Matt Tierney - Raptors.com
The Raptors closed out 2015-16 Training Camp with a Saturday morning practice here at Fortius Sport & Health in Burnaby, British Columbia.
With all the attention so far on defence, communication, team chemistry and… Defence… Today Dwane Casey and the players were focused on their first game tomorrow against the L.A. Clippers (7pm EST, TSN 2, TSN1050, Rogers Arena, Vancouver BC.).
Here is what we learned on the final day of training camp…
Lowry vs. Paul
They are two skilled offensive point guards who can create for their team and Coach Casey was quick to identify Paul as the main threat in tomorrow's game, “Defensively it’s one of the better tests for us as you’re going against one of the better point guards in the league in Chris Paul. He’ll test our pick-and-roll defence.”
Bismack Biyombo agreed with his coach’s assessment of the Clippers point guard, “Starting tomorrow with Chris Paul, who is a tough guy to handle,” said Biyombo.
The Raptors big man was also quick to highlight his own point guard Kyle Lowry, and how he was impressed on the defensive end, “To have a point guard like him play defence, I think he can play a big role in us winning and playing better defence as a team.”
Battle of the Boards
It’s been no secret that the Raptors need to focus on rebounding the ball better and that starts tomorrow against Blake Griffin and DeAndre Jordan, who led the league in rebounds last year.
“One thing we’ve got to think about is our rebounding. We’re getting stops, but now we have to do the dirty work at the end to rebound,” was the message Dwane Casey preached to his players all camp.
2015-16 training camp is in the books and DeMar DeRozan is eager to get playing, “We’re all tired of beating up each other, arguing with each other, now we can take it out on somebody else.”