National Post (National Edition)
New guy settling in just fine, thanks
Centre learning Raps' system on the job
Bad enough being the new guy, but try being the new guy during a pandemic that has forced your new team to uproot its operations and move to Florida.
Then to add to that burden, try being the main solution to your new team's greatest challenge of the upcoming season.
Welcome to centre Aron Baynes current existence.
Oh and there's a newborn at home, arrived just in time to make sure whatever sleep you were getting — if you were able to sleep at all thinking about all those burdens — was cut into, as well.
Fortunately for the Raptors, Baynes has the kind of happy, can-do disposition that isn't about to crumble.
So it was an affable, smiling Baynes who greeted those who cover the team on a Zoom call Monday ready and willing to discuss his status.
On the topic of being the primary answer to how the Raptors fill those minutes left vacant by the departures of Serge Ibaka and Marc Gasol, Baynes takes a very level-headed approach.
“I haven't played with Kyle Lowry and Fred VanVleet before,” Baynes began. “So they're going to give me different looks. I haven't had a guy opposite me in Pascal (Siakam) before. He will give me other looks, as well.
“It's just trying to find a way to come in and complement what they do. They've been the constants of the program over the last couple of years. I've got to be able to come in and assimilate and help them come in at a high level and also go out and allow them to create some opportunity for me as well.”
VanVleet, as one of those guys Baynes is working to find a fit with, has been encouraged by the progress to date, but ever the realist, says there's still a ways to go.
“That stuff, it doesn't take too long to get familiar, but I think to get it where we need to be, it's going to take some time, it's going to take some games, you know, game speed, game reps, game officials,” VanVleet said. “That's (going to) be a process that's going throughout the year. But I think for the meantime, that's what most of the bigs I've played with, felt like I've known them before, played with them before, just because I've been watching him and playing against him for the last four years. So I'm pretty comfortable with him, we just got to keep repping out and finding spots.”
VanVleet knows as well as anybody the huge shoes Baynes is being asked to fill.
“Serge and Marc were very big pieces of what we did over the last few years, certainly big parts of the championship team and last year even more,” VanVleet said. “Those two guys were such a huge piece of what we did, and I don't think that we have to necessarily replace them, but I think just the dynamic will be different and the way we play might look a little different.
“We haven't changed our expectations at all. We feel just as good about this team as we felt last year, it's just going to look different. The journey's going to be different, there are going to be different bumps and bruises along the way, and we understand that. Just taking a look at the bigger picture and understanding what our end goal is, and knowing there'll be times when it won't feel so smooth and we won't be on autopilot as much, maybe, is the right word I'm looking for, as we were the last two years.”
Of course, Baynes won't be the only one eating up those Ibaka/Gasol minutes.
Montreal's Chris Boucher is by all accounts next in the pecking order for those minutes and after him, there's still the option of an Alex Len or a smaller lineup with perhaps OG Anunoby in the middle.
But Baynes is pencilled in to log the bulk of those minutes and as assistant coach Sergio Scariolo said Monday, it's not going to happen overnight.
Scariolo, VanVleet and the Raptors knew when Baynes signed, they were getting one of he best screen-setting bigs in the NBA.
That skill travels and requires almost zero time to adjust. It was in plain sight right from his first pre-season game in a Raptors uniform.
“I can tell you right away that Aron is a great, great screener,” Scariolo said. “And I know that we keep track of that (stat) and the NBA keeps track of screen assists as they call it, but overall we know that our plays work better when our perimeter guys go through one of these screens because (Aron) is really strong. He's solid. He knows the angles, he knows how to set good screens without committing many offensive fouls.”
And as VanVleet pointed out, there are times where Baynes can be effective without even physically setting a screen. Even the knowledge that he's on the floor can be enough.
“He's a monster out there,”
FUN TO PLAY ALONGSIDE THEM AND BRING OUT SOMETHING TO ADD TO THEIR GAMES.
VanVleet said. “I tell people, the biggest thing is, I know from playing against him, it's not the ones he hits you with, it's the ones now you're looking for him. It only takes him one time to hit you before you start looking around to see where he's at. That makes all the difference, as well, when guys know they got to go around him one way or the other.”
For the record, Baynes didn't make his current plight sound half as burdensome as we've just outlined. In fact, he seems tickled just to have the opportunity he does.
“I played against these guys a fair number of games and I understand what they can do,” Baynes said. “I know the scouting on them. Now it's fun to play alongside them and bring out something to add to their games. At the same time, they know what I'm capable of doing. It's trying to mesh that all together. It's pretty good when you have a leader in Kyle (Lowry) and a coach like Nick (Nurse).
“You know they're exceptionally smart in the game of basketball and they'll work out pretty quickly the best way to get everyone into their comfort zone.”