Suddenly, `old soul' Trent Jr. taking on new Raptors role
At 25 years old, Gary Trent Jr. has suddenly found himself thrust into the role of veteran mentor on a Raptors team filled with prospects. It's quite a turn of events for a player who was still a teenager when drafted into the NBA and was the youngest player on the team when the Raptors acquired him for Norman Powell just shy of three years ago.
Now, Trent never really fit into the role of baby face — his father was an NBA veteran who taught him about being a professional long before Trent followed in his footsteps in playing for the Portland Trail Blazers and then the Raptors.
He's always seemed like a bit of an old soul. But Toronto did trade for him back in the day in part because of the age difference between him and Powell. Trent's no greybeard, but five of the nine players born before him who started the season with the team have been dealt away, two more (Chris Boucher and Jakob Poeltl) might not play again this season and the oldest Raptor, Garrett Temple, 37, can only help so much seeing as he's as much of a coach as a player at this point.
Trent is still producing, as his game-high 31 points in Friday's 113-103 loss to Orlando indicate. He's trying to provide as much assistance away from the court as he does on it.
It appears that Gradey Dick, Toronto's prized rookie, has particularly benefited from Trent's tutelage. Though Dick had one of his worst games of the year against the Magic, he's been making considerable progress over the last two months.
“Even just before the season started, me and coach Ivo (Simovic, a Raptors assistant coach) were working with Gradey, worked together basically since the summer,” Trent explained following Friday's game.
“I just came here and was really trying to show him a certain mindset, a certain approach, a certain focus you should have, whether it's in drills, paying attention to how his footing is on jumpers, all types of things. He's been super receptive, asking a lot of questions, too, on the court.”
Trent said Dick is asking about how to get more comfortable playing extended minutes, even as a starter.
“Obviously, he's thrown into a situation that's not relatively easy,” he said. “New coach trying to figure everything out and had a lot of changes as a rookie, so that could be a lot for you. But again, he's handled it well. He's handled his G league stint when we sent him down. He's been super receptive. He's been like a sponge; he's ready to learn.”
Trent believes he's been in so many different scenarios so far in his career that he can pass on some words of wisdom for anybody on the roster, if needed.
“There's not one part of the NBA that I have not seen. Like for example (Raptor) Scottie Barnes, he came into the league who he is, what he's going to be, with everything given to him — lights, glitz, glamour. I went from bench, behind the bench I'd been in a suit, I've been on the court, I've been a starter, I've been back (to the) bench. So there's no part of the game I haven't touched, that I haven't been a part of. So I feel like that just helps me with how to handle things and how to go about business, all those different situations that I've been in in my career.”