Rasho's back, and so, sort of, is Garbo

Rasho Nesterovic will be back in the Raptors starting lineup tonight.

In a move that will shift Andrea Bargnani back onto the bench, the veteran centre returns from a six-game absence thanks to a sprained ankle to face the Memphis Grizzlies tonight at the Air Canada Centre.

"Yep, he’ll start," coach Sam Mitchell said this morning.

On Tuesday after practice, Mitchell laid out his reasons for making the switch.

“Mostly you want guys to come off the bench (as) energy guys and you want to put him (Nesterovic) out there right after the warm-up," said the coach. "Andrea's still young so he's still got the body and mental attitude to come off the bench."

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No talking allowed

Garbo’s here. And like that other great Garbo, he wants to be left alone.

Walking, or hobbling actually, with the aid of crutches, injured Raptor power forward Jorge Garbajosa was at shootaround Wednesday morning at the Air Canada Centre.

But it’s going to be a little while before anyone hears what he thinks about this whole other surgery thing.

With insurance issues still to be cleared up – and any time anyone deals with insurance companies that might have to fork out millions of dollars, it’s a dicey situation – Garbo’s been told to not offer any comment.

It’s easy to understand why he, or the team, won’t talk about specifics of his injury or what’s ahead. He’ll have to examined by insurance company doctors who’ll offer their opinion on his ankle, leg and when it all went bad. Then, there are sure to be negotiations, or maybe heated discussions, on who pays who how much.

Comments

[Martin]

I'm starting to question whether playing Bargnani the way the Raps are is standing in the way of his long term development.
You draft a guy #1 with big expectations, he appears by all accounts to show qualities that would justify such expectations so Sam decides the best place for him is as an afterthought in the offence and a guy coming off the bench.
I could undersdand this easily if the team was off to a great start but at 7-7 I see no good reason to not start Bargnani. I'm starting to think Sam is putting him in a position to fail rather than giving him every opportunity at success.

[j.carlos]

everybody is chastising the Raptors for urging Garbo to pursue surgery.
How can you blame the organization? They are just looking out for him.
They want him to be ready, and i mean READY to play, with a complete set of legs.
Pau Gasol's comment about the Raps having a grudge wit him is rubbish.
They gotta stop creating controversy, in a world of professional sports, he's gotta know better.
I know pride persisted, but really should we wait until Garbo completely destroys his leg before undergoing further surgery?

[Al]

my hope is Bargnani becomes something like Manu Ginobli averaging 20 ppg coming off the bench still putting in 30 mpg
Every team needs a spark off the bench, someone who doesn't care about their name being called out during the introductions

[Jim K]

Disagree with Martin (first poster). He is putting him in a position to succeed because he gets to work out his kinks against the opposition's second unit.

Bottom line is he and Bosh have yet to click on the court together. Having him play minutes without Bosh on the floor is probably better for the team, and nothing helps development more then winning.

Finally, once he and Bosh do get comfortable, his development will skyrocket.

Coming off the bench didn't hinder T-Mac much.

[Quico López]

I am a Spaniard, fan of the Raptors for obvious reasons. In any case where there is a conflict of interests, like the struggle between the Toronto Raptors and the Spanish Basketball Federation of last summer, tension and opposite opinions appear in the media.

The Spanish media has been very critic with Toronto, but I think that the first obligation of a player is with the team that pays his salary, a team that has given Garbo a great opportunity last season in order to play in the best league in the world and fullfill Garbajosa'a dreams -he has won everything in Europe-

I just hope that this injury is soon healed and that Toronto and the Spanish national team can both benefit from the courage and good play of Garbajosa.

And talking about T.J. and Jose Calderon...I think the Raptors have the best couple of point guards in the league. I hope TJ recovers soon from his injury, even though Jose can handle 40 minutes of play every night, it is better for Toronto to have different options.

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