If this is Tuesday, it must be hoops

Fore!

STEVE RUSSELL/TORONTO STAR

Raptors working on re-opening the doors for Rasho.

Never mind. It’s basketball today. I can’t keep the sports straight these days.

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Yes, today is Jarrett Jack Day here in the big smoke and we all knew that was coming for about a week.

But I was talking to a couple of Bryan’s Henchmen yesterday trying to get a read on what else is going on and, frankly, it’s about as earth-shattering as the Jack deal.

Negotiations with Delfino and Rasho are continuing but quite aside from the money issue – and there’s always a middle ground on money issues – things like length of contract and number of guaranteed years are factoring into things. Not unexpectedly, either, because we all know that whatever Bryan’s doing, he’s doing with one eye on potential tax troubles a year or two down the road.

Not sure where the snag is and I don’t get the impression the talks are anywhere close to breaking off but it’s a sticking point they have to work through.

Me?

I’d probably draw the line at a three-year deal worth about $15 million total for Delfino but I’m not sure I’d fully guarantee that last year and for Rasho I’d give him two years at the biannual exception.

I will also say this:

If push came to shove and I could only get one, with the roster as it’s presently constructed, I think it’s far more important to get a backup centre than another swingman and I’d get Rasho on board – or someone like him – pretty quickly.

Remember last year? With Will Solomon and Roko Ukic as the only backups to Jose Calderon and how bad that turned out? Well, it’s not exactly the same but starting the season with Reggie Evans and Patrick O’Bryant as your lone backup bigs simply isn’t good enough.

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Here’s one from the mail bag (remember that?), which is pretty darn near empty, by the way:

Q: Hey Doug, today someone was wondering about the Toronto reporters being scooped by an Indiana scribe about a Jarrett Jack press conference on Tuesday. A few weeks ago, another commenter wondered about the value of scoops, which got me to think about the question, too.

I can understand if you break something that would otherwise stay under wraps, but what is the value in being the first to announce something that's going to be announced anyway, be it a press conference, signing, trade or firing? We're all going to hear about it in time, so what good does it do?

Is it just that some readers might eventually just start using you and your paper as the sole source? Is it bragging rights? Personally, it doesn't matter to me one bit who gets it first. In this age of instantaneous news, as soon as one gets it, the other reports on it seconds later.

Thanks.

Guy M, Vancouver

A: It gets to the competitive nature of the reporters a lot of times. We’ve got four newspapers here that cover this team, a gaggle of radio and TV outlets and if you’re first with something newsworthy (and I don’t count the announcement of a long-expected news conference to be all that newsworthy, to tell you the truth) it makes a guy feel good… That’s the “something that would otherwise stay under wraps” stuff you’re talking about.

The one thing that bugs a little bit is when I have to have a story out there under my name crediting some other news organization (like ESPN or Yahoo or M. Grange TM) with information, although I do think I’m pretty good at doing that. I’ll put it out there, sure; but then I start working the phones to get independent confirmation so it’s “our” story as well.

But, and I’m sure I’ve said this before, an old friend who’s been on a beat for years once told me: 90 per cent of the stories are ties, you win five per cent and you lose five per cent and you can’t get too high when you win or too low when you lose.

You’re right, in this age of instant dissemination of information, as soon as something’s out there, everyone gets it and it’s how you react to it, or advance the original information, that makes the good ones stand out.

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Ready for some more early mornings?

Maybe not but if you are, the next installment of Canada Basketball Goes Global begins Thursday in the wee hours.

This time it’s the women’s under-19 world championships from Thailand and if I know the folks at Canada Basketball, they’ll be on top of it like they were the men.

My knowledge of international junior women’s basketball – and this Canadian team in particular – is not what it should be but people whose opinions I respect tell me this is a very good team of very talented young women and should be a top-8 team in the world.

So we’ll start following them. Just a bit of a heads-up for you, it’s an 11-hour time difference or something so here’s the best place to find out how they’re doing.

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Michael Jordan hits a golf ball a very, very long way. And mainly straight. Not sure what he shot yesterday at that Mike Weir Charity Classic out at the Abbey but if I had his swing, my friends’ wallets would be an awful lot lighter.

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We can now, finally, put to rest for a couple of years all the speculation about Steve Nash and Toronto, right?

As Paul Coro tells us here, he’s got the new gig in Phoenix that should keep him there until practically the end of his career.

The angle Paul took is pretty interesting, no?

The draft where Nash was chosen by Phoenix way back in the day – and I remember it pretty vividly, it was when Vancouver was sure Toronto would screw ‘em up and take Shareef Abdur-Rahim rather than Marcus Camby that night in Jersey – included Iverson and Marbury and you would have gotten some long, long, long, long odds if you’d bet Nash would have had a better, more productive career than either of those two.

