The rookie, the fans, and the fun in Philly

Join Doug Smith for a live Q&A at noon today, as the Raptors prepare to take on the Philadelphia 76ers.

You know the one thing I like about Super Dog?

She/it dislikes the cold as much as I do so walks are shorter and more infrequent. Good Super Dog.

And it allows me more time for stuff like this …

-

Lots of questions here and there about DeMar DeRozan and where he is in the development of an NBA rookie, lots lately on why he doesn’t play in the fourth quarter very often.

The reason? From this angle?

He’s not ready.

Yes, he’s been better lately shooting jumpers and he’s looking a wee bit more comfortable offensively and he seems to be a bit more aggressive rebounding, although there’s still lots and lots of work to do in that regard.

Watch him closely sometimes. He’s going to the offensive glass but sometimes mis-timing jumps and he’s not a very good rebounder in traffic at the other end, either. His tendency to leak out drives coaches batty.

Defensively, he still gets caught up in screens too often and loses his man every now and then.

But, all in all, he’s coming along. Those are typical rookie gaffes and not at all unexpected.

I think the 20 minutes a night he's playing is about right, he’s getting those minutes when the little, predictable rookie mistakes he makes won’t kill his team and he’s better today than he was on opening night.

And, frankly, you can’t argue with success.

There may be those clamouring for more of him in the fourth quarter of games but the way the Raptors are playing over the last dozen games shows that whatever they do rotation-wise works.

The kid, a hard-working and studious 20-year-old who spends a lot of time with coaches going over video of offence and defence, is being handled quite well, in my opinion.

There may be a time to stretch him out; that time has not arrived yet.

-

So I’m glancing over the statistics and I notice – professionally trained observer that I am – that Jason Kapono hasn’t played more than 19 minutes in a game in a month, he hasn’t made more than one three-pointer in a game in a month and it got me thinking:

Maybe the trade for Reggie Evans is a wash.

The Raptors are getting some assistant coaching and cheerleading out of Reggie; not sure what all Jason – who I presume remains one of the top quotes around – is giving the Sixers.

The edge in sartorial splendidness, however, must go to Kapono.

-

Chat today at noon, okay?

I’ve got some stuff to do, a story for Sunday to finish off and, apparently, a driveway to shovel this afternoon and could use the extra hour.

Oh, and we’ll be here for the game, too, right about 7 p.m.

I will say your attendance numbers have been good of late, now that they’re winning and all. We were close to 700 for the chat the other day, I see, and somewhere north of 2,200 for the game.

Way to go, folks.

-

I’m sure many of you have seen the stuff about the last all-star balloting and how Tracy McGrady is still among the West starters in fan voting and, if the game was held tomorrow, Allen Iverson would line up to start for the East.

To which I will just say; Fans are nuts.

This is all on them.

Why in the world anyone would sit with a ballot or a laptop or a mobile phone or whatever method of voting they choose and punch, click, text either of those names is absolutely stunning to me.

After all, Steve Nash or Tony Parker or Chris Paul are on the ballot alongside McGrady, why in the world would any vote for Tracy over any of them.

And Iverson? Well, that’s equally stupid.

I don’t imagine the NBA will change the process, it is a lark after all and I guess taking it seriously just creates personal concern best left to matters of real importance – like when I’m going to go shovel the drive again.

But it does make me question the intelligence of some people and whether or not there needs to be a change.

I’m thinking maybe they use the fan vote for, I don’t know, something like 75 per cent of the final total and use either coaches or a panel of us to take up the other 25 per cent.

I wonder what’s going to happen if Nash, who is about 2,000 votes behind McGrady, doesn’t catch the currently idle Rocket.

Will McGrady show up, despite languishing at home, having walked out on his team to sit and wait for a trade?

How embarrassing will that be for everyone concerned?

The best thing possible is that the Rockets find a way to finalize whatever McGrady deal they’ve got going and ship him to the East, where his vote total will leave him out of the starting lineup.

-

Things I miss not being in Philly: Seeing My Man Jasner.

The Palm.

Running into Ed Pinckney and Gary McLain one night in said steakhouse and listening to stories. Same with Billy King, who was a regular and a really, really good guy.

Oh, and Yeungling. Ah, Yeungling.

And the fans. Oh, the fans,

We used to sit courtside, right beside the Raptors bench and, let me tell you, they were a funny bunch.

In one game, back in the 16-66 year, they were often in rare form.

One night, this leather-lung about four rows back yells:

“Hey, Butch, your team’s five years away from being five years away.”

