Interviews, Hollywood style; and some Hall of Fame connections

Ha, ha. You thought I might be early again? Silly you.

Nothing on today until a noonish tour of the new digs at the Air Canada Centre so there’ll be no 7 a.m. postings today.

But this, my friends, was worth the wait.

Seriously.

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Here’s the thing that strikes me most about Steve Nash right about now.

He’s ready to go on to real life.

AP FILE PHOTO

Steve Nash is a leader of the pack both on and off the court.

With his varied off-court pursuits, as he mentioned yesterday he’s positioning himself perfectly for the difficult transition from player to regular guy and that’s one of the more admirable parts of his personality.

And, maybe, he’s on the cutting edge of what the future looks like for pro athletes.

I don’t know if it’s the emergence of the social media, or the continued cross-pollination of sports and society, but it seems to me that more and more athletes are more and more engaged on different levels.

Nash, of course, is a leader of that pack, has been for years and will continue to be, I think.

But others are following. Look at Chris Bosh and his music, Dwight Howard and his desire to become more active in acting and the like, Baron Davis and his music, Shaq and his TV shows, LeBron and his desire to be something like the King of the World.

I think because of guys like Steve, other athletes are discovering passions away from the game, things that will allow them to contribute to society, and fill that drive they all have, when the careers are over.

I’m sure we’ll still hear a story or two about ex-players down on their luck and unable to find anything that truly motivates them once the lights are out but I think that number will diminish as time progresses.

And guys like Captain Canada are at the forefront.

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John McLendon.

He’s the other Hall of Famer I was looking for in the long and laborious process yesterday. (And they were honest mistakes, I wasn’t trying to artificially beef up the hit count, although that s was a nice byproduct).

Legendary kindly gentleman who worked with Isiah in the Raptors infancy, one of the nicest fellows you’d ever want to meet.

Had such an impact in such a short time that the team named an award after him, The Coach Mac Award, given annually to the gal or guy for overall contribution to life and the game around these parts.

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I’m ready to do the Nash interview yesterday at a nice downtown hotel (I presume the TIFF toshes got all the sweet rooms up in Yorkville) and it strikes me that this must be what it’s like to be an entertainment writer.

You show up at the appointed time, a gaggle of handlers finds you and ushers you into a suite where more handlers are hanging around.

At the right moment, one of ‘em comes and gets you, walks you into an adjacent suite where the interview subject is settled in, chatting with another inquisitive type.

You’re told you’ve got 10 minutes and that some guy is going to come in and discreetly catch your eye when there’s a minute or so left.

Do the interview, see the minder to tell you time’s up, say goodbye and walk out to see a group of three or four other reporters waiting for their 10-minute audiences.

Kind of weird, actually; and not nearly as cool as the relaxed, story-filled, casual lunch a couple of hours later where half a dozen or so sports types sitting around with Steve simply catching up and chatting.

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So, who do you like in Poland?

They're down to the rounds that really count; a second round-robin involving two six team pools with the top eight moving to the quarter-finals.

You’ve got Greece, France, Croatia, Germany, Russia, Macedonia in one group and Turkey, Slovenia, Spain, Serbia, Poland and Lithuania in the other.

One first blush, I think it’s easy to say Poland and Lithuania aren’t likely to come out of that second group; even though Spain has struggled, I fully expect them to be major players by the time this thing’s over.

In the first group? Well, I’d say Macedonia goes home and the other may come down to Russia or Germany. Neither has been on form and Germany only scraped through on points differential. So, I’ll suggest their run comes to a screeching halt after three more games.

The interesting thing will be to see how the quarter-finals shake out. The top six teams qualify for the worlds next year but if Turkey is one of them, the seventh place team goes because Turkey’s in as hosts.

If I had to guess right now, I’ll send Greece, France, Croatia, Slovenia, Spain, and Serbia joining Turkey as the European reps next year.

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Back to Nash for one minute.

One thing you have to admire about him is that he goes about his business because it’s his business and his passions.

He’s an understated role model more concerned with making sure his life is fulfilled rather than preaching to others.

“I would never want to be on a soapbox but if athletes can realize their potential to learn and educate themselves and to be productive outside their careers, if I can have an impact on that, that’s fine.”

That seems to be kind of subliminal role-modelling if you ask me.