And seeing how Nash has those two MVPs, is still playing at an incredibly high level on a good team and neither of those other two have a job yet, you cannot tell me he hasn’t had a better career.

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Speaking of MJ and the golf, my man C Young makes reference to it here in today’s missive from the paper but the little byplay between Jordan, Anthony Kim and Fred Couples was pretty much worth the price of admission to the range at the Abbey. (Of course, the price was free so take that for what it’s worth).

But Kim’s a huge Laker fan and byplay was pretty fascinating.

It was like me and you (if me and you were one of the great young golfers of the era and one of the greats of all time) casually hitting balls and picking the mind of an NBA GM/owner/president/icon as we went about our business.

You get that kind of access a few places – around the batting cage and in the dugout before ball games, sitting on the bench a couple of hours before tip off of an NBA game – and it’s very cool.

As Chris says, Jordan’s big on San Antonio, thinks Portland makes a run at Lamar Odom and thinks the West is stacked. Smart man. Of course, Kim did not mention Kwame Brown, Adam Morrison or Leonard Hamilton.

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Spent about 90 minutes with the good folks from Canada Basketball last night at this reception thingy that included players and coaches from the cadet, junior and senior national teams in this kind of team-building social exercise that lets the three groups mingle and get to know one another.

Now, we’ll have more on this in the next couple of days – this is long enough as it is right now – but I’ve been on the fringe of the national team program for a large number of years, like 20 or so and I can honestly say I don’t remember a similar event ever. I don’t know what the ultimate outcome will be but getting the groups together and letting them know it’s one program, not three separate teams, cannot be a bad thing at all.

Comments

[Tim W.]

Jack: "The team does not have a shortage of big men. Why would they need a Rasho when there is no strong back-up for Turkoglu? George is past his prime. DeRozan is unproven. And besides, O'Bryant will not play major minutes. Just to give Bargnani or Bosh some rest. "

I'd certainly say that the Raptors have a shortage of big men, at least good ones. The Raptors have two backup bigs, Reggie Evans, who's about 6'8 (on a good day) and Patrick O'Bryant, who played a career high 11.3 mpg this past season. Most of those were garbage minutes on a team not fighting for a playoff spot. I certainly wouldn't want him playing important backup minutes, even 10-15 of them.

As for the backup 3, George is only 31. And last season he played 16.5 mpg on a 50 win team. Antoine Wright, who can easily backup the 3 (at 6'7), played 23.9 mpg on a 50 win team. Both players can defend their position well, which is the minimum a bench player needs to do. O'Bryant is not known for his defense. Not in the least.

And DeRozan, despite him not playing in the NBA yet, is most likely going to be a better player than O'Bryant is next season.

Besides, because the the way the game is played, backup bigs are more important than SF's. Big men, especially centers, foul at a much higher rate than SF's and guards. Of the top 25 `foulers' in the NBA last season, only two weren't 4's or 5's. And Bargnani was 23rd. I'd say a backup center who can potentially play big minutes is EXTREMELY important, unless you want Reggie Evans guarding Dwight Howard for long stretches.

[Nick M]

Its pretty hard to distinguish who had a better career between Nash and Iverson. Both players have been very successful. Nash has two MVPs, Iverson has one + taking a Philly team to a championship final that had no business being there.

When comparing I think people have to consider the timeline of their respective careers. Iverson broke in early - dominating from day one while playing a ridiculous amount of minutes and fading late. Nash had more success later on - his coming out party was, arguably, not until his fifth/sixth season in.

To say one player was better than the other is trivial. What if Iverson had a legitimate all-star playing with him in his prime? What if Nash didn't have Nowitzki or Amare or Marion? These type of arguments tend to never get resolved.

How bout we just say both play very different styles that were/are equally as exciting to watch.

[Mike]

Doug,

Any idea what number Jack will wear for the Raps? Thanks and keep up the good work.

Blogger's note: As mentioned, I don't know; nor do I really care

Why would you add "nor do I really care"? Are you really that ignorant? I realize that it is a foolish question but I have a funny feeling a lot of your readers are younger. They are also many of the same readers that keep this thing going. I've read this blog for years now and I think it's great. I'm not sure why or how a beat writer developed such a sense of arrogance but it really takes away from what is otherwise a decent daily read. I don't care if you post my comment or not but I really wish you would stop with this nonsense.

First of all, I don't know what goes on behind the scenes, but based on the articles and blog Doug does more work than anyone else covering sports in Ontario.

