Breaking news for the break o' day

And you wondered if there’d be any news this week?

Of course there will be. And where else would you find it, couched in the most entertaining of terms? No place other than here, that’s where.

So ….

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I fear for the future of the Internet.

Yes, folks, tickets for the big intrasquad game in Ottawa go on sale online today and if that doesn’t blow this whole thing up, I have no idea what will.

I got the word very, very, very early this morning – proving once again that the giants of the media relations industry never sleep – that at 1 p.m., at the Carleton Ravens site --- goravens.ca – tickets are out there on a first-come, first-served basis.

They’re $20, up from last year if I recall, and the money goes to “the charity selected by Carleton University’s department of recreation and athletics.”

Me? I’m hoping they consider The Home For Wayward Beat Grunts as a possibility.

See ya there.

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All right, now that we’ve got the earth-shattering news out of the way – I’ve got 1:08 in the sellout pool – time to shift gears to the second installment of “Breaking Down Divisions And Don’t Hold Anything I Saw Against Me Until I Revise It After Training Camp.”

(Catchy title, no?)

Anywho

NORTHWEST DIVISION

TONY BOCK/TORONTO STAR

Portland has that Oden fellow among their crop of youngsters.

What happened

Well, here’s what, according to the player movement thingy at nba.com (and if it’s wrong, don’t blame me).

A boring summer

Ricky Rubio and the Minnesota aside, this really was an uneventful summer as far as player movement goes. Player retention? Hell, yeah, a lot of that. Player movement? Not so much.

Where trouble lurks

How about Utah? A whole lot of that player retention stuff was the Jazz keeping just about everyone and I cannot imagine Jerry Sloan will have an easy job keeping everyone happy, especially the Boozer-Millsap conundrum and who to play more.

Of course, if it becomes a serious issue and players complain, Jerry just might smack one in the head, give him a concussion and that’ll solve the problem for a while.

Who, or what, are they?

Yes, the Timberwolves have a million or so new guys but, really, do they have a team? It’s not like they added a bunch of grizzled veterans to get a young team on the right track.

Do they play fast? Or do they rely on Al Jefferson coming back fully healthy? Are they small or are they big?

A rookie point guard, a new coach. Trouble lurks.

Under the radar

Okay, so we all love Portland ‘cause it’s a good team of young players who’ve had some success.

And they might have made one of the more significant moves that nobody noticed when they signed Juwan Howard.

All I know about Howard is that last year, when his very young Charlotte team was making a small playoff run, Larry Brown was telling anyone who’d listen that the addition of Howard in mid-season, with his veteran presence and personality, was the most significant move of the year.

Things to do in Denver when you’re not dead

Nothing, it seems.

The Noogies were good last year and would appear to be good this year because they really didn’t do much.

Dahntay Jones was okay, Linas Kleiza never really found a role so they won’t be missed; Aaron Affalo and Ty Lawson? Big whoop.

Guess they don’t mind the status quo.

Best story to cheer for

Shaun Livingston, right? No idea how it works for him in Oklahoma City, I just hope it does.

Best addition, playing category

Howard aside, I really think Andre Miller has a chance to really, really help the Blazers. He’s calm, knows his role will be to make sure Brandon Roy has space to operate – and the ball when the game’s on the line – and that seems to me to be just a very good fit.

Imagine …

Hedo in Portland.

What’s it all mean?

This might be the best division in basketball. Seriously. With Portland, Denver and you can never count out a Jerry Sloan team, I can’t hazard a guess right now which is the best team.

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Speaking of wayward beat grunts, anyone pay attention to the Blue Jays on TV last night? No, seriously, the game was on TV; yes, they are still playing. I’m flipping down the dial to get to this dance show you may have heard of when what do my tired eyes see but Alias Smith And Jones sitting in those grand poobah seats along the baseline being interviewed during the game.

Ah, I remember when Eric and Paul were just the local equivalent of Wilbon and Kornheiser; now they’re high-falutin’, fancy-seat-sitting, being-interviewed-on-TV bigwigs.

Hope they remember the little people they trod on during their meteoric rise to worldwide prominence.

Or something like that.

I kid, though. Two nicer guys you’ll never meet and if they got to sit in the fancy chairs and remained in them for 11 innings, they deserve something.

Not sure what. But something.

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Ever try to give a reluctant 12-year-old cat a pill for a wee paw infection?

Never knew a seven-pound thing could be so recalcitrant.

She could be a Leave.

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Raptors? They did nothing yesterday of note, I’m presuming everyone went to the driving range to work on their games for the big charity slice-and-hook fest later this week.

Wish I could tell you more, like what my tee time is but it seems they forgot to let me know.

Silly people.

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Oh yeah, I remain steadfast in my support of Debi Mazar but, I gotta tell you, that Kelly Osbourne cuts a mean rug.

I’m seriously waiting for the night Ozzie storms out of the audience and attacks Bruno. Now, that’ll be reality TV!

Who did what, where and when; one division at a time

What to do when there’s nothing going on?

Sit back and marvel, my friends; sit back and marvel.

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Hey, why don’t we do this?

It’s Tuesday, we’ve got six days left until media day here when things get started for real. Or at least as real as the never-ending camp and pre-season season is.

(Oh, and trust me, it’s long. You may not remember exactly but nearly a month of practices and pretend games seems to take about eleventy months. They should cut the pre-season to four games, shorten the season by two weeks and we’d all be happy).

Anyway, we’ve got seven more mornings (including this one) and there’s been so much movement this summer that you can’t tell the players without a scorecard.

So, we’ll do scorecards.

One a day, with a weekend morning reserved for mail, so you’re ready to hit the ground running.

And I’ll find a way to do it rather painlessly for me, if that’s okay?

(Remember, this is for discussion purposes only, the mocking that comes with mindless predictions can begin when we get closer to the start of the regular season)

LUCY NICHOLSON/REUTERS

Only one thing's for sure in the Southwest: Spurs will be good.

Let us begin:

SOUTHWEST DIVISION

What happened?

A recap of the moves, thanks to our friends at nba.com.

Most significant switch

Has to be Trevor Ariza in and Ron Artest out in Houston. Yes, the Rockets won’t have Yao and McGrady’s still out for months but this is somewhat of a sea change for the Rockets, way more a long-term move than a quick fix solution.

Treading water, I

I don’t know that New Orleans with Emeka Okafor is much better than New Orleans with Tyson Chandler, to tell you the truth. One offensively-limited, shot-blocking youngster for another offensively-limited shot-blocking youngster.

Biggest impact

Richard Jefferson, San Antonio

Yes, he’s got a bit of a thumb problem now but he’s insurance against Manu if he gets hurt again and Jefferson would seem to be a perfect fit for the Spurs offence. And he defends every now and then, too.

