Dan Hamilton-USA TODAY Sports
Justin Champagnie is Wowing the Raptors in the Most Unusual Fashion
Rodney Frazier had never seen a player like Justin Champagnie before. It was one thing to be talented, in his time coaching the New Heights AAU program in New York he’d seen plenty of talented players before, but Champagnie was different. There was a relentlessness to him, an IQ on the court that few players his age seemed to possess.
That’s what stuck out about Champagnie the first time Frazier saw him. At 12 years old, Champagnie already had a grasp for how to move on the court, how to navigate a pick-and-roll and work in the pick-and-pop, said Frazier who coached Champagnie at Bishop Loughlin Memorial High School and in AAU basketball. He didn’t care about putting up the gaudy point totals you see in AAU games across the country as players vie for collegiate offers. Champagnie instead was focused on doing things the right way.
Today with the Toronto Raptors, having defied everyone’s expectations except his own, nothing has changed for the undrafted rookie. The 6-foot-6 undersized “hybrid,” as Frazier put it, is making a name for himself in the most unorthodox fashion.
Scoring? Who cares, Champagnie thinks. That’ll come eventually. Right now, it’s about doing the little things, grabbing the rebounds, making the hustle plays. It’s those things that first got him a collegiate offer to Pittsburgh when nobody thought he could play in the AAC and now have him at the doorstep of an NBA rotation spot, Raptors coach Nick Nurse said.
“I was never the most skilled person, so I just tried to outtough everybody,” said Champagnie who has grabbed twice as many rebounds, 41, as he’s scored points, 20, this season. “It got me very far, so far.”
His energy and toughness-first style of play is a rarity even at the highest levels of basketball.
“I think most guys are always trying to figure out where their shots are coming and how I'm gonna get used and where I can get shots up here and there and where do I fit into the offense, etc.,” Nurse said. “And all he does is go out there and play really hard and chase the ball.”
“He understands the importance that when he’s not scoring the ball there’s other things on the court that he needs to be doing,” Frazier said. “He has a knack for the basketball. Like I always tell him, that a lot of guys can rebound, but not a lot of guys understand what the angles are to rebound.”
That’s where Champagnie's college nickname Baby Rodman, after Dennis Rodman, came from, he said. He’s fearless on the court, chasing down loose balls, getting into the body of bigger players, boxing out, and snaring rebounds over players with three or more inches on him.
“He’s just got a talent for it, sometimes it’s just about angles and reading where it’s coming off at, and he’s a tough kid, a Brooklyn-raised guy,” Fred VanVleet said. “He’s not afraid to jump in the fight and get in there and he’s not afraid of contact and that’s something we can definitely use on this team.”
Nurse has already admitted it’s going to be tough to keep Champagnie on the bench even when the Raptors are back to full strength this season. There was one game earlier this year in which Nurse said he was struggling to get OG Anunoby, Scottie Barnes, and Gary Trent Jr. back into the game because Champagnie was playing so well.
With his defense and rebounding already in place, Champagnie’s future will depend on taking small steps on offense. His shooting is already coming along. Every morning he’s in the gym at 8:30 getting up 200 corner three-pointers, Champagnie said. It’s a work in progress for one of the few players born in the Steph Curry era, if you will, that didn’t grow up solely focused on taking jump shots.
But, as Frazier said, that won’t be a problem.
“When you tell him that he can’t do something, he’s going to work 10 times as hard as the next guy to get the opportunity to be out there,” Frazier said.
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