The pressure is nothing new for Justin Champagnie.
As he sits in the Toronto Raptors locker room thumbing through a bag of cotton candy, there's a calmness from the 21-year-old forward who will make his preseason debut Sunday night against the Chicago Bulls. It's time to start playing, he says, despite an admission that his nagging hip injury isn't quite at 100%.
"It’s a struggle. Everyone knows the position I’m in, how I’ve gotta play for it and show that I belong here," said Champagnie, who remains on a non-guaranteed contract and has watched as his teammates fighting for roster spots have done nothing but impress the coaching staff so far. "It’s been kinda tough sitting out, not being able to get out there and put my best foot forward, but that’s behind me, can’t really look back at it now."
Coming into training camp this year Champagnie seemed like a favorite to make the roster this season. He'd gone from an undrafted and unknown player on a two-way contract last season to a G-League standout and occasional rotation player for the Raptors. Normally when an investment pays off like that, those players stick around, but things haven't exactly gone as planned.
"You'd like to say Justin did some good things for us last season. He's been in the system, had a pretty good Summer, his shooting is improving a bit. You're leaning towards that as part of the, you know, it's a lot of time and investment made already. But he's got to play," Raptors coach Nick Nurse said.
"It's not like the other guys haven't piqued some interest."
Josh Jackson, in particular, has drawn the curiosity of the coaching staff. The former No. 4 pick in the 2017 NBA Draft has looked at home within Toronto's complex defensive system, another versatile 6-foot-8 defender who has shown some offensive ability so far this preseason.
So far the roster decisions have been difficult, Nurse admitted. The conversations within the coaching staff have been intense and votes for who should and shouldn't make the team have constantly been changing. Champagnie's goal is to make that decision even more difficult. He's been thrilled to see his teammates succeed, he said, but now it's go time.
"I’ve got two games to prove what I can do," he said. "Just gotta go out there and play to my best."
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