Weird stats, Alvin's next gig and Sam's too

VINCE TALOTTA/TORONTO STAR

Home sked at least ended on a happy note.

What’d that all mean? A big home finish with a nice win over a stumbling team sure left a good taste in everyone’s mouth (I get the feeling the quasi-standing ovation in the final seconds was a legit tribute) but as for a harbinger? Nothing, really.

In fact, it probably – and correctly – galled a lot of people that they’d play okay on the final night after playing so poorly on so many others throughout the course of the year. But it was a win and it beats the alternative and by the time the next regular season rolls around, it’ll be long forgotten by everyone.

Except when they read back here:

(Speaking of reading, just ‘cause they’re done at home doesn’t mean we are; we’ll be at the regular in-game blog tonight from Washington, just before 7. Be there or be square!)

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Action: Bargnani’s line

Reaction: A true anomaly.

I honestly don’t know how this happens – and this is not an indictment of the guy because I think you know how I feel about his play – but Andrea Bargnani somehow was credited with six blocked shots last night and two rebounds.

Yes, six blocks, two boards.

Don't you think you'd get three boards just by grabbing half the shots you blocked? Does it mean he blocked them and then scurried away from the ball. I don't have time, or the inclination,  to look back through too many boxscores but I guarantee you a 3-1 ratio of blocks to boards hasn't happened more than a time or two anywhere in the league this year. Or ever, maybe.

I cannot remember a weirder line than that.

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Judging from all the reports yesterday, including Michael Lee’s thorough piece in today’s Washington Post, Flip Saunders is getting the Wizards gig and that leaves Minnesota as the most likely landing spot – if there is one – for our man Sam Mitchell.

And because I know Sam rushes to the computer every morning to read this space and takes every bit of advice I have for him to heart (okay, maybe that’s a stretch), here’s a little bit of unsolicited wisdom: Don’t take a job just to get a job.

While I do think he will coach in the NBA again, and I certainly think he should coach in the NBA again, the next job he takes has to be a relatively “good” one. No teams with horrible records and dysfunctional rosters. No teams with aging veterans and no young talent. If those are the cases, he’s better off sitting at home and spending some Maple Leaf Sports and Entertainment’s money for another year because getting a second chance is one thing, getting a third chance is another.

That’s why his next gig is so important for his overall career. He’s got to go somewhere where he’ll have a quick impact and success.

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Action: Alvin’s gone

Reaction: He should be back

Old favourite Alvin Williams stopped by practice on Saturday but had to get home to the family for Easter and didn’t get to yesterday’s game. But speaking with a lot of people in the organization, some of worked with him before, some who have just come to know him, it’s wildly apparent he should be on the staff somehow next year.

As an assistant coach, or a basketball development coach working guys out at practice and before games, there has to be a job for the guy. I think he’d like it, I think it’d be a great move to help the young players and I think Bryan has to make this happen.

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Now that Philly’s lot in life seems set, the pinch-hitters for Phil are writing these kinds of yarns today.

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Action: More stats weirdness

Reaction: Bargnani’s got nothing on the Sixers

Forget that six-blocks-two-rebound gem of Andrea’s and riddle me this, Bat-people.

How can the Sixers make 30 free throws in a game, get 22 offensive rebounds and still, really, have absolutely no shot to win in the final five minutes? That’s some accomplishment.

Or course, it helps that their best player, Andre Iguodala had more turnovers than the Toronto starting five combined.

I’ll say this, the Sixers, losers of five straight, are stumbling so badly into the playoffs that they could very well be swept in the first round regardless of who they play.

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Award time and we’re into the big three, stuff that I actually have votes on, stuff that matters.

Let’s start with Rookie of the Year because I’m kind of rushing to catch a flight and this one takes the least amount of thought of those remaining to do.

Criteria’s pretty simple, good first-year players with a dramatic impact on their teams.

And this one could very well be the closest to unanimous that we’re going to get this year because I can’t see anyone taking it away from Chicago’s Derrick Rose.

Kid played the toughest position in the game for a young player, played it with aplomb and the Bulls, to the surprise of some, are not only off to the playoffs, they could very well finish above .500 and as high as sixth. Not bad for a team that many thought should fire its rookie coach about mid-season.

