I wonder what's next in this wacky year

I fully expect to go to shootaround later this morning and find that a plague of locusts has descended on the Raptors locker room.

It’s been that kind of season.

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Lots of questions yesterday on how the Bosh story developed, why it came out when it did, how things shook out.

Honest answer: I don’t know.

Dave got the story, I’m not sure when but I know our business and I know no one “sits” on a story like that, although I didn’t ask.

That’s the way these things generally work is, if a guy gets something, it’s his. I don’t share a lot of inside information (it’s much better to keep a circle as closed as you can when you’re dealing with sources or tips) and I don’t expect to be keep in the loop on something I’m not working on.

If I were to get something, say a trade of Jermaine O’Neal to Miami, I keep my bosses in the loop and that’s about it.

Should this one have been written?

Absolutely.

And it was written perfectly, in my opinion. Comment solicited from both sides (the opportunity turned down by one), context to timing provided, context to part of the issue that made it news (Bosh’s declining play in December) also provided.

Good story well written.

Of course, as I mentioned yesterday, this is a far cry from being anything proven in court and in situations like this there are layers and layers of truth, fiction and spin. I don’t know what went on between those two kids, you don’t know, nobody knows for sure except them.

I would expect the final determination by the courts may provide some answers (although if there’s some out-of-court settlement – not uncommon at all – it may include some sort of gag order that precludes anything else from being made public and I also presume that’s not unheard-of in these cases).

But I will say this:

If all of the points made in the case are true, Chris Bosh has absolutely bamboozled me and thousands of other people he’s come in contact with on an almost daily basis during the past six NBA seasons.

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Now on to more, less contentious, much more frivilous issues.

Like why this team blows.

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Math time, and you know I suck at math.

Yesterday’s contention that the main fix needed is with the team’s defence was based on anecdotal evidence but here are some numbers:

The Raptors are 21st in scoring, 20th in points allowed;

The Raptors are 27th in points per game differential (which some people say is a telling stat).

The Raptors are 16th in field goal percentage, 21st in field goal percentage allowed;

The Raptors are 12th in three-point field goal percentage; 13th in three-point field goal percentage allowed.

The Raptors are seventh in assists; 27th in opponents assists.

They score enough, shoot it well enough from both sides of the arc and move the ball well enough that I do think they get enough points.

What they cannot do is stop anyone, anywhere.

The anecdotal evidence goes like this:

Jose has to be healthier and better

Bosh has to be better man-on-man and with his help

Bargnani has to be a better help defender

The wings are simply not quick enough to keep their men in front of them.

And better defence leads to more misses by the opponents, which leads to more transition baskets, which is where this team – at times – has thrived. If they get stops and run, they get better looks and score more.

I’m not saying the offence, with its reliance on spotty outside shooting, is perfect, but they get enough points right now; they need to give up fewer.

Of course, you know me and math, this could be entirely botched but I don’t think so.

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I swear, the folks in the Bucks PR department, eminently qualified and one of the best groups in the league, have too much time on their hands. This was passed on by T. Enlund, Milwaukee scribbler, yesterday.

BANGO SURGERY UPDATE

Bucks mascot Bango had successful surgery Monday morning to repair the anterior cruciate ligament (ACL) in his right knee, the team announced today.

The surgical procedure was performed by orthopedic surgeon Dr. Michael Gordon, M.D., at Columbia St. Mary’s Hospital in Ozaukee, Wisconsin.

Bango will begin rehabilitation immediately and is expected to make a complete recovery in time for the start of the 2009-10 season. The popular mascot will continue to set the entertainment pace at Milwaukee’s final five home games of the season next month, and is expected back for the next home game on Wednesday, April 1 vs. the Los Angeles Lakers.

The ageless Bango has brought smiles and thrills to Bucks fans at home games, appearances, parades, school assemblies, hospital visits, festivals, and everywhere Bucks fans celebrate since 1977. He has performed throughout the United States, Canada and in China.

That’s one tough stuffed animal. Blows out an ACL and is still going to do some schtick after surgery?

This is old, but it’s how he got hurt and had to have surgery and it’s an absolute classic. And, yes, that is The Raptor down there trying to see if he can help his fellow, ah, er, fellow thing. What a humanitarian.

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Oh, right, forgot one thing. Sorry, but we didn’t get too deep into the whole Quincy Douby in, Marcus Banks out transaction from yesterday.

So here it is:

Marcus Banks is having a bone spur on his toe removed and will be out for the year, Quincy Douby, who got a 10-day deal out of the D League.

