A busy week awaits

Well, now that we’ve got Grampa Grunt’s 80^th birthday done and gone (and a fine fete it was, replete with cake and cocktails, a dangerous mix indeed), I can return to my regularly scheduled days.

Like early morning with here, days at the office and, perchance, a night or two of rest and relaxation.

But first, entertaining and informing the masses:

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Big week ahead for the lads and the various people who cover them.

Think we’ll get official word on Hassam Adams and his two-year, minimum-value deal today, believe it’ll be finally time to officially unveil Matt Devlin as the new play-by-play guy on Tuesday and then the big day with both Jermaine O’Neal and Jose allegedly coming to town on Wednesday to do all kinds of fun stuff, including speaking with us.

Busy, busy, busy.

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FILE PHOTO

Raptors could use the guy on the right; especially if the guy on the left isn't around.

Speaking of this week, while all the shenanigans are going on at the ACC, the summer league team convenes in Vegas tomorrow for a couple of days of practice before starting to play at the end of the week.

We still haven’t seen a roster (I expect that’ll be out there today sometime) but am told by Someone Who’d Know that it looks like Joey Graham will be out there, trying to do something to resurrect his game after spending most of last season at the end of the bench or the inactive list.

Graham’s the enigma, of course. Good Joey, Bad Joey and all that. No one has any real idea whether he can be a major contributor this year or not (I suspect history holds and it’s more “not”) but there are those in the organization who still think he can be a major player here and they’re giving him every opportunity to prove it.

Oh, and one name I didn’t hear around the summer league team was Jamario Moon. There seems to be some question of whether or not he’ll play. I can’t see why he wouldn’t (it’s not like his game is entirely polished) but it’s not 100 per cent yet that he’ll be there.

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So, I’m watching Canada drill Lebanon on Saturday and it’s Rowan Barrett’s 120^th game as a member of the senior national team. Nice touch to have a little ceremony for him.

And it brings to mind a good one about a very good guy and an excellent ambassador for Canadian basketball.
It’s in Sydney, after the loss to France that denies them a chance to play for a medal, still one of the most crushing losses in Canadian basketball history.

A handful of players, who’ve taken the defeat rather hard, are hanging around the athletes village visiting with a gaggle of women sprinters, I’m told.

After some good-natured chat, Rowan makes the claim he’s quicker than the sprinters and would win a race right there and then (I’m not entirely sure if there was any kind of incentive in a wager, or whether any liquid bravery was involved but I imagine there might have been). Much chatter back and forth, the gun goes off, Rowan wins the race and general hilarity ensues.

Until it’s discovered he’s tweaked a muscle in his leg that forces him to miss Canada’s final, relatively meaningless, game of the Olympics.

I’m pretty sure if the team gets to Beijing, that kind of extracurricular racing would be off the agenda.

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Here’s one from the mailbag, which is still pretty full

Q: Why Hassan Adams and not Gerald Green?
I'm confused. They both signed for the same amount of money and years. Green is younger and seems to have more upside than Hassan Adams.
Did BC just miss this one or was Green never even on the radar?
Solomon O, Nigeria

A: Green’s had three opportunities in the NBA and has washed out of all of them.

Adams was a tax-casualty in his one year in the league. I’d debate the “more upside” part of your argument.

I’m not sure Green was ever on their radar, he wasn’t when he was free last year and they took Linton Johnson and don’t imagine he figured into their plans this summer.

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Hey, remember last year when Jay Triano was hired by USA Basketball to help coach of a team that would scrimmage the Olympic team under international rules because his extensive background and coaching abilities were too good for the Americans to pass up?

I’m betting that happens again this year right after summer league so he can help this USA team get ready for Beijing.

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For all those who’ve asked, I have yet to find any place that will have live TV of the Olympic qualifier next week in Athens. I know NBA-TV and RaptorsTV will be concentrating on the summer league so I can’t imagine they’d show it. I’m sure it’s somewhere deep, deep, deep on some satellite but I’ve yet to find out where.

Looks like we’ll be tracking it on the internet.

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More mail:

Q: Doug, we know you travel a lot, but which city is duller - Billings or Des Moines? On to the real question, isn’t it refreshing that a player actually kept their word and stayed where he said he would ie: Agent Zero

Eric P, Mississauga

A: Actually, I’ve been to Billings, to watch these guys play Minnesota in a pre-season game, and if Des Moines is worse, I don’t ever, ever, ever, ever want to go there.

Agent Zero? Good on him for staying and taking less money. I think the team made a mistake with the offer but that’s just my opinion.

But when he said he took less money because he could do as much with $111 million as opposed to $126 million or whatever the exhorbitant numbers are, it was sort of refreshing in an otherworldly kind of way.

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If you were at that game at Ricoh on Saturday and were paying attention, you saw one of Canada’s best referees at work and you’ll see more of her if you pay attention to the Olympics, too.

Dawna Townsend will be among the referee pool at the Beijing Games next month and it’s good to see good things happen to good people.

It has to have been a tough slog working up through the ranks of the CIS and FIBA to get such a prestigious gig and it’s a huge accomplishment to get a Games gig.

Oh, and it’ll give some of us another reason to check out the basketball in Beijing. And if you see games on TV, check out the refs to see Canada’s representative.

Comments

[voislav]

Rowan Barret is one of all time gentlemen players. I've seen him play in Europe quite a bit, you could see he is a good Canadian boy. It's too bad he never got a real chance in the NBA, I'm convinced he could've made an impact in the right situation.

On the subject of Olympic basketball, it's kind of funny watching the Team USA coverage. Thankfully they don't call it the Dream Team anymore and but they still have hard time accepting that they are one of the favourites now and not The Favourite. Anyways how about Canada Moose, it will give all those foreigners fits trying to figure out whether it was intended as the singular or the plural, I can already hear the French commentary.

