Forget the Raptors, how about those junior girls?

Okay, for real, now we’re done with the big Raptors stuff. Honest.

They’ve only got one roster spot, it’s looking more and more like it won’t go to Carlos Delfino (I’d put it at 4-96 right now and there’s no sense of urgency whatsoever to fill it right now.

So time to coast, right? Think we’ll do this usual stuff through Sunday and then get to the old routine, one a week for old time’s sake – maybe looking at a division or two each time out – and a weekly mailbag if you’ve got some good questions.

But, when it gets boring around the Raptors and the NBA, what do we turn to?

Well, we turn to teenage girls basketball and one of the best Canadian stories in quite some time.

While you were sleeping ...

A big win – huge, in fact – for Canada’s Under-19 team at the world junior championships as you can read here.

Not only did Canada qualify for the semi-finals for the first time in 24 years at this event, being assured of a top-four finish – and with two shots at a medal – really validates the development program that’s being put in place by Canada Basketball.

You want some context: Only three times previous has Canada even qualified for these championships – they were eighth in 1985, ninth in 2005 and ninth again in 2007.

It doesn’t get any easier, that’s for sure, because Canada gets the United States in the semis but who knows what this team is capable of.

The names are I’m sure quite unfamiliar to all of you, they were to me and I’m kind of around this group fairly often, but the hope here has to be that they become at least a little more recognizable as the years go on.

I’ve always thought Canada’s women’s program – even up to the senior level – was destined for better things than the men, an opinion developed by talking to people really tied into the development of the game at the junior level.

They may not become WNBA stars but there are more than a few women doing good things at high profile American colleges, the European leagues are littered with Canucks and this new wave seems to be putting Canada truly on the global map.

You can read some reaction from one of the top players here and tune back into this space tomorrow and we’ll see what we can drum up off the semifinal game.

No matter what happens, Canada’s going to play for a medal at a world basketball championship on Sunday and we haven’t been able to say that for quite some time.

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So long, Devean, we hardly knew ye. In fact, we never knew ye. But it got a guy thinking (mostly because I had to do something last night waiting for the baseball coaches meeting/soiree to begin) so ....

The First (And Likely Last) By George Team

Don McLean

No, not the American Pie crooner, the dude who was cap ballast in a 2001 three-team trade.

The principles in that one were Brian Skinner and Ricky Davis, not Don McLean but he was a Raptor, if in name alone, and that gets him on this team.

Kenny Anderson

He was Steve Francis before Steve Francis was Steve Francis, refusing to report when they got him from Portland in the February, 1988 1998 Damon Stoudamire trade.

Doug Smith

No way I was leaving him/me off the list.

So what if he was like the memorable Keith (Mr.) Jennings, Jerome Kersey, Dontonio Wingfield, Andres Guibert, and B.J. Armstong as expansion draft picks who never even made it to camp, his name gets him before all others.

Danny Fortson

Here's the story, which may or may not be true.

Raptors trade Alvin Williams for the tough but undersized Fortson the day before the trade deadline in 2000. Rick Pitino gets killed in the Boston media and as we're all flying to San Fran for Vince's coronation, Celtics rescind the trade because, allegedly, Alvin flunks his physical. Which is strange since he went on to play about a million games after that and Pitino skulked back to college.

Still, Fortson was a Raptor for about 36 hours and never got to the city.

And, ta-da!

Alonzo Mourning

And if by any chance - like he just doesn't feel like it - he can't fulfill his duties as captain of this team, his role will be filled by Rob Babcock, who knew when he made the deal that there was no way Mourning would ever cross the border.

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Yes, it truly is vacation time for the people who run the Raptors. The GM’s taking some down time, which means The Henchmen get a chance to relax, too, and if you’re looking for news, I’m afraid it really is going to slow down an awful lot.

About all we’ve got to look forward to is the regular season schedule and, besides opening at home against Cleveland, I got a couple of other nuggets yesterday.

Orlando’s in right off the bat, on Nov. 1, which is the second home game of the season so the rivalry everyone’s anxious to see continue starts right away.

And, in news that’s purely selfish, we’re home for the holidays for the first time in a long time. No crazy extended road trip broken up by Christmas; a game Dec 23 in Detroit, and home games on the 27th and 29th. Yay.

Anyway, the whole thing should be out the first of the week and that’ll give us something to dissect but the word I’m getting it that it’s one of the best schedules for a light travel load in many a year.

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So, Lamar Odom is headed back to the Lakers.

Colour me not surprised. But I also imagine a lot of Eastern Conference coaches and GMs are quite happy that he played the Heat like a fiddle and didn’t actually sign with a conference rival.

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I couldn't help but notice the first round of the Buick Open over by Flint went off under glorious sunny skies. Some tournaments have all the luck.

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All Marco all the time

I swear, I don’t know if this off-season is ever going to end.

How’s a guy supposed to spend some quality deck and patio time when zany GMs keep making trades and doing things? Can we please get some down time?

