NBA Blog – NBA Basketball Blog
NBA Blog: The NBA basketball news blog section of Inside Hoops
Raptors blog – Toronto Raptors blog
Toronto Raptors guard/forward Norman Powell will be out indefinitely due to a subluxation of the left shoulder.
The injury occurred in the second quarter of Monday night’s win against the Jazz in Utah. Powell is averaging 5.0 points, 2.0 rebounds and 14.9 minutes in 11 games (two starts) this season.
There is no timetable for Powell’s return to basketball activity. His status will be updated as appropriate.
|
The Toronto Raptors have exercised the fourth-year team option on the rookie scale contract of forward Pascal Siakam and the third-year team option on the rookie scale contract of forward OG Anunoby.
The contracts for Anunoby and Siakam are now guaranteed through the 2019-20 season.
In accordance with the league’s Collective Bargaining Agreement, the Raptors had until Oct. 31, 2018 to exercise their option on both players.
Siakam, 6-foot-9, 230 pounds, is averaging 10.9 points 7.0 rebounds and 26.0 minutes in eight games (seven starts) this season. He set career highs with 22 points Oct. 29 at Milwaukee, and 15 rebounds Oct. 30 vs. Philadelphia.
Siakam was picked by Toronto 27th overall in the 2016 NBA Draft. He has averaged 6.3 points, 4.2 rebounds and 19.1 minutes in 144 games (50 starts) with the Raptors.
Anunoby, 6-foot-8, 232 pounds, was selected by the Raptors with the 23rd overall pick in the 2017 NBA Draft. He has averaged 7.2 points, 3.4 rebounds and 24.2 minutes in five games this season.
Anunoby averaged 5.9 points, 2.5 rebounds and 20.0 minutes in 74 games (62 starts) last season. He ranked seventh among rookies in field goal percentage (.471) and sixth in three-point field goal percentage (.371). Anunoby scored in double figures 10 times with two 20-point performances.
Eyes around the league will be on the Raptors as the new season begins, partially because they’re a good team but primarily to see how Kawhi Leonard looks wearing his new uniform. And how he plays in that uniform. Mostly how he plays. Here’s the Toronto Star discussing the talk of the town up North:
If one was to lock a group of mad basketball scientists in a room and tell them to design the kind of player they’d want for the current NBA era, it’s not hard to figure what they would eventually come up with.
They’d want someone “long” to use one of the euphemisms of the day, lanky with arms that hang down around the knees, a 6-foot-7 frame that’s at the same time muscular and lithe.
They’d want someone capable of defending multiple positions and playing them on offence, a wing who could check some bigs, a big who could score against slower players and physically dominate smaller ones. Someone who can shoot three-pointers and attack the basket because multi-faceted is the way the game is going.
They’d want someone who can be considered low maintenance, someone “coachable” who can be plugged into a system and thrive.
It wouldn’t take long for those great minds to come up with what they want and they’d emerge unscathed and with a player in mind.
A player like Kawhi Leonard.
|
|
The Toronto Raptors have exercised the two-way player conversion option on forward Chris Boucher.
What this means is Boucher will spend the majority of the season playing in the G League.
Boucher totaled nine points, two rebounds, four blocks and 19 minutes in four games during the preseason. He shot .429 (3-for-7) from three-point range.
Boucher, 6-foot-10, 200 pounds, spent last season with Golden State as a two-way player. He appeared in one game with the Warriors and averaged 11.8 points, 7.5 rebounds, 2.1 blocks and 22.2 minutes in 20 contests with Santa Cruz, their NBA G League affiliate.
Boucher, who grew up in Montreal, played collegiately at Oregon (2015-17) and was named to the Pac-12 All-Defensive Team and was a Pac-12 All-Conference Honourable Mention as both a junior and senior.
The Raptors open the 2018-19 regular season Wednesday night at Scotiabank Arena when they host the Cleveland Cavaliers at 7:30 p.m.
|
|
The Toronto Raptors have waived guards Kyle Collinsworth and Kay Felder, forward Deng Adel and centrer Eric Moreland.
Adel averaged 8.5 points, 2.5 rebounds and 12.3 minutes in two preseason games. He recorded 13 points and three rebounds Oct. 5 against Melbourne United.
Collinsworth saw action in four preseason games with one start, totaling three points, four rebounds and four assists in 32 minutes.
Felder averaged 7.7 points, 2.0 assists and 13.8 minutes in three preseason contests. He finished with 15 points and a team high-tying six assists Oct. 11 at New Orleans.
Moreland appeared in three preseason games, averaging 4.7 points, 5.3 rebounds and 13.6 minutes. He had 12 points and a team-high 12 rebounds Oct. 11 at New Orleans.
