Decisions, decisions, decisions. And turns out we are done on time

Join Doug Smith at at 1 p.m. Monday for a live basketball Q&A, as the Raptors get ready to take on the Charlotte Bobcats.

You know what? It was kind of fun to sit and watch a game with no deadline pressure looming and no in-game blog to work on.

But, alas, that’ll be the last time for that this season; we’ll be back to the usual schedule tonight in Charlotte.

And I’m sure some of you will have something to say about this stuff.

Go to it, kids.

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THREE POINTERS

A tough lesson to teach

I’m sure you’ve all read about the DNP-CD for Hedo on Sunday night (if you haven’t, it’s right here) and what it meant to the team and to him.

No one has really covered themselves in glory in this somewhat sordid situation and that’s one of the most troubling aspects of the whole affair.

I have no idea if Hedo was out Friday night eating, partying or just killing time before bed like a lot of us do. But, no matter what, the optics aren’t great and I am sure the folks in the upper levels of Raptors brassdom are singularly unimpressed with having to deal with it.

After all, Hedo’s been a bust for much of this season, this just adds to it.

And I can understand entirely that Jay – and you know he had to have let his bosses know what he was planning to do and it met with their approval – would want to send a message by dressing Turk and not using him.

But I also know Jay could have done a better job explaining it to us after the game. In his defence, it’s a pretty emotional time immediately after but he had to know the questions were coming and could have handled it better.

That all said, the question is: What’s next?

Well, I think reasonable men can work out their differences and get past issues and I would imagine Turk’s back doing what he does tonight in Charlotte. I don’t know whether he’ll start but he should play.

It was also interesting to get the players’ reaction to all of this and what happened in the game.

Almost of ‘em distanced themselves from the issues, we got a couple of “that’s a management thing” and a “I’m not sure what’s going on, you have to ask them” and then Social Conscience Antoine Wright (and I mean that in a complimentary way because I like the fact he has opinions and states them) chimed in:

“We’re in support of Hedo, he’s our teammates, we want to see him back on the court but management is handling that.”

But what about sending a message and the cost:

“I don’t make them decisions, man. I think we need everyone n this locker room to play basketball in my personal opinion.”

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Can’t do their thing

The Heat really didn’t play some suffocating defence in that fourth quarter but the Raptors didn’t do themselves any favours, either.

Here’s one:

They’re up six when there’s a timeout with just under five minutes to go and Jay uses the break to get Jose and Sonny back in for Jack and DeRozan so he’s got his starters on the court for the stretch run.

And what do they get out of the timeout:

An airballed Wright three at the shot clock buzzer after they ran around like chickens with their heads cut off for about 22 seconds.

Hardly crisp execution.

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How’s your hindsight?

When it first happened, I was somewhat stunned that Jose would foul Carlos Arroyo with the Raptors down two in what was a pretty pivotal play in the game.

A quick look at the clock made me think they should have played out the possession, got a stop and then tried to tie or win with a last possession.

(Of course, that’s putting a lot of faith in a Raptors defence that probably would have surrendered an and-one to Wade but that’s another story).

Anyway, up further review of the play by play, there was only a 2.9 second difference between shot clock and game clock (I thought it was a bit over four) and in that case the foul makes sense.

If they play out the possession and the Heat do the right thing and take a shot as the clock runs out, it’s going to take a second for the ball to get on the rim, a half second or so to rebound the ball and that doesn’t really leave enough time to get something good at the other end.

So they made a choice and it didn’t work out because not only didn’t they score but the Heat (read Arroyo) didn’t miss a free throw down the stretch.

But I’m okay with the decision after some time to think about it.

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Minor points and story-telling time

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The Heat do this really cool thing right after the anthems and before the game where they recognize an American serviceman who’s back home after serving his country in one of the various wars the U.S. is waging.

A very nice touch where they have the person introduced flanked by a couple of players as the fans stand and applaud.

Odd last night, though.

It was Joel Anthony and Jamaal Magloire who were at midcourt for the ceremony.

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My man Ira has this to say about that.

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We see a whole lot of Chris Bosh love on the road in cities where he’s considered a good free agent possibility.

