Some good, some bad and of course Turk had to play

Tough night and there will be more of ‘em; get used to it if you aren’t already.

But it was a close game, almost a buzzer beater if Bosh gets that shot about a foot further, good early comeback by the locals and, all in all, not a bad night’s entertainment.

So …

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THREE POINTERS

Lose A Game, Save A Guy

Yes, Hedo Turkoglu was bad last night, couldn’t make a shot, didn’t play with much energy, took two very bad three-pointers late in a game that he shouldn’t have.

And you know what, I’m fine with him being on the court. No problem with that at all.

No one knows precisely what family issue he was dealing with last weekend in Turkey – his coaches and teammates know, we don’t and that’s cool with me, too – but it was obvious he wasn’t right.

But coaching is as much about managing men as drawing up plays and it was important for Turk’s psyche that he be out there and I’m sure Jay knew that.

“He wasn’t the only guy that struggled but when you think about what he’s gone through the last week, instead of knocking him down, we’ve got to try to pick him up and get him back into the fold with us.”

Yeah, they lost and Turk missed shots. But in the grand scheme of things, it was one game. And if you send a message and still take a loss, well, stuff happens. There goes the 30-0, post-all-star finish. Big whoop.

You don’t think Turk noticed that his coach stuck with him in tough times? You don’t think the rest of the players didn’t think, ‘hey, Jay’s giving a guy going through crap his usual role?’ I’m sure they did. And I’m sure it’ll pay off sometime. That’s how the game works.

It didn’t work out last night. Big deal. They still had a shot to win and didn’t.

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Two Out Of Three Pinfalls

I will say this for Andrea Bargnani last night: He got down there and did some hand-to-hand combat with Marc Gasol that made me sit up and take notice.

He was locking him up arm-in-arm fighting for rebounds – Bargnani has a tendency to shy away from that kind of wrestling – and I swear I saw Andrea get two rebounds in traffic in the fourth quarter.

I know it’s one game but, still, it had to heartening to see and when you compare it to the manhandling the Grizzlies put on Bargnani and Bosh and the Raptors when they played in Memphis eons ago, it shows how far the Raptors have come.

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Tough Kid

A whole lot of people thought last night might be a big Reggie night because they needed his girth and guile to go up against Zach Randolph.

Well, how about that Amir Johnson?

Reggie was okay in his four minutes – four points, four rebounds – but it was Johnson who more than held his own defending Randolph for long stretches.

I don’t know what the future holds for Amir – I still think he’s perfectly suited for the role of frontcourt sparkplug off the bench – but he continues to be the surprise of the season for the Raptors.

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The rest? Here’s the rest:

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Some deal, eh?

No matter what transpires the rest of this season, Danny Ferry won himself the executive of the year award with that gem of a trade Wednesday.

In case you missed it, here’s how it breaks down

Cleveland gets:

Antawn Jamison from Washington and Sebastian Telfair from the Clippers.

Los Angeles gets:

Drew Gooden from Washington.

Washington gets:

Zydrunas Ilgauskas, the rights to former second-round pick Emir Preldzic and a 2010 first-round pick from Cleveland and Al Thornton from the Clippers

The winner?

Duh!

I know the Cavs had a dalliance with Amar’e Stoudemire and everyone expected that deal to get done but Jamison is, in my opinion, so much better a fit it’s not even funny.

Great guy, doesn’t demand the ball, can play at both ends and would seemingly be a perfect complement to LeBron and Shaq.

Jamison, 33, may have two years and about $28 million left on his deal, but if you’re the Cavs, who care? This is all about winning this year and making LeBron happy.

Does is give Cleveland, which already has the best record in the East, what it needs to compete with the presumptive West champion Lakers?

Probably not; the Cavs are thinner at centre, are still lacking at point guard (if anyone thinks Telfair helps, they best adjust their meds) and don’t have many athletes at the wings.

But they had to do something to try to appease James and this was a bold, bold move.

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So I’m watching the Olympics for a second in the press room yesterday afternoon, listening to a curling tutorial going on over my shoulder, when I glance at the TV just in time to see that cauldron thing behind the fence.

And I’m thinking: Did they model that after the rusty monstrosity on the west side of the Air Canada Centre?

