A whole lot of chatter about a whole lot of nothing

That felt like an odd Friday, didn’t it?

No game, no practice, no nothing.

Strange.

(And it means there aren’t a lot of snippets here and it’s a bit shorter than usual; giving you more time to spend in the bosom of your family today)

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Ball?

He said “ball?”

Seriously, this whole Hedo post-game interview kerfuffle, where he answered a taken-aback Jack Armstrong with one almost-indecipherable word after the Knicks game has taken on some zany life of its own.

Chill.

I saw it, I was kind of mystified at the abruptness of it, just as I was kind of happy that he expanded on it seconds later after a follow-up question.

It really should haven’t caught too many by surprise, he’s been suggesting he’d better with the ball more often all season. That part of it wasn’t new.

And as I’ve mentioned more than a few times, I think he’s involved in the vast majority of plays when he’s on the court, with the ball in his hands on virtually every crucial possession, and it’s a matter of him doing more with it when he’s got it.

Anyway, that’s not the point because it’s an old one.

The point is, we – the collective we – are always miffed when we get the same old boilerplate stuff in answers to questions that are often mundane in the aftermath of games.

Finally, a guy does something out of the ordinary and in many circles he’s more ripped for it than he was praised for the game he played.

I have no idea why he answered the way he did, maybe he misheard Jack, maybe he was ticked off about criticism, maybe he just thought he was answering a questions, but it was better than some stock cliché, wasn’t it?

In this age of mirco-analysis and this interweb fad and having to feed the conversational beast 24/7/365, we tend to get caught up in the most mundane of issues and blow them entirely out of proportion.

Like this one.

But the funny thing is, when we do scrums with Turk after games in the locker room, or even after practices, he’s got a tendency to give answers that are almost too long, answers that provide, um, answers, but sometimes include rambles.

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Okay, I’ll go over this once here to head off the questions.

The game on Sunday is at 6 p.m. because of television rules.

ABC “owns” a broadcast window when it shows games and it has two tomorrow, Denver-San Antonio at 1 and the Lakers-Boston at 3:30.

Teams can play games in those “windows” if they want but they cannot broadcast them, the NBA and ABC want all the eyes.

So it’s a silly 6 p.m. start here.

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You know what else didn’t happen on Friday?

The Hallowed Halls of York University didn’t come tumbling down when an interloper got amongst the academics.

Whew!

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In Indiana, where things remain a tad out of whack (and I wonder if the Pacers won’t make some jarring trade at the deadline), the inimitable Mike Wells had this to say.

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Can I just say that I am entirely against minus-18 C weather? Best thing about it is that Super Dog doesn’t lollygag when she goes out to take care of business. But, dang, it’s cold outside.

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Hey, you know who got lost in all the Turk Played Great, How About That Bosh Drive And What’s Wrong With Andrea stuff from the other night?

Amir Johnson.

Man, that kid’s going great, isn’t he?

Look at his last three games: A total of 13-15 from the floor, 16 rebounds (five on the offensive glass) and, yes he fouled out against the Knicks but he was energetic and not many of the fouls – to the best of my recollection without looking at the tape – were of the silly, not-moving-the-feet-on-defence variety.

That’s outstanding.

The question on everyone’s mind is what happens to him when Reggie Evans comes back (and in case you’ve been under a rock, the expectation on Reggie’s return is the game after the all-star break).

I suspect Jay, like most coaches, doesn’t really like to play a four-bigs rotation and that’s going to cause an interesting dilemma for the coach, if Reggie is ready to contribute right away.

What I suspect will happen is that Jay’s going to have to at least investigate playing four bigs and perhaps limiting Amir’s minutes every now and then.

It’s a nice problem, I guess, since Johnson and Evans bring two different styles to the court, but it’s going to be problem nonetheless.

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Hmm, as I glance at the in-basket, it seems a wide majority of mailbag submissions have now been answered with the Hedo stuff up above.

So, folks, one last chance to submit some, the Great Yankee Buntoss isn’t until 7 or so (unless there’s an early special Coaches Meeting to get ready for it) and that gives me a few hours to get some work done.

Send ‘em here.

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Stay warm.

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Comments

[Juan]

Hi Doug
Can we start a petition or something against temperatures in the minus double digits? You've got a pretty decent following here.

I read Grange's column this morning that quotes BC saying the Raptors are prepared to become a "tax team" to stay competitive. Does that surprise you at all?

