Joseph’s influence lives on in locker room

Former coach, teammates full of praise for Canadian guard now playing in Indianapolis

DeMar DeRozan says Cory Joseph is “the smoothest” guy to have come through the Raptors organization in the nine years DeRozan has been with the team, and that’s high praise because smooth is cool.

Fred Van Vleet said he couldn’t have a more helpful and professional mentor in his rookie season than Joseph. And Dwane Casey? Well, the coach doesn’t pull any punches. “Cory’s just a beautiful young man.” Joseph may be gone after two years with his hometown team but his influence remains and his DNA is still all over the franchise. The first hometown player to have a significant role with the Raptors and one of the quiet leaders on the roster through the best stretch in franchise history, Joseph led by quiet example, always professional and always aware of the responsibilities of being from here.

“You got that sense that this is his city,” DeRozan said. “This is his town, his country and everything. It was great to have him over here.

“The energy he brought, his vibe and everything, was always a positive. You rarely saw Cory being upset or mad about anything. When you have that kind of aura around you, it’s contagious on the court and off the court.”

Joseph is gone now, dealt last July to make room for the Raptors to sign C.J. Miles. He is backing up Darren Collison with the Indiana Pacers, who visit the Air Canada Centre on Friday night.

But he’s not forgotten and fans only have to look at the player filling his role to understand that. Van Vleet was a fourth-stringer at the start of last season, a D-Leaguer behind Kyle Lowry, Joseph and Delon Wright. But Joseph was apparently always willing to help, showing the professionalism he was lauded for from the day the Raptors signed him as a free agent in 2015.

“For a guy in his position, with me and Delon kind of on his heels a little bit, he never had a bad attitude about it,” Van Vleet said. “He was helping us along the way, which was really rare to find a guy in that position, to help the young guys that were kind of coming for his spot. He was still helping us.”

Casey, who had near constant praise for the 26-year-old, said Joseph had a championship pedigree from his time with the San Antonio Spurs. Passing that on to young players, more in deeds than words, was a key part of his contributions.

“That’s something I always drew from because I knew he had been through the wars,” Casey said. “He’d been through pressure, he’d been through tough situations and that’s something I always respected about Cory.

“That’s something we miss. Our young guys are getting it now, the hard way, they’re learning, going through the fire, making mistakes, going through it with the same type of passion.” They learned from Cory. “I thought Cory did a good job of teaching Fred and Delon, and them emulating him.”

Van Vleet will almost certainly end up guarding Joseph at some point in Friday’s game, trying to take the lessons he learned from Joseph and apply them against him.

“He was great for me and he was just talking me through it, talking to me during the game, at the game, telling me to keep going,” the Raptors guard said. “Our relationship was great in that sense. He was a big part of my growth last year.”