Of reunions and non-calls

You know the one cool thing about the Pistons? You can’t turn around it seems without running into some ex-Piston doing something for the team.

Bill Laimbeer coaches the WNBA Shock, one of his assistants is Rick Mahorn. Was watching the Shock-New York Liberty game on TV the other night and at halftime they’ve got an interview with James Edwards.

John Long’s on the Pistons broadcast team, as is Greg Kelser and they had a media row seat for Earl Cureton, although I didn’t see him, for Games 3 and 4.

It’s like one big (and in Mahorn’s case, I mean BIG) happy family.

Made me wonder what it’s going to be like around Toronto in, say, 15 years?

Will Alvin Williams come back every now and then? How about Jerome Williams? If they ever get a WNBA team, would they hire Muggsy Bogues to coach it? How about Dell Curry coming back when his kids are out of college?

Not going to happen, I’m afraid.

The biggest problem is this team has no real history. It’s never really won anything (one playoff series doesn’t count), the best player in franchise history is He Who Shall Not Be Named and he’s not coming back and there’s really nothing to celebrate.

You know, like a championship. Or a conference title. Or much excellence of any kind.

There will be, I suppose, but we’ll all be a lot older by that time.

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Was it a foul?

Did Derek Fisher get Brent Barry in the dying seconds of the Spurs-Lakers last night? Probably. But who cares?

MATT SLOCUM/AP

Please hold your complaints. Spurs were already in trouble.

The Spurs blew that one long before Joey Crawford didn’t blow his whistle – and there are very few, if any, officials who’d make that marginal call in that situation – on that fateful play.

The Spurs somehow gave up 20 second chance points, they never once got the “big” shot that could have turned the game as they mounted their comeback and any time a team can hold Kobe Bryant to zero – ZERO – free throws in a game, it can’t lose.

But San Antonio did.

I have no confidence now that that Spurs, who blew a 20-point lead in Game 1 and then blow Game 4 at home, can win this series.

In fact, I’d be shocked if there’s a Game 6.

But the call? It wasn’t going to get made, wasn’t a grievous enough foul, too marginal.

A good non-call was what Gregg Popovich called it. He was right.

And the game was lost well before that point anyway.

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Here’s one thing to remember about the pre-draft camp that rolls on today in Orlando: Bryan Colangelo is not coming back with a changed roster.

There will be lots of trade talk but I cannot envision a scenario that something gets done; the groundwork may be laid but that’s about it.

The concentration is going to be on the draft picks because, as he said earlier this week, it’s the first time they’ll really get a chance to see these kids up close and personal.

There will be talk, and lots of is, but if you’re looking for a time a trade’s made, I’m guessing June 25-30 would be the right time period.

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Here’s an interesting one from the mail:

Q: Simple, but complicated one for you:

How come when a team goes down 2-0, they tend to win game 3(as the home team) going away, but generally slip up in game 4. Does the adrenaline becomes less of a factor after game 3? It's quite the anomaly that I've never been able to figure out.

Mike S, Georgetown

A: Simple but complicated indeed.

There seems to be a much greater sense of urgency displayed by a team playing at home down 2-0 over one playing at home 2-1. The home crowd is a huge factor in most cities, too, because the adrenaline they help pump seems to diminish between Game 3 and Game 4 in any particular series.

Home teams have a tendency to let down, just wee bit, when they get that first win while a road team knows its goal was the get one win on the road and they still have that chance n Game 4.

I don’t know how many times it’s happened like that, but it does seem quite regular.

Of course, the Celtics and Pistons showed exactly the opposite, which figures seeing how weird those two teams have been this playoff year.

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Which bring us to: Who wins tonight?

About the only thing we know for sure in the Boston-Detroit series is we know nothing for sure.

The easy choice would be to say the Celtics will rebound at home because they’ve been so good there and they realize what’s at stake if they lose.

But Detroit played its best game of the series in Game 2 (also Chauncey Billups’ best game, by the way) to steal homecourt from the Celtics, only to give it back with a wretched performance in Game 3.

