DeRozan, Lowry still absent from Raptors’ fold, Ibaka arrives
Return of Toronto All-Stars delayed by circumstances
TORONTO — The past couple of days have been a crash course in everything Toronto Raptors for newcomer Serge Ibaka.
On the eve of his Raptors debut, however, the athletic power forward had yet to take the floor with two of his key teammates — DeMar DeRozan and Kyle Lowry.
While the Raptors returned to Toronto after their eight-day all-star break, DeRozan was delayed by a funeral, while Lowry had travel issues, and neither made it back to Toronto for practice on Wednesday and Thursday.
“Both guys had unfortunate situations,” coach Dwane Casey said. “It was disappointing we couldn’t have our whole group together, but stuff happens. They communicated with us and let us know. We still had a great practice, enthusiastic, getting stuff done. I liked the feel of our practice today.”
Raptors president Masai Ujiri acquired Ibaka last week in the trade that sent Terrence Ross to Orlando, and Ibaka was in town for barely a day before the team dispersed for the break. Casey sent Ibaka away well-armed though, presenting him with a laptop complete with video of all the Raptors’ plays to study during the break.
He’ll debut tonight when the Raptors (33-24) host Eastern Conference rival Boston (37-20).
Ujiri made a last-minute move at the trade deadline Thursday, acquiring P.J. Tucker in a deal with the Phoenix Suns for Jared Sullinger and two second-round draft picks.
Casey was pleased with his team’s two practices with Ibaka, calling them “spirited.”
“A lot of defensive work, terminology offensively. He is a refreshing addition to our team,” Casey said of the seven-year NBA veteran. “He’s a bright man, he picks up things very quickly on both ends of the floor. He’s been through the wars, seven years, he’s been to the NBA finals. He knows the game. “It’s not like we’re putting a young guy in there and just hoping he picks it up. Is he going to make mistakes? Yes. But as long as they’re hard mistakes, I can handle that.”
Casey credited power forward Patrick Patterson with taking Ibaka under his proverbial wing.
“With Serge, it’s all about plays pretty much, and play calls,” Patterson said. “He’s a tremendous athlete, he’s very smart, IQ, he’s played with the best in the league, he’s been in crunch-time situations, so he knows the game through and through.”
Patterson, who’s missed the last six games with a nagging knee injury, said he’s confident he’ll play tonight.
“I’ve never had a knee injury before in my life. It sucked,” Patterson said.
What also sucked was watching the clock tick down on the NBA trade deadline, which came and went at 3 p.m. ET on Thursday.
“How much time we got left? About an hour?” Patterson asked after Thursday’s practice. “Yeah, so it’s soon . . . everyone is looking at their phones, and just counting the clock down as we progressively go towards the end, but once the time hits everything will be a lot better, everyone will be good.”
Patterson later tweeted a sad face, in response to Sullinger’s trade.