Miami, of course, one of them and the guy sitting a few rows up from the court across from where we were sitting holding the life-sized cutout of Bosh in a Heat jersey may win the prize for most creative.

But here’s the deal, there is not a single player on the Miami team not named Dwyane Wade that I’d take in a sign-and-trade.

I’ve never, ever been a Michael Beasley fan and watching that performance against Toronto only affirms my position.

Never mind the atrocious shooting, that’ll come and go, he simply has no interest in defending.

So unless there’s some magical multi-team sign-and-trade rattling around in Bryan’s mind – or Steve Fruitman’s – it’s going to cost Bosh about $30 million to go play in South Florida.

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Hey, did you see that the Bulls won?

Half a game lead for eighth?

They come home tied on Tuesday?

Think the collars will be a little tight?

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Oh yeah, we’ll talk. A bit later than usual because of flight times and travel times and the need to walk around the corner from my Charlotte hotel for a quad vente non-fat latte the minute I get in but we’ll answer questions.

Let’s go at 1 p.m. today, I’ll be here if you are.

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Tough crowd, especially the kids.

I’m talking the pre-teen about four rows behind us last night with the screechy pre-teen voice who yelled “Raptors, you suck” about a kabillion times.

No idea what dad or mom or whoever was doing but it wasn’t parenting.

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So you read how Ira chronicled the game just past, here’s how Rick sets up the game to come.

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Oh yeah, disregard that earlier post about not getting this up on time. Turns out I’m pretty good at this gig and the security torture at Miami International’s relatively new south terminal wasn’t nearly as bad as I expected.

See what I do for you folks? Thanks are always gratefully accepted.

(So are gifts but that’s an entirely different story)

Time to board the big bird for Charlotte. See ya.

Comments

[Nilay]

Maybe we can package Hedo and Bosh for something!

[Aditya]

The Heat really didn’t play some suffocating defence in that fourth quarter but the Raptors didn’t do themselves any favours, either.
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If I am not mistaken, the Heat are one of the top defensive teams in the league. Since I don't particularly look at stats, I bet they are easily top 10 or even top 7. So the Heat did not need to play suffocating defense, but they made it hard enough for Bosh to pass out of the double team and everyone else was covered when Bosh passes the ball out. That, my friend, is good defence. (On another side note: Joel Anthony and Udonis Haslem were awesome scoring the ball, credit to AB and CB4....)

Oh, and the spell-check on this says defence is supposed to be "defense". You stated "defence". Can you tell Mother Star to fix this error?

[CC]

Bosh will lose 30 mil? In what 5 or 6 years? And how many more endorsement deal will Bosh have when playing in a US team (Miami no less) compared to playing in Canada? With Bosh and Wade, they will be contender for a long time so that would mean more income too (Playoffs mean more money right?). I think that would easily cover the 30 million Bosh will lose if he walks out.

[Tiger]

"he simply has no interest in defending"
Why does something tell me that Beasley is just the kind of "project" that would interest the Raps brass?
OK, that was a cheap shot, but how about this from a fan's point of view: 6-15 since the all-star break and tonite heading to the scene of an early season track meet (to complete another back-to-back, no less).
Makes one wish for those heady days of 7-13 to start the season.
... just sayin' ...

[Wayne]

Hey Doug

Is it possible the Jay may have told Hedo that tonite (last night in Miami) you are coming off the bench Hedo balks resulting in a DNP?

[Geoff Read]

Hi Doug,

I'm going to sound a dissonant note here: I'm not sure how I feel about those "tributes" to military personnel at sporting events. I was at the Habs' game in Montreal on Saturday and they did the same thing.

I have no problem in principle with recognizing the sacrifices made by those in the military, but what troubles me is the way these kinds of ceremonies quickly slip from "supporting our troops" to "supporting the war(s)", with the implication that failure to support the war makes you a bad patriot or citizen. Does standing and applauding an infantryman from Afghanistan mean that you support the war in Afghanistan, for instance, or, just as important, does it mean that others will see your applause as indicating you support the war in Afghanistan? At the Habs' game I felt very much like I was being pushed into applauding a war that I find illegitimate. I felt especially conflicted as I don't support the war precisely because it puts that soldier's life in jeopardy for ill-defined and likely unobtainable objectives. It also leads to the loss of thousands of civilians' lives in Afghanistan, again with precious little chance of long-term success, especially when our government doesn't even seem to be able to define what long-term success in Afghanistan would look like.