Treading water, II

Dallas

Yes, they got Shawn Marion at rather little cost but, really, I don’t know that they are all that better, to tell you the truth. Especially given what some other teams did. Second? Third? We’ll have to see but I don’t know about legit contenders.

Oddest move

Okay, so Memphis goes and trades for Zach Randolph and signs Allen Iverson and lets Hakim Warrick walk? I can’t figure out what they’re trying to do. And the folks in Vancouver must be sighing.

Best under-the-radar move.

Antonio McDyess to the Spurs.

He’s a wee bit long in the tooth but his skills, his personality and his willingness to buy into a team concept make him a perfect fit for the Spurs, methinks.

What’s it all mean?

Well, San Antonio’s the power and the chalk, I’m not sure Dallas or New Orleans can win a playoff round (that’ll all be determined by matchups) and Houston will be life and death for the eighth seed. Or not.

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So, the consensus around Casa Doug?

Donny Osmond’s pretty good but if he faints during a live broadcast, it’ll be a hoot; Tom Delay dances better as a politician than he does and dancer and Michael Irvin’s got a lot of George Gervin in him.

But that was only from clicking through while watching other things.

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In the department of Heading ‘Em Off At The Pass, there’s still no official word on the ticketing process for the training camp opening scrimmage at Carleton.

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I’m sure you’ve all read, with breathless anticipation, this tiny tome about the women’s national team that’s in Brazil to start the worlds qualifier tomorrow.

One thing that interested me was coach Allison McNeil’s assessment of the makeup of her team.

“They’re pretty laid back off the floor and I really like that. And they’re also a really responsible group of athletes, they’ll never point a finger at the coaching staff or the system or the distractions. It’s ‘what can I do to be better’ and that’s a pretty neat group to be around.

“We’ve got good overall size, we’ve probably got more quickness than we’ve had in quite some time but they play with a certain intensity and confidence that I haven’t seen in a lot of our teams.

“You can’t go to these things and be timid, you have to have a little bit of brashness about you and they’ve got a little bit of that.”

I think a little grit, bellicosity and truculence is good for a team. (I know, stolen from the pucks but what the heck).

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Want some real basketball to pay attention to until the end of October?

I’ve been quite impressed that RaptorsTV has been picking up feeds of the WNBA playoffs and since our local fave Tammy Sutton-Brown’s got her Indiana Fever in the East final starting tomorrow night against Detroit, I think some of you should tune in and watch a little bit.

You might be surprised.

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Anyway, off to get the candles for the cake and figure out how to celebrate Super Wife turning another year over on the calendar. Being the romantic sap that I am, I bet I come up with something hugely special.

See ya.

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We're closing in on the start of it all

Can you sense it?

One week!

One week ‘til it starts for real and we can begin figuring out who’s on what team and why.

Oh, and what the local Heroes of the Hardcourt might look like.

Until then …

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All right, let’s say you’re a bunch of NBA coaches, you’re off on a “retreat” for a weekend, you’ve got a team with about 75 per cent turnover from last year, when you were bad and missed the playoffs.

What do you do?

Well, not having had a chance to talk to, oh, the head coach of said staff, we can only surmise how the lads spent their weekend so we will surmise:

Saturday

9-noon

The etiquette of buying beat grunts dinner on the road.

Tell them at the time of invitation? Surprise them after the meal? Sit in another part of the restaurant and silently pick up the tab?

Noon-2

Lunch

2-6

Leaking news the right way.

Phone call? Text? Smoke signal? Get someone else to do it and have deniability?

6-9

Dinner

9-midnight

Free time for private reflection.

Sunday

9-noon

Scouting techniques

Where do the writers hang? Do they travel in packs or individually? What are their tendencies.

Noon-2

Lunch

2-4

Practice plans, defending the screen and roll, defensive philosophies, possible starting lineups, offensive sets, all the mundane basketball chores.

4

Depart

6

Call grunts, tell ‘em what happened.

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How good is Spain?

Check this legacy out:

2006, won world championships

2007, lost Eurobasket final in final minutes

2008, Olympic silver, extended Americans in epic final.

2009, won first Eurobasket title ever.

That’s a quadrennial to be proud of, isn’t it?

And one thing to notice is that this is the same group, pretty much, that’s been around all four years, proving once again that some kind of roster continuity is of huge significance for the short international season.

The United States found that out the hard way, it wasn’t until they got long-term, year-to-year commitments to the program that they were able to ascend to the top of the world, again.

And, to a lesser degree, the case can be made that that’s why Canada was finally successful in getting to a big, global tournament this summer for the first time in a long time.

Yes, the depth of talent and individual skill level of the Canadians may not be as great as other countries but there’s obviously something to be said for building a core group, keeping it together for summer after summer and watching it improve.

Now, the question here is: When do they start making subtle changes?

Is it next year, to build toward the 2014 world championships in Spain? Is it time to start “growing” another team with longer term goals in mind?

I think it probably is.

As I’ve said before, an infusion of young kids next year at the worlds, gaining experience and creating some kind of familiarity, is huge for the long-term success of the senior program.

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So, what’s up this week with the Raptors? Well, really not much.

I presume everyone will be in town by mid-week (I know the coaches and management would like that) and all it’ll be are informal workouts and getting the details taken care of before media day a week from today.

The one odd thing on these informal workouts that I’d kind of forgotten until last Friday: No coaches, no “official” work.

It was staffers and ball boys and some of the training staff hanging around, nary a coach in sight.

Don’t for a minute think they – and Bryan – aren’t acutely aware of what’s going on in the gym, it’s just a wink-wink, nod-nod kind of situation.

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How big a night is this?

DWTS debuts!

Remember, Debi Deby Mazar’s the darkhorse.

And I hear Julianne Hough’s taking the season off? That bites.

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Speaking of the world championships, the European reps next summer in Turkey (where I should be, right boss?) are:

Spain

Serbia

Greece

Slovenia

France

Croatia

And Turkey as the hosts.

Not bad for France, eh? They had to go through that extra qualifying round and still got to the worlds.

Not very good for Russia, eh? They won the 2007 Euros, beating Spain in Spain, but haven’t directly qualified for Turkey.

But I bet they’ll be there.

Remember, FIBA’s got four “wild card” spots to hand out and I’d presume Russia, given its history, gets one.

You can make a case for a lot of other countries and I have no idea how the poohbahs at FIBA think but if they want to round out the field with countries where the game is growing, countries that have displayed growth in their programs over the past four years, countries that are truly developing, I give the four wild cards to: Russia

Macedonia for their showing at in Poland

Not sure if there’s another European team worthy, I imagine there is but one spot, I bet, will go to an African nation.

They’ve already got Angola, Ivory Coast and Tunisia qualified, Cameroon and Nigeria were the next two teams and I can see FIBA taking them both.