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We can be bit parochial around these parts so let’s go through a favourite Toronto connection with each of the Hall of Famers.

Michael Jordan

Where to start?

That game at the Dome when the Raptors beat him and the Bulls in their 72-win season?

The ridiculous “will Vince give up his all-star starting role for him” non-story?

Seeing him start his Washington return in a pre-season game here?

Me? I probably pick that Dome game.

(Oh yeah, do you think that wink we talked about – to someone none of you has ever heard of, actually, so stop guessing – had something to do with acknowledging a previous meeting? We do).

David Robinson

My mind’s a bit cluttered, but I do believe he is the only member of another NBA team honoured by the Raptors, who have him some kind of sculpture, if memory serves, when he was here for his last regular season game.

John Stockton.

Oft-told story but there was a kid who had looked good at Jazz camp the year Stockton was drafted while Stockton was holding out looking for a better deal. The Jazz hierarchy starts praising the kid and, boom, all of sudden Stockton signs, the kid’s cut and the Hall of Fame career begins.

The kid? Jay Triano.

Jerry Sloan

A toughie. You know about the press room dinners and the Araujo line and the fact I consider him one of the greatest coaches of all time. He’s a guy who always has time for a conversation after a pre-game or post-shootaround scrum breaks up.

But a direct connection to Toronto or the Raptors?

Well, I can’t be certain but since their playing careers overlapped by four or five years, I can be pretty sure he would have run into more than a few brick wall screens set by Wayne Embry. I can be pretty sure he tried to run right through them, too.

C. Vivian Stringer

I don’t know her at all but certainly know of her and her greatest contribution and connection to the game here is that she helped create the skills in one of Canada’s best-ever women players – Toronto’s Tammy Sutton-Brown when she was a collegiate at Rutgers.

Not bad, eh? A little touch of Toronto for all of ‘em.

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Oh yeah, weekend mail bag’s a tad sickly, let’s get to work, folks.

Holy crap, I am such a dope; there's half a dozen

Okay, this is getting ridiculous

We've got Lenny and Isiah, Dream and Wayne and Alex English.

And a sixth.

I cannot for the life of me figure out how I botched this as badly as I did. But I did and now you can go scurry through your minds and see if you can find No. 6.

Funny thing is I had the sixth right off the bat and figured it would be the one to mess everyone up. Little did I know my mind was mush when it came to the others.

Silly me.

And there's a fifth

Okay, kids.

Just sat down to do some Nash stuff and was glancing through the comments and soooooo many of you got the four Raptors Hall of Famers that it's not even funny.

But, and this is on me, there's a fifth!!!!! Not sure where my accounting went wrong, but it did.

We've got Wayne, Isiah, Hakeem and Lenny; who can come up with No. 5?

I'll post the comments now and then I have a lunch thingy to hang out at; be back to see if anyone gets No. 5 in a few hours.

Does there have to be a greatest ever?

Big day around these parts. Steve Nash interview this morning, lunch with him around noon, goofing off in the afternoon.

But first …

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Since there’s really not any news to do with this local team here, let’s expand the horizons a little bit; which is something I think we should do here more often this coming season, don’t you?

(The debate among some at our office is whether we’re trying to cater to Raptors fans or basketball fans. I have always held we should do more league stuff, maybe we’ll start a concentrated effort this season. Digression done).

AP FILE PHOTO

Anyway, it’s Hall of Fame weekend, as we all should know and that Jordan fellow goes in tomorrow night.

There have been all kinds of tributes, and will be for the next 48 hours for sure, and the consensus is that he’s the greatest player to ever play the game.

Is he?

There is no doubting his skill, his determination, his work ethic, his ability to make those around him better, his championships. He was singularly skilled and had a will to win that I cannot imagine being duplicated.

He was the best I ever saw and I feel privileged to have watched him.

But to declare him the greatest ever? I honestly don’t know, mostly because of the apples and oranges part of the debate.

Was he better than Oscar Roberston? Was he better than Bill Russell?

We can say yes but by what measure? Oscar didn’t win as much but played with inferior players most of his career, it can be said. Russell won more titles but played with better players, his teammates were Hall of Famers in their own right.

