A whole bunch of little (but wildly interesting) items

Warning.

I feel like poop still, took a day off practice yesterday, these fellows are 26-45 and few care greatly about the day-to-day nuances of games and the preparation for them so read this with caution.

But read it. Please.

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AP PHOTO

Your chance to see Russell Westbrook and friends tonight.

We’re going to have all of the first two weeks of April to dissect the various awards races (and that’ll be fun because talking about Toronto games might not be) but before we do, pay particular attention tonight.

People whose opinions I respect greatly tell me that Russell Westbrook of the Oklahoma City Thunder deserves huge consideration for rookie of the year honours.

And with the young Thunder a relatively respectable 20-51 in the supremely-difficult Western Conference, he’s playing a huge role on one of the very good young teams in the league.

I haven’t seen him in person – I didn’t venture to Oklahoma City for Toronto’s only visit this season – which is one of the big reasons I’m even remotely interested in tonight’s affair.

The other? Well, if you’re a fan of the game, I think a good young team that includes Westbrook, Kevin Durant and Jeff Green would be quite intriguing.

I have no idea if they can keep all of them when it comes time to start spending real money on salaries (which I think will be the fatal flaw in Portland’s rise to prominence just as it derailed Chicago for a season or three) but for now, they have to be worth watching.

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So, I couldn’t help but notice, what with my trained professional observation skills and all, that the Eastern Conference standings are quite muddled these days.

Chicago beats Miami which falls into sixth and that’s a death sentence ‘cause it’s Boston or Orlando in the first round. The win moves the Bulls into seventh, which is quite an accomplishment for that team this year so I don’t imagine they’ll be too crushed to get whacked in the first round.

Detroit loses to the Lakers and all of a sudden they’re not even a lock for the playoffs, let alone a good seed because they sit in eighth and should now be as worried about Charlotte catching them than with who they might catch.

Wouldn’t it be nice to be, you know, involved in stuff like that?

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I don’t for one second that playing “spoiler” is anything but a contrived issue for bored beat grunts trying to knock off another easy off-day story to get you one item closer to the end of the season.

That said, I’m not sure we’re even going to get to use it here even if we were lazy enough to.

Fully half of the remaining games – two each with the Knicks and Wizards, one with the Thunder – are against teams that have nothing at all to play with and Atlanta’s locked into fourth so that one means nothing.

And by the time they get to Indy and Chicago in the last week, those will probably be inconsequential, too.

So there’s not even that for some to look forward to.

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This exposes a fatal flaw in the logic of most:

Q: Doug, in (Wednesday’s) in game blog, you mentioned that you'd prefer to have Charlie V. as opposed to Marion. I agree 100%. Can you clear up a vague memory that we traded Charlie V. for TJ Ford, who we traded for O'Neil, who we then traded for Marion? Or am I recalling this all long? I know there were extra's here and there, and different needs at different times, but, if true, this doesn't depict a very good trail for BC.

Paul B, Toronto

A: That’s the way the line went, with other bits and pieces thrown in but it’s pointless, fruitless, ridiculous (I’m channeling my inner Jackie Chiles right there and it’s nothing personal) to follow it.

Nothing is linear in pro sports transactions, it’s one the most misused pieces of logic fans point to when they try to make their cases for either the firing, or the lionization, of a general manager.

Charlie Villanueva was traded for T.J. Ford because the Raptors weren’t sure whether Jose Calderon was capable of being full-time starting point guard and they also knew they had Andrea Bargnani, a presence that made Villanueva redundant.

T.J. Ford was traded for Jermaine O’Neal because (a) it was the best offer they got to clean up a backcourt glut and (b) it addressed one of two glaring needs on the roster.

O’Neal was traded for Marion because (a) O’Neal had missed about a third of the season with injury, (b) he wasn’t working well in tandem with Chris Bosh, which they had hoped would occur and (c) Bargnani needed to play.

