Miles knows he’ll be needed by Raptors come playoff time
TORONTO — There’s been a bout of the flu, a sore shoulder, a dental procedure that didn’t go as planned, a wonky knee, a bad meal that produced some ghastly gastroenteritis and the birth of his daughter, which was the best thing that happened to C.J. Miles in a Toronto Raptors season that can best be described as eventful.
But the past truly has been prelude because the contribution of the three-point shooting backup was always going to be most valued by what he could bring to the National Basketball Association playoffs.
As he shakes off his tumultuous first Toronto year, Miles knows that he was signed for what he can do from here on in.
“That’s what I keep thinking in my mind, knowing, ‘just be ready when you need to be ready,’ ” Miles said earlier this week. “I’m not saying I don’t care about what’s gone on, but just ‘be ready when you need to be ready.’
“I’m a worker, I’m always here, I always figure it out and I’ll figure it out again.”
Miles has missed a dozen games but he hasn’t had one serious injury that needed a few weeks to heal.
His longest absence was three games but that’s in some ways worse.
He’d miss a few, play a few, miss a few more, play, sit, play, sit and it’s been impossible to truly get into any kind of rhythm. He’s averaging 10.2 points per game but in 18.9 minutes per night, his lowest in the last 10 seasons. He’s shooting 37.4 per cent from three point range and taking 6.5 per game, the most of his career.
The various maladies make for a joking conversation when things are going well.
“I go to the arena, the gym and back,” he said.
“I put bubble-wrap on the way back to my car, and I call Scotty the trainer and tell him I made it home safely. I set cameras up so he can watch me from his house. It’s crazy. It’s been weird. The only way is up, and I’ve said that like three times now. But I’m still standing. I figured it out, been through stuff, I’ve figured it out during the season in stretches, and I’m trying to keep those stretches but there’s always kind of something that stops me.”
It was Miles, very early in the soon-to-be-completed season, who started boasting that the Raptors second unit was going to be the best in NBA.
That’s become true as they coalesced and taken over games, in large part because Miles kept hammering the point home and the group’s confidence grew.
“We worked out together from day one, after practice, getting shots together, things like that and it just created a rhythm,” he said. “And then it took a little bit of time confidence wise to believe in the group obviously because those guys hadn’t played … as many minutes or had the roles that they have.
“But once we got to it, saying we were best in the league wasn’t enough, we started believing it and I think that was the biggest thing. I think it changed everything because those guys believe in their skill sets,” Miles said.
“And it’s about opportunity and they got it so it’s been great,” he added.