How much of Jordan was marketing? We saw so much of him, on TV and in videos, that there were times you couldn’t escape him if you wanted. But what if they lived in an era of 24-hour sports networks, the Internet, and YouTube when Oscar played? Or Russell?

Would that sway anyone? Jordan was a “brand” almost as much as he was an athlete, it was the cutting edge of the wave that’s brought us to this point of tweets and video and the like.

The way I look at it is this:

Enjoy the memories of Jordan as you should, we may never see another like him. But also save some spot in the mind’s eye for Robertson and Russell.

I don’t think you ever can say one athlete is the greatest of all time because all times are not equal, all circumstances not the same.

Isn’t it enough to simply revel in what we had instead of making impossible comparisons? Isn’t there room for a group of “greatest evers” that can include more than one guy?

I think so.

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With news filtering out yesterday that Allen Iverson is joining a Memphis team that already includes O.J. Mayo, Zach Randolph and Rudy Gay, I feel it’s my duty to report that the NBA record for fewest assists per game by a team is 15.6, set by Atlanta in the lockout-shortened 50-game 1998-99 season.

Just pointing it out for future reference.

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Hardly any surprises out of Eurobasket with the first round completed. The teams expected to be eliminated were indeed eliminated although Latvia really kind of got screwed. They win but lose because they didn’t win by enough.

But check out this game report and don’t feel too sorry for them, they gave up a couple of huge buckets when they could least afford it in the dying seconds and – Golden State fans, if any exist, please take note – Andris Biedrins missed six of eight free throws and his team missed 19 in total.

We’ll check out the second round tomorrow; this edition here is going to get a bit long anyway.

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One of the big reasons I really enjoy Jerry Sloan.

Before every Raptors-Jazz game I can remember since I started covering the team, Sloan and his assistants wander into the press room about two hours before tip-off and have dinner.

Same as the rest of us lowlifes (not sure they pay like we do, I presume they’re part of the traveling party that gets the free grub); they sit with us, chow down on the same meal and shoot the breeze if you want.

Just like the regular pressroom inhabitants.

And he’s the only NBA head coach I’ve ever seen do that.

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Travelogue time: According to people in the know, the entire coaching staff’s in town now working out DeRozan, O’Bryant and Weems and the rest of the tam is due in “no later than next week” according to the fellow I talked to yesterday.

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Hitherto, at least by the recollection of some involved, untold Jordan-in-Toronto story.

Bulls vs. Raptors at the Dome, had to be in the team’s second season, a Sunday afternoon game.

The players line up for the tip, all tense and ready to give their very best for all the paying customers and just before the ball goes up, Jordan, hands on knees, anticipating, looks over at the scorers’ table.

And winks at one of the women sitting there. A woman, I have to add, who is no longer employed by the basketball team.

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The debate is going to wage on whether or not this is the greatest class to go into the Hall of Fame in a single year.

You can check out the year-by-year inductions here and I have to say, you could certainly make the case that Jordan, Robinson and Stockton would be right at the top of the discussion, can’t you?

I’m guessing the ’08 class with Barkley, Olajuwon, Ewing and Adrian Dantley would be high on anyone’s list, as would ’80 with Oscar Robertson, Jerry West and Jerry Lucas. I suppose ’93 -- Dr. J, Calvin Murphy, Walt Bellamy and Dan Issel – would get some love.

Other than that? Well, I can’t see a standout fifth, actually.

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Hall of Fame trivia

Four people directly associated with the Raptors are enshrined.

Can you get ‘em all?

No prize to the winner but some self-satisfaction, I presume.

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Okay, one last Jerry Sloan moment. And if I’ve told this before, sorry.

It’s one I laugh about just writing it.

We’re out there in Haffa’s rookie season, pretty early in the year if I recall, and Sloan’s doing his media stuff after the morning shootaround.

(An aside: You do remember that Araujo went to Brigham Young and the late Larry Miller, who owned the Jazz at the time, had told local reporters they would have taken him had the Raptors not made the surprise choice).

So, this young woman from a local Utah radio station, I believe it was, says to Sloan:

“Well, coach, it’ll be interesting to get a look at Haffa tonight, won’t it.”

Sloan:

“Who?”

Almost spat out my coffee.

After it’s explained to Sloan who Araujo is and what Miller said, the coach gets a little, not exactly sheepish, but explanatory and says he doesn’t pay a lot of attention to draft stuff.

