The Morning After The Night Before, XVI

Ugly game, no? Yes.

Three Things I Learned

Wow, are they bad

The biggest question out of last night? How in the world did the Bobcats ever win six games?

They are/were terrible. And poorly coached last night at least. Remember the end of the first quarter? Play in front of the Raptor bench with about 15 seconds left? Bobcats have a foul to give and everyone knows it, the Toronto bench is yelling at Jose to go to the basket quickly because he’s going to get fouled and they’ll need time to run something.

Everyone knows it except Sam Vincent that is.

Not only don’t the Bobcats foul, they let Calderon go unimpeded to the rim and kick it out to Delfino for an open three.

A scout, early this season, said the coldest thing about the Bobcats. I paraphrase but the gist of it was " Sam Vincent is going to make Leonard Hamilton look like Red Auerbach."

Chill. All of you

This will be to answer the half dozen or so e-mails and comments about Darrick Martin holding the ball until the final buzzer.

A friend, who probably doesn’t know Red Auerbach from Red Skelton, was at the game and the word she used to describe that pizza chant and the late-game antics was “disgusting.”

Really, folks. There is something to be said for winning gracefully and with class, if they take a shot up 19 at the final buzzer just to feed you, that’s crass and disrespectful and entirely unnecessary.

The pizza’s not that good, fans should be pleased with a win rather than disgruntled because someone didn’t run up the score. Or, as Chris in the comments section suggests, they should change the giveaway to keeping teams under 85 or something.

A case in point

There was about a 15-second stretch in the first quarter that they should put in the Joey Graham time capsule as a perfect example of his career.

He sort of walks out of bounds to catch a ball that’s going out anyway and the move gives it back to Charlotte and Sam’s angst was incredible. I thought his head might explode.

But the next time down the court, Joey takes a pass from Parker, I believe it was, spins and dunks in maybe the nicest play of the game.

Good Joey-Bad Joey. You gotta love him. Or hate him.

Three Things You Wondered

Q: Any view as to why Juan is not playing AT ALL? Smitch seemed happy earlier this season with his going-to-the-rim bravery, but now he's a leper.

Omar

A: I was as shocked as anyone that Dixon got another DNP-CD last night. Game’s a rout, it’s not like he’s terrible or anything yet there he sat. I know some of the staff are a bit concerned about his defence and his propensity for shooting but, really. If they do have designs on him being an emergency third-string point guard (and I was led to believe at shootaround yesterday morning that he’d get the minutes Martin got last night) what better night to play him than last night?

Makes no sense.

Q: You know what Doug, while Kapono may be 'overpaid' on the scoresheet most nights, no one should ever complain about this guy's contract. He's a low-maintenance guy, makes shots when he gets them, and does the little things, like making the right passes. What do you think? Is this guy overpaid?

Mark Irish, Orangeville

A: Overpaid? Not a chance. Not at all. Guy’s making average money and giving above average contributions most nights. Sure, he’s not a starter getting 15 and 5 a game but over the last five games – four wins – he’s 9-for-15 from three and 23-for-41 from the field. That’s damn good production.

Q: Dinner time conversation with my husband tonight focused on the great story of Jamario Moon, with speculation about the strength of spirit it must have taken for him to persist in trying to get to the NBA.(Though we also considered that maybe it was just his love of the game!)

Anyhow, one question I had was what was the next lowest salary of a regular season player on the Raptors (and who got it?) I understand that Jamario is making $500k. I was musing that he should be given a Christmas bonus!! My husband parried though that a long-term contract with the Raptors is likely the bonus that Jamario would settle for!

Can you shed any light on this?

Phyllis, Broad Cove, N.S.

A: Talking Raptors over dinner? Cool.

A Christmas bonus would be nice but it’d also be against the salary cap rules so I’m afraid he’s just going to have to get a turkey or something.

Moon is the lowest paid Raptor, at about $487,000 a year. And the problem is, he’s locked up for next year, too, at not much more money so he’s not going to hit the motherlode at the pay window until the year after that. And basketball can be a very harsh business so he’s going to have to keep performing to get that big deal down the road.

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I offer this from Roger in Barrie without comment (but with a giggle):

Since Swirsk is insisting on using his "You just got Mooned" tagline, I think it's only fair that he applies the same formula to the Hump's blocks. What do you think, does he have the onions?

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And I offer these, good-naturedly. Darrick Martin played his first three or four minutes without taking a shot and a couple of wags (well, one) on press row wondered if the crack Raptor PR department could check with Elias Sports Bureau to see if that was a career high.

