Davis’ football mentality physical boon to Raptors
From fringe bench guy to rotation player
Terence Davis II hunts rebounds like a homeless dog going after table scraps in a back alley.
Trust me, that’s a compliment.
Doesn’t matter the size of the opponent with designs on those same scraps or rebound, he’s coming away with it.
It’s a football mentality brought to the basketball court and while Davis isn’t the first NBA player to own such a mentality or even only member of the Raptors to possess such a mindset, it does help explain his rapid ascent from fringe bench guy to rotation player.
It’s part physicality, part confidence, part just full-out fearlessness and it’s been working to Davis’ advantage since he left the football field behind and put all his eggs, so to speak, in his basketball basket.
Davis was a highly sought out wide receiver, not to mention special teams demon, coming out of high school.
More than 20 big- time college football programs came calling with scholarships. Davis took a pass on all of them. Instead, he sifted through the five basketball offers he had and settled on
Ole Miss. It wasn’t a popular decision among his friends and fellow football fanatics, but then, Davis didn’t look upon his decision as a group decision.
As good as he was, probably still is, at football, basketball was his first love and he was determined to make a career of it.
Fred Vanvleet, who played some football himself growing up in hardscrabble Rockford, Ill., said he always can pick out the football player on the court.
“It’s just a physicality,” Vanvleet said. “It’s nothing crazy like, but the fear of somebody hitting your chest or getting hit in the ribs, the fear of that is a lot worse than the actual hit you take and you don’t really learn that unless you play football or you’re just a rough basketball player,” Vanvleet said. “So you can see the guys that go up there for rebounds with two hands, that are not afraid to dive for the ball or not afraid to throw his body around. He’s been hit before, like hard, for real, playing football. On the basketball court it’s not that bad. You can always tell the guys that have been through that.”
Davis has receivers hands that measure 10.75 inches from the tip of his pinky to the tip of his thumb, but those come in handy on a basketball court, too.
“I caught whatever (was thrown my way),” said Davis, spreading his hands out for full effect as he talks about his football days.
Davis still watches football. He keeps up with his Ole Miss alum in the NFL now — guys like DK Metcalf in Seattle and Evan Engram in New York with the Giants. He crossed paths with Raiders safety Johnathan Abram, who he played against growing up, when the Raptors were in Dallas last weekend. Abram is one of the guys who couldn’t understand why Davis would go the basketball route when the football route seemed like such a sure thing for him.
“The guys I grew up playing football against were all ‘ Man, why didn’t you play football? You are unstoppable,’” Davis said. “Good football guys, guys in the ( NFL) right now and some of them still ask me why I didn’t choose football.”
But basketball was always Davis’ No. 1 and with the support of his mother and father he stayed true to his No. 1 sports love and he’s doing just fine.
The naysayers have just given him more motivation to follow his first choice.
“I would just say that the doubters and people like that, it really motivates guys like me, like Fred ( Vanvleet) — they motivate guys like me to prove them wrong, honestly,” Davis said. “When I committed to college, when I was in high school, I chose basketball. I wanted to prove everyone who thought that I chose the wrong sport wrong. So far I’ve been doing that, my whole career playing basketball. I’m still out to continue to do it.”
Now, the run Davis is on right now is a bit circumstantial. He’s getting these minutes because of injury and those injuries are healing. Serge Ibaka will make the trip to Atlanta this weekend, although it’s unlikely he’ll play. Kyle Lowry isn’t ready to return quite yet, but the team has pencilled in Dec. 1 as a likely return date.
Even Patrick Mccaw, who had surgery on his knee, already is pain- free and moving freely and that’s just two weeks post surgery.
Davis’ minutes, which have ranged from 16 all the way up to 31 the past seven games, eventually will take a hit.
But the experience and the confidence he’s gaining right now should serve him well once that time comes. And when the Raptors need him again, they’ll know they have an athletic, fearless, hard- working rookie ready to lap those minutes up again when the time comes.
I committed to college ... I chose bas ketba ll.