Me? I’m howling inside.

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All right, off to see Captain Canada, will get to comments when I can.

New machine, same old stuff

Man, this sleeping until 7:30 or 8 a.m. is getting to be a habit. And that means getting this finished later than usual is getting to be a habit, one that's going to have to change, I fear, once the season gets started and people go looking for their early-morning information. Not sure what timing changes we may make for post-game and off-day stuff later on this month, got any suggestions?

But, first, a disclaimer.

I got this newfangled computer yesterday, some kind of MacBook Pro thingy that’s got the latest in video gadgetry I’m sure you’ll be the beneficiaries of once we get going.

Right now? Right now I keep losing stuff and deleting stuff by accident (I know I lost one comment yesterday, can’t remember from who and I apologize for it) and there were periods of huge frustration last night. Like when I kind of disappeared the icon to get me internet access; luckily Super Son was able to help me out.

Anyway, if you see more than the usual number of typos, or something vanishes you know you sent, sorry. It’s the price we’ll pay momentarily for getting in the 2000s, computer-wise.

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ALIK KEPLICZ/AP

Pops doing his thing for Britain vs. Slovenia earlier this week.

Not too much excitement over in Poland yesterday, I guess Great Britain extending Spain into the fourth quarter was a mild surprise but it just goes to show that talent always wins out.

Oh, and it also goes to show that the first round is also very much a warmup for the big games that come in the second-round robin and then the quarter-finals.

It reminds of me the 2002 worlds in Indy where a pretty stacked Yugoslavia team struggled out of the gate, losing – if memory serves – their first two or three games.

Put a wee bit of pressure on and we were standing around talking to Peja Stojakovic one day and asked him if his team – a big medal favourite – was finally going to get things turned around.

(I may have told this story before, but what the heck, some of you might not have heard it.)

Says Peja:

“We’re taking it so seriously, Vlade quit smoking.”

And Yugoslavia went on to win the gold medal.

Moral of the story: Nothing really happens until the next round.

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So, we’ve got the Hall of Fame induction ceremonies this week, with Michael Jordan, David Robinson, John Stockton, Jerry Sloan and C. Vivian Stringer going in during Friday night’s gala.

That’s a helluva class, no?

We’ll get into more of this tomorrow and the next day or two about how good they all were but for now, here are the two endearing memories I have of David Robinson, who is one of the classiest individuals I’ve ever run across in 30 years in this business.

The first is the fact that before every game he played—every single game, according to people who saw him – he stood at military attention for every national anthem.

Considering he played in 1,100 games in his career, that’s a lifetime of good posture.

And respect.

The second was a bleary-eyed June morning after the Spurs won an NBA title – I’m not sure which one it was, perhaps the win over the Nets? – and we’re all gathered at the airport, tired, a bit cranky, with sore heads and worn out bodies.

And there’s David Robinson, standing in line like the rest of us schmoes, with his son, getting his seat assignment, looking all bright-eyed and bushy-tailed, heading off to some appearance he probably could have bailed out of quite easily.

Good guy, that David Robinson.

Heckuva player, too.

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Hey, as I get ready to post this, it’s the ninth hour of the ninth day of the ninth month of the ninth year.

Ooooh, scary!

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Speaking of Poland, perhaps the one result that did jump out a little was Greece beating Croatia.

Again, it’s not a hugely significant game – both teams are going to advance to the second round – but it does remind one of just how pesky that Greece team always is.

It’s a bunch of guys many of you have never heard of, nary an NBA regular among them, yet they always – always – make noise in the big international events.

Our local hero, Georgis Printezis, did very little yesterday (three points and a rebound in six minutes). His other, equally-unheralded teammates, however, kept doing what they do – win games.

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Bet you thought with the national men’s team having qualified for the worlds that we’d be done with Canada on the international stage for the summer, right?

Wrong, Turnover Breath.

As we speak, the women are about to begin their final preparation for their world qualification that begins later this month somewhere in northern Brazil.

We’ll catch up with them a little later – they’re doing their final work at Rim Park in Waterloo and it’ll be worth a road trip some day – but suffice it to say they’ve got a far better chance going in to qualify than the men did going into their event.