I do not see another FIBA Americas team getting a berth.

The wild cards are being announced Dec. 13.

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Okay, the remnants of Hurricane Catch 22 are all around the house, time to go clean up after the marauding – yet very fun – gaggle of Dragon Boaters.

Oh, and some work, too, I guess.

My goodness, you people are inquisitive

Okay, this is out of control. It’s like a regular season mailbag after four straight losses and the angst level’s off the charts. But, it’s fun, I guess.

Anyway, I’ve got a deck full of three dozen or so dragon boaters and the various spouses and significant others coming by later this afternoon so I better get to the cleaning and fussing.

Have fun, I’ll get back to your comments later and I see a handful of questions that came in overnight Saturday that I’ll get to during the week.

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Q: I'll make it short and sweet. Based on everything we've seen to this point, is Andrea worth 50 Million?!?!?! I say "hell nah" and you say.

Felix, Markham

A: Nobody’s “worth” $50 million, silly.

Couldn’t tell after his rookie year, no way after his second, who knows after his third but if he continues to do what he did in the second half of last season – when he might have been the third-best centre in the East – and given the salary structure of the league, I think $10 million a season will be a good investment .

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Q: With rumours of a Russian billionaire buying shares with the Nets, do you see them being big players in the 2010 free agency especially if they are willing to go above the tax limit. I watch a lot of European soccer and the Premier League, there were two prime examples of how foreign billionaires changed the scope and the market of the premier league and European soccer (Manchester City and Chelsea) their willingness to spend extravagant amount of money on star players made it harder on small market teams to sign even mediocre ones.

I know the salary cap system in the NBA dictates what's the maximum a team can spend on a player, but if a rich man doesn't care about paying luxury taxes what would stop him from offering two max contracts to say LeBron and Wade (and team them up with Lopez ,Lee, Harris) which makes their team the top destination for top players with dreams to win a championship and get paid handsomely at the same time (and possibly moving to Brooklyn in 2011 since the money is available). I like the NBA's current system but I’m convinced that if foreign money floods the market the league will suffer. Your thoughts?

Rob H, Victoria

A: No, in the case you make, it’s impossible for any team to simply go out and buy the players they want if they haven’t structured their salary cap situation well enough to have “room” to make two maximum value contract offers. And that’s regardless of the wealth of the owner.

Now, down the road, if any new owner wants to pay a tax, he or she can tell their GM to make as many big-money moves as possible but that has to come through things like trades; not simply because the owner is rich.

The cautionary tale, of course, being that spending doesn’t equal winning, as anyone in New Jersey knows by looking across the river at New York.

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Q: I am wondering how an NBA coaching staff typically works. What are their lines of responsibility before, during and after a game? (i.e. How is a lead assistant different than the others?). From a Raptors perspective, what does Marc Iavaroni bring to the table besides another Italian name? What are his strengths? Do you think his unsuccessful stint as a head coach at Memphis will make him a better assistant?

Angelo M, Scarborough

A: Nice cheap shot at Marc. Very cheap. Guy played more than a decade in the league (won a title as a rookie starter in Philly in ’83) coached with Mke Fratello, Pat Riley and Mike D’Antoni and has been around the game for almost 30 years.

He is known for being a rather animated assistant, primarily responsible for defensive philosophies (and learning from Riley and Fratello sure didn’t hurt) and will be given that responsibility with the Raptors.

But, yes, his name ends in a vowel.

Yeesh.

Now, as to the other stuff: Their lines of responsibility are, frankly, somewhat blurred. I know you’ll see Iavaroni working primarily with defensive systems and assignments but other than that, the staff is mostly a consensus building team, they discuss things and the more minds and more voices for Jay to pick and listen to, the better.

As for the difference between “lead” assistant and the others, there really isn’t much.

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Q: Scenario: The raptors are up by 2 points against the Lakers with 10 seconds left in the game. Who do we send in the game to guard Kobe?

Lukasz S, Toronto

A: Depends.

If they run him off the ball, you switch everything to make it difficult for him to get off an uncontested shot.

Not having real knowledge of their individual skills, I imagine in an iso situation, it’s probably Wright or DeRozan, maybe Belinelli Best answer you can get right now.

But whoever it is will be told to try to force him one way or the other to help.

I know you probably think that’s a bailout answer but it’s fact. No one – in the entire NBA – is going to be sent in the game to guard Kobe in that situation. You set up a team defence knowing the ball’s eventually going to get to him. Maybe you start a big on him and “pre-switch” so a swingman gets to him on the inevitable screen but there isn’t “a guy” – again, on any team – to put in specifically in that situation.

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>Q: Hello Doug, can you provide the latest feedback on the progress of my boy Patrick O'Bryant?

Kawit A, Australia

A: Not really actually. He’s in town working out; saw him in the ACC the other day and they hope he can find some kind of energy and effort that allows him to take advantage of his physical gifts. But, with the presence of Amir Johnson, I think O’Bryant’s probably on quite a short leash.

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Q: Hi Doug, I am traveling to Ontario on Thanksgiving weekend and I am wondering if there will be any open practices being held. I've been Raptors fan for a long time and this is the first chance I have to actually see a practice or maybe a pre-season game.

Philip P, Steinbach, MB

A: There’s a pre-season game here on the Sunday afternoon of the Thanksgiving weekend, that’ll be your only shot.

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Q: Doug, I was wondering about how the Referee lockout is going to play out with Canada having tougher labour laws than the US. Who are going to ref the games if the regular referees are still locked out?

Greg W, Toronto

A: This is something I have to look into a bit more on Monday when I’m back it the office. It strikes me the same issue of replacement officials and the Canadian laws came up during a major league baseball dispute with umpires years back and it was resolved.

But the short answer right now is I don’t know for certain.

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Q: Do you think any team(s) benefit more than another if replacement refs are used?

Matthew S, Vaughan

A: No, I believe it will be consistently inconsistent and equally bad for all 30 teams.

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Q: I do not understand how firing scouts improves a professional sports franchise's bottom line. How much are these scouts making? Even with high travel expenses and a healthy salary how can the firing of a couple scouts do anything to the Heat or any other team's margins? That's not even factoring in the possibility that once a decade they might find you a 10 million dollar player for 1 million dollars and totally negate the costs in the first place? Are the economics so bad that they just have to make whatever cuts they can, regardless of how meaningless they are, or am I wildly underestimating how much money scout earn? It sounds counter-intuitive to fire scouts when you're trying to trim the budget, since the highest cost is player salaries and they are the most valuable piece for getting savings in that regard.

Jacob A, Toronto

A: Every dollar saved is a dollar saved, I guess that’s how it works. No, it’s not a lot of money but in this day and age, anywhere you can cut without decimating the product may be necessary in some cities.

