Of going home again, irksome officiating items and so long, Skip

Join Doug Smith at noon Tuesday for a live basketball Q&A, as the Raptors get ready to take on the L.A. Lakers.

Odd day today. Up now to do this, no shootaround but a game and while it was nice to have a day with no practice, no game, no flight for the first time in weeks, it was at the same time a wee bit strange.

Same thing tomorrow; it’s going to take some getting used to.

But, alas, the blogging thing must go on. So it does:

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One of the more interesting aspects of this evening’s Match of Real Professional Men’s Basketball Teams out in Los Angeles will be the play of youthful Raptor DeMar DeRozan.

Yes, he was all over the papers this morning (you can read Dave’s offering right here) talking about now nice it is to be home and how he’s relaxed and ready for a big game.

Well, I recall the first time he went back home, way back in November, when, quite frankly, he was overwhelmed and stunk the joint out. Played about 11 minutes against the Clippers and had no discernible impact on the game.

Maybe he’s more mature now, better to handle the distractions and tugs of being home but he’s also 20 and could quite easily get caught up in it again.

And just in idle chitchat with a few folks around the team, I get the sense that DeMar’s on a rather short leash these days as far as his position in the starting lineup goes.

No one’s suggesting a move to replace him – and I’d imagine it would have to be for Antoine Wright – is imminent but if he doesn’t start having a great impact on games, I can see it happening.

And by impact I don’t mean 20 points and eight rebounds. I mean a consistent effort every night at both ends of the floor, no floating, no constantly losing his man on screens, no long stretches of indifference or one-on-five play. Pure and simple hard work.

They don’t get it long enough.

I was all for the way they used him this season, a crash course in the tough night-to-night life of a NBA shooting guard and there can be no question he’s a better player today than he was on opening night.

Kid’s still got a good work ethic in practice, at post-practice and during his preparation for games but it hasn’t translated often enough into anything special once the ball goes up.

But it’s truly winning time now and the mild sense I get is that there are those in the organization who think a change may eventually have to be made.

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Questions and answers.

Noon. Here.

Be there or be square.

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Did you check out the Cavs-Spurs last night on the tube? As I’m watching and seeing one of the omnipresent promo ads for Raptors game, there’s a shot of Jose heading back up the court after a bucket and he runs past a ref.

No. 160!

Sure, it comes from the pre-season but if some noticed, I bet they grew a bit wistful for The Replacements.

I don’t know why but there have been more criticisms of officials this season I ever remember. Perhaps it’s because we’re doing more stuff during games and lots of people like to break down every possession but, man, the refs get ripped. Guess what?

They’re not bad.

Sure, there might be a missed call every now and then but it’s far, far less often that they actually blow one than a lot of you think. And I’m sure if you talked to fans of other teams, they’d feel the same way.

Truth be told, refs don’t “target” players, they want to get every call right but I think they also know they cannot blow the whistle on every possession and if they went strictly by the book, they probably would.

That said, here are the three ref things that rankle the most:

The late whistle.

You know the one. Guy goes up, tries a shot, it misses, there might have been contact and all of a sudden, a second or two later, the whistle blows. You know that if the ball had gone in, there’d be no call.

That truly bothers me. And a lot of people.

No talking

Refs used to be entirely approachable. If they made a contentious call, they’d explain it, or at least engage a coach in conversation. Not sure if they’re just tired of incessant whining (and believe me, it’s incessant) but the lines of communication are closed far too often.

Illegal screens

It’s not that they’re called, it’s that they’re called so inconsistently, I can’t blame players for complaining. I know it’s awfully subjective but it was supposed to be a “point of emphasis” with refs this year and all it’s done is become even more confusing.

A wee bit of consistency – even from the same crew during the same game – would be welcome.

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In Los Angeles, where the Lakers are mired in a three-game losing streak for the first time since they stole, er, acquired, Pau Gasol this is what they’re reading and writing.