But, I digress, as usual.

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AP FILE PHOTO

On the radar for a while, Marco finally lands in Toronto.

Short answer to several question: Yes, this is a good trade at almost every level. Young guy for old guy and a multi-faceted player for a one-dimensional one. Money’s not a big issue so what’s not to like?

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It really should come as no surprise that Bryan finally found a way to get Marco Belinelli here, he’s been a fan for a year or so and tried a couple of times last season to swing a trade for him. We’ve been writing his name as a guy the Raptors have coveted almost since the start of last season, we just were never sure what it would take to get him out of Golden State.

The cost now was negligible; Devean George is nearing the end of his run, I’m not sure how much he would have played anyway (although the backup three spot’s still a bit of a concern) and the money’s no big deal.

Belinelli makes $1,547,640 this season and there’s a team option at $2,372,542 for next season. I haven’t gotten any indication on whether the Raptors are planning to pick up that option but I have a feeling we’ll know pretty soon. I imagine with vacation looming for pretty much everyone in the front office – not really a vacation since everyone works all the time but you know what I mean – I bet they’d like to get all the loose ends tied up.

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So, what’s it mean for the lineup?

Well, Belinelli’s a two-guard with some point guard abilities so I think he’ll see a lot of his time at the two. But, I can also see him on the court at the same time as Jack, giving Jay a couple of ball-handlers to run the offence through.

The word from a respected Italian journalist, the official chronicler of Belinelli, Gallinari and Bargnani, as a matter of fact, is that Belinelli’s a mentally tough kid, quite confident in his abilities, needs to work on his defence (who doesn’t?) and has spent a lot of this off-season working to strengthen an ankle he hurt last year. He can shoot from range and can come off screens and get his shot off.

Looked good against Canada last week, I’m told.

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Another layer: Whither Carlos?

Good question.

I think there’s still a little bit of interest in getting Delfino under contract on a one-year deal but the Belinelli move will make it a bit easier to take if those Delfino talks fall apart.

No word on when we’ll get resolution one way or the other but, again, I’m guessing soon.

Personally, while I like Delfino’s game and his ability to play a couple of positions well, I’m not sure there’s room now for him.

The big argument against is that with Delfino, you’ll have a glut of swingmen all about the same and it could cause some havoc with minutes and rotations and the like.

That has to be a bit of a concern but you also have to realize that having players on one-year deals, like Antoine Wright and Delfino if that’s what they do and Belinelli if they don’t pick up that option, tends to make players conform a wee bit lest they not get another deal.

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Oh, right, the small forward spot, what’s up with that?

Good question, Doug.

The suggestion I got from the head coach in a conversation this week is that they’ve been told by friends in Dallas that Antoine Wright has the ability to guard some threes, in fact he can guard a lot of them, they think.

I presume on the rare occasion – very rare, if you ask me – they could slide Bargnani to the three and perhaps – just perhaps – they could get some minutes of out DeRozan there.

Right now, though, it’s the one issue that remains on the roster.

Is it a fatal flaw? No. Is it something that should be addressed? Sure. Right now? Not necessarily; I think September will yield more than a few unemployed NBAers willing to take one-year deals.

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Oh yeah, some of the exhibition schedules are being released -- the Suns in Vancouver might sell a few tickets, just wish we were going out there – but I’m not sure when Toronto’s is coming out officially.

Unofficially, there are some nuggets previously reported that we may as well repeat.

There are only two neutral site games – in London against Philadelphia (yay) and in Sioux Falls, Idaho South Dakota against Minnesota (nay) – and three or four games at the Air Canada Centre.

There is not, for the first time in years, a game against a touring European club team. Just boring old NBA squads.

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Speaking of Jay, how long do you think it’s going to take him to run out an all-Euro lineup of

Calderon

Belinelli

Turkoglu

Bargnani

Nesterovic

That’s got to sell a lot of t-shirts on the continent.

I also smell some marketing possibilities.

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Hey, back to the schedule for a minute.

I hear there’s a draft of the regular season schedule floating around, it’s unofficial and no one’s sure when the official one gets out but the one nugget I’ve got is:

Let’s just say the home opener will give you a chance to show your appreciation for AP and Jamario.

That’s about all I’ve got on the schedule right now.

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All right, I see there are about a kabillion comments I need to post. Better get to them before, you know, a day off turns into work.

The deal is done, Belinelli for George

For almost a year, Raptors GM Bryan Colangelo has been chasing guard Marco Belinelli of the Golden State Warriors.

He got him.

A conference call to confirm the deal is scheduled for late Thursday morning as the Raptors have traded Devean George and “a little bit of cash” to Golden State for the 6-5 guard from Italy.

We’ll have more on this in the morning, and its implications on the possible signing of free agent Carlos Delfino but the deal provides the kind of shooting off the bench and depth the Raptors covet.

