Who does what and a haircut for charity

Oh yeah, we’re super tardy today.

Sorry about that. Long night of story telling and somehow the wake up call got missed.

Things happen.

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There’s been a few questions about the coaching staff over the past couple of months and who does what and who’s in charge of this aspect of the game or that aspect of the game.

We were talking to Jay up here and he set the record pretty straight: They’re all in it together.

In the context of a chat about Marc and the team’s defensive philosophies, this is what Jay had to say:

“I don’t want to get into offence and defence.

“Obviously, his (Marc’s) focus is at the defensive end of the floor and Alex’s is at the offensive end of the floor and Micah’s is about the scouting.

“But we’re all coaching everything all the time.”

And it’s true.

Of the snippets of practices we get to see, you’ll have Alex working with one guy one day and maybe Marc the next. Micah’s with this guy today and that guy tomorrow.

They are all just walking around, offering advice and tips here and there.

And, Jay told us, he likes to have a variety of voices in the players’ ears:

“I don’t want to have to point a finger, we’re a team … We’re all in this together. I want the players to hear different voices because if they hear one for 82 games, they’re going to get tired of it.”

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Sometimes things just snowball, you know?

We’re standing around before dinner and someone makes a crack about Amir Johnson’s faux hawk haircut (at least I think that’s what the young kids call it) and someone else (I believe it may have been the president and general manager of Your Toronto Raptors) suggests E. Koreen would look good with the same cut.

Much hilarity ensues until B. Colangelo starts asking how much we’d donate to see Mr. Koreen shorn of most of his curly locks and all of a sudden we’ve got $1,000 in pledges.

So, yep, the hair’s coming off – at halftime of Saturday’s intrasquad scrimmage – and the Make A Wish Foundation’s going to get at least that much money as the young fella’s charity of choice.

Here’s what I need you to do:

Find out how to make a donation to that very worthwhile charity, make it in the name of Eric Koreen, and we’ll turn a pre-dinner gag into a pretty good money maker.

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Halladay hits Ortiz? Sweet.

I’ll take that guy on my team any day of the week.

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The most pleasant surprise to the coaches so far has been that no one – through four practices, mind you – has been banged up and everyone’s remaining healthy.

No matter what anyone says, the biggest thing about camp is surviving it and making sure no one comes out with a tweaked muscle or some lingering injury that hangs around for a while.

Oh, sure, Marcus Banks had to sit out a workout the other night because his heel was sore – seriously, first night, he couldn’t go – but he was back on the court yesterday.

Other than that, though, everyone’s still healthy and that’s a big deal.

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SEAN KILPATRICK/THE CANADIAN PRESS

Also standing out at camp: Bosh's new guns.

The one thing about this camp that stands out is the lack of extra bodies hanging around.

No Jamal Sampson (and I use that name only because he was here a year ago and it’s about the only one I really remember) or anyone in the gym just to act as a warm body.

What it’s done for those of us who have to scribble about these guys once, maybe twice, a day is limit the story possibilities.

Given that there’s a month of the pre-season, and there’s a finite number of players to write about, we used to like having extra guys around to knock off an off-day story when the ideas are starting to dry up.

I guess it’s good for the coaches to only have guys here who’ll be here all year; we’d like another one or two to help provide fodder for the dry days.

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I believe we should band together and put in a bid to buy the Phoenix Coyotes.

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One more digression.

I was talking to Maurizio last night and mentioned that I’d stopped at this cool beer joint in Ottawa and sampled an Italian brew – Pedavena – that I’d never seen before and don’t even recall from the training camp it Italy, where it was all Nastra Azzuro or Moretti.

Well, you should have seen his eyes light up.

Seems Pedavena’s brewed just outside Treviso, it’s owned by a good friend of Maurizio and the guy who imports it over here is in Toronto and another buddy of Maurizio, who I think knows every big shot in the world.

All I need now is the dude to make it available places I can buy it and we’re all set.

