Chris Boucher Rumors | Hoops Rumors

Raptors Notes: Barnes, Nurse, Reserves, Boucher

October 23rd, 2022 at 7:13pm CST by Alex Kirschenbaum

The Raptors are hoping that 2022 Rookie of the Year Scottie Barnes can take the next step en route to superstardom, writes Michael Grange of Sportsnet.ca. Barnes excelled as a scorer and defender during the 2021/22 season — the goal now is to improve his ceiling as a play-maker and shooter.

“We’ve tried to give him a little bit at a time so it’s not overwhelming and he’s not completely confused out there,” Barnes’ skills trainer and mentor Brian Macon said. “The hardest thing about training Scottie’s game is that he’s going to catch the ball in so many different positions … He might have the ball in the ball screen, he might catch it in the post, he might catch it in the short roll, he might catch it off someone else’s action. So it’s hard, because he does so much on the floor. But I think he’ll have a better plan in every single spot, and he’ll know what he likes and he’ll have more things he can go to.”

There’s more out of Toronto:

With Barnes possibly limited in the short-term future due to a right ankle sprain, Raptors head coach Nick Nurse will have to search for depth on the club’s roster, writes Eric Koreen of The Athletic. “You guys know, I’m trying to win each game each night,” Nurse said recently. “That’s the one thing that we’re trying to do. It’s felt like the right thing to do so far by subbing the way we subbed.” Koreen notes that the Raptors seem to be lacking some half-court scoring punch.
Though injuries to Raptors reserves Otto Porter Jr. and Chris Boucher can be partly to blame for the team’s underwhelming bench performance thus far this season, Doug Smith of The Star opines that the team’s remaining backups still need to improve their performances. “The league is all about opportunity and rhythm… especially for guys that are on limited minutes, limited rotation, limited opportunity,” starting point guard Fred VanVleet said. “You just got to know when you are checking in and know the rotation and know the rhythm, know where the shots are coming from, know what you are supposed to do when you are out there.”
Boucher and Barnes are both officially questionable ahead of tomorrow’s contest against the Heat, but Josh Lewenberg of TSN (Twitter link) reports that Nurse anticipates Boucher will be able to make his 2022/23 season debut.

Raptors Notes: Injury Updates, Koloko, Growth, Expectations

October 21st, 2022 at 6:58pm CST by Rory Maher

Raptors big man Khem Birch (offseason knee surgery) is available for Friday’s game against the Nets. As Michael Grange of Sportsnet.ca relays (via Twitter), Birch said he sat out Wednesday’s home opener against Cleveland for precautionary reasons and his knee “is feeling better” after experiencing swelling. Birch did not require a follow-up MRI, Grange adds.

Unfortunately, Chris Boucher and Otto Porter, who are both dealing with hamstring strains, are still out, tweets Blake Murphy of Sportsnet.ca. According to Josh Lewenberg of TSN Sports (Twitter thread), head coach Nick Nurse said he’s not sure when Boucher will be back, but he’s nearing a return.

“He’s in pretty good shape. It should be soon,” Nurse said.

Porter, meanwhile, still hasn’t been able to practice yet, having been limited to individual conditioning and skill work. Lewenberg thinks a late-October or early-November return for the veteran forward “seems realistic.”

Here’s more on the Raptors:

Pressed into duty in part due to the injuries of the aforementioned bench trio, rookie center Christian Koloko showcased a different look for the Raptors in their opener, writes Eric Koreen of The Athletic. The 7’1″ native of Cameroon finished with three points, six rebounds and a block in 15 minutes, and teammates felt his impact in the paint on both ends of the court. “Having him be really the only big we’ve got, it makes it stand out more when he’s out there,” Fred VanVleet said, per Koreen. “We’re definitely gonna lean on him when he’s out there.”
The Raptors have the “vibe of a young, growing team,” but a salary cap crunch could make the roster difficult to retain in the future, Grange writes in a story for Sportsnet.ca. As Grange notes, VanVleet and Gary Trent Jr. can be a free agents next summer if they decline their player options, Precious Achiuwa will be eligible for a rookie scale extension, Pascal Siakam would be eligible for a super-max extension if he makes an All-NBA team again this season, and OG Anunoby will be a free agent in 2024.
Toronto is unlikely to make any significant moves early in the season, which is normal. However, the team’s front office is preparing for what could be a very active trade deadline, and the Raptors feature several interesting players with desirable contracts. According to Doug Smith of The Toronto Star, the Raptors expect to advance past the first round of the playoffs in 2022/23 after losing their first-round series to Philadelphia last season, and if they don’t, there could be a major roster shakeup next summer.

