A wee bit late but still pretty darn good

Hey, sorry I’m a bit late.

Had a long day of travel yesterday to get out here in Phoenix, the time zones got to me, had to get up this morning and shovel the sunshine.

Anyway …

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STEVE RUSSELL/TORONTO STAR

Parker's had a good run lately.

Let’s get right to the injury update because reading a few of the comments last night showed me there’s an inordinate amount of interest in Joey Graham’s hamstring.

Well, I wish there was news.

What there is, unfortunately, is another “he’s day-to-day, we’ll check in the morning” update which is the norm this season with anyone connected with the Raptors, it seems.

Word is Joey may try to practice in a few hours – there was no substantial injury apparent on the “diagnostic testing” he had (a fancy phrase for MRI) – and then they’ll see how he comes through that. Or they may just treat him today and see if he can do anything tomorrow at shootaround.

The one thing about this team and injuries this year is that everything is “day-to-day.”

I swear, if someone left the court with his leg dangling by a tendon, we’d get a “injured let, will not return, day-to-day” notification.

Maybe it’s understandable (we are all day-to-day, aren’t we?) but it’s also a bit frustrating.

And it runs counter to the olden days. I remember standing around the locker room back in You Know Who Era with about a dozen reporters converging on one of the team’s doctors and pressing him to explain what “jumper’s knee” was in layman’s terms.

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Speaking of injuries, there’s the same non-news out here about Steve Nash, it seems.

Nash hurt his ankle a bit on Tuesday against Charlotte and he’s in L.A. tonight but we won’t know for hours whether he’ll play.

Oh, and remember when Shaq vs. Kobe would have been huge? Well, it's not anymore, out here there they're more worried about making the playoffs and maybe making a move on Joe Smith if he's waived than the O'Neal-Bryant return.

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This has got some topicality, if that’s even a word:

Q: Doug, one quick question and one quick comment: 1. is the Raptors' consecutive game streak with a three still going (haven't heard it mentioned in a long time)? 2. Have you noticed the chemistry between AP and Marion? Seems like they have a nice on-court rhythm - particularly in that they are looking for each other on the break and off cuts and screens.

B F, Halifax

A: Not only is the streak alive, it’s its birthday! For real.

It began Feb. 26, 1999 against Minnesota and has now been going for a full decade, 837 games and counting going into tomorrow against the Suns.

The good folks over in the Raptors media relations department sent us a nice birthday news release yesterday pointing out such things as:

--The streak has been extended in nine arenas that are no longer in the NBA - Market Square Arena (Indianapolis); Miami Arena (Miami); GM Place (Vancouver); Alamodome (San Antonio); The Spectrum (Philadelphia); Pyramid Arena (Memphis); Reunion Arena (Dallas); Compaq Center (Houston); Charlotte Coliseum (Charlotte).

--October Sky (Jake Gyllenhaal), Office Space (Jennifer Aniston) and My Favorite Martian (Christopher Lloyd) were playing in movie theaters when the streak began.

--Modern inventions since the streak began include the iPod (2001), the Segway human transporter (2001), Blue Tooth (2002), the hybrid car (2003) and YouTube (2005).

(And Doug Smith’s Raptors Blog, 2007).

And yes, statistically at least, Marion’s had a huge impact on Parkers, whose transition offence seems to have blossomed in the last week. The back-to-back 24-point nights Parker had against the Knicks and Timberwolves marked the first time this season he’s gone over 20 in two straight games. Does it last? That’s the question.

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Wow.

Just looked up at the TV here in the room and Chris Broussard of ESPN is doing his weekly around-the-league schtick on the Mike and Mike in the Morning show.

One of his lead items?

How Sam Mitchell is going to be one of the hottest commodities on the coaching market this summer. Broussard suggests not only didn’t the Raptors under-achieve under Mitchell in his last season and 17 games but in fact they over-achieved given what’s gone on since then.

I’m not sure about that – I think Jay’s getting about all he can out of this roster – but I’ve always held that Sam should, and would, coach again. And now it seems that other people are seeing it, saying it publicly and that can only help Sam’s pursuit of coaching employment.

