When Cory Joseph was a little kid, the hoop in his driveway in Pickering became the basket at the Air Canada Centre; the pavement beneath his feet, hardwood. And when he’d pull up to shoot, in his boyhood imagination, he’d be draining a buzzer beater for his favourite team.
“You know, ‘Five, four, three, two, one. He scores! Raptors wiiiiinnnn!’ ” recalled Joseph, sharp-dressed and grinning at the centre of a crush of journalists holding microphones in his face.
A grown man now, the fancy of a young kid from the suburbs is an official reality: the Toronto Raptors announced Thursday that they have signed Joseph to a four-year contract that’s reportedly worth $30 million.