High flying Bargnani and a nifty name for a night of shooting

Join Doug Smith at noon Friday for a live basketball Q&A, as the Raptors get ready to take on the Cleveland Cavaliers.

So it’s snowing and blowing here and it finally feels like a winter morning and all I can say to that is:

Bring on spring!

Seriously, this is enough, thank you very much.

-

The things you see that make you rub your eyes and shake your head.

We’re standing around after practice Thursday, waiting to be entertained by the musings of the eminently quotable Raptors (and, actually I’m being quite facetious) and there’s the usual hijinks going on on the court.

Alvin’s down at one end try to school someone in a one-on-game (and trash talking all the time), a couple of guys are getting up free throws and right in front of us, Marc Iavaroni’s working with Andrea, Amir and Rasho.

Usual stuff at first -- post moves, up-and-unders, jump hooks – and then the move a few more feet from the basket and run some screen-roll stuff.

And I swear, during the running of said drills, we watched Andrea peel off imaginary screens, roll hard, take a lob pass and dunk.

Now, that may not sound like much but think. Think hard.

When was the last time you saw Andrea Bargnani leap, take a lob and dunk?

I can’t remember one and I see him working after practice three or four days a week.

E Koreen mentioned it, too; and if there are two of us who don’t think we’ve seen something before, there’s a good chance we haven’t.

Now, I’m not saying they’re going to put backdoor cuts in for Andrea into the playbook or anything but they could.

-

I don’t know much about miracles except that I wish I could conjure one or two up every now then but I do know that it’s not easy to get that done.

And for that reason, I put it a 1-99 that we see Mr. Bosh on the basketball court tonight. Maybe even less than that.

If he’s still got some pain in his left ankle and still hasn’t done much more than stationary shooting drills this week, there’s absolutely no sense to run him out there.

This team has bigger fish to fry other than one game against a good Cleveland team on a Friday night in late-February. Bosh knows it, Jay knows it, the other players know it and so do you, really.

If Bosh knows anything, as he mentioned Thursday, it’s folly to think try and come back too early from anything.

The ankle’s getting better, the swelling’s gone, but there’s discomfort and there was some pain and that’s more than enough to spend another night in a suit.

-

So I’m watching the women’s pucks for a minute (I still can’t get over the longshot that it was Canada-US for gold) and the dude doing the play-by-play is picking out the famous people in the stands.

He nails Gretzky with the prorogue doofus from Ottawa, gets Michael J. Fox right and then sees one of our best Olympic athletes of all time signing autographs.

“And there’s Sara Hughes.”

And I don’t know whether to sigh in exasperation or barf.

I sighed.

-

What’s up in Cleveland?

Well, they say Shaq suffered a “significant” thumb injury last night as the Cavs laid waste to the Boston Celtics.

My man Brian Windhorst makes it sound like a pretty big win.

-

Got any questions? Well, I’ll be around here about noon to answer them if you’d like.

-

Nifty 250.

That’s what they call shooting sessions that Antoine Wright goes through with assistant coach Eric Hughes back at the Air Canada Centre most evenings after afternoon practices.

Saw Antoine give Eric a signal for a 6 p.m. get together when practice ended just after noon on Thursday and figured I’d check with Wright to see how long he’d be hanging out and shooting.

He said it really depends on the night, his mood and the willingness of the ball to go into the basket.

Sometimes if he’s making shot after shot, he can get to 250 attempts and feel good about in 45 minutes; sometimes it can be appreciably longer.

The drills are pretty much as you’d expect. Five-station shooting drills inside and outside the three-point line, one dribble pull-ups and work coming off imaginary screens.

Pretty basic stuff but as Wright said, he needs to feel each night that he’s in a good rhythm before he’s satisfied with the work.

-

I’m told the big pucks game doesn’t start until 9:30 Friday night? Sweet.

We may get four quarters of uninterrupted basketball and you’ll still have a chance to repair to the comfort of a nice seat to see the buik of the big game while some of us type.

Very cool for you. And me.

-

So, I get practice over with and a tortuous torturous time in the dentist’s chair getting cleaned up (actually, Liz wasn’t torturing me as much as helping) and was able to go check out a game.

And let me tell you, the Hawthorn Hawks had a tough afternoon.

Before a home crowd of 3, which swelled to double-digits for a few minutes after PLASP got out, I think, they were edged 48-33 by the Cougars of Queenston, a team that looked like the Lakers of the Peel Grade 8 league.

Super Son wasn’t sure what that did to their playoff hopes. I can’t imagine it did much.

