Changes of scenery are nothing new for Forbes, who transferred to UMass before eventually blossoming into the A-10 Player of the Year.
Gary Forbes hopes he'll start to get as much use out of his uniform as he does his practice jersey.By DAVID DRIVER
WASHINGTON – Gary Forbes, after transferring to the University of Massachusetts from Virginia, did not exactly scorch the nets for the men’s basketball team during his first season in Amherst.
He made fewer than five field goals per game during the 2006-07 season and saw his shooting percentage fall from his final year with the Cavaliers.
“The second year (at UMass), everything fell into place,” said Forbes, who improved his scoring average from 13.0 to 19.4 and was named Atlantic 10 Player of the Year as a senior in 2008. “Basketball always takes time to adjust.”
The 2007-08 Minutemen were 25-11 and helped head coach Travis Ford parlay that into the same job at Oklahoma State.
Now the 6-foot-7 Forbes, who turns 27 in February, hopes the transition to his second NBA team eventually works out as well as his move from Thomas Jefferson’s university in the Atlantic Coast Conference to UMass and the A-10.
After playing in 63 games with 11 starts last year for Denver in his first NBA season, Forbes is in Toronto after signing with the Raptors as a restricted free agent Dec. 14. The Raptors visit the Boston Celtics on Wednesday.
The forward averaged 12.6 minutes and 5.2 points per game with Denver, but in his first 10 games with the Raptors logged merely 76 minutes and 23 points while making just eight of 32 shots for new head coach Dwane Casey.
“Playing time is not as much as I would like,” said Forbes, sweat dripping off his uniform courtside some two hours before a recent road game with the Wizards. “I have been through this before. Virginia was some of the same thing (before he transferred following the 2004-05 season).”
So what does he need to do to see more action with the Raptors?
“Right now coaches are preaching a lot of defense,” Forbes said. “That is one thing you want to take pride in: you don’t want your guy to score on you. I think I have gotten quicker over the summer.”
Despite limited playing time early on, Forbes said he feels fortunate to have landed in Toronto after an uncertain offseason. He signed with the Raptors when Denver did not match Toronto’s offer sheet.
“I was a little bit worried during the lockout because of being a free agent,” he said. “My agent did a great job. I wanted a stable position somewhere.”
“We were surprised. We felt that Denver was going to match,” Casey, an assistant with NBA champion Dallas last season, told The Canadian Press in December. “We were happy to get him. He’s a very talented young man. He’s a ball handler, creator off the dribble, a shooter.”
Canadian basketball fans are certainly familiar with Forbes. Born in Panama and raised in Brooklyn, N.Y., he played for Panama’s national team and scored 39 points in a September win that ended the Olympic hopes of the Canadians.
The Raptors have their own challenges, falling to 4-6 when they lost 93-78 at Washington Jan. 10. It still stands as the only win for the woeful Wizards, while Toronto has since dropped to 4-10.
“We made it tough on ourselves tonight,” Toronto guard DeMar DeRozan told reporters after that forgettable game in the nation’s capital. “We were rushing things and trying to do too much and that caused a lot of our turnovers. We played the game at their pace and they took advantage of that. They got some steals and were able to get easy baskets. We all have to play better and take care of the basketball.”