I have a lot of friends who are, or were, advance NBA scouts who were invaluable sources of information and very good men. But, and this is the argument you’ll get from teams, with every game available every night on video, specific tendencies of opponents are not hard to learn.

And, one of the things advance scouts did was get play calls to put in their reports because they always had courtside seats. Well, in most cities now, those seats are sold to fans and scouts lose their impact sitting at the top of the lower bowl with the writers.

Teams are now likely to “share” NBA scouting by combining on a series of regional employees, which is, I suppose a more cost-effective method.

Now, on college scouting? Losing the full-timers will increase the workload on the remaining staffers and part-timers that teams employ.

A retreat and a digression or two

A couple longish stories here but what the heck, it’s still pretty slow and tiny, juicy tidbits are hard to come by.

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Take that, France.

Spain by 20?

I don’t think too many saw that coming, although a Spain victory over in Poland at the EuroBasket was not entirely unexpected.

But by 20?

With Ricky Rubio apparently killing Tony Parker (at least that’s what one guy who was at the game told me; I didn’t see it first-hand)?

The funny thing about it is that Pau Gasol has picked his game up as the tournament’s gone on; he was dominating yesterday I hear. Not bad for a guy who hurt his finger during pre-tournament action and I wonder how many Laker fans were aghast that the team would have the temerity to let him continue playing for his country?

Lots, I imagine.

Guess things turned out okay for him, and Los Angeles.

But, I swear, if he bangs a knuckle or sprains a wrist sometime around the all-star game, you know it’s going to be because he came back too quickly for EuroBasket after suffering that finger injury in August.

(A joke, a little dig, I keed, I keed; please don’t flood the inbox)

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Minor digression:

Flipping the dial last night, saw a wee minute of some NCAA football game (a sport I normally pay less than zero attention to) and the game is in Miami.

At Land Shark Stadium!

I know it’s had that name for a while but you never hear it reading about the exploits of the Florida Marlins so it caught me by surprise.

You know about Land Shark, right? Brewed by the Margaritaville Brewing Company, owned by Jimmy Buffet and one of the all-time good summer beverages.

Brought back great memories of the Orlando-Toronto playoff series, which was the first time I got to taste it.

That’s all on that.

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This is a day or so old but the Phoenix Suns have sold their practice jerseys.

To some company that does something or other, not sure who or what but it’s the thin edge of the wedge around the NBA.

I don’t think these guys here have plans to sell jerseys yet, but I’m pretty sure if someone comes and wants to cut them a big cheque, the For Sale sign goes up.

But who?

Wouldn’t it be cool if they sold it to the pasta company Andrea did that commercial for so we can be reminded every day how bad it was?

Or Juicy Fruit, for the same reason only with Bosh?

How about putting a TFC logo on there, or maybe a Maple Leaf in some kind of wacky cross-promotion plan?

Seriously, this move to sell uniform space – now with practice jerseys and I assure you eventually with game jerseys – kinda sucks, in my opinion.

I know it brings in money but I have my doubts that the extra money will mean teams won’t try to get deeper into the pockets of the ticket-buying public. That doesn’t seem to be how the world works.

I don’t imagine it’ll ever get to car racing extremes, thank the good deity you worship, but if you’ve got a big old logo on the chest, it just takes something away.

I’m going to tell you this and then be mocked in some circles for sure.

I would like to be a fan of the Premiership at some level but, honestly, I do not know at a quick glance what team’s what.

One game – which was significant and a doozy, I’m told – was between, like AIG and UNICEF.

Maybe I’m just a dope and don’t follow it that closely, but that seems to be counter-productive if you’re trying to attract new fans, doesn’t it?

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Mail, people; I need mail.

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One more digression and I’m done.

Not sure if you’ve read Rich Griffin’s piece today, it’s here and it’s on John McDonald of the Blue Jays, who is one of the all-time good guys in sports. I could watch that guy make plays in the field every day for the rest of my life, it’s one of true spectacles in sport I’m glad I got a chance to see.

Anyway, a Johnny Mac story.

There’s this guy, Tom Withers, an Associated Press writer from Cleveland who’s a really good friend (we were the major chroniclers of all things women’s softball in Beijing) and Tom’s a good buddy of McDonald’s because they’re neighbours in the Cleveland area. If I ever cover baseball, Tom tells me, I have to go say hi, or I’m dead.

So, I get assigned one game all summer and I’m kind of a fish out of water, wandering around the clubhouse a couple hours before first pitch just being out of place.

And there’s Mac in his corner cubicle reading some mail and hanging out.

Okay, so I go over because Withers tells me I have to and introduce myself as a friend of Tom’s, a basketball writer out of place and I just want to say hello.

Now, there are athletes in every sport who would shrug, turn away, stare blankly off into space and, you know, ignore an interloper they’ve never seen and probably never will again.

Well, about 20 minutes later, after talking about families, basketball, Tom, coaching Super Son’s team, Beijing, the travel life of a sports writer, Olympics and everything but the weather, I have to excuse myself to go work and John’s got, you know, a major league game to prepare for.

That’s a classy, classy, good guy.

End o’ digression.

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I’m sure you all have read Chris’s column off Jay being the drawmaster up at the track yesterday – if you didn’t, it’s right here.

As I’m reading it, the part about the “coaches retreat” this weekend caught my eye. It’s something I know they did when Sam was around (consider it “bonding” with a bunch of fun, golf and frivolity to fill in the down time) and it makes entire sense to do it again.

Not only does there have to be some chemistry among the players, there has to be among coaches, too.

I’m told – and from every interaction I’ve seen it’s absolutely true – that this is a close a staff as perhaps there’s ever been.

Not to knock the previous staffs but there was always something. Not tension, I don’t think that’s the right word, and they did work well together but I do think Sam was more of a decision-maker rather than a consensus builder.

Jay’s the other way.

Please don’t go off half-cocked, or fully-cocked, and think there was all kinds of dysfunction in the past, that’s not true. It just seems from everything I’ve witnessed – and that includes social settings with almost the entire staff a couple of times over the summer – that this is a close a group as you can get.

The retreat? I bet it’s a gas.

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This and that and picks for the Eurobasket Final Four

Super Family’s all pumped about the start of Survivor tonight (it’s their DWTS, I personally don’t give a hoot); you should be pumped about all the fun stuff in here this morning.

Seriously.

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There was a moment, I’m told, of classic international tournament basketball yesterday over in Poland.

France and Greece are tied in the dying seconds, winner wins the group. France makes a shot at the buzzer to win and the celebration? Well, more on the Greek side than the French.

The win gets France into the quarters against Spain today; Greece gets Turkey tomorrow and, apparently, that’s the most amenable matchup to the Greeks.

