GW Hoops / Yuta Update

**Posted by Joel Joseph** 1/26/2021 2:31 pm

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

**Posted by BM** 1/26/2021 2:56 pm

jf wrote:
Tonight Yuta played 15 minutes,scored 9 points,got 5 rebounds and a steal.
Hope for continued minutes and success for Yuta,a hard working team player.

Some highlights:

https://twitter.com/beatvillage/status/1353534541181243393?s=20
https://twitter.com/DaddyRickster/status/1353882768250269696?s=20
https://twitter.com/beatvillage/status/1353898507380215808?s=20

**Posted by Gwmayhem** 1/26/2021 3:03 pm

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,

**Posted by MG14** 1/29/2021 9:59 pm

Yuta is having his best game of the season (possibly of his career). Just drained a shot with under a minute to go to bring the Raptors within 1. Kings come back on the next possession and hit a 3. Yuta has been getting some major minutes in the 4th and has hit some BIG shots. Will update with final stat line once the game ends.

**Posted by MG14** 1/29/2021 10:13 pm

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)

**Posted by jf** 1/29/2021 11:33 pm

Good post,MG14.
Great performance by someone who deserved a full NBA contract even before this. Everyone's been noting Yuta's hard work, hustle and most importantly, impact.

**Posted by xAC** 1/30/2021 9:51 am

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.

**Posted by dmvpiranha** 1/30/2021 12:19 pm

Highlights

**Posted by xAC** 1/30/2021 12:33 pm

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.

**Posted by Thomas** 1/30/2021 1:05 pm

This is probably Yuta's most impressive NBA game as MG14 wrote due to the fact that he played well in a competitive game, he wasn't playing in garbage time. Let's hope that Nick Nurse keeps him in the rotation and he can get 20-25 minutes a game off the bench for the rest of the season.

On a side note, I looked at the box score of this game and saw that former St.Joe's star DeAndre Bembry is also on the Raptors and comes off the bench like Yuta.

**Posted by Mike K** 1/30/2021 1:45 pm

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.

**Posted by jf** 1/31/2021 9:04 pm

Tonight,Yuta has 8 points,3 blocks (2 in 4th quarter within three or so minutes) and 1 steal with about 8 min. left in game.

Last edited by jf (1/31/2021 9:04 pm)

**Posted by BGF** 1/31/2021 9:41 pm

Watch this.

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

**Posted by MG14** 2/01/2021 8:07 am

Great highlight block from Yuta on that play. Good defensive rotation.

Final Stats for Yuta:
19 Minutes
11 Points (3-4 FG; 3-3 from 3 point; 2-2 FT)
1 Offensive Rebound
1 Steal
3 Blocks
-7

**Posted by xAC** 2/01/2021 8:13 am

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.

**Posted by MG14** 2/01/2021 1:10 pm

xAC wrote:
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.

Thanks for pointing that out. I wasn't able to watch the game so I appreciate the clarification.

**Posted by dmvpiranha** 2/01/2021 2:48 pm

Highlights vs. Orlando

**Posted by BGF** 2/01/2021 8:32 pm

After watching DMV's video he found, I again am reminded how I should have found a message board platform that allows for Likes. Damn, Yuta looks great.

B.

**Posted by trops_fc** 2/02/2021 5:24 pm

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)

**Posted by MG14** 2/04/2021 11:24 am

Nice Interview/Compilation with Yuta, Nick Nurse, and Kyle Lowry.

https://twitter.com/YahooCASports/status/1356708449875296257