Raptors coach James Wade breaks down a gritty win over Nuggets

Raptors coach James Wade breaks down a gritty win over Nuggets

game, right? What? Find my favorite body. Uh yeah, you guys really uh take us through some of the I guess you guys were down in the first half. You guys looked like you were really sluggish, but it felt like Jamal really got things going for you guys in the third quarter and then you guys got Yeah, I wouldn’t I mean sluggish, you can call it sluggish, but that that was a good team that we played. Sure. So the record doesn’t like indicate uh who they are especially in a short like mini season like this. Um I thought that they were getting to their spots and um we were a step slow whether it was them or whether it was us. Um I felt like our energy was different in the second half and we had a different intentionality with you know situations that we wanted to put them in. Um you just hope for that for 40 minutes but um you know give credit to that team. They they were a good team. They played hard. to play physical and we just had to match it. Uh Jacobe also had obviously a great game uh himself. Uh what did you see out of Jacob’s game sort of throughout the course of the match up? I saw his experience kind of you know uh set flight um you know like in a game that’s that you know close and and tight and that just goes back and forth. Um I I think more so the more composed teams are the teams that hold it together and make the runs make the bigger runs when they count. Um I thought his composure helped us. Um, I thought we didn’t make as many mistakes as we did in the first half and he was a big part of it. So, uh, his experience, um, you know, the games that he played, he’s applying it now. Uh, the fact that he works a lot with the coaches on different situations. Um, he just applies those things to games and so you just see his growth before our eyes. So, it’s kind of good. Where’s the biggest growth you’ve seen from him just from the past two just watching developing from? Uh, he’s, you know, he’s really, really locked in on the defensive side of the ball and, um, it creates a lot of offense for us. I think he’s made big steals in each one of these last two games that were really tight that kind of uh uh swifts the momentum or changes the momentum a little bit in our favor and um you know it’s it’s that intentionality on the defensive end um that aggressiveness that physicality that he plays with um that’s actually taking him to another level as a as a player. Are you encouraging more cuz I feel like in the third like he could have missed that one play and then missed the three in the left corner. Are you encouraging like to just like shoot it at Will? I mean, you know, you coach it. You coach it. I I think he he came down on the break and he missed that shot. Um he got it blocked the the last game. He came down on the left side of the first game or second game. Yeah, second game. Came down, got it blocked. Um and I wanted to coach it and put it on uh film, but you know, at some point you you kind of trust him because he works on that shot and you just you want to trust his judgment. if I if I coach every little part of it or if I think if we coach every little part of it, then he doesn’t learn from his mistakes, he’s more robotic. So, he got that same shot and he made it. And I and in that moment, I kind of felt good about not putting it on video or calling him out about it. Um, and he grew and he, you know, he saw the guy’s legs. He saw that he wasn’t close to him and he just stopped and pulled it. But he works on that shot with, uh, Coach Evo a lot. And, um, I think when he’s scoring, that’s fine. But he has to understand that his defense is the thing that gets him going on offensive end. Yeah. The flour on Elijah Mahar. It seemed like a lot of people were confused by seeing you. What was the equation you got from? I so I thought it was just two basketball players going for the ball. Uh and I think it was unfortunate how the gym is set up that it was so close to the sideline. And um you know we’ve had Buu in like um you know we he’s a he’s a good he’s a good kid and we wouldn’t do him any harm. And I think that’s where you saw like I thought it was a a a freak accident in a legal play. And um I didn’t think it was a flagrant, but the most important thing is that boo is okay, you know. So, you know, we didn’t mean anything by it. And I know it got a little testy, but that’s just how it goes. Like at the end of the day, it’s one big fraternity. Everybody’s together. And uh you know, we wish the best for uh EJ Lidell. We want him like he’s a good player and um we want him to make a roster as much as we want our guys to make the roster. So, uh, it’s just happened. I think after it’s over and we just move on, but hopefully Boo is okay. I think that’s the most important thing. How do you manage the emotion of a game like that? You know what I mean? Cuz it was really physical and really trippy. A lot of instances. Yeah. You know, you just go home and I talked to the coach afterwards uh, briefly and let him know that, you know, wasn’t no ill intentions. I think he was he got upset and it’s it like it’s normal. These things happen and it’s just like any argument that happens in your house, you know, you get upset and then after you’re back at it again. But we wish the best. You know, I’m going to go home and um I’ll use this as an excuse to have a ice cream with my son and you know uh break my diet today, you know. So, uh that’s all I’m going to do. Yeah. What were your expectations for coming in? How is he like met those and maybe exceeded? Um he’s growing like you see his growth before our eyes and um you know we you know he he makes some mistakes but he recovers from them uh pretty quickly. Um you see uh last year I thought the game was kind of moving fast for him, too fast for him. Now, I think he’s in a good place where uh he’s catching up to the game and he’s playing at a good pace. I think the thing is we got to get him running every time and uh that’s just going to come with more reps and, you know, more coaching and and more film study. So, uh he’s getting there. Uh still 19 years old. Still 19 years old. Um so, I remember when I was 19 years old. I mean, I wasn’t 7 foot, but I remember when I was 19 years old, just my mom getting me to wash the dishes was a was a task, you know. So, um, we’re we’re asking him to be in two places at one time on the court against the best athletes in the world. So, I think he has time and he’ll he’ll get there. Uh, and he’s taking steps forward. You know, we keep seeing make plays in transition. You know what I mean? Like that. Yeah, that was that was that was crazy. I have to watch that one again. I I looked over at the coach. I was like, “What in the hell just happened?” You know, and uh so it’s a ow to his hard work. Yeah. Uh because in that situation, his teammates is trusting him. And so for them to trust him in that situation, um I think it’s just everybody understands the work that he’s putting in. Okay, one more. I just have a more general question. You know, going into the latter half of the tournament now, how how are you trying to keep momentum up? Um we just have to lean continue to lean into who we are uh and try to do that. It’s it’s ways that we can grow. Uh and and and so the biggest thing is we want to put together a 40-minute game where we can, you know, it’s it’s good to play these type of games and to prevail. Uh but it’s only good when you learn from it. And so we can’t be satisfied with with just winning. Um it’s always about how we win and and for us to try to dominate as much as we can for a majority of the game as opposed to 19, 20 or 21 minutes. Um, so it feels good, but we got a lot to learn from

Toronto Raptors summer league head coach James Wade breaks down a gritty win over the Denver Nuggets, and goes into depth about the improvements by Jamal Shead, Ja’Kobe Walter, and others.