Belinelli averaged 8.9 points and 2.1 assists per game with the Warriors last season. The 23-year-old is comfortable playing both guard position spots and has been a target of Colangelo’s for a year.

What to write about when nothing's going on

You know how we talk about the dog days of a sports season? Like January in the NBA, August in baseball, whenever it is in the pucks? Well, we’re officially in the dog days of the basketball writing season.

If the only thing we’re on the edge of our seats about here is whether or not Carlos Delfino signs a one-year deal to be a backup or whether they’re thinking about trading a third-string point guard, that’s dog days for sure.

Which leads us to some scheduling stuff. I’m allegedly on vacation this week, have to work a couple of days next week and then take a couple more weeks off and it’s going to be virtually impossible to make this little space relevant or interesting every day. After all, there’s no Olympics, no Argos, no golf in my future, it would appear.

So here’s what we’re gonna do:

Remember the good old days of Nothin’ But (Inter) Net at the first of the week and a mailbag late in the week? How about we take a trip down memory lane and revisit that?

Think that’s what we’ll do starting the end of this week. Maybe find some wildly entertaining nuggets for this space tomorrow and Friday, do a weekend mailbag and then coast.

That’ll give you good folks something to do, give me a few days to hopefully go hang out with people I’ve never met and, perchance, to recharge a battery that’s pretty low.

Of course, if crap happens, we’ll jump in. But the crap isn’t likely to be big.

Okay?

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One word of reminder as they go about filling that final roster spot (and with impending vacations for just about everybody involved in basketball around the ACC, it might be sooner rather than later):

Please remember that if they do not re-sign Carlos Delfino, the most they can pay a player to fill that last spot is whatever his minimum value contract calls for.

So when you’re sending in the: ‘Do they have any interest in this guy?’ questions, before you hit send, please ask yourself if a one-year (Bryan’s preference), minimum value contract is viable for whoever you’re asking about.

It’ll save us all a lot of wasted time.

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Why do I have the sneaking suspicion that the only – only – reason the Charlotte Bobacats would deal Emeka Okafor for Tyson Chandler is money and this cements even more the fact the owner Robert Johnson is – as been repeatedly reported – almost desperate to sell his team.

Other than that, this deal’s a couple of recognizable names who’ll do little to improve the teams they’re going to.

Now, I like Chandler a little bit but the only reason I think I like him is that he played with Chris Paul and could score a little bit rolling down the lane (his shooting range makes Pops Mensah-Bonsu look like Reggie Miller). And there is no Chris Paul on the Bobcats.

Sure, Chandler defends the rim pretty well but I’m not sure he defends it any better than Okafor, who’s pretty solid back there.

And the Hornets?

Well, they take on a lot of money in the longer term, going against the grain of every other move in the league, it seems, and what do they get?

A guy whose offensive range makes, well, makes Chandler look like Reggie Miller and a guy who might be as good defensively as the guy they lost.

Really, the first reaction to this trade was probably, “wow! A big one!” Upon further review it’s not such a significant move either way, I don’t think.

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By the way (and I’m sure you all want to know) The Mighty Yankees finished the regular season last night with a big 11-6 triumph and we end the year at 10-5-1 and in third place in the league.

Next up: The double-knockout playoffs.

Oh yeah, four urchins combined to toss a no-hitter in that win and The Mighty Yankees didn’t make an error in the field. Crisp, baby; it was crisp.

(And if you can’t quite wrap your head around a six-run no-hitter with no errors, you don’t quite understand the intricacies of the walk, steal, steal, RBI groundout, lather, rinse, repeat world of peewee house league baseball).

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Hey, the kids won!

The women’s under-19 team, needing a victory to have any chance at the quarter-finals in the world championships, dumped China by eight while you were sleeping.

Pretty significant win, although it gets them a date with unbeaten Australia in Friday’s quarter-finals. But, still …

I know you don’t know too many – if any – of these girls but two names to watch out for in the future, according to Peopl.e Who Know.

That’d be Natalie Achonwa of Guelph, a mere 16 years old and apparently headed for the national senior team later on this summer and Kayla Alexander of Milton.

A woman whose opinion I quite respect in matters of this sort says they’re “two of the brightest stars in Canadian women’s basketball.”

Again, no clue, really, on what it’d take the girls to beat Australia tomorrow but, combined with the seventh place finish of the men at the junior worlds and the fact that the cadet teams (under-16) both qualified for the worlds next summer shows that the development of talent is headed in the right direction.

Now, about those senior teams …

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About the only thing better than a triple vente non-fat latte from The Lovely Ladies of Starbucks Hurontario-QEW is a quad vente non-fat latte.

Yes, the mornings need a bit of a jolt these days.

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We now turn our attention to ... I don't know

Well, at least the golf is done. A day later than expected and after a couple of extra holes just to make the whole dang thing longer than anyone expected which leaves a guy to wonder: What the heck do I do now?

Well, there is some vacation to take, some of my own golf to be played and a big ol’ deck just crying out for some companionship (along with a handful of patios, I’d imagine, if there are any that are open and inviting) but for this little neck of the cyber-world, I’m not too sure.

