Bruce Arthur
Teammates hope Leonard sticks around for parade after-party — if not, no hard feelings
Raptors ready for a party. But after that, all eyes will be on Kawhi,
They were all so happy, even while describing the mixed emotions that came with a championship. Marc Gasol described the other part of his emotions as being almost mad, but that wasn’t quite it. Fred VanVleet called it something else; he said that amid the sea of joy there was a strange and uncomfortable truncation of what you need to push you this hard, this high. Maybe that was it.
“It’s weird because we always need something to chase, we need something to aspire to, to be better, and so it’s hard to be content,” said VanVleet, the zipper under his right eye healing, that missing front tooth still gone. “It’s hard to, like — I kept looking around like, all right, what do we do now? What’s next?” The Toronto Raptors won the NBA championship on Thursday night in Oakland, and by Sunday most of them were back in Toronto after a party in Vegas, and for the hardiest — Kawhi Leonard, Kyle Lowry and Serge Ibaka, at least — another one Saturday in Los Angeles. Those who were back tried to describe the joy, but you could practically see it in them, hidden behind fatigue and perhaps dehydration, glowing.
As for what’s next, it’s simple. Monday will be the parade, and a staggering flowering of collective joy. And after that, it’s the biggest free agent in the world. It’s Kawhi.
“Kawhi impacts the team and the franchise in so many different ways that I’m sure it’ll have something to do with it,” said Gasol, when asked if he would opt into the final year of his contract and stay in Toronto after being traded here at the deadline. “Because I don’t think there’s many players of — let me say that again. I don’t think there’s any other player of his calibre right now in the NBA. I think he’s on a pedestal by himself. Age-wise, his game, his leadership, the way he carries himself. I haven’t been around all of them, but I’ll tell you he’s one of a kind.” “I’d be foolish (to not say) it doesn’t impact a lot of guys’ decisions,” said guard Danny Green, who like Kawhi is a free agent. “Because he can change a whole organization. He can change a whole team. He can change a lot of guys’ careers, or make a lot of guys’ careers easier. So that decision weighs
I was listening to Danny Green’s podcast and he alluded to the fact that players that were traded at the deadline are still entitled to a ring. Can you give us the scoop? Who gets rings for the NBA Finals? — Barbara Sure. Players who played for the team during the season will get rings and share in a prorated portion of the financial playoff bonus as well. You had a super-great article relating to The Claw’s reaction to Kevin Durant’s injury. (Kawhi Leonard’s comments came from) a caring individual who happens to be one of the best basketball players around. Reading Andre Iguodala’s comment as well as Leonard’s makes me think that basketball players have more pure love of the game than most other sports. — Bob It was really interesting and telling to be closely watching the players and their interactions with the media for those few weeks, and how well most of them did. And yeah, it’s been my history that these guys truly love what they do for the most pure of reasons — at least the good ones do. I know there are, and have been, players who enjoy the trappings of NBA life but might not like the work needed to maintain it or the game itself. The championship-level guys are different. I have watched the Raptors all season long and often check the L2M Report, after I learned such a thing existed. My question: To what avail? Yes, we know for sure that Marc Gasol was fouled (in Game 5 of the Finals — anyone could see that) and deserved a trip to the line which very well could have altered the eventual outcome, but just stating that it was missed doesn’t change anything. Why have the L2M? — P. Helcl The reason the Last 2 Minutes report exists is a good idea in itself — to show a transparency and a willingness to admit mistakes — but I think the execution is flawed because calls made or not made earlier in games might have as great an impact as late ones. And yeah, it is part and parcel of the referee-evaluation process that takes in every minute of every game and every call. Referees are graded and either get or lose assignments — like the playoffs, which are a bonus — based on those grades. Masai Ujiri has finally built the Raptors into a championship contender. I assume he wants it to stay a contender in the future. How can he re-sign the core of the team (Kawhi Leonard, Kyle Lowry, Danny Green, Pascal Siakam, Fred VanVleet, Gasol/Ibaka)? How can Ujiri persuade ownership to open the vault to keep these players happy and have many more winning seasons like 2019? — Kevin C. He won’t have to re-sign them all because Lowry, Siakam, VanVleet and Ibaka are under contract. Gasol will come back, if he wants to, for a final year on his deal, and it will be up to Leonard if he wants to return. Green is a free agent and that will be a decision Masai will have to make. But as we’ve seen this year, when the Raptors had a top-five payroll and were well into the luxury tax, money is not an issue to ownership and not an issue under cap rules, which allow a team to sign its own free agents with no regard to the cap. Read more on Doug Smith’s Sports Blog at thestar.com. And if you have a question (on any sport, really) drop Doug a line at askdoug@thestar.ca. We reserve the right to edit for clarity and punctuation.