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Yeah, guess we should try one of the usual in-game blogs tonight, even with the stupidly late 10:30 p.m. tip. It’ll be interesting to see how many of the irregulars show up; I imagine we’ll lose a lot of our European contingent because of the time but the west coasters will like it, I bet.

Anyway, we’ve been hovering right about the usual numbers of late, anywhere between 1,400 and 2,000 depending on the opponent.

Where I’m noticing a bit of a drop off is in the daily hits on this usual stuff, we’ve been below the average of about 13,500 for a couple of weeks or so.

Guess we better pull up our socks and get some more interesting stuff here.

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My, how the mighty have fallen.

Got one of the usual notes from the league about changes to the national television broadcast schedule in the United States. You know, like when they dumped Raptors-Knicks earlier this year because it was a dog of a game and they went with Suns-Hawks instead.

Well, next week, what might have once been considered a pretty promising game between New Orleans and Golden State has been taken off the schedule by ESPN.

Its replacement?

Bucks at Clippers.

And that should tell you all you need to know about the drawing power of the Hornets without Chris Paul.

They’d rather go with a Clipper game, even if it is against the surging Milwaukees.

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Seems Skip is gone for good.

Am sure you know the story: Rafer Alston bailed on the Heat late last week after losing his starting spot and being relegated to third string; he hasn’t been in personal contact with the team for days and has been suspended indefinitely.

No way I can see Pat Riley or Erik Spoelstra or his teammates welcoming him back and no way I can see any team taking a flier on a 33-year-old mercurial free agent in the summer.

It’s always struck me that Rafer lived somewhat on the edge, dating back to his Toronto time, an era that included the night in Atlanta when he simply refused to pass the ball to Jalen Rose for entire game, surely one of the oddest moments in franchise history.

He stormed out of practice one day because he was pissed about the attitude, he fought with Sam and called out teammates.

He was an odd duck.

That his career flamed out comes as no surprise at all.

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Comments

[sm]

With Rafer (and Iverson for that matter) Is it a sense of entitlement, ego or lack of maturity that clouds his self worth. I am somewhat amazed that professional athlete's can be short sighted on the concept of teamwork and goals. Rafer seems to run into issues whereever he lands. A talent sure.
Learn from mistakes and situations - and move forward - In other words Suck it up and get with the program.

[JT]

Doug,
I've found it interesting how people are dumping on the Raptors right now. They didn't have Bosh for a handful of the games where they played poorly. Plus, the Raptors faced much tougher opponents than before the All-star break. I think it's been proven over and over again that the Raptors can't play well or won't win much against athletic teams. They are not an elite team so they play to their schedule. If they face tougher opponents, then they lose more often than win. If they face easier opponents then they win more than they lose. Its as simple as that.

[Peter]

Hey Doug,

Do you think that your numbers for the blog are down because you got hit with the perfect storm of non-stop Olympic coverage coinciding with a losing streak. I know that the Olympics threw off my usual sports reading routine. Most readers only have so much time to read sports stuff, and after the compelling stories of the Olympics, hearing about Raptor losing spells just wasn't as compelling by comparison. I'm probably considered an irregular by you, and I tend to read this daily, I find myself looking forward to reading about wins and find the writing about losses, especially losses due to poor effort or old bad habits to be far less interesting. So I wouldn't take it personally, I'm sure winning behaviour and hopefully a playoff run will make things much more intriguing around the basketball pages.

[marc in panama]

(oops, sorry Doug, the decidedly "non-Super" dog nudged me and I had a copy and paste boo-boo) please consider this post as the right one.

Hola Doug,

"Truth be told, refs don’t “target” players, they want to get every call right but I think they also know they cannot blow the whistle on every possession and if they went strictly by the book, they probably would"

Hahahaha -- good one!

How 'bout Joey Crawford vs Tim Duncan??

I love reading your stuff, but please stop spouting the NBA corporate B.S. It demeans the fantastic job you do.

Marc In Panama

[Jake]

ADoug, are you doing the mid day Q&A today?

