VanVleet, OG join Siakam on sideline
Wednesday’s game with the Pistons will go ahead despite depleted roster
These have been difficult and unprecedented times for the Raptors, who must now regroup physically and mentally carry on with their jobs.
A pared down team, minus five players and at least six coaches, must try to put aside the traumatic few days of positive COVID-19 tests, isolation and quarantine and finish the first half of the NBA regular season with games on consecutive nights.
They have met via video and practised once as a group, trying to manage their feelings and their bodies by relying on each other.
“Some of it’s really as basic as just seeing everyone’s face and having some laughs and doing that,” general manager Bobby Webster said of the way the team dealt with coronavirus issues that hit them hard beginning last Friday.
“Nothing super complicated, nothing super psychological, just actually being there for people and having them know, whether they’re in quarantine or they’re not in quarantine, that they’re still part of the team.”
It will be an unfamiliar group that takes to the court in Tampa, Fla., on Wednesday to face the Detroit Pistons.
Fred VanVleet, Pascal Siakam, OG Anunoby, Patrick McCaw and Malachi Flynn have been ruled out because of the NBA’s health and safety protocols and coach Nick Nurse and at least five of his assistants will also miss at least Wednesday’s game.
Citing privacy issues, neither the league nor the team has indicated which, if any, of the personnel have tested positive or who is involved in contact tracing protocols.
Webster said he didn’t expect any of the players who will miss Wednesday to be able to play Thursday in Boston.
But for the ones who will play, dealing with the emotions of the past few days will be as important as dealing with whatever basketball responsibilities
they will have.
“Before practice we were always wondering how our buddies were doing … at home, and everybody is in touch with almost everybody,” said Sergio Scariolo, who will once again act as the head coach. “We knew that they were doing pretty well and, at this point, the ones that are left have to focus on the basketball task and leave everything that happened out of our gym.”
The ranks of players under the league’s health and safety protocols grew hugely after Friday’s win, which only Siakam was forced to miss. The Raptors had more contact tracing issues develop Saturday and through the weekend that forced the postponement of a game scheduled for Sunday and the oneday delay in the Detroit game.
“To get to here and to be able to practise, obviously, we had to clear a number of hurdles,” Webster said. “So for today, everyone had to undergo daily testing twice.
“Obviously, everybody’s in PPE and socially distant and all of that but … we’ve had multiple days here with no new cases. I think that’s really important. That’s something the NBA stressed to us that would allow us to at least get back on the court as a team.”
The ultimate decision to play Wednesday rested with the NBA, after consultation with the Raptors and Toronto’s medical staff.
“They’ve probably been through a number of protocols and COVID situations, so they’re able to give us some insight and say, ‘Hey, this is what’s happened in the past,’ or, ‘We don’t think the player or staff is infectious at this point in time.’ So they actually inform us more,” Webster said. “I think we’re here obviously to give them on the ground, you know, there’s a ton of obviously emotional and moral support that we’re giving our staff and our players. But a lot of it comes from the NBA.”