What’s it mean? Um, nothing really. But, dutifully, I shall report that it has no impact whatsoever on the court or on the balance sheet. It does give the Raptors another guard should they have to play, you know, garbage time in any of their remaining 12 games.

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Speaking of T. Enlund, chronicler of all things Bucks and a general bon vivant, here’s how he set up tonight’s mighty struggle, in which Scott Skiles channels his inner Sam Mitchell on the importance of games.

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Cue the scary music, this is a bit spooky.

It’s yesterday’s Horoscope from our newspaper

If today is your birthday:

Without troubles, we would never be able to appreciate the good times. The sky is offering a clear cosmic promise of some much-needed and highly anticipated positive change. Chris Bosh is 25 today.

Comments

[Peter]

Hi Doug, I noticed in one of your articles, we're still using the term "Two-game winning streak". Any chance we can call it what it is, two wins in a row. When our faithful grunts are referring to winning streaks as just two games... it just makes us realize how pathetic this team has become! Good teams don't talk about their two game winning streaks!

[JC]

Solid voice of reason Doug. Let's wait to hear all the facts, if they ever come out, before rushing to judge. Bosh has always carried himself very well and I believe has earned the right to be shown some respect here, even in the face of his desire to cultivate a media persona.
My seats are 5 feet from where his ex-girlfriend used to sit and, seeing how she carried herself and tried to make herself the centre of attention at every single game, I could never reconcile their apparently very different personalities.

[dc]

i'll just say this. the one final shoe to drop on this terrible, terrible and lost season: Anthony Parker is going to get pulled over for a DUI with a transvestite prostitute in his car, that he was "just giving a ride home to". ya know, cuz he's such a good guy and it being so cold out and all...

[SM]

Hey Doug,

Great update on Bango, between him and the loss of Redd I don't know what the Bucks have to look forward to anymore. Playoffs maybe?

Hypothetical scenario, OKC wins the draft lottery and Colangelo comes knocking with a trade involving Bosh for the pick (I know he's a six-time all-star) and a player(s). With the possiblity of Blake Griffin and another star (Green?), do you make the deal?

Blogger's note: If you could convince any team to give up the No. 1 pick and "another star" for one player in the last year of his deal, you're the exec of the year.

[j.carlos]

With the CB4 situation, It's just another case of a young man making a mistake in life. I think it's good they made a mutual decision to have a child, I think it would have been worse if it was unplanned. But perhaps CB4's priority back then was different than it was after the Olympics, maybe he planned to establish a family with her. After Olympics it changed, seeing that he had the chance to further push his career forward, remember he wanted to have an MVP season this year. He lost track of the past commitment he's made, and now he finds himself in this predicament.

It was a good decision turned sour

[Jenuwine]

Doug,

I can tell you this, if we let Bosh go, this team will not attract any "star" free agent to Toronto. If I were Colangelo, I would do my due diligence in talking to Bosh and telling him that things went wrong this year but present him with a positive outlook for the 2009/2010 season. I trully believe in Bryan and trully believe that Bosh is a good guy. His personal life is his personal life but thing about it this way, if we trade him for what he may or may not have done then whats the point of all this?

From a roster stand point, I feel that if we make these changes we'll be a competitive team next year:

1. Trade Kapono - See what value he has this summer and see if he and other assets can be traded for a Tier 2 2-guard
2. Let Graham, Voskuhl, O'Bryant and Douby go
3. Sign Parker to the VET minimum (make him the backup 2 guard)
4. See what value Marion is asking,and try signing him
5. Draft a 2/3 wing man in this years draft
6. Bring back Delfino
7. Sign Rasho (since he's a free agent)
8. Sign Pops Mensa Bonsu
9. See if we can pick up a veteran backup point guard

Our New Team:

Calderon/Vet Backup/Ukic/
Crawford (via Kapono + assets deal)/Parker
Marion/Delfino
Bosh/Pops/Hump/Jawai
Bargnani/Rasho

What do you think?

[Tom L]

Think the pizza debate is over-"heated"? How's this: http://tinyurl.com/cokftz
---
[Hinrich] responded by producing a team-high 24 points and 8 assists in nearly 46 minutes of action as the Bulls improved their playoff position by handling the short-handed Detroit Pistons 99-91 on Tuesday night.

"It kind of sends your body into shock when you're not used to playing that many minutes," Hinrich said in the locker room.

*** Hinrich's reward for the extended effort? Getting booed by some of the United Center fans during his postgame interview, which aired on the videoboard. His offense was missing a free throw with 17.9 seconds left that would have given the fans free Big Macs. ***
---
So it could be a bit worse, no?

