The Night After The Day Before?

Okay, it's 3:45 a.m. where I live, 12:45 a.m. where I am, I think the game was yesterday or maybe it was today. Anyway, don't get used to this, had some time on the plane to write. No idea how these goofy time zones out here will have an impact on the daily stuff, guess I'll do it whenever I wake up. Or maybe before I go to sleep. Which will be either this morning or last night or some other day.

Have fun reading.

Score one for the little fella. After standing in an interminable customs line at Pearson yesterday and watching the charter-bound boys head to their private line, it did my heart proud that I actually beat a few of ‘em to security and through. Of course, they immediately boarded a bus back to their charter plane and I went to the lounge to wait for a couple of hours but for a minute there …

Anyway, here we go

Three Things I Learned

The Three Big Men

I know the Hump went crazy with six shots made in a row but if the last five games have shown anything, it’s that the frontcourt rotation in the playoffs should only include Bosh, Bargnani and Nesterovic. No one else. Not for a minute. There are no back-to-backs, no arduous travel, the matchups with both Orlando and Cleveland would seem to favour a guy of Rasho’s size and experience. Regular readers will know I’ve been a Rasho fan for a good long while and watching him go for 16 points at least in three of the last five games while acting as a pretty good defensive anchor only hammer that point home more.

I know Sam will find himself calling for the Hump when he thinks there’s a need for some energetic rebounding but he should ignore that little voice in his head and stick with the three big men only.

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The Three Point Shots

Hey, Jason Kapono can hit three-pointers, I saw him do it twice Sunday afternoon. Didn’t even have to check a video after, they were legit threes, the first two he’s made in more than a month. But here’s the funny thing: Neither of them came off “plays.”

The second came off a Hump offensive rebound, the first was on a good old T.J. drive and dish, nothing specific to Kapono, nothing drawn up with a three-pointer in mind. And that’s the way he’s going to get them most often, as he did living off Dwyane Wade’s drive and kicks a year ago, double-teams on Shaq and open looks in transition. Because Toronto needs him on the boards defensively – like they need everyone – he’s not going to get many in transition; because they don’t have Wade or Shaq, he’s not going to get them off guard penetration or many double-teams. He’s going to get them like he did yesterday, in the flow of the game.

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A Foul-Free Zone, For Now

Have you noticed that in his last four games, Andrea’s committed only four fouls in total? And it’s not like he hasn’t been in the fray, he’s had 17 rebounds in those four games – some of them even in traffic – so he’s actually hanging around the basket on defence. I’m not saying he’s “got it” entirely but even the big detractors out there have to admit he’s playing pretty well of late.

Even Sunday’s grotesque shooting line – 6-for-21, 0-for-7 from three – can be shrugged off as a bad night from the floor. You’d have to look pretty long and pretty hard to find one of those shots that was “bad.”

Kid’s piling up the minutes, too. More than 47 against Seattle, more than 48 against Washington, which makes those foul totals even more impressive.

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As usual, let’s get into the mailbag right away

Q: Watching the Raptors the past few games with Bosh out has been painful. It seems to me that the Raps still have enough to win most of the games they lost. Am I right in thinking that it just takes for the team to adjust when the focal point of their offence and rebounding is gone? I actually think that this absence of Bosh is good for the team's growth in the long run. They'll learn more, and just like Yao Ming, every time Bosh comes back from an injury, he comes back a better player, which shows that he uses his injury time wisely watching the team. What do you think?

Kennedy W, Markham

A: I don’t think it’s ever good to have a team’s best player injured, no matter who steps up to play well during that time. And, don’t forget, it takes time to make an adjustment to not having Bosh and it’s going to take a few games to adjust to having him back, too. For both him and the team.

That said, I think they should give Bosh as much time as he needs – and then another week – to come back from this injury.

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A couple of travel-weary Seattle writers didn’t make it in from Friday’s game in Philly under after Sunday’s game had begun because of the stinky weather (have I mentioned how tired I am of snow?) but here’s how Percy Allen chronicled the events with he finally got around to seeing them.

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Here’s one for you to digest with your coffee this morning.

The combined home records of five team Toronto will play over the next seven days is 114-38.

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As one music fan among the travel party points out, it’d be waaaaay better for Toronto to face Orlando rather than Cleveland in the first round.