Check out this story courtesy of Truehoop to see what I mean.

It’s common, actually, that teams kind of jockey for position in the second round of these events to get what they think is a better quarter-final matchup.

Now that I think of it, it could be “tanking” and we all know how I feel about that.

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We’re in the bowels of the Air Canada Centre yesterday talking to Jay about coaching – you can see the newspaper fruits of our labour here – and spied a couple of familiar faces.

One new, one not so new.

Andrea came wandering out of the locker room after his daily workout, looking fine, big, healthy and happy.

Didn’t get to chat for very long but the feeling I got – and am getting from others that I talk to who know him well – is that he’s very glad to be back in Canada.

His time with the Italian national team wasn’t great by any means. He didn’t play particularly well, they lost, there were some issues between he and the coaching staff and the best part of the summer is that it’s over.

I don’t think any of it will have any impact whatsoever on his time in Toronto this year, especially the coaching issue.

If there’s one thing we can all agree on it’s that Bargnani has great respect for, and played well under, Jay. Can’t imagine why that would have changed.

The other guy?

Well, I turn around and there’s this familiar face coming out of the locker room, a face that signals some behind-the-scenes change that could have some impact on how things unfold.

He’s John Lee, an old friend and a former member of Jay’s staff with the national team way back in the day. Good guy, positive, hard-worker.

He takes over for Keith D’Amelio as the team’s assistant strength and conditioning coach; Keith’s gone on to greater things as the head man at Stanford.

Scott McCulloch’s still around as the head trainer and Francesco Cuzzolin’s the head strength and conditioning guy.

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Oh yeah, speaking of Greece, when it comes to next summer and so many of you are wondering when on earth Giorgos Printezis is going to ride across the Atlantic and make his mark on the NBA, consider this:

He cannot play at Eurobasket; why in the world would anyone think he can play in the NBA?

Word I’m hearing is CNP, which differs from DNP in the same way Cannot differs from Didn’t.

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Heard there were some fights in the arena last night? Hope people didn’t miss getting hot dogs because of the truculence. That would be too bad.

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So the First Lady Of The Beat and I are standing around talking to Jay about coaching yesterday when another subject came up.

The Olympics, which I hear are going to be somewhere in these parts soon.

Anyway, my Learned Colleague asks Jay if he’s been asked to take part in the torch relay, like Steve Nash told us he was when Nash was in town a week or so ago.

No, says Jay.

Odd, thinks I.

Wouldn’t it make sense to ask a guy with a prestigious Olympic background (screwed by politicians in ’84 on the boycott, played in ’88 in Seoul, provided one of the great stories as a coach in ’00), a connection to the Vancouver area and a high profile to do something?

Makes sense to me. How about you?

I know, he’s summer, it’s winter but, really, does that matter?

I’m telling you, getting him involved on, say, the Thursday before the Games begin, which also happens to be an off-night heading into the all-star break for the Raptors and the night Nash will be doing his gig, makes a wee bit of sense, no?

Anyone out there listening?

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Mail’s a little low, kids. And the weekend approacheth.

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Oh yeah, ran into Alvin yesterday, too.

He’s been in town a week or so working guys out, was out in L.A. working guys out last month and, just for kicks, he’s still playing some high level ball when he gets back to Philly in the summer.

I swear, if they need a 10-day guy in January, they oughta give him a look.

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You want a darkhorse – well, a relative darkhorse, I guess – at the EuroBasket?

I’m told Slovenia’s playing as well as anyone there, even without Rasho!

One of their best? The Gangster, who looks really good in the estimation of one guy there whose opinion I trust.

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I don’t know this for certain because I’ve never laid eyes on the guy but the talk around ACC is that there’s a striking resemblance between Sonny Weems and Joey Graham.

No idea if that translates into talent but, really, where else can you get this kind of arcane information to get you through another off-day in the summer?

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Some of you may know that I do a wee bit of coaching in the summer (Hi, Playoff Champion Mighty Yankees!!!) so this thing Jay’s hooked up with is pretty cool in my estimation.

Coaches, and I’m talking about the volunteers at the lower levels, often do get short shrift around these parts. Anything anyone can do to give ‘em a pat on the back is greatly appreciated.

Go here and if your guy or gal is worthy, send along a nomination.

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I’ve got Serbia, France, Turkey and Slovenia in the Euro quarters. You?

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On money, food and training camp details (again)

For a time when there’s precious little really going on, we seem to be full of mildly interesting stuff today.

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So, where’s Jay?

Chicago, with the rest of the league’s coaches for their annual pre-season get together buntoss.

They talk about points of emphasis in rules this season, player comportment, some financial matters concerning pensions and retirement funds that are way, way, way over my head.

I do not believe there is or was a seminar on how to properly and reverentially treat the daily media. Sadly.

But it would have been interesting to hear the discussion about officials and points of emphasis and refereeing in general.

We’re all expecting a lockout of refs at the start of the season – although my man Sheridan reports here that maybe things will get moving – and how the coaches deal with the replacements will have a lot to do with how games are reffed.

There is no question some of those guys can be quite intimidating and while I’m sure the refs will talk a good game about not being bothered by someone yelling at them, consistently harsh treatment from angry coaches during the course of a game could turn a call or two.

I’m absolutely certain the league will lay down the law with the coaches – and the players – about treating the replacements well; whether they do or not is not something anyone can predict.

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JENNIFER BAIN PHOTO

Yes, you can also get the veggie dog on a bun if you like.

I’m sure you’ve all checked out this story on our site, written by a legitimate writer who knows about food and was at the same hot dog thingy I was at yesterday.

Me? I just like to eat.

So my opinion may not carry as much, um, weight, but what the heck.

I’ve got to tell you, I’m quite okay with the dog that’s covered in pulled pork and the pizza one’s not too bad, either.

Seriously. Cheese and pepperoni on a hot dog. Brilliant, I tell ya. Brilliant.

Not that I had a bite of every one that’s available – I believe my body would have rebelled had I bitten into the veggie one served on, get this, lettuce! – but as I’m standing there chowing down, I’m looking around and for the life of me, I cannot find the concession stand dedicated to Mssrs. Colangelo and/or Gherardini. Guess that’s coming later, right?

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Other things I didn’t see but wish I did:

An Andrea Bargnani pasta bar.

Maybe they could play that ridiculous commercial on some endless loop that makes fans feel like they’re prisoners at Guantanamo being sensory-deprived or something.

The Morris Peterson Snickers sales point.

After all, that was like oxygen to him for a while.

Oak’s Room.

Yes, Charles was some kind of culinary magician; I would have loved to see what he could have cooked up given the chance. Would have had to be a printed menu, though, wouldn’t want him standing out in the concourse peddling his wares verbally.

