Reggie Evans Returns!!!....To The DNB

No he is not back quite yet. He has a child on the way and his rehab is almost complete. Ironically the baby (a boy) is due on the same day Chris Bosh returns to Toronto. Chris Bosh will be thankful not to see Reggie Evans but Raptor fans hope to see him soon. The impact he had at the start of this season was tremendous and much more what Bryan Colangelo had in mind when he was acquired from Philadelphia. But another injury against the Celtics yet again put Reggie on the shelve. Last season was the first time Evans had ever had to deal with any kind of extended rehabilitation. He has learned from that in his approach to it the 2nd time around. We talk about that, how frustrating it can be to be a spectator as the Raptors have struggled without him, and his thoughts on what it will be like to be a father to a boy this time around. Reggie already has 2 kids both girls. On a side note how would you like to be the poor kid that tries to date them. I can only imagine how I would feel at the age of like 13-16 to see Reggie Evans at the front door. But that is the cool thing about Reggie, for all his aggressive and forceful nature on the court, off of it he is in many ways a gentle soft spoken guy never short on opinions. I admit way back when I started covering the Raptors with access, if you had told me the guy I would bond with the most on this team was Reggie, I might not have believed it. Prior to meeting him up in Ottawa when he joined the Raptors I had just seen him on the floor. he is an intimidating dude and your first instinct is not to say anything wrong that might upset him. But now Reggie is one of the faces I look forward to seeing in the Raptor locker regardless of if he is in the blog or not. But today he is and this is a pretty good interview that let's you get to see both sides of Reggie. The fiery competitor that wants to get back on the court, along with the soft spoken family man that he is off it.

There seems to be this belief that you can not like players in order to do your job effectively in journalism. I have never believed in that. If I like someone... I tell you, if I don't do that too. It is naive to think that when you interview people for a living there are not going to be people you like to talk with and people you don't. But the difference is when it comes to evaluated players you have to be able to set that aside and do your job. But these are not robots, these are people and just like people you meet in your everyday life (only taller in most cases) some you will like and form bonds with and others you will not. I am happy to have formed one with Reggie however small it might be. I am not going to lie and say that I am not thrilled for him to be coming back soon or share in a small way his joy about an addition to his family. All bias aside no one can debate this Raptor team with Reggie and without him has been vastly different. Being in the last year of his contract the future with the Raptors is not exactly clear. But for his time here should it continue or not, it has been great to get to know him. It is really unfortunate that injuries have lessened his impact on this team. We will never know what might have been different had he not had those injuries. But for his sake I am happy for him that his hard work to return to the line up is almost complete. I am even happier for him that he has this happy event for his family to come as well. Here is hoping all the best for his return and his families new addition.