![]() ![]() He’s been talking to every young guy on this team. He has all the tools to be in the MVP conversation. When somebody works hard like that, usually it pays off. can score from anywhere and was working hard this summer. While the younger players see Boucher as a role model, he in turn looks to the team’s two leaders – Pascal Siakam and Fred VanVleet.īoucher was asked about Siakam in particular and responded: “He has more maturity and is older and all that. We have had more years together now, so chemistry is going to be better.” I really wanted to put in the work and be on top of my game. “Some of us have been together all summer so we got to know each other more. “Most of the core young guys are back, so we get to the drill pretty quick ,” he said. And he doesn’t take going through that door for granted, and worked diligently all summer with his Raptors teammates. Just keep doing what you’re doing to have gotten here and the door will open.” ![]() I tell them you wouldn’t be here if they really didn’t like you. Boucher answers: “If you’re here, you’re doing something right. Naturally, that has the younger players in Raptors camp at UVic looking up to the 29-year-old, and asking how he did it, and how they can follow in his high-tops. It’s a remarkable rise after playing only bit parts in back-to-back NBA championships with the Golden State Warriors in 2017-18 and Raptors in 2018-19. “There have been a lot of people involved working behind the scenes to give us opportunities.”īoucher has taken advantage of every one of his and has been rewarded for it, re-signing with the Raptors this summer with a three-season, $35-million USD contract. “It’s a great thing to see,” said Boucher. Joining Boucher in Raptors training camp are fellow-Canadians Khem Birch of Russell, Ont., and second-year Raptors pro and Toronto-native Dalano Banton, the team’s second-round selection in the 2021 NBA draft. “We’ve come a long way from only a couple of players, to 20 to 30, and there’s more in the pipeline of Canadian players coming through,” said Raptors forward Chris Boucher, born in Saint Lucia, and raised in Montreal. But it all laid the groundwork for the current so-called Golden Generation as a record 18 Canadians played in the NBA last season. There still weren’t many fellow Canadians in the NBA when Olympian Steve Nash of Victoria won the 2004-06 NBA MVP awards. It was considered a revelation when two-time Olympian Eli Pasquale came out of the University of Victoria Vikes to be invited to the NBA training camps of the Seattle SuperSonics and Chicago Bulls in the 1980s. The Golden Generation continues to bloom with three Canadians among the 20 players in the Toronto Raptors NBA training camp taking place this week at CARSA Gym. ![]()
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