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Oh yeah, if you want to send mail, send it along to here. Figure with the game here on Saturday and no practice Sunday, we might delay the mailbag a day and do the usual post-game stuff on Sunday.

Or we might do what we did last week, nice tight mailbag and the usual drivel on Sunday morning.

We’ll see.

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This is how trade rumours start, sort of.

I’m sitting on the bench a couple of hours before the game when a guy sidles up to me.

“You hear? Chris and Andrea for LeBron and Shaq.”

Much guffawing and laughing and I tell the guy, sure, I’ll put it out there, citing an inside source.

“No way, use my name, let’s get this started.”

Okay, so, according to Alvin Williams, the Raptors are toying with a blockbuster that would send Chris Bosh and Andrea Bargnani to Cleveland for the expiring contracts of LeBron James and Shaquille O’Neal.

(Now, before anyone – and someone will – starts debating the merits of it, it’s a joke.)

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Down in Memphis, this is how that game played in the papers.

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Still with trades, since so many aren’t official – Tracy to the Kings for Kevin Martin, Nate Robinson to Boston for Eddie House, even John Salmons to Milwaukee for Kurt Thomas and Francisco Elson – we won’t fully dissect them until the morning.

First off, deals can break down; secondly, I may need stuff for here in the morning.

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I will say this, though:

Darko Milicic for Brian Cardinal is perhaps less significant than Patrick O’Bryant for Will Solomon a year ago.

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So what’s going to happen with the Raptors before 3 p.m. today?

Well, every source I talked to last night suggests very little, which means something big could happen.

I kid, of course, but I do know Bryan is working hard seeing what’s out there, both in big names and little names, bold moves and tweaks.

And as we saw yesterday, things have a way of changing rather quickly. Amare’s not a Cav, Tracy’s not a Knick and the stuff you read in the days leading up to today don’t necessarily come true.

Speaking of Stoudemire, I asked a very high ranking NBA executive last night if Jamison to Cleveland meant Stoudemire to the Heat. Here’s what I got:

“Don’t know, but I’m beginning to doubt it.”

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All right, time to go get settled for what might be a busy deadline day. Travel times – a 4 p.m. Porter flight to Jersey – and practice times are going to preclude anything live in these parts today but, rest assured, soon as I hear something, we’ll get some post up from here.

Comments

[Jacques LeBlanc]

Will it make sense for the Raps to go after Stoudemire for lets say Turk? Having Bosh, AB and Amare up front would be awesome.

[Derek]

Hi Doug,
Love your column and read it daily.

Last night aside, thus far Hedo hasn't really gelled (yet) as much as the Raps would have hoped. I had read one "long-shot" rumor about the Raps trading Hedo and another bench player to Memphis for Rudy Gay - do you see that as a possibility at all?

Lastly - you give Triano credit for sticking with Hedo, late in the game, even though he was obviously struggling (at both ends). While I can see your point about "sending a supportive message to Hedo", wouldn't it have sent a better message to all the players if he'd gone to someone else instead? The message being that we want/need to win, and I'm going to put the guys on the floor who give us the best chance. Given the number of guys who are now fighting for minutes every game - wouldn't that be the message you'd want to send?

Thx Doug

[Matt M]

Disappointing game yesterday. The Raps had it in the bag and but seemed to let up, just a little bit, one minute too early. The Grizz had all the momentum in OT, not to mention Calderon was horrifically overmatched when the Raps switched on the pick and roll featuring Gay and whoever (I think Conley but I can't remember if the Grizz were just trying to get the Gay on Calderon matchup. Probably both). Good play call by Hollins 'cause the Raps help defense was heavily focused on Randolph and Gasol. By the time the Raps adjusted the game was pretty much over. Oh well, it was a pretty fun game to watch all-in-all.
I hope Turk's family is ok.

[Blake Kennedy]

I vehemently disagree with the approach Triano is taking viz. Turkoglu. If Turkoglu isn't right mentally for whatever reason(s) that I'm sure are very troubling and personal, then don't play him. Let him take care of whatever he needs to do and play him when he's right. You do not drag the whole team down with him. Solidarity, yes; mutual despondency, no.

