He was the youngest player on the team when the Raptors acquired him for Norman Powell just under three years ago. Now he helps people like Gradey Dick.
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Just 25 years old, Gary Trent Jr. suddenly found himself thrust into the role of veteran mentor on a Raptors team loaded with prospects. It’s quite a turn of events for a player who was still a teenager when he was drafted into the NBA and was the youngest player on the team when the Raptors acquired him for Norman Powell just ago three years.
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Now, Trent has never really played the role of babyface – his father was an NBA veteran who taught him how to go pro long before Trent followed in his footsteps playing for the Blazers and Raptors – and he has always seemed a bit of an old soul. But Toronto traded him at the time, in part because of the age difference between him and Powell.
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Trent doesn’t have a gray beard, but five of the nine players born before him who started the season with the team have been cut, two others (Chris Boucher and Jakob Poeltl) may not play again this season and the oldest Raptor , Garrett Temple, can’t help much since he’s as much a coach as a player at this point.
Trent is still producing, as indicated by his season-high 31 points in Friday’s 113-103 loss to the Orlando Magic, and he’s trying to provide as much help off the court as he does on the court .
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It appears that Gradey Dick, Toronto’s prized rookie, has particularly benefited from Trent’s tutelage. Even though Dick had one of his worst games of the year against the Magic, he has made considerable progress over the past two months.
“Even right before the season started, me and coach Ivo (Simovic, Raptors assistant coach) were working with Gradey, have been working together basically since the summer,” Trent said after Friday’s game. “I just got here and I was really trying to show him a certain mindset, a certain approach, a certain focus that you should have, whether it’s in the drills, paying attention to how he relies on jumps, all kinds of things. He’s been very receptive and asked a lot of questions on the court as well,” Trent said.
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Trent said Dick was asking how to become more comfortable playing extended minutes, even as a starter. “Obviously he found himself in a situation that is not relatively easy. New coach trying to figure everything out and had a lot of changes as a rookie, so this might be a lot for you. But again, he handled the situation well. He handled his move to the G League when we sent him out. He’s been super receptive, he’s been like a sponge, he’s ready to learn to continue and take the next step and you know, he has so much more to improve on and so much more to add to his game… I will continue to do so. help him as much as I can.
Trent believes he’s been through so many different scenarios so far in his career that he can impart a few words of wisdom to anyone on the roster, if needed.
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“My first time in the league was a little different. You have to think that I was a second round pick on an established team. We had already been together for eight years. So there was no plan,” Trent said when asked why he could understand. “My first year, I felt like I was training for the Olympics. I ran, I lifted weights every day. That’s all I did practically a year in a row (Trent only played 15 games that season)… “Play, don’t play, on the bench, not on the bench, the opportunity could disappear, l The opportunity could be there again. I just continue to work, to control what I can control, to try to be a good teammate, to be a good person, a good player, to go out on the field and try to contribute to the victory as much as I can. can. That’s really the only goal I have,” Trent said.
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“There’s not a part of the NBA I haven’t seen. like for example Scottie Barnes. He arrived in the league as he is, as he is going to be, with everything that was given to him, the lights, the glitter, the glamour. I went from the bench, behind the bench, I was in a suit, I was on the field, I was a starter, I came back (on) the bench. So there’s no part of the game that I haven’t touched, that I haven’t participated in. So I feel like it just helps me deal with things and manage my business, in all these different situations that I’ve been in throughout my career.
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