The Raptors miss Yuta Watanabe. Injuries are taking their toll

SALT LAKE CITY – Sitting in the front row of seats by the court, unconsciously rubbing his calf from time to time, Yuta Watanabe explained what it feels like to watch the Raptors play rather than join them.

Not good. It is not good at all.

“Really frustrating,” the 27-year-old forward said here Thursday morning. “My leg hurts, but what hurts the most is now that they are playing basketball. That’s what I love to do. So it has been very stressful to be honest.

“I love to play basketball.”

After the most productive basketball summer of his life, an Olympic appearance for Japan in Tokyo, and weeks of honing his skills to make himself more valuable to the Raptors, Watanabe has yet to feel the joy of playing the game he loves so much.

He’s been out with a calf strain since training camp, apparently bouncing back once before re-injury in practice with the G League Raptors 905. It may be closer to making its debut for the season, but it’s not there yet and it devours you.

“The first time I got it, we knew it (was) going to take just, like, three weeks. But then I had the setback, so after that it’s been almost a month. It’s been almost as stressful the last few weeks, to be honest. “

What exacerbates Watanabe’s frustration is that there is a clear need for him with the Raptors and a role he must play.

The jarring news Thursday that OG Anunoby is now out indefinitely after suffering a hip pointer in a brief practice Wednesday in Portland has further reduced the front court options for coach Nick Nurse.

Anunoby, Watanabe and Precious Achiuwa were eliminated for Thursday night’s game against the Utah Jazz. All three would have been valuable pieces for the coach.

“Pascal (Siakam) has to replace OG, a bit more like he was probably used to,” Nurse said Thursday morning. “And Khem (Birch) and Chris (Boucher) have to bring it. They’ll have to bring a good 25 minutes each, 30 maybe … And other guys have to bring it too. “

One of those other guys would have been Watanabe, no doubt. It’s an active energy boost from the bench, which the team desperately needs, and he looked more confident than ever at the Olympics and in summer training.

“It seemed like he had made a significant leap, just in his confidence level, just to shoot, and obviously he also increased participation,” Nurse said.

“I think those two things go hand in hand. When you think you should take them and feel free to do so, I think that definitely boosts your confidence. And it does all the other things. It moves, runs, cuts and takes out those trays here and there from the cut. That’s a big part of the offense that we lose. “

Watanabe was originally injured doing a routine no-contact layup on one hit and immediately thought he had blown his Achilles – “That was really scary,” he said – before an exam showed it was just his calf.

He went through the initial recovery process as scheduled before sustaining the same injury in the only 905 practice he participated in.

It’s difficult, frustrating, and stressful, but getting depressed and feeling like all “woe is me” is counterproductive, and he knows it!

“I worked really hard after the Olympics because there was no guarantee that I would be part of the team, so I was really pushing this summer,” he said. “When I got injured, I tried to think, okay, this might be the best time to rest because my body might need it.

“I’m just trying to be more positive and trying not to be, like, upside down.”