The big thing about Rose is the maturity level he showed. Can’t remember an instance where he got truly rattled for any length of time and my man KC in Chicago tells me Rose is always ready to take responsibility for his gaffes and downplays his big games. Good and humble? Pretty good combination.

But here comes the hard part, finishing out the ballot with a second- and third-place finisher.

For the longest time, I thought Russell Westbrook would be right in there for No. 1 but now I’m not even sure he makes a lot of people’s top three.

My three?

Rose is No. 1, I have to go with Brook Lopez as No. 2 and I can make a very strong case for Marc Gasol as No. 3. The two bigs are playing big minutes in tough roles and playing them extremely well. But I will say this, when it comes time to e-mail the ballot back by Wednesday, I’m going to find it awfully tough to pick between Gasol, Rudy Fernandez and Eric Gordon for that third spot.

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Okay, so we all know that Chris Bosh doesn’t drive the ball often enough and never attacks the basket and he’s a soft jump-shooting big man, he said with dripping sarcasm.

So, if that’s the case, riddle me this, folks:

How did Bosh set a new Raptor record last night by getting nine trips to the line that gave him 599 for the season? That eclipses his own record of 590, set in 2006-07.

Oh, and how’s he been to the line more than all but four guys in the entire league this season? How’s been there more often than Kobe, more often than Tim Duncan, more often than Brandon Roy or Shaquille O’Neal?

Now, I’m not a big stats guy as the only way to measure a players’ impact on a game, a season or his team.

But those are impressive numbers even to me. And really ought to silence some of the critics, shouldn’t they? They won’t, of course. But they should.

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Speaking of Bosh, and we will a lot in the next few days, he said nothing new, nothing particularly interesting and nothing particularly inflammatory after the last game.

The quotes:

“My employer right now is who it is right now. If rumours get started, I can't control that. Right now who I work for is who I play for.” Oh yeah, that meeting with Bryan this week won’t be the big one.

“I'm not indicating anything. IIt will be routine stuff. We will go over the season, assess the season. See how we can get better, see how I can get better.”

Read into that what you will, but there’s not a whole lot there to digest. Which should give the conspiracy theorists and those who like to read the minds of others all kind of fodder on a relatively slow week.

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Okay, somehow got this finished before catching the early flight to Washington but that also means I'm out of touch probably until after 11 so if you make a comment and it's an hour or two before it gets posted, don't get all antsy, I'm just travelling.

For the last time this year.

Yay!

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The Goods On The Game, Vol. 80, the home half endeth

The usual mail and a request for some help later

Happy Easter! And here’s something nice to sit back and read while the urchins are searching for eggs and you’re relaxing.

Don’t forget, we’re live at 6 p.m. today to work the Philly game and I’ll be needing Masters updates so I’m hoping a few of you come around.

See ya then.

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Q: Hi Doug. We saw an insane number of coaches being fired at odd times during the season. Now that the season is wrapping up do you see any more being let go? Who do you think is most vulnerable?

Natalie M, Mississauga

A: By all indications I’m hearing, Lawrence Frank is hanging on to his employment by a very thin strand and it wouldn’t surprise me at all if he got fired right after the season ends. Other than that, I think the blood-letting among coaches in over.

Of course, the interim guys have to be dealt with and there are a few changes expected there but we’ve known about them for months.

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Q: Doug, A two-parter about Jose and language.

Part I: In your piece about A.P., you included the following quote: "Jose, I think, is a leader but there are some challenges with his ability to say exactly what he wants to say and how he wants to say it." Not sure I catch his drift. Was he talking about a language barrier hindering Jose's ability to communicate, or something else? (e.g. Jose not wanting to get in someone's face, etc.)

Part II: This has been driving me nuts all year, and it is of vital importance that you answer this so I can finally get a good night's sleep: what on earth is Jose saying to Joey in that clip they keep running ad infinitum on Raptors TV (you know the one, Doug: where Jose, preparing to inbound the ball, tries to get Joey's attention with a series of whoops, yells, screaming, etc.).

Lee Z, Ottawa

A: Hello

Part I: In the cacophony of noise on the court with guys going a million miles an hour and the screams bearing down, it’s hard to understand anyone, let alone someone who speaks with a heavy accent. It wasn’t a slight at Jose’s English at all, it was more about the environment and sheer ability to hear clearly.