And then Hump dishes his second assist and we go scurrying to the record book to see if it’s a career high. Nope, it’s four. Two ties a season high, though.

The things we do during a boring game.

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Don’t forget the mailbag (I know you don’t ‘cause it’s full again). Just click here to send along your innermost thoughts.

This could get ugly

As we're wandering out of shootaround just now, after Sam tells us that Chris Bosh won't play, Andrea Bargnani won't play and there's a very good chance T.J. Ford won't play either, we're trying to figure out just who might score some points for the Raptors against the Charlotte Bobcats.

"There'll be no pizza tonight," one guy jokes about the free-slice-at-100-points thingy. "Everyone should get a steak at Harbour 60 if we get to 100."

Pretty sure the marketing dudes here aren't going to go for that but it would be sweet, wouldn't it? Not that they're going to get to 100, though.

Bosh's strained right groin isn't right, Bargnani's hyper-extended left knee isn't right and Ford? Well, Ford just isn't right and hasn't been since he's come back from the stinger he got in Dallas a couple of weeks ago.

So, who starts at the four without Bargnani and Bosh?

"I'm 99.9 per cent sure," said Sam. "But I'm not telling you."

Okay, so we'll make an educated guess.

I'm betting it's Joey Graham at the four and we'll see if he's the lock-down, bullying defender he professes to be.

As for a backup point guard if Ford doesn't play? This might be the kind of night where they need the offence Juan Dixon provides in that spot on him. Bet on him.

Dribs, drabs and the odd snippet of entertainment

Slow, slow day today so far.

Travel torture meant missing practice and the T.J.-Joey one-on-one showdown so I’m feeling a tad detached. Luckily, there are a couple of shootarounds to catch me back up.

Until then …

Time for the little people

No Bosh, maybe no Bargnani and the Charlotte Bobcats. What are we in for tonight?/p> How about a bunch of (relatively) teeny-tiny guys running around?

If there was ever a game in which the Raptors could get away with going small (think Jamario Moon as a power forward) it’s tonight’s ‘cause the Bobcats are little. Very little.

My man Rick Bonnell, writing here in the Charlotte Observer, details how small and what’s the issue.

We saw a small Raptor lineup late in the Washington game and it worked out okay keeping them close in the latter stages and we’ll see it tonight, too.

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Bargnani’s struggles

Got a little note from Alison Blackman of Mississauga.

Hey Doug, I don't see too many...ok, ANY letters from females, so maybe you'll post this for the novelty alone.

My question is, why all the hype around Bargnani? It seems as if every time I look at his stat line, it shows 1 for 13, 2 for 24, 1 for 10 or something similar. His defence is spotty, he doesn't get to the line often enough for a big man, and when he attacks the basket, he either travels, gets blocked, misses the shot, or on a rare occasion, makes the basket. What do you think?

There’ve been a few submissions for the distaff side (I think there was a regular correspondent named Kim from Ajax, or Pickering, or Oshawa or some other eastern nirvana way back in the day) but not nearly enough. And all are welcome.

Bargnani’s certainly been a disappointment so far, he just hasn’t seemed comfortable at all. Being jerked in and out of the starting lineup may be a factor but not an excuse.

The kid’s skilled, no doubt about it, and that’s why there’s the hype. He’s got a picture-perfect jump shot, is learning (slowly) to operate in the post but his defence is indeed spotty. Not bad guarding bigs, a terrible help defender. And until he gets it on a consistent basis, hype is all it’s going to be.

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Walter Cronkite probably wasn’t available

The Wizards run this cool video before the game (not during) that shows CNN’s Wolf Blitzer, there’s one the all-time good names, in The Situation Room running down that night’s opposition. Sorta like Swirsk does, except it’s Wolf.

Got me thinking, since imitation seems to be all the rage in the NBA these days (yes, Washington uses Stronger as the intro song, arrghhh!!!) why don’t the Raptors do the same?

Here’s a short list of possibilities

George Stroumboulopoulos, since the uber-cool arbiter of pop culture got his start as a lowly sports dude.

Lloyd Robertson, for gravitas

Peter Mansbridge, the guy’s been to a bunch of games in the pricey front row seats

Or the iconic Steve Buffery, oops, I mean Mike Duffy.

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Admirable, but frustrating.

We’re talking to Sam Mitchell after Saturday’s loss and Stumpy suggests that surely to all that’s good in the world Andrea Bargnani needed to better than 2-13 in the absence of Chris Bosh. Sure, Bargnani hurt his knee early and it obviously trouble him but still …

Sam? Wouldn’t go there.

