Biyombo, Scola eager to fit in with Raptors

Two players with different pasts, but similar goals

BURNABY, B.C. • At the back end of the gym of the Fortius Sport & Health facility, Bismack Biyombo chugs a can of coconut water, smiling broadly afterward. None of this is abnormal: Biyombo eschewed sports drinks two years ago, trying to cut down on the sugar in his diet. And he is perpetually grinning, one of the most outwardly happy players in the league.

This smile is a bit different than most of them, though. Biyombo is listening to questions about his first four years in the NBA, all of which came with Charlotte. He went from a lottery pick in 2011 to an organizational afterthought. He came into the league as a curiosity thanks to his limited track record and bubbly personality, and was virtually forgotten as a bit player on a fairly anonymous team.

That smile, in this case, is Biyombo, a new Toronto Raptor, debating how much of his disappointing experience he wants to share, and what he wants conceal.

“I’ve gone from one coach to another one and this and that,” said Biyombo of Paul Silas, Mike Dunlap and Steve Clifford. “Those are not excuses. But I think over the past four years, I was able to learn a lot of things within those ups and downs. And that’s helped me to grow as a player, and more than anything as a person. Being here lets me show the other side of me.

“Honestly, I could sit here and tell you a lot of things about this and that. It’s like I said before: I feel like I’m in the perfect situation at the right time.”

Contrast that with Luis Scola, another first-year Raptor. Unlike Biyombo, he has had an unimpeachable career. He is an international basketball legend, who recently qualified for his fourth Olympics. He has won the most valuable player award at the FIBA Americas Championship four times. He is not quite as accomplished in the NBA — he did not come to the league until he was 27 — but he was

It’s a little different when you play on a new team

a productive starter earlier in his career, and has become a useful reserve, still capable of propping up a second unit’s offence.

He should be totally secure in his place in the league. And yet, he spoke Friday of putting pressure on himself with a new team.

“If this would be my team for the last 10 years, maybe I’m thinking just get ready for the season, just get in shape,” Scola said. “It’s a little bit different when you play on a new team, you want to do a little bit more.

“It gives you also enthusiasm, it gives you a little extra energy and it could be a good thing, too.”

Scola and Biyombo will likely compose the Raptors’ front court in the second unit, and they are an odd pairing. Biyombo is the elite shotblocker who is criticized for not being able to do much else than protect the rim.

Scola is one of the most polished post scorers in the world, and a gifted passer, but is not quick enough to defend aggressively in a shrinking NBA.

Still, they have that commonality of trying to fit in with a new team, adapting to very specific roles that they are familiar with.

“His protecting the rim is off the charts,” Raptors coach Dwane Casey said of Biyombo. “I told him that we had Tyson Chandler in Dallas. We probably ran one play for him, the first play of the game for him, and that’s it. If you can master and be the MVP in that role, you’ll be a huge benefit to our program. You don’t have to expand your game.”

“I’ve been playing a certain way for many years, between those lines I will do what I do other years,” Scola added of himself. “I’m not going to change too much, hopefully not for the worse, most likely not for the better, either.”

One is trying to prove that he is more than he has been thus far in the league, while the other is trying to show he can still be the player that fans remember. Biyombo and Scola are more alike than you might think, though.