Amir Johnson showed just how far his talent spanned in the Raptors’ intrasquad game on Oct. 3 in the Ravens’ Nest (Photo: Adam Dietrich)

Carleton’s multitude of die-hard Toronto Raptors fans were finally let into the Ravens’ Nest on Oct 3., as the Raptors capped off their week-long training camp with a charity intrasquad game.

A total of 1,200 fans, most decked out in some form of Raptors memorabilia, showed up to support Canada’s only NBA squad, but none earlier than Tim Hall and his six friends.

“We got here at 7 a.m. this morning,” said Hall, a Carleton student. “One of the girls made pancakes for us, we’ve been in here just killing time.”

While killing time, they were rewarded for their loyalty.

“We are huge Raptors fans; we were just named Raptors’ fans of the day. We got a bunch of free gear so it was sweet,” said Hall.

And what was happening inside the Ravens’ Nest was also sweet.

Although their two biggest stars, Chris Bosh and Hedo Turkoglu, were sitting on the sidelines nursing ailments, the Raptors put on a heck of a show for their Ottawa fan base.

Rookie DeMar DeRozan, who scored a game-high 13 points, stole the show with a windmill dunk in the warm-up, and finished off an alley-oop from Marcus Banks in the second quarter. The crowd loved him, and the feeling was mutual.

“That’s what makes me love basketball so much,” said DeRozan minutes after the game. “How you can affect so many people who just want to go out there and see you play. That’s great, you can’t beat that.”

Although the intrasquad game was the only opportunity fans had to catch the Raptors in action, there was much more to their visit. The Raptors held two, two-hour practices every day, with the exception of Oct. 1, in addition to a number of team meetings. Head coach Jay Triano said he was happy with the way his team responded.

“I think they played hard all the time,” he said. “They listened, they learned and now it’s a matter of translating the fundamentals into game situations and hopefully we’ll be a better basketball team than we were last year.” 

As point guard Jose Calderon explained, this year’s training camp was vital for this particular group, due to the nine new faces on the court.

“This training camp is a little bit more important than others. We have a lot of new guys. For me, as point guard, I need to know when the people like to receive the ball,” said Calderon.

Although all-star power forward Chris Bosh may have been disappointed that he spent most of the week off the court strengthening his hamstring after a minor injury, it gave him an opportunity to check out his new teammates. And based on what he saw, he said the culture of the team has changed since a year ago.

“It has changed a lot, and that’s no knock against the guys we had last year but we’re more defensive-minded this year. I think we have more of a complete team. We have guys that are going to come out and work hard every night and I think we have guys who are going to challenge each other and make each other better.”

As the Raptors now head into pre-season play, they remain pleased with their decision to return to Carleton for a second consecutive year.

“It’s a great facility and great market for us,” said Raptors general manager Bryan Colangelo.

“The people here have been really terrific to work with. Obviously, we have a great relationship with the basketball program, and coach [Dave] Smart has been really good to work with. We couldn’t ask for something better.”