They've done the worlds draw and it's not a pretty one

Join Doug Smith for a live Q&A at 1 p.m. Tuesday, as the Raptors prepare to take on the Miami Heat.

This is pretty cool. We don’t do a lot of breaking news around here but today we do.

And we also fill you in with all kinds of other little tidbits to make your morning go a little quicker.

So, here you go …

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The draw for the 2010 men’s world championships is done and, at first blush, Canada is in tough.

Very tough.

In the opening round-robin they get Lithuania, France, Spain, New Zealand and Lebanon and while not the Group of Death, it’s at least the Group of Critical Condition

It’s Group D for anyone who cares and see how four of the six will advance, Canada is going to probably have to come up with a couple of victories at least and that’s no easy task.

Spain is, well, Spain; France is loaded, New Zealand’s always under-rated, Lithuania’s very, very good and you have to think only Lebanon would be considered a group minnow with Canada.

We’ll delve into this a little more as the day progresses – there’s a conference call with Leo, Maurizio and other Canada Basketball types later this morning and I imagine that might be a somber group.

But wanted to get the news up now because, you know, it all can’t be fun and games around here.

The rest of the draw:

Group A: Serbia, Argentina, Australia, Jordan, Germany, Angola.

Group B: Croatia, Brazil, Tunisia, Slovenia, Iran, United States.

Group C: China, Turkey, Russia, Puerto Rico, Ivory Coast, Greece.

Group D: Lithuania, Lebanon, France, Spain, Canada, New Zealand.

We’ll talk about this a little later. Don’t forget the usual game-day chat’s going at 1 p.m. today, after we get off the call with the Canadas.

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Funny, but I’m not hearing from the huge faction of Raptor fans who were utterly disgusted by the mere existence of Marcus Banks on the roster earlier this year.

You know who you are: Waste of money, why not just waive him, what’s he bring to the team, he’ll kill them in the locker room, why doesn’t Bryan just buy him out.

Well, over the last few games, Banks hasn’t been spectacular but he’s been solid, and a solid pro.

It can’t be easy coming to the arena every night knowing you’re going to be either inactive or sitting on the end of the bench for every game with little or no hope of ever getting on the court.

But say this about Marcus: He’s kept himself in tremendous shape and when he got a chance to fill-in when Jose got hurt, he didn’t let anyone down. With just a couple of blips – bad shots and bad offensive decisions – he’s done what a backup is supposed to do: Maintain things while he’s on the court.

He didn’t sulk, he didn’t try to do too much, he didn’t go all crazy freelance when he got some minutes.

He played and gave them what he could, and what they needed.

For that, he should be lauded because we all know how easy it would have been to go the other way.

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While I was loafing at home, Ira was working give lucky readers this on what’s up with the Heat.

I guess Miami held one of those soul-cleansing team meetings after being whacked at home by Memphis the other day. Wonder if they had “communication” problems?

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You know me and fashion, right?

Well, while flipping the dial last night, I came across a few minutes of Dallas-New Orleans and all I can say is that Dirk Nowitzki in a white headband is not a particularly good look.

I will mention he had a season-low 10 points in that game and not mention the reason.

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Speaking of flipping, I spent a few minutes trolling the Houston Chronicle site checking to see if the Ariza suspension had come down and saw this little item where coach Rick Adelman killed the NBA for he figures is a ridiculous schedule.

This might be the year I’ve heard the most complaints I ever have about the schedule and not just from Toronto, which had a brutal opening month or so.

Too many games jammed in. Too many back-to-backs, too much zany travel. Adelman’s miffed at Houston’s Christmas schedule and I’m sure if you looked at all 30 teams, there’d be legitimate beefs from about 20.

What to do?

Well, how about this?

Cut the never-ending pre-season by two weeks and add that to the regular season.

Arenas are already booked for the meaningless exhibition games so their availability isn’t going to be an issue; most national TV broadcasters pick up at least a game or two in the final two weeks and the players are more than ready to pay for real.

Makes entire sense to me. Which is why it’ll never happen.

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I heard the Winter Olympics are coming soon or something like that?

And so is the flame.

A few weeks ago, when I mentioned that Steve Nash is going to carry it on the Thursday night before the Games open in Vancouver, I also mentioned they needed to find a time for Jay to carry it, given his Olympic past and stature in Canadian sports history.

Well, he will.

Thursday here in Toronto.

Makes entire sense. Which is why I’m surprised it ever happened.

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I am told by people in the know that just because any free agent who signed a new contract on the first day the NBA moratorium was lifted last July can be dealt again tonight there is nothing cooking for this afternoon in Toronto.

