Doug Smith: Raptors mailbag: How does Jamal Shead’s contract impact RJ Barrett’s future in Toronto? - Toronto Star

In this week's mailbag, Doug Smith takes questions on Kawhi Leonard, the WNBA playoffs, Raptors training camp in Quebec City and more.

Raptors’ RJ Barrett protects the ball during NBA basketball training camp action in Quebec City.

Doug Smith is a sports reporter based in Toronto. Follow him on BlueSky: @smithraptorsbeat.bsky.social.

The first of five pre-season games was Saturday night (it’s amazing to think they used to play EIGHT exhibition games) and another road training camp is in the books.

Do you think the punishment meted out by Adam Silver to Kawhi Leonard is, in Silver’s mind but not stated by Kawhi, with the understanding that Kawhi knew what was going on all along?

Also, I love the first round best-of-three in the WNBA. Do you?

At no point has Kawhi admitted any culpability publicly — his first statement went only as far to say that “I accept full responsibility for lapses in judgment by people within my inner circle” — so I cannot speak to what he would have told, or not told, Silver or any investigators. It stretches credulity to think he wasn’t aware of many things but there is nothing to prove that at this point.

But whatever Silver heard, or was told, obviously satisfied him well enough to levy the relatively light penalty.

I’m not a huge fan of best-of-three; I think it tilts things too much in the favour of lesser teams. A best-of-five first round might be better but if you’re a big fan of upsets, the shorter series works.

I’m aware that NBA officials visit training camps to go over “points of emphasis” that they will be applying in the upcoming season. How are they arrived at? Do they consult with coaches and players? And are the points in a form that they can be cogently conveyed to the public? It would be interesting to see how they hold up over the course of a season.

The points of emphasis each season come out of recommendations from the team’s competition committee that includes league basketball operations people, general managers, players and coaches and which meets about three or four times a year.

It certainly is worth tracking through a season and we all do. As a joke (between writers, broadcasters, GMs, coaches and players), the over-under for when things go back to the old way is about American Thanksgiving at the earliest and Christmas at the latest.

The Raptors haven’t had their visit from the league yet but the points of emphasis are out for public consumption. As an aside, I give the league all kinds of credit for transparency in such matters, too.

Jamal Shead, the 45th pick in 2024 draft, cashes in with $24-million extension after becoming a key part of the rotation.