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Okay, when we talk about teams in disarray, the poster children this year have to be the Detroit Pistons, no?

They are in seventh in the East, just two games out of ninth and, somewhat shockingly, are only 5 1-2 games ahead of the Raptors.

Rasheed Wallace got thrown out of a loss in New Orleans last night, Allen Iverson’s got a back bad and he’s on the shelf and, frankly, they are in such a freefall that if they miss the playoffs entirely, no one would be surprised, least of all me.

Can you imagine the angst there? Six straight appearances in the conference finals, two trips to the finals, a championship and now maybe missing the playoffs?’

I don’t know if Joe Dumars is a knee-jerk reaction kind of guy but if I’m Mike Curry, I might not get too comfortable in that coaching seat.

Oh, and just to show you how quickly they can fall, how many of you had Dumars in the Executive Hall of Fame a year ago? How many would put him there now?

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And, finally:

Q: Hi! Doug, you probably heard this a lot but, anyway. Long time reader and this is my first time asking you a couple of questions.

1. I know how much you like Randy Foye but don't you think he is a bit undersized much like Ben Gordon. Comparing those two who do you think has a potential to be a better player?

2. I tried asking questions during the live session for the Minnesota game yesterday and was rather disappointed. I tried typing a couple of questions but, none of them got posted. I was wondering if it had something to do with the web browser since I tried using both Firefox and Explorer, much to my disappointment none worked. So, I don't know if you could help me out with this or you could have one of your "tech gurus" to help me out with this situation.

Anwar A, Markham

A: Foye is a bit under-sized, yeah, but Gordon’s hardly a giant and is probably more, um, defensively-challenged.

The second one is the reason I’m running this, because it’s been asked often.

The thing is, and this is not anything other than laying out facts, but there’s about 2,000 comments-questions-snide remarks-cheap shots that come in during the course of a game. I see them all but you can understand they call can’t be used – it’s a blog about a game, not a chat room – and I try to get enough that are representative of the thoughts of the readers and are interesting. It’s nothing to do with browsers, it’s the number that I see.

Comments

[Lavi]

"the time zones got to me, had to get up this morning and shovel the sunshine. "

Doug, I'm at work and I laughed out loud at this. Everyone around is looking at me strangely, even though I work from home and there's no one around...

[Mike kovacs]

Doug did the league review that foul on Parker the other night to change it to a flagrant foul?

Blogger's note: They review games as a matter of course, and did nothing.

[Mahdi]

wow and the raptors are the ones struggling. Detriot lost for the 8th straight time, even the raptors didn't lose that much straight.
About the Joey injury, I hope he plays tommorrow because lets be honest.....Joey is the only one in the bench that brings it every night(I never thought in a million years i would say that), and can play more than one spot so he's kinda like our 6th man.
Also is Marbury gonna join the celtics? cuz if he is then they are not gonna win another championship. oh and they lost to the clippers last night. THE CLIPPERS!!!

[SY]

Doug,

For the quote, "Broussard suggests not only didn’t the Raptors under-achieve under Mitchell in his last season and 17 games but in fact they over-achieved given what’s gone on since then. ", was Broussard saying that both Sam and Jay did a good job and the team is actually over-achieving at 23-36?

-SY

Blogger's note: Sam did a better job coaxing wins out of the team than he was given credit for. Not an uncommon theory among people I talk to, actually.

[Allen]

How long do you think Marbury lasts in Boston?

[Kelsie]

Hey Doug,

I'd still put Dumars in the executive hall of fame. That team's run was coming to an end and even with Chauncey still there I think they would have had a hard time supplanting Boston or Clevland. Give them until after 2010 and I am certain we will see the Pistons back as an elite team in the near future.

I do think an argument can be made that they overachevied under Mitchell's tenure. 2 years ago we was given a coach of the year award and division banner in a year when he was given many new pieces and expected to get them to play together. We all know that when you have a lot of roster turnover it does not lend itself to stability or consistency. Mitchell was able to get that out of them. Last year they made the playoffs even after having a ton of injuries to key players. We expected more but at least we got into the playoffs with a questionable roster that didn't defend.