Later, in the same game if I recall correctly, Reggie Slater, one of the good guys, is as the table to check in. Another voice, loud:

“Reggie! I saw your game … on a milk carton.”

That’s pretty good.

-

Speaking of Philly, here’s one of the stories in one of the papers this morning.

-

Just because I want to, and because I’m sure dozens of you haven’t slept since Tuesday wondering, here’s a Pops update.

Nothing.

He’ll clear waivers today, there isn’t a team out there who wants to make a claim and the best money for him, I’m told, remains in Europe.

I think there’s waning interest on a 10-day deal here because, really, what’s the sense?

Anyway, figured you’d want to know.

-

You know, of course, that the African Cup of Nations starts Sunday and the Black Stars open against Togo on Monday.

Just making sure you were up to date.

-

One last public call for mail. Haven’t looked closely but think there’s room left to send the questions – and, please, I beseech you, no game-specific, “why did they do this” stuff, it’s not really timely.

Thanks.

-

Comments

[Jon]

"Of course Doug you're going to say we've to be patient and let him develop but the fact of the matter still is that Colangelo screwed up again by not taking Brandon Jennings."

Yup, let's declare this a screw up after the kid has played a grand total of 36 NBA games. Does it ever occur to guys like you that there is a reason Bryan Colangelo is an NBA GM and you're some dude posting nonsense on the internet?

Oh, and for the last 3 games Brandon Jennings is shooting a whopping 33% and averaging 4 assists in over 30 minutes per game. Since we can apparently judge Derozan on virtually no data, I assume it's cool to say Jennings is a bust too?

Better idea: break your keyboard in half and the rest of us will wait and see how Derozan works out over the next 3 years rather than the next 3 games.

[Lawrence]

LOL, that “Hey, Butch, your team’s five years away from being five years away.” line made me laugh...out loud. Now if only that psychic fan was true in his predictions...we'd have a championship by now.

[Prophet2k]

Re: The all-star voting thing...
Always a sham, once a player gains "SuperStar" status they are inevitably voted by quasi-semi-sometimes fans because they are a familiar name on the ballot. This means every year Shaq, AI, McGrady, VC and even Garnett get all the votes regardless of how(or even if) they are playing that season. The players who do get voted in undeservedly, if they have any class at all, should pull out of the game because of injury.

And why should the NBA allow votes from China? Clearly with their population they could vote in any team they want. In the MLB voting, only American and Canadian fans can vote for the all-stars(Only nations with represented teams.) It seems like the NBA is more interested in some fools-dream of taking the NBA global then in recognizing the best players in their league for their accomplishments.

[JonnyF]

RE: ACN

I hope Ghana and Côte d'Ivoire have a very long, arduous tournament.

Both teams field players from Chelsea FC (English Premiership) whom I despise (being an Arsenal supporter and all.)

Do you follow any other soccer teams, either at International or club level?

Blogger's note: I don't, no. I could be referred to as a very casual fan who appreciates the game played well rather than one team

[Rob]

My question is why was McGrady on the ballot in the first place? Can you explain the process? Weren't you on the committee?

Blogger's note: I was. Our thinking, when we constructed the ballot in October, was that he would play in November or December and not get into the mess he's in right now.
And we did discuss his inclusion at some length, as a matter of fact.

[Jerry]

OK...where's this mailbag everyone talks about?

[SS]

My gripe with the Jack-Jose backcourt is not only that they're undersized and least athletic but for the life of me why did Jay decide, mind you they were up 13 against Orl, to play them trying to protect a lead. It went back to the helter skelter, run to the 3 point line defense that they had done so well not doing during the course of the game. Both jack and Jose need an athletic 2 to cover their weaknesses. If I recall correctly, during their winning streak minus Jose they played a Jack-Weems backcourt to close out. Jay has got to do better with deciding when to play them together but not every fourth quarter especially when they're up! YOU AGREE DOUG?!

[greg]

if you put Jordan on the ballot today, he would be in the game.

[T I]

Doug to put it simply, blame China for putting Tmac in the all-star game. NBA.com seems to be a rare international website the Chinese government doesn't ban/censor their citizens from visiting and they have no problem voting daily by the tonnes.

[Fritz]

I see the Nets are banning in flight gambling. Is this policy likely to be copied by other NBA teams and what is thee Raptor policy?

Blogger's note: None, that I know of, but it's something I'm sure will get asked

[James C.]