[Stavros]

Not sure where the Raps rank on blown double digit leads but I'm sure they're among the league leaders.

[Jason]

Doug,
Shouldn't Bango have been operated on by a Vet?

[Alexei Skakal]

Your blog is the first thing I read every morning, truly great work.

First time writing in: While of course it cannot be argued that the season has been positive in any way, is it not a huge overreaction to argue that BC should take the first train out of town, as Mr. Feschuk argues? BC has made some questionable calls but surely he should be given a chance to improve this team, and surely he is more than capable of doing so?

[mark]

morning doug- if bosh wants to go at the end of his contract, and colangelo decides to trade him off early (this offseason), is it safe to say that he'd only be shipped to a team that he'd re-sign with? no small-market team with a so-so record would trade key pieces for him right? knowing that he would jet in 2010?

i had this idea of bosh for micheal redd and charlie v but (apart from the money) i don't think it could happen...

[anthony.mackay]

Hopefully Bosh has been on the up and up here, it is had to believe that a millionaire who is about to sign an even more lucrative contact would not help out is own offspring.

Don't want to accuse anyone till we get more details but this sounds alot like the mother seen a lavish lifestyle in her future and then had the carpet pulled out from under her when the relationship ended. In my opinion I believe Bosh has been supporting his baby and the Ex simply wants the "rich without having to work" lifestyle... however it is still to early to jump to conclusions and this is only the impression I got when the story first broke.

[Paul]

Hmm...I'm going to read between the lines here and presume that, despite the likelihood that Felch-chuck's desk isn't too far from Dougie's, they don't send each other holiday cards, and he won't be invited to Super-Son's wedding. Just going out on a limb here.

In retrospect I think it's a shame that the Star had to print the "scoop" [Felch-chuck's article in today's Star doesn't add shine to his star] the way that they did, and I'm starting to fear that some tabloidism has entered the Sports pages. Let's not go in that direction, please! (I know you won't Doug).

Thanks again for the Blog! It's FAN-Tastic!

Blogger's note; You might want to get in off that limb 'cause you're dead wrong.

[Blake Kennedy]

Doug:

To use total points scored as a gauge of offensive efficiency isn't all that helpful. We need to adjust for pace and use points (and points against) per 100 possessions to evaluate offensive and defensive efficiency, easily found at basketball-reference.com. There you will see that we have the 7th worst offense in the league, and the 10th worst defense. So this myth that we can score at will has to be exploded: we are a terrible offensive team this year. Yes, we're also a terrible defensive team - but this idea that we're an offensive juggernaut is ridiculous. We're horrible. Neither were we as bad last year defensively as we were portrayed to be during the offseason by the media - but that's hardly atypical either.

Blogger's note: Perhaps you can point out where anyone said "offensive juggernaut."
In fact, I don't believe those words are anywhere in this sentence culled from this morning:

"I’m not saying the offence, with its reliance on spotty outside shooting, is perfect, but they get enough points right now; they need to give up fewer."

[Jim]

Doug, can you tell us a little bit more about the columnist-beat guy relationship? Don't have to go into specifics of yours and Dave's. But...you two don't talk, at all, about what you're working on?

I don't say this as an accusation in any way - just seems curious that Dave would be working on a blockbuster and not inform you...or that he'd inform your editor and your editor wouldn't inform you. What if you were spending time asking the same questions?

Blogger's note: Sure, we talk often on what each other's doing in the regular run of the mill stuff. I'll get into this more in the morning, if you like

[Pharaoh]

Doug, I'm not sure I agree when you say that we get enough points right now. Though I agree that a good offence starts with a good defence, I think we need help on both ends. I'd like to see a quarter-by-quarter breakdown of the Raps scoring over the season. I'd bet my life that if drops off dramatically in the fourth. This team starts games well enough (most of the time), but is horrible down the stretch. It's not just a question of being able to score, but rather being able to score when it really counts.

[Kelsie]

Hey Doug.

I agree Dave's story yesterday was one that had to be reported. The title of the article I thought could have been communicated better because there are always stigma's attached to black males such as myself when these terms are used (deadbeat dad)and no facts have been investigated or presented.

That being said from today:

"Given Bosh's questionable durability and sub-superstar skill set, it's getting harder and harder to imagine a championship-calibre team with Bosh as a maximum-salary mainstay."

