BOUCHER HAPPY TO BE GOING HOME
Chris Boucher is headed home with a job to win but also something important to show his fellow Montrealers.
Boucher, who was born in Saint Lucia but raised in Montreal and a Canadian citizen, is vying to earn the second of two Raptors twoway contracts this pre-season. That allows a player to play for both the NBA club and the franchise’s G-League team. While that will be at the forefront of everything he does for the next week or so, the chance to inspire some of the younger basketball fans in his hometown tonight is right there with it.
“I feel like I can show a lot of people, a lot of kids, that it’s possible to make it,” the 6-foot-10 centre/power forward said Tuesday. “A lot of people have been following me and just didn’t have the chance to see me play a lot so I think that’s the one good thing about this trip is that
they’ll be able to see an NBA game and be able to see me, too.”
Boucher has been turning heads throughout camp.
“He surprises people every day,” CJ Miles said of the Canadian national team member. “I didn’t know him, but the first couple of days obviously I noticed he’s mobile for his size, he runs the floor, he blocks shots and then he starts making
threes ... He has a chip on his shoulder and he plays hard. That’s the biggest thing. He competes. You can see it in his face and in his demeanour when he turns the switch on. He has been great.”
Boucher, 6-foot-10 power forward Eric Moreland and 6-foot-7 forward Deng Adel are among the best bets to grab that final contract.