You know that I think women’s basketball here gets short shrift too often and I wonder just how much detailed information we’ll get from FIBA Americas from this qualification event but we’ll do our best to bring as much timely news to you as we can.

This, I’m told by people who know these sorts of things, is a very good team stocked with a solid combination of youth and experience. It’s worth you paying attention to.

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Oh yeah, the Raptors.

No news.

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Speaking of Steve Nash, I hear he’s going to be in town for a bit soon so if you see a smallish fellow in some kind of bad disguise getting in a run at some public court or working out in some weed-littered soccer patch, take a closer second look, it could be Captain Canada.

After all, during a recent trip to China he donned goofy clothes, weird glasses and everything but a fake mustache and beard to go and join a pickup game in a public Beijing park.

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Okay, now I’ve got to figure out how to post stuff on this wacky new machine. Hope it works easily.

See ya.

All in their places with bright, shiny faces. Or something like that

So, all you parents rejoicing today?

I know, we’ll all miss having the urchins under foot and bored like they have been for the past couple of weeks now that they’re back in school but there is something, oh, I dunno, liberating about seeing them trundle off, isn’t there?

Super Son’s off to begin Grade 8, in The Big Class On Campus and all I can really think of is, Grade Freaking Eight? How old am I?

Nevertheless, this is one of those watershed days of the year, no? Kids gone, summer kind of over, time to get back into that workaday routine some of us have forgotten over the course of very lazy August.

Which means back to the office every now and then to figure out how the heck we’re going to cover this team this year.

I miss summer already.

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I saw with a bit of wonderment the quote attributed to Leo Rautins about possibly adding – specifically – Nash, Bonner and Magloire – to next year’s Canadian national team and it struck me as odd.

Not once in the many times we’ve spoken this summer, not just to Leo but to Wayne Parrish and others connected with the organization, did Nash’s name ever surface.

Well, I’m told by people who were in the press conference room in San Juan, and people I trust beyond a shadow of a doubt, that something got mangled in the translation, that in fact Leo lauded the team he had this year, said it was about them and not guys who weren’t there and never mentioned those three as close to possibilities, let alone definites.

Good.

I love Steve Nash and all but this is now about building a program, not living in the past.

There’s no doubt he’d help – he is a singular talent, after all – but if you’re looking forward, you need to have kids gain as much international experience as they can.

Even with Nash, I don’t see Canada being a top eight country, top 16 might be a more realistic goal and letting some of the young players who are the future of the program gain some much-needed experience is the way to go, in my opinion.

Consider it some short-term pain for long-term gain; taking dead aim at the 2012 Olympics – which are exponentially more difficult to qualify for with a smaller field – and the 2014 world championships is what has to be the main focus now.

Forget for a minute that Nash has long said he’s done, that he’s got family considerations and he’ll be 36 years old when the tournament rolls around next summer. This shouldn’t be about a one-shot deal grasping at some world championships ring, it has to be about the future and Steve’s not part of it, at least not on the court.

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So I’m clicking through the dial last night and what do I come across? The very first Naismith Cup game in Winnipeg.

Classic.

Vincenzo, Oliver Miller, an aging Byron Scott in Vancouver, Big Country Reeves and some of the most gawdawful uniforms in the history of uniforms.

A couple of things stand out in the recesses of the memory of that game.

It’s over and it’s time to present the Cup and they trot out this huge table, had to be 15 feet long, and then they bring out the trophy, with a base that’s maybe – tops – 18 inches across. Man, did it look cheap.

That, and the arrival of Harold (Baby Jordan) Minor, who had been obtained in a trade for Victor Alexander, only to have the trade rescinded when Victor flunked his physical. We were something of neophytes when it came to the intricacies of the NBA, at least I was, and it was hard to figure out how a trade could be made an unmade.

Oh, and in one of the brief minutes I stayed with the game, I did hear Leo laud the shooting skills of Vincenzo, which I guess made sense since we had been told how good he was. They didn’t fool us for very long, that’s for sure.

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Back to the potential Canada add-ons for next summer.

Matt Bonner?

To tell you the truth, I’m a bit ambivalent, the same way I was about Chris Kaman all of a sudden becoming German, or J.R. Holden becoming Russian, both out of convenience.

I understand Bonner married a Toronto woman and loves the city and his shooting skills as a big man can only help.

But, again, for how long?