If it’s the Magic, the playoffs couldn’t start until Sunday, April 20 because Bruce Springsteen’s in the Orlando arena on the 19^th and then we, um, some people could head over to St. Pete’s on the off-day April 21 because he’s playing there that night.

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Oh, that zany Primoz.

Some guys change jerseys at halftime, he changes hairstyles.

Not sure if you all caught it but he came out to start Sunday’s game with some wacky ‘faux-hawk’ (at least that’s what the young kids on press row were calling, I just thought it looked silly. Then halftime comes and he’s back out looking his normal self.

I guess that’s what five minutes of 0-for-3, two rebound, one turnover, one foul play will force you to do.

It did allow Quag 2.0 to come up with the day’s best question: “What,” he asks, “was your favourite moment of the ‘faux-hawk era?” None of us could come up with one aside from Brezec putting his headband on the PA announcer’s head. Guess it wouldn’t fit on the chicken.

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The Lakers, a mere 16-3 since they acquired Pau Gasol (and that includes that rather impressive win over Toronto that started it) suffered a wee blip Sunday night. That oughta get 'em nice and riled up for Tuesday. Here’s how it played in the pages of the L.A. Times.

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A couple from the mail to finish it off? Sure, why not

Q: Hey Doug, I've been enjoying the blog for so long, decided to finally send in a question or two:

I noticed Ex-Rap Michael Curry behind the bench with the Pistons as an assistant coach, any other ex-Raps also working in a coaching (or scouting) capacity in the NBA? Also do you see a future in the organization for Darrick Martin in a coaching capacity, given his mentor status on the team right now?

I've been a Raptors fan for since the beginning, and the only thing approaching a rivalry we've had in our storied history was that thing with the 76ers. With the Nets not really in the rivalry picture anymore, which other team in the East do you see as us having a REAL competitive rivalry with for the next few years? (My money is on Orlando)

Roman D, Toronto

A: This is like list time. We’re limiting it to ex-players, right?

Okay, we’ve got Popeye Jones working in Dallas, Dell Curry was an assistant in Charlotte at the start of the year but he moved back into the front office, and there are two more that are going to take you waaaaay back. Herb Williams, a Raptor for a whole game, remains an assistant in New York and Tyrone Corbin, who played 15 games in 2000-01, is on Jerry Sloan’s staff in Utah. Not sure about college scouting or European scouting because I don’t see many of those guys around.

And I think there’s a place for Darrick Martin on the staff if he wants it, and I know coaching is something he’s quite interested in. Not sure, though, whether a guy wants to move from the bench to the staff with the same team right away, he might want to go away for a year or so and come back. But I haven’t spoken about this with him so that’s just speculation.

As for the rivalry? They had a pretty good one with the Knicks, don’t forget, back when they were annual playoff opponents. Orlando might be the one that emerges but I think Boston might be one that develops over the next couple of years.

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Q: I was a fan of Carlos Rogers back in the day (Lesser half of "twin-towers" with Marcus Camby), and I remember he gave one of his kidneys to his sister in order to rescue her from a life-threatening disease. I feel it was the best feel good story provided by any Raptor.

Mr. Smith please let me if there are any feel good Raptor episodes you can share with us.

Ken H, Toronto

A: Actually, Carlos never got a chance to donate that kidney before his sister passed away. Tragic story, one of the saddest around this team ever. (A Carlos where-are-they-now update: He's still living in the Detroit area and every now and then we see him wandering the sidelines at Pistons games in the Palace.

Other feel good stories? You know what was maybe he best feel-good story of the past 10 years? Seeing Charlie Villanueva in almost every city on the road, meeting with kids who have Alopecia Areata and letting them know it was okay to be themselves. Chuck V was a hero to a lot of those kids and, I swear, seeing them smile when he hung with them made even a bitter cynical old grunt feel good.

Comments

[DOW]

Doug,

Seriously?? 17 rebounds over 4 games is decent?? That's just over 4 per game, that's Eddy Curry #'s and we don't want to be in Eddy Curry territory do we? I'll be happy when he's getting 8 per game. He should watch game film of rasho's positioning, that's good rebounding and effort. Rasho's play has been great since CB4 has been out, drove me nuts when Sam took him out towards the end of regulation against the Wiz, especially when they needed rebounding.

