A wild night, wasn't it?

Wow. Anyone see that coming?

CHARLES KRUPA/AP

Let's all kiss the 2007-08 season goodbye and get ready for the draft.

What a night, nice and easy (we were writing in the second quarter ‘cause that’s when it was over) and even the riot gear-wearing, baton-wielding cops on the streets right outside the arena didn’t ‘cause too much trouble.

Anyway, a few thoughts, some questions and the odd Raptor thing tossed in for good measure

I need to know:

Can we all shut up about Kobe and Michael Jordan? Sure, if he had single-handedly won his fourth title you might put him in the conversation but I guarantee you Michael Jordan, even if he was playing with me, Stumpy, M. Grange ™ and Bea Arthur on his team would never, ever, ever lose by 39 in an elimination game or spit up a 24-point lead in a pivotal Game 4.

And

Is Vladimir Radmanovic the worst starter on a team in the finals ever? He certainly got to be on a very short list.

And

I think the coolest thing in the world would have been if Doc Rivers had sat on the bench with five minutes to go and lit a cigar.

And

I think the second-coolest thing in the world would have been in Ray Allen had come back out of the locker room in a wheelchair and been driven right to the scorer’s table.

-

Bye, bye Garbo

It’ll be official probably today, maybe tomorrow, when the league approves the buyout and then Garbo’s gone.

He won’t be back in the NBA, I’m certain, so who knows when we’ll see him next. I’ll get to see him in Beijing but if you want to watch him play, you’ll have to find some sort of internet Euroleague deal because I’ve got a feeling he’s playing in Madrid or Malaga.

A lot of you abhor the notion of a buyout but here’s why this one makes sense: The Raptors are certain Garbo will not be healthy enough to be a regular contributor this coming season. They will save a little bit of money and create a roster spot with the move. Garbo gets his money and, because he thinks he can play, he’ll sign somewhere in Europe and who knows how he’ll do.

The financial implications are not huge, it’s not like paying Alonzo Mourning $10 million knowing he’ll be in the NBA in a week or two; it’s paying maybe $3-4 million to a guy who’s out of the league.

You may think it sucks, and it’s really sad that this had to happen but it really is the best for all concerned.

Waiting for Garbo to play in the Olympics to see if he was fit wasn’t going to happen because the Raptors weren’t going to let him go to Beijing and maybe get hurt again. Waiting for him to come to camp to find out what he had didn’t make sense because now they know they have a roster spot to fill.

It eases the roster glut at small forward and with perhaps the departure of restricted free agent Carlos Delfino, will give Bryan Colangelo a lot of roster flexibility this summer.

It bites that he’s not here but it’s for the best.

-

Here’s a quick one from the mail:

Q: So you posted a question today and part of it asked about a Wilcox/T.J thing, which for whatever reason you seem to have ignored (I blame the time zones, not you.) So I'm back here asking about it again to hopefully hear an answer. I watched him in a couple games this season and he's a player that seemed to have a whole lot of talent and comes across as very under-rated. Would there be any way of getting him with anything we have to offer?

Graham H, Toronto

A: Time zones it was.

I know there are people very high up in the Raptor organization who like Wilcox very much and would love to see him in Toronto. I also know the people in Seattle are quite high on him, too, and it’d probably take a larger deal than simply Ford for Wilcox to get anything done. If he goes, the Sonics really don’t have a four to replace him.

I think he’d be a good fit witht Raptors, actually. And with one year and $6.75 million left on his deal, he’s pretty affordable.

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All you draftniks out there, he’s the assessment of one guy inside the game on a couple of would-be Raptors coming in this week:

Donte Green: “He went to Syracuse so he can’t defend his position, all they do there is play zone.”

Roy Hibbert: “You might be able to beat him in a foot race.”

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Best chant of the night at the Garden last night:

"Seven-teen, seven-teen, seven-teen” as the final minutes ran out.

Second-best chant of the night at the Garden last night:

"Where’s Ko-be, where’s Ko-be, where’s Ko-be” in the fourth quarter.

-

Talk about your familiar faces.

Was walking through the dining area before the game (ribs, chicken, roast beef and a too salty chowder) and who’s there but Brigg Harvey.

You don’t know him but he’s the timekeeper at Raptor games and was brought in by the league to do Game 6.

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Last mail for today:

Q: In your June 17 mailbag you noted that there is a rating increase for playoff games between 11 and 12 PM.  In your opinion is this increase a result of viewers preferring to watch basketball in the middle of the night (perhaps due to a lack of programming competition) or is it because the most compelling part of the game, the end, OCCURS DURING THIS HOUR?  Furthermore, since there hasn't been a finals game that started at a reasonable hour in recent memory to compare with, how can the "11th hour ratings upswing" be seriously considered as justification for these late start times?  (I realize that the inclusion of question marks doesn't qualify the above opinions as questions per se, but perhaps you'd care to comment on my poorly-written theory nevertheless.)  As always, thanks for your time Doug!