The Raptors open the 2018-19 regular season Wednesday night at Scotiabank Arena when they host the Cleveland Cavaliers at 7:30 p.m.
DeMar DeRozan is out, Kawhi Leonard is in. That’s the big Raptors news that dominated the offseason and will be the main thought in mind when watching the team this season. And while Leonard and guard Kyle Lowry are sure to start, some lineup questions do exist. Here’s the Toronto Sun reporting from today’s Raptors open practice:
The team’s annual open practice was highlighted by a fast-paced scrimmage that gave head coach Nick Nurse another look at potential lineups.
While all-stars Kyle Lowry and Kawhi Leonard stayed together on one squad all morning, others like Serge Ibaka, Jonas Valanciunas, Danny Green, Fred VanVleet and C.J. Miles alternated as the scrimmage went on.
It is still unclear what the starting group will look like and OG Anunoby, potentially the starting power forward, has been absent to deal with a family matter. Anunoby is now back with the team and will travel to Montreal for the game against the Brooklyn Nets on Wednesday.
For a long time, the Raptors were Kyle Lowry, DeMar DeRozan, and company. Now they’re Lowry, Kawhi Leonard and company. How does Lowry feel about the change? Here’s the Toronto Star from Raptors media day:
[Lowry] was hurt by the trade which sent DeRozan packing last July in return for Kawhi Leonard and Danny Green. But in his first public utterances about it Monday, the 32-year-old said he’ll simply do what he does.
“You know how it is, I come to work, no matter what,” Lowry said at the team’s annual media day at the Scotiabank Arena. “This is a business. I understand the business. I’ve been traded before, I’ve had a point guard drafted (supposedly to take his job) on draft night. It’s a business. I’ve always understood that.
“We come in here, come to work, and understand that’s what it is. Me, I have to come in and be in the best shape I can be, the best player I can be, the best individual talent I can be to help my teammates and to help our team win a championship.” …
That Lowry didn’t speak on the DeRozan trade until Monday isn’t surprising — he never does a lot of summer time media in any circumstances, and as long as he performs when practices and games arrive, what else matters?
The Toronto Raptors have signed center Eric Moreland.
Moreland, 6-foot-10, 238 pounds, owns career averages of 2.0 points, 3.7 rebounds and 11.0 minutes in 78 NBA games with Sacramento and Detroit. He is shooting .543 (70-129) from the field and has scored in double digits three times.
A native of Houston, Texas, Moreland averaged 2.1 points, 4.1 rebounds and 12.0 minutes in 67 contests (three starts) with the Pistons last season. He recorded career highs of 16 points and 17 rebounds in 41 minutes Apr. 11 at Chicago.
Moreland played four collegiate seasons at Oregon State (2010-14). He averaged 7.2 points, 8.6 rebounds and 25.0 minutes in 89 career games. Moreland left as the school’s all-time leader in total blocks (184) and ranked fifth in total rebounds (762).
Here’s the Toronto Sun reporting on new Raptors addition Kawhi Leonard, whose health is of interest not just to Toronto but to the entire NBA world:
Leonard, a former NBA Finals MVP and two-time defensive player of the year, was only able to suit up for nine games in his final season in Texas, but by all accounts has looked superb in summer workouts.
Ujiri would not commit to Leonard being ready to go full steam ahead by the time training camp opens in just over a week, but he sounded encouraged.
“Everything you hear (about his workouts) is unbelievable. He’s very well, no verdict has been made, but he’s ramping it up,” Ujiri told Wojnarowski, adding that Leonard’s status will depend on both what he and the medical staff say.
The Toronto Raptors signed guard Kay Felder today.
Felder, 5-foot-9, 176 pounds, averaged 3.6 points, 1.3 assists and 8.8 minutes in 16 games with Chicago and Detroit last season. He also appeared in 20 games with Grand Rapids in the NBA G League, posting averages of 16.8 points, 5.8 assists and 30.1 minutes.
A native of Detroit, Michigan, Felder owns career averages of 3.8 points, 1.3 assists and 9.1 minutes in 58 NBA games with Cleveland, Chicago and Detroit. He was picked in the second-round (54th overall) by Atlanta in the 2016 NBA Draft.
Felder played three collegiate seasons at Oakland (2013-16) where he averaged 17.5 points, 7.8 assists and 35.9 minutes in 101 appearances. As a junior, Felder led the NCAA in assists per game (9.2) and was named Horizon League Player of the Year. He left the Golden Grizzlies as the Horizon League’s all-time leader with 788 career assists.