At least last summer, we had Beijing with some hoops, some water polo (how do they get those horses in the water?) and some of the biggest, scariest bugs you ever saw (remember that one?).

This year? Nada.

So, while we try to figure out what, if anything, we do here. I suppose a series of campfire stories and tales from the deck might suffice but I imagine they'd get old in a hurry.

But, for today at least, there’s this to pass the time:

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As usually happens this time of year – when the NBA really goes on vacation – attention gets paid to international competition.

And while there was going to be all kinds of hue and cry over Jose playing for Spain in September’s European champions, if he’d decided to, wonder if anyone’s overly concerned about the rather significant number of his Raptors teammates who are going to see action next month and in September.

We know Roko is playing for Croatia and we all know Andrea’s going to play for Italy in the final qualification event – and then maybe EuroBasket – in what’s going to be a pretty busy summer.

But there are others.

I’m not entirely clear on Rasho’s obligation to Slovenia, although I don’t remember him taking a summer off, and Hedo is all set to play for Turkey at an exhibition tournament early next month in London and is scheduled to participate in the big September event in Poland.

Oh, and Pops has been called to the England side – in case the zillion of the Legend Lovers out there were unaware.

I think you know my feelings on things like this: Appearances for national teams means far more to the European-born players than you can ever imagine and, if they want to play, they should go ahead and play.

Doesn’t lessen the angst among fans, though, does it?

But one thing it does is provide some basketball interest in the dog days of August and September and if we’re going to keep this little exercise going in some reduced form, the more games and news, the better.

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Oh, here’s a verbatim report from someone I trust on Andrea in an exhibition game against Canada on the weekend:

“He looked very confident, almost “cocky”…..and the team seems to have finally recognized his leadership, working the pick & roll play for him.”

Take that however you like.

Italy beat all three teams at the exhibition tournament – Canada, New Zealand and Portugal – and Canada beat Portugal and New Zealand. The Tall Blacks beat Portugal.

Not sure what that means, if anything, to the Canadians, who have one more exhibition game against Italy on this leg of their preparation tour for the world qualifier in Puerto Rico in late August-early September.

The group that went to Italy included nine, maybe 10 of the players that’ll go try to grab a berth in the 2010 worlds in Turkey and the more games they play has to be a good thing.

We’ll catch up with the Canucks when they get back and get working again, around the middle of August.

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Apropos of absolutely nothing, all that rain out at the Abbey reminded me of a story:

Lightning bolts all around, thunder booming, rain pelting down and here comes a guy striding off the golf course holding a club aloft over his head.

“What in the world are you doing,” the crowd screams. “Don’t you know how dangerous it is?”

“Ach, laddie,” said Angus. “I’m fine. Even God can’t hit a 2-iron.”

I’m here all week, folks, enjoy the veal.

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You people been following this Lamar Odom nonsense out there?

Short version: Lakers offer something like three years $27 million; he wants four-$36 million. Lakers pull offer, Miami gets in the picture with 5-year, $34 million full mid-level thing and Odom’s eyes light up. One day he’s going back to the Heat, one day he’s going to talk again to the Lakers.

Lather, rinse, repeat.

The best speculation I’ve heard – and that’s all it is – is that Odom’s using Miami’s lower offer as leverage against the Lakers and will end up going back to L.A. in the end.

I will say this:

If the Lakers end up, in effect, trading Lamar Odom and Trevor Ariza for Ron Artest, they are no longer the summer favourites to win the West.

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There’s a report out there – well, here, actually – that says the Celtics and Pacers are looking for a third team to consummate the trade involving Marquis Daniels.

Two words: Call Memphis.

After all, aren’t the Grizzlies just the nicest facilitators of trades that do nothing for them but help others?

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Oh yeah, the Under-19 girls haven’t started today’s game against unbeaten Spain yet so there’s nothing new to report. But judging by past results, it’ll take an upset of biblical proportions for Canada to win and they’ll need to knock off China tomorrow and hope the United States does the expected and beats Japan to have a chance at a top-eight finish.

Luckily, tomorrow’s game’s in the middle of the night here so we can get something in the morning; if you want to check later today on Canada-Spain, go here.

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If this is Monday, it must be the final round of the golf

Have I mentioned how much I hate rain delays?

Honestly, we sat through 7 1-2 hours of non-golf on Thursday, about four hours on Friday, they didn’t play at all Saturday afternoon and I arrived at Glen Abbey on Sunday about 11 a.m. and never saw a single ball struck in competition before we got out of there around 8 p.m.

Fun? Wow!

And since today’s the first day of an alleged week off, what else would a self-respecting backup golf scribe do but go back to the course?

But first …

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Know what I fear? That if the Raptors can’t get a deal done with Carlos Delfino (they’re still talking but there’s really no sense of urgency so don’t read that much into the delay right now) Bryan could very well wait until much later in August to fill that 15th roster spot.