Part II: I know the TV bit you’re talking about and what I think Jose wants to tell Joey – except he can’t get his attention – is to make a pass and then make a cut. I presume the play never came off.

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Q: You ever going to answer my question Dougie boy? Or do you just not have the answer? Could you please break down how the NBA draft lottery works exactly?

Tanna A, Thornhill

A: Trust me, if you stop using Dougie boy is might be easier for me to pay attention to your questions. And I answer this mainly as a service to other, Tanna boy, it’s not for you.

The lottery, in case you haven’t been following the NBA for the last quarter of a century, is for the non-playoff teams. Each of them, depending on where they finish in the standings, is given a series of four-digit numbers; the worse the record, the more numbers a team gets (there are no ping-pong balls).

There are three, four-digit number combinations drawn, one for each of the three top spots in the lottery so, in fact, a team can move up to 1, 2, or 3 but, for instance, the team with the ninth worst record cannot pick, for argument’s sake, fourth.

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Q: A question as the season winds down about Andrea Bargnani. You've mentioned new wrinkles he's added to his game on several occasions; stopping and popping in the lane rather than driving and fouling, taking contact to draw fouls, his defensive contribution, etc. Has your opinion of his ceiling changed over the course of the year, or is he progressing as you expected him to? What do you think that ceiling is now?

Paulino N, Toronto

A: I’m sorry, I don’t understand “ceiling” and what it means. Do I know how good he can be? No, and no one does. He certainly can be better; he needs to rebound better, pass better, work better in the low post but the kid has made huge strides this season.

I always thought he’d be a good NBA player, a starter and key player on good playoff teams and I still think that?

But “ceiling?” That’s just one of those fake words people toss out without really thinking.

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Q: Since I’m a newcomer to the blog this year and with all this talk of off-season activity, I was wondering what the day-to-day status of the Raptor Blog is during the summer?

Ryan S, Boston

A: I wish I knew.

I do know we’ll keep going through the playoffs, draft and free agency (at least five days a week, I may find a way to take one day off from it each week and use the other for mail, if there’s enough) but I can see me taking a nice chunk of July and August for some rest and recuperation.

And to work on getting my handicap down to a workable number so I don’t feel like I’m sandbagging all my friends (although I’d never, ever do that).

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Q: Hey Doug, here's a question if the mailbag needs one more... Speaking of Douby, and I haven't been counting, does a 10-day contract count for 10 game days, or 10 straight days?

Mark H, Toronto

A: Ah, there’s always room for at least one more.

The 10 days is just that, 10 days. Doesn’t matter if there’s a game or not. Douby’s deal actually expires Sunday night and they’ll have to make a decision on whether to sign him for three more days – and he’ll have to decide whether he wants to sign – before they get on the flight to Washington tonight.

What they might want to do is offer him a deal for the rest of this year with some options for the summer and next season. Maybe they guarantee him a spot on the summer league team for X amount of money; maybe they guarantee him a spot at training camp next year for X amount, too. Bryan’s been talking to his agent and we’ll find out tonight, I presume.

Doing good brings bad results

Miss me?

Yeah, there was nothing here yesterday morning and I’m pretty sure that would have made the coffee taste a bit more bitter and the day go a bit more slowly, right? Okay, maybe not but a guy can dream, can’t he?

Anyway, it was simply a confluence of events: There really wasn’t much to say (no game, no practice, no availability on Thursday) and when the alarm went at 6 a.m. to get up and finish off whatever I’d started, the head was just too heavy to lift off the pillow.

But it also got me all rested and rarin’ to go, ready to finish the season strong. Or something like that.

So here we go:

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Action: They do good

Reaction: It still ends bad

I know it was a nothing game in the big scheme of things but to the guys on the court it was pretty dang important and the finish Friday had to be a bit of a killer.

Jose defends Dixon almost perfectly (you all noticed how he kept the quicker Dixon in front of him and cut off the lane to the basket, right?) and Juan hits a tough fadeaway shot in the lane. Might have even pushed off a wee bit.

