Chris Boucher misses being teammates with Jonas Valanciunas: 'I owe a lot to JV'

"He helped me a lot when I first got here. That was the first time I actually had to battle with somebody that was 100 pounds bigger than me. He definitely forged a mentality of not giving up.” Follow our Raptors coverage all season long on Yahoo Sports Canada.

Video Transcript

- [INAUDIBLE]

CHRIS BOUCHER: I mean, it showed a little bit confidence. Obviously, I think, Coach, he trusted me at that moment, which is really important for me. It just shows how many strides I've made.

Like I said, I came a long way when it comes to defense, and knowing my spots, and when that have my [INAUDIBLE] up and crashing the offensive rebound. And also, I'm finding ways to impact the game and that's not related to my offense, so it feels really good to just get those little one, two, one, two out of nowhere. People call it garbage.

- What does a Jonas hug feel like?

CHRIS BOUCHER: Man, that guy is huge, huh? But I won't lie to you, I miss JV. Like I said, he helped me a lot. I remember when I first got here, that was like the first time that I actually had a bottle with somebody that's almost 100 pounds bigger than me. And he definitely forged a mentality of not giving up and all that.

You know how he is. He's going to try to go get a bucket every time, and sometimes in practice, I was stuck to get him in the post and all that. I built up a good character, so I owe a lot to to JV for what he did for me being here.

- You were matched up with him quite a bit. In the fourth quarter you guys said [INAUDIBLE] and things like that. How big a problem is he? [INAUDIBLE].

CHRIS BOUCHER: He's a presence. He's a presence, so you can't forget about him. You can't go to one person either. It's kind of hard unless you got like a Joel Embiid and [INAUDIBLE] the same body. He's really hard to guard, and he got a lot better with his touch and everything. He's shooting three's now, so he's really a problem, especially when he Joel is down there. So like I said, a lot of kudos to him because he really came a long way too.

- [INAUDIBLE]. Are you there?

- Yes, I'm sorry, sorry. I though that there will be another question in English. Sorry. OK, [NON-ENGLISH SPEECH],

CHRIS BOUCHER: Yes, sir. You're welcome.