Marion will likely be signed-and-traded or let go this summer (which is something, the GMs protestations the day of the deal notwithstanding) that has been in the minds of many since the transaction occurred. Then we can fully evaluate that singular transaction.

What you say is technically correct; it is also grossly misleading. But, fear not, you are not alone in mis-using it.

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Dang it.

You think going 2-2 last night (‘Nova, UConn good; Xavier, Memphis, bad?) in Super Son’s pool was at all a good thing?

Nah, me neither.

That’s why it’s imperative we get a sweep of Louisville, Kansas, UNC and Oklahoma tonight.

Cheer wildly, please.

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I was saving this piece of information for a really slow day and since this seems to be the slowest in a while, what the heck.

Whispers around the gym have us not going anywhere truly exotic for training camp next fall. No games in London, no visits to Rome, no – as was once hoped for – junket to Mumbai.

Looks like wherever we’re going, we’re driving or taking the train.

Nothing’s finalized yet – at least it wasn’t when I first heard this – but it seems Ottawa and St. Catharines are two most likely destinations for next October’s week-long camp.

Both are familiar – Ottawa was excellent last year except for the lack of a Starbucks on the Carleton campus – and Brock was pretty good, too – except for the fact the media room was a storage closet. It was, however, closer to home and we could commute.

Anyway, like I say, no firm decisions been made but it’s not going to be too far from here.

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Speaking of Oklahoma, if you can get by all the college basketball stuff and college football stuff, you’ll eventually read this about the Thunder, which makes my glowing praise of Russell Westbrook ring hollow.

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How could someone send this this morning?

Q: First of all I have to say thanks for the blog!

Question, what is the likelihood that you will be retracting your statement that the Phoenix Suns are dead (this season)? It looks like they are making a pretty good come back with a slightly easier schedule for the rest of the season with Dallas. Plus they also have a game with Dallas left. Did you say your son’s school team is call the Hawthorn Hawks? Is it a coincidence that there is an Australian Rules Football team called the same thing? (feel free to leave this out if you do post my question, especially if I’m wrong)

Christopher M, Toronto

A: Perhaps you were asleep when the Suns were drilled in Portland last night – the Blazers shot something stupid like 60 per cent from the field – and they are now four games behind Dallas in the loss column with 10 to play.

Dead. Plugged pulled. Season over. Start wondering what they’ll do to change it in the summer.

They are the mighty Hawthorn Hawks, indeed, and while I do know of that Aussie Rules Football team, the school seems to have, um, er, ah, borrowed their logo from the NBA Hawks.

Personally? They were the Stingers when first started caring and I have no idea why they changed. And I know a lass or two from a local establishment who wonder the same thing.

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Comments

[PKrazy]

Carleton University has a Starbucks! It's in the University Centre. I think this revelation should be enough to persuade the Raptors to hold training camp in the nation's capital again.

[Richard Spackman]

Who has extra First-Round Picks that Brian might buy? How many should he be interested in picking up? Can a deal with OKC be made for one of the Kids, or should it?

Blogger's note: I'm not entirely sure, since protections and all that are still to be determined in some cases.

[Kyron]

3-1 last night (Really disappointed in Memphis). Sorry Doug but I'm gonna be rooting against a few of your picks tonight (Go Michigan State!!!). Actually, it's just one of your picks, I got the other Midwest Semi wrong already (Why is Wake Forest in my Elite Eight? Seriously?)

I wish CIS basketball was this exciting.

[Gerald]

Hey Doug

I agree the Suns are probably dead but as of this morning they are 3 and one half games behind. Does the half game mean anything? Probably not.

