globesports.com: Raptors bond during European adventure
One of the unintended benefits of training in Europe was most players’ cellphones didn’t work, so bus rides to and from practice became time to chat with teammates rather than make calls. Some players brought their wives or girlfriends; Kris Humphries brought his parents. But that was it. The social orbit of friends and family that often forms around NBA players at home and often on the road was far away.

Then, after a game, there was the challenge of finding dinner in the wee hours in Rome with all that city’s fine restaurants closed. Carlos Delfino and his wife finally gave up and walked into the McDonald’s attached to the team’s hotel and found themselves in the middle of an impromptu late-night team snack.

Or the challenge of a team dinner at a traditional Italian country restaurant on the outskirts of Treviso: four hours of dining leaves a lot time for talking.