It’s not like they’re going to trade Hedo, Jack and Rasho – the three free agents they could move – but they’re not looking to acquire anyone imminently, either.

So the trade watching lives some of you might be living can be put back on hold.

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Comments

[Matt Kovacs - Age 12]

Despite what Houston and many other teams have on Christmas break, the Raptors have only a few games and I think that some are spread out by more then two days. Only one back to back and that is on the final two days.

[Joachim]

Doug, you should change your blog and column picture to a more recent one seeing as how you've lost weight. You should shy away from what everyone else tends to do with their "profile pictures", you know, put up an unrealistic picture of themselves 5 years ago or when they were 20lbs lighter.

[Ji]

Can you provide a sense of how FIBA seeded teams for the draw? Was it like the FIFA world cup draw?

What do you think the early line will be on the USA/IRAN group match? 53-444.

Blogger's note: Quite similar, they had six "lines" of four teams, based on things like world rankings and past performance, and drew one from each "line" to make the groups; and I would think the U.S. would be, um, heavily favoured

[Pat]

RE: Tough scheduling

Considering the players and coaches get paid millions of dollars, they should suck it up and play. You know, help make money for the organization that pays their salary.

[rob]

terrible draw.. the two teams I m rooting for (Lebanon and Canada) are pitted against each other .At least TUrkey vs Greece will be a fun game to watch , these two countries are fierce rivals in any sport and both have good teams.

[Kelsie]

Hey Doug.

Whats up with Jose's hip? Do you think there is any concern from the brass on their investment in Jose and the reality that he has not played a full season as a starting pg in this league yet?

Another thought but who would you rank as the top GM in Raptor history, Grunwald or Colangelo? I'm thinking back to Grunwald's time and his acquisitions (Carter, Oakley, Davis, Clark, Willis, Curry, Childs, to name a few) and I'm thinking it's not even close.

The one thing that I liked about Grunwald is he never stood pat (like BC), but also he completely understood the need and benefit of having veteran players on his roster. The moves I really liked were the Camby for Oak, Bender for Davis (literally a coup), and a small sleeper move when he turned M. Jackson around quickly for Chris Childs when he knew Jackson was not a fit on his roster.

What are your thoughts?

Blogger's note: Glen had more success; and built the best team in franchise history. As for Jose, they aren't overly-concerned, this is just an injury that flared up

[Matt M]

I like the fact that Triano is giving a little more playing time to players that were stuck to the bench at the beginning of the season. Hopefully with players like Weems getting run out there and being effective then it will light a spark under the players that appear to dog it sometimes. I still believe this is a fifty win team, but they need work hard and compete every single night to achieve that goal. Four of the last six games they have shown signs of doing just that so I guess everything is good in Raptorville right now. They need to build on this little stretch of games and push it to the next level where they are consistently winning games.

[Neil]

For the life of me I have had no idea why the NBA season is so short, I never understood why they dont extend it by 2 weeks or so, so it does not have to compete with the NHL playoffs, albiet that is a non factor in some US markets. I think it would just provide us with better rested players which in turn would provide better basketball. It has nothing to do with rest in my opinion, soccer players generally start their friendlys in early August, begin league play in late August and generally play 3 games every 2 weeks until Mid May, then every two years you generally have a european or a world cup to play in June.

[Arun]

Cutting the preseason by half makes entire sense. Why don't you write a letter or call the office in NBA? I mean, it is a very legit idea Doug.

[erc]

Matt M, Good post. "Everthing well in Raptorville" however, is probably a very bad omen.
When things go well with our hardwood heroes -- forget about the off-season -- they take a well-earned vacation NOW.
Screams of anguish from everyone not emblazoned with a toothless dinosaur and/or a good team meeting will generally get them back on track for a game or two, then it's business-as-usual.
It's been that way for at least the this season and last.
The only times they don't coast are the last five minutes of a game they're leading; when their collective backs are against the wall and when they're playing a good team.
Of course, since muscle memory is such a huge part of how pro athletes perform, this extra surge of adrenaline against the Celtics, Lakers, Magic etc. generally ends badly.
Never thought these words would ever come out of my mouth but ..... look at the Leafs. Wilson has addressed the 'blue-and-white disease' to a large degree and is getting a much-improved team effort.
Burke's support is crucial in all this.
By the same token, Triano needs BC to cover his back if he plans to keep up with the strategy you suggest and many of us highly endorse -- giving playing time to those who earn it.
He cannot bench players for any significant period of time that BC has made a long-term financial commitment to or are part of his award-winning house cleaning without the GM's consent.
Triano needs backing to make sure that effort and playing time are directly linked EVERY game.

