Biyombo gone, but the Toronto ‘Magic’ remains

Big man remains close with Raptors

ORLANDO • Bismack Biyombo hasn’t been a member of the Toronto Raptors for almost six months. That’s only a little less than half the time he was actually wearing Raptors colours, but a lot of strong relationships were built in that one season.

Winning will do that in the NBA. And Biyombo was a big part of the Raptors’ run to the Eastern Conference Finals a year ago.

The bonds remain strong almost half a year after he signed a four-year deal worth US$17-million a season with the Orlando Magic that the Raptors had no feasible way of matching, not without giving up tons of depth and plenty of manoeuvrability.

After the Raptors arrived in Orlando Saturday night for the first visit this year between the two teams, Biyombo was over at the Toronto team hotel checking in with his old teammates and snapping a photo, which he posted on Instagram, of himself with Kyle Lowry and DeMar DeRozan.

“One love, family! Great to see the little man @ kyle_lowry7 and straight outta compton @demar_ derozan ....... #Brotherhood #lmthepresident,” read the accompanying post.

And the love and response for Bismack from the Toronto fan base remains strong.

“The love that I’ve got from the people in Toronto, that I continue to get in Toronto, is beyond my expectations. I’m not going to lie to you,” he said after interrupting his pre-game work to speak with the Toronto media.

“I will post something and most of the time you expect somebody to say something really, really not nice. But out of my comments, you’re not going to find one that’s bad and if anybody says anything that’s bad, the fans will get back to him. It’s crazy.”

Biyombo’s pre-game got interrupted a lot Sunday at the Amway Centre. If it wasn’t visiting media, it was former teammates and coaches, all jumping in for a quick hug or hello.

In Orlando he is already building those same relationships. He began the year coming off the bench for 15 games before joining the starting five 12 games ago.

He’s scoring about the same as he did in Toronto — six, seven points a game — but that’s not where he makes his money. It’s providing the tough defence and the rim protection that makes everyone around him more successful.

“He’s been everything that we thought we were getting,” Magic head coach Frank Vogel said recently. “He’s a tough-minded dude. He enhances the toughness of the group. (He’s) a good leader, a high-character guy and a big part of what we’re doing.”

Biyombo clearly wasn’t turning down the money Orlando offered but there seems to be a little bit of regret regarding his departure from Toronto.

“I mean, I expected a phone call, but it’s a long story man,” Biyombo says almost apologetically. “There were a lot of things that happened behind closed doors that I don’t wish people to know. Could things have been handled better? Absolutely, yes.”

But it doesn’t seem to have burned any bridges should a return down the road be a possibility.

“Who knows in the future?” he said. “Toronto is a place that I turned out to really love and it became my second home other than where I grew up. The relationships I was able to build not just with the organization but with the fans and the teammates there — that made it special for me.”