And I think that in the US there is a particularly obvious use of sporting culture to foster militarism and hyper-nationalism. Think, for example, of the Superbowl, where for some reason military jets flying overhead etc. becomes an integral part of a football game.

Anyway, that's my two cents.

[Rob.V]

Morning dude!!

One wonders if Jay is not falling apart internally. The guy says the right things publicly however it appears as though the coaching decisions and changes are very helter-skelter... no rhyme or reason.

70 games as an opportunity to "discipline" passes however with 10 games to go and the season on the line we choose to sit the guy they brought in to make plays at the end of games the last 2 (I don't buy the "tummy ache" against Denver).

Doesn't play Andrea on the final possession the other night (was having close to a career night rebounding).

Most have agreed that the tandem of Jack and Jose (together) is not great however against Denver when we started to dry up offensively at the end of the game he didnt go to the duo he has "trusted" all season. Last night he decides he should play them together at the end of the game.

Weems starts but mysterioulsy loses his minutes to Derozan last night.

Derozan rarely plays in the 4th quarter however suddenly plays until the 5 minute mark last night which helped fan the flames for the comback.

It took until Andrea was at the top of the perimeter with the ball aggressively waiving at Derozan to come and get the ball out of his hands for Jay to see that the kid should have come out... too late!!!... the landslide was in the works.

With Hedo out Belinelli comes in and plays well against Denver... then is back to limited minutes against Miami.

Triano doesn't like to play 4 bigs however against a team with virtually NO bigs on the roster... decides to give Reggie a little extra burn last night!!!

Johnson roughly limited to only 9 minutes... 9 MINUTES!.

Makes the change to start Weems against Denver, he plays well. Weems once again has a good start defensively in the first half, then sits for an extended time in the second half. Why start him??

At this point in the season (when it should be clear to your team) I dare anyone, ANYONE to name who option #2 and #3 are on this squad??.

NO defined roles... and players are shuffled in arbitrarily from game to game.

NO defined or solidified rotations. With 10 games to go in the season everything should be tightening up. Outside of Bosh.. the rest of the players don't have a clue as to what their roles are???

All of this "disciplining" and "tweaking" should have been done PRIOR to (or just after) the All Star break.

Remember, this is Jay's 1st playoff race as well.... Looks like coach is coming apart at the seams!!

[esajr]

doug, what does bosh mean about his comment of the defence coming his way this time of the year? it's either he has no basketball iq or he is missing something. defense at this time of the year is always tight and physical and i think based on his comment it's either he has no game when everything is thrown out at him or he is scared of the physicality of the game. i don't know if i am the only one but i don't believe bosh is deserving the maximum.
watching the game last night i was aghast at bosh settling for jumpers after jumpers that miss. where is his penetration ability that everybody in the media is praising about? i don't think anybody except bosh had more touches in the last 5 minutes of the game and how many points did they make at that span of time?

[Dallas]

Hi Doug,

Even if we don't take a player back from MIA, we could take draft picks and a big trade exemption. Although, BC be in a bad spot trading CB to a place made by the space of JO's contract, and that one of those picks used to be ours anyway.

[Perry]

While it's hard to watch these games, it's even harder to watch the reaction to them. Not on the part of the fans so much as the players and the media.

#1, I don't see anyone talking about tonight's back end of a back-to-back anymore, or even the old 3 games in 4 nights complaint. They're not talking about that because they know it's neither important nor valid to do so. I think there were fans and coaches all over Canada who were rightfully perturbed when the team was using the excuse/"explanation" months ago- so if it's not valid or important to mention now, it wasn't valid or important then. It should have been addressed long ago, as opposed to after the fact. I believe this issue has been crippling the team for years.