[sherry]

Why don't WE all email/call the NBA suggesting a portion of the preseason be moved to the regular season. :)

[sherry]

Re: scheduling. I just looked up the address & sent the NBA my comments. :)
http://www.nba.com/email_us/contact_us.html

[ro]

"makes entire season. Which is why I’m surprised it ever happened. "

Don't you mean sense?

Blogger's note: Fixed

[TMF]

I've never understood why back-to-backs are such a big deal. These are all guys who have grown up playing basketball every day, probably since they could walk.

[CC]

hope sonny weems will not be the next jamario moon....

[Leonardo]

Hi Doug,
Thank you for the short positive "note" about the professionalism of M. Banks and not to compare him, and other "3rd Unit" guys, to some kind of cleaners.

[Darrol]

Several years ago, I remember a debate about lowering the amount of games for the regular season. Something about 70 games and eliminating back to backs. I would love to see this, team would have more rest/practice times, and in my opinion would result in a better product on the floor. Your thoughts?

Blogger's note: Not a chance in the world they shorten the season and lose revenue

[Matt M]

erc - thanks for the compliment. The 'everything is good in Raptorville' was a very subtle shot a the bipolar Raptor fans among us. I was OK being the only to get my reference. My personal opinion is that it is a bad omen to have to rely on omens to gauge how your favorite team is going to perform. So I wasn't worried about screwing with teams chances by making judgments in this case.

[Rob.V]

Seems logical to use the pre-season games as legit meaningful events. I mean, who in their right minds really wants to pay to watch scrubs who won't get 5 minutes a night during the regular season play in a pre-season game.

Being forced to pay for pre-season games has always rubbed me the wrong way!.

Your solution Mr Smith is a good one...would kill 2 birds (with less back to backs) ... however unfortunately is simply just too logical, to you know, EVER HAPPEN!!!

Good note on Banks. I could never understand why fans would rip a guy simply because he signed a "good deal"!

It's not like any of us are going to stroll into work tomorrow and say, hey, you know what?, I was wondering if you could cut my pay back 50% because I spend 50% of my actually work day on Doug Smith's Raptors blog???!!!

Also, Duude! I know you hate trade speculation so I'll come at you a little different. Knowing how Bosh and Bargnani have worked together on both ends of the floor (if you had to guess) how would you rank a Bosh/? tandem (listed below) vs. the current Bosh/Bargnani duo.

I ask because in thinking about this personally I found it surprising that I thought Noah would be the overall best compliment for Bosh. He may not be the "sexy" pick here however there are legitimate reasons as to why I think he would be a better compliment.

Play's in the paint, good rebounder, all heart, doesn't command the ball on the offensive end however will still get you 10 (the hard way) each night. Any thoughts on how you would (if possible) rank the tandems?

Heres how I got em.

1.Bosh/J.Noah
2.Bosh/Bargnani
3.Bosh/Brook Lopez

Thanks

Blogger's note: You know I am against these sort of things but I'll let you know I rank the three guys as Bargnani, Lopez, Noah.

[Tiger]

Playoff schedules usually allow at least 1 day off between games, which allows the players some time to recover and keep the intensity and quality of the games at the highest levels.
It doesn't speak well that regular season games aren't given the same regard. No matter how you try to explain it, back-to-back games diminish the product, and it shouldn't be OK to tell the fans that it's part of the game.
Hopefully the dip in attendence this season and last will show the league that fans and sponsors won't always overpay to see a product diminished by ridiculous scheduling. But I ain't holding my breath for any change.

[Boko]

Objective: Win more games. Solution: Who starts at SG? Subs at swing? Comes in as an injury sub at swing? I've got Belinelli, DeRozan, & Weems (NOT Wright). Who would you have?

Blogger's note: I'm okay with starting the rookie and going with Weems-Belinelli as the backups, in that order

[Mark]

Makes entire "season"?

You're a joke

Blogger's note: The mistake was fixed about three hours ago; don't tell me it took your obviously astute mind that long to come up with that witty retort. You should be proud.

[Mark]

And a "professional" writer like yourself should be ashamed.

Blogger's note: Seriously, dude. It was a typo, it got fixed. But thanks for stopping by

[Andre]

Any interest in von wafer?

Blogger's note: No. Nor should there be. Score-first two-guard's about the last thing this team needs

[Andre]

@Rob V.

Man a Bosh/Lopez combo is WAY better then a Andrea/Bosh... i like your thinking