But then Jose easily goes around the corner and finishes at the rim (you all noticed how he went by the bigs and the beat the help, right) and ties the game. I know it was with still 16.3 seconds left and that was a lot of time but if you get a layup you have to take a layup and going that early gave them a chance to still hit the boards and foul if need be.

And then Shawn does a pretty good job on the Butler iso, Jose fakes a hard double without leaving his man just to give Butler something to think about and the guy puts a great move on Marion.

I imagine when they watched the film overnight all they could do was shake their heads because there wasn’t much else they could do.

And with the way this season’s going, it figures.

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Michael Lee, one of the good guys, has suffered through a long, long season with the Wizards. Here’s how he captured the drama.

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Award time

Well, there’s one that’s easy, at least.

Sixth Man of the Year

The criteria’s pretty simple, you have to have come off the bench in more than half of your team’s game and you have be, you know, good.

And if Jason Terry of the Mavs doesn’t win it, I think there’ll be some kind of federal inquiry.

Terry’s a scoring machine and the Mavs, to some of us, are one of the bigger surprises of the year so far. Being able to provide the kind of offensive boost he does should get him the award by a wide margin.

If I had a ballot, he’d be at the top, followed by Denver’s J.R. Smith and, most likely, Lamar Odom of the Lakers. I presume Nate Robinson will get some love in here, too, but Trevor Ariza might get a look.

Next week: The three biggies, MVP, Coach and Rookie and how an actual ballot will look.

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Action: Douby Douby Doesn’t.

Reaction: No time for the kid

I’m sure a bunch of you noticed Quincy’s DNP-CD in your morning boxscore and wondered why. Well, I’m told mostly it was because they figured for two games they had a good enough look at him and, frankly, Roko wasn’t doing too badly in the game.

But the Big Q’s only got two more games left before his second 10-day runs out after the game in Washington so I figure he’ll get a little bit of time at least over the next two games.

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So I’m sitting there trying to come up with some apt descriptions for the game, the season and the mode and while I fought off case of hadeharia (not wanting to, you know, make this less than G-Rated) the final realization was that I’m glad I’ve got a few days to let the mind work.

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Action: Bargnani watches the end

Reaction: An odd happenstance

Asked Jay why he had the big fella on the bench down the stretch of a close game they had a chance to win and the answer I got was hardly surprising.

Bargnani certainly wasn’t playing really well (0-4 from three, 4-16 from the field) and I’m sure his flu and heel were acting up a bit.

Can’t really argue against the strategy, the Raps did get it to a tie, but you have to wonder if a shooter like Andrea might not have got out of whatever funk he was in when the crunch-time minutes arrived.

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Oh, and with my main man Phil Jasner laid low with an illness – we’re thinking about you big guy – the pinch-hitters in Philly have this to say about tomorrow’s epic struggle.

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One from a relatively empty mailbag (hint, hint, tomorrow’s mail day):

Q: I saw an NBA team payroll the other day that showed the raptors at about $50 million and in the bottom five or six teams in the league in salary outlay. Is this correct? If so, what chance do the Raptors really have to rise above mediocrity?

George K, Saskatoon

A: You’ve got to find better places to read because that’s some of the grossest misinformation I’ve seen in a long time and if people believe it, it sends a pretty bad message.

The Raptors payroll is $70,742,741 and is 10th in the league.

Value for the money? Probably not. But they do spend.

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You probably have all read the story on AP in our paper today and the suggestion that it’ll be things other than simply his play on the court that causes the Raptors to bring him back next season.

Not sure if it came through, but I’m absolutely in favour of that.

I’ve seen over the years the impact a calm, veteran can bring to a locker room and the team (Darrick Martin and Dell Curry come rapidly to mind) and that’s something this team doesn’t have. And needs.

Parker’s game is as it is, I think he’s best suited to an 16- to 20-minute a night role as a backup two-guard and an emergency point guard in certain situations, it’s the intangibles he provides that are more vital.

He’s the guy who gets the guys together for dinners after games, he’s the guy the who comes into get his extra work in, he’s the guy

Here’s an AP anecdote:

Last Monday was an optional day of work. The zany hope for a last-minute race the playoffs had been dashed the night before, they were in the middle of four games in five nights and everyone was worn out.