Dave B, Toronto

A: What I think happens is this. Family has dinner and then all the after-dinner stuff like Little League or homework or boozing or arguing or whatever. Mom and Dad bundle the tykes off to bed – or the surly teens go talk on the computer to their friends – and they settle in for routine night of television.

Then, around 11 after clicking through the game a couple of times to see the score, they turn to it full-time. Hence, the ratings boost at that time.

Make sense?

-

Okay, gotta run to the airport and get home so we can figure out the draft – and get to batting practice for the Little Leaguers who are somehow managing to win games without me!

Luckily, there won’t be anything like pesky games or flights to get in the way of some good old Raptor reporting and blogging over the next week.

Should be a hoot, see you at home.

Comments

[Joe T.]

Wow! That was certainly an unexpected blowout last night. Turns out I was WAY off with my "Lakers in five" prediction. Once again, the "defense wins Championships" maxim is proven correct. I thought the Celtics defense looked great when they played the Raptors. I kept counting to make sure they only had five guys on the court! There always seemed to be a couple of them around the ball. But, I thought, maybe that was just a reflection on their opponent. To see them do the same thing against the Lakers was a revelation. I hope that when Sam preaches team defense and rebounding next season, the guys pay attention. It pays off...

Although for the first time in my life, I wanted the Lakers to win it all, I was very happy to see the Celtics celebrating last night, especially after such a dominant performance! I was only hoping they wouldn't win because I was annoyed by their acquisition of two superstars to add to the one they already had. But Paul Pierce, Ray Allen and Kevin Garnett are three of my favourite players and to see them finally win a trophy together at this point in their careers was a true joy. And Doc Rivers is one of my favourite coaches, too, and I may have felt happiest for him. What a season! Best turnaround ever, best record in the league, biggest comeback in Finals history (I think anyway) and then largest margin of victory in a clinching game. One for the ages and another great chapter in a fantastic franchise history!...

On to the Raptors: wasn't Chris Wilcox (who I, too, am very high on) recently involved with some sort of firearms offense? Has there been any news on this? And would that prevent him from becoming a Toronto Raptor since it would remove him from the list of "good character guys" Colangelo likes to sign?...

And finally, Doug, please do us all a favour next season: predict the Raptors to be "life and death to make the Playoffs". I like how that turns out...

[Ryan]

My guess is the ratings go up at that time because most people fall asleep trying to watch the game leaving their TVs on.

[Andy C]

so your not going to hang around for the parade?

[Dave]

ha .. no way, there isn't any point watching the whole game, its kind of boring. you can catch the highlights and just watch the last 10 minutes. The last 10 minutes take a 1/2 hour anyway.

[Doug]

RE:9pm start time
At 9pm eastern time, it is 6pm pacific time, 7pm mountain, 8pm central. If they started a finals game at 7:30pm eastern so kids (and marginal fans who choose sleep over the NBA finals) could see the whole game, how many people do you lose in the west because the games starts @ 4:30p and they are still at work?

[GM]

Knowing your dislike for Iverson and your man-crush on Garnett, what did you think of him kissing the leprechaun (so to speak)? You knocked MoPete for copying AI when he kissed the floor.

I've never cared for Radmanovic as a player ever since I saw him warming up for the Sonics years ago. Watching most NBA players warm up, they're incredible shooters when no one's on them. Here was Radmanovic clanging shot after shot, not even close. He'd occasionally hit one in a row, but that's about it. So I couldn't figure out how he'd hit them in game situations. Then a couple years ago I tuned into the 3-point shootout at the all-star game and saw Radmanovic in the competition. I announced to all my surprise and said that he would come in dead last. And that he did. Got single digits.

The "se-ven-teen" chant was suggested ahead of time by Bill Simmons. Man, that guy's got power.

Blogger's note: I have nothing but respect and admiration for the way Iverson plays games, actually; pound-for-pound the toughest guy in the league.
Kissing the leprechaun was over the top, actually.
That kind of stuff works once, like it did with AI in Philly.

[Aaron Campbell]

Why won't Garbo ever be back in the NBA???

Is he going to be blacklisted or something? Or is it that he has the sour taste in his mouth?

He isn't that old and he was an amazing player for almost one season with the raps.

Thanks

Blogger's note: I cannot imagine an NBA team taking a chance on a 30-year-old who's played seven NBA games in 18 months and who was bought out of his contract primarily because his team didn't think he'd be healthy enough for another season.

[AK]

Doug,

I still don't buy the game start time theory. I like Dave B's explanation a lot more. Those same people with kids in little league, etc., have to get up in the AM to go to work. I'm running on fumes today b/c I decided to stay up to the end. I tuned out of each of the first 5 games by half time -- not just because of the level of play.

Start the game at 8:30 at a minimum and tone down on one time-out, let the game finish by 11 and everyone's happy.

