With apologies to Rudy T ...

Ready for another busy stretch?

A check of the trusty old schedule shows that after this three-day break between games, they’ll come fast and furious. Nine in 14 days starting Friday in New York.

Sweet.

Lots of games to dissect and the emotional ups and downs a fella experiences over a nine-game stretch are hugely entertaining.

Like this is.

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Because, sadly, this is what we some people do too often around practice, there was lots of looking back during the various chat sessions with players and coaches.

And about the only thing of real interest was Chris Bosh doing a little reflection on the mental state of the Raptors:

“When you get down 20, guys start playing harder and I think sometimes we feel the pressure a little bit. Sometimes, you think shots are going to in and it doesn’t happen. Coach showed us about four clips where we took shots with about 18 seconds left on the shot clock.

‘We need to move the ball, put the defence in motion and not be so quick to shoot it.”

Of course, he’s dead on in his assessment and the immediate thought as he said it was, ‘I believe we’ve heard this all before.’

If we’ve said it once, we’ve said it a million times, mental toughness is not something this team has in spades right now. It can be developed over time, through lessons learned in hard losses and narrow wins, but it hasn’t come quickly enough.

To paraphrase the great Rudy Tomjanovich:

“Don’t ever over-estimate the heart of a Raptor.”

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You what I don’t get?

Linear thinking.

Like from the guy who e-mailed me the other day to suggest that this version of the Raptors, with its depth and athleticism, would be so better with Shawn Marion instead of Hedo Turkoglu and if I didn’t understand that, well, I was a dope.

It is one of the tenets of sports, especially the team-building aspect of it that you cannot do that sort of thing.

Why? Because if they keep Shawn Marion, they likely don’t make the Sonny Weems, Amir Johnson trade; they probably don’t have a chance to get Jarrett Jack, Antoine Wright’s not a possibility.

It is not a linear world, pro sports; to think so makes no sense at all.

It goes back as far as Araujo instead of Iguodala and what that would have meant. Well, maybe it doesn’t mean Bargnani, maybe it doesn’t mean the same Carter trade, maybe it doesn’t mean Joey instead of Danny Granger.

Folks, it’s not worth getting yourself worked up about; it’s a game that can’t be played.

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So much for my idea that maybe putting Jose back in the starting lineup made sense, eh?

Shot down in flames pretty much by everyone involved, as you read this morning, I presume.

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Oh yeah, mail for Saturday. We could use some good stuff over there in the inbox, pretty slim pickings at the moment.

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This is apropos of nothing, really, but nothing is what we do here every now and then.

Super Son, as a Christmas gift, put together a couple of CDs for me and the Smelly Ford Focus, music we had lying around but not compiled.

One of them includes Springsteen’s The Rising and I have to tell you, it’s like the first track I click to most days.

One of those songs you never hear but always want to and, I will admit, it used to be a little goosebumpy when they’d play it in Miami before Heat games right after it was released.

That’s all. Back to basketball.

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Bogus Bosh-to-Denver chatter yesterday?

Add another team to the list and this is going to a wild, wild five weeks.It is my fervent hope that we get to 24 teams linked to him before this is over.

By “wild, wild” I mean excruciatingly painful.

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I tell ya, I have a hard time feeling any sympathy for a sports franchise owned by Donald Sterling, a guy who, and I quote from the Los Angeles Times

"has agreed to pay a record $2.725 million to settle allegations that he discriminated against African Americans, Hispanics and families with children at scores of apartment buildings he owns in and around Los Angeles”

but, man, I do feel bad for Mike Dunleavy and the rest of the Clippers.

Blake Griffin done for the year after knee surgery?

Awful.

I had a chance to chat briefly – very briefly – with Griffin when we were out in L.A. in November and he struck me as a good kid who’d do whatever was necessary to get back on the court.

He was months away at that time from playing, rehabbing hard and being as much a part of the team as he could.

