Title: Development program: The skills each Raptor should focus on this offseason
Date: September 18, 2020
Original Source: The Athletic
Synopsis: In my latest for The Athletic Toronto, I took a look at what each Raptor should be prioritizing on the skill-development side this offseason.
And we gonna continue to hustle and grow and develop by far.” – GLC
You can almost hear the friendly trash talk on the courts at OVO Athletic Centre or on the YouTube highlights from a Rico Hines run at UCLA. It’s the offseason for the Toronto Raptors, which means it’s not only the time for things like #MuscleWatch and videos of pull-up 3s in empty gyms, it’s also the time of year where the organization does a lot of the work that goes into sustaining the success of the last eight years.
This is an offseason unlike any other. The Raptors have to trust that their strengths in talent identification and player development give them an edge in building offseason programs around a pandemic, without the benefit of Summer League and amid a great deal of uncertainty. Normally at this time, the team’s younger players would take a break and then cycle through Los Angeles, Las Vegas, Toronto and Burnaby to work on all areas of their game, from skill and system to strength and stability. This year, who knows? They’ll hope their best practices to date continued the development of the back half of the roster in the bubble and can do so in what may be a remote (or partially remote) and abbreviated “summer.”
Blake Murphy Sports Writing 