VANCOUVER—The other day, rookie Allen Graves was one of several Raptors shooting three-pointers from four feet behind the arc.
asserted
Graves → shoot → arc
He hadn’t really tried it much before, but it looked smooth and felt good fast.
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it → try → it
Graves says if you show him something once he can do it.
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he → say → it
He’s known that since high school, fixing cars with his dad.
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He → know → dad
“I credit that to my dad being a mechanic,” Graves said after practice in Vancouver, in advance of Toronto’s pre-season game with the Los Angeles Clippers Saturday.
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Graves → credit → Clippers
“You know, watch him take a tire off, I know how to do it.
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I → know → it
Watch him change a spark plug, I can do it.
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I → watch → it
And then that translated to basketball.
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that → translate → basketball
Just the way my mind works.”
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mind → work → ?
Toronto’s trade for Kawhi Leonard was a risk-reward play, and the reward piece is simple: this team is supposed to win.
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team → suppose → Leonard
The veteran core is set.
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core → set → ?
Kawhi is ramping up for the long, complicated march at age 35.
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Kawhi → ramp → age
Scottie Barnes is vowing to be something closer to playoff Scottie.
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Barnes → vow → Scottie
General manager Bobby Webster made it clear on media day: Toronto aims to compete in a crowded, brutish East.
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Toronto → make → East
Guards Ja’Kobe Walter and Jamal Shead are entering their third seasons, and up front Collin Murray-Boyles was a genuine find as the No. 9 pick last season.
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Boyles → enter → pick
And Graves, picked 19th this summer, is another two-way wing with defensive skills who, like Murray-Boyles, has clear templates on the Raptors roster to emulate.
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who → pick → roster
So the Raptors have an inexpensive youth movement to develop on the fly, on a team that intends to compete with veteran-laden outfits in Philadelphia, Miami, New York, Boston, Cleveland and more.
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that → have → Philadelphia
Murray-Boyles, of course, has been the template for picking things up quickly.
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Boyles → pick → things
“(With) the best of the best, I’ve been watching these guys all my life, so it’s like surreal to see,” said Murray-Boyles.
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Boyles → watch → guys
“But you get comfortable with it.
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you → get → it
You get comfortable real quick, I’m not gonna lie.”
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I → get → ?
He figures it took him about 10 games to get comfortable with NBA basketball last season, and now Murray-Boyles is an essential piece of Toronto’s upside.
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Boyles → figure → upside
The work he did on his body over the summer is noticeable, if not a gigantic leap.
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he → do → summer
He feels more agile and bouncy, but the work was more centred on durability, for heavier minutes in a long season.
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work → feel → season
This summer, after a grown-man playoff performance that changed the way he saw his own potential, he worked on shooting, spacing and attacking gaps.
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he → change → gaps
Graves, meanwhile, worked on shooting, shooting and more shooting, and his summer league numbers popped off the page: 16.8 points, 6.8 rebounds, 3.0 assists, 2.3 steals, 1.0 blocks in just under 28 minutes per game.
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numbers → work → game
And both are watching how Scottie and Kawhi do things, in person and in the film room.
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Scottie → watch → room
“(Kawhi’s) game is so sophisticated and he can do everything,” said Graves, who hopes to grow into a Barnes type of two-way player.
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who → do → player
“One of the practices I talked to him for a while about defence — like trying to figure out how far I need to stay off with the defender — and he’s telling me put your hand on the hip, take it off, you can’t keep your hand there (because) they’re gonna use it to draw fouls, things like that.
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they → talk → that
I’m trying to learn as much as I can, and I feel like the only way you do that is by asking questions.
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you → try → questions
And that’s the great thing about this group is the moment I ask a question, they’re more than willing to answer.”
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they → ’ → question
“(Kawhi) just knows so much about the game,” said Murray-Boyles.
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Boyles → know → game
“And I feel like he’s balanced in that sense of knowledge on both ends.
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he → feel → ends
Like, you’re going to learn something for sure.”
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you → go → something
He does make the point, though.
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He → make → point
You can’t watch Kawhi work on offence and just replicate that.
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Kawhi → watch → that
“I feel like with guys like him, you’re not going to like watch him and then be like: OK, now let me do that,” said Murray-Boyles.
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Boyles → feel → that
“It’s not going to be that instant.”
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It → go → ?
But Murray-Boyles and Graves both talk about how they want to emulate the way Barnes attacks the game at both ends, and Murray-Boyles singles out Kawhi’s work rate, even at age 35.
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Boyles → talk → age
“I don’t think we can fathom it because we’re not 10 years plus in the league; we don’t know how that feels,” said Murray-Boyles.
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Boyles → think → league
…and 7 more, not listed.
The Aporia