If he’s going to come, and his interest is genuine, I’d like to see them get a three-year commitment out of him – the worlds, the Olympic qualifier in 2011 and, perhaps, the 2012 London Games – before rolling out the red carpet.

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You check out anything from Eurobasket yesterday?

Spain’s upset by Serbia was the big news of the day – think any Spanish fans were lamenting the absence of Jose after they scored only 57 points? – but remember this: Three teams from each group advance to the next round, where things will really start to get important.

Oh, and Hedo had a big game for Turkey, even the estimable duo of The Legend and Robert Archibald couldn’t lead Britain to any substantial upset and Roko got his team off and running

Here’s the official site and we’ll get much more in-depth as the tournament goes on because it really doesn’t start until the second round.

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Canada, again.

Jamaal Magloire?

I honestly think Jamaal’s major contribution to the program going into next year will be as a supporter rather than as a player. Magloire’s still highly, highly respected by a large segment of the Toronto basketball community and if he can preach the gospel of the national team, it may give some kids who are waffling about committing a reason to get with the program.

Can he play? Probably. Will he make a huge on-court difference? I’m not entirely sure about that.

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You wonder where everyone connected with the Raptors has been?

I heard Alvin Williams was out in LA working out some players, Bryan and some of his henchmen will be in Poland to check out Eurobasket and the rest of the coaches are headed back into town this week to get ready for the arrival of various players.

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All right, be careful out there today, there are little people cluttering the highways and biways.

Canada finishes on a downer

tournament but still heads home from Puerto Rico feeling a bit disappointed.

Missing its first 11 three-pointers in the game and blown out in a horrific defensive first quarter, Canada lost 88-73 to Argentina on Sunday night to finish fourth in the 10-team FIBA Americas world qualification tournament in San Juan. 

Still, despite last night’s loss that left Canada with an overall record of 4-6 at the event, achieving the goal of qualifying for next summer’s worlds was the accomplishment they wanted.

And weekend losses to Argentina and Brazil didn’t diminish, too much, from the satisfaction.

Without a dominating inside presence, Canada has to rely on outside shooting for most of its offensive production. But stone cold is an apt description for last night’s affair as Canada was 0-9 from beyond the arc in the first half. And when Argentina blew them out with a 31-8 run in the first 10-minute quarter, there was no chance for a miracle Canadian comeback.

Canada ended up missing 10 straight three-pointers, a streak broken when Toronto’s Jermaine Anderson made one in the final 30 seconds of the third quarter, a shot that carved an Argentina lead to 24 points.

The Canadians made just five of 17 three-pointers and never got within 15 points in the final 15 minutes.

Toronto’s Jermaine Anderson led Canada with 19 points to go along with 11 assists while Luis Scola had 27 for Argentina.

The game, along with a later gold medal match between Brazil and Puerto Rico, were played to determined seeds for next summer’s world championships.

Mail's in, if you got some time to spare

Told you I’d get to this sometime over the course of the weekend, hope this gives you something to do sitting outside on this gorgeous day, sipping coffee or a cool drink and soaking up the final long weekend of the summer.

Or if you’re a hermit, close all the blinds and drapes, put towels under the doors to block out all the sun and have at it.

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Q: It is charming that so many of your readers keep up with your travels and wish you well. Equally charming is that you let us in on the sports activities of Super Son. Yours is an Everyman (Every Grunt?) blog. Hope B.C. was all you expected and that your family enjoyed good times and a good vacation. Do we not live in a beautiful country?

Q: So now we have 3 returning players. At least 9 new ones. Feels like a very big change. How often does such a large turnover happen? Does it pose problems for Coach Triano given what Garbo called the much shorter training season of NBA teams vs. Euro League teams? Does the "getting to know you" for so many go beyond the court? Are off-court social activities planned for training camp so that these men who will now live together throughout the winter get to know each other better?

Charles N, Toronto

A: I’ve spoken very briefly to Bryan and Jay about that very thing.

They seem to indicate they plan a couple of team dinners and functions during the weeklong training camp in Ottawa to increase some familiarity but they also want to see how things play out on their own before forcing any kind of bonding plans on players.

The last thing you can do is try to make people like each other; as long as there’s respect for each other on and off the court and a willingness to help out teammates perhaps at the cost of individual glory during a game, that’ll be okay with the staff.

