Gary Trent Jr. is Showing the Raptors His Value as a Reliable and Professional Scorer
It was almost two months ago that Toronto Raptors coach Nick Nurse sent a public message to Gary Trent Jr. to start playing better. The words were stern: "We want him to be a disruptor. He kinda fits us if he does that, and if he doesn’t, he doesn’t fit us."
A few days later the message was sent again when Nurse decided to move Trent to the bench for the first time this season. Trent's defense had fallen off considerably and he'd been mired in the worst shooting slump of his career.
Some players may not have taken kindly to the move. Scottie Barnes, for example, wasn't particularly good at hiding his dissatisfaction with his benching back in November. But Trent didn't sulk, shut down, or give up.
"He's been as professional as he can be all the way through about all of it," Nurse said Tuesday. "Even when you go to talk to him his attitude is, man, I'm gonna work and do my job and whatever you need."
Trent is aware that his name is swirling around trade deadline rumors and there's no doubt he knows where his contract sits as a big free agency rapidly approaches for him this summer. And yet, there's been no sign that it's getting to him.
Instead, he's risen to the call over and over again. After a brief bout with injuries and illness earlier this year, he's blossomed into Toronto's second-best offensive weapon for the better part of the last two months. Since that benching back on November 28, he's been shooting 48.1% from the floor, 41.7% from behind the arc, and 20.6 points per game, the second most on the team over the stretch.
Part of his resurgence has simply been finding his stroke from three-point range, but Trent is also quickly developing into a more well-rounded offensive player. He's shooting 63.3% within eight feet of the hoop this season, up from 49.5% last year, and his playmaking has slowly been coming along lately.
"They know he’s going to shoot it but he hits the pocket [pass], he hits the roller a couple of times and the level of his basketball IQ is getting a lot better," Chris Boucher said following Wednesday's practice.
"I need to get my left hand better. I need to get my ball hand a little better, my playmaking a little better, and that's everything I just tried to attack," Trent added. "Come back with some new, come back better every single year, and continue to just show improve[ment]."
It's a Pascal Siakam-inspired approach that's helped Trent who has developed from a back-of-the-bench second-round pick with the Portland Trail Blazers to a rotation player and eventual starter with the Raptors. He's borrowed parts of Siakam's developmental blueprint and suggests from his father, Gary Trent Sr., an eight-year NBA veteran who showed him how to conduct himself as an NBA professional.
"He instilled in me early on what it's gonna take," Trent said of his father who spent the second half of the 1997-98 season with the Raptors. "No matter what's going on, no matter up and down, no matter not enjoying, enjoying it, mad, sad, have fun with it. You play in the NBA. You live in your dream. A lot of people kill for your position."
Just days away from his 24th birthday, Trent is showing exactly the kind of skills the Raptors are looking for from their shooting guard of the future. He's not only an effective scorer who can create a shot for himself, but he's a willing listener, who can play his role, take advice and develop. Those types of players are valuable in this league. The Raptors know it and so too does the rest of the NBA.
Further Reading
Raptors show who they can be at their best as they end 1st half with victory over Hornets
Pascal Siakam is unfazed by trade deadline chatter: 'Literally doesn't concern me'
Fred VanVleet addresses contract rumors: Mutual decision to wait on extension talks