#2, Turkoglu's a great distraction. But they didn't lose this game because of Turkoglu. They collapsed down the stretch as Miami's franchise player took over the game. It's sort of what franchise players are expected to do. And it's a bit troubling when you assume that Bosh will get Wade money this summer. Bosh's team will be playing catch-up right from the start (offsetting that money). Chris is great, too, don't get me wrong, but how is he on the same level? How many games has he won like that? Sure, he brings 'other things' to the table- but while he was bringing those other things last night, Wade was winning the game.

Finally, Turkoglu himself. I'm at a loss to explain how we're all reacting- as if this isn't the same Hedo we've seen over the last decade. This is the same Hedo in pretty much every way, in my opinion. Maybe it's not a problem with Hedo so much as it's a problem with the team- the same core that had trouble bringing Jermaine O'Neal and Shawn Marion (and who knows how many others) into the fold last year. It's the square peg/round hole idea- but perhaps it's time to fix the round hole and not the square peg.? The 53 million-dollar may in fact be a 'bust'- but I don't see the 50 million-dollar man (Bargnani) pulling his weight either... among others. The Raptors are simply not getting enough value from their core investments.

[Joe T.]

Doug, there can be little doubt that Hedo Turkoglu has been a bust this season. The scary thing is that he is part of a disturbing trend since Bryan Colangelo arrived. Although I think that he has done OK with his draft picks, trades and finding surprises out there, his big free agent signings each year have had to be undone. Here's the list, for those who can't recall:

2006-07 Fred Jones [HUGE bust, traded for equally ineffective Juan Dixon before season's end; both players no longer in NBA]
2007-08 Jason Kapono [lasted two seasons but was not the player the Raps thought they were getting; traded for Reggie Evans; currently performing poorly in Philadelphia]
2008-09 Jermaine O'Neal [three bigs lineup didn't work out, traded for Shawn Marion before season's end; both players no longer on Raps but starting and playing well for playoff-bound teams]
2009-10 Hedo Turkoglu [having worst season since coming off bench for Spurs!]

While there have certainly been good minor free agent signings, those have been the big money/"big splash" signings for each of the past four seasons. I think this has been Colangelo's worst area of job performance as the Raps GM. So why the poor luck? To his credit, he has addressed each error. Turk may be a more difficult one to wriggle out of since he has such a big contract and has played nowhere near well enough to justify it. And although he was supposed to be a big help in the playoffs, there may not be any playoff games in Toronto this year. Do you think Turkoglu has a future with this team after this season? Or will he be the albatross that prevents this team from making any significant signings for the next few seasons?...

[Uncle Zeke]

how is BC still in a job?... No idea how Toronto always puts up with these snake oil salesman... Especially since they finally had the curtain pulled back on JP... how does the saying go... fool me once... fool me twice...

Someone please call Papa Jerry and tell him that his soon is getting out of hand...

BC is one of the worst GM's in the league- but heck the guy sure can talk a good game... lucky he has guys like Doug Smith running the PR game for him or people might be on to his charade...

[Juan]

The Miami Herald this morning quotes Bosh as saying (I'm paraphrasing) "the money will be the same wherever I play. I just want to win". That sounds to me like a guy who has considered the merits of a sign-and-trade deal, and sees no financial downside from leaving his current club. I'm not trying to predict what he will do but the statement seems to go against the argument that the Raptors' financial advantage provides any practical advantage toward whether he puts on a Toronto uniform next season.

[Penguin]

If Michael Beasley "simply has no interest in defending", doesn't that make him a great fit with the Raptors?
I am NOT a fan of the stuff that your colleague Dave Feschuk write (really, I think he would be a great fit for the NY Post), but I have about given up defending Bosh. Top teams have go-to players, witness the performances of Melo and Flash the past two games. Bosh just isn't showing that he's in their class. A very good player? Absolutely. A franchise player who can take a team to a championship (if surrounded by some good talent), he's not showing it. Big disappointment.

[GM]

Aditya, spell check is stoopid. It's also American. Or British. But not Canadian. In Canada, defence and offence is spelled with a 'c'. So the Star is correct, not your American spell check machine.