Injury Notes: Zion, Grizzlies, Raptors, Beasley, Bagley

October 17th, 2022 at 3:16pm CST by Rory Maher

Pelicans star Zion Williamson, who left a preseason game early last week with left ankle soreness and subsequently missed the finale, was a full participant in practice on Monday, per head coach Willie Green (Twitter link via ESPN’s Andrew Lopez). Green sounded non-committal about Williamson’s status for Wednesday’s regular season opener, but Williamson put speculation to rest by stating, “I’m playing Wednesday,” as Lopez tweets.

The 22-year-old former No. 1 overall pick looks to be in great shape for 2022/23 after missing all of last season with a broken foot, so hopefully the ankle issue is as minor as it seems.

Here are some more injury notes from around the NBA:

Grizzlies head coach Taylor Jenkins said the team is hoping to get some 5-on-5 work in for Jaren Jackson Jr. “in the next couple of weeks,” tweets Damichael Cole of The Memphis Commercial Appeal. Jackson underwent foot surgery at the end of June and will miss the start of the regular season. Jenkins also said second-year wing Ziaire Williams missed practice on Monday with a non-COVID illness in addition to knee soreness, and his status for the season opener is up in the air (Twitter link via Michael Wallace of Grizzlies.com).
Raptors big man Chris Boucher, who’s dealing with a hamstring injury, was able to practice today and the team is hopeful he’ll be ready for the opener on Wednesday, per head coach Nick Nurse (Twitter link courtesy of Sportsnet’s Michael Grange). Eric Koreen of The Athletic relays (via Twitter) that free agent addition Otto Porter (hamstring) did not participate in practice and Koreen expects him “to be out for a little bit.”
According to Eric Walden of The Salt Lake Tribune (Twitter link), Jazz shooting guard Malik Beasley recently said his sprained left ankle feels “completely healed” he and expects to play in Wednesday’s season opener. Beasley was acquired from Minnesota this offseason in the Rudy Gobert deal.
Marvin Bagley III admits “it was a little scary” when he suffered a sprained MCL and bone bruise in his right knee during preseason last week, writes Mike Curtis of The Detroit News (subscription required). “When I did it, all types of stuff was running through my mind,” Bagley said. “It was something I couldn’t have really prevented. It happened so fast. That feeling, I never felt it before. Getting up and not being able to put pressure on it, it was a little scary for me. God had his hands on me; had His arms around me, so that’s all I can ask for.” The big man added that he’s not going to rush the rehabilitation process and will only suit up for the Pistons when he’s ready, but he’s feeling progressively better every day.

Atlantic Notes: Brogdon, Boucher, Porter Jr., Curry, Irving, Smart

October 15th, 2022 at 9:42am CST by Dana Gauruder

The Raptors and Celtics both expressed an interest in trading for Malcolm Brogdon this summer but he told the Pacers he’d prefer Boston, Brogdon said during a SiriusXM NBA Radio appearance, as Brian Robb of MassLive.com relays.

“We knew there was Boston, we knew Toronto we knew (the Wizards),” Brogdon said of his trade options. “(The Wizards) fell off after the draft since they were thinking about trading that 10th pick for me. Toronto and Boston popped up. We had a choice to pursue — there wasn’t an offer on the table yet from either of them but the Pacers came to me and said we could pursue either of them and which one would I rather pursue?”

It’s unclear what sort of offer the Raptors might’ve made for Brogdon, since they don’t have obvious salary-matching pieces they’d want to part with. However, it was ultimately a moot point, since the guard encouraged the Pacers to pursue a deal with Boston.

“I thought this team was farther along,” Brogdon said of the Celtics. “They have a superstar in Jayson Tatum and probably another superstar in Jaylen Brown as well. I thought it would be a great fit for me because I wanted to win right now.”

Brogdon is projected as Boston’s sixth man entering the regular season.

