Title: Inside the Raptors’ draft workout Toronto immersion experience: ‘A Territory Of Our Own’
Date: August 6, 2021
Original Source: The Athletic
Synopsis: In my latest for The Athletic Toronto, I wrote about the Raptors’ Toronto immersion room they used to help draft prospects get to know the city from Tampa.
Hardly home but always reppin’ has been usurped by a new Toronto Raptors philosophy: If you can’t be in Toronto, bring Toronto to you.
That’s what the Raptors set out to do during this year’s pre-draft process. Because of the ongoing pandemic-related travel restrictions, the Raptors have continued operating out of their temporary facility in Tampa, Fla. Necessity, it turns out, really does breed innovation.
In a normal season, the Raptors would bring dozens of prospects to OVO Athletic Centre in Toronto during the month or two leading up to the draft. These sessions have several aims. The first is, quite simply, to work the player out and see how they look as a basketball player. The entire visit carries weight, though, from how a player responds to fatigue, coaching and adversity to how they treat the support staff tasked with guiding them from airport pickup to airport drop-off the next day.
Blake Murphy Sports Writing 