That, of course, means we have to keep making daily checks and reacting to all kinds of other rumours but it does make lots of sense, doesn’t it? As a wise man suggested when the free agency period opened, tough economic times and the sheer number of guys on the market made it glaringly apparent that there will be bargains to be had the more time goes on.

So why not sit back, let some players and agents see the days slipping by and perhaps lower their demands? I can see a whole lot of players watching July turn into August and thinking, ‘yeah, maybe I better get a one-year deal done soon so I know where I’m working next year.’

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Perhaps you’ve heard that your favourite basketball beat grunt has been Golf Boy (or Rain Boy as it turns out) for the last few days.

(Yes, M. Grange TM was out there, too, but I was referring to me).

Anyway, the only thing I really know about golf is that I don’t play it particularly well any more but Sunday’s shenanigans put a whole new focus on the weirdness of the sport.

I’m sure you all read about it already – if you haven’t, click here – and it strikes me that a retroactive, unprompted second video review and reversal of a ruling a day later is somewhat, um, ridiculous.

Yes, I know about the honour of the game and think it’s great. But how in the world can some committee guy wake up Sunday, think, ‘hmm, that decision we made Saturday should be re-visited’ and then change a ruling that everyone was seemingly happy with.

Odd. Very, very odd.

But it got me thinking (which is always a dangerous thing).

And I wonder if we’ll see these stories:

Patrick Ewing did indeed travel every time he went to the basket and the NBA has now decided he’s got about 920 career points.

Scottie Pippen was playing illegal defence all those years in Chicago and the six titles are now vacated.

Invoking the Ted Steptien Rule that doesn’t allow crazies to dismantle their teams with goofy trades, Vince Carter is now back in Toronto and Aaron Williams, Eric Williams and Alonzo Mourning at still on the books in New Jersey.

I’m sure there are others and since this is going to be a slow week, maybe I can come up with some more for here.

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Hey, you hear Rasho’s back?

Right, you did.

Anyway, I think the most significant part of the whole transaction is that they got him on a one-year deal. The money was no surprise, I always figured he’d get the full biannual exception of about $1.9 million but there was some contention about the second year and where it would be a team option or a player option.

Apparently, it’s no one’s option and they got a pretty decent backup centre on a relatively cheap deal that doesn’t put them in any tax danger in the 2010-11 season.

That’s pretty good.

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List time, kind of:

Q: So all this talk of Pops made me think of the greatest Raptors fan favourite team.

Center- Pape Sow

Power Forward-The Legend Pops

Small Forward- JYD

Shooting guard- MoPete

Point guard- Alvin Williams

Can you think of any bigger fan favourites than these guys?

Ryan C, Thorold

A: Man, I think you nailed that list pretty well.

If there was a way to put Matt Bonner or even Oak on there, I don’t think you’d get any controversy.

How about we go at it this way:

Fan favourites in disproportion to their playing abilities?

I’d still give you Pape and Pops, I guess, but how about rounding that five out with guys like, oh, I dunno:

Garth Joseph

Mengke Bateer

Robert Archibald

Seriously, none of them could really play but I bet a few of you smiled thinking about the way Garth Joseph used to growl.

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Hey, remember the Under-19 women’s team we were talking about last week in my never-ending quest to make international basketball relevant around these parts? Well, they’re still at it (and I presume you’ve all been checking the Canada Basketball website to find out, right?) .

The Canadas were beaten while you were sleeping by the United States (you can find the boxscore here) and now have to play Spain tomorrow and Japan the day after.

They’re 2-2 and right in the thick of contention for the quarter-finals and the top 8 spot they covet but it’s going to take at least one win for them to move on.

We’ll try to keep better tabs on them in the next couple of days.

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Hey, check this one out.

I’d hire Oak as an assistant coach in a minute, even if it meant (a) hiring an Oak-to-English translator and (b) making sure we had good insurance for the first time he slugged some knucklehead rookie in the head.

(But, please, I beseech you: Do not write with questions about why the Raptors don’t hire him. The staff is full, there will be no more additions).

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There’s this guy on the golf tour, Glen Day, and Super Son and I were sitting by the seventh tee the other afternoon watching play at that par-3 and Day’s in one of the groups.

He puts the ball down, grabs a club and I swear he stands over the ball for like 45 seconds. Looking down and up and up and down and finally getting down the business of playing a shot. The wait was mind-numbing.

Now I know he’s got the best nickname in golf.

Glen (All) Day.

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A lot of rain and a lot of mail

Okay, they did the honourable thing at the golf today and called off the play before making us sit around waiting until dark. And that let me do the honourable thing and get this mailbag finished.

But not to worry, we’ll be back sometime tomorrow and Monday with the usual stuff.

Fore!