We have more from the Atlantic Division:

Raptors big man Chris Boucher will be out “a couple of weeks” due to a hamstring injury, according to coach Nick Nurse, Michael Grange of Sportsnet.ca tweets. Forward Otto Porter Jr. hasn’t been on the court in recent weeks due to a similar injury and will likely miss some time.
Seth Curry, who had left ankle surgery in May, apparently won’t be ready for the season opener. Nets coach Steve Nash said Curry still has some hurdles to clear but has been getting some individual work in, Nick Friedell of ESPN tweets.
Nets guard Kyrie Irving admits he has some regrets about the way last season played out, he told Friedell in a Q&A session. “I think we all think about times we could have made better decisions, and times we wish we could have done things differently and I feel the same way at times throughout my life. … I legitimately just want to play the long game and not put too much pressure on myself or the people that I’m around,” he said.
Celtics guard Marcus Smart suffered a minor groin injury when he slipped on a wet spot in the preseason finale against Toronto on Friday, Adam Himmelsbach of the Boston Globe tweets. “I feel like I’m all right. But the adrenaline is still going right now,” Smart said. “Hopefully, in the morning I feel all right.”

Raptors Notes: Roster Battle, Boucher, Porter, J. Jackson, Achiuwa

October 12th, 2022 at 6:17pm CST by Arthur Hill

With Dalano Banton likely to make the team after a strong preseason, the Raptors appear to have a three-man battle for their final roster spot, writes Lori Ewing of The Toronto Star. Justin Champagnie, Josh Jackson and D.J. Wilson are all in the running and Friday’s preseason finale is their last chance to make an impression.

The competition is particularly stressful for Champagnie, who missed the first three preseason games with pain in his hip, Ewing notes. He played only eight minutes Sunday, recording one point and one rebound. Champagnie, who appeared in 36 games for Toronto as a rookie last season, estimates that he is 90 to 95 percent recovered from the hip issue.

“I sensed some urgency from Justin,” coach Nick Nurse said. “I think some other guys just kind of let their game each day do what it does. It’s hard to get all excited one game and be not so excited the next because they play good and then not so good. Then they come back in practice and light it up again and get you thinking again. (Making cuts) is always a tricky thing. We’ll see how it all shakes out. I think there are still a lot of questions to be answered.”

There’s more from Toronto:

A hamstring injury will keep Chris Boucher out of the lineup for Friday’s game, which is in his hometown of Montreal, Ewing adds. Free agency addition Otto Porter Jr. will also miss the game with an injured hamstring, and Nurse said he’s not certain if either player will be ready for the regular season opener next Wednesday.
Jackson is hoping to revive his career with the Raptors after playing for four teams in his first five NBA seasons, per Doug Smith of the Toronto Star. Jackson takes responsibility for not living up to the expectations that came along with being the fourth pick in the 2017 draft. “I can’t say that every organization that I’ve been a part of has been great in helping its players succeed but, with that, what I have learned is you’ve got to be the one to make sure that you’re getting everything that you need,” he said. “You have to make sure you’re working on the things you need to work on because, at the end of the day, it is your career, it’s not theirs.”
Sixth Man of the Year or Most Improved Player honors might be within reach for Precious Achiuwa after his impressive performance during the second half of last season, according to Josh Lewenberg of TSN. “[The accolades are] something that [will] just happen based on how I play,” Achiuwa said. “Control what I can control. Your shots aren’t always going to go in but being able to play defense and bring effort, that’s something you can control every game.”

Raptors Notes: VanVleet, Achiuwa, Boucher, Depth

September 28th, 2022 at 8:56pm CST by Rory Maher

Fred VanVleet made changes to his diet as well as his strength and conditioning regimen in order to stay healthy while playing heavy minutes, according to Josh Lewenberg of TSN.ca. Lewenberg notes that VanVleet has played the second-most minutes per game in the NBA over the past three seasons (trailing only James Harden), and 47 of his 55 missed games over that span have come in the second half of seasons.

“It’s a 12-month season now, year ‘round,” said a noticeably slimmer VanVleet. “Hopefully I can stay on this regimen the rest of my career. There’s always gonna be new changes and things you have to adjust and adapt to as you try to grow. I’ve had a hell of a run so far, so to continue to try to keep growing is going to be challenging every year but I’m up for it.”

Head coach Nick Nurse said the team hopes to reduce VanVleet’s workload in 2022/23, but it’s more complicated than just following a prescribed plan.

“It’s not easy,” Nurse said, per Lewenberg. “When you got a super competitive guy who’s playing great and he wants to play, to rest him, to just say, ‘Sorry, it’s your rest time, we don’t care what’s happening on the floor right now, it’s your rest time,’ that’s hard to do. But I think we learned a lot about how we can shift our team around without him in there and I think that we’re going to need to be able to do that. I hope we can get it done.”

