The art of acting normal in the NBA

During another snow day, I was watching a Netflix movie — The Bill Murray Stories — which documented the various occasions when he made random appearances at parties, wedding pictures and bars. The whole point was that he would show up with no entourage and act like a normal, humble but fun human rather than a big star. This led me to wonder if you have stories or examples of basketball players who might have the habit of acting like a non-celebrity, mixing with the public. Perhaps Matt Bonner is an easy example with the stories of him riding the subway. — Bill W. I’m sure these two are oftmentioned and well remembered here, but Amir Johnson would show up at things entirely unannounced and blend right it — as much as a six-footnine Raptor could blend in — and I can’t imagine the number of times Patrick Patterson would just go to a movie theatre, buy a ticket and be like the next guy sitting down the row. Bonner, though, would be the local gold standard. We all know about Vlad Guerrero Jr.’s potential, particularly as a hitter. However, the huge elephant-in-the-room question when talking about him is his unique body type … Since you’ve mentioned it a time or two here, do you think there should be any concerns about his weight, especially as his career progresses and he gets older? — Dr. Justin “Unique body type” is well put. He’s a lad of some substance, isn’t he? I don’t know if there are internal concerns, but I imagine there are and should be. Now, baseball players don’t have to be lithe or cut or anything like that, and a guy like Prince Fielder sure carved out a good career at a bulky size. And they didn’t call him Big John Mayberry for his hat size. That said, young athletes don’t tend to shrink as they get older. You’d want a guy who can go first to third or second to home regularly and with ease. You also want a guy who has the quickness for 10-foot range to his left at third. What should the discerning observer watch for over the rest of the regular season as this Raptors group, suddenly awash in hungry veterans who’ll never have a better chance to win an ultimate prize, prepares for the playoffs? Where do you think the team should concentrate their efforts? — James A. It’s got to be about defence, right? They’ve shown already that there’s an offensive synergy developing that’s something to behold for stretches each night. Now you have to watch and see if they can get the same thing defensively. When you agreed that Kyle Lowry might be traded in the off-season it got me thinking. The Raptors next year will be paying Marc Gasol and Serge Ibaka roughly $49 million to play centre. To me, that is unsustainable considering they will have other needs, especially at the SG spot. Wouldn’t it be likely that one of them has to be moved regardless of what happens with Lowry? — Stan No, not necessarily at all. That might seem like a large chunk of money, but in the grand scheme of things it’s not. And it’s not like they can deal one of them and not take the same amount of money back. Plus, it’s only for one year. Read more on Doug Smith’s Sports Blog at thestar.com. And if you have a sports question, drop Doug a line at

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