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Q: I was wondering if you caught the final segment of PTS (a week or so ago). I believe the guest was Chris King and they were talking about the newspaper business and blogging. It was interesting stuff. I would love to hear you one day on the 4-5 hour of PTS taking some phone calls. (No, I'm not selfishly asking you to devote even more hours to the job for us. Actually I guess I am.)

Kevin M, Maple

A: I didn’t here it, but I do know the issue.

Not sure how I feel about it, to tell you the truth; I think the way some of us “engage” readers and deliver the news in a more conversational fashion rather than by speaking down from on high as we used to is a change for the better. It’s up to people like me to carry that over in the newspaper product. And while I love to talk about this stuff verbally rather than just write it, I believe My Man McCown doesn’t want to give up that precious hour of air time to a guy like me.

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Q: Three

1. Can you give us the correct pronunciation for Hedo's name?

2. Reading about DeRozan's mother's battles with lupus makes me wonder why it is that there is a common belief that North American players should not be eligible to be drafted right out of high school. If he had blown out his knee in his one year of college, wouldn't that make for a potentially interesting lawsuit (against the NBA and the NBPA for conspiring to keep out the youngsters)? Don't you agree that hockey has a slightly better approach - where the kid gets the money but can play in a proper minor league or junior league?

3. When you look back at the old days, before the constant pull of the blog, do you wonder how it is that you kept yourself so busy? Obviously your blog (and the blogs of others) contains a lot of tidbits and analysis that, in the days before the internet, presumably would not have found its way into print. Either that, or we don't get the same amount of information and analysis in the print paper that we used to. What do you think?

Alan G, Toronto

A: Three

According to the Orlando media guide last season, it’s HEE-doh, TURK-oh-lue.

I have no problem with the NBA setting an age limit. It’s not like they are keeping kids from making a living. They can choose to play in the D League if they want at 18 or in Europe. So I have no issue with the way things are.

You’re getting far more information now and, yes, some of the stuff you get online you would never have seen in the paper. But there are physical limitations to how much we can publish in a paper so decisions on what to write had to be made. That’s where the internet and blogs are most useful; and why newspaper internet sites and blogs are exponentially better than those written by people who don’t have access to information to disseminate and only sit back and preach, often with no basis in fact.

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Q: Doug - thanks for the great summer coverage. A caution: please don't misinterpret this question - I think that the mix of international players on the team makes for a team with a great style of play, and likeable personalities. Having said that, do teams get a share of their team's merchandise sold? If so, I am curious if you think anyone at MLSE might be supporting paying international players more than those similarly skilled because their jersey sales would be disproportionately higher because of a more captive audience in their home country?

Kevin R, Toronto

A: No, all teams share equally in things like merchandise sale so there’s no benefit to Maple Leaf Sports.

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Q: With the salary cap dipping a bit this year, and David Stern claiming that the cap number will be lower even more next year, it got me thinking. Is this Stern's way of trying to scare, hope, and/or force the free agents of 2010 (ie Bosh, Wade, and LeBron) into re-signing with their current teams when the time comes? Or, with the current Collective Bargaining Agreement coming to an end at the end of this season, is it a positioning ploy for when the negotiating of the new agreement starts? Or, is it a combination of the two and to what percentage?

Leigh M, Samcheok, South Korea

A: It seemed to me to be a bit a posturing and a shot across the bow at the Players’ Association heading into negotiations, but it’s also a warning to fans that they might want to lower expectations about money being thrown around willy-nilly next summer since everyone’s expecting a free-agent free-for-all.

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Q: I was just wondering, with DeRozan coming to the organization at such a young age, has anyone in the front office or one of the players taken it upon themselves to settle him into the city? Something along the lines of what Mario Lemieux did for Sydney Crosby?

Ryan M, Ottawa

A: Most of the players have people who work for them, or their agents, who help them get acclimated to the NBA lifestyle. The Raptors do have people on staff who aid in such things like finding places to live, cars to rent, etc; and the Raps will set up nutritionists and the like but it’s mostly friends and relatives who handle most of it.

Rasho's deal is done

Rasho Nesterovic is coming back to his adopted hometown.

The veteran centre, who spent two seasons with the Raptors before being traded to Indiana a year ago, has agreed in principle to a one-year deal worth about $1.9 million (all figures US), the so-called biannual exception to the NBA’s salary cap.

The move comes as little surprise since president and general manager Bryan Colangelo has long held that the 33-year-old 7-footer is exactly the kind of solid veteran the team covets in a second unit role.

The deal also works financially for the Raptors, who retain any financial flexibility they will have at the end of next season.

Nesterovic, who maintained a home in Toronto despite playing in Indiana last year, averaged 6.8 points and 3.4 rebounds a game with the Pacers, starting 19 of the 70 games he appeared in last season.

Coveted by a handful of European teams, Nesterovic made it no secret he wanted to return to the Raptors. He said in an interview a couple of weeks ago that he never wanted to leave but that he understood the business aspects of the NBA that necessitated his inclusion in the trade for Jermaine O’Neal.