[Doug]

Cis was..Carlton beat Western with a buzzer beater in a barn-burner of a game in the semis....interesting you speak of Oklahoma(and Westbrook is the real deal just has hit the wall, as Durant and Green were out hurt for a bit so he had extended minutes), but Oklahoma I was reading might be interested in trading down just due to pure economics as they have another lottery pick, with Durant,Green,Westbrook, and let's say they win the ping pong ball derby and get Griffin their cap room is gone...a flaw in the salary cap system, as Portland is finding out , these teams are a illusion really as the fans have had to endure bad teams, then get a decent team only to see it broken up due to being a lottery team....Oklahoma can't afford 4 rookies who are good, well one is future superstar in Durant....also talk that the Kings might trade as well as their not in good financial shape, so there will be a chance for teams to move up it seems...

watched the Blazers-Suns game last night, and out of all the ball players on the court I would love to get my hands on Fernandez, what a player, talent....he's the Blazers "glue" guy...the Suns are toast, Kerr, should be driven out of town and told don't look back, what he has done to that team a travesty....

[AA]

Doug,

What did you think of Tyreke Evans' performance yesterday? Could he be the answer at shooting guard? He's a great slasher and can create his own shot. He can take over a game, but his shot needs work.

Blogger's note: Didn't see enought of one game to have any real opinion, actually. And I don't imagine anyone connected with any NBA team will be swayed by one performance.

[chris]

You're forgetting the two first round draft picks that went with those trades. CV + 2 first round picks for Marion.

I hate it.

But, i LOVED the TJ trade at the time...as i;m sure most did. So its unfair to judge BC as harshly as some have.

btw Doug -- good for you for taking the high road on all the Chris Bosh stuff (by, for the most part, not including it in your blog). Refreshing.

[Adam Harmon]

I know you hate these speculative comments, Doug, but is it safe to say that the downfall of the Suns this year raise the spectre of Nash becoming a Raptor? Or at the very least bring the odds from "highly doubtful" to simply "doubtful"? Humour us poor fans.

Blogger's note: Sorry. Still "highly doubtful" at the very, very, very best

[chili]

Hey Doug,
What do you think of that Henderson guy from Duke? Would he still be in the Raptors' radar come draft time?

Blogger's note: Who knows. We won't have clue until after the lottery in late May, which is about when I'll start deeply about who might be around.

[Rob]

Did you not see Carleton beat Western at the buzzer in the national semifinals to advance to the championship game?

Down by 1 at home, time running out, Carleton drove the length of the court to drill a jumper with no time left on the clock. Win by a point!

That beat any ending we've had so far in the Tourney.

And, they're actual student-athletes. Not athletes who play for a university

Blogger's note: I did see it as a matter of fact. Great game.

[DinoFever86]

I'm going to have to agree with Kyron about CIS basketball. The American University's just put out a way better product. It's hard to get excited about something that isn't overly exciting. Yes that sounds like a great finish to a game (Carlton vs. Western) but the level of play just is not as good. I must give them credit though, they are still talented and doing it. I wish this country stopped the focus on hockey so much and got on the basketball train. It wont happen but would be something great.

[The other KG]

Hey Doug. Brock is clearly the way to go for training camp. If the decision is made, I'll see if I can pull some strings on the media room for you. Any particular amenities you need?

And, FWIW, we have two Starbuck's on campus, three Tim Horton's, and I will personally deliver to you if it happens.

Needless to say, I'd love to see the Raps (whatever the team looks like in the Fall) down here in St. Catharines.

[Doug]

did you see where the NBA made a rule change yesterday effective for today....it concerns a technical being assessed for to many men on the floor,as in a game earlier this year between the Blazers and Celts, the Blazers were assessed a technical for having too many men on the floor but they were assessed the technical AFTER they scored a basket playing with 6 players....basket was allowed to stand and the Celts shot a technical , but the Blazers still had a net gain of 1....

so they made this rule change where the play reverts back previous to the 6th man being on the floor, and play clock set accordingly, yada,yada,yada...

but my question is this how the heck did 3 refs, let the play begin and the Blazers score with 6 men on the floor, and they have to make a rule change to address the issue, no wonder coaches get fined for slamming the refs, its not hockey where it happens as players are changing on the fly, it b-ball, after whistles, horn blows , you watch a player come in, and a player go off....how difficult is that??...