Marcus Camby, when I talked to him, spoke highly of Griffin’s character and personality and the news yesterday just kind of stunk.

But it may have prolonged Camby’s time in L.A., actually.

Had Griffin been able to come back and contribute even a little bit, it might have made it easier for the Clips to deal Camby and his $9.1 million contract that expires this year.

Now, with a team on the periphery of the playoff race – 3.5 games out now – it might be worth hanging on to him and seeing if they can make a run.

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Let’s see.

They’re holding a dunk contest to get into the dunk contest?

I guess that just creates another possibility for Young DeRozan to get in after all the lobbying he’s done. The more in the potential pool of contestants, the better for him.

But, man, they’ll do anything to jazz up the rather boring – read ‘mind-numbing, eyes-glazing-over, stupifying’ – Friday night of all-star weekend.

I’m just trying to figure out what they’re going to do the juice the Saturday, which remains stuck in about 1998.

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Hmm, flight to New York today and new “heightened” security measures.

I can’t imagine how “heightened” they can be from the last time I flew, when you went through the scanner, had the computer bag emptied and searched, couldn’t carry on luggage and then, after passing through security, were forced through another check where they, for a change, emptied a computer bag and performed a full body pat-down.

Maybe a third layer of intrusion?

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Comments

[Lola]

mmm...so Indiana overcomes a 24-pt deficit to beat the Suns...just saying

[Hope Caper]

Hey Doug,
Yes the next few games should be fun to watch. I just wanted to comment on Triano's and Bosh's comments yesterday after practice as shown on the Raps website. I was very impressed with how well spoken both men were and how thoughtful their answers and analysis were. Not the usual cliche responses. In case anyone thinks Jay doesn't have the boys' attention they sounded pretty tuned in to me.
Anyway looking forward to the NY game and your as usual inspiriational comments.

[Penny]

Hi Doug - maybe instead of saying that Jose should get his starting job back, it should be that Jose's playing time should be increased to at least 30 minutes. If that mean's that Jack's time is decreased, then so be it.
I also noticed that the Pacers came back from 24 to beat the Suns last night.

[Kevin A.]

"Maybe a third layer of intrusion? "

I'm sure for that, they'll invent a 4th for you... :)

Also, regarding the clippers, I'm sure you've read Simmons' summary of the Clippers curse from just before the drat? This is just another 'notch on the belt', so to speak.

[marc]

I want to comment on the Bosh situation. I think we can all agree that the T-mac scenario (leaves via free agency and Raps get nothing) is an outcome that must be avoided. If that happens, it sets the franchise back years (again) and will frustrate the fans and ultimately affect ticket sales and team revenues. That should cost the GM his job.
The sign-and-trade route is fraught with risks. For example, what if Bosh wants to play with Wade in Miami or in NY with d'Antoni or in Chicago with Rose. What will the return package of a sign-and-trade look like? The answer, it will bear a lot of similarities to the garbage returned from the VC trade. Not a good outcome.
The ideal outcome, of course, is re-signing Bosh. This is also the biggest risk. Collangelo would essentially be risking his job and short-term competitiveness of this franchise on his intuition that Bosh is willing to re-sign here. Very risky and if he goes this route he'd better be right.
The prudent thing to do would be to try and make a deal with someone between now and the trade deadline. If the rumours of Houston or LA's willingness to deal have any grain of truth then that would be a great start to negotiations and should not be dismissed or taken lightly. Both the rumoured Rocket and Laker deals are likely to be better than what we could get in a sign-and-trade. Brian should be talking to these teams to see if he can get more out of them and hitting up other teams. The threat of LA or Houston landing Bosh should at least get the attention of other teams in the conference and Collangelo has a chance to create a bidding war. I assume Brian is doing just that.
Dismissing these rumous as simply an annoyance is silly.

Blogger's note: I'll say this one more time: Both those deals were figments of people's imaginations. They were -- and are -- an absolute annoyance to me

[Don W.]