This year they were 8-9 and he was fired. Jay (I do like him) has not gotten the same type of results out of these guys based on their record alone. Has he developed the younger guys better? Perhaps, and the argument can defintely be made, but last time I checked this league is about wins vs. losses and Mitchell was coaching to win, not necessarily to teach.

The problem I have is, it's not a result of coaching good or bad, that we are where we are like Broussard would suggest. Mitchell was going to have a sub-par year with this group as well if he was still the coach. The issue is a lack of talent and depth.

I think the real debate is has BC underacheived or over-acheived? He fired the coach but has gotten worse results and we still have no sense of what type of team this is (half-court, defensive, run-n-gun).

I'll go with the under.

[Jason]

Doug,
10 arenas as I'm sure the one in Seattle isn't used.
The worst part about the streak is that when it ends, its only weeks before Dallas beats the record. Oh well enjoy it while you can Raptors fans!

Blogger's note: I shall chastise the gurus at media relations.

[Camilo]

I think Doug overestimates Mitchell coaching. I agree however he was fired too early in the season. Raptors last year's record 41-41 with a deeper roster, less injuries and a weaker Eastern conference was definitely underachieving.

This year although he was fired too early, at least 2 of the first 9 losses under Mitchell were unacceptable.

I think Mitchell was clearly a poor strategist and also bad at handling his roster. Mitchell handling of Bargniani, Graham and Kapono was really bad. He could not not get anything out any of them.

I also think BC pulled trigger on the O'neal trade with the Pacers to accomodate Mitchell's coaching style and now we all know that with or without Mitchell that did not work.
Everybody knows BC's teams are about playing "run and gun" or whatever, and O'neal had nothing to do with that.

Triano has had to deal with implementing a different coaching style during the season and of course with significant injuries to his best players.

It's amazing that the Raptors with 3 more wins than they currently have, they 'd be only 2 1/2 games from the 6th playoff spot! What a shame!

[PM]

While the Iverson trade does look pretty awful all things considered, I wouldn't be surprised if, in a year, we look back at it in hindsight and say it was a good move. Detroit's going to have a silly amount of money flexibility because of it, and the way League revenues are going that will be a very, very good thing for the future of the team.

[GM]

I'm amazed the Raptors hold that 3-pointer record. How often do you see teams making zero treys in a game? Not very. I just went back and checked the last week. In 52 games played, only one team didn't make a 3-pointer in a game, and that was Washington in a game they only scored 67 points.

[DinoFever86]

I'm still on Joe Dumars side as well. They have Stuckey and AI just brings cap relief, I didn't think he'd do much there. AI is a different time in the NBA it's to team oriented now and he is a spectacular one man show. And Wallace seemed to have ended his run there unless they can sign him cheap. They will be back before you know it.

[BB]

I'm curious about the "3 point streak" since the NBA has changed so much and guys seem to make them like layups now. Do you know of any games in the last few seasons when a team did not make at least one three pointer?

Blogger's note: I don't, can't imagine there were many but I'm not inclined to search boxscores

[WA]

The media department should also have mentioned that in that time 3 teams have changed addresses and 1 expansion team was formed!

[Paul]

2000 in game comments? When do you watch the game? Well at least you know people are reading your ingame blog right?

[John P]

I'm really excited to see if the Raptors can finally get on a roll, this road trip will be a true (and maybe final test). So for such an important game on friday I'll be glued to my television every single...

oh wait, it's on TSN2

Nevermind

[SY]

I guess Memphis is pretty much out of the free agents hunt this coming offseason and Hedo Turkoglu should be well available comes July 1, 2009.

http://washingtontimes.com/news/2009/feb/26/nba-set-to-acquire-175-million-line-of-credit/

-SY

[Michel G]

Since Dumars acquired Iverson to clear cap space and start Detroit's rebuilding process, we'll have to wait a couple of years to grade him on how well he's done. Anyway, I've come to realize that being a general manager in the NBA is the hardest job in professional sports, unless you luck out with a Tim Duncan or Lebron James. Bad contracts can handcuff a team for years, injuries can send a better than average team to the bottom of the standings, and drafting is nothing but a crap shoot (except for a few exceptions). My goodness, Indiana is paying Tinsley some 7 million a year to stay away. What sports league in the world does that! I think the upcoming collective bargaining agreement might not be as smooth as people might think.