The coaches told the backups they had to get into work but the starters had the option of taking a day off. They did, which is entirely understandable (I sure would have). Except Parker, who showed up not to get up some shots but to lift some weights.

Why?

“I just needed to get a lift, our schedule’s been kind of up and down, we’ve been on the road and I hadn’t lifted in a while so it was just a chance for me.”

About a week to go in a season that had just been – officially – shot behind the ear and he’s in lifting weights? Yeah, teams can use a guy like that for sure.

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The Goods On The Game, Vol. 79, an evening of Wizardry

All of a sudden, they're goons?

That was pretty stinky, no?

Let’s see:

No Bargnani.

MICHAEL CONROY/AP

Joey, Stephen. Stephen, Joey.

Fourth game in five nights.

Horrible bench to begin with.

Nothing really to play for after Sunday’s loss.

Tired starters.

A road game against a team fighting for its playoff life.

Maybe not a 29-point beat down but if there ever was a dead-bolt lock, it was that the Raptors would lose.

And, lo and behold, they did.

But, still, some stuff happened:

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One action: Two guys tossed out.

Reaction: What a strange occurence.

Who are these guys? A bunch of goons?

One of the cleanest teams in the NBA (and I’m not talking hygiene although that’s top-notch, too) has two guys foul out in one game?

Considering that in the first 77 games of the year the Raptors only had guys foul out five times in total, getting Anthony Parker and Patrick O’Bryant fouled out in Indy is, if not newsworthy, at least noteworthy.

The other goons?

Bargnani’s fouled out twice, Jermaine O’Neal (remember him?) and Joey Graham and Jake Voskuhl once.

It all adds up to Toronto being the second nicest – or second softest, depending on how you look at it – team in the league. No. 1? Atlanta.

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Speaking of fouls, which was more impressive: Jake getting six in eight minutes fighting against Shaq in Phoenix or Patrick getting six in 20 (his high for minutes this season) playing a team whose main inside presence is the rookie Roy Hibbert?

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Awards time:

This time, let’s look at the race for Most Improved Player.

Is it someone who has simply benefited from more time on the court? If that’s the case, it probably goes to a second-year player every time around.

Is it someone who puts up better numbers? Again, there’s every suggestion that’s minute-driven than anything else.

How about a guy who does more things, at both ends of the court? To me, that’s probably who should get it.

And that’s why if I had a vote, I could very well cast it for Andrea Bargnani. Back when he started playing well consistently and I was asked about his chances, I said if he kept it up for 25 or 30 games, he’d be sure to get some consideration.

Well, he kept it up for 40 and it’s at both ends of the floor. He’ll lead the Raptors in blocked shots, his rebounding needs to improve but – and you cannot dispute this no matter how bad a rebounder you think he may be – the team rebounds better when he’s on the court because he’s learning to at least occupy his man.

Now, I don’t think he’ll win.

I figure my brethren and sisteren will likely go with the obvious candidates – Devin Harris of New Jersey, Indy’s Danny Granger and New York’s David Lee – but Bargnani has to be in the conversation and would be if I was talking.

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All kinds of rants and raves about why in the world they would start Patrick O’Bryant in place of Bargnani and there’s really a simple explanation.

They needed to see what he could do – there was, before last night, a slight chance he’d be back, Jake Voskuhl really doesn’t figure into their plans at all – and they feel, and have felt, that The Legend Mensah-Bonsu is better suited coming off the bench.

And that’s not new.

When Andrea sat out his first game of the season, it was Jake who got the call and not Pops; that it was O’Bryant and not Voskuhl or Pops last night really shouldn’t have come as a surprise to anyone.

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So, as some of you may know, last night’s game was on TSN2, and so is tomorrow’s and Sunday’s, forcing some of us to flee to the friendly confines of a local establishment – say the Harbour Sports Grille where they’ll give a nice corner table with a private television and all the volume you need to find obscure words to describe what’s happening.

(So obscure, I forgot to save the most obscure of them during the in-game blog so I can’t come up with the appropriate description. But I digress).

Anyway, it’s a bit late but why not bring this up just to try to make life a wee bit more miserable to the dopey suits who haven’t this figured out.

Tom, one of the regulars around these parts,reminds us this is still around.

