Montreal's Boucher will have to earn minutes with Raptors
He is without question one of the feel-good stories in professional sports, let alone the NBA.
Only a few years ago Chris Boucher was washing dishes at a St-Hubert restaurant in Montreal for $10 an hour. Last month he signed a two-year deal with the Toronto Raptors for $13.5 million, which basically amounts to a 300 per cent increase in salary this season over last.
But along with that salary increase come expectations and Boucher is feeling every one of those right now.
Having just come through three pre-season games, Boucher has experienced both the ups and downs of a player with a new salary and a new role.
Meeting those expectations isn't just something he wants to do, it's something he needs to do if the Raptors are to maximize their potential.
The free-agency departures of both Serge Ibaka and Marc Gasol open up about 75 per cent of the available minutes at centre this season.
Free agent Aron Baynes will carry the brunt of that load, but it's Boucher who head coach Nick Nurse is hoping to turn that backup role behind Baynes over to.
He's got about 13.5 million reasons to go in that direction, but Boucher isn't the only option there.
Nurse could still turn his focus to Alex Len, a former fifth-overall pick who has never quite lived up to that selection. The hope is the developmental geniuses in Toronto will unlock that.
But Nurse sounds very set for now on exploring Boucher's fit in that No. 2 centre role behind starter Baynes in much the way he is looking to give Matt Thomas devoted minutes coming off the bench behind the starting guards.
Earlier this week as team leader Kyle Lowry addressed the coming season for the first time, he singled out Boucher as a player on the Raptors who would “have to step up.”
Following the Raptors' final game of the pre-season on Friday, Boucher, who had 12 points including three-of-four shooting from behind the three-point line, admitted he was aware he had been singled out by Lowry, but it wasn't any surprise or revelation to him.
“I actually think what Kyle says is something I have known ever since I signed the contract,” Boucher said. “There are a lot of things I have to get better at and fast. I think the more I play the better I am going to get.
“Those three pre-season games there was a lot of thinking and a lot of adjustments to do. We definitely have to make those adjustments and like I said, with Kyle being back in and playing I think it makes us better structured.
“We just got to find a way to make it a consistent thing.”
For Nurse, Boucher's solid night behind the three-point line was a welcome sight, but it's really not the most important thing he needs from Boucher in order to follow through on that desire to make him an every night part of that second unit.
“I think first and foremost, Chris has got to be a defender for us, and a rebounder and a rim protector,” Nurse said.
“He's got to be. He can't be a guy that's not being able to hold his own on his position on offence and hope he gets it back at the other end. “I always say that he can play offence, hit the shot as we saw (Friday night), he can roll and dunk,” Nurse said.
Offence though isn't going to get Boucher the role that is being offered to him.