Secondly, I haven't really seen anyone take the time to respond to comments posted about thier article, which adds an incredible amount of depth to the piece in my opinion. And based on the ridiculous, dim-witted, asanine questions Doug gets asked - not to mention painfully repetitive - it's a wonder why Doug takes the time to answer us at all.

I guess you're right though GP, taking time out of his day to individually answer most reader's questions seems like a very arrogant thing to do.

[French]

@ LC...are you kidding me, so does that mean Adam Morrison has had a better career than Nash???

[Tabber]

God for you, Doug, I don't care what number Jack wears as yet. When the games start, then we'll know without wasting your time. Ease up, goofballs!

[Kevin]

... about the Lakers not being a tough team. Kobe is the most intense player in the league. Although not a wrecking ball, I think he is the toughest player in the league.

[kevin]

Doug,
When is the 2009 schedule going to be released?

Blogger's note: That's a good question. I asked someone at the Raptors that same thing last week and they hadn't even seen a draft, which makes me think we're at least a couple of weeks away. That strikes me as maybe a week or so too late

[Mando]

Any of Jack's other numbers are far more important than the one he wears on his back.

[Noslak]

I don't know why it seems that everyone thinks Antoine Wright is some sort of scrub. The guy is a 6'7" swing man who can easily play backup minutes for either DeRozan at SG or Turkoglu at SF.

He STARTED 53 of the 65 games he played in for Dallas last season and they were the 6th seed in a ridiculously stacked Western Conference AND Dallas beat San Antonio in 5-games in the 1st-Round of the playoffs.

Sure, I understand that in Dallas, Jason Terry should be starting based on talent, but obviously Dallas feels comfortable enough to have Antoine Wright in there to guard the other teams starting SG.

Considering the Raptors didn't even make the playoffs in the East last year, I think anyone that started for the 6th-seed in the West who whooped the Spurs has a place on this team. Especially for $2m/season which expires after this year.

Seems like a bargain to me.

[anthony]

I really don't know what the raps see in Rasho. He was never a factor in his first stint, slow and mechanical, not a scorer either. He lacks quickness to be a factor on the boards. In Europe there are plenty of centers available who bring more to the table than Rasho.

[GP]

Mike: You miss my point. I agree Doug does a lot of good reporting. What does that have to do with being rude to a reader for no good reason?

As for your second point, I agree that it's great that he takes the time to read, post and respond to comments. As I stated in my original post I have been a long time reader myself and enjoy the daily coverage and interaction. I still don't think that means he should be rude and ignorant to a reader who asked a simple question even if he thinks the question is foolish. If it's a stupid question in the eyes of Doug he should either not post it or post it and not respond. He decided to answer the question.

What does being arrogant have to do with answering questions? Once again the poster (who I would guess is a younger reader) asked a simple and polite question and even included a compliment. Doug answered his question but at the end threw in this rude snarky comment that was completely unecessary. I'm not sure if he's trying to create some sort of on-line persona or not but it's foolish and really takes away from a good, interactive daily blog for some of the older, more mature readers. I've watched and listened to Mr. Smith for years on shows like PTS and that show Norma Wick used to host on RapsTV. He doesn't strike me a saucy or ignorant but for some strange reason he does so on this blog.

I'm not a young reader or a regular poster. I applaud Mr. Smith for taking the time to write a daily blog and answer questions from his readers. I don't enjoy the comments and posts from people who call him names, refer to him as "Dougie Boy", etc. and I really wish he wouldn't post these comments. I found it admirable at first that he is willing to post any and all comments (within reason) but I think it has come to the point now where a lot of people who post are just trying to get some sort of reaction (e.g. Eric) by insulting the author.

If someone posts to insult, argue, etc. then I can excuse the snark. This poster did not do that. He/she received a saucy, disrespectful answer to what was otherwise a polite question. if the question has been asked 100 times he should have chosen not to post it. If he wants to post all the comments he received then he shouldn't have answered.

[anthony]

I really don't know what the raps see in Rasho. He was never a factor in his first stint, slow and mechanical, not a scorer either. He lacks quickness to be a factor on the boards. In Europe there are plenty of centers available who bring more to the table than Rasho.

Blogger's note: If by "never a factor" you mean a guy who started 73 games, played 21 minutes a night, mentored a young rookie named Bargnani on a team that won 47 games and a division title for the first time in its history, he was indeed "never a factor."

[concerned reader]

Word of advice Doug... you need to stop telling us you want to be on vacation and the Raps are interfering with those plans. You've done it now for three weeks - once is fine, twice is okay, three times and you're starting to look unprofessional. We don't need that cynacism from you as we read about our favourite sports teams..

Thanks