Landry Fields had not seen the floor since March 31, when he got two minutes of action against the Heat in Miami. In fact, from March 9 to April 19—a span of 23 games—Fields had a grand total of 20 minutes played. But when Dwane Casey called on the energetic forward in Game 2 of the Raptors’ first-round series against the Nets, Fields was ready and responded with a defensive performance that helped Toronto earn a much-needed win.
Fields’s defence on Brooklyn’s Joe Johnson was key. It wasn’t a lock-down effort but it was, at the very least, mistake-free. He guarded his man and stayed glued to his hip as often as possible. Though Johnson is bigger and stronger, Fields held his ground and generally helped force the Nets out of their pick-and-roll game. His 18 minutes (including the final six of the game) nearly eclipsed what he had tallied over the previous six weeks.
“I think it says a lot to be honest,” says Fields when asked about staying ready in spite of limited playing time. “I think [on] a lot of teams the guys that aren’t getting as much playing time don’t understand how effective they can be mentally—from a mental and chemistry standpoint with the team. The success of this team has been great [and] the chemistry has been great, so who are we [the guys deeper in the rotation] to mess with that?”
It’s a fair question, but living by it is easier said than done. A professional athlete knowing his role and accepting it are two different things. Fields appeared in a career-low 30 games this year, tallying only 322 minutes. Yet he stayed ready and never made a public peep about his slot in the rotation.
“At times it can be very frustrating,” he admits. “Sometimes self-pity kind of creeps in. But the more you’re able to suppress that [and] accept your role, the better off you’ll be—and not only mentally, from a long-season standpoint, but just for the team. It’s definitely difficult to get from knowing to accepting, but it kind of just depends on the person, I guess.”
Critics might say, “Get over it. You make about $7-million per year.” But it’s not about the money for Fields. It’s about wanting to play and be a regular contributor to a winning team, like he was in his rookie season with the New York Knicks.
“To be honest, what’s gotten me through—and I say it all the time and I probably sound like a broken record—is faith,” Fields says. “One of my favourite bible verses is Romans 8:28: ‘And we know that in all things God works for the good of those who love him, who have been called according to his purpose’…. To narrow it down to my situation: Right now I have to believe that by me being in this, there’s a betterment for somebody else. To be honest, it’s given me peace and it’s given me joy throughout what a lot of people would see as kind of a setback career-wise.”
Many would see it as worse than a setback. Fields went from a burst-on-the-scene rookie with a huge upside, to a youngster that struggled in his sophomore year. In spite of that slip, he was offered a lucrative contract by the Raptors and bolted Gotham for Toronto, but year one in Canada was not a memorable one. The Stanford product struggled out of the gate and heard it from the fans. Then matters were made worse when ulnar nerve surgery all but derailed his 2012-13 season. He came back ready to go—and hoping for a larger role—in 2013-14, but an early-season trade (Rudy Gay to Sacramento) brought in a crop of players that pushed Fields further down Casey’s bench. Injuries persisted as well. It easily could’ve seemed more like a cruel joke than God’s plan.
“I’m not going to be arrogant and say that I know everything that God knows,” Fields says. “I have to trust in His goodness and His will for my life. That gives me the peace and joy each day to not take my work home with me. It’s a kind of peace that transcends understanding.”
Fields hope to see the floor in Game 3, and beyond. He wants to play. He still loves the game and longs to be a bigger piece of the puzzle in Toronto. But, for now, he’s trying to bring the right attitude to the second unit and the team overall.
“The competitive side of me wants to play and it can be frustrating,” he says. “[But] if I look at the totem pole of my life, I’ve got God, then family, then basketball. I think when I keep it like that, then I’m never disappointed.”