One last comment. The guy yesterday who complained about Bosh, I think it was Pete, what the heck is wrong with you. The man is an excellent basketball player and just thought of how formidable a force he and Bargnani could be in a couple years, if we're able to keep Bosh here, will keep me watching.

TSN2 on Friday. It's either Doug and the FAN590, or Raptors Game-in-an-hour at 2:00 am! What's a poor boy supposed to do?

[Tim W.]

I'm not a fan of these undersized shooting guards like Gordon or Foye. Well, let's just say I'm not a fan of drafting them high. In the end, they are usually best as the third guard, someone who can fill in at either position and coming in scoring. I knew Minnesota would regret drafting Foye and then thinking they can turn him into a PG. It takes SOO long for SG's to change their mindset and the conversion to PG very rarely happens. People point to Chauncey Billups, but it took him years to do and he had to change teams several times.

[Matt]

For the debate as to whether BC has under/over achieved I think we have to keep in mind this was ~25 win team the year before he started. Although I really like Ford, Garbajosa and Parker the only significant piece that should be expected to make a long term difference that BC added was Bargnani, and he is only beginning to tap into his potential. I can't knock him for Kapono because the Raps needed a three-point specialist when he was acquired (they had problems with zone defenses during the 47-win season). The nature of free agency is that you have to outbid everyone to get that person, and therefore you end up overpaying more often than not. Maybe you can argue that he should have done more with the TJ Ford trade, but then I have no problem with him swinging for the fences with O'Neal even if it didn't pan out. Marion is an intriguing player on this team, and should make both the offense and defense better.

I personally think BC has done as well as can be reasonably expected with what he has had during his tenure. I also expect this team to improve, as early as next year. If Delfino for second rounders, Hump for Araujo, and Villanueva for Ford (in spite of recent criticism), not to mention some well documented trades/signings during his tenure in Phoenix, has taught us is that he does have a good eye for talent.

[Leon]

http://sports.yahoo.com/nba/blog/ball_dont_lie/post/Happy-belated-birthday-Raptors-three-point-shoo?urn=nba,144342

are you the one plagiarizing, or is j.e. skeets?

or maybe YOU ARE j.e. skeets. that just blew my mind.

Blogger's note: I can only hope to be as good as Skeets.

[Phil A]

Hey Doug, with regards to Marbury, I never really understood the whole situation in New York. Wouldn't Marbury be the type of player D'Antoni would love to have on his team? With their style of play, it almost seems like they would be even better with him.

[Darko]

Doug make sure you do not strain your back shovelling there.
That was mean on your part. It is almost like telling me about "fresh air" some 7 hours into 8 hour overseas flight.
And you wonder about crankines around here, it's still winter,
Raptors suck, and they are on TSN2 tomorrow.

[Anthony]

Please not another post about the value and blossoming of Joey Graham.... Though with how thin the team is, I will admit the Raptors will miss him if he is injured. If that is not an indictment of how weak the bench is, I don't know what is. Again the sad state of Toronto fans and their support of below average players stuns me (with Graham and Tie Domi at the top of the list).

As for Bosh, I too am tired of the negative comments, but I have to wonder with the cap going down the next 2 years, does Bosh really think that many teams are willing to give him the max and conversely is he ready to leave significant $'s on the table seeing there is going to be some awful contentious bargaining in 2011 when the agreement is up.

[pooks]

So media relations sent a news release about the 3 point streak?? And someone/people spent time to do that and got paid??

Here I've got a news release: the Sun is hot and water is wet. Can I have my cheque please??

[Adam Houghton]

Doug,

Are you and Chris Broussard suggesting that maybe the good posters over at RealGM might not be the best source of definitive basketball knowledge? That some of the talking hockey heads at Fan 590 might not have known what they were talking about either? And *gasp* the guy who started FireSamMitchell.com might not have been a top basketball mind??? Next you'll be telling me to be patient with young big men, that Sam Mitchell earned his COY, and that the sky isn't falling.