I wish I could figure it out because it’s got a huge bearing on how I’m going to be spending my weekend and a large chunk of the finals.

The gut says the Celtics win, Detroit wins back at home on Friday and we’re off to Boston on Saturday night for Sunday's Game 7. Reality may be entirely different.

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Last mail for the day:

Q: Hey Doug, I've got one question and one list idea. 1. Are you going to do a mock draft or at least provide us rabid Raptor fans your opinion on the 5 or 10 most likely Raptor draft choices? 2. How about a list of the top 5 and bottom 5 Raptor draft pick taking into account when the player was taken? I guess that was a question too.

Jeff F, Toronto

A: And hold myself up to ridicule and scorn? Of course I am.

But much, much closer to the draft.

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This has no impact on your day-to-day lives even as passionate basketball fans but anyone who cares a whit about the game in the country should greet the news that Therese Quigley of McMaster University has become the new president of Canada Basketball as a very, very, very good thing.

The organization still has some, um, issues to deal with before it gets fully on its feet and gets the game where it should be but having Quigley as the president and Wayne Parrish as the CEO could be the best leadership the group’s ever had.

Comments

[bballer]

hopefully canada bball can get their act straight but i doubt it. the grassroots level is really bad. i played in the oba system in the late 80's when they hated toronto guys. i also played for katz who is now @ u of t and played with darrell glenn the coach @ humber and can see things are a bit better. but all those guys who used to play like rocky and bobby llewellyan who were local stars or even guys that made it the league like mike smrek and bill wennington needs to be brought into the fold. guys who played overseas should be encouraged to coach in the high schools without being teachers like in the states. better coaching produces better players, which will produce better results internationally. the inventors of the game should not be seen as afterthoughts lucky to have 5 canadians in the league.

we need higher profiled tournaments in the summer and a push to get national games on raptors tv. why not produce a weekly bball canadian bball show for raptors tv or cbc? how about having the national team in the nba summer league? we now have soccer day in canada because of toronto fc, but nothing comparable for bball. i like what the score does for cis basketball, but we need more. high school players in the states are stars. we need to develop the same here. if basketball canada makes an effort to bring old school guys, cis players into the fold then i'll be impressed. yes it starts with leadership, but in canada, we fail to allow things to trickle down. just my thought.

[voislav]

I think Pop doesn't get enough credit for handling contraversial situations like this with class. I think that most coaches would be screaming their heads off as soon as they saw Crawford there, regardless of the call, given his history with the Spurs.
Whinning about the call would do no good in the end, the game was lost, but this way they certainly build up some goodwill in the league offices.

[Chris]

Simple but complicated, how about this to answer your question. In the NBA, the team with the better regular season record (and hence home court advantage) is simply better, and more likely to win a road game. It makes sense that the team down 2-0 and going home jacks up the intensity and pulls out a win, but they simply are not good enough to win both home games. This year, the team down 2-0 and then won 1 home game happened in the following series: Cavs/Wiz, Jazz/Rockets, Magic/Raps, Hornets/Mavs, Pistons/Magic, and now maybe Lakers/Spurs. In how many of these match-ups who would argue that the losing teams had much of a chance at winning 2 straight anyway? Throw in the Suns who won their second home game against the Spurs to make the argument that the team that won the series was just head and shoulders above their competition.

[Zack Berezowski]

It was a boarderline foul, yes, but what surprises me is that Barry did not shoot as soon as Fisher made contact with him. Barry is a veteran and should have known better then that....then maybe Joey C. would have taken the whistle out and actually called a legit foul for the Spurs.

[Sal Lamberti]

Hey Doug,
I guess you can call this a mini-rant about the non-foul call at the end of the game. Would I be wrong to assume if the same play happened in the first quarter, they would have called it? I agree that you can't let the Spurs off the hook for playing a bad game. But I'm of the opinion that if you call it at the start of the game, you should call it at the end of the game too.