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Speaking of TSN2 and the dopes at Rogers, I can’t wait until the day after the regular season ends to see how many playoff games we won’t be able to watch in the comfort of our own homes or, conversely, how many more nights I’ll be spending out enjoying good conversation and company.

You know that with the pucks and the baseball, there’ll be some.

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The details are still a bit sketchy and I in no way want to diminish his loss to those who loved him but the basketball world lost a great nickname yesterday.

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M. Wells says this about that.

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I’m sure there are tens of you out there who care – well, I know 28 people besides me who do – but this is to inform you the final calculations are in from the NCAA pool and Chuckie The Cat drilled Buddy The Dog in the non-human category and, in a very fitting victory, Red won the grown up division.

Not sure if that was Auerbach or Holtzman or McCahill but anyone named Red should win every basketball pool, no?

And now the congenial host D. Sagat can put his mind solely onto hitting homers and driving in runs and showing that sports ability doesn’t necessarily have to come from genes.

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You probably missed this yesterday unless you scan the transaction wires because that’s about the only place it got mentioned but the Sacramento Kings waived Will Solomon.

Not because they needed the roster spot to sign some hotshot kid, not because someone came off the injured list, just because – with less than a week to go in the regular season – they didn’t want him around.

Odd.

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Oh, you’ll notice Phoenix was officially eliminated when Dallas beat Utah (cue the spooky music) 130-101. Let the Steve-Nash-to-Toronto fun begin in earnest.

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Let’s end it with some mail:

Hi Doug. I have a couple of draft related questions for you. First, could you explain all of the implications of a potential draftee hiring an agent versus not? Can a player that hasn't hired an agent be selected in the draft and still have the option to return to college? Or is that only the case if there is no agent and the player is NOT drafted? Second, if the Raptors were fortunate enough to move up into one of the first 2 picks via the lottery, what do you think they would/should do with it?

Jim J, Ottawa

A: I’m not going to touch the ‘what-if’ thing until after the lottery and we see where they draft, I hope you understand.

But underclassmen have until midnight April 26 to declare themselves for the draft but they can still pull out before 5 p.m. June 25. But, in order to maintain college eligibility, they cannot sign with an agent. Once they do, they can’t go back to college regardless of whether they stay in the draft or not.

The Goods On The Game, Vol. 78, TJ time once again

Quincy, Carlos and a coach from the distant past

So, what’d we learn?

Not a whole lot, actually.

Quincy Douby looked good, Patrick O’Bryant was more below average than above and the whole gang of them reverted to bad rebounding form, gave up 11 offensive boards that led to19 second chance points and was, pretty much, the story of the game.

And, really, there’s not much more to be said than that.

It was a typically uneventful sixth-to-last game of the season, some good moments, they did play hard but faltered at the end. One thing you do have to give them credit for though is competing. They tried their best and, shockingly, their best wasn’t good enough this night.

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All right, awards time.

STEVE RUSSELL/TORONTO STAR

Picks for defensive player? Maybe Howard! Howard! Howard!.

I’m still working on my own three (MVP, Coach of the Year, Rookie of the Year) but let’s go over the other ones now.

And let’s start with defensive player of the year.

This is a tough one, a lot tougher than you’d think.

Is the guy who does the best job guarding the best player on the other team every night?

Is it the most imposing physical presence?

Or someone who’s simply disruptive?

Now, I don’t have a vote but if I had to fill out my ballot today, I’d probably go with Shane Battier first, Dwight Howard second and, this is where it’s really tough, probably Kobe Bryant third although I bet I could be convinced to put Ron Artest in that slot..

I presume Howard will win because people will look at blocked shots and rebounds and automatically give him the nod.

But I think the ability to guard multiple positions – twos, threes and fours – is more important and with the game so dominated by wing players, if you’ve got someone on your team who can stop a great wing, you’re way ahead of the game.

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Seriously, the stuff rattling around in the big ol’ cranium of mine sometimes scares me.

Standing at the bench a couple hours before the game, talking to Jay, we spy Maurizio and about four buddies sitting along the baseline engrossed in conversation.

One guy looks really familiar but I can’t just place him, you know that feeling. I know I know him but I’m not sure where from.

About six hours later, as I’m decompressing a bit in the favourite neighbourhood bistro, it hits me.

It’s Jean Pierre de Vincenzi.

