LEONARD SHOWING LEADERSHIP IN RAPTORS’ HUDDLE
Star forward known to be on quiet side, but fellow ex-Spur Green says he’s opening up
Kawhi Leonard appears to be settling in nicely with the Toronto Raptors.
Known as the NBA’s quiet assassin, Leonard has always just gone about his work in a low-key fashion, but longtime teammate Danny Green has noticed a difference since both arrived in Toronto.
“He’s definitely more vocal than he’s ever been, on and off the court. It looks like he feels comfortable. It looks like he feels at home,” Green said after the two former San Antonio Spurs were the last two Raptors on the court after practice on Monday.
“He’s talking to guys, he’s leading by example. In the huddles he’s chiming in, saying what he feels, saying his opinion. Before he didn’t really show or tell his opinion much ... He’s leading vocally more than ever before.”
Green said part of the change likely stems from Leonard now being a veteran many of the young Raptors respect. Tim Duncan, Manu Ginobili and Tony Parker were the vocal leaders in San Antonio for over a decade, while Leonard was the younger guy.
But it’s more than that, Green said. Leonard simply appears to have taken to his new surroundings and opportunity.
Raptors head coach Nick Nurse first brought up Leonard’s leadership after the team’s open scrimmage Sunday.
“He’s been excellent. He’s a super hard worker, very intelligent and a tremendous leader. Obviously I didn’t know a lot of those things,” Nurse said. “I just saw him on the court and watched him play. But he’s a really good teammate as well, which is really exciting for all of us.
“I won’t get into specifics, but he’s gone to certain players and pulled them into the group a little bit. He’s shared some of his knowledge. He’s shared some of his workout times. He likes to work out on his own, but every now and then he’ll bring in a guy and say, ‘Come with me to my workout time so we can work together.’ Just little things like that,” Nurse said.
STATUS REPORT
OG Anunoby returned to the team after being away to attend to a family matter.
Nurse said he sees Anunoby, a second-year forward, and Leonard as being virtually interchangeable at the small forward and power forward spots this season.
Norman Powell was held out again with a minor injury for precautionary reasons.
Nurse and his staff are still deciding on what the starting group might look like for the opener against Cleveland, but it seems he intends to alternate — aside from Leonard, Kyle Lowry and perhaps Green — depending on matchups.
“I don’t think there’s going to be much of a set (rotation) to start, especially,” Nurse said. “I think there will be some different starting lineups, which therefore means there will be some different second units. We’ll roll from there.”
Fred VanVleet likes the way the staff has shuffled the lineups in scrimmages.
“I think it makes you ready for kind of anything and for them, for the staff, they get to see what works, what (doesn’t) work,” VanVleet said.
“For us, we get to mix and match with each other and maybe it takes a little bit of the pressure off who is starting, who is not starting. It kind of takes that out of the equation and we just say, all right, this is the best five for this game or this week, or this five is really rolling and you roll with it. We have so many pieces this year that there (are) probably 10 different starting lineups that we could have for any given matchup.”
AROUND THE RIM
The move was expected, the timing was not: Phoenix fired general manager Ryan McDonough on Monday, a little more than a week before the start of the regular season. McDonough’s status had long been considered tenuous, as the team went from having Goran Dragic, Isaiah Thomas and Eric Bledsoe on the roster to not having even one viable starting point guard. His draft record has been spotty, but it was odd to see Suns owner Robert Sarver make the move now … The Spurs got some bad news when it was learned point guard Dejounte Murray tore his ACL and will likely miss the season. The 22-year-old made the all-defensive second team last season and was seen as the team’s best up-and-coming youngster. With little depth at the position, ex-Raptor DeMar DeRozan might have to run the offence as he did at times in Toronto … VanVleet on facing two other teams this week instead of his teammates: “We’ve beat up on each other enough. Think I’ve taken enough illegal screens from Serge (Ibaka) in the last week or so to last me all season, so, I’m looking forward to getting out there and (seeing) another team.”