[Zaddups]

Great comment bballer...
That's a great idea. I think Canada needs to promote and push basketball alot more...because the sport is growing by leaps and bounds right now. It would be a good idea to bring back alot of those ex-ballers into the fold. Right now...who has even heard of that lady that they just appointed head of Canada Basketball? They need to bring back names that are recognizable so that the kids will be able to relate to them more. Why not appoint a Rocky LLewelen or Rowan Barrett once he's finished playing to that post.

It's hard to push basketball in a hockey country. There is no money trickling down to the sport...the Canadian government needs to step up also because more and more kids are sitting in front of their computers playing video games and on Facebook instead of playing sports and keeping active. But let me tell you...there are alot of immigrants moving to Canada and their sports of choice are basketball and soccer...not hockey with all due respect.

Canada better wake up because this sport is growing so fast but the resources are not being put into it the way it should be. Canada is currently ranked 17th in the world right now by FIBA. In my opinion...with more resources and the right people in place that Canada should easily be in the top ten in the world. I am a former sports reporter for a major station who's favorite sport is hoops and from first hand knowledge can tell you that the sports stations...except for The Score(I commend their coverage) don't really push basketball coverage and it's a shame.

I would love to do a show like what you suggested about Canada basketball or hoops in general but the powers that be can't see the POTENTIAL the basketball market could bring with respect to sponsors and marketing opportunities. Basketball is a global game and has the perfect demographics to make money as it appeals to mostly young people under the age of 40. Canada time to WAKE UP! All we need is a little money and some passion and things can change.

[bballer]

zaddups, if we can get the provincial organizations to stop fighting with each other and stop thinking about the sport as opposed to themselves something will happen. soccer canada and other organizations are equally as bad. only when someone like ken read took control over ski canada and alex bauman with swim canada did something good start to happen. ask track guys or cindy klaussen with speed skating to see how inept these guys are. if positive things are happening i will wish them well. hell, i'll even volunteer some of my stretched time. the problem we have in canada is that we have good managers but lack leaders. i'm a proud canadian, but the bureaucracy kills my passion for canadian basketball, as well as sports aside from hockey and that is a shame.

[DS]

Note that our juniors placed 10th in the world in last year's under-19 tournament, which shows what a drop off there is in developing the talent that we do have. This is endemic of Canadian amateur sports generally - we have great young athletes, but they can't make that next step. Part of it is lack of funding here in Canada and a general dirth of quality competition for university-aged athletes. Part of it is an aversion to promoting a path through the NCAA system, where the resources and competition are vastly superior. The national program should be directly involved (or at least should do a better job) in counseling kids how to take the path most appropriate for them.

[Paul]

Totally unrelated post: I just got back from the Season Seat "Upgrade" Event - how disappointing! I hope that this means there is incredible support for the Raptors, but I don't know if anyone got an upgrade in their section at all!

The biggest joke was the "gift" - two years ago, we season seat holders were thanked by a gift of a Bosh jersey. Very cool. Last year, a NBA towel. Ok, but not great. This year? A Chuck Swirsky bobblehead. THAT IS INSULTING, PEOPLE...oh well. With luck that means they'll use the savings on Ocho?

[petro]

Hey Doug... do you know if the Maurizio, or anyone else from the Raptor front office, will be in Italy scouting the Domestic League Playoff Final... more specifically... evaluating the famous Roko Leni Ukic who will be leading his Roma Lottomatica against Montepaschi Siena. And has there been any more mumblings of Roko finally crossing the pond and bringing his game to the NBA? Or perhaps talks with Roko will increase once things are figured out between TJ and Jose. Remember... Roko Rocks.

Blogger's note: I'm don't believe anyone's going, nor should they be since they start working out draft picks on Tuesday and are in Orlando this week.
And as we've been writing here for months, Roko Ukic is expected here next season. Buyout negotiations are going on now.

[kimbo]

"The national program should be directly involved (or at least should do a better job in counseling kids how to take the path most appropriate for them."

There is a National Elite Development Academy in Hamilton, Ontario that aims to do just that. Look it up, as it's based on the models of the French and Australian youth development programs.

It's the future of Canadian basketball, and in only its second year has already produced many, many NCAA D1 players. Unfortunately...like all amateur basketball in Canada, it is lacking for funding.

Go figure.