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Since it’s training camp for us, too, we’re all trying to figure out how the season’s going to unfold and who’ll become our “go-to guys” in the locker room.

Those are the guys we know will provide good quotes, solid insight and be available every night.

At the moment, it’s still a work in progress but the early leaders in the clubhouse among the newbies are Jarrett Jack, who seems to have the support of a few of us, and Antoine Wright, who’d get my vote if balloting occurred today.

Sure, the old staples like Chris and Jose will carry us plenty of nights but it’s nice to have some new blood.

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I could use some mail, folks. It’ll give me something to do on the train ride back on Saturday night.

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Comments

[J.r]

Who would win in a street fight joey G or sonny weems ?

[J.r]

Hey Doug,

how come I have heard nothing about amir johnson ? I am curious too what his role will be for this team, do you have any idea about how jay plans on using him ?

Blogger's note: No idea quite yet

[Appel]

Pedavena? Just 80 km from Treviso. The greatest brewery in Italy.
And i live 15 km from here. Come on, Doug! You must taste a lot of different beers brewed in Pedavena. Come in Italy!

[Jason]

Hey Doug, Love your blog - wanted to ask if you could report on some of the specifics of camp...i.e. what drills are they doing? Who's working their butt off? Are their any mini-battles going on? How are the drills going?

Thanks!
Jason

Blogger's note: They've had four practices, all in due time.

[Brian]

I love that you mentioned that he was doing this for the Make A Wish Foundation. I'm actually raising money with three other friends for them right now as well, we've been collecting money in the name of them for our first ever half marathon we're running in just over two weeks in Detroit/Windsor. So it's great to hear that a haircut such as that is also helping to raise money for such a great organization. I was hoping you'd let me post the link to the web page that Make A Wish constructed for us to collect donations, it'd be much appreciated Doug. I hope you guys have great success in raising donations as well.

P.S. It's great to see you blogging everyday on the Raptors training camp activity and can't wait for October 28th to arrive!

[Ali E]

Hey Doug,
2 things,

1. Do you think Brian and company are saying games are won in April not in October because they have such a tough scheduale to start and if they do falter to begin the season they can use that excuse to keep raptors fans happy; in hopes that they will get better as the season goes along.

2. Is Bosh really worth max money? - like 25 million a year. Is it wise to invest that much money in anyone? If Bosh recieves that much money that means there is that much less to spend on other players. Meaning they will not have as talented a team. And worst if he gets injured who is to pick up the slack? Amir Johnson or someone of that caliber? Would it be wiser to pick up 3 decent players instead?

Blogger's note: These are more suited for the mail.
Quickly: No one's saying October doesn't count and I have no idea where you're getting $25 million. But yes, Chris will get a maximum value contract somewhere. Is he "worth it?" We'll see

[mark]

hey doug.
i'm a little confused. i was looking at toronto's roster this morning and i noticed that marcus banks is still on there.
i thought that we ditched that dude!?!?
what's up?

Blogger's note: Trade never came off.

[Paul]

Who's replacing Hump as the locker room comedian?

Blogger's note: Haven't been around long enough to find out.

[Eric]

Hey Doug. In you're Derozan piece you have him listed at 6"8. While that'd be awesome, pretty sure thats a typo. Thanks for the great work

Blogger's note: Yeah, off by an inch, team's got him at 6-7

[Felix]

Just curious, Doug... when they get a practice player such as Sampson just to be a warm body, does he get paid? or is sampson just happy to get some coaching and play to build up some good will in hopes of catching on with some other team?

Blogger's note: They get paid. Not much (and I'm not sure of the exact amount) but they are compensated

[dan]

Can you get Bosh to cut his hair for charity as well?

[Brian]

I just realized I forgot to send the link concerning Make A Wish, but thanks for posting my comment Doug.

http://www.makeawish.ca/rosedale

[Chops]

Dunno if its been mentioned before,
but doesn't Sonny Weems look eerily similar to Joey Graham? Even his game is comparable

[sean]

Hi Doug,

Who would be your first guard off the bench? Who would be your first big man?