It looked like Bosh was auditioning for Miami last night, trying to take over every possession in the 4th (well, except the ones where Wright wasn't pretending to look for an open player and then feeling the need to put up a shot -- but maybe he did that because he'd never get one otherwise). I think he failed his audition. Look at Wade in contrast. He didn't have to take all the shots for Miami. Haslem and Arroyo were generously passed to and made the most of it. I think Bosh probably has the same confidence in his teammates, but he'd rather do it himself. A lot of the blame, though, has to go to the coach who seems to micromanage. If they're calling plays for Bosh every time down the floor, they're not making it clear enough that he doesn't need to force things if they're not there.

I think Wright's awful shots might well be in response to Bosh's propensity to force the issue. These things have a trickle-down effect on teammates. When one guy is trying to do it all himself, the natural reaction from teammates is to try and get theirs when they finally touch the ball, no matter what. And that's why sharing the ball works wonders, too. If you know you'll get it another time down, you're less likely to jack one up this time.

You say Triano could have handled the questions after the game better. No doubt he could have. But I think the media could have, too, by asking for further clarification. Who cares if he unloads on you? Who cares if it's an emotional time? Reporters too often sound funereal after a loss, treading ever-so-carefully around the fragile players and coaches. I'm not saying anyone needs to be a pompous jerk, just that when presented with an answer that makes no sense (the message is that he's not healthy? Huh?), keep hammering away until he either answers, leaves in a huff, or tells you in no uncertain terms that he won't respond further.

[John]

I am the anti-blogger... I still think Hedo is a good player. I also think they win one of those last two games if he is on the floor for end of game. Stats wise, he is almost exactly the same as last year. What do you think everyone was expecting? No one said he was a good defender and he isnt. He does sneak in rebound when it counts, hits shots in the last 5 minutes and makes free throws.

He was starting to be very active and agresive before All Star break when he had his eye socket broken. Then he turns his ankle. Then he has flu and you even said how bad he looked.

I am a believer that they can turn this around. If they play with energy like they did in the last two games with a full team they can make a run.

[James Online]

Same old, same old. Marco Belinelli comes starts the second quarter. Without scoring a point, the mix on the floor is better and the Raps surge. Balance, ball movement, vision, tough defense.
The plus/minus for Marco last night, even without scoring a point himself, is plus 8. Plus 8. In a loss.
I'm betting Marco's plus/minus for the year is one of the best on the team, if not the best.
Triano: cluless and the poorest in-game coach in the league. Miami comes back from 17 down, their biggest comeback of the year. Triano doesn't know what to do, and defaults to Antoine Wright as a "safe" bet.
Marco makes one turnover and gets yanked in the fourth quarter (with the Raps ahead), and it goes south after that.

[Manale]

Hey Doug, is Marco Belinelli good enough to be a starter on any NBA team?

Blogger's note: Maybe some

[Aditya]

You need to find me a direct quote where Bosh said "he didn't care" because i"ve been around him every day for weeks and have never once heard him utter those words.
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Really, you must have been day dreaming in the scrum. He said he didn't care about the turnovers he had because it happens blah blah blah.....

[TMF]

You might say Sherman's work as an analyst was "unbelievable"!

He'd say that, anyway.

[Aditya]

And fouling hard is punk move, in my opinion. You try to make plays, you go around gooning guys you can't stop.
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fouling hard is a punk move eh? why don't you tell that to jack armstrong and i am pretty sure he would set you straight with a hard foul....

[KatWu]

Beasly has no interest in defending? Let's get him! Also, j'adore CB's new Avatar-inspired hairdo.

[Aditya]

I do, yes. The Bobcats are really athletic at the 2-3
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When was the last time you saw Stephen Jackson dunk? Wait, remove question mark, since I already know the answer to his, its "never"

[Michel G]

I posted something earlier that the blogosphere and radio talk shows were being inundated with opinions (good or bad) about Hedogate. I remember being in the car wanting to get to my desk and read Doug's blog to get some perspective on the whole thing. Thanks for that Doug and great blog.

[Dave]

Does anyone still wonder why San Antonio - one of the best-run organisations in the league didn't spend too much time with Hedo? Seems once they realized the demeanor he brings, they never even considered re-signing him. Thank goodness he ended up here...