"It serves no purpose," he said when asked, sort of politely, to rip Bargnani. "I understand as a coach everyone’s not going to play great every night." Spoilsport.

Actually, it’s consistent with the way Sam’s been since he got here. The only guy he really called out publicly as the late, not-so-great Jerome Moiso, who Sam intimated one night in Orlando was little more than a waste of vital organs in an NBA uniform. The subtext to that one-time diatribe was that Moiso was missing one of the vital organs. The most vital.

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Keep the cards and letters coming

Remember, we’ve got the mailbag on Fridays and three quick questions after each game; just click here to send ‘em along. And my friend Alison points out, we’re not gender-biased here so anyone and everyone are welcome.

The Morning After The Night Before, XV

Gotta be short and sweet this morning, early flight and there’s talk of weather rolling in here and Lord knows Air Canada and the GTAA have been messing me around all season so they’ve got a chance to do it again. (How, you ask? I had luggage lost for a flight that was cancelled and never actually got off the ground; first two trips had flights cancelled, under-staffed check-in counters, blah, blah, blah).

A rather dreary game again, so there are a couple of outside-the-game things that were weird.

Three Things I Learned

Making money off mourning

I would love to think that the guy peddling memorial Sean Taylor hats on the street outside the Verizon Center for ten bucks a pop was raising money for some good cause. I would love to think that. But I can’t. And that’s a sad commentary on the world and people’s willingness to capitalize on the tragedy of others rather than my cynical, bitter nature.

Obligatory Moon lesson

Seems we talk about the dude every game, don’t we? Here’s another one. Moon’s breath-taking feats of athleticism are pretty cool to watch but it irks his coaches no end to see him leap for some rebound and try to grab it with one hand. Sam yells, the assistants roll their eyes and if Moon doesn’t grab the ball and it bounces out of bounds, it’s eventually going to cost him time.

Game Ops gone wild

You know I’m not a big fan of the noise and shenanigans that go on during a game (The Chicken notwithstanding, of course) and there’s a new one to dislike. A guy on the visiting team is shooting free throws at some crucial point in the game and the home team flashes the logo of the city’s arch rival on the scoreboard, sending the fans into a frenzy. Happened in Washington Saturday with a Dallas Cowboy logo and a photo Jerry Jones., Happened in Cleveland last week with shots of Michigan and the Cincinnati Bengals.

If these people think the fans are such dopes they don’t know when to boo, cheer and make noise, the oughtta stop taking their money and get them some sports-fan therapy. Some of this stuff is cute; much of it is inane.

Three Things You Wondered

Q: A recurring theme in pro sports these days is a reduced focus on "age" in favour of looking at "mileage" on a particular athlete's body. Given that Jamario Moon has spent the last several years playing in minor leagues with only 50-game seasons and at much slower paces, is it possible that he's only about 23-24 years old on the body odometer? This would seem to be relevant for Bryan Colangelo in what I'm sure would be a decision to retain Mr. Moon's services.

Sean Smith, Toronto

A: There are guys who are younger than their age, and guys who are older than their age and general managers always take that into consideration when it comes time to renegotiate.

Moon could be considered a “young” 27 but he could also be considered older than his age because he’s bounced around so many rinky-dink towns and leagues without benefit of the nutritional advice, medical treatment, training advice and comfy-womfy lifestyle of an NBAer.

Q: Please help resolve an argument? Which team paradigm do you think the Raptors closely resembles? Is it the Spurs, Phoenix or Dallas or a blend of all three? Thanks.

Babatunde Ayorine, Oakville

A: I offer this only because you used the phrase ‘team paradigm’ and that’s a good one.

Right now, I think they most resemble Dallas, excitable coach, a team that’s not accomplished its ultimate goal, a great player, a bunch of good ones and depth. Eventually, they want to be San Antonio, just as Dallas does, a group of time-hardened veterans who know how to win.

Q: Let’s talk T.J. and the other guy. Yes, we finally win three in a row. Who's starting? I thought so. Now you can stop your never-ending defence of T.J. T.J. has more skills than the other guy. The other guy has WAY more basketball brains. When the other guy plays WE WIN. When T.J. plays, he scores 20 points. Awesome trade-off. I'm sure you won't post this. So this'll just be between me and you.

Chuck., Toronto

A: Keep this between this us? Yeah, right. People need to see some of this stuff every now and then.

I know you wrote this before Saturday’s game so the three in a row comment I’ll let slide. I now you probably forgot about the 47 wins last season (minus the handful that “the other guy” started .

This might be the most classic e-mail on this subject  I’ve ever received. Thanks for making my day.