Who?

Jean Pierre de Vincenzi, sillyheads.

The guy who coached France at the 2000 Olympics in Sydney. The guy who coached the team that beat up Captain Canada and ended the greatest basketball run by a team from this country I ever saw.

Seems he’s a good friend of Maurizio’s, is now the head of technical planning for the French national teams, and is over for a visit.

Unreal, eh? I can’t remember to pick up groceries, sometimes I forget to go home for hours and I vaguely remember the dude who coached against Canada almost nine years ago.

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Whither Carlos Delfino?

Well, Maurizio saw him over the weekend the EuroCup final eight, which is the final of the club competition that’s one step down from the EuroLeague.

And Khimki, the team of Delfino and our good friend Garbo, lost in the championship game to Lietuvos Rytas of Lithuania, blowing a 14-point lead in the final quarter of the gold-medal game.

How’d Carlos look?

Same as always. Had like 12 one game, 18 the next, 16 the next; nothing spectacular nothing horrible.

Now, we all know Bryan’s quite enamoured of Delfino and some think he’s destined to be a Raptor again next year. But he’s going to want to get paid, somewhere north of $3 million, I’d presume and I do not think the Raptors can clog their roster with Carlos, Jason, Joey, AP and Marcus Banks. That’s a lot of the same thing.

So if Colangelo is going to bring back Delfino, and I’m not sure he should, he’s going to have to jettison at least two and maybe three of those other guys. And that won’t be easy.

Carlos was, as you all should remember, wildly inconsistent in his year here and I know his legend has grown considerably since he’s been gone but there’s nothing to suggest he’d be any different given another chance.

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I’ll tell you one thing, our young friend Quincy is a nice guy and sure knows how not to say anything.

Post-game scrum last night, he gets asked about playing for Toronto in the summer league – which I think is a lock – and he gives us the “my agent’s working on that, if it happens, great” line and then when I asked him if he felt more comfortable playing the one or the two, he gave the well-rehearsed “I’ll play anywhere they want” answer.

Well done.

But then, as he’s leaving to get to the airport, he did something I don’t think I’ve seen from a kid in his circumstances yet.

He stopped and shook hands with a couple of us grunts and told us it was nice to meet us.

Seriously.

I hope the kid sticks around forever.

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Oh, and Garbo?

Had five points in the EuroCup final, 11 in the semi and 12 in the quarters. Same guy as always, I’m told, can’t really jump, can’t really run, can really play.

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A double shot of links to reports on other teams (unlike a Double Shot of My Baby’s Love, one of the all-time great tunes from The Singing Medallions).

One from Cousin Sekou in Altanta, the other from Our Man Mike out in Indy.

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Speaking of Indy, I’m not there; figure one back-to-back in the final week of the season is enough and there’s Sunday-Monday and a two-game trip next week.

But, I will be ensconced somewhere with the machine on tonight at 7 if anyone wants to click on and join the hilarity of the in-game blog.

It’s the cool kids’ place to be. Ask anyone.

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A stroll down memory lane:

Q: Doug, heard you on the radio (Monday) night discussing, amongst other items, the fact you felt BC axed Sam when he did.. I believe that BC has wanted to do so for some time (dating back to the end of the 2008 season)and he was waiting for his opportunity. What would have happened if the Raps had gone on from their losing 8 and 9 record to a winning record? Would be hard to get rid of him...BC had his reasons, which none of us will ever really know.

Doug G, Oakville

A: A winning record? Yeah, that would have been horrible. Terrible. A travesty. Who would want that?

Now, this team is flawed and if the injuries had hit they never would have had a winning record no matter who was coaching but to suggest that would have somehow been a bad thing for Bryan and team is a bit of a stretch.

I think Bryan saw what he perceived as an erosion – the losses in Boston, to New Jersey, the no-show in Denver – and reacted more with emotion than he should have.

He could very well have fired Sam in January, or February, I think he pulled the trigger far too early. Not only did he set Jay up to fail – everyone knew the December schedule was a bear – he took away any chance at some emotional rallying around the new coach away with the timing of the move.

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The Goods On The Game, Vol. 77, Hawks fly in

What are they really competing for?