Blogger's note: I'd wait to see some games but I could see a Belinelli for DeRozan sub as the first in the backcourt and Evans for Bargnani shortly after.

[Tony]

Hi Jack, you really piqued my interest as well as i'm sure that of many of our die-hard fans when the other day you talked about the Raps defensive system. We all know that has to improve most, if we're to move up into the next echelon of teams. You mentioned defenders coming back to boxes and elbows around the key. Was wondering, when you get a chance if you could break it down in layman's terms roughly what that means or what some of the main principles are that their defensive systems will incorporate. Thnx a mill.

Blogger's note: Sure, I'll get to it one day soon

[GC]

If you have a complaint about the cabs in Ottawa, try the buses, OC Transpo is excellent. I don't know if it has been suggested or tried already but Mamma Teresa Ristorante is great. I recommend their Gnocchi Gorgonzola.

[City Country]

Yep, I agree on the Weems/Graham comment. Long lost triplet???

[Jeff Steele]

Check out this list of the top 15 selling jersey's in Europe (posted today on nba.com):

http://www.nba.com/2009/news/10/01/europe.jersey/index.html?rss=true

Nice to see three Raptors in the mix with the superstars. I'm a little confused how Joakim Noah is in there though, maybe it has something to do with his Dad winning the French Open in tennis? Beats me...

Should help Andrea and Jose's chances of making the All Star team this year at least knowing there are so many hardcore Raptor fans over there.

[J]

Ali E:

A Bosh max contract signed with the Raptors will be $16.57 mil, $18.31 mil, $20.05 mil, $21.79 mil, $23.53 mil, and $25.27 mil for the next 6 years (all numbers approximate due to rounding and such), so the only $25 mil is in the last year of his contract (2015-2016), and also nowhere near the $27 mil/year figures I keep hearing.

[Eric]

Holy ****! I didn't realize DD was that tall, I thought he was in the 6"5 range. Well then never mind haha, I thought you gave him 3 inches. Man can we throw a big lineup out there. And as for team comedian, Holly Mckenzies wrote a story about Sonny Graham-Weems cutting in on Derozans scrum with the Kanye "Don't mean to interrupt". Thats a few points in my books

[RonT]

Let us know when you find out how to get Pedavena locally. I'm always on the look out for a tasty new brew.

[dave]

How's Jose's finger doing? The one finger taped up to the next? any others?

I think DeMarr has room to grow into 6'8, what do you think?

Jose has dropped 15lbs. He must have put on quite a bit of muscle. Is it noticeable or has he just trimmed down the fat?

Although we have many new faces, many of the raptors have played with each other on the same team before so the learning curve is easier than some believe.

Jarrett Jack - Chris Bosh
Marco Belinelli - Andrea Bargnani, Patrick O'Bryant
Rasho Nesterovic - Chris Bosh, Jose Calderone, Andrea Bargnani

-there are probably a few more connections that I have not listed, but you play with someone during a full season of practices and games the ability to understand each other's tendencies and strong facets of the game will never go away. Unless their skill set diminishes~ and if that were the case they wouldn't even be playing on the team.

Blogger's note: Jose's finger is fine.

[saatuk]

I'm a little confused how Joakim Noah is in there though, maybe it has something to do with his Dad winning the French Open in tennis? Beats me...
-----------------------------

Ummm. Maybe because Yannick Noah (his dad) is _French_ and was/is a French sports superstar. Aside from winning the French Open he captained French Davis Cup teams, etc. Hell my wife watched Joakim in college just because of the Noah name and we ain't French . . .

[Mike kovacs]

Good article on DD today. I wish I could say the same for TSN.CA who insist on comparing him to HHSNBN about 5 times even calling him 'Heir Canada' but finally have the nerve at the end to talk about 'exorcising ghosts'. Let the kid do his own thing and everyone else move on!

[Eric]

What's the over under on Marcus Bank's first mins of the season? December 18?