Toronto Raptors guard Jose Calderon puts up a shot during the team's first practice of their NBA basketball season in Toronto December 9, 2011. REUTERS/Mike CasseseMike Cassese/Reuters
Earlier in the week, Toronto Raptors general manager Bryan Colangelo joked that as a result of the lengthy lockout it would take a while for staff to get reacquainted with the players.
That process began in earnest Friday, when the Raptors players were put through their first official workout of what will be a truncated training camp in preparation for a 66-game NBA regular season that almost wasn't.
The hopefuls were met at the Air Canada Centre third-floor practice facility by their new head coach, Dwane Casey, who is promising his group will play with a new-found defensive intensity largely absent during last season's desultory 22-60 campaign.
And the former Dallas Mavericks assistant wasn't kidding, putting the players through a two-plus-hours workout that focused entirely on defensive strategies.
"We didn't touch a ball offensively," Casey said. "The guys accepted it. We kind of did the same thing in Dallas and it was a tough sell not to touch the ball the first couple of days."
Casey only had 10 healthy bodies at his disposal for the workout, but that could be changing soon, now that the NBA free-agency period has been declared open.
A couple of new names have emerged as possible additions to the 2011-12 Toronto lineup in Mickael Pietrus and Gary Forbes – although Colangelo was said to be too busy manning the phones to take time to confirm or deny such rumours Friday night.
According to various reports, the Raptors had agreed earlier in the day to obtain Pietrus, a veteran swingman, in a trade with the Phoenix Suns, giving up a conditional second-round draft pick in exchange.
It was also reported the Raptors were close to signing Forbes, a restricted free-agent guard who played last season with the Denver Nuggets.
Both the deals, if true, would appear to match Colangelo's mantra of targeting cheap, short-term talent for a team intent on playing the daylights out of their younger core of players this season.
Pietrus, 29, has just one year remaining on a contact that will pay him $5.3-million (U.S.) this season. A restricted free agent, Forbes would command a contract of at least three years, but not at rates that would be considered exorbitant.
The Raptors will tip-off their regular season on Dec. 26 in Cleveland against the Cavaliers, before opening at home Dec. 28 against the Indiana Pacers.
Pietrus is considered a solid wingman who averaged 7.2 points a game splitting the last season with the Orlando Magic and Suns, shooting 39.2 per cent from the floor.
Forbes averaged 5.2 points and 12.6 minutes in 2010-11 with the Nuggets and is viewed as someone who can stretch the floor on offence with his speed.
Colangelo has been warning that the rebuilding Raptors won't be spending big money this season, and the newcomers – including Canadian centre Jamaal Magloire, who participated in practice Friday– are seen as decent stopgap measures rather than long-term solutions.
From here on it will be almost non-stop for the Raptors, who will be forced to play 17 of their first 26 games on the road. They will play 19 games in 31 days in January – a franchise-high for one month.
January also consists of the team's lone back-to-back-to-back scenario, with games Jan. 9 against Minnesota, Jan. 10 at Washington and Jan. 11 at home against Sacramento.
The abbreviated schedule also means the Raptors won't get to face some of the teams at home that would likely generate a sellout at the Air Canada Centre, including the defending NBA champion Dallas Mavericks, and the Suns led by Victoria native Steve Nash.
The compact schedule means Casey will have to work overtime if his team is to embrace the defensive philosophies he will be preaching.
"A lot of drills, a lot of conditioning, but all focused on defensive standpoint," veteran Raptors guard Jose Calderon said. "Just trying to put everyone on the same page, what we want to do, how we're going to do it."