His role in Toronto is clear: He will be the backup centre behind Andrea Bargnani and now with he, Bargnani, Chris Bosh, Reggie Evans and Patrick O’Bryant, the Raptors are pretty well set in the front court.

Colangelo has one roster spot left to fill and negotiations continue with former Raptor Carlos Delfino.

Fore! (What did you expect? All hoops?)

I tell ya, if they ever had rain delays in basketball, I’d be a stark, raving lunatic.

(Not that I’m not now, according to a few of you).

For real, 7 1-2 hours without a ball being struck; at the course at 9 a.m.; off the course about 9 p.m. and they still don’t have the first freaking round finished. Sweet? Not so much.

But it’s a job and someone’s gotta do it, right?

And, besides, I guess it beats working for a living.

Anyway …

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How, you wonder, does one while away a 7 1-2 hour rain delay?

At the trough, apparently.

Three of the golfers were talked to near dark last night – Scott Verplank, Retief Goosen and Mike Weir – all talked about taking a couple of meals during the Open shutdown yesterday.

Whew!

Seems some of us grunts who spent more than our fair share of time scarfing down sandwiches, fruit, cookies and snacks were being just like the golfers. Except, in one case at least, for that whole physically fit thing they’ve got going on.

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Maybe it’s the time of year but the press tent was littered with basketball dudes. There was me and M. Grange ™, Stumpy’s making a guest appearance as a golf scribbler and Bea Arthur – oops, I mean B. Arthur – was in attendance, too.

In fact, it was Bruce who pointed out the fact the offer sheet for Jamari Moon is something like three years and $8 million dollars, which provided the biggest shock I’ve had in a very long time.

Now, Jamario’s a nice guy and I hope he has a long and fruitful NBA career ‘cause it took him so long to get to the league but if Danny Ferry really offered him three years and something like $8 million (even if the last year isn’t fully guarantee), I never want to hear the Cleveland GM talk about tough economic times.

That’s a ridiculous deal. Good for Jamario, though.

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Two-part golf story, kind of long but what the heck, it’s not like we’ve got Raptors stuff to talk about.

The good folks from the Canadian Golf Hall of Fame – and if you’re at the Abbey this weekend make sure to stop in, they’ve got an excellent Mike Weir display and a raft of other interesting stuff – put on a little symposium with Dave Barr, Dan Halldorson, Wilf Homeniuk and Bob Panasiuk during the delay yesterday. Chat got around to their best finishes at the Open and here’s what Barr recalled:

“1988 was the year that I thought I had a really good chance at winning. Posted 66 the last day and was in the clubhouse at 13-under and every year prior to that, 13-under was a winner.

“I guess the last group, Ken Green’s group, was still on the 13th when they called it on that Sunday and when I woke up the next morning, I’m in the clubhouse and the wind’s blowing 25 (mph) out of the northwest and I’m thinking, ‘hmm, maybe I can still win it. These guys have to tough it out for six holes or five holes in this wind.’

“Then all of a sudden everybody starting shooting birdies and eagles and it just kind of slipped away.

“I still thought I had that chance when I woke up Monday morning that I could possibly be in a playoff or win it outright. But I ended up tying for fourth.”

Okay, good story, right?

Well, it gets better. That tournament was sponsored by DuMaurier, back in the day when tobacco companies could do that sort of thing, and when Green – hardly a bon vivant, in fact he’s about the furthest thing from a bon vivant you could imagine – is making his acceptance speech, he botched the name of the company so badly it was comical. Kind of like:

“And I like to thank Dumier, or whatever it is, for sponsoring the event.”

Well, back then, they used to bring the defending champ back for a day the next summer, invite some of hackers out to chop it around with him and pump up the coming tournament.

Funnily enough, the good folks at Dumier, or whatever it was, didn’t extend that invitation to Green. And the assembled hackers really didn’t miss him.

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A wee basketball note:

I know it’s too early to think about how teams stack up in the East (I’d kind of like to let teams, you know, practice once to see how they look) butthis is a good signing.

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Judging by this story, it would appear Tunisia has some work to do in the world of under-19 women’s basketball.

And judging by the picture that goes with it, organizers down in Thailand have some work to do in the world of selling tickets.

Still, you have to beat the teams you’re supposed to beat and Canada was supposed to win so it’s all good. The victory should be enough to get Canada into the second round-robin portion of the tournament, a win over Japan in the final preliminary round game will give them a big boost going in.

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On a matter of entirely no importance, can I just say that as a rock and roll dude, Kevin Costner makes a great thespian.

Walking out of the course last night alongside Young Tim (not to confused with Old Tom or even Popular Ray) we got to listen to the, um, musical stylings of Costner and his band. I don’t believe I’m rushing out to the eight-track store.

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So, what’s up this weekend, you ask?

Well, I can’t imagine the Raptors actually getting around to filling those final two roster spots – which is a huge tick-off because I’m allegedly on holidays again next week – so it’s going to be a quiet 48 hours of hoops.

