ball eventually went wide and headed back to the Bulls. He forced a ride into the lane and was blocked. Most of the time, Champagnie looked like he was trying to navigate the mishmash of preseason garbage time after months of not playing at NBA pace.
What’s particularly helpful to Champagnie’s cause is that none of the players battling for the final spots on the roster did particularly well. The Bulls bench group pulled away from the Raptors with a 14-3 run midway through the last third.
The Raptors are – of course – headed to their final exhibition game this Friday in Montreal. The key rotation players should be better rested after a heavy load from training camp and the first part of the exhibition season, and while those in Champagnie’s position will have their final chances to shape the Raptors’ opinion of their future.
Dalano Banton? He can rest easy. His place in the Canadian team seems secure.
#strong #travel #Raptors #showing #signs #progress #preseason #loss #Bulls
Leave a Comment