This team doesn't need examples of unaccountability. That's not a positive example. Now guys have a precedent set: "If I have a big enough contract, I can play as poorly and as selfishly and as lazily as I want, too - just like Turk!" That's not the message you want to send, but Jay is sending it. It's time for this team to embrace accountability and other-centeredness as concepts, and the only way to do that is to sit Turkoglu's lazy rear end down and let Weems or whoever actually wants to compete and fight play. Weems has been playing better than Turkoglu for a long period of time, anyway.

Frankly the whole team needs to be accountable for what happened last night: at practice today, Triano should just make them all run. Just running, maybe some pushups, maybe some full-court defensive drills - except Turkoglu. He should stand off to the side and the team should be told, "The reason you're running and he's not is because you let it happen. You guys failed to get him on board and playing on the same page, so you have to run. It's your fault, not his."

[Jose]

Actually, the only reason why Hedo was put in late in the game was because Wright got cut, just so you know. And you dont think the Cavs can compete with the Lakers? LOL! Who has the better record right now and is playing a lot better as a team? I believe the Cavs do and are. And the Cavs have Varejao to play behind Shaq which is no problem at all, with Hickson behind Jamison. And I believe Lebron and Moon are both athletes last time I checked.

Bloggers's note: This is too easy. Hedo did replace Wright but they were both on the court down the stretch. It was Hedo over Sonny but why let a fact get in your way.
Varejao's an under-sized flopping offensive liability, Hickson's a kid and Jamario is what Jamario is. But, yes, LeBron is an athlete. Call me in late June

[Paul Adams]

Wishing you a safe journey to Newark...

[graham]

up by 5 with less than 30 seconds to go: TV, the crowd,even the Raps thought it was game over...credit the Grizzlies for not accepting that it was game over. If nothing else, hopefully this loss will get the Raptors to focus for the full 48 minutes and help them come play off time.
Not noted on the TV was just how much Weems defense was a factor: he was the only one to shut Gay down all game.
Nate to the Celtics: another reason to really dislike them! All attitude team. Shows how much they have hot the wall that is old age and are a spent force.

[incomplete]

What's with the half-story on Turk? You either tell us the whole story or nothing at all, leaving no room for speculation.

[Blake Kennedy]

And isn't "adjust their meds" a cruel joke to put out there in regard to the Cavs, who still have Delonte West?

[yertu damkule]

boy, i hope the next CBA addresses the BS deals we're seeing, where teams basically give away the best part of their roster to clear cap space. if tanking (i.e. purposely losing games to better one's chances of winning the draft lottery) is so reprehensible, then surely giving away players - and producing the same end result - is even worse.

this jamison-to-CLE-for-NOTHING deal (seriously, what did CLE give up? Z - who will be back in 30 days - the rights a 2nd rounder - that will likely never see a minute in the NBA - and their 1st rd pick (which will be 29th or 30th) just reeks. completely & utterly dwarfs how lop-sided both the KG & pau trades were. that's without factoring in that Z is going to be bought out & re-sign with the cavs for the minimum.

disgusting. the NBA - at least in this regard - is a joke.

[George]

Jay definitely seems like a great boss. And I admire the effort on everyone's part to keep Turk's private matter private. It is none of our business.

[Boothe]

With apologies to David Stern, the firing squad was out in full force last night on Twitter. Many cast the blame on Turk, for the Raptors loss. As you mentioned in your post, he didn't play well last night, but to put the blame on his shoulders is wrong.

Jose played a great game, but when they needed stops towards the end of the game, he often found himself mismatched with an opposing player. He was pretty much abused by Connelly and Gay. The Raps were also unlucky in that a few of there shots popped in and out of the basket in overtime.

I know Toronto fans are getting impatient, but the incessant booing, blame game, and now the silly -talk show call in- trade demads is getting a little tired. He was making strides before the all star break, and the team has been playing well otherwise. We should try to focus on the positives while allowing him a chance to deal with his problems off and on the court.

[Jeff]

Cleveland's not thinner at Centre. Z will get bought out and go back to Cleveland.

Blogger's note: Don't count out Dallas

[dribbles]

Really bad collapse in the last 37 seconds or whatever it was. Memphis calls timeout down 5. In that situation, you don't want to give up a 3. So what happens? They run a screen for Mayo on the baseline and Andrea, who's defence has improved, granted, doesn't switch and gets stuck in no man's land while Mayo shoots a wide open 3. That was bad. But then Jay doesn't call a timeout and the Raps look totally disorganized on their next offensive posession. They get a bad shot, and then they give up a transition layup! That's just way too many brain farts down the stretch.