Here’s more on the Raptors:

Precious Achiuwa‘s development is one of the keys to Toronto’s standing in the East, writes Michael Grange of Sportsnet.ca. Achiuwa made an immediate impact as a defender in his first year with the Raptors in ’21/22, but struggled on offense. However, he had a big second half last season, and if he can build upon that, the Raptors will be that much more dangerous, Grange notes. Nurse says the third-year big man has impressed early on in training camp. “I think that he’s improving all the time. I think he had a great especially last half. I’ve already talked about I think he had a great spring, summer, fall so far, and he’s looked really good during the first three practices,” said Nurse. “So you know, I think a good step forward for him is expected by him, first and foremost, which is the most important, and by all of us, yeah.”
Both Nurse and Chris Boucher are hoping for more consistency from the “really unique” big man, who signed a three-year, $35MM contract to remain with the Raptors. “There are some nights when he’s picking and popping and not hitting those, and he can’t live in that world, that’s always just extra for us,” Nurse said, per Lori Ewing of The Toronto Star. “(He has to) continue to run, continue to crash the glass, continue to block shots and continue to be that spirit, that force of spirit that he is out there and playing hard.”
In another article for Sportsnet, Grange writes that the Raptors are more confident in their depth after adding Otto Porter and Juancho Hernangomez in free agency, plus having a full season of Thaddeus Young, who signed an extension shortly before free agency opened. Young players like Malachi Flynn, Dalano Banton and Justin Champagnie could also be important depth pieces if they continue to improve, Grange adds.

Raptors Notes: Boucher, Durant, Hines

July 8th, 2022 at 11:53am CST by Luke Adams

With a new fully guaranteed three-year, $35MM contract in hand, Raptors big man Chris Boucher admitted to reporters on Thursday that he wasn’t expecting his free agency to play out this way last fall when he got off to an extremely slow start to the season, averaging 5.9 PPG on .381/.196/.667 shooting in his first 20 games.

“(After) the first 20 games? No, there’s no way,” Boucher said, per Michael Grange of Sportsnet.ca. “I mean, to be honest with you, me and (trainer) Ibrahim (Appiah) joke about that all the time. We were saying, ‘We’re probably gonna have to pack our bags and stuff’ because it didn’t look too nice at the beginning and to be honest with you … I was like, ‘I’m not playing well. I might not get traded but I might get waived or whatever,’ so that’s how we were taking it.”

After bouncing back and finishing the season strong, Boucher received offers from other teams during his first foray into unrestricted free agency. The Celtics, Bucks, Nets, and Bulls were reportedly among the clubs to express interest. But Boucher suggested on Thursday that he never seriously considered leaving Toronto.

“Hearing from other teams … was a good thing for me,” Boucher said. “But like I said, it doesn’t stop there. You know, I wanted to be comfortable, you play your best basketball when you feel like you’re at home, when you feel like you know everything, and things are going smooth and so I don’t think I would have felt that more appreciated or felt like home anywhere else.”

Here’s more on the Raptors:

Eric Koreen and Alex Schiffer of The Athletic, representing the Raptors’ and Nets‘ front offices, engaged in mock trade negotiations on a potential Kevin Durant trade, as Koreen explores whether there’s a way to get Durant to Toronto in a deal that meets Brooklyn’s asking price without including Scottie Barnes. Schiffer is amenable to a hypothetical package of Pascal Siakam, Gary Trent, Precious Achiuwa, three unprotected first-rounders, and a pick swap in exchange for Durant and Seth Curry.
Veteran player development coach Rico Hines has left the Kings to join the Raptors, as Jason Anderson of The Sacramento Bee writes. Hines confirmed the move in an Instagram post after previously bidding farewell to Kings fans in another post on Instagram. Hines spent the last three seasons working under Luke Walton and Alvin Gentry in Sacramento.
The Raptors have a strong track record of exceeding expectations and making good year-over-year progress, but that forward progress is never guaranteed, according to Dave Feschuk of The Toronto Star, who weighs whether it makes sense for the team to simply count on internal improvement from the current core and considers the risks of that approach.

Contract Details: Rubio, Bol, Dort, Boucher

July 7th, 2022 at 10:53pm CST by Dana Gauruder

The Cavaliers will use a portion of their mid-level exception to sign Ricky Rubio, Chris Fedor of the Cleveland Plain Dealer tweets. Rubio has agreed to a three-year, $18.4MM contract to return to Cleveland.

Rubio, who suffered a torn ACL in late December, finished the season with the Pacers. The Cavs’ front office explored the possibility of a sign-and-trade with the Pacers but couldn’t come to an agreement, Fedor explains.