Another pretty boring day slides by; optional practice and no media availability kept us from prying for the deep dark secrets of the final 10 days. And since there really are none, some of us were quite happy to sit at the desk at home and try to figure out who the MVP, coach of the year and rookie of the year are.

I’m not a whole lot closer to a final decision on any of them, to tell you the truth, although LeBron as MVP sure sounds good at the moment.

Know what the hardest part is? Figuring out who’s going to round out the top five in the MVP votes while deciding who to put on, or leave off, the list of three in the other two categories.

Thankfully, I don’t have, you know, games to care about or playoffs to get ready for.

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One of the more interesting aspects of these final six games is they’ll be used to at least take a wee closer look at Quincy Douby and Patrick O’Bryant.

To which I say:

Big whoop.

No disrespect to either of those fellows, who are nice enough guys and deserve an NBA job if they can get it, but if either of them are in your rotation next year, you’re having as bad a season as this one.

Jay alluded to it in the story I did for today’s newspaper when he suggested those two in particular – and The Legend, too – wouldn’t be getting huge minutes because it would be asking them to do something in six games you’d never ask them to at any other point in the season.

If you look at how things might break down next season, given guaranteed contracts and the expectation that they’ll once again start the season with fewer than them maximum allowable 15 players, there probably isn’t room for either Douby or O’Bryant no matter what they do.

In fact, there can be a case made that there might not be room for Mensah-Bonsu although I suspect they’d try their best to make a move to keep him.

So all this eager anticipation I’m getting from some about whether Douby can fill a role or whether O’Bryant can be part of any rotation is really unwarranted.

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Speaking of being wasted, how about Hump’s last three months?

I feel terrible for the guy since the once time he would have been guaranteed to be part of the rotation – when Jermaine O’Neal was traded away, leaving a dearth of bigs – the big lug goes and breaks his leg.

And since there’s no way he comes back in the next 10 days, here’s some unsolicited advice for him: Stay here, work with the coaches, work with the trainers, have a productive off-season.

I’m not sure how diligent he’s been in getting with the staff in the past but this summer it’s vital that he work on his game since he hasn’t had any game since February.

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Hey!

Super Son finishes second overall – and is the top kid -- in the big people-little people NCAA pool!

Kid’s got some brain, eh?

Of course, the big talk the pool was whether Buddy The Dog would beat Chucky The Cat but I suspect that was just people putting in multiple brackets.

Anyway, nailing the winner and three of the Final Four teams makes me think I should let him pick some lottery numbers.

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You check this out about Manu?

Man, that’s a blow to all of us who figured the Spurs had a more than legitimate shot to knock off the Lakers in the playoffs isn’t it?

I bet they’re dancing the streets of Denver because I really thing now the Nuggets are the second-best choice to represent the West.

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This is sort of timely:

Q: Doug, after seeing the Blue Jays fans throwing things on the field last night and the Toronto FC fans last week causing a ruckus and the Leafs fans embarrassing themselves by actually buying tickets, has the Raptors home fans ever had a negative incident that caused any headlines or raised eye brows around the league?

Steven C, Fredericton

A: Not so much the fans as the organization, actually.

Three incidents come to mind:

Fire Guy, the halftime entertainer at the first home playoff game in history, caused a delay to start the second half because he poured some accelerant on the floor and I think there was a fine involved.

They had to pay some money as a penalty for putting up a picture of a crying child on the scoreboard on the first visit back by Marcus Camby, which was entirely classless and uncalled for.

And, as I recall, back in the day when they used to have an elephant deliver the game ball on Basaikhi Day, the well-done annual Sikh celebration organized by Super Fan Nav Bhatia, there was an incident involving the pachyderm and an on-court bowel movement that might have cost the team a few dollars in a fine.

But fans? No, I don’t remember the fans ever doing anything hugely embarrassing.

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The Hawks are reeling as they arrive for tonight’s big game, here’s what Cousin Sekou has to say about them.

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There is one stigma the Raptors really need to avoid in these final six games:

50 losses.

I know it’s just a number and it means very little to the casual fan but a team that posts a 50-loss season is for some reason thought to be way, way, way worse around the league than one that loses, say, 48.

It’s one of those labels that’s hard to shake and that’s reason enough for them to try to squeeze out three wins the rest of the way.

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