Blogger's note: Apparently too difficult in one instance

[Mike S]

Doug, as a Hawthorn Hawks (Australia) fan here in Toronto, i must take exception to your suggestion that they 'borrowed' the logo from the Hawks. Yes, they are both Hawks, however a simple googling of both images would see that they both look quite different. And the Hawks design has been around for a few years. I would suggest that the similarities would be because there's only a certain amount of ways you can design a Hawk. Enjoy the blog, and hopefully your son's team will be champions of their league just like the Mighty Hawks are right now!

Cheers

Blogger's note: Maybe I didn't make myself clear enough, it's my son's school that, um, borrowed the NBA Hawks logo; I don't have a clue what the football team's logo looks like

[Bill Wong]

I don't think Phoenix is done. Not because of it's abilities, but because of Dallas inability to play through in clutch time. Reminds me of Dallas v. Miami in the Finals and Dallas v. Golden State in the first round all over again (I was a die hard Mavericks fan then).

Question about playoff tickets. When does a team usually start selling playoff tickets? If it happens before the season starts, were any sold in Toronto this season? If so, what are they going to do about these sold tickets, if any?

Blogger's note: No team sells playoff tickets until late in the season.

[GM]

You rightly point out that scouts won't change their opinion based on one game. And the other day you rightly point out that any player can have a great stat line on any given game, but that doesn't mean they're really good. You were talking about Gerald Wallace. But are you now saying you're going to possibly base your vote on ROY on how Westbrook plays tonight? What if he stinks up the joint? What if he has the game of his life? It's just one game.

Maybe you won't, but I read this kind of stuff from lots of journalists, who rave about one player because they happened to play well against the team the journo covers, or shoot down the same player.

Is there anything you can take away from seeing them play live only once?

Blogger's note: No, certainly not enough to seal a vote but it's just interesting to me to get a chance to see Westbrook for the first time.

[The Original JJ]

@ Gerald:

The half game in the "games behind" means little to nothing. In fact, games behind is often misleading, anyways. As Doug pointed out, look at the difference in the loss column. In the case of the Suns, the games behind may say 3.5, and even if they were to win another before Dallas plays again, it would then say 3. However, NO MATTER what the Suns do for the rest of the season, Dallas would HAVE to lose at least 4 games to give the Suns a chance. (And I'm just using Dallas and Phoenix. Theoretically, Utah could fall off the map and both Dallas and Phoenix could get in.) Basically, the Suns fate rests with the number of losses of the teams ahead of them.

Another example is DET/CHI. Right now, Chicago has the 7th seed and Detroit the 8th. They are both 24 GB, and thus, Detroit is 0 GB of Chicago. Yet, Chicago has one more loss than Detroit. So again, no matter what Chicago does for the rest of the season, their fate lies with Detroit until Detroit loses at least 1 more game (and then it would depend on a tiebreak). So currently, the 7th seed isn't actually Chicago's to win or lose, it's the Pistons'. (Again, I'm just focusing on the 2 teams currently in those positions.)

Games behind is simply an indicator based on teams' records and is based on a simple mathematical formula that has a 2 in the denominator. Thus, depending on the number of games played by the teams in question, you often end up with a 0.5 in there.

[Sean]

Doug! Theres a Starbucks in the Carleton Library too! You should have brought that up last year!

[John Smith]

CIS basketball sucks. Who cares if Carleton won a game at the buzzer, sure it's an exciting finish but it doesn't make it good basketball. It's like watching a game between a couple of bottom ranked division 2 high school teams; sure the game might be competitive but that's only because both teams are equally inept. I bet a lot of top ranked high school/prep school teams in the states could beat Carleton's team and I'll bet that any NCAA team ranked in the top 50 could easily beat a CIS all-star team.

Blogger's note: I, and I'm sure thousands of others, couldn't disgree more.