Here are a few more contract-related notes from around the league:

The second year of Bol Bol‘s contract with the Magic is a team option, Khobi Price of the Orlando Sentinel tweets. According to Spotrac, Bol Bol’s two-year deal is a minimum-salary contract worth a total of $3,968,718.
The unlikely bonuses in Luguentz Dort‘s contract with the Thunder are for making the All-Defensive Team and the Defensive Player of the Year award, according to ESPN’s Bobby Marks (video link). Those bonuses are worth $1MM annually. The five-year deal has a total base value of $82.5MM.
Chris Boucher‘s three-year, $35.2MM contract with the Raptors is fully guaranteed, Marks tweets. The first year of the contract is worth $12.7MM and his cap hits decline over the following two seasons.

Raptors Re-Sign Chris Boucher To Three-Year Deal

July 7th, 2022 at 2:48pm CST by Rory Maher

JULY 7: Boucher has officially re-signed with the Raptors, the team announced (via Twitter).

JUNE 30: The Raptors have agreed to bring back big man Chris Boucher on a three-year contract worth a reported $35.25MM, agent Sam Permut tells Adrian Wojnarowski of ESPN (Twitter link).

Toronto is using Boucher’s Bird rights to re-sign him to a deal worth a little more than the full mid-level exception. It’s a fully guaranteed deal, tweets Bobby Marks of ESPN.

After going undrafted out of Oregon in 2017 at age 24, Boucher has slowly emerged as one of the best player development stories in the NBA. He was the G League MVP and Defensive Player of the year in 2018/19 with the Raptors 905, Toronto’s affiliate, then emerged as a rotation regular in ’19/20, averaging 6.6 PPG, 4.5 RPG and 1.0 BPG in just 13.2 MPG (62 games).

His development led to a two-year, $13.5MM deal in 2020, which he easily outperformed the last couple of seasons. Boucher averaged 13.6 PPG, 6.7 RPG and 1.9 BPG on .514/.383/.788 shooting in ’20/21 (60 games, 24.2 MPG). His numbers fell off to 9.4 PPG, 6.2 RPG and 0.9 BPG on .464/.297/.777 shooting in 80 games (21.1 MPG) last season, partially as a result of finger surgery during preseason.

Boucher is an athletic, energetic big man who can block shots and limited opponents to 43.9% shooting this past season. He’s an unusual player in a lot of ways, standing 6’9″ but weighing just 200 pounds. Although Boucher often plays center, he’s capable of switching across multiple positions on defense using his speed and 7’4″ wingspan.

Clearly, the Raptors value Boucher highly, despite his down shooting year and limitations (he has 116 career assists in 123 games). Yet those limitations haven’t been a hindrance, as the team been markedly better when he’s on the court over the last two seasons.

Scotto’s Latest: Jazz, Raptors, Nets, DiVincenzo

July 2nd, 2022 at 3:43pm CST by Luke Adams

Before they reached an agreement to send Rudy Gobert to Minnesota on Friday, the Jazz asked the Raptors about the possibility of acquiring forward OG Anunoby and swingman Gary Trent Jr., league sources tell Michael Scotto of HoopsHype.

Toronto was linked to Gobert repeatedly during the first half of the offseason. Still, as great as the three-time Defensive Player of the Year is, it was never clear how badly the Raptors wanted to break up their core to acquire a big man who didn’t fit the versatile, switchable, and positionless brand of basketball the team has adopted. Whether the Raptors balked at Utah’s asking price or the Jazz simply preferred Minnesota’s offer, Gobert is off the table for Toronto.

Here’s more from Scotto:

The Celtics, Bucks, Nets, and Bulls are among the teams that expressed interest in Chris Boucher before he agreed to re-sign with the Raptors, while forward Thaddeus Young – who is also returning to Toronto – drew interest from the Celtics and Pacers, according to Scotto.
The Nets made it a priority this offseason to land a wing defender capable of guarding multiple positions, which was why they agreed to trade for Royce O’Neale even as news of Kevin Durant‘s trade request was breaking. As Scotto explains, the Nets and Jazz previously explored a deal involving O’Neale and Joe Harris prior to the in-season trade deadline.
In addition to receiving interest from teams willing to give him the full taxpayer mid-level exception, Donte DiVincenzo also received an offer from a team with cap space that would’ve exceeded the two-year, $9.3MM contract he’s signing with the Warriors, says Scotto. The second-year player option Golden State gave him and DiVincenzo’s belief that the Warriors give him the best opportunity to play for a contender were factors in his decision to accept less money, Scotto adds.