Within minutes of Marc Gasol’s decision to join the Los Angeles Lakers becoming public — after Serge Ibaka had already agreed to sign with the Los Angeles Clippers — the Toronto Raptors pivoted to sign Aron Baynes, previously from the Phoenix Suns, to fill their hole at center.
Coming off a career-best season at 33 years old, he’s a vintage soul with a modernizing game. The Suns let Baynes jack, and he attempted four threes per game on a league-averagish percentage in his first year as a high-volume shooter. In March, he went off for career-highs of 37 points and nine threes against the Portland Trail Blazers. At his core, though, Baynes is a resolute bruiser, the sort of center who falls right into the lineage of Gasol stonewalling Joel Embiid into a scoreless playoff game.
Baynes recently spoke to BarDown over Zoom about joining the Raptors, his new teammates, playing in Tampa, and of course, the Aron Baynes Fan Club.
What was appealing to you about the chance to sign with the Raptors?
They’re a championship-calibre team. They understand what it takes to get there and they were there not long ago, so being able to come and try to contribute and help them get back to that goal, that’s what I’m playing for and that’s what I want to do. I’m looking forward to getting out there and trying to help Kyle [Lowry] and Fred [VanVleet] and Pascal [Siakam] win some more games and get back to the ultimate goal.
Over the last few years, the Raptors have asked their bigs to space the floor from 3, and you turned into a high-volume 3-point shooter in Phoenix last season. Do you have a sense yet of how the coaches want to use you in the system this season?
Yeah, it’s definitely just trying to find the right spacing, whether that’s rolling or staying in the passing pocket or stretching the floor. Whatever it is, depending on the circumstances, the matchups, what plays we’re running. It’s going to be a mixture of all three, just trying to find the right thing.
If our offence keeps the defence moving, that’s what it’s about at the end of the day, you don’t want to become stagnant. It’s going to be a bit of a mix of everything, and I’m still trying to work on extending that range and becoming more consistent as a three-point shooter.
People have actually noticed that you play sort of a similar style to Kyle Lowry, in terms of drawing charges, playing physical and setting screens. Are you looking forward to teaming up with another guy like that?
Yeah, definitely. He’s led from the front for a long time now, and I’m looking forward to being able to go out there and try to make his job a little bit easier. In turn, he’s definitely going to make mine a lot easier. Yeah, I’m looking forward to getting out there and running up and down with him, going to battle with the guys.
What are your first impressions of your new teammates so far?
Definitely competitors. That’s what it’s about. Nick [Nurse] has us competing in every single drill we’re doing, and it’s fun to be a part of that. Being out there, just understanding that these guys realize it’s every single play.
Fred pulled up the group today and talked about, you know, we all wish there’s one play we could get back. In particular, a defensive rebound from a free throw [during practice]. They understand that one play can define a season, so when we go out there and practice in preseason, every single play still counts. It’s fun to be a part of that, and that competition is going to be great for us when we start playing as well.
Has anyone else stood out to you with their play through the first practice, or the first few, so far?
Definitely the guys you’d expect. It’s fun to watch those guys go out and compete, do what they do. You can tell just from even watching them that they’re going to make your job easier, and you want to be able to go out there and contribute to make theirs that much better as well. Yeah, just a few things we’re trying to work on, a couple nuances, but from early on, I’m fully excited to go out there and get to work.
Fully excited. Don’t know if that’s the best way to say it [laughs], but I’m extremely excited to be able to get out there and get to work.
Who’s the funniest guy, do you think?
I don’t know. I think everything’s a bit serious right now, everyone’s pretty locked into what we need to do. There are as many as returning guys as new guys, and they’re all trying to stay locked in, but I see some of the coaches have a bit of a sense of humour. It’s fun to see that, and once everything starts calming down a little bit and guys get more comfortable within the system, then the personalities will come through as well.
Unfortunately, you won’t get to play in front of the fans in Toronto [in the first half of] this season. How does it feel to not get, or to miss out on that opportunity?
It’s one of those things. We’re still hopeful that, come March, we’ll have the opportunity to head up there, and get in front of the hometown fans. Until that opportunity arises, we’ll be representing them as best we can, and go out there and compete to try to make them proud. You know, hopefully earn that opportunity to go up there after March and continue to keep playing in front of them.
That’s what we’re all excited for right now, but until that opportunity arises, we’re going to lock in. This will be home base for now, and we’re going to treat it as such. We’re going to try and make it as tough for people to come here and play against us as possible.
What’s the first thing you packed with you to Tampa?
Wife and kids, mate. Pretty easy one. If I pack the wife, then she’ll take care of all the rest, so... [laughs]
Alright, here’s a bit of a different one. When we asked Fred VanVleet and Jalen Harris who they thought could beat Jake Paul in a fight, both of those guys named you. So, I mean, do you think you could take him?
[laughs] I mean, what are we doing, a celebrity boxing match again? Why not, let’s go. Let’s get a few more fans involved though. Could be fun, but at the same time, I’m more focused on trying to get used to running up and down with these fellas out there, so I might have to rain check that one for a few years at least.
We obviously have to talk about the Aron Baynes Fan Club account on Twitter. Straight up, that account has more followers than you do. Have you seen that account online?
Yeah, definitely. I think everyone who follows ESPN has seen that account at least a few times, let alone anything else on Twitter. They’ll find a correlation to put up some random stat [about me] that they think pertains the situation, so it’s definitely entertaining.
How do you feel, being a cult hero to literally tens of thousands of people?
I mean, it’s a great thing just because there’s positivity. There’s so much negativity online, especially on social media, that any time there’s some positivity, that’s a good thing. I have a bit of a laugh at it like I think most people do. It’s also breeding a lot of positivity because there’s a lot of copycat accounts out there, so there’s a large number of sports people now that have a fan club page following them and they’ll try to emulate some of what the Baynes Fan Club does.
I’m thankful they’re doing it because like I said, there’s more positivity out there and it’s pretty entertaining for myself personally. I’ll pull up something on ESPN and then I’ll see it myself... they’ll bring up a stat or something to do with my number, 46, with anything.