Blogger's note: No, not at all. Been a consistent message that if there's a move that's needed to take another step and it involves tax issues, he'd pitch it. No idea what the board would say, though.

[Boothe]

Most of the reaction to the "ball" interview has been positive.

I don't think any fans were outraged by his behavior. I'd say many were perplexed, while most found it to be hilarious.

On the court, you're right. Hedo's been very involved in plays, and that's why I'm not overly concerned with his struggles of late. He's not going to put up the numbers he did in the playoffs last year, but if he can find his shot, and average about 13-15 a game, and 4 assists, I'll be good.

[Matt M]

I hope that Reggie doesn't take minutes from Amir. Amir provides nearly everything that Reggie does without the huge hole at the offensive end. Maybe a few minutes from Bosh and Bargnani to try to keep them fresh at the end of games I could see, or playing minutes on one of the games of a back-to-back, but in the end the Raps are on a roll right now. Screwing with that too much for one guy would be a mistake. I think Reggie's best bet is to be the best (and ugliest) cheerleader he can be right now and be satisfied he will probably have a major role next year when either Bosh or Johnson leave for greener pa$ture$ (barring injury to any of the bigs this season of course).

[tonya]

Hi Doug. Will we ever see the raptors ( Mr. Triano ) play CB4 Andrea & Amir or Reg all on the court at the same time? why not? Id love it. Can you ask if it is a possibility? Yes they did try it when Jermaine was here. But Andrea is not the same player he was back then. I really think it could work for stretches & make this team very hard to score on. thanks.

Blogger's note: I believe the days of seeing Andrea as a small forward are forever dead and gone.

[Tiger]

"Chill."
Why?
If athletes are criticized for giving stock answer interviews (to stock questions), Toronto fans are equally criticized for being dead bumps on logs.
The fan reaction to that one word was hilarious!
Sure there were more than a few people who predictably (and boringly) got their noses bent out of shape, but the number of people who saw humour in it and went viral with it made for a good deal of entertainment in and of itself.
Jealous, mebbe? (I keed!)
Infinitely preferable to reading about, oh, say, guns, fox fur, Loafs stink, Argos for sale, guns, Loafs stink, head shots, guns, Hedo shots, guns, (yawm), perpetrators of violence are really misunderstood good guys, guns, Bills stink, guns, Loafs stink, guns, Feschuk writes the sky is falling, guns, Blue Jays stink, guns, anything about TFC, guns, etc., etc., etc.

[ikonn]

Listen closely, I think he said "The ball". He just mumbled the 'the'. And that makes a whole lot more sense.

[guest]

Hi Doug,
I agree that the Reggie-Amir 'problem' is a good one. They give us more flexibility guarding different kinds of bigs (Reggie might be a better match-up for Zach Randolph, for example), and let's not forget the fear-inspiring 'toughness' Reggie brings (the Kaman incident comes quickly to mind). Plus, with Amir's present proclivity to pick up quick fouls, having another active big around isn't a bad thing.
Keep up the good work!

[doug]

if we sit back and look at the big picture....I am thinking BC if the raptors keep progressing as they are might be in line for another executive of the year award....look at what he has done from this time last year to now??....changed the whole roster except for Barg's,Jose,Bosh...managed to maximize assets such as O'Neal by getting rid of his contract and then dealing Marion in a successful sign and trade, and then all these "spare" parts such as Amir,Bell's,Weems, and then a huge upgrade in terms of Jack over Roko...and we haven't even seen Evans yet and yes even Wright is fitting in more and more to give us one strong,diversified bench....and i can't forget rasho as well......so BC deserves kudos for not only changing over a roster, but drafting Barg's and now DD who is also progressing nicley and shows some upside...I feel good for him as the vision he obviously had in the summer, has came to fruition, usually vision and reality don't come together as nicely as they are at the present time...so some love needs to be extended to BC for a job well done...

[Eric in Broad Cove (NS)]

I think "CB4" is a pretty boring name for Chris Bosh.
How about "Pick Your Poison"? Come out to guard him and he drives past you.
Back off and he makes the J. (Double team him and he kicks it out.) PYP.
What do you think?