Blogger's note: You know, no disrespect intended, but that information is about 250 words into this very blog. Surely if you're interested enough to come here, you'd be interested enough in reading what's written.
The answer is yes

[Frans]

re: Doug's comments about the refs...I'm sure they all try hard and mean well but basketball is one of the worse (if not the worse) officiated game in pro sports. Where else do you hear statements like "he's a rookie, he won't get that call" or "he's a veteran so he gets that call". Since when are rules different for rookies and veterans? If it's a foul, it's a foul. To say that refs don't let who the player is affect their calls is not accurate at all. Nothing is perfect I still enjoy the game and it is one of the hardest games to officiate....but we all should live with the fact that "reputation" calls are rampant in the NBA.

[PK]

"I am somewhat amazed that professional athlete's can be short sighted on the concept of teamwork and goals."

It's likely b/c most of them have been coddled since their prodigious talent was first showcased w/ little to no disciplinary action taken nor counsel concerning the virtues of a unified collective effort. Pretty sure D. Smith knows full well how many players look over their personal stats immediately following a game and not evaluate the team's overall production/errors.

As long as athletes continue to be feted as quasi/full celebrities, they'll continue to foster an id-driven me-first mentality.

[aditya]

ADoug, are you doing the mid day Q&A today?

Blogger's note: You know, no disrespect intended, but that information is about 250 words into this very blog. Surely if you're interested enough to come here, you'd be interested enough in reading what's written.
The answer is yes
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No disrespect intended, but, like Jake, I also did not see the Q & A thing in the blog today. It's there, but I didn't notice it the first time I went through it. Just sayin'

[CC]

Agree to Frans about the refs. I've notice when a ball goes out of bounce and the refs are not sure who touch it last, they will usually give it to the team that's behind, especially if they are behind by a big margin.

Offensive Foul/Blocking? The team that's behind usually gets the call especially during late in games.

[yertu damkule]

'Blogger's note: You know, no disrespect intended, but that information is about 250 words into this very blog. Surely if you're interested enough to come here, you'd be interested enough in reading what's written.'

and it remains a mystery why the hits are dropping?

[doug]

if you looked in the dictionary for the definition of impulsive there should be a picture of rafer, he acts before he thinks within the minute and then after he is always contrite and remorseful...plus something fans don't take into consideration is these guys upbringing and background ....in a lot of cases its not a picket fence scenario, there are a lot of factors in play concerning their actions just look at a guy like Iverson...so to say they don't get it, or live in a pandered world may be accurate to some degree but it doesn't paint or show the full picture..

be a big mistake to take DD out of the starting unit at this time especially for Wright, Wright hasn't did anything to show he belongs there...I would put Jose back into the starting unit and move jack out first before i moved DD...as Jose is a better distributor of the ball and more able to involve teammates....if you watch DD has to create, make his own shots whereas with Jose it would be a different scenario...

[zow]

Doug, what time is the q@a :)? Do you see Skip going to europe or did he burn so many bridges that he has to go to China like Starbury ?

Blogger's note: I'm sure there's some team somewhere in the world that'll give him a shot if he wants it

[Allan Falconer]

Hey, heads up and possible contributing factor to drop in daily hits on blog: harder to find link since some time last week. Cool new link on front page of sports but no longer an easy "Blog" link on front page of "Basketball" or "Raptors Central."
I am a daily reader and had to work at finding blog last couple of days.
Maybe connected.
A. J.
Burlington

[George]

How could anyone have skipped the "Be there or be square" comment?

[LeeZ]

Here's what I see happening (or what SHOULD happen) once (if) the Raps come home with one or zero wins on this road trip. José and JJ re-flip-flop, and Demar gets relegated to the second unit. José gets his teammates involved way more than Jack, and that's very important at the beginning of games when the tone is set. Jack is an instant burst of offense and takes it to the hoop again and again, which is great, but ball distribution is more important at the start of games, especially for someone like Il Mago, who tends to disappear if he doesn't get early touches. And if either of the PG's is getting torched by an athletic point, I wouldn't hesitate to put Banks in for 10 minutes a game to tire the opposing point out and render him less effective for the rest of the game. Banks has proven that in small doses, he can be a very effective role player, especially on dee. Use the guy!