For Jon (BTW, great name for you fellow - were you too hung over or being "original" at the time), if you took a poll of GMs today draft DD or Brandon Jennings? I believe the sole vote for DD would be the village idiot who still taking the glory for being the front man for his dad's personnel moves at PHX. Buddy, get your another brew of java before you post know nothing nonsense.

Blogger's note: You'd be wrong. And take the personal stuff somewhere else.

[Oliver A.]

If tomorrow Arenas tops the All-Star balloting, that would trully be a riot. Maybe *that* would prompt the commish to change things up. It's like someone finally put a gun to his head :o)

[Aditya]

the only reason demar is not the closer in the 4th quarter is because he doesn't have 3-pt shooting yet...

demar mistiming his jump is BS...if it happens once, ok.....but to say he mistimes his jump on occassions (some, many) is BS

[Jon]

"For Jon (BTW, great name for you fellow - were you too hung over or being "original" at the time), if you took a poll of GMs today draft DD or Brandon Jennings? I believe the sole vote for DD would be the village idiot who still taking the glory for being the front man for his dad's personnel moves at PHX. Buddy, get your another brew of java before you post know nothing nonsense."

This is not exactly a surprising response, but rather than indulge the personal attacks (how is my name less "original" than "James C?" Huh?) I will just reiterate that no one knows anything this early. In 1934-84, Ralph Sampson, drafted 1st overall, scored 21 ppg and was rookie of the year and an all-star. The 14th pick overall that year scored 7.7 ppg and only got about 20 minutes a night. That was Clyde Drexler. If we knew anything after 1 year, let alone 35 games, we'd know that Ralph Sampson was going to the Hall of Fame and Clyde Drexler was destined for mediocrity. But it doesn't work that way.

I am deeply impressed that you can judge who will be the better NBA player after less than half a season, but I can't. Neither, apparently, could a number of NBA general managers. Once again, I submit that is is possible, however unlikely, that Bryan Colangelo knows more about basketball than I do. And maybe even more than you.

[GM]

I'm all for the league going back to the paper ballot only, and only in cities that have NBA teams. And I'm not even in one of those cities. Which doesn't matter because I don't vote anyway. That being said, I'm with Tiger. I kinda like the comedy of train wrecks (not actual train wrecks, understand. Those are seldom funny).

As for the Jose-Jack backcourt, I say whatever gets them the W. It doesn't seem like the best idea to me, but it's not the end of the world.

As for Dallas' post, I'm against trading Calderon, too. But he's basically saying what if you get back a top-notch borderline all-star 2-guard in return or more? The point being that you can't just make a blanket statement that they should never trade anyone. Unless you mean that for what they could get back, it wouldn't be worth it. In which case you mean that Calderon's value isn't high enough to get anything back worth considering.

[AS]

Doug, I know a way and have a request that will make this blog better. Will you please stop posting negative comments (See: 'James C.'). I don't like to read them and you don't like to get them so by posting them it is a lose-lose situation. Plus, it also likely encourages them to post more.

Thanks.

[jimt]

So Gilbert is a victim of Greed.These outrageous salaries and global spotlight also bring feelings of insecurity and fear. These athletes get guns to reverse that feeling, to empower themselves mentally.
Also how is West fit to take the court the dude was caught triple fisted packing 2 guns and a shotgun in a guitar case while riding a motorcycle?
Stern def has a prob on his hands and the answer should be mandatory counseling for all teams all players by professionals.
Kinda like the rookie classes,this to weed out anxieties among players which lets be frank are needed.When you take a poverty ridden player and hand him loots of cash and all this player knows is rap,guns,women,drugs...etc it should be a non brainer.end of rant lol.
Doug im also afraid you 2 are falling into oblivion.On the main page of the star there is a scroll down to look up columnists and im outraged Super Grunt is not on this elusive list and therfore am calling for an investigation and also someones resignation!!! And if I get this new position your private jet (i hear Mcrady is selling his) would not be too far behind :)

[TC]

Doug you say that the time is not right to give Demar more minutes, although you all so said that its to early to start making line up changes when we were 11-17 or some mark like that, i know it was low. The point is Jose got injured Jack came in filled his role excellently and helped win us game 5 games in a row plus 2 wins against elite teams. Therefore meaning that there were line up changes and it actually helped and it was not to early to change the line up. I believe its not to early to let Demar play because If you trully want him to flourish and become a good 2 gaurd then you will have to see his limits and potential on a night were he puts up 12 by the 3rd quarter.

Your thoughts?

Blogger's note: Why do you ask? You obviously know my thoughts since you opened your statement with them and, believe me, they haven't changed in 12 hours since I wrote them