I understand the point about supporting Turk if he's going through a tough time, but I don't agree at all with playing him when his head is not in the game at all. There are other ways players and coaches can support a teammate that don't involve forcing playing time for a guy who is hurting the team while out there. I have a hard time believing Turk feels better after that performance last night.

[Darko]

Morning Doug, it's been a while ( still read your blog every morning).
Not sure I agree with your focus on Turk here, to me this one's on
Jose and Jay. Jose's innability to slow down Conley at all on D,
and Jay's for not recognizing it. In OT Memphis ran the same play
time and again, and naturaly the only time Gay missed
was when Jay finaly decided to hide Jose in the corner.
What happened with subbing offense for D, and having either Jack
or Sonny chase Conley?

[greg]

we lost the game on turk but he wasnt doing much throughout the whole game and the coach kept him in anyway. It happens, not the first time, but lets not hope too often since Wins and Losses are all that matters at the end of the year for the franchise. How is Bosh's leg? He looked hurt.

[jimt]

Live by the 3 die by the 3 ouch,3-17 :(
The Greeks know about the Turks and it aint pretty!
This is by far the worst coached game by triano.
Zack goes 10 mins with 5 fouls?
How does antoine not get nasty and pick up at least 1 foul?
Wowsers didnt think the frogs would save our olympic butts,way to go to the Quebec olympic program :)
Thx for listening,ev1s a critic
Go Raps!
Ps when do the lebron raps jerseys go on sale?

[camilon torres]

Bellinelli is tradable as the Raptors do not need Offensive wings , they need defensive minded wing players.
No one in the Raptors can guard 3s.They are forced to run those switching defensive assigments that most of the time they seem to blow anyways. Nocioni can be had from SAC; That's a tough guy that can play defense. Banks, Belli, Nasterovic for Nocioni works out and SAC would do it because it saves them money two years from now.

[Gary]

Doug: No mention of Bellinelli... Why didnt he play last night? ... Could it be that hes being traded?

[Anthony]

J-Kidd almost had a 5x5 line last night, the old fella can still get it done eh.
Bit of a heart breaker last night since we had the lead in the final minute of regulation play but that's just the way the big ball bounces.

[CC]

i don't agree playing Turk during the end. You give positive vibes to 1 guy while giving negative ones to 2? 3? guys that were playing well that should be there. plus, was Marco hurt or something?

[Johnn19]

Raptors start the game sleepwalking, down 16pts Jose, Weems, Johnson come in and bring the game back to a plus 3, and the starters come back to go down 2 at the half.

They start the 3rd back in sleepwalking mode to go down by 8 after 6mins, when JT has seen enough, and brings in Jose, Weems, and Johnson again, who bring the game back to minus 2 at 3 qtrs

But for the efforts of Calderon and the 2nd unit this was a blowout by the Grizz, but for some defensive lapses, and poor shooting late in the 4th and OT could have been a win for the Rap's.

They were probably due to lose a close one without being able to close out for a win, as you cannot continuously leave things to the last minute to win.

Lets hope they wake up by the time they get to the Nets, Jack and Turkoglu especially who played poorly, since the Nets despite their record, are not a guarenteed win.

[rob]

Hey Doug,
I know you like the cap system the NBA employs,,, and there is a lot of advantages to it.... but this trade season is exposing its many flows . the last part of the season is going to be very boring with more than half the teams clearing up cap space while other teams are reaping the benfits. so we end up with a bunch of Dleague teams going against NBA teams every night... and that certainly can't be good for the game. Not to mention that silly bying out game that will allow Z to return to Clev. after he is traded ... trades are not about basketball fits anymore they are more about money...
and If I want to watch a financial war ,,, I will watch the TSX instead.

[Wallace]

None of us are effective at our jobs every day. But the Turk situation is different. The Raptors are not undermanned...they have 14 healthy players. If Turk is not up to the task of playing, you have him sit out until he is ready physically and mentally for the task at hand and you dress someone else. It is not a knock against him to do that, it's simply acknowledging that he is not ready to play.

[Imran]

Hey Doug, heard you on the radio this morning. You should be doing more of that and TV! You sound just like your blog if you know what I mean. Not a typical radio personality...which is good.