The veteran centre, who has played in only two games since joining the team as a free agent on Dec. 14, doesn't need to be a whiz with words when his actions will do, playing a style that's only going to make him a favourite with his teammates and fans.

Take, for example, his most recent outing before the Raptors faced the Sacramento Kings here late last night.

It was in Los Angeles against the Clippers just before Christmas and all Voskuhl did in that game was mix it up under the boards like few Raptors ever do and bump into Los Angeles centre Zach Randolph hard enough that Randolph banged up a knee and had to leave at a crucial fourth-quarter junction of the game.

Voskuhl says he never goes into a game with mayhem on his mind, but if something happens, then that's just part of the game.

"I'm going to go in there and play hard and aggressive and smart. And sometimes it just gets like that," he said here yesterday morning.

"There are some players who'll try to kind of punk you, you know what I'm saying? They kind of try to test you and feel you out and that's just the way some players play. If you don't really back down, they don't really like it because most people will back down.

"Those kinds of situations (with Randolph) happen but I don't think those are normally your intention when you go into a game."

Because of that willingness to mix it up and do what some see as the dirty work, Voskuhl is likely to earn himself more playing time. At 6-foot-11 and 255 pounds, he's bigger than the 6-foot-9, 235-pound Kris Humphries, whom he seems to have supplanted as the fourth big man in Toronto's frontcourt rotation.

"(It's) just a grittiness," coach Jay Triano said yesterday morning. "It's tough when you're sitting on the bench to go in for two or three minutes and make something happen but he did it San Antonio (in the outing before the Clippers game) so we rewarded him again.

"I don't know if his numbers are great, but he goes in there and gives us a little bit of chippiness and a toughness inside. He's not afraid to hit people. Especially if the game isn't going the right way for us, he's a great guy to put in and maybe change the tempo or change the flow of a game."

Because he's not blessed with the greatest athleticism on the team, the nine-year veteran has to rely on his strength, and his intelligence, to go get rebounds. He's not going to out-jump people or beat them to the ball with his quickness but he is going to present an obstacle to be dealt with.

"We talked about not being a very good rebounding team and it was like a clinic against the Clippers," Triano said of Voskuhl.

"When a shot went up, he just backed right into somebody and it was a perfect box out. He kind of got under the skin of a couple of Clipper guys right away and we haven't had that for a while. That brings us a dimension we haven't had."

Voskuhl's secret to boxing out and rebounding is hardly innovative but it has to have endeared him to every coach he's ever had.

Asked about technique, he goes back to one of the most time-worn cliches all defensive-minded coaches espouse.

"It's one of those funny things - you've got to hit somebody first and you have to be aggressive, and typically when you're aggressive and you hit somebody first, they kind of back up a little bit," he said.