But the amount of change is relatively unheard of in NBA circles and it'll be interesting to see how the different personalities mesh.

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Q: Mr. Smith, it appears as if Ricky Rubio is staying in Spain for another two years. At what point would he be able to come to the NBA as a free agent? Or does Minnesota have his rights in perpetuity?

Evan G, Thornhill

A: They have his rights in perpetuity.

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Q: Hope your vacation has gone well. Quick question for when you get back. I was watching the FIBA Americas basketball games and I noticed the key is different in the FIBA compared to the NBA I was just wondering if there is any reason for it or just league preference.

Ken L, Bath

A: It’s been that way for eons, the FIBA game uses the trapezoid lane, the NBA uses the one we’re familiar with. Sadly, to me at least, FIBA is doing away with its lane and going with the NBA style starting, I believe, just after the 2010 worlds.

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Q: I believe you said Rasho is the only current Raptor with a championship ring. How many former Raptor players have won NBA championships after leaving. Guys like Olajuwon & Rasho don't count because they won before they got here. The only guy I can think of is Matt Bonner.

Aftab R, Brampton

A: He’s the only guy I can think of, too.

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Q: Yahoo sports did a poll of people (I assume) in the know, about where top players will end up next year. No surprise, only 3 of 52 picked Bosh to return to Toronto. Why are the Americans so sure Bosh wants to head south so bad? (I have no idea what Bosh thinks but, except for getting gold medals, I figure Bosh does not what to be a Scottie, but wants to be Mike. So no team ups with Lebron, Wade, or even Rose. And a stand alone gig in New York, he has to know that a bad season there as a star is different than in Toronto.)

Bruce M, Winnipeg

A: It’s not just Americans, don’t you think there are a few zillion Raptor fans who are certain Bosh is leaving? There are judging by my e-mail. And given the relative lack of success of his team, why wouldn't people think he might want to go somewhere with a better chance to win big?

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Q: One of the reasons why I am excited about the upcoming Raptors season relates to the addition of several players who have the ability to create off the dribble (Hedo, Jack, Belinelli). Our recent SG's and SF's (i.e. Parker, Kapono, Moon, Marion) were not able to do this and I thibk it made us too easy to guard when our outside jumper wasn't falling.

I am really looking forward to seeing a Raptors team that has far more creativity offensively.

Doug, from what you have seen of Jay Triano, how do you think he is going to leverage this newfound asset? Is he going to run less set plays and let them do their thing?

Angelo M, Scarborough

A: One of the big keys to the Raptors offence this year, as it was in the final 60 games last year, will be getting out in transition and looking for easy baskets. The fact the coach might have a roster more suitable to that style of play will make it easier to accomplish.

But do not expect Phoenix circa 2007 with a shot every seven seconds, please.

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Q: Do you have any preview of the impact a couple of months of intense power work have had on CB4.....is he noticeably bigger or heavier? A little more heft could be useful, but I'm worried that if he tries to develop a Dwight Howard upper body his knees and ankles won't be able to handle it.

Mike D, Markham

A: I don’t think anyone has to worry about him turning into Dwight Howard but I think a few more pounds can probably help the wear and tear on his body over the course of a season.

More Barbosa does in Canada

Leandro Barbosa’s turning into a true pain for Canada’s senior men’s basketball team.

Three nights after blitzing Canada for 31 points, the Brazilian and Phoenix Suns guard went off for 22 last night as Brazil dumped Canada 73-65 in the semifinals of the FIBA Americas world qualification tournament in Puerto Rico.

Canada, by virtue of a Friday night win over Dominican Republic, has already qualified for the world championships starting next August in Turkey and the games this weekend are solely to determine seeding in the 24-country worlds.

Canada will face either Puerto Rico or Argentina today at 6:30 p.m. in the bronze medal game to wind up the tournament.

Barbosa, who sat out a game Friday after torching the Canadians in the quarter-final round, made eight of 11 field goal attempts and two of six three-pointers while getting to the free throw line only once. Anderson Varejao of the Cleveland Cavaliers had 16 points for the winners.

