Image via Complex Original/Jazz Alba
After a pandemic-plagued season, the Toronto Raptors are ready to come back home. While the players and Nick Nurse have been clear in expressing that Tampa provided everything possible to make the temporary base as good as could possibly be, at the end of the day, it wasn’t quite Toronto. It was literally thousands of kilometres from Scotiabank Arena, after all.
Still, over the course of their six-month stay, the team had to find a way to do as the Romans do and enjoy the situation as best they could. Some took up fishing, others like Kyle Lowry made golfing a ritual, and some just basked in the sunshine.
We asked the players and Nurse to share the most unique experiences they had during their time in Tampa. Here’s what they had to say:
Kyle Lowry
Unique? I was about to say being booed at home. [Laughs.] Outside of the basketball court, Tampa has been unbelievable, they showed us love, they showed us a lot of support, and they let us come into their city and basically use their city as a home base, so a city to do that is pretty cool. The most unique thing is we helped bring a championship here; it wasn’t just Tom Brady, it was us. It’s been cool, man, the city’s been awesome.
OG Anunoby
I didn’t do much in Tampa. I guess going to get tested [for COVID] every day at the hotel?
Khem Birch
My ‘welcome to Florida’ moment actually happened in 2010 for Super Showcase. My AAU team rented out a house and there’s alligators in the backyard. It was kinda creepy, obviously. I didn’t go near them.
Pascal Siakam and Nick Nurse
Siakam: I don’t know if it was a crocodile or alligator by my house—it’s by the lake. I don’t know what it was, but it just looked strange.
Nurse: He probably saw the same one that I saw. Pascal lives in the same neighbourhood I live in and there’s a pretty big one that if you walk down the street it’s usually swimming across the pond there.
Siakam: I think there’s a lot of those things happening here and, yeah, that’s pretty funny.
Nurse: There’s a golf course not too far away and I think we saw four of them when we last played golf. I’ve only managed to get out on the course twice this year, but I haven’t done a lot other than that. I haven’t been out to eat or I haven’t caught the Blue Jays play. You always wonder if they’re around where you are and I was taking the boys for a walk in the wagon and I was like, “Holy smokes, that pond is across the street!” So, it isn’t a million miles away from where we are. And I did find this out, actually this morning, that if an alligator’s chasing you, you’re supposed to run zig-zag and they give up chasing you really quickly. For some reason, they can’t figure that out, but they can really run fast straight ahead. But if you go zig-zag they’ll quit chasing you. So that’s a useful tip. A unique and useful tip. And I asked the three guys I was talking to today and I said, “Have any of you had to do it?” And one of them said, “I have had to, one time, run zig-zag.” And the other two did not.
Siakam: That’s Florida for you, it’s pretty crazy, it’s fun, the weather’s nice. I’m enjoying it.
Yuta Watanabe
Uhhhh, not really. Especially this season, no, I didn’t do much. Every day I just go to practice, come back to my room, chill, eat, stuff like that. So, maybe after the season I might explore a little bit.
Jalen Harris
Hmm, unique? I dunno. I can’t complain, though—it’s not bad being in Florida all winter. I don’t really have a specific experience though.
See any alligators?
Nah, I’m towards the city, I’m not trying to be all by the water and stuff. That’s not me.
Malachi Flynn
Really haven’t been able to do much with all restrictions, but I think just the weather stands out for me. Being in the down south, really humid down there, haven’t really been in a weather like that.
I don’t fish. I got a pool at my place so I’ll sit out there sometimes and just enjoy the sun.
Fred VanVleet
Most unique Tampa experience? I don’t have one for you, other than seeing the monster trucks on the highway. The trucks that they lift up real high. There’s an alligator that lives in my backyard that I see in the water every once in a while. A bunch of bugs and birds I’ve never seen before. I don’t really have nothing, no crazy story. There is this: I don’t know if I should tell that story. I won’t. I won’t tell that story. Nothing crazy. Nothing crazy.
You freak out when you saw the alligator?
No, he was far away. I wasn’t getting close to him. I could see him from my back porch, back patio area. I could see him in the water, but I definitely didn’t go looking closer to ask him for his name or anything like that.
Chris Boucher
Maybe when I leave. When I go back to Toronto, I’ll be good. Honestly, I miss Toronto, like the food and everything. It’s been rough. I’m not saying it wasn’t a good place, they did everything for us, the set up and everything was great, but it ain’t Toronto.