Doug:
One quick question: if Oklahoma City makes the playoffs does Kevin Durant become a top three MVP contender? His numbers are much the same as those being put up by James, Anthony and Kobe. Early in the year everyone was lauding Nash as being a contender but the Suns could very well not even make the playoffs. I believe they are only in by 2 games in the loss column at this point.

Blogger's note: Top 3? A slim, slim, slim chance at being a distant third, maybe. Closer to top 5 perhaps

[joeu]

I wonder how many will read this blog posting and think " ... we could be watching Iguodala, Carter and Danny Granger on this team right now ? That Babcock is such a dope".

[Simon S-G]

The Rising is easily in Springsteen's top 5, great choice by Super Son.

[Dadeo]

Heightened security....sounds like the only thing they could add to the list is a full cavity search..enjoy!!

[steve]

Hey Doug,

If you bump into Triano sometime before Friday's tip off can you let him know Calderon just has to start, cause Jose's limited minuts is killing Steve from Mt. Alberts - fantasy team!

Thx....

[Dallas]

Hey Doug,

Unlike many, I guess, I don't hate the Turk signing now, I'm a wins guy not a indv. numbers guy, and I think while he had a few bad games, Turk will help us win. And I don't know how much Marion wanted to be here. So I hear ya.

But, I can't help but point out that actually, If we singed Marion to a figure that would have brought us up to the cap (which is pretty close to what he got, and less than we gave Turk) then we would have been able to use the MLE, which is what got us Jack. We still could have traded Roko and Deflno for Amir and Weems, what we would not a have is Antoine Wright, but we would likely have Parker and Hump. Now had we not signed Marion, and the Turk went to Portland, yes, then we'd only have been left with capspace and holes at back up pg and sf.

It was signing Turk that actually put all that flexibility in jeopardy for a while, with all the contracts we had to renounce. If we had not been so fortunate to find S&T scenario, none of those other things would have happened, but again they could have had we signed Marion. Would they have, I don't know, but I think it's erroneous to say that the decision to go with Turk was all that could have enabled it. Evident in how it was a late stroke of luck to get that S&T is the AP situation, as we had not yet known that we would have actually been able to sign him, before he already agreed with Cleveland, which according to BC we had just barely missed.

While I agree it's in the interview mirror, comparatively it would be Marion, AP and Hump, (Jack, Amir, Sonny) vs Wright Turk(Jack, Amir ,Sonny), that it would boil down too, for those playing that game. And that's unless you figure that keeping Marion would have made BC somehow less likely to look for a back up PG with the MLE.

It was actually a pretty risky move, that made for high drama and a really fun off season. I was ecstatic then, and I'm patient now. And hey, again, who knows if Marion would have been happy to stay here? And you can't drive forward if you're looking in the rearview, I'll give you that. Anyway have a good day!

Cheers,

[Dallas]

I meant "Turk" not "The Turk" I hope that typo does not offend. If so, I apologize.

[rob]

Hi Doug,
I m just wondering, with regards to Bosh's situation, let's say at the end of the season he states he wants to play for a contender and decides he wants to leave the raps and go to either miami or clev. while agreeing to a sign and trade to get his max contract. would that limit toronto's options? because instead of dealing him to a noncontender (say Gstate) and getting better pieces back, now the pool of trade partners is much smaller and the trade pieces of those contending teams may not be what toronto really need .
Thanx as always.

[TC]

Well doug I told you they should handle the jack-jose situation like they did with jose and tj, and thats what happend. Clearly proving that even Jay knows that this team plays better when Jose doesnt start, so ofcourse your idea is going to go down crashing and burning because you did not listen to me. You said that were 2-2 when jose came back and what you forgot to mention was teams are also scoring more on us and that's is cause of Jose's defence. How can you still say start jose It amazes me, seriously.

Blogger's note: Shockingly, I didn't listen to you, you're right. Silly me because, well, just because. And please, before you get married to the idea of teams scoring more because one guy is playing, what, 24 minutes since he got back, please consider the opposition. I know that probably won't happen because it doesn't fit your argument but ...

