Winnipeg Free Press - PRINT EDITION
Sonny shines for Raps
Weems proves he's no project, scoring in double digits off the bench
On the court, his contributions to the Toronto Raptors have been nice, if unexpected. And with the holiday season ramping up, he has another surprise for his family in West Memphis, Ark. Specifically, he's got something in store for his mother.
"I'm going home to spend time with my family," Weems said Monday as the Toronto Raptors prepared for Wednesday night's game in Detroit. "I haven't seen them in awhile. Actually, my mom doesn't even know I'm coming. I'm going to take a flight at like six in the morning from Detroit (and) get home at like 10.
"I told her all kinds of stuff. I told her I've got to stay here. We've got to help the kids out. She's been on the phone and she's been crying and everything. Oh man, I can't wait."
Well, then, let's hope she's not reading online news stories about her son, or his covert-operation tactics will have been for naught.
There is no such worry in Toronto, where Weems has announced his presence to the Raptors a little bit louder.
Seen as a throw-in when the Raptors acquired Amir Johnson from Milwaukee in August for Carlos Delfino and Roko Ukic, Weems, 30 games into the season, has leaped past Antoine Wright and Marco Belinelli to become the first swingman off coach Jay Triano's bench. Weems generally replaces Hedo Turkoglu about halfway through the first quarter.
Weems has quietly scored in double-digits in four of his last seven games.
He received a career-high 30 minutes of playing time against New Orleans on Sunday, providing seven points, five rebounds, five assists and not a single turnover.
Before the season started, Triano spoke of the bench being important to the Raptors. But do not let anybody fool you into believing the team viewed Weems as anything more than a project with promise for future returns, though.
"I know he really opened my eyes the first time I saw him play," point guard Jarrett Jack said. "The first thing I did was I went home and told (Chris Bosh), 'Do you know anything about Sonny Weems?' He was like, 'No, not really.' I was like, 'Watch tomorrow; he's pretty good.' "
The whole underdog motif works for Weems. He grew up in Arkansas playing both basketball and football -- he wears No. 13 in honour of quarterback Kurt Warner -- only choosing basketball after going through a growth spurt following Grade 10.
Even after making his choice, he was hardly a standout.
"Oh no, no, no, no, no. Not at all," Weems said. "I tried to be, but I wasn't.
"In AAU (youth basketball), I did mostly dunking anyway. No dribbling, no shooting, nothing. Dunking."
His unrefined skills led him to a first post-secondary stint at the University of Arkansas-Fort Smith, a junior college, before transferring to Arkansas.
Still, he was drafted in the second round by Chicago, traded immediately to Denver and was left to watch and learn with the Nuggets -- when he was not playing in the D-League.
"You've really got to understand that for Sonny, this is really his rookie year," Jack said. "Even though he was with Denver last year, he didn't get an opportunity to play, really.
"Sonny was playing for a team that almost went to the NBA Finals, so his opportunities there were very, very limited. We try to stay on him because we know the potential that he has."
Increasingly, that potential is becoming tangible.
-- Canwest News Service
Republished from the Winnipeg Free Press print edition December 22, 2009 C15
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