Waiting and wondering which group shows up

Join Doug Smith for a live Q&A today at 1 p.m., as the Raptors prepare to take on the Boston Celtics.

This not being on the road and missing games and not being around, frankly, gets old in a hurry.

Luckily, back to the arena and the usual schedule tomorrow.

Until then …

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So, Jay gets to 82 games tonight as a head coach and as Dave pointed out in his column today, he’s got almost the same record over that period as Sam did over his.

Now, that’s a wee bit of apples and oranges – I don’t think it’s entirely fair to compare 65 games as an interim guy one year and 17 the next with a full season starting from scratch – but it does lend itself to discussion of what Triano’s done this year.

Good or bad?

On the whole, I’d say okay.

Yes, there are problems with the team’s defence – as if that’s a huge surprise given the lack of a true stopper anywhere on the roster – but the one thing that will kill coaches quicker than anything with players is a sense of panic or constant change and I will give Jay credit for steadfastly maintaining he’s not making dramatic change to his system and that the players have to play it better.

Maybe that ends up being a fatal flaw but maybe, eventually, they get it and improve. Maybe not, but I’d rather have a coach with the courage of his conviction rather than someone wishy-washy who changes with the wind.

Are they worse defensively than even I thought? Hell yeah. But it’s the little things, like hustling back on defence, missing box-outs, slow rotations, mindlessly running into screens rather than fighting over them that’s the reason. And that is on the players.

Other than that, what’s Jay done this year?

Well, we’ve seen him make solid in-game adjustments – Chicago on Rose, Clippers on Kaman – that have put his players in position to win.

His stuff out of timeouts and quarter breaks is good, I’d dare more consistently creative than the last guy. And, again, it can be the greatest play call in the history of play calls but if someone misses an open shot or forgets an assignment, the fault doesn’t lie with the coach.

The rotations? Well, I’m not a huge fan of Jose and Jarrett on the court at the same time for lengthy periods but you have to admit it’s worked at times.

I think there needs to be an expanded role for Belinelli and perhaps a diminished one for Wright, who’s struggling at both ends of the floor – but I think he’s using Johnson in precisely the right way.

As I’ve perhaps mentioned, I truly believe coaches get too much blame when things go wrong and too much credit when things to go right.

And, on the whole, I think he’s done a good job. Not great. Not horrible. Good.

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I’ve been home and watched a bit of TV over the last couple of days and I will say this: I will gladly pay $10 a month if they get those spectacularly annoying TV tax commercials off the air.

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In Boston, there have been some concerns about slippage with the Celtics – Paul Pierce called them a “work in progress” recently – and here’s today’s offering from the Globe.

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The one thing I’ll be most interested in tonight is the level of “energy” with which the Raptors play.

They’ve paid all kinds of lip service all season to playing hard and playing smart and being aggressive and coming the debacle in Charlotte gives them a perfect opportunity to put some action behind the words.

It’s difficult to measure “energy” but getting after loose balls and hustling back on defence are two of the prime examples.

Watch to see how they make out.

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Speaking of Boston, they’ve got a double-header in whatever the call the Garden today, Bruins-Jersey at noon and Celtics-Raptors at 7:30 p.m., and I actually sat through one of those one year, for some reason covering Habs-Bruins in the afternoon before a Raptor game at night.

True story: We’re in the Bruins dressing room after the game and I don’t know one guy from the next so I’m floating from scrum to scrum trying to get a good quote or two to build into a story I’m sure is going to suck.

There’s apparently a very popular player surrounded by cameras and writers and I can’t even see him as I stick my tape recorder over someone’s head.

The guy’s going on about how good the Bruins are when they put three “big” guys out there, how much trouble it causes when the “big guys” are on the ice.

Now, I’m kind of snickering listening to this guy because my idea of “bigs” is like 6-10 or maybe 7-0, maybe taller.

When the scrum’s over, I figure out the guy I was listening to was Joe Thornton, who’s all of 6-4.

Big? I giggle.

And then go write the world’s most average hockey game story ever.

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Christmas cometh – I know this because I watched two lasses decorate a lounge last evening while attending a Mighty Yankees Dads And Coaches First Of Many Off-season Socials – and that means some kids need some help.

And what better way to help than to make a donation to the Jim Proudfoot Corner of the Star’s Santa Fund.

Click here if you can spare any extra cash and really help out.

We appreciate it.

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Back to the people at hand – the Raptors – and it’s amazing to me how many calls there’ve been for some kind of change to the team’s starting lineup.

Take Jose out. Move DeRozan. Demote Bargnani.

The only two who escape, it seems, are Turkoglu and Bosh and I’m not sure why since there seems to be a huge panic in the streets thing going on these days.

Well, the last time was asked Jay about change was a week ago and he was emphatic there wouldn’t be.

And he’s right.

I don’t think it makes any sense right now to fiddle with something like the starting five on a team that’s 7-9 and done enough good not to get buried in either the conference or the division.

Now 7-9 is not great and it’s not horrible. It was, pretty much, precisely where I expected them to be about now. The starters are okay, which again is what was expected, not great, not horrible.

I’m not sure what changing would do. I think everyone likes the production the Raptors are getting from the subs most nights, no sense tinkering with that. And there’s no reason to think making change will alter what this team is right now: About average and headed for the middle tier of the East.

They are not great, but they are not the Nets. Or even the Knicks. Or even the Sixers or the Wizards at the moment. They are what they are.

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What’s up today, you ask?

How about the traditional game-day chat at 1 p.m. Eastern time, I think the technical difficulties that took GruntTV off the air the other day are fixed and then the in-game fun and frivolity at 7:30 p.m. Eastern time.

There, you can plan your entire day now.

