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TSN Raptors Reporter

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TORONTO – Over these past few months, the Raptors have gotten used to dividing their focus between basketball and matters that are far more serious.

Their experience in the NBA bubble was practically a crash course in compartmentalization – spending more than two months away from their families, friends and communities amid a global pandemic and during a time of social and racial unrest, all in the interest of completing the season.

For most players and coaches on the team and around the league, that ability to hit pause on everything going on outside of the gym – if only for a 48-minute game or one-hour practice – was tested more than ever before.

Now, it’s being tested again, and will continue to be tested throughout what promises to be a challenging 2020-21 campaign. With teams operating out of their home markets – with the exception of Toronto, which has set up camp in Tampa, Florida – and travelling across the United States, Monday’s announcement that three undisclosed members of the Raptors organization tested positive for COVID-19 is just the beginning.

While the news served as a reminder of what Toronto and the league’s other 29 clubs will have to contend with over the coming months, it did not slow down training camp, which opened at Saint Leo University – just north of downtown Tampa – on Sunday.

After follow-up testing and contact tracing, the Raptors are confident that the three cases remain isolated, so much so that they’ve deemed it safe to keep their facilities open. They held a non-contact practice on Monday and were able to go full bore in Tuesday’s session. They’ve got an intrasqaud scrimmage planned for Wednesday, according to Nick Nurse.

Despite another would-be distraction, this one hitting closer to home, it’s business as usual for Nurse’s team.

“You kinda get used to it,” said the Raptors head coach, who spoke to the media via videoconference following Tuesday’s practice. “I don’t know if it’s handling whatever’s being thrown at you, or if it’s putting it in a certain compartment and handling that and moving forward with basketball. That’s kind of what it seems like to me. There seems to be many things that are going on, even with relocating [to Tampa] or whatever it is. There is time and energy spent there, [but] you put that to the side and you get to your film-watching and your practice-planning and your making-players-better thoughts.”

Even with that said, there’s no ignoring what’s happening around them. As someone who keeps an elephant figurine in his office back in Toronto – signifying the value of addressing topics that are often avoided, or the ‘elephant in the room’ – Nurse is making time to have those conversations with his players before or after most practices. Ensuring that everybody understands the importance of following proper health and safety guidelines on their own time has been an early emphasis in camp. That they’ve already had three positive cases should reinforce it as a priority.

“I don't think it feels like a wake-up call, but I think it does add a sense of awareness,” said Nurse. “I think a lot of things do. You look around and see something happen in another sport, or another team, or college, or whatever, and you're getting these awareness reminders because it's kinda what's going on. That's the way things are moving in the world of sports right now. But yeah, it hits a little closer to home. Do I get in front of the team and have some commentary on it? Yeah, I do, and that's probably because of those results coming in. I envision myself having to do that, not every day but maybe every other.”

Recently signed centre Aron Baynes, who tested positive for COVID-19 over the summer, can speak from experience.

“The worst thing about it was the stress of initially not knowing if I was going to pass it on to my family,” said the 33-year-old Australian big man. “At the time when I was first diagnosed, my wife was pregnant, so she was in the high-risk category. My daughter has asthma, so she was in the high-risk category. And then all the unknowns of what it was going to do to children and adults alike, but definitely the kids, we were definitely worried about what was going to happen. As much as it knocked me on my butt any moment that I was awake, it was just complete dread as to what was going to happen for them, for their safety.”

“Because I know how it felt to worry about it, it’s something we take seriously to this day… We don’t want to put others in the same position that our family went through.”

Baynes’ first week with his new club was eventful. His wife gave birth to a baby girl last Friday, just a few days after they had arrived in Tampa. Considering how chaotic the move has been, he is appreciative of what the team – and the league – has done to make him and his family feel safe. Despite the positive cases – not only for Toronto but throughout the association during the opening week of training camp – Baynes is confident that by following the protocols in place, they’ll be able to get through the season.

“We’re in the best possible circumstance to be doing what we’re doing,” he said. “They look after everything for us. So it’s really not much stress on us in terms of what we have to do on a day-to-day schedule. The hardest thing for us is going out to get a test every single day. That’s as tough as it is for us. We’re protected and we’re looked after so well. And, sure, we can’t do some things some days but at the end of the day we’re lucky to be able to do what we do. Everything, every need we have, is taken care of. There are a lot of people out there doing a lot worse and if that’s the biggest stress for us every single day then that’s fine. That’s no skin off our back.”

“We’re gonna go out there and focus on the job at hand, which we’re all looking forward to and are just thankful to have that opportunity to go out there and keep playing. At the end of the day, we’re doing what we love to do and it’s what has [helped] get most players through the last 10 months – just knowing we’re gonna get back out there and keep playing in the NBA, and it’s a great thing for all of us.”​