[HopeCaper]

Hey Doug,
A very white and bright hello from NB and it seems your cold weather is heading this direction as week forecast showing lots of ice cubes. I agree with Doug (the other Doug) on BC and would like to comment on Jay's job as well. He was getting lots of criticism from readers\writers here about him not being major league. It was inspiring to hear these fellow canucks trying to throw Jay under the bus. While BC built the team Jay has had a lot to do with making it work.

[Christopher Marchant]

Hi Doug,

I remember that just before the Hedo intervoew on Friday night the camera was on him as the production assistant(?) asked him to join Jack. He was appeared to be extremely reluctant to join Jack, tried to walk away, shook his head and had to be dragged over to Jack. Thus setting the negative tone of the interview.

[Anthony]

Doug, I don't mind 6:00 pm starts to shake things up on a Sunday......and tomorrow is the FIRST ABC game this year. What I did not understand was the Lakers vs. NFL playoffs and Spurs 6:00 pm games.

P.S. Not starting a back and forth......

[City Country]

So Andrea had hurt his foot in the dying minutes of the Miami game. That he even played I think was a surprise, but that's a good starting point for accounting for his off-night against New York, no?

[GM]

I now have confirmation that too many Raptor fans are just nuts. I read all about the infamous "ball" interview and thought Turk must really have been pissed. Then I finally took a gander at the interview and... what is everyone going on about? He answered the first question in full. Kinda rambly, but he answered it. Then in the follow-up question he answered with what sounded like "ball". But the key for me was that he was smiling all the while. He didn't come off like he was angry at all. I have no idea what he meant, but I also know English isn't his first language. And I'm sure the fourth estate will ask him the next chance they get and he'll expand on it.

[kathyt]

Post by Tiger
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Infinitely preferable to reading about, oh, say, guns, fox fur, Loafs stink, Argos for sale, guns, Loafs stink, head shots, guns, Hedo shots, guns, (yawm), perpetrators of violence are really misunderstood good guys, guns, Bills stink, guns, Loafs stink, guns, Feschuk writes the sky is falling, guns, Blue Jays stink, guns, anything about TFC, guns, etc., etc., etc.
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LOL! Too funny.

[Penny]

In his artible today Dave suggested that Jack may be hurting - any news on that?

Blogger's note: Just talked to him at practice, he's fine

[jamesk]

Hey Doug, great job this year bringing the insight into raptorland. To your point about Hedo being criticized in some circles, it should be mentioned that in some circles he is being praised. Ball, it's the Hedo fan club rallying cry!

[T I]

Is it me or has the constant (and my opinion justified) criticism of Mr. Feshuk's column's with the combination of the Raptors playing better lately have somehow gotten Mr. Feshuk's column's to drastically improve. I actually read them now, and they aren't all that bad sometimes now! What a difference time could make - the Raps improving, as well as one of the grunt's work! Simply brilliant!

[gt]

tiger's post. really funny and true lol.

[Striker77]

Not to drag on this whole Turk interview thing, but I too noticed that he was trying to leave the court when approached by TSN for the interview, and looked like he did not want to take part.

Is it a contractual obligation for players to respond to an interview right away? or is it just during the post up, or is it at all?

[Max]

Add another to the tally who thought it was hilarious.
And I do think "ball" has the chance to be marketing phenomenon if used correctly.
Just imagine a one second long commercial starring a Raptor, and the soon to be ubiquitous "ball" annunciated with gusto.
It'd be much better than any of the radio or TV ads they use now, so why the heck not?
This could be HUGE.

[Aditya]

wouldn't be surprised if the flagrant foul on josh smith (on perkins) gets rescinded....that was a horrible call if you saw the game....
marvin williams just wrapped d.howard right now, and that should be a flagrant 1 as well (same thing as josh smith did)

[BramptonBoy]

I noticed it as well... Turk was headed towards the tunnel and
Raptors PR guy Jim LaBumbard grabbed him to come back and do the interview and, to my eyes, it looked like Turk was in an animated discussion with Jim while walking back towards the court. However, I would cut him some slack b/c I'm sure he has been getting annoyed with the constant questions about his lack of production, so I'm sure he was not looking forward to having to comment on it again after his best game (statistically) as a Raptor.

[Chi]

Simple Yes and No Questons:

In the case we Sign Bosh, do we have enough to offer Amir to keep him?

And...

Consider the free agents available this summer, is Amir worth it or is ther someone better for the dollars Amir is going to ask for?

Thanks Dough!

Blogger's note: There are no simply yes and no questions and if you spell the name right, you might get further :)