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Raptors

Oct 2000

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On The Road

Your local reporter covers Vince Carter and the RaptorsBy David Brison

Most of you know that although I'm 66, I'm actually a rookie reporter - and enjoying every minute of it. What you readers don't know is that I have not only always wanted to be a journalist but also that, given my druthers, I would write about sports as often as I could.

The Frontenac News isn't ready for my sports writing so this will probably be a one-shot effort - unless I am brought back by a ground-swell demand for more stories on the Raptors. You see, there are limitations as to which sports I can knowledgeably write about. I don't know anything about hockey (that was forcibly brought home to me at Maple Leaf Gardens when 17,000 fans spontaneously erupted at something which happened off the puck that I didn't even see!)

Basketball is my sport, and to a lesser degree baseball - which poses certain problems for the News. If I do cover basketball, it ought to be at the local level where it is played quite adequately - I'll try to do so this winter (if we have local basketball teams).

However, there are some advantages to being your own editor (and some disadvantages, as my friend from St. George's Lake constantly reminds me: "sloppy prose" -- and worse).

As Editor-at-large of your local rag, there was nobody to stop me from calling the Toronto Raptors head office and asking for a press pass to cover the recent Raptors/Vancouver Grizzlies exhibition game in Ottawa for the Naismith Cup. To my surprise, they gave it to me, and I found myself at the Corel Centre on October 12 sitting at the front row press table with space for my laptop computer and a telephone so I could call my city editor about deadlines.

Not only did I, as a member of the press, have a great seat, but I also had access to the locker rooms before and after the game. This meant that after the game, I got to stand not more than three feet from Vince Carter, who is being groomed as Michael Jordan's media replacement. He had showered, draped a towel over himself, and was entertaining the press seated on a low bench. However, I can tell you that it wasn't an intimate moment that Vince and I had. We were separated by 15 mikes thrust in his face and 20 reporters. In fact I could just see his brightly lit face framed by the mikes -- he looked like an embryo in a womb.

However, the locker room scene had been different when I went there about an hour before the game. There was a smattering of players around - Muggsy Bogues and Del Curry (both injured and not playing that night), Charles Oakley, Mark Jackson, Kevin Willis, and the other rookie in the room, Morris Peterson. It was kind of a strange scene for your reporter - Muggsy is 5'-3" (shorter than my wife and daughters, as they are fond of pointing out) and Willis is 7'-0". Charles Oakley is an intimidating, muscular 6'-9" (and I planned to ask the coach, Lenny Wilkins, why Oakley hadn't played very well last year!)

Even stranger than this unreal scene was the fact that I was free to go up to any of these guys and talk to them. I sat down next to Del Curry, who is a three-point specialist - deadly accurate and he gets them off as fast as anyone in the game. He told me that he thought it would be a good year. He obviously was pleased with Lenny Wilkens. "I played for him in my second year in Atlanta and he is a good coach. I not only think we will get into the playoffs again this year, but we ought to go beyond the first round," he said.

Just then Lenny Wilkens walked into the room and I worked up the nerve to go over and sit next to him - after all we are contemporaries. Lenny is three years younger than I am. He grew up playing basketball in Brooklyn before going on to Providence College and a Hall of Fame career as one of the best point guards in the history of basketball. At 63, he is still coaching - in fact seems to think he has something to prove after one of his few bad years last year at Atlanta. I played basketball in high school just across the river in New Jersey, and although not much more than average, came from an area that turned out many good players. My attempts to point these parallels in our careers out to Lenny consisted mostly of incoherent mumbles. He was polite and attentive and I did manage to ask him about how he planned to use Charles Oakley. Charles has been praised by the Toronto sports press as a veteran presence. I thought that Charles actually hurt the team last year. On offence he stood around outside and popped 15 to 20-foot shots. He went from being the leading offensive rebounder on the Knicks in 1997 to being 4th best on the Raptors last year. In the play-offs when they needed his contribution, he performed miserably on offence. Lenny said that he didn't want to comment on how Charles was used by Coach Butch Carter last year but said that this year he expected everyone to do his share. Two days later in the Toronto News Wilkens expanded on this comment and said that he wanted Oakley to hit the offensive boards, set picks and pop back outside for short jump shots.

The Raptors won the game against the Grizzlies 97-92. Vince Carter missed his first six shots but recovered and made 13 of the next 18. He led all scores with 31 points. Mike Bibby made his first seven shots and ended with 21 points and 10 assists.

The game wasn't as close as the score would indicate, once Carter got hot. I want to end with some predictions and observations. Perhaps we can come back at the end of the season to check their accuracy:

* The Raptors are already playing better team defence and team offence than they did last year. On offence, they aren't waiting around for Carter to do something to get them started. Wilken's teams have always played good defence and that is already obvious.

* Already a good defensive player, Carter should get better this year. His concentration on defence seems improved. I predict he will make the NBA all-defensive team.

* Carter will not only increase his scoring average but also get more rebounds (Wilkens will have him play opposing forwards more often), assists, and steals. He has more confidence in his three-pointers, nobody can stop him from taking them, and he will benefit from picks and screens set for him.

* Alvin Williams will spell Mark Jackson at point guard and play shooting guard. Williams will make everybody forget how lost he looked last year under Butch Carter and remind us (those who remember) how good he was at Portland.

* The Raptors won't be hurt in their own division by the lack of a centre. Kevin Willis looks in good shape (I told him that and he thanked me!) and should fill in as backup centre. Having Oakley, Antonio Davis (who continues to improve offensively) will mean that they won't be pushed around. Corliss Williamson, always a favourite of mine when he played for Arkansas, will also help in the frontcourt. Wilkens said that he is making a special effort to work him in.

* One last prediction, the new Vancouver coach, Sidney Lowe, won't last the season. He is a yeller, and one thing NBA players don't need is someone shouting lectures when they are on floor during the game. The Vancouver players looked confused by his antics. In fact, both Bibby and Abdur-rahim, classy guys and smart players, looked very discouraged and tried to avoid him.

Now I have to tell you the story about the kid with his hand in the cookie jar. My wife claims that I repeated that phrase three times in my sleep after I returned from the game. I don't believe her but I do know that I felt like that. (After all, Lenny Wilkens, Vince Carter, Mark Jackson, Antonio Davis, Dell Curry, and free front row seats to an NBA game!!!)

I almost forgot to say that CTV Sportsnet invited me to the Air Canada Centre for a Raptor's game, so I might be back - have to check with the editor.