Leonard will love Toronto, if he gets a moment
TORONTO — The knowledge that Toronto was a basketball city was part of what excited Kawhi Leonard about joining the Raptors.
He’ll get his first slice of life at the Scotiabank Arena on Friday when the Raptors face Melbourne United, from Australia’s National Basketball League, in their first home game of the preseason.
“Everybody says it’s a great energy and vibe,” said Leonard, who is from Los Angeles and played in San Antonio. “I’m just ready to live in the moment and see it for myself.”
He hasn’t had a lot of time to see much of Toronto for himself. The Raptors were whisked off to Vancouver in the hours following Leonard’s introductory news conference and spent about 10 days on the road, a trip that included two exhibition games — a win over Portland in B.C. and a loss to Utah in Salt Lake City.
The time was great for team chemistry and bonding, Leonard said, but it hasn’t given him a chance to figure out what his new home-away-from-home is all about. He has heard hockey is the big ticket in these parts, but has also heard basketball and baseball games have been known to sell out. And after getting used to the expectation of winning with the San Antonio Spurs, he knows it’s up to him to maintain the same mindset — go out and try to win basketball games — no matter the outside opinions.
“I don’t feel pressure from the fans,” he said. “It’s myself. It’s always up to the person and what they want do, what’s in their mind and what they want the season to be. I set my own expectations and try to reach my own goals.”
Leonard’s early pre-season performances have shown positive signs on at least one front — his health. Raptors coach Nick Nurse said the 27-year-old is “super healthy” and feels good while “working like heck” to get back into game shape. Nurse said Leonard “removed a big chunk” of rust — he played just nine regular-season games last year — between Toronto’s first and second pre-season games. The coach believes that trend will continue Friday night.
“I think we’ll see him just continue to make strides and get more comfortable,” Nurse said. “Just get more comfortable with the speed. That’s one thing about basketball, when you get away from it for a little bit, you get back there, things are happening fast out there and it takes a little time to catch up with that.”
In an effort to help Leonard get used to that pace, and to continue developing chemistry on defence, Thursday’s practice included more five-on-five work than drills.
“It certainly was good to get home here and practise,” Nurse said. “(We were) on-court about as long as we’ve gone in any one session, to be honest, and we needed it. There was a lot of teaching today and a lot of drill work and then we got to play, get up and down ... (we) keep putting the emphasis on doing things five on five.”
It is as important the players get used to each other during these pre-season practices as it is they learn the system, both offensively and defensively, Nurse said.
“It feels to me like that’s what’s kind of the biggest thing that’s missing ... just the little bit of familiarity with hearing the voice,” the coach said. “Just guys being able to anticipate how, when C.J. (Miles) and Kawhi are involved in something, they’ve got to get a little chemistry developed ... I’m looking forward to that … the more time we have here, it should develop.”