Big Kitchen’s Big Kitchen

That’s what they used to call John Thomas so why not let him show off his skills. Knowing John, there’d be some good eats.

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Let’s go over this one more time for those who may have missed it.

(And I don’t imagine it’s the last time we’ll do it).

As part of training camp in Ottawa at Carleton, there will be a public scrimmage, on the Saturday, Oct. 3, at 1 p.m.

There is no ticket information out there yet; when they decide what they’re going to do, we’ll let you know.

But, other than that? No access.

They don’t open the workouts even to us (except for the last half hour or so), they roll the bus right up to the back door of the gym and unless you happen to spot a Raptor someone strolling the streets, I doubt you’ll see any of them around.

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Times are tough in Miami, Ira reports here, with layoffs and salary cuts and all sorts of economic bad news.

Think Dwyane Wade’s noticing with his impending free agency just around the corner?

The Miami one’s just the latest in a bunch of things that don’t bode well. Teams are cutting scouts, paring staffs, eliminating advance scouts and doing all manner of belt-tightening that we’re all going through in the regular world.

A bad thing? I don’t think so and it’s a topic we’ll get into more deeply in the next few days.

How about here? Well, there have been no massive layoffs but no substantial raises.

Times are tough, but not as tough as some places, it seems.

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Back to the food.

After the dogs and the donuts – yeah, little Tiny Tom-ish delights made in-house – we’re ushered upstairs to the bar area to sample some of the other stuff that’s for sale.

There’s a Cuban sandwich, the prime rib sandwich, the sushi, the stir fry (or so I’m told, far too close to veggies for me), the pulled pork and it’s a veritable cornucopia of good eats.

They’ve got stuff from every team -- the hoops, the pucks, the baby pucks and even stuff they sell down at BMO Field for the soccer.

I didn’t, however, see the Taser Fries on the table. Guess they just forgot ‘em.

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A minor correction to yesterday’s note about Belinelli.

It’s not, I was told, a news conference, per se. He’ll work out, we’ll wander over, visit with him after and that’ll be that. No TV, probably no huge revelations, but, yes, a media availability.

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Most of you know I’m not one to revisit history very often, especially the revisionist kind but a couple of comments caught my eye yesterday. The ones that told me how Jose’s hamstring injury might have been caused by his groin problems.

Now, I’m no doctor but neither are you and I refuse to believe that a minor groin injury suffered on Aug. 22, 2008 somehow had something to do with a hamstring injury suffered on Jan. 2, 2009, after 31 NBA regular season games, I don’t know how many practices, and that’s not even mentioning eight pre-season games.

Sorry, but to link the two is, in my opinion, ludicrous.

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Pretty sure you all saw this about the pre-season and TV, either when I alluded to it the other day or when the team announced it yesterday.

But five pre-season games on TV? That’s big, and I believe, unprecedented.

Trouble is, as I’ll remind you a few times between now and then, it’s pre-season and there’s precious little to learn.

Of Hedo and hot dogs and some other stuff, too

We’re kind of all over the map here today, which makes entire sense since there remains little in the way of news to discuss, digest or disseminate.

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There’s apparently some measure of consternation out there about Hedo Turkoglu’s health over in Poland.

Well, I have it on great authority – top of the food chain, actually – that his ankle is not an issue but he’s got some minor soreness in one of his knees that’s causing some issues with his mobility.

No one connected with the Raptors is concerned, it’s probably just a result of a lot of games in a lot of days and not a lot of rest time.

They don’t expect any lingering issues once camp begins in a couple of weeks; by that time, he’ll have some time off and the grind of the NBA season, while substantial, isn’t nearly as bad as the grind of five games in five days at an international event.

The trouble with this EuroBasket is that it finishes so close to the start of camp so there won’t be as much downtime as there has been in other years but, still, there’s not any angst among the big Raptors brass.

Besides, it’s not as if Turkoglu uses shocking athleticism to get his job done anyway.

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It’s awfully quiet up at Pearson about 9 p.m. on a Monday.

And how do I know this, you wonder?

Well, that’s where I went to visit the national women’s senior team, which flew off to Brazil last night for their world qualifier that starts a week tomorrow.

Eight teams with three spots for next year’s worlds in Czech Republic at stake and Canada goes in a solid contender for one of the spots.

You’ll learn more about the team and the players here and in the paper over the next few days, once I get the tape transcribed, develop some good story angles and actually get to writing.

Suffice it to say, this is a pretty good team, a solid mixture of youth and experience and one that feels pretty good about its chances.

I was talking to Allison McNeil, the head coach, at length while bags were being checked and souvenir balls were being signed and the one thing I got is that the women can play any number of styles. They can go big, they can apply some full-court defensive pressure and they can force more than a few turnovers.

I’d say the big favourite in the tournament is Brazil (the United States isn’t there, they qualified automatically by winning gold in Beijing last year) but after that, you can throw a blanket over Canada, Cuba, Argentina and, maybe, Puerto Rico for those final two spots.

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Speaking of Poland, Jose’s over there, and not just in a role as a cheerleader and supporter of his old Spanish team.

I hear he’s doing some television work, too.

Now, if I can find a satellite dish strong enough to pick up the Spanish TV feed of the tournament, I’d love to hear him.

One thing about Jose that maybe doesn’t come across all that much in the course of the season is that he knows the game very, very well.

It’d be interesting to hear his take on Ricky Rubio (who I’m told can’t make a shot to save his life over there) considering most of what I’m being told is that guard play’s killing Spain so far in the tournament.

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Digression time: I did arrive back from the airport in time to catch the end of the Bills-Pats game and, wow, how much anger and angst do you think the folks of Buffalo are feeling this morning?

Very cool meltdown, wasn’t it?

Oh, and as a guy who has New England in our office football pool (each guy’s got four teams, total wins wins), I must say I was quite pleased by the turn of events.

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Okay, how cool is this?

The good folks at the Air Canada Centre have modified some of their concession stands this year, adding some new stuff and a few media types have been invited over to sample that taste sensations this afternoon.

Yep, try out new hot dogs, check out what else they’ll be offering; all in the name of journalism.

Is this a great gig or what?

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Speaking of Canada Basketball and the women’s program …

We all know the significant contribution Maurizio made on the men’s side this summer in his role as the managing director of the program.

Well, who’s his counterpart on the women’s side?

There really isn’t one, which is something I’ve been wondering about since the whole Council of Elders or Smart Overseers or whatever it’s called was set up months ago.

Trouble is, they can’t really find anyone with the same bonafides as Maurizio to do the job.

But there are those who are somewhat divorced from the program who’ve been there to offer support to Allison throughout the summer and it was pretty cool to hear their names when we were talking last night.

First off, Kathy and Ken Shields have been helping out with some advice throughout the last few months and Don McRae stopped by workouts last week in Waterloo to give what he could.

