Toronto Raptors Media Availability | Postgame at Washington Wizards | December 27, 2023

Toronto Raptors Media Availability | Postgame at Washington Wizards | December 27, 2023

Here tonight uh Gary got the start Dennis came off the bench both of them had strong performances what did you see um it was um a change that we were looking for for some time uh we decided that it was a good opportunity today to

Put Scotty Barnes more on on as a ball Helder and also we we wanted to have uh Dennis to help more uh with a second unit and uh our guys did good job today how much of that uh you you told me yesterday you didn’t want to make a

Change without a vision for what’s going to happen so how much of that is about dtis sort of helping organize the second group it is about that but it’s also about uh Scotty getting more of a ball handling role and as a part of his development and growth Dennis is a big

Part of what we do and uh you could see today like he embraced the role uh he came off the bench played great defense uh he dished 10 assists and really helped our second unit and uh you know just uh stabilizing those minutes and having more continuity there is

Something that we’re looking at obviously it’s a one game we’re going to continue looking at and then learning as we go there were changes throughout the rotation we saw Chris jayen and auto a bit earlier than we usually see them uh what what sparked those changes and what

Did you see from them uh I think those guys did did a good job there um it’s been uh couple of weeks now the Jen is doing really good job in workouts and then the play groups uh he gained some confidence and he definitely deserved the opportunity to go out there and and

Show him what what he’s got and I also thought that uto did a great job as well as as well as CB those guys they’re really taking advantage of play groups that they organizing and uh they they Prov me that they’re ready to step on

The floor did you see what you wanted to see from Scotty tonight yes I thought especially first half I thought that he did a good job of running our offense getting guys organized touching the paint making extra passes obviously this is going to be a process like you know

It it’s going to take some time for him it’s going to be a learning curve you know him handling the ball more calling offense and then getting more comfortable there as I said like those are the changes that we made at this point but we’re not setting Stone going

Forward with the struggles you guys have had on the road this season looking at the stretch of nine of 10 away from home how important was it to start positively the stretch uh it’s it’s always good to win and it’s especially good to win on

The road uh uh we got this team on the second night of the backto back uh we took a opportunity that we had today against them and this is this should be a good starting uh road trip for us G strong game from you today what did you

See out there uh we were just being aggressive getting stops and running out on offense obviously lineup changes were made how did it feel playing off of those changes and differences um felt fine I know I mean we’re all adjusting taking it game by game uh we came out

Strong today we got stops on defense and then everyone played of energy obviously that’s a lineup with no traditional point guard this this sort of thing where everybody just has to be a bit more aware of of helping in the back court that sort of stuff screen definitely everyone more aware everyone

Um handling more you know just uh everyone I wouldn’t it’s just different no point guard but everyone pick up figure it out when you guys made that first run to take the lead I think you held them without a field goal for almost eight minutes what was going right defensively and uh communication

On defense and just flying around figuring stuff out and then rebounding and running communication has actually been a point of emphasis I remember talking about that earlier what was the difference today why was it working so well um just practice we’ve been the coaches have been Haring on it and even

The players we’ve been talking about it make sure we talk so we just get carried over tonight just going continue how did it uh obviously change the starting lineup changes a lot of what goes on after how did those sort of hybrid lineups feel to you and you sort

Of you said uh you guys were sort of flying around was it more just sort of feeling it out and and just playing more naturally yeah feeling it out I mean we’ve played with that lineup before in the past so it wasn’t too unfamiliar but

Like just figuring it out on the Fly and as the game’s going on hopefully we get better and better with it both lineups you guys had um the second franchise history um after Detroit you guys had 44 this tonight’s game you had 43 assists um is that like a sign that think things

Are working and how do you use this to build off of it especially when you have Boston on Friday uh I mean it’s just a sign of playing the right way getting the paint kicking the ball out and then just everyone being unselfish you know want to see your teammate

Succeed when you guys hadn’t won in a while on the road does it does it matter to to get to snap that road losing streak considering the timing when you’ve got so many road games coming up in this next stretch oh yeah definitely you know every win is hard to get so

Anytime you win a game it’s a good thing we’re happy and excited and just hope to carry it over all right Gary how did it feel to get the start today uh same as usual go out there contribute much as I can try to get a win and that’s what we

Did so line lineup wise you know the ball was moving um we saw Scotty being more of a facilitator but he was also a playmaker what did how did it feel out there in terms of playing with that that group and you know I didn’t play with

That group last year year before that so you know we’ve been together for a minute now but again it was second nature again we trying to go out there get as many wins as we can and put a performance together and I think we did that today it’s not like there aren’t

Guys in that group who can playmake and carry the ball up the court and all that but without a true point guard does it sort of put a bit of an extra emphasis on everybody to kind of share that load uh you could say that kind of you know

Uh we believe in four at the point guard so we can see what he does with it how he been passing the ball the movement his growth his development you know but you could say that kind of not having a traditional point guard will cause us to

Want to share and look for each other and rely on each other more but you know again it’s either way we going to make it work and either way we going to try to you know get a win that’s our goal obviously you mentioned Scotty obviously

His shooting is the thing maybe that is the most obvious jump but is his sort of play pick and roll creation like right right sort of on the heels just from what youve seen yeah I would say that but I would say more than anything probably be just approach off the court

I would say nothing cour related you know just his approach uh trying to step into a leader Ro trying to help certain guys in certain situations knowing the predicament situation he’s in and just balancing all out so yeah know it’s cool though it’s it’s good to see it it’s

Great to see it it’s a bigger he’s just big more vocal away from away from things you could say just more vocal before the game during the huddles um you know trying to keep us together trying to keep us engaged you know you didn’t really see too much of that

Obviously he was a young player but as he’s learning and developing he’s getting different habits and you know getting comfortable in his role so uh it’s good it’s great to see like I said you know he’s growing every day how do you take a night like tonight where

You guys had a franchise record being second in franchise history right now with 43 assists how do you take that and translate to a game against Boston on Friday continue to keep doing what we doing you know swing the ball play defense get stops get the boards you

Know we should be fine we have all the talent we have all the siid we have all the LM so continue to just keep going and developing

Players and Coach speak with the media following the Raptors’ 132-102 victory over the Washington Wizards on Wednesday.

00:00 Darko Rajakovic
02:41 OG Anunoby
05:05 Gary Trent Jr.
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