VANCOUVER—It’s all going to come back to Kawhi Leonard, all the nuances of playing basketball at the highest imaginable level, the cuts and moves and footwork that he hasn’t had a chance to work on for months.

And after his first real five-on-five practice session with fellow NBAers since last January, the veteran Toronto Raptors forward pronounced himself satisfied with what transpired in suburban Burnaby on Tuesday.

Not overly happy, but satisfied.

There was a bit of rust, a split-second delay in decision-making that was once second nature, but there’s plenty of time for that all to be taken care of.

“(It’s) just positioning yourself on the floor, getting your rhythm down, remembering your steps to get to the basket, remembering your spots, your wind, just everything,” Leonard said after the Raptors concluded their first full training camp practice at Fortius Sport and Health.

”It felt great. Just talking to the guys, I told them I haven’t played a five-on-five since January, the last time I played. It felt great to just run up and down and compete.”

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Limited to just nine games last season — and none after early January — because of a right leg tendon issue, the 27-year-old came through the session physically fine.

It dovetails to what’s been said about him since his first July meeting with the Toronto brass — that he’s physically okay and ready to get back full speed — but it was still nice for Raptors coach Nick Nurse to actually see.

“You can certainly see his level at times,” Nurse said. “He’s a little rusty out there but you can certainly see his strength, his vision, his ball handling, those kind of things. He looked good.”

Nurse’s biggest challenge in the weeklong training camp that precedes the exhibition season will be figuring out the best way to use Leonard and the best combinations that will allow him to flourish.

It can’t be known now how that will shake out, but Nurse has been around long enough to know his most versatile player will be one of his most important.

Leonard isn’t the kind of player who needs the ball in his hands constantly to make a contribution offensively, but things tend to work out that way. That’s what Nurse’s camp of discovery is about.

“Well our offence is kind of equal opportunity … but it always kind of tends to gravitate towards the guys who can score,” the coach said. “That’s the really neat thing about it. You guys have seen the way it’s rolled out.

“The ball’s going to find him. He’s going to have a lot of chances. Now, usage, percentages, minutes played and all that kind of stuff, (will have to be learned).”

The minutia and the Xs and Os are for the days ahead and the five exhibition games that start with one here Saturday against Portland.

Watching Leonard get up and down with his new teammates, each figuring the other out, was good enough for all concerned on Tuesday.

“He looks in shape, he’s locked in, made some big plays, still trying to find his rhythm and everything like that, but he looks good, first five on five being back, he looked good, good chemistry, so I’m excited,” said Norm Powell, who’s been watching Leonard since high school days back in San Diego.

“He’s just going to get better, we’re going to get better, feeling him and Danny (Green) out, incorporating them into the offence and it looks like we have a really strong team top to bottom.”

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But first, there’s cohesion to be developed.

“We’re building a new team this year,” Leonard said. “It always takes time to create that chemistry. Knowing where guys are going to be, me knowing where their spots are, them knowing where my spots are, that stuff takes time, it takes practice and game playing.

“Just positioning yourself on the floor, getting your rhythm down, remembering your steps to get to the basket, remembering your spots, your wind, just everything.”

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