Okay, gotta run. Remember, if you’ve got a good question, send it along by clicking here. Please.

The Morning After The Night Before, XIV

Lucky ticket buyers, eh?

You get LeBron on a Friday night, pack the joint and he sits it out. Sweet.

My man Larry Millson, ably filling in for the Absent M. Grange, made an interesting point. Larry’s got the pulse of the FCs and wondered why there was no hullabaloo over the possibility James might not play when there was such a stink over that Beckham footballer this summer. James is a far better basketball player than Mr. Spice is a soccer, er, football player, but no one was burning up the airwaves Thursday or Friday morning suggesting ticket refunds if James didn’t play.

(Okay, you football fans, before you start e-mailing, ask yourself this question: Is Beckham one of the half dozen best football players in the world? Not a chance. Is James one of the best half dozen basketball players in the world? Without doubt.)

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Abject apologies to regular Vancouver contributor Erich Isopp, whose name got mis-spelled in the transfer from e-mail file to my Friday mailbag. The ol’ fingers don’t work quite as well as they once did.--Anyway, gotta run and catch a flight so on with the show.--

Three Things I Learned

Sometimes you just can’t win

Jamario Moon stops the ball on offensive set instead of making the extra pass and Sam climbs all over him, rightly so. Chastised, Moon makes sure to not do the same time he catches on the perimeter but instead of finding, say, Anthony Parker in the corner, he makes a nifty pass to … Rasho! About 20 feet from the rim on the baseline. Sam rolls his eyes ‘cause that’s exactly the time Moon’s got to catch and drive, not catch and shoot or catch and pass.-

Taking the sting(er) away

Sure, T.J. looked out of sorts on Friday, his first shot was about a foot short, his first pass when right to Drew Gooden, I believe. But he’s healthy and the concerns of fans who wrote wondering about his propensity for ‘stingers’ (two in his last 15 games or so) should be eased.Sam told us not only did Raptor doctors take a look at him last week, the surgeon who did the original operation on his neck and back was also consulted and says there’s nothing wrong with the little fella.-

And another thing

You know what else Carlos Delfino does well? Shoot contested threes. He made one from the corner Friday with someone (can’t remember who) draped all over him. Delfino should still drive the ball more ‘cause if they’re going to close out that aggressively on him, not matter how well he shoots it, he’s only a pump fake and a dribble from a layup.

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Three Things You Wondered

Q: I'm a Juan Dixon fan in Maryland; he brought us a national championship down here in 2002 and has been a reliable scorer in the NBA when he gets minutes. What gives in Toronto? Has he fallen out of favor or is he hurt or what? Can you shed some light?

Gregory, Maryland

A: Nothing like a couple of DNP-CDs to make folks wonder. Dixon isn’t hurt, he’s not particularly out of favour but he’s also not in a rotation. But it was interesting Friday night that the Raptors de-activated Darrick Martin and kept Dixon dressed, which makes me think he’s taken over that third-point guard role at the moment. He told me this week he hasn’t played point since he was at Washington so it’s taking him some time to re-learn the job.But knowing injuries and Sam and this team, he’s going to get a shot to play again.-

Q: Doug, is there a chance Hump has been less receptive to Sam's comforting muses of guidance about not shooting so much and staying within himself because he signed that big contract? Now he can get paid by sitting on the bench!

Roy W, Thornhill

A: Nah, can’t imagine the Hump doing that. However, I can imagine him not quite grasping that Sam’s serious when he says run, rebound and defend or don’t play. And watching him get on the wrong side of his man going for rebounds twice in the 1:17 he played Friday sure won’t get him back in his coach’s good books. He didn’t take a shot in that time, though, so that’s a plus.-

Q: I sent you this question a couple of weeks ago but never got an answer. Are there any updates on what Norma Wick is up to right now?

Also in an effort to make this more Raptors related, in your Friday mailbag you talked about free agents that need to be dealt with and you forgot to mention Delfino. How much do you think he will get on the open market? Will he also be a restricted FA?

Michael, Richmond Hill

A: You and a few dozen others have written to ask about Our Friend Norma. I talked to her this week, she’s doing well, living a life free of the hassles of big-time sports and delving into all kinds of fun stuff. She does keep her head about the Raptors, though, suggest Moonwalking will be the new way to describe Jamario’s travelling calls.

As for Delfino, he is restricted and there won’t be a whole lot of teams with a whole lot of money to spend out there right now so I’m betting he gets a couple of full mid-level exception offers. And the way he’s going, I’d lock him up here for four years at that money.