TORONTO - Reggie Evans was almost a Charlotte Bobcat this off-season.
He was all but delivered to Michael Jordan’s team along with Jose Calderon for Tyson Chandler and Boris Diaw until M.J. stepped in and killed the deal.
Evans considers that old news and barely worth discussing but Stephen Jackson and D.J. Augustin both seemed to be regretting the missed opportunity after seeing Evans and the Raptors on Sunday.
“Reggie plays hard, probably the hardest playing player in the league. He wants to win and he gets under your skin sometimes because he plays so hard,” Jackson said after the Raptors forward pulled down 17 rebounds in a 95-90 loss to the Bobcats.
That’s 44 rebounds in three games since Evans returned from a 47-game absence because of a broken foot.
Augustin was no less complementary of Evans.
“He just finds the ball,” Augustin said. “We tried to block him out and with two people and he still got the ball. He just plays hard every minutes of the game. He is a great player.”
Of course all that talk came after the game. During play, Evans made just about every member of the Bobcats curse at least once and even got under the skin of assistant coach and former Raptor Charles Oakley.
Oakley could be seen jawing at Evans, who was not prepared to discuss the details of the conversation.
Asked what Oakley said? Evans replied: “Whatever the first thing was that came to his mind basically. I think he was just trying to get his team right and I guess he didn’t like what I was doing on the court.”
