Thanks for the Yuta updates.
Yuta was the consummate GW player - smart, hard working, respectful, hustler.

I watched Yuta play the other day for a few minutes.  That's about my NBA viewing for the season.  He missed a few open shots but made a great block and had a few other defensive stops.  He has always given it his all.

Am always curious when a discussion like who our hardest working player of all-time was because how would anyone really know?  Not only would you need to be at practice every day but you'd have to have done so over the course of decades to give a true answer to this.  Instead, I believe people formulate their answers, based on witnessing games only, based on the following:

1. Great defensive player.  You don't even have to have much offense to receive the distinction of hardest working.  Some guys work incredibly hard on their offensive game but this somehow gets ignored.  Related to #1 is:
1a. Willingness and ability to draw charges.  Yes, this one is huge.  Sacrificing one's body often equates to "hardest working" when performing this analysis.
2. High motor player..You will never be thought of as hard working if you coast up and down the court.
3. Two-way players.  Again, you don't have to be a two way player but if you can contribute consistently on offense, your defense can likely drop just a notch and you'll still be OK. .  

So based on this, here are my top 10 candidates:

Andrei Krivinos, Antzon Iturbe, Patricio Garino, Bill Brigham, Darnell Miller, Shawnta Rogers, JR Pinnock, Mike Hall, Yuta Watanabe, Zeke Armwood,  

 

Final Stats:
24 Minutes (4th most minutes on the team)
12 points, 4-5 FG, 2-3 3pt
6 Rebounds (2 offensive)
2 assists
2 steals
+10 (tied for best on the team)

Check out post game interviews with Coach Nurse and Kyle Lowry for their take on Yuta.

https://www.nba.com/raptors/?splash=off

Also, Raptor's G League affiliate already in the bubble preparing for season that starts in about 10 days, but I don't think Yuta will be going there anytime soon.

Quite a bit about Yuta's game last night on the internet and the highlights from DMV are great. This article chronicles Yuta's impact on the game last night, with the video highlights (and more) interleaved. 

https://ca.nba.com/news/yuta-watanabe-toronto-raptors-forward-showcases-full-potential-in-late-game-push-against-sacramento-kings/qg6r1yswt9cp1khdz1ze2q0o3

He's getting some well-deserved notice-- really working hard.

Congrats to Yuta on the great play and additional playing time.  Now for him to make most of this playing time as the season progresses.

Watch this. 

https://twitter.com/raptorsrepublic/status/1356059888926007298

As Coach Nurse alluded to in post game presser, Yuta was -8 in the last two minutes of the game (with teammates trying to get into the scoring column), so he was actually + in the minutes that counted.

Highlights vs. Orlando




 

Top post on the NBA subreddit right now:

Yuta Watanabe during an interview: “When I hear opponent coaches yelling ‘Don’t let No.18 (Yuta’s number) get open!’, I think to myself ‘Wow, I’m actually on their scouting report.’ and I get a little excited.”
This was in his response to a reporter asking whether he feels like he has started to be on opponents’ scouting reports recently.
The interview is in Japanese, and can be heard here from 7:54.

Last edited by trops_fc (2/02/2021 5:25 pm)