Have fun.

Comments

[Zombywoof]

The basketball world is indeed strange, where else would a 6'4" guy be considered "small"? What would that make Boykins and Muggsy? Hmmm.... how's Verne Troyer on D?

[B Martin]

Hey Doug Love the blog check it every day. The problem with Wright is the way he is utilized, he is much more effective at the 3 rather than the 2 (similar to last year with Dallas). Derozan is fine in the role they have for him that unit is actually fairly effective. However I agree that Belinelli should be getting the majority of minutes at the 2, as well the calderon and Jack together is not nearly as effective as either one playing with Belinelli. Thanks for all you do

[Michel G]

I like all sports (except cricket mostly because I haven't figured out the rules yet, but I will). All sports have their own intrinsic quality that make them interesting to watch, so stop complaining everybody. Except Doug, it's your blog, so you can do whatever you want :)

[Mike]

Verne Troyer is a liability on D .... he gets posted up too easily :)

[GM]

Jay gets points for staying the course, while Bryan gets points for willing to admit mistakes and trying to fix them?

Sure, you don't want a coach changing stuff every other game, but steadfastly holding onto a scheme that isn't clicking isn't a way to win over players, either. Wright already said they need a new defensive system, didn't he? Yes, he was frustrated, but why was he frustrated? Because the system wasn't working?

You sound like the Republicans a few years ago who lambasted John Kerry for flip-flopping. I'd much rather have someone (like Colangelo) who recognizes problems and fixes them or even changes his mind, than someone (like George W. Bush) who gets wrong information and sticks with it no matter what. Okay, apples and oranges, I grant you, but that's where my mind went.

About the whole coaching thing, you've said in the past every coach tells their players to [fill in the blank], so it's on the players. But I believe it's not THAT they tell them what to do; it's HOW they tell them what to do. A coach has to know his personnel and how to reach each player. Yes, they're all professionals, but they're still human professionals.

[christine]

Just to digress for a sec ... I think the one of the big guys who Thornton was talking about was Zdeno Chára. He is 6 foot 9!!!

Blogger's note: Nah, it was years ago, the Chara kid was still in Ottawa, I believe.

[Sean]

I like Jay, and I dont want to see him fired, but he does seem to get the benefit of the "tough schedule" excuse, when last year it seemed that he got way too much credit for their strong finish against a wack of lottery teams at home...not necessarily from you Doug, but from the media and fans in general. Frankly, I think you have to give any coach a full season (barring a complete disaster on the scale of the Argo's last year or something) before you can judge them...if not you start to look like a Mickey Mouse franchise.

Also, Bryan knows that GMs have 2 coaching changes in them before they start to get the heat, so I doubt he will have a fast trigger on Jay like he did with Smitch.

[Darko]

Talk about anoying commercials. My level of irritation from Charlotte
was not helped with that GM pop-up add on Star home page.
I had to X it about 8 times before it disappeared. Tough little sucker,
now if only the clunkers that they make were as durable.
16 games into season they already had 5 stinkers, Memphis,
1st Orlando game, SA, Clippers ( ok, only quarter and a half, but
almost enough to lose that one) and Charlotte. I know you oppinion
on SA, but no Tim and Tony should be a W.
One stinker every 20 games ok, but not this many in 1.
Hope they got the message when Jay had all 5 starters on the bench
in Charlotte.
If Derozan is often lost on screens, it is scary to think what is
Ray going to do to him tonight.

[Andre]

I dont think people should compare the two coaches. But Doug, i STILL dont believe Sam Mitchell should have been fired when he did. But thats the past.. lets move forward. Jay is an offensive X's and O's guy, they brought in Iravoni to help with the defense... He is the weak link. Defense isnt so much skill, its a mind set. Look at Boston, they didnt know what defense was until KG changed the culture and "MINDSET" of the players.. and they are now one of the best defensive teams, Rondo and Pierce went from being average defenders to ABOVE average defenders. O well, we will see them tonight. :(

[ttfox]

I'd pay 20 bucks if you can get rid of "Doug, love the blog" in every post that has this phrase.

Blogger's note: If you pay it to me, fine

[Jeff D]

Besides getting TO readers riled up, my point about Mitchell's record is that thes teams have nearly identical records, but everyone with a brain can tell these are very different teams. Just another arguement for not using stats to tell the whole story. Thanks,

[jimmie]

Hmmm... Yeah, still in Toronto. How do I know? Over-the-top, er, "passionate" fans ragging the team, the coach, and the GM mercilessly for a 7-9 record less than 1/5th of the way through an 82-game season, after a roster change of 75% over last year.

Other teams whose fans should apparently be calling for the heads of their star players, coaches, and management:

Detroit Pistons, 5-10 : "They were in the finals just a couple of years ago! How could they have dropped so far, so fast?"

San Antonio Spurs, 7-6 : "Finally, they rise above .500! I can't believe they suck so bad!! OMG, trade Duncan and Parker and get someone who can score!"

New Orleans, 7-9: "Chris Paul! Guess he's not as good as he used to be... last year. Trade him for someone more durable!!"

Utah, 8-7 : "But if we had traded for Kirilenko like we've been saying the past 3 years, we'd be 11-5, not 7-9..."

Chill out. This team will either turn it around on the defensive end through time together and time with the system and make the playoffs, or it will continue to falter, win a decent number of games through offense alone, and make or narrowly miss the playoffs. Either way, it's a restructuring (NOT "rebuilding") project in mid-stride, so to expect it to go smoothly is just irrational.

Oh yeah, it's Toronto -- where irrational = passionate.

[CC]

Doug, love the blog!

[plusgroove]

Doug, love the blog! (I hope he has a fat wallet)