For most NBA teams,
traveling to Europe for an exhibition is a novelty at best and an annoyance at worst. For the Raptors? It's just a great big team-building exercise.
Jose Calderon explains in the
Toronto Star:
"We [Calderon and Jorge Garbajosa ] want to get all the team together to go to some Spanish restaurants and show how Spain is our country," Calderon said. "And the same in Italy with Andrea (Bargnani).
"We are going to be a better team because sometimes you play better with your teammates once you know them outside, personally. In this kind of situation, we can make more family, more of a group."
By now, many (most?) teams have at least one or two foreign players, but the Raptors have five non-Americans under contract, not to mention three European training camp invitees (Roko Ukic, Uros Slokar and Girogos Printezis) and two Americans (
Anthony Parker and
Maceo Baston) who have played the majority of their professional career overseas. For most of these guys, taking a trip to Europe is literally no different than taking a trip to Indiana -- it just takes a little longer.
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