The Mighty Yankees have a makeup twinbill tomorrow morning weather-permitting (and trying to keep 12-year-olds focused for one game is hard enough, getting them to concentrate for two on a Saturday morning is going to be a hoot) and then there’s more golf to scribble about.

Of course, Bryan may surprise us all and do Rasho and Delfino, or Rasho and someone else, or someone else and someone else. And that would be very nice because it’d mean the summer of movement is over.

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No news but that doesn't mean there are no goodies to read

Shut things down last night about midnight and it was raining, get up this morning and it’s raining (and you haven’t lived ‘til you’ve walked a recalcitrant Boston terrier in the morning rain) and I’m thinking:

Oh, the joy of being a golf writer.

I foresee a day of press tent stories and endless cups of coffee until someone tells us they’re going to suspend play because the course is under water. Then we’ll get up and do it all over again tomorrow.

Yes, there’s no gig like it.

But I digress …

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Raptors news? Pshaw!

You gotta be kidding. Quiet day entirely. Bryan was off on NBA business, Jay’s running the USA Select team out in Vegas, Maurizio’s playing congenial host for the Canadian men’s team over in Italy and other Henchmen have scattered for a while.

So if you’re looking for news on Pops (and I know you all are) or Carlos or Rasho or some other guy people fancy, you’ve come to the wrong place.

Luckily, though, there is no right place today because nothing happened and I don’t fee so bad about it.

But still we soldier on with stuff you can’t get anywhere else.

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All right, it’s now officially official:

Summer, or what passes for summer around these parts, has gone on too long and people are simply starved for basketball news. Basketball nonsense might be a better way to put it.

Check out what passed as “big news” yesterday according to handful of e-mails I got from readers.

I have no idea if anyone down there reads this but let me just say: The New York Knicks are so entirely irrelevant to the entire NBA at the moment, it’s hilarious. The team sucks, all these grandiose plans for signing this guy (LeBron) and that guy (Bosh) are falling apart amid a worsening economy and they seem doomed to be irrelevant for a few more years.

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Oh, oh, tough start for Canada at the Under-19 women’s worlds in Thailand, as we can read right here.

It’s the same kind of format as the men’s worlds earlier this month so the loss isn’t devastating. They’ve still got Tunisia today and Japan tomorrow and one win probably allows them to advance, two surely will and their hopes of medal remain intact.

I have no idea what time the next game is but we’ll have something on it here tomorrow.

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Yikes.

E-mails may slow to a trickle once this news from my man Ira gets out there.

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So, Super Son was helping tidy up the messy desk area here at Casa Doug the other night and he got to be in charge of making sense out of the pile of media guides strewn hither and yon.

And I’m thinking, well, he won’t have to do this again most likely.

Not sure if there are any collectors among you, or people who just like to do a little light reading, but the days of big, printed media guides are all but gone, friends around the league report.

In part to save money and in part to save the planet, we’re told almost all the teams are going to strictly on-line publications next year so us beat grunts won’t have 30 books to clutter up the desk.

What we may have is a “memory stick” with all the information just a click away. That also means there’s something else my Luddite self will have to learn.

(Seriously. Where else can you learn this kind of crap?)

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An e-mail lands from my man Phil From Philadelphia late yesterday afternoon wondering who the agent was for – get this! – Jake Voskuhl.

Now, at the risk of sounding like, you know, a normal guy, I will say Jake’s one of the nicest guys you’ll ever meet but I really wonder if his days as a NBAer might be over.

But checking out Phil’s blog shows that Jake’s just one of a list of “who’s that?” the Sixers are thinking about. Talk about a murderer’s row!

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Getting back to international basketball for a quick few paragraphs, Leo’s men’s senior team is off to Italy later today for an exhibition series, their second trip to Europe in preparation for August’s world qualifier in Puerto Rico.

Had a chance to chat with the coach, and a couple of players and other poobahs, the other night at this swank Canada Basketball reception at a lovely eatery downtown (well, it was wings at St. Louis on King and it was right up my alley).

A couple of highlights:

No way Matt Bonner plays this summer but he’s still very interested.

Yes, they would finally like to get Jamal Magloire on the roster and they’re working on it; having him signed in Miami has to help.

Joel Anthony is going to play.

Karl Carl English won’t be in Europe but he will be Puerto Rico after signing with Tau Ceramica in Spain.

They once again are young and going to have to play nearly perfect basketball to qualify.

Said Leo:

“The reality is, we’re still younger and less experienced than our competition but that’s our world, we just have to find a way to not beat ourselves. The talent aspect? There’s nothing we can do about that, we just can’t beat ourselves in situations and that’s what we have to work on.”

I’m trying to work up a story for the newspaper on the team (looks like I might have a few hours to kill in the press tent at Glen Abbey today) but if I can’t, we’ll have more here.

Of course, the big news about this trip is that Canada will play Italy and a few people will be able to give me first-hand info on how Andrea’s looking.