[Eric]

Isn't basketball predicated on good-bad? You watch the 'bad' Bosh some nights and wonder of the 'good' one will ever show up again. He does.
Which is the real Jose -- that good all-star calibre guy in the stretch around the break or the so-so performer of later on? Good Jose -- bad Jose, who do we get this year?
Oh yes, and Bargnani and Moon -- two models of real consistency. And Kapono -- play-offs vs. regular season. Which one shows up this season?
Enough of this good Joey -- bad Joey guff. The best player on the team can be inconsistent. It's the nature of the game.
Graham remains a player with intriguing physical skills who hasn't 'got it' yet -- kind of like Koufax or Randy Johnson in baseball or a guy named Guy in hockey.
He needs a role -- limited maybe but consitent and he NEEDS to be left in that role when he makes a bonehead play, not relegated to the bench for ten or twelve games. I like Sam Mitchell as a coach, but when I see the slack that's been cut for Moon and Bargs, the treatment of Graham is ridiculous.
Let him play through his mistakes or play himself out of the leauge, but give his shattered confidence a boost and see which it is. He's strong, he'll go to the hole and he has played good defence in college. We don't have a roster that's top heavy with that kind of potential. Give him a chance.

[Victor]

I do not like it at all that Moon is not a shoe-in for the LV Summer League roster. Hopefully it is to heal a legit injury and not a sign that he's getting too big for his britches. Hopefully his agent (or Smitch) gets in his ear and lets him know that one marginally successful year in the NBA does not mean you can take the Shaq O'Neal approach to off-season training.

[doug]

thanks for the info on graham and the summer league - sounds like maybe moon could be there as well.

is there any chance ukic, adams and jawai will play?

Blogger's note: As I mentioned, Ukic will be with his national team, Adams will play and Jawai will be added once he's officially a Raptor on Wednesday.

[Rami]

Hey Doug,
I m lebanese and I feel kinda bad for the lebanese team.. but i m proud of them just because they are up there fighting for a place in the olympics...but i think if the political situation back home was better the basketball team woud have been in the olympics right now... we made the world cchampionship a couple years ago (beating the french and Venezuala)... and on the club level we are one the best in Asia...

[Paul]

SNOWBIRDS? Sure, its been done, but its a whack better than some of the other readers' ideas...

[Nick]

Everyone, Gerald Green has won the dunk contest, that's it. Three teams have not seen his supposed upside, probably because it isn't there. Ability to dunk does not equal a good NBA game.

[Marc in Burlington]

Hey Doug,

Do you think that Joey could be a player like Caron Butler in the sense that it may not be until his third or fourth year in the league before he "gets it"? Do you think that the expectations placed upon Joey as the only serviceable piece in the He-who-shall-not-be-named trade have been realistic? Sure he was a starter in his first year, but a starter on a bad team with a rookie head coach and a couple of guys like Jalen, Mike James and Raefer who were more interested in padding their own lines than sharing the rock with a rookie. How much of Joey's lack of development is Quick hook Sam responsible for? And while I'm asking, why didn't Sam use the same tactics with Moon when he's hoisting up lousy threes? I understand that the inconsistency Joey's game has show drives people nuts, but how do you develop some confidence in your self when your coach shows none in you? I am pretty sure I have read in your blog that Joey works hard in practice, when will he be given a real opportunity to make a contribution?

Blogger's note: I presume you'll never accept that Joey's been given ample opportunity in his time in the league and has never, ever, seized the moment and take full advantage of them.

[Rob]

I can't believe someone thinks that Joey Graham has not had more then enough chances yet. He has started in 48 games in 3 seasons including 3 games last year in the playoffs. Mitch has given the kid a chance. And it is not happening. D-League material.

[Dagomar Degroot]

voislav, the difference is that a bad night for Bosh comes once every five or so games where he nets 12 points and 8 rebounds because of the other team's stifling defense. A bad night for Graham ends after 5 minutes when he's committed his third stupid foul and still hasn't scored a point. And those nights tend to outweigh the good by a decent margin.

[Eric]

Dagomar, My point wasn't to compare Joey to Chris. At this point, there is no comparison. Maybe there never will be.
My point is that basketball is a difficult game to play consistently well and even the team's best player has his off nights.
Yes Graham has started some games. He started the first one he ever played in. That's part of the problem. He's never been given a defined role of any kind and allowed to PLAY THROUGH HIS MISTAKES. He's gone from starting or being first wing off the bench to not seeing the court for four or five games. Very few, young players could go anywhere but backwards in this kind of 'role'.
He doesn't need to start. He hasn't done near enough to earn that. He doesn't need to be in the second rotation BUT, bring him off the bench as the fifth wing. Give him a few minutes each half and if he makes a bonehead play, give him a few minutes the next night and the next until eventually he either gets better or proves that he cannot handle even this limited role.
Young players in particular are up and down. You have three, relatively young players -- Bargnani, Moon and Graham who have intriguing skills and roller coaster performance. We've suffered through the brain cramps and vanishing acts with the first two. Give Graham the same chance, only deeper in the rotation.
He may never be a great player. He may never be a player at all. If he never becomes a Bosh, maybe he can become a useful sub, who isn't afraid to stick his nose in there and occasionally change the tempo for this jump-shooting bunch.
There's a lot more upside than down and remember, for three or four years Sandy Koufax was a frustrating, under-achieving lefty who lost more than he won. The Dodgers stuck with him and were fairly glad they did. Odds are Graham is never gonna be basketball's Koufax, but without a clearly defined role and the ability to screw up without being buried -- we're never gonna know what he is, except a wasted draft choice.