If you know anything about the national women’s team program over the last few decades, those are three names that should resonate and it’s a testament to the overall program that they’ve been able to attract greats from the past to contribute to the future.

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Oh yeah, NEWS CONFERENCE!

You know how you all wonder about new guys doing media so you can all hear about how happy they are to be Raptors and what a great thing it is to be in Toronto?

Well, I’m hearing Marco Belinelli due in town any minute and – yay! – they’ll do some media with him later in the week. Or at least they plan to.

Not sure exactly when it’ll be but you will all be dutifully informed.

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A fortnight to go

Yeah, I know, it’s a bit late today. Big end-of-the-season Yankee party yesterday (the trophies look cool, the company was excellent as always) and a bit of a slow start this morning.

No big deal, though, because there’s not a lot going on and likely won’t be.

That means we have to be a tad creative in this little space which means I have to think which means my head will hurt which means I need lots of time to come up with lists and the like.

This exercise isn’t getting any easier with age.

But …

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So, two weeks, eh?

RENE JOHNSTON/TORONTO STAR

This stuff is still 2 weeks away.

Can everyone hang on that long?

I guess there’s no option, is there?

But who do we see when we get to media day in a couple of weeks here and then to Ottawa the day after?

I’m guessing, and hoping, it’s just the 15 guys who have the contracts and roster spots.

The fillers, or camp fodder as they’ve been referred to often, aren’t really necessary and I haven’t heard a suggestion that they’ll bring in a body or two just to fill out the workouts.

Why would they?

Last year, with just 13 guys under contract, they physically needed bodies to get three groups of five for scrimmages with some rest; this year, they don’t.

Just sticking with 15 will allow the coaches to teach to the guys they’ll have all season; there are still enough warm bodies to play five-on-five with a group resting.

Besides, it’s rather awkward, I’d presume, to be “the other guy” who doesn’t have a deal and who’s only in camp as a favour to him, or his agent.

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After getting a question on the matter, I checked and am now hearing there’ll be a handful of pre-season games on TV.

Likely – and I don’t have this confirmed – the four games at the Air Canada Centre and the one in London.

That’d make the most sense, low cost, no worries about having to go to Minneapolis, Hartford or Sioux Falls.

If they do the five games, I think that’d probably be the most broadcasts of pre-season games ever.

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So, you ever watch Dragon Boat racing?

Super Wife’s team – the mighty Catch 22s – wrapped up their season Sunday morning and the races we saw were quite impressive.

I did have to cover it one time (as part of some ‘guest reporter’ weekend where us beat grunts were seconded to news ever now and then) but that was a long time ago and I forgot how cool it was.

Anyway, it’s a digression but what the heck, it’s digression season and if you can see it some time next summer, go see it.

Do it? Well, I’ll leave that to the more fit among you.

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Here’s one I wish I could see: Greece-France tomorrow from Poland.

I know I could probably find it on a three-inch computer screen somewhere but real TV would be quite nice.

Yes, it’s EuroBasket and I can’t imagine it’d get great ratings over here but I also think it’s better than whatever Greatest Games of Last Year tripe that Raptors TV shows every hour.

And, thankfully, we’ll be spare an endless – mindless? -- loop of Michael Jordan games now. If I click through one more of his outings against Cleveland at the Richfield Coliseum, I may barf.

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No, Hedo didn’t get seriously hurt over in Poland. I understand there was some kerfuffle about an ankle injury but it’s nothing major or serious at all, I’m told.

Relax, people.

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Let’s do one from the mail since I want to revisit this issue ‘cause I didn’t get to on the weekend:

Q: Hi Doug. Just a little logistical question for you -- but how do the folks at the Air Canada Centre (and other arenas around the world) put up and take down the ice rinks so quickly?

I have seen video of them assembling the basketball court, and that makes sense to me -- just a lot of work. But basketball shares space with ice hockey, and it seems amazing to me that they can ice up a new rink so quickly. Or do they leave the ice there all winter, and just put the hardwood on top of the ice?

Any details you could share about this would be greatly appreciated.

(Apologies if your Air Canada Centre expertise does not extend to the pucks side of things... Just was hoping you might know).

Like the blog and all the time you put into it. Much appreciated.

James R, Barcelona

A: Hey, love your city, can’t wait to get back.

Anyway, the ice never leaves, as a matter of fact. A layer of insulation – maybe an inch thick? – goes down right on top of it and then the hardwood gets laid over. It’s quite the process.

But, speaking of the Air Canada Centre and the new look, I have to admit they’ve done a heckuva job.

The west side is really cool, I like the pedestrian plaza and the HD TV screen that’s there. I probably won’t ever stand out there and watch a game but I bet lots of you will, if the teams ever get good.

I know from walking through the joint that there used to be lots of congestion by that Gate 1 entrance (we sneak in a sidedoor and get to avoid it) but the new atrium area should alleviate that some.

I will say this about Maple Leaf Sports: They gave kept the building up far better than some organizations do.

The place in Boston, whatever it’s called now, looks like a hundred years old; same with Minneapolis and Philly’s really showing signs of age.

The ACC? Well, it still works and looks good. There are still serious issues about back-of-house space but that’s more logistical for people like us and has no impact on what spectator see and experience.

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A rather full mailbag for a lovely Sunday morn

Well, you folks have done it again. And, in one sure sign that the season’s approaching, there are a couple in here about trades they should explore.

Have at it, folks. I’ll be back in the morning. There’s a big Yankee end-of-the-season/summer buntoss this aternoon, no telling what kind of antics the urchins will get up to so there’s no telling when I’ll be back to check comments. -

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Q: Dear Doug, thanks for taking through the Doug days of the Summer. It's been a great wake-up to read about our national teams and the odd tidbit from the Pros plus the family news.
I have a list and a question.
The list is the top ten Canadian contributors to the game.

James Naismith

Steve Nash

Jay Triano

The Edmonton Grads.

Leo Rautins
Tammy Sutton-Brown
Ken Shields
Bob Houbregs
Dave Smart
Kathy Shields

Honorable Americans: Jack Donohue, Steve Konchalski, Brian Heeney.

Three years ago (1 BC), I asked whether the internationals would beat the Americans in a Raptor inter-squad game.

I'm asking the same question with regard to this year's roster.

Frank B, Toronto

A: That, my man, is a heckuva list. I don’t know how I’d change it myself but the one name that I think should be there that isn’t is Bev Smith. But, again, I’m not sure who she replaces.

Anyway, if I was gambling man, I’d take Jose, Belinelli, Hedo, Bargnani and Rasho over Jack, DeRozan, Wright, Bosh and Johnson.

But I doubt we’d ever see it, I don’t imagine the coaches would want to separate them into those kinds of groups; they’d rather just have teammates rather than delineate based on nationality. Still, it’d be some game, I bet.