AK

[David]

Doug,

I know you haven't criticized Garbo in this blog for his decision to play with the Spanish team in August but I've got to strongly disagree with you. I really respect Garbo's loyalty to his home country and love it when players participate for their countries in the olympics (ahem Jamal Magloire). However, I think this case is different b/c of the severity of his injury. The Raptors are paying Garbo's contract, not Spain and thus I feel some loyalty should have been given to us. From a fan's perspective the way I see it, is that Garbo played hurt in August for Spain, missed the season with season ending surgey so he'd be ready for the Olympics with Spain, and still get his paycheck from us even though hes playing more games for Spain then with us over the last two years!!!!! If thats not selfish I don't know what it is. Would Bosh get away with that? The Raptors were clearly playing second fiddle to Spain and thats crap. This guy knowingly played hurt in August and he has screwed us by forcing a buyout now. Garbo won't be missed by me. Any comments?

Blogger's note: No. You're entitled to your opinion.

[Zack]

Don't time zones play a huge part in the scheduling of the Finals? If the NBA put a Celtics home game on at 7:30 or 8 EST, people on the West coast would just be finishing their day at work and miss part of the game. Gotta accomodate everyone and c'mon people, is midnight too late to stay up for seven nights of the year?

[bballer]

the best thing about this series is that a gm who took a chance to make a bold move with his roster by bringing in veterans to make a championship team has been rewarded. this puts more pressure on teams to be a little more ambitious with their roster realizing all players not named kobe can be acquired in a trade. even the lakers made a bold move. now, gm's should have no more excuses and must earn their keep. congrats to both the celtics and the lakers.

doug, in your post yesterday, 7 out of the last 10 players drafted @ the 17 spot in the nba draft have become above average players. thus, the draft has always had deep years for good players. i wonder if gm's realize this and stop lying to their fans saying that any pick outside of the lottery is pretty much a waste. your research, plus looking at guys like boozer, ellis, arenas, ginoboli, parker et al proves otherwise. this draft, like all others, should be a good one.

what was the worst draft since '98? was it the olokowandi draft?

Blogger's note: I'd have to take a closer look at the draft guide -- and that'll give me something to do for the morning -- but I seem to recall the Kenyon Martin draft being so-so. But that's just off the top of my head.

[Mike]

Doug,
Though I often disagree with your analysis, just wanted to say thanks for the work you did with the blog this year .... almost daily updates for 6 months is great for us basketball junkies - I'm sure there were a few days on road trips to the middle of nowhere USA in mid-February where it must've been painful having to put together a mailbag for the first thing in the morning.

Keep those draft + trade rumours coming!

[Dan]

Favourite chant by far was "De-Fence, De-Fence" in the middle of Doc's post-game interview. That was amazing. And I truly believe Boston's crowd and L.A's lack-of contributed to the outcome of this series.

[bballer]

i haven't researched it yet but i think you are right about the kmart draft. i was going to mention his draft year along with big mike. i would like to see your perspective of it. plus, i truly believe there are no bad draft picks just bad gm's. after all the psychological testing and scrimmages, how can they get things so wrong? after each bust, there has been countless of people who knew the pick was wrong - arujao, fran vasquez, frank weiss, mike bradley, alex radojevic, chris jeffries....

[Alex L]

Doug would you agree that it sounds like a very prestigious invitation to time-keep the decisive game 6? Is that standard procedure that the league asks certain game officials to work the playoffs (just the finals or all games) rather than use the local crew.

To your knowledge have any officials from Atlanta worked any of these games?

Blogger's note: They use neutral site timers starting in the conference finals; they bring in a neutral guy in the first couple of rounds as observers.
And, no, I don't imagine the Atlanta guys were around

[Alan Squires]

With regards to the start time and time zones, everyone keeps saying that if the game started earlier the people on the west coast would miss the start of the game. In my time zone (NST) on the best coast, I need to stay up until 1:30 to see the end of the game. I would take missing the start of the game over missing the end of the game any day. I think they should have the game start 8:00 local time (where the game is being played), that way people on both sides of the continent would get to see at least 2 full games without staying up late or skipping off work early. But I know that will never happen because it all comes down to the mighty $$. Keep up the good work Doug! Go Raps!

[Mikey]

As much as I like and will miss Garbo, I have to agree with the above comment saying Garbo cared more about Spain then the NBA. I understand loyalty to your country but please, you are 30 years old, you have spent most of your career playing in Europe or internationally for Spain, you already have one gold medal, why is it so important to play one tournament in the summer when you have the opportunity to play in the greatest league in the world and possibly be a contributer.

And Doug I don't buy the whole "Garbo will not be the same player next season". You, me and even BC don't know that. If the doctor gives him a clean bill of health, which he has, that is good enough. And if we can pay Kapono 5 mil a year to not shoot 3's, I wouldn't have minded paying Garbo. Hell, even if he did suck we could have unloaded him and his injury off around deadline time as an expiring contract a la Kwame Brown to the Grizz.