The Toronto Raptors reached two important training camp milestones on Thursday: The muscle watch portion of camp and the nonsense portion of camp.
The first is a tried-and-true NBA tradition as players return from their summers heavier, lighter, thinner, or whatever the goal may be. NBA Twitter has long had a #MuscleWatch for the more outlandish of claims, like Emoni Bates allegedly gaining 35 pounds, or players who grew several inches only to be listed back at their original height on opening night.
That focus fell on Gradey Dick on Thursday, with Immanuel Quickley razzing him about just how much he bulked up in the off-season. The Raptors famously had to work with Dick on his strength and conditioning in-season to help rescue his rookie year, and adding strength was a core part of Dick’s summer checklist. Officially, Dick is eight pounds heavier than last season, though Dick rounds to 10 based on where he ended the season.
“It was 20 yesterday. Numbers going up and down,” Quickley joked during his scrum.
For his part, Dick has downplayed the actual number, but everyone will acknowledge that a more sound physical base should help the sophomore on both sides of the ball.
As for the nonsense portion of the day, Quickley was holding court with both Dick and RJ Barrett. While Barrett tried to take some credit for Quickley’s new contract (Quickley’s on the hook for some dinners), Quickley fired back that part of Barrett’s offensive growth as a cutter last year was just Barrett trying to fill the stat sheet.
“RJ likes to score the basketball. And if RJ can cut to score, he’s going to do it. That’s the only reason he cut. If RJ couldn’t score on a cut, he wouldn’t cut,” Quickley said.
“By any means,” Barrett quipped back.
The Knicks teammates turned Raptors teammates clearly have a strong bond, on and off the court, and in the early days of training camp they both appear to be growing into larger leadership roles with the team.
Injury update
Those with particular good eyes may have noticed Quickley wearing a brace on his left hand/wrist during the Vince Carter event last week. Quickley has continued to wear that brace after practices this week.
This is mostly a precaution, stemming from a sprained thumb Quickley suffered during a workout at OVO Athletic Centre in the lead-up to camp. He’s been participating in most non-contact portions of camp so far, and is not currently expected to miss time.
Ja’Kobe Walter (shoulder), Bruce Brown (knee), and Scottie Barnes (personal) remain limited or non-participants in practices.
“Obviously, we’re missing those three players, and it’s a big thing for us,” head coach Darko Rajakoivc said. “All the other guys are able to kind of like step up in the role. Maybe they’d be in the second unit, now they’re playing with the starters. We’re playing with different lineups out there in our practices so we can see them. And a couple of guys did a really good job. … So I’m really happy with how the guys did those things in training camp. Getting those opportunities is helping their confidence as well.”
Brown, by the way, had been cleared this summer and participated in some of the team’s off-season events. It was only once he began ramping up for the season that he had a flare-up in his troublesome knee. The team and Brown’s camp then decided surgery was the best course of action. So, for those who wondered why Brown waited so long to have off-season surgery on a knee that bothered him last season, there is the answer: He was in the clear, and then it flared back up.
Kyshawn George and a return to Montreal with the Wizards
Washington Wizards rookie Kyshawn George spoke with Canadian media on Wednesday ahead of Sunday’s exhibition game.
While George was born in Switzerland and played high school ball in France, he has significant Canadian roots. George’s father, Deon, played with Steve Nash and Rowan Barrett at the junior national level and went on to play professionally in Switzerland. The Georges still have ample family in the Montreal area, with Kyshawn telling us he’s had to request upwards of 30 tickets for Sunday’s game for family and friends.
Just as notable for Canadian basketball fans, the No. 24 pick in this year’s draft confirmed his desire to eventually join the senior men’s national program. (George has previously represented Switzerland at junior FIBA events.) A six-foot-eight forward who can really shoot it, George would be a really nice addition to the Canadian player pool, one the program would be very open to adding.
A note on the Hornets part of the Knicks-Wolves trade.
The Charlotte Hornets played a facilitator role in the massive Karl-Anthony Towns trade that became official this week. This is not super-Raptors relevant, but it did highlight the value that a rebuilding team can extract from having some salary cap flexibility.
This summer, the Hornets opted not to use their “room exception,” a salary cap exception for teams that enter the summer below the salary cap. Under the new CBA, teams that don’t use that exception for a signing can instead use it as a trade exception to acquire players without sending matching salary out.
The Raptors did not use their mid-level exception, which basically means they have a $12.8-million trade exception to utilize during the year. The Raptors are also an estimated $11-12 million below the luxury tax line (before unlikely bonuses) and only have 14 guaranteed contracts. That gives them a lot of flexibility in trade season, either to pick up assets in a salary dump from a luxury tax team, to help facilitate a larger multi-team deal by eating salary, or just to make their own trades easier to execute.
Charlotte received three second-round picks and some cash to be an accounting loophole for the Knicks and Wolves. It’s not the sexiest use of cap flexibility, but Jamal Sheads and Jonathan Mogbos can add up over time.
More physicality?
We spoke earlier in the week about the Raptors’ desire to ratchet up the defensive pressure at the point of attack. Increased defensive aggression could be a common talking point around the NBA in the early going.
Speaking with “The Wake Up Call” this week, Indiana Pacers head coach Rick Carlisle revealed that the league and its coaches have been in contact about changes in physicality for the year ahead. “It’s going to be much more physical this year,” Carlisle said, noting that games could more closely resemble the FIBA style of play than the NBA’s freedom-of-movement approach.
League-wide free-throw rate dipped late last season, with some theories holding that the league had already started to introduce these changes mid-season. It’s obviously a more fair (and clean) point of delineation for the league to make a change in emphasis between seasons, and it will be interesting to track where early free-throw rates compare to prior Novembers.
The Raptors’ lone defensive strength last year was not sending opponents to the stripe, with only the Lakers and Celtics doing so less frequently. I was expecting a significantly more aggressive Raptors defence this year, with or without any officiating changes; more freedom to be physical should only dial that up further.
Community work
The Raptors and NBA Canada will be doing a number of community events in the coming days. On Friday, the team will hold clinics in both English and French at a number of locations, including outreach to the local Indigenous community. NBA Canada, meanwhile, has a 12,000 square-foot activation called Maison NBA that will be open Friday to Sunday, with free tickets for fans available here. Vince Carter, Jerome Williams, Natalie Achonwa and more are scheduled to appear over the course of the weekend.
Open scrimmage Friday
My personal favourite part of training camp takes place Friday at McGill University, when the Raptors open the doors to fans (and media!) for an open practice and scrimmage. This is usually our best look throughout camp at the end-of-roster types fighting for jobs and playing time. For those who don’t know, most media (including me) don’t get to be inside the gym during practices, so this is my first look at some of these guys since Summer League.
I’ll have a scouting notebook and some takeaways coming out of that event Friday night.
The team’s first official exhibition game goes Sunday at the Bell Centre.