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Q: Hi Doug - I'm wondering if you have any details regarding this Air Canada charter flight ban, and how it might affect the Raptors' upcoming season? What are the chances you'll find someone like Bosh seating beside you in economy on road trips?
Terence G, Mississauga

A: I’ve spoken to a couple of people at the Raptors who are directly involved in their travel arrangements and they think it could be a huge mess. However, their first trip that would involve any travel city to city in the United States isn’t until the second week of November so they hope saner heads will prevail. If the NHL, whose season starts about a month earlier, gets some kind of resolution, it’s expected the NBA would, too.

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Q: Hi Doug. With the NBA referees expecting to lock out next month. How do you see this affecting the negotiations for the CBA next year. and how do you see it affecting the quality of NBA games next season?
I remember the refs last year got a lot of criticism with some questionable calls and most of them had years of experience, I just can't see rookie refs handling the situation in the NBA very well especially under the pressure of multimillionaire superstars who think they’ve never committed a foul in their lives.
Rob H, Victoria

A: I think it’s obvious the NBA will be looking for financial concessions from the players as the CBA discussions continue, just as it’s asking for concessions from the refs now. I’m not sure, however, that this one will have a direct impact on those other talks.

I will say this: We watched replacement refs work the last time there was a work stoppage (two months in 1995) and it was not a pretty sight.

There may issues with some in the current group of 61 NBA officials but you’ll see any number of weirder and worse calls with replacements.

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Q: With all this Michael Jordan talk, and whether he was the best ever, I started thinking of his impact on the NBA as a popular sport. My question for you is, do you think Toronto would have been offered a franchise when it was if not for Jordan's impact on the NBA's popularity?
Charlie D, Montreal

A: Kind of a chicken-and-egg situation, isn’t it? Sure, Jordan – and Magic and Larry – created unimaginable global interest in the game and that made more people want to be involved, which led to expansion here. But, I also think the law of inevitable discovery would apply here: As the NBA searched for new cities in its due course of business, it would have found Toronto.

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Q: Hi Doug. I recall a few months ago (maybe more) you had done a list of the five best Raptor trades ever (and the five worst). I'm guessing that after this summer you have to totally revamp that list. Care to?
Sohail G, Toronto

A: I probably will have to revamp that list – once I find it – but I’m going to reserve judgement until these guys play some games. But I’d imagine the Turkoglu trade would get in that list, maybe the Belinelli one if he pans out. The Evans deal? I’m not sure. But don’t forget a lot of these moves – Jack, Rasho in particular – were signings, not trades.

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Q: You asked for some mail bag questions, so here's what I've always wondered. It's been well documented that the referee's around the league would often make calls more in favour of Michael Jordan then they maybe would have if the player was wearing a number other then 23 with the name Jordan on the back.
My question is what is your sense of how the media treated Michael Jordan preferentially during his career? We know about his gambling, marital difficulties, and there are hints of other indiscretions. Were these issues held out of the spotlight more because he was Michael Jordan, or did the media just not know the extent of those issues while they were going on?
Peter L, Toronto

A: If you know about them, how were they “held out of the spotlight?”

I don’t think there was much we didn’t find out about Jordan; in fact, I’d suggest we knew more about his off-court interests than we did with a lot of other stars of the game.

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Q: Love that little side-story on the Admiral, one of my favourite players of all time. Just a question, when he stood at military attention for the national anthem did that include both anthems when he played the Raps?
T Y, Toronto

A: It is my recollection that yes, he did.

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Q: With the Hall of Fame Inductions this week it got me thinking about a potential list. How about a list of the 'Best Players Not in the Hall', who are eligible but have been over looked?
In the past I had asked if you thought Dennis Rodman was worthy of the hall and you said you did not, but how can you leave out a 5-Time NBA Champion, 2 time Defensive Player of the Year, All-NBA Third Team twice, a 7 Time All-Defensive First Team selection, as well as two time All-Star?
I completely agree that Rodman's antics of the court were at times disgraceful to the game and less than Hall-of-Fame worthy behaviour, but the Hall of Fame has members who have done far more heinous and criminal acts than Dennis Rodman.
Any chance I'll ever see the day he is enshrined, or at least given the respect his effort and talent deserves?
Marc D, Barrie

A: It’s generally considered that Artis Gilmore is the most worthy Hall of Famer who isn’t in yet and I’d concur with that.

Rodman? I honestly don’t know. Yes, he was a great defensive player and one of the best rebounders we’ll see and he was on a lot of very good teams. But is being good at one thing enough to get someone into a Hall of Fame? It isn’t in my books.

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Q: Hey Doug, in terms of what's next for Basketball Canada, i find myself in agreement with you. Canada has little chance of contending at the World Championship's next year in Turkey, and it might be best to cast an eye towards qualifying for the 1212 London games, and the next World's. I'd like to see Canada field a young team next summer and continue to allow for some players to get some much needed experience so that Canada will truly be in a position to compete at these crucial games on the horizon.

Part of planning for the future means dealing with life without Steve Nash. Don't get anyone wrong, if you add a 2-time MVP to your lineup, he'll be a tremendous help, but Nash has made it crystal clear that his time with the national team is over. Some fan's obsession with Nash's participation is bordering on unhealthy. The guy already dedicated himself to the program for a decade, and at his age and health, if he wants to devote himself to finally winning an NBA championship, then all the power to him.

Imagine if other Canadian basketball players had the same attitude as Nash did? I waited to see Magloire play for Canada since he signed his intent to Kentucky, but I gave up on that long ago. Bonner's outside shooting could help but only with the future in mind. After last summer's meltdown between Dalembert and Leo, I don't think we'll be seeing Samuel anytime soon. Denham Brown and Juan Mendez's days are also over. Time to put these thoughts to bed. I know I'll miss guys like Rowan Barret and Todd MacCulloch but it's time to move on.

The key for Canadian basketball in the coming years will be to see more Canadian players playing in the top European leagues, let alone the NBA. Sounds like there are some prospects coming up but they’re still too young, and might not even be able to contribute significantly until at least the next worlds.

Do you know of any prospects coming up that could fill-in the gap? If so, we might have a nice mix of veterans and youngsters.

Thanks for all your coverage of the team, and to The Score for showing the games. I know I, and a lot of others, appreciated it.

Geoff, Taipei.

A: There are actually quite a few good, young teenagers out there who, if they continue to improve, will have a major impact on the senior program. I really like this Manny Arop kid, along with the guard Myck Kabongo who spent some time with the senior team this year. This Tristan Thompson’s another name to watch for, I’m told.

But the thing that’s going to be hugely important as kids get out of college and look for jobs is that they get with good EuroLeague teams so they face quality competition all the time.