-

Oh, and get the mail in here, please. I figure a nice night in a lobby enjoying a refreshment and doing the mailbag is a fine way to spend a Saturday eve in Oklahoma City and I need some help with good questions.

And since the most convenient way to get to Oklahoma City on a Saturday while avoiding O’Hare is to fly through – get this! – Minneapolis, by the time I eventually land amongst the tumbleweeds, I may need that lobby and a way to put travel woes out of mind.

-

Comments

[Matt M]

Tough game tonight. Raps will have to be on their A-game, but even then they don't have much chance. It will be interesting to watch how they respond.

[Don W.]

Doug: As a Canadian citizen you should be bowing to the "porogue doofus". If that doofus was in Ontario we would not be burdened with the ridiculous "HST". If he was in the USA they would not be on the verge of going bankrupt with their marxist leaning president. (At this point in time every man, woman and child in the US is on the hook for $40,000 plus due to their tax burden.)
You are entitled to your opinion but I am not sure it belongs in the playworld of sports.

Blogger's note: But yours does?

[Simon S-G]

Prorouge doofus! I love it! :)

[oliveira]

shouldn't Jay begin limiting his rotation as the team gets into March and begins the playoff push? We used 11 guys the last game and I think that's too much.

[Fred]

I think it would be a treat if MLSE puts the hockey game on the beautiful HD screens for the fans at the ACC and invite them to stay. What's the big rush on cleaning up the place after the ball game?

[Ryan M. in Ottawa]

Going to make for a tough game tonight, but looking at the big picture this is really the best time (if there is such a thing) for Bosh to be hurt isn't it? Allows him to get some extra rest before the home stretch and the playoffs.

[Don W.]

Doug:
You are right--my opinion does not belong there either--but you were the one who brought it up.

[Johnny's]

Doug,

Do you think this year's team is better than '06/'07? Or the oh-so-lovable '00/'01?

Blogger's note: Tell you at the end of the season; there's more than a quarter of the year to go

[Baester]

Hey Doug,
Quick question: do you still enjoy flying and traveling? Or have you done it so much that it's burnt you out a bit? Or better yet, do you dislike anything inside US borders, but enjoy anything outside of it?

Blogger's note: I think "enjoy" might be a stretch but, yes, there are lots of things I like inside the US border.

[Fred Lefevre]

50 years ago my daddy told me , son , if you want to keep your friends , do not talk religion or politics . The prorogue doofus comment falls into that catagory . I have friends I have known for 65 years following his advice .

[Lorie]

At least he limited his role at the game to that of an athletic supporter; we should perhaps give small thanks there was apparently no piano in the vicinity or we might have had to endure a vanity performance of our national anthem.

[Ryan]

Gotta say Doug, that "prorogue doofus" comment is crossing a line somewhere. You've done a very good job of not getting political before, so one tiny little mess up is nothing to get all up in arms over.. but still, it lends itself to creating a political debate. Nothing wrong with that, but this should be kept an arena just for sports.

Besides, McGuinty is proroging as well, so for all we know that's who you really meant.

Blogger's note: Maybe I was :)

[Z]

Fred: If you can't talk politics or religion with your friends, who can you talk about it with? You've missed 65 years worth of great conversation.

Sidenote: You're a ~70 year old Raps fan? Love it.

[Tom]

To Don W.:

First of all, no citizen should ever bow to elected representative. They are a public servant, this is not an oligarchy. As well, Doofus was only elected in his Calgary riding, he is not a president. They are paid good money to represent us and to work for us, not to take vacation so they can avoid uncomfortable investigations and watch sports. Their job is to govern, not hide behind prorouging.

Second of all, the US is in their fiscal position because of the problems created by the bigger doofus that was in power for 8 years previous to this administration.

Thirdly, Doofus's finance minister was in Ontario and look where that got us. The fact that the current financial Doofus was given the federal position is still mind-boggling to this day. We were in a surplus position before this administration. The current government has increased spending more than any other administration in history and made inappropriate tax cuts to put us into this position.

Lastly, Doug has all the right in the world to voice his opinion whether it's contrary to your own opinion or not. This is his blog and you do not have to read it. Any person not advocating freedom on speech does not respect a basic tenant of a open democratic society.

Had to get that off my chest. Not sure if you will even post it as I know this isn't a political forum.

[rob]

Hi Doug,
so Lebron yesterday made a strong pitch to resign Ilgauskas ("I want him to be back here" were his exact words),,, wouldn't that be considered as tempering, or does it only count if the GM , his staff or the coach made such comments ?

