Holly MacKenzie - Raptors.com
One year ago today, Chuck Hayes was scrambling. The day after his agent interrupted his fantasy football Sunday to inform him that he was traded to the Toronto Raptors, Hayes was trying to prepare for a flight to his new team when logistics got in the way.
“We came to Toronto on the 10th [of December],” Hayes recalled. “The 9th I was scrambling, packing some stuff and really, I had passport applications, [trying] to get my son one. I spent all day on the 9th doing that. My son was with me in Sacramento. He didn’t [have a passport].
Fast forward to November 2014 and Hayes’ family was in Toronto to spend American Thanksgiving with him. A lot has happened. A stop in Toronto wasn’t what Hayes had expected, but since he arrived, good things have happened.
On the one-year anniversary of the blockbuster trade that sent Rudy Gay, Aaron Gray and Quincy Acy to the Sacramento Kings in exchange for Hayes, Patrick Patterson, Greivis Vasquez and John Salmons, the Raptors have gone 57-27. They’re coming off a return to the postseason for the first time in five years. They’ve jumped out to a 16-5 start to this season and are leading the Eastern Conference. This isn’t something Hayes or any of the other players in the Raptors locker room could have predicted.
“To be honest with you, I didn't know what to expect,” Hayes said. “I came into it blind, with no expectations.”
Saying all he knew of Toronto prior to the trade was ”Bieber and Drake”, Hayes spent his first few months with the team observing. “I was just soaking it in like a sponge,” Hayes said. “I said very little. I was the new guy so I just didn’t want to overstep my boundaries.”
Now in his second season with the team, Hayes is the elder statesman in Toronto’s locker room. Head coach Dwane Casey and his staff know they can rely on him to pass along wisdom when he isn’t playing as well as stay ready for when they call his name. An undrafted, undersized NBA vet, Hayes has had experience with good teams and bad.
“We don't have no egos,” Hayes said. “I’ve been with a lot of teammates, in a lot of locker rooms. Ten years in the league, every locker room is different. When you don't have any egos, it makes everything so much better. It turns from a job into having fun.”
Vasquez: “It feels like I've been here like five years”
It’s rare for a group to come together as quick as the Raptors did in the wake of last year’s trade. It’s even more difficult to bring in additional players and add to that chemistry rather than alter it. When Masai Ujiri added Lou Williams and James Johnson to the roster over the offseason, they immediately found their roles and excelled within them. After All-Star guard DeMar DeRozan went down with a torn groin muscle, rather than panic, the team remained confident in its depth.
In Monday’s overtime victory against the Denver Nuggets, Vasquez pointed to that depth as a the reason for the team’s quick start.
“Today was a good example,” Vasquez said. “On the west coast trip it was two other guys. Today it was two other guys. It’s always a different guy who steps up and helps us win games.”
For Vasquez, the trade to the Raptors provided him with a fresh start. After a rocky start to the season in Sacramento, he welcomed the opportunity to start over. Today he is one of the most vocal supporters of all things Toronto.
“It feels like I've been here like five years,” Vasquez said. “Today has been a year since I got traded here. What a great win to celebrate that.”
Playing without your leading scorer, even the ugly wins are great. As the Raptors reflect on the anniversary of the trade that changed their course, the players in the locker room are thankful to be where they are.
The life of an NBA player means being prepared for anything. Sometimes, if you get lucky enough, that unexpected thing can turn out to be the best thing.
“As they say, time flies by when you’re having fun," Patterson said. "Being with these guys, this team, this organization, everyone in this locker room, [makes] it fun.”