Raptors point guard Fred VanVleet, one of just three holdovers from Toronto’s DeMar DeRozan era, is trying to lead a rebuilding Raptors squad much the same way DeRozan did alongside Kyle Lowry years ago, writes Eric Koreen of The Athletic.
DeRozan paid his first visit to his old club as a Bull, proving that he remains an absolutely clutch scorer to close out games. The Bulls would go on to win, 111-108.
“This is a new dynamic,” DeRozan said of how VanVleet has evolved to become the Raptors’ leader. “The conversations I have with Fred now, (leading a rebuilding team) is a new dynamic in your career that you have to figure out. It’s tough. But every great player goes through it. There’s not too many guys that just have a polished career. It’s another obstacle you can learn from and build on and turn you into a much better player than you even knew you had in you.”
There’s more out of Toronto:
- The current Raptors ownership group, Maple Leaf Sports and Entertainment, has a convoluted structure, but it has ultimately enabled team president Masai Ujiri to run the organization as he sees fit, writes Eric Koreen of The Athletic. The various factions of the ownership group reportedly disagreed on the terms of Ujiri’s new contract, but that deal eventually got done earlier this year.
- Raptors head coach Nick Nurse explained the lack of playing time for guard Malachi Flynn, per Josh Lewenberg of TSN (Twitter link). “There’s a Fred and there’s a Goran (Dragić) and we’ve given (rookie Dalano Banton) a run,” Nurse said. “And Dalano’s the one you should probably be asking me about. He’s played outstanding every minute he’s been out there. You guys should be all over me for not playing him more.” It sounds like it could be an uphill battle for Flynn to crack the club’s point guard rotation.
- Injured Raptors forward Pascal Siakam was a full participant in the team’s practice today, and will join the club’s NBAGL affiliate, Raptors 905, to continue to work off the rust in their training camp, according to Josh Lewenberg of TSN (via Twitter). Siakam has missed the team’s first three games with a shoulder injury. Small forward Yuta Watanabe also practiced with Toronto today and is considered to be nearing a return for the team, tweets Michael Grange of Sportsnet. Grange adds that Siakam might be on track to rejoin Toronto earlier than the initially-anticipated target date of mid-to-late November.
Vanvleet wants out ?
Right now, no. He’s adjusting from playing for a winning team to leading a team that won’t win more than 30 games, life-changing for a ball player lol
I think if raptors are a 30/40% winning team by the trade deadline they will put him and Siakam on the shelf cause Raptors are rebuilding and it’s a poor FA year so Masaï could get a good package of draft and young studs
I can guarantee you they’ll win more than 30 games. That bar is stupid low. This is still a young, hungry, talented squad, with a champion head coach. Also get Siakam back very soon. Raptors will make the playoffs, IMO.
Raptors are gonna be in the play in mix, they might not be what they once were but that team does the tough things well, vanvleet with dragic as a backup is strong strong, the one thing I find baffling about them is nurse weird rotations, why Boucher doesn’t get any run is confusing, and he would have nice value in a trade if they don’t want him, hence the baffling
DBlanton is gonna be a BIG TIME player for Toronto. 1st time I saw him was the GaTech/Nebraska game last yr & he was definitely the best player on the court. His basketball IQ is very high & he has incredible size/length for a lead guard. I wouldn’t be surprised if he makes one of the All-Rookie teams. But even if he doesn’t he’s gonna be a really good NBA player for a long time
The Raptors are in for a long rebuild…..
No they’re not, lol. Have you seen their talent?? Plus with Masai leading the charge, not a chance. More like a retooling
I actually wanted to know why Banton hasnt played more in the regular season, as well as a couple of others…
NN is a brilliant coach … he sees Banton’s potential as a game changer and will let it happen. He had more than enough time to recognize that Flynn is barely a NBA player and knows the gleague is full of such player.
100% accurate
Banton is a 2/3 and Barnes a 2/3/4 and doing quite well per Bas.Ref.; Flynn a 1 is a different position… where TOR wants to showcase Dragic. In 62 minutes Dragic has a minus 33 on/off so we can see why NN is so defensive. But rn newly re-signed Ujiri is an unstoppable force in the FO, and he traded for Dragic. I don’t see Dragic being a solution, nor may he, so until he is flipped TOR will be playing with a temporary roster… Flynn will have to be patient and take one for the team. He is a winner so his merits may not be fully clear in statistics.
Its b/c at first Dragic was starting. They also are using too many shooters together, instead of only 2 starters and 2 off the bench. Barnes is a 4/5/1 Banton is a 4/1/3. They have a lot of depth, so some guys might be better off when certain guys are injured or when they want to rest a couple of players
The Raptors are criminally underrated by most. Even the writers on here lol. They are probably just as good as the Sixers with no Simmons and hurt Embiid. They had one awful injury plagued year and have added good young players. They will not win the championship this year but they are much better than people give them credit for.