[David Taylor]

Amazing what a win can do to momentarily clear up the whole TJ/Jose situation. In many ways, it's reminiscent of the situation the New England Patriots found themselves in during the 2001-02 season (those who follow the NFL might remember). Drew Bledsoe, the starting QB, was seriously injured in the second game of the season. Tom Brady, the backup QB at that time, stepped in and was extremely effective. Bledsoe was upset that he wasn't reinstated as the starting quarterback once he returned from injury, effectively stating that despite the team's success with Brady at the helm, he shouldn't lose his starting role because of an injury. The Patriots answer was to trade Bledsoe to the Buffalo Bills the following offseason. There are any number of NBA teams for which TJ could start next season, I just don't see the Raptors as being one of them.

[Jim K]

Outside of your Kapono reference, I think it needs to be said that TJ really help right-the-ship against the Sonics after the poor start. For all the praise Calderon receives, it really needs to be said he is a below average defender as witnessed by Watson's early dominance.

TJ really came in and changed the game with his defence, slowing the Sonics down enough for the Raps to really start rolling.

[Joe T.]

Hey Doug, I do think that Bargnani is really starting to "get it". I was at the Wizards game Friday and turned to my friend at about the 7 minute mark in the fourth to point out that AB had not committed a foul in the game. Of course, he did end up committing that one costly foul but he sure seems to be figuring out how to defend without fouling. I've also noticed he doesn't seem to be getting those travelling calls he used to get all the time when he'd try to start a drive from outside the arc. Now we just need him to find his shot consistently and finish at the rim better. He's had a number of drives (now that he's become more aggressive) which have resulted in shots that miss the basketand are usually too strong. But overall, I think he's back on track to become the player everyone hoped he would.

And I noticed in Sunday's mailbag there was at least one more mention of getting Magloire in a Raptor uniform. I'm pretty sure you've decided not to even address the issue anymore but I give you his line from his last game in case you want to use it on the next person who wants him back in T.O.:

3 minutes, 3 turnovers, 2 fouls

Oh yeah, he also got 2 points but he needed 3 shots to do it! And this was against the mighty Nets, no less. Even the much-maligned hair ad that is Primoz Brezec wouldn't put up those kind of numbers!

[Zack]

Thanks for taking some time to do the blog Doug, always appreciated. As for rivalries with Toronto, I would say Washington is right up there and the battles seem to get better every season. How many OT games have these guys had in the past 2-3 years? And now with Agent Zero mouthing off on Calderon...

[voislav]

I think a perfect situation for Martin would be if Toronto gets that D-League team in Hamilton or elsewhere in Ontario. He could stay on as an assistant or even a D-League head coach. Having someone who's been there and knows what it takes to stick around the NBA for a long time would be very beneficial to D-League players, since most of them are longshots to make any NBA roster.

[Nick G.]

Re: Roman D's Question,

Going wayyy back here...

I recall a past Nothing but Net entry when Zan Tabak was mentioned as being an international scout. Not sure if that's still the case.

According to wiki, Ed Pinckney currently works as an assistant coach for the Minnesota Timberwolves.

Nice to see some expansion alumni still involved in the game.

BTW, "Guess it wouldn’t fit on the chicken." Zingers like this are what make this blog standout. Keep up the good work!

Blogger's note: I can't believe I forget Easy Ed, who was just in town a couple of weeks ago. And Zan's an assistant coach with Real Madrid this year, we saw him at training camp in Spain.

[Ryan M]

Sort of random, but watching Joe Johnson today made me think of what ever happened to Joe Forte?

Blogger's note: That little guard? Or the NBA ref? I know where the official is, I have no idea what happened to the player.

[Brandon W.]

I think Gilbert has a crush on Calderone, he mentioned him again in here, although briefly.

http://my.nba.com/forum.jspa?forumID=400032200&start=0

[yertu damkule]

hey doug, how's la-la land treating you?

was looking at the remaining sched., and is a 10-10 finish the best we can hope for? the pessimist in me (and that's about 90%) thinks 7-13 is more likely (no, i don't feel good about this trip)...if they get b/w 7 & 10 wins out of the remaining 20 games, where do you think that'd put them in the standings at the end of the year, and who do you see them facing in the 1st round? i see 6th, playing the cavs. but i guess we've known all along it'll be cle. or orl., so unless they completely tank the rest of the way, nothing much will have changed.