- At shootaround this morning, the first piece of info we were given was that tonight will be the first career start for Sonny Weems. With DeMar DeRozan sitting with that ankle injury, Jay Triano is going with Weems against the Miami Heat. Weems’ mother is in town right now and no doubt will enjoy watching her son in his first start. Weems called the game a “big opportunity” and looked as happy as any player I’ve seen this season when he had to address the media at the end of shootaround.

- The other piece of info that we were given was that DeRozan was left off of the rookie team for the Rookie/Sophomore game. It’s a tough spot for him to be in, considering he plays the guard spot, but seeing Jonas Jerebko get the nod is tough to swallow, considering the Pistons recently lost 13 games straight. Starting rookie for every game so far this season on a winning team gets the nod over a rookie who is playing for a losing team when the numbers are that close. Jerebko gets the nod for rebounding and he shoots a better percentage, but still. The Pistons have 15 wins. Anyway, I’ll let DeRozan’s teammates tell the tale for you.

- Quote of the day is Weems on DeRozan/Jerebko. Seriously, that was gold.

Weems

- The challenge of having to guard Dwyane Wade: “That’s what I was thinking about last night, more than playing, starting on D-Wade. That’s not how you want to start your first start… against D-Wade or any of those guys.”

“We know for sure now that we’re going to be in the playoffs. Right now it’s just about positioning.”

- The approach to guarding Wade: “Just try to contain him. You can’t stop a guy like D-Wade. You’ve just got to contain him. And like I said, once he gives the ball up you’ve got to make it hard for him to get it back, and just make his other teammates beat us. I don’t think it’s any pressure. When we were in Miami, I guarded him.”

- The significance of starting, after the journey he’s been through to get here: “It’s been a long journey, especially with last year not playing at all, sitting in a suit. I might as well have sat in the stands with the other fans. I done came a long way.”

- His reaction when he was told for the first time that his teammate DeRozan was left off of the rookie team: “No he wasn’t. Oh that’s bogus. That’s bogus. I just found out. That’s bogus right there. That’s bogus. Who’s on it?” (Jerebko.) “Jerebko. C’mon man. Jerebko? That’s bogus. That’s bogus.”

- How he has fit in with the Raptors after being hesitant when he first heard that he had been traded this summer: “Man, it’s been great. I have great teammates, a great coaching staff and I have an opportunity to play. That’s the biggest thing. That’s the biggest and most important thing to me, being able to play. At first I didn’t want to move because I didn’t understand the city or the team. But I’m happy about the trade now.”

Bosh

- His advice to Weems on guarding Wade: “Play good defence and don’t worry if he makes shots. When you play players like that, you always want to limit their easy buckets. Once you give up dunks and easy blow-bys it makes it a little bit more difficult. Guys get rolling.”

- The importance of the match up against the Heat: “We can move into fifth today. Those are the things that we have to keep in our mind as the season goes on because the number is dwindling as far as the games we have left.”

- Is this just another game: “Not really. I think we’re at that point. It’s not too early to start thinking about that because for one, we’re in the second half, then the all-star game is coming. I think looking at our schedule we can make a good run and go into the unofficial second half of the season.”

- On DeRozan being left off of the rookie squad: “Well first off, I think every guy is deserving that made the team. But I mean, come on. You look at the numbers and he’s one of the top rookies in the league. He’s doing a fantastic job this year. It’s not easy. I think whoever made the decisions maybe they know they made a mistake. Hopefully they did. He’s well deserving of making that team. It’s a shame that he didn’t make it.”

“Look at the numbers and put him in comparison with every rookie in the league. Put them side by side and you tell me the difference, especially the ones that are in the game. He should make it. That can’t happen.”

Triano

- The decision to start Weems: Well, he’s guarded him before and that’s one of the reasons why we decided to put him on him. He played against him earlier this year and he brings the same type of energy that DeMar brings and we can keep our rotations the same.”

- Was energy why Weems got the nod over Antoine Wright: “No. Antoine brings good energy, too, but we just like the rotations the way they are right now. Antoine comes into the game with Jose and Marco right now and they’re bringing great energy. We want to keep that intact and have the injury impact us as little as possible.”

- Status on DeRozan: “He was getting treatment just now and he was getting it evaluated today. I think a lot of it will depend on soreness and swelling in the next few days. He will not fly, no.”

- DeRozan being left off of the rookie squad: “I think there are a lot of great point guards that have had probably better numbers and probably contributed more to their teams, but at the same time I think he’s had an outstanding first half to his rookie season and he’s helped us to have a winning record at this point and I don’t know if any of the other guards could say that.”

- Has he spoken to his team about the importance of this game: “We’re 1-1 against them so far…There’s still a lot of basketball, so you don’t want to throw anything out, but our players know the relevance and the importance of this game. It’s a big game for us. I reminded them of it yesterday. The last time we played them, they beat us. They’re percentage points ahead of us in the standings and we can reverse that today. The reality of this game is a little bit more important than the Lakers because it’s a conference rival and I hope I don’t have to say anything more than that.”

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