[kewl guy]

Doug, there's one at MacOdrum Library as well. Enter the library from the main entrance and its on your right. You'll see the section dubbed "Page Break." Enjoy that venti

[Mingo-Jones]

Hey Doug, Get better soon 'cause the short reading is making it a LONG day ;-)

Any chance that the Raptors do anything in Montreal for the next pre-season? This question might satisfy the interest of your QC readers and perhaps your grace quest for good beer, food and "je ne sais quoi ;-)"

Blogger's note: No, sorry; have never heard of Montreal as being a viable option. Although I, personally, would heartily endorse it 'cause it's a great, great city

[Eric]

Love how the Bosh story has pretty much blown over since it was revealed that his baby momma is taking him to court for MORE money not MONEY. I just wonder where all those bandwagon jumpers are who wanted to trade him on the count of a worst-case scenario. I just don't understand how sports has so many bandwagoners, so many people obsessed with having an opinion heard that they'd form it on a totally UNINFORMED basis if they had to. Sure, we still don't know the true story with Bosh, but for people to have jumped the gun before they even heard two sides is too common for me.

Unfortunately, I think many of the recent Raptors moves were made with that same myopia. The Marion trade comes to mind- I'd say 80% of the fans/writers wanted it, and now that it hasn't worked (which the other 20% said would happen) I'm sure they'll start complaining about losing Marion for nothing this summer, losing Jamario Moon for nothing ALREADY, handcuffing the team with a conditional pick to Miami, and seeing a team lacking toughness and defense trade away their toughest and best defensive player (JO). Unfortunately it's too late. The trade's done, some of our greatest fears have been realized and there's nothing we can do about it!!

People are jumping on another bandwagon now and that's how it goes. I wish we were more realistic and didn't make our decisions from the bandwagon but what can you do. It's happened before, it will happen again and I can't stand it myself. It's like we're not realistic, we're just clouded with a bias that never dies.

Bloggers' note: So, just so I and others have this straight, you're ripping on people for jumping on and off bandwagons even as you admit you did on the Bosh thing ( (as some of us expected), ), which is far from blown over, by the way; and you seemed to have jumped on the "Marion was a bad trade" bandwagon without seeing what becomes of either him or his contract this summer.
Amazing.

[Eric]

I haven't formed my opinion on the Bosh story. I said what I EXPECTED was true- but I'm not going to say "trade him" or "don't trade him" (i.e. the bandwagon) until I hear more. I'm talking about the people who already made their decision on that point- and not today, but when the story first broke.

I'm not on the Marion bandwagon yet because it doesn't even exist yet, my friend. You're right, the story's not over- but I never said it was. But I was opposed to the trade before it even happened. That's hardly bandwagon. And nothing's changed and nothing unexpected has happened. That's hardly bandwagon. The bandwagon I'm talking about here is the one that wanted to make a move for the sake of a move at the All-Star break, even if it was a dangerous one- the same bandwagon I fully expect to roll into town this summer when it might all unravel and people will say, "We didn't know this would happen?!" No, you didn't. You were too busy riding the bus to foresee all the implications of the deal.

I would consider you to have been on the bus yourself, Dougie. In fact, you might have been driving the bandwagon, and that's not my fault. But you're right, for a guy who covers the team for his career, it is indeed... amazing!

[Takashi]

I am back Dougy!...Did you miss me?

You where talking about Westbrook and his Rookie of the year chances so it got me thinking about guys in the Toronto media that get to vote in this tipe of stuff.I remember Chuck had a vote in the past but who else?

Do you get to vote in MVP,Coach of the year,ROY etc Doug? And what other members of the TO media get to vote?

Blogger's note: Not sure who votes for what, ballots get to us after the fiirst of April

[Rob]

To those ripping the quality of CIS basketball,

Carleton played 4 NCAA Div 1 teams earlier this season. They went 3-1 beating South Alabama, Northeastern, and Buffalo. They lost to defending NCAA national champions Kansas 84-83.

For those that can't do the math, that's a 1 point loss to the champs.