[Matty-Pix]

I'm a bit suprised to hear Jose won't be heading to the starting unit.
Like you, I think his off the ball shooting abilities make him a better fit for the first unit, playing with Hedo.

[Mike kovacs]

Doug I noticed that Denver handled Orlando even without HWSNBN. They played Superman much the same way the Raps did and at half time the 'experts' were bringing up many of the points you have been saying for a long time. Dwight has a very limited offensive arsenal. Do you think that teams have been giving him too much respect on the offensive end? Are other teams starting to recognize that? I think that unless he gets more moves or a better range on his shot he may be plateauing. What do you think? Thanks, Mike

Blogger's note: I think his offence, as it's always been, is the weakest part of his game. Guess maybe the brilliant one-on-one coaching he's allegedly getting is taking some time to get through

[coachd]

Doug,
Totally agree with your take on linear thinking. If only life happened in a vacuum , then linear thinking might make sense. Until then...

[AK]

Hi Doug
about Turk, i know it takes time to gel in and stuff but how much longer we have to wait till hes playing comfortably at the position he is today, he doesn't seem very positive right now, frustrated.
not very realistic scenario, but: if opportunity arose and some GM makes a trade proposal for Turk, who would you trade him for?

[Fred]

there's no telling that DeRozan will even be invited. I can't figure out how the NBA chooses the participants for all their All-star contests. If he does get an invite, he will put on a show for them.

[Tiger]

By strict definition you twisted RT's quote rather than paraphrased it. (ha!)
But every Raps fan knows what you're talking about.
From the not-so-distant recesses of this dinosaur's memory, I remember a young Buds defenseman (hint: wore #23) who was lauded as a lockerroom leader. After each all-too-frequent sorry defeat, he always put on a brave face and always said the right things about physical and mental toughness and giving 110 percent effort 60 minutes a game, yadda yadda yadda.
And every game the TV, radio guys and ink-stained wretches noted how he made the biggest and costliest gaffs and how the poor young fella never seemed to get away with them.
Oh yeah... competing for the last playoff spot was a major achievement for his team, but often just a dream.
To paraphrase/twist another trite saying: "the more things change, the more > >".
...just another fan in TO wanting more than the same old same old...

[Dave T]

Doug: Not a bad quote from Chris Paul which you can relate to the "absolutely horrendous defense" from the Raptors point guards

Hoopshype:
What player is hardest for you to defend against?

CP: Probably guys who are as quick as I am. A ballhandler. In this league if you are guarding a good ballhandler, one guy can’t defend him, it takes two. There is too much open space on the court. If it’s a guy who can really handle the ball well, you can’t guard him I don’t care who you are.

[kazbid]

hey doug..why does the NBA always try to change the format of the all star dunk competition??

i mean the all-time "best" dunk compeitions were in the normal: "pick 5-6 guys..let them do whatever dunks they want" format

i cant recall all the stupid ideas they have tried..but by far the worst was the one where they had contestants spin a wheel and then do the dunk selected by the wheel

also..forcing ppl to use teammates is relatively new..i think the first year was the one with vince and tmac both on the raptors

like just pick the best dunkers or ppl who wanna be in it..and let them do what they want
its not that complicated..

[Saransh Bhatt]

Hey Doug, a couple of questions here,
Do you understand the logic of Triano sticking with Jack in the starting lineup? I mean it's very clear that Calderon is a better passer, play-maker, shooter, and doesn't cough up the ball as often as Jack. I can't see why he wants to stick with Jack. Also, when you go to "The city that never sleeps," what do you do in your spare time there? Do you visit any specific bars in the Big Apple?

[jc]

ahh....Lola beat me to it. I guess we really are Phoenix North

[Sean]

Isnt it a bit distasteful for the Heat to play a song about 9/11 before a basketball game?