There is no proof of that and it is simply a matter of opinion. Don't report it like it's fact. A lot of players get injured over their careers. Sub-superstar skill-set? What would be a super-start skill-set for a habitual all-atar and 20-10 guy who has only been in the league six years.

He should stick to reporting paternity suits.

My question is can you recall a more disspointing season in recent memory? I'm thinking maybe expansion years or the year we went 16-66, but even then there was very little optimism before the season started because everyone was aware that we weren't very good. What would you say has been the largest reason for the decline we've witnessed this year? I'm thinking over-estimated talent on the roster.

Blogger's note: This is the most disappointing season of them all and I've covered them all

[Simon]

You are right Doug what a bad year. What do you think about your buddy Dave's comments about BC trading Bosh over this? I think no matter what Bosh is doing next year, BC needs to trade Bosh in the summer the pieces don't fit. It is time to change the team. 3 step back to take4 steps forward hopefully.

[Uncle Zeke]

how can a story like this not have been broken months earlier? there was a document filed that has been part of the public record for months. with all the supposed Raptors' insiders it is hard to believe...

[Jojo]

Agree that defence is the biggest problem, but being 21st in scoring suggests they have a problem and I think there is near consensus that they need a wing who can create off the dribble. As a team, they need to get to the line more, especially in close games.

So how much better can Bosh get on D (he's been in the league for a while now)? What about Jose and Bargs? Bargs and Bosh can potentially become the highest scoring frontcourt tandem in the league but is there a softer defensive frontcourt? If you're going to have poor interior defence, you can't have a PG who's a below-average defender, can you?

I don't see this tandom sticking together into next season.

[Roxanne G]

Doug - thanks for sticking with us through this wacky season! I know there was plenty of discussion about this in the comments yesterday, but still, as you give your take on Dave's article; "And it was written perfectly, in my opinion. Comment solicited from both sides..." I can't disagree more. Comment may have been sought - but everyone knows that anyone involved in a legal entanglement has got to choose to 'not comment' on it publicly. The issue I have about the report is the sensational way it was reported - and that a very quick look at the court documents (courtesy of the link provided in the Star) makes it very clear that Chris Bosh began a legal proceeding first - in early October to get custody and support sorted out even before the baby was born. These are the documents that Dave obviously drew from - and yet made no attempt to balance 'her' side of the story with 'his'. Knowing even those few facts more adds a little balance to a story that in some ways is really none of our business anyway. And just to keep my own comments balanced - I couldn't agree more with your comment yesterday - the Truth is probably somewhere in between.
Thanks for your tireless work and great daily read!

[Marlon]

You're right Doug (about the Bosh story). The story might have been known for some time, but releasing it to coincide with CB4s birthday only added to the drama. Great timing. While I am not necessarily a fan of Feschuk, I give credit to him for the clean scoop.
And to you, keep up the good work, as always.

[Andrew]

I don't know why the real reason the Raptors have been terrible this season hasn't been addressed: Chuck Swirsky's departure. His cheerleading and optimism hasn't been there. The trickle-down effect is staggering. Bring back the Swirsk and the Raps become respectable on the court.

No one's having fun. That never would've happened on Chuck's watch.

[Rob.V]

Yesterday I was a little pissed off at the so called "story" surrounding Bosh’s personal life. Still disagree Doug, the timing was outrageous. The decent thing would have been to wait until the day "after" the kid's birthday!!!.

I obviously dont know Feschuk however seriously... he must be one miserable person. You know what they say, misery LOVES company... so I guess the thought of ruining someones credibility on their Birthday was too much "joy" for him to pass up. I pictue him prancing around the office like the cat that ate the mouse. Be proud Dave!!!. That was quck 15 minutes.. and it just ended.

Anyway, having said this. I'm feeling a little lighter about the whole "Young & The Raptors" today.

Today’s thoughts:

We should actually be counting our blessings that Bosh had a baby with Robin Givens (or whatever name she’ll be using to deposit her cheques with). Looks like CB is really going to need that extra 30 mil to pay off the Black Widow.

Word just in, Raptor decides to stay!!!... and now we can all sleep again… fa, la, la,la la!!!

[K-dub]

Hi Doug,

Thanks for the info on the Bosh story. I think Dave was responsible in his reporting.

Just wondering, did you hear anything at all about Bosh throughout the season? A whiff, rumour or even something small that all may not be well with Bosh?

You're a very plugged in guy and I can't believe how quiet this appears to have been kept.

Blogger's note: There's all kinds of stuff you hear, alll kinds of stuff you think and all kinds of stuff you know to be factual and that you can get on the record and print. The good ones separate the three.