Rested Kawhi helps Raptors, veterans agree
‘We’re playing for April, May and June’
The Raptors are trying to strike a delicate balance when it comes to the long-term health of superstar forward Kawhi Leonard.
The fate of Toronto’s entire season rests on Leonard being as close to 100 per cent as possible by the time the playoffs roll around. Leonard battled a serious injury during his final season in San Antonio, suiting up for only nine contests. That’s why he’s missed a quarter of Toronto’s first 48 games, including the past two and at least half of every back-to-back set so far.
“Put money in the bank, especially for the future,” was how Leonard’s longtime teammate Danny Green described the strategy of resting players on certain nights, a San Antonio Spurs organizational staple.
“We’re playing for April, May and June, we’re not playing for right now. He’s getting older. He’s getting old so, you know, you got to take a couple days here and there,” said a smiling Green.
While it’s tough to build on-court chemistry with Leonard and fellow all-star Kyle Lowry, in particular, spending a huge portion of this season not playing on the same night (they’ve only both played in 25 games so far), Leonard’s teammates, especially some of the most experienced like Green and C.J. Miles, appear to fully support the process.
“I think the amount that he does in the game, night after night, and the amount that he works, I think that load has to be watched,” Miles, a 14-year-veteran, said after practice on Monday.
“I think having another teammate (Paul George while both were with the Indiana Pacers) that went through an injury that kept him out for a year, knowing what it’s like coming back from something and you’re trying to be yourself and get back to dominating the game the way you do, as he’s done this year, I believe just as you’re climbing back because I don’t think you want any setbacks,” Miles said.
“I think he’s extremely important to our team, as does everybody else, so, whatever he needs to do to continue to progress, we’re behind him 100 per cent.”
Miles said the break from the mental grind can be just as crucial for a player of Leonard’s ilk.
“You think about a guy like Kawhi who in every facet of the game has so much on his mind, what he’s playing through and the double teams and guarding the best guy, coming down the stretch and trying to make plays for everybody, I think that helps him a lot … I think the mental side of it is definitely not talked about enough as far as the rest,” Miles said.
Leonard was absent from Monday’s practice due to a “scheduled maintenance checkup” at the doctor but is expected to return to the lineup for Tuesday’s home game against Sacramento.
OG Anunoby, who has been away for the past three games to tend to a personal issue, was en route back, according to head coach Nick Nurse, and is a possibility to either face the Kings, or the Pacers in Indianapolis, which is close to where he played collegiately for the Indiana Hoosiers.
NEW TO HOCKEY
Green hails from Long Island, but he’s never been to a New York Islanders game.
He never checked out the Carolina Hurricanes in Raleigh, N.C., while playing college hoops for the Tar Heels either, so Sunday’s Maple Leafs-arizona Coyotes game was his first in-person experience.
Though the home side fell, Green, who wears No. 14 for the Raptors and watched the hockey game in a No. 14 Leafs jersey, had a great time.
“It was very exciting, interesting. First time seeing it live, how fast everything’s moving,” Green said.
Many Leafs players have taken in Raptors games, so Green was happy to return the favour and see something new up close.
“I think most sports people that are sports fans are big fans of what they don’t do. Because we’re good at something we want to know how somebody can becomes so good at something else and we wish we were that good at that, too,” he said.
“It’s kind of like when you’re a basketball player you want to be a rapper or a singer or when you’re a singer/rapper, you want to be an athlete. When you’re a football player, you kind of want to learn how to play baseball. Everybody respects each other’s craft and kind of want to be well rounded, add more things to their repertoire.”
Green said a member of the Leafs will be joining him on his popular Inside the Green Room podcast soon.