Canadian coach Leo Rautins used his bench liberally in the relatively meaningless game, shuttling all 12 members of the squad in and out. With almost half of the world championship field still to be determined – six teams will come out of this month’s European qualification tournament and another four will be added by world governing body FIBA as wild cards in mid-December – trying to figure out seeds or preliminary-round groupings is impossible, giving Canada and the other FIBA Americas teams a chance to experiment this weekend with their spots already secured.

Joel Anthony of Montreal and the Miami Heat, led Canada with 17 points while Andy Rautins had 12 and Jermaine Bucknor 10.

Brazil, also with a spot in Turkey locked up, used its bench equally liberally, especially in the final five minutes of the 40-minute game.

You like them; you really, really like them!

Just a couple of quick Canada points before I head out to spray some gentle draws and drain some slick downhill left-to-righters over Osprey Valley. Or before I hit some off the hozzle and putt like I’ve never read a green before. It’s the fun part of the game, not having any clue what’s coming out of the bag on any given day.

Anyway, I digress …

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You know what I find funny?

How the number of comments I get from casual fans who say they don’t really care about international basketball has absolutely no correlation to reality.

Over the past 10 days or so, the senior men’s team has created a buzz around these parts that, to my mind at least, is very nice to see and very significant.

And think back to last year in Greece, during that final last-ditch tournament to qualify for Beijing, when the whole Affair Dalembert developed.

Passion? There was this week, there was last year and I’m sure there will be again next summer when they go to Turkey.

I’ve been around and chronicling the national team program for a very long time – I think the first thing I covered was an exhibition series in the late-80s, I took ‘em through qualifiers for the ’92 Olympics, did the ’94 worlds, the ’98 worlds in Greece, of course the magical ride in Sydney and the ’02 worlds in Indy.

It’s always struck me as a program that needed to be paid attention to, to be criticized when things weren’t going well, to be put out in front of the public so they could know what was going on.

It hasn’t been easy these last few down years, it’s hard but necessary to be critical of a program run on a shoestring when things don’t go well, but to see some success – and Friday was a very significant victory for reasons we’ll get into when this tournament’s finally.

It’s nice to know that a lot of you care.

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For those of you with some idle time early tonight, Canada gets Brazil at 6:30 p.m. in the semifinals and I was told earlier in the week that The Score would be doing the game live. I figure that still holds true so if you want to check it out, it be a good idea.

Speaking of television and this tournament, if you’re looking for people to thank for the last-minute decision to get the Canada games on the air, send notes to the upper levels of Basketball Canada, who helped broker the deal, and the folks at the Score, who cleared some broadcast hours to show it.

I was out at a function with some national team types about three days before they headed to Puerto Rico and at that time there was no suggestion the games would be broadcast. Someone worked pretty hard to make it happen.

I don’t think anyone made any money on the deal, in fact I’d guess it cost somebody something but someone came through and that’s pretty good.

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Speaking of those semifinals and finals, they are relatively meaningless because, of course, all four teams have already qualified for Turkey and all they are is to set up some kind of process by which teams can be seeded at the worlds.

But because nearly half the field for the world championships has yet to be set – six teams have to come out of Eurobasket and there are four wild cards to be handed out in December – the seeding process really doesn’t mean anything.

But it’s nice to declare a winner from a tournament and it’d be a shame to just shut down the FIBA Americas event right now.

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Know who I feel really good for?

Jermaine Anderson.

Sure, the kid’s got limitations as a point guard at the elite international level, lots of players in this tournament are flawed. But when it mattered most, in the biggest game, he played great, made more three-pointers against Dominican Republic in one game than he had combined in seven outings previously and run the team with a steady hand.

I remember writing a story in about ’03 or ’05 – it was before some qualification tournament at which Canada failed – saying Anderson’s single biggest obstacle was overcoming the fact he wasn’t the guy he replaced (you know, the two-time NBA MVP) and that had to be a difficult thing to deal with.

But the kid dealt with it as best he could, he kept playing and trying to get better and while there are still flaws, seeing him come up huge in a huge game was very nice and good reward for kid who simply came out and gave his best every summer.

Good on him.

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Okay, gotta jet, be back with some mail or Canada stuff in the morning after I’ve had a few hours to really digest what this tournament means for the future and, maybe, what things might change for the Canucks between now and next summer in Turkey.

Oh, and I also have to work on the sales memo to send to the boss explaining why I better start figuring out flights to Istanbul.