Blogger's note: If Z's been waived, anyone can say anything about him

[REG]

Please!!! In the years I've been reading DOUG SMITH'S Blog, we've debated dancing with the stars, rules of grammar, the nature of freaky looking insects in the far east, - and all sorts of random stuff - based on the world as seen through the eyes of DOUG SMITH. It is after all, his blog - what do I care how he refers to a political leader. He's not inciting hatred or bigotry. I can't believe people have got to have a response to stuff like this - Half the nation commented in blogs, on facebook, pages - all over the place, ranting and raving about their opinions of the proroguing of parliament. Doug is a writer, a journalist, heaven forbid, a Canadian with an opinion about the happens in the country and the world outside the ACC. If you don't want his personal touch when you gather your Raptors info - read the boxscore instead, or even an article. But when you read someone's blog - you get to find out a bit about that someone while you do - whatever bits that person wants to share!

Blogger's note: You missed the Mighty Yankees and the Hawthorn Hawks :); but thanks

[james]

By prorogue doofus, did you mean the well-upholstered gentleman engaged in a photo op with Janet Jones Gretzky? More humour than mess-up according to this reader.

[Thane]

I don't normally do this, Doug, but 'Torturous' is the word you're looking for. 'Tortuous' means long and winding.

Blogger's note: I'll get that fixed. Thanks

[greg]

Sara Hughes? The girl is the best olympian of all time, or at least Canadian, not to mention she is the flag bearer, and they still couldnt get her name right.

and yeah, proroguing parliament for 4 days or even a week or 2 is normal in a parliamentary democracy like the one we have here but for 2 months. Thats classic. All criticism is deserved on that one.

[T I]

Don W, i find it humerous that you want to talk about American politics here and on top of that you seem to believe yourself to be the de-facto voice of reason. America is more in debt than ever because of two wars (one being ridiculously stupid) which was brought upon them from their worst president in their history; the health-care proposal by the democrats actually saves them money within 10 years. The republicans at this point after the last 8 years of horror are the last people anyone should listen to in my opinion but what do I know I'm just a Canadian like you lol.

On a RELATED note, this was gonna be a tougher game for the raps even with bosh tonight because of shaqs injury in my opinion. LeBron said it well last night by saying in a post-game quote that they play a lot faster without shaq, but then mentioned they need him for the post season because it's more of a half-court game in the playoffs. Couldn't agree more, but i still think they are a better team without Shaq.

[Andy]

"Doofus: an incompetent, foolish, or stupid person." I disagree, shrewd? sure. Cowardice, I can see that argument. Stupid? Foolish? and/or Incompetent? That's a bit much.

[MJ]

Yeah! My old school Queenston Dr. went like 4 seasons undefeated at one point. Looks like the tradition continues.

[mando]

To Don W.:
First of all, no citizen should ever bow to elected representative. They are a public servant, this is not an oligarchy. As well, Doofus was only elected in his Calgary riding, he is not a president. They are paid good money to represent us and to work for us, not to take vacation so they can avoid uncomfortable investigations and watch sports. Their job is to govern, not hide behind prorouging.
Second of all, the US is in their fiscal position because of the problems created by the bigger doofus that was in power for 8 years previous to this administration.
Thirdly, Doofus's finance minister was in Ontario and look where that got us. The fact that the current financial Doofus was given the federal position is still mind-boggling to this day. We were in a surplus position before this administration. The current government has increased spending more than any other administration in history and made inappropriate tax cuts to put us into this position.
Lastly, Doug has all the right in the world to voice his opinion whether it's contrary to your own opinion or not. This is his blog and you do not have to read it. Any person not advocating freedom on speech does not respect a basic tenant of a open democratic society.

A big amen to that!

[The J]

For all the people offended here, you would think he wasn't a doofus. I mean, let's face it, most politicians are doofuses (is that the plural for doofus, or is it something like doofi?). And seeing as this is a blog, which would imply that opinion IS welcome, Doug sure could have said a lot worse.

An on another topic, you know basketball, Doug when you said you thought the Raps could go 1-2 for this stretch, was that factoring CB4's injury? Just wondering if you still thought that the Raps could pull out a win without Bosh againtst either the Cavs or a solid OKC?

Blogger's note: I think they could get one regardless

[WSG]

As a fellow Canadian, I am somewhat offended and I feel compelled to suggest that if free speech is considered a precious right, the responsibility to use it judiciously is a weight that we all must bear. To whatever extent one might disagree with the actions of the nation’s leader, blatant disrespect towards him in a sports column seems uncalled for and to my mind, just wrong. My opinion.