[KR]

Doug - another reason you might have seen a dip in numbers is because your employer and publisher does not always make it easy to find your blog. The location of the link seems to change from day to day. Sometimes it's obvious, sometimes not. I would strongly encourage the Star to have a permanent link on the main Sports page that says, "Doug Smith's Raptors Blog", so your invaluable words can be accessed, every time, within a couple of clicks.

[D-Mac Ottawa]

Hi Doug,
Sorry to always be flogging the worthy webmasters, but, in addition to the Olympics (good call, Peter), maybe your blog numbers are down because the worthy webmasters keeps playing Where's Waldo with your blog. And it's not just the placement that changes, it's even the name of your blog. Today, it's called "Game Blog"... There is simply no reliable daily link to your blog on the Basketball web page. The only truly reliable link is the "Raptors blog" link down, way down there at the bottom of the Sports page. Cheers! Go Raps!

[Perry]

I think the way the team is dealing with Derozan is a microcosm of what has led them to this point. This is the same 20 year-old kid who was thrust into the starting lineup for regular PT alongside teammates he will eventually have to play with.

Now the team demands a "great impact" from him or he'll lose the minutes.

Perhaps they should instead be wondering about the other four starters, all veterans, collectively being paid 20 times what Demar is. I think the "great impact" ought to come from them.

[AG]

Since we're talking about reffing annoyances, I've always wondered whether "missed" offensive end calls or "undeserved" defensive end calls seem to anger coaches more. Haven't been able to pick up on a consistent pattern with Jay...

[cb2]

Hey Doug,

You've probably been asked this a 100 times but with the Grunt TV in limbo and readership down for the actual blog, have you re-considered maybe doing a podcast? I figure most people reading here are at work, so 'watching' grunt TV might be hard to swing by, but just a podcast we could listen to while working i know personally would work really well for me.

I've seen it done at a few other raptors blogs but I think with your connections and background you could make a much more entertaining and better informed one.

[joy de]

The Rafer-Rose game would make a great replay. In fact, it would make the basis for a great collection of games. Perhaps Raptors TV could show that over the summer. We could call it "Disfunctional teams & FU games" - jordan and Pippen's takedown of Kukoc would be good too & Isaiah's 1985 allstar game.

[VikZ]

I don't understand when people say they can't find the link to your blog consistently. There's one at the top right of the sports page with the title of your blog of the day on there, there's always one (sometimes two!) links on the right side of each basketball news article, and if you scroll down to the basketball part, on the top right of the basketball header says "Raptor's Blog". That one NEVER moves (and the one I usually use).

But on the other hand, it just might not be a problem for me cause I'm such a loyal reader :)

[Geoff Read]

Doug - like some other readers my "routine" was thrown off a bit by the Olympics. I imagine your hits will go back up.

It does seem a fitting end to Rafer's career doesn't it? I suppose there's something to the "coddled from a young age" thing that some readers mention, but I also think that sometimes people are just idiots. I mean, none of us are professional athletes, but we all know a few people like Rafer Alston. Is it really surprising that a certain percentage of professional athletes, like a certain percentage of people generally, are jerks? Anyway, it's too bad because he had some talent and if he'd had the team-first hard-working mentality of a Jose Calderon type he could've been an impact player. Instead he's an asterisk in NBA history.

[Chris]

One reason that I am not consistently hitting your blog is because ever since the re image of the stars website, your blog seems extremely hard to find, six or seven clicks away. Wonder how many of thousands of hits you miss due to this problem.

[Jas]

when you were talking about the jose ad during last nites game, what does the No. 160! mean?

Blogger's note: Referee No. 160