There may be change afoot and Andrea's summer plans

So much for drama in half the Western Conference first rounds, eh?

Well, at least it gives me the weekend to write about the Suns and Spurs after cleaning up the debris of the losing teams.

-

So what now, Mr. Cuban?

Don’t you have to wonder what will happen with the Mavericks now that they’ve suffered another early playoff exit and the team built to contend for a championship suddenly looks old, unable to keep its composure and adrift?

The big question, of course, is whether or not Dirk Nowitzki decides to exercise his option to become a free agent in July and, let me tell you, if he does, it changes everything. All season long, no one expected him to ever consider it but after that loss to San Antonio, which marked the third time in four years the Mavs have been eliminated in the first round of the playoffs, it’s sounding like all bets are off from reading the Dirk quotes post-game:

"I wanted to obviously have a long playoff run here and go for my dream again. And now I'm just obviously too shocked and too disappointed.

“I haven't really thought anything about my future yet. I guess I've got some time now to think about some stuff, think about my options.”

Now, before anyone goes all crazy on us and starts the Bosh back home thoughts, consider this: The only time Bosh ever spoke openly about Dallas was with my man Eddie Sefko before the all-star break and Bosh’s point was that it’s tremendously hard, what will all the tugs on a guy’s time, to go play in your hometown.

So I’d scratch the Mavs off the list, at the moment.

But here’s something to ponder:

Not only have the Mavs lost in the first round three of the last four years, they are the only team since the league expanded the first round to a best-of-seven in 2003 to lose as a No. 1 seed (2007 to Golden State) and as a No. 2 seed (2010 to San Antonio).

There is no way Mark Cuban settles for that kind of dubious legacy so if you’re looking for a good team that might make substantial change this summer, the Mavs could very well be it.

-

I’m going to point this out and take the hits.

Perhaps all you folks out there who bombard me with the “they have to get rid of the Euros” crap might have noticed: Milwaukee: Point guard learned to be a pro in Italy, Argentine small forward, Turkish power forward.

San Antonio: French point guard, Argentine shooting guard.

Phoenix: Brazilian backup guard, Slovenian backup guard.

(I know, I’m lumping South America with Europe but I trust you get my point).

Just sayin’.

-

Speaking of international basketball, I’m told that today in Italy, Andrea’s going to let them know that, yes, he plans to play for the national team this summer.

But it’s not like he’s going to start today and end in early September and wear himself out.

Italy, which didn’t qualify for the worlds, has to take part in a qualification tournament just to get into next summer’s European championships and that’s why it’s not really a surprise that Bargnani will play. If they don’t get into the Euros, they can kiss any chance at the 2012 Olympics goodbye and it’d be a huge setback for the federation.

Now, I’m sure most of you are aware that I have absolutely no problem whatsoever with guys playing for their countries in the summer because of the prestige it brings and the patriotic obligation they feel.

And in Bargnani’s case, since the two things he has to work on more than anything else are rebounding and weak side defensive help, playing games and taking part in practice scrimmages are the absolute best things for him. Rebounding comes from working in games, so does help defence; it’s not something that can really be taught in too many drills so him getting scrimmages and games has to help.

-

It truly was the glitterati at the Canada Basketball thing yesterday afternoon.

They had all the big shots there – Wayne Parrish, Maurizio, Leo, Rowan Barrett made an appearance, CB president Therese Quigley was there to show the flag – and it sure was nice of them to have it atop the CN Tower because that’s only about the third time I’ve ever been up there and the view is breathtaking.

Anyway, as I sat there, it struck me as there was one guy missing:

The dude with the top hat and white moustache who climbs out of a closet holding a satchel with a big red dollar sign on it and oodles of bills spilling out the top.

You know, like the guy from Monopoly, Rich Uncle Pennybags.

Because I get a feeling that’s what might turn the bid in Canada’s favour.

If you look at it from a logistical standpoint, it’s a no-brainer:

NBA-ready arena to host the event with all in the inherent amenities, including built-in security plans that are top-notch.

First-class hotels within walking distance of the arena.

Practice facilities a short drive away.

A fan base that would ensure support for every team, sometimes to the detriment of the Canadian team but that’s an issue for another day,

A chance to enhance the reputation, and the visibility, of FIBA Americas here.

A no-brainer.

But if Brazil or Argentina come rolling in at the last minute with a big cheque that enhances the profit, Canada’s toast.

And that sucks.

Now, before some of you go off half-cocked, or fully-cocked, about the government portion of this small budget (and $6 million’s really not that much) the money is already there in a set-aside for hosting this type of event and if basketball doesn’t spend it, someone else will.

-

Last call for mail, folks.

Shoot it off here so we can put it together a weekend delivery.

-

Oh yeah, another night off from in-game blogging stuff, I’m afraid. I’ve got some stuff to do that’s going to keep me away from the couch, sadly. Hopefully, it does allow me to find time on a stool, though.

-

As much as I like Game 7s, I wonder if we’ll actually get one in this round of playoffs.

The three games tonight all seem to set up for the teams leading 3-2 to close things out, don’t they?

I guess the biggest chance for an upset would be in Oklahoma City, if the Thunder can ride the wave of emotion they get from their fans to one more win. But as I wrote today, that Kobe fella has a way of doing whatever it takes and he blankets Westbrook again, well, I have a feeling that one’s over.

I have absolutely no faith in the ability of the Atlanta Hawks to finally find some cohesion and win a big road game, despite a wide disparity in individual skill.

And to suggest the Utah Jazz won’t be ready to close out a series at home is probably folly.

Too bad, was shaping up to be a nice Sunday of Game 7s.

-

Okay, I need to go figure out who I like in the Cavs-Celts and Suns-Spurs series because there’s space in the paper and on this site over the next couple of days.

And, to tell you the truth, as I wrap this up about 8:15 a.m. Friday, I really have no idea who’ll win or in how many games.

Guess I’ve got some thinking to do.

-

Comments

[Peter]

Doug,
You don't have to know who will win. It's Spur's by 12.

[Dave]

Doug, I don't think playing 2nd string PG in Italy for 1 year constitutes learning "to be a pro." Judging from his plethora of idiotic pre and post draft media comments, I think it's safe to say that year didn't change Jennings much at all in terms of maturity either.

Why do we even have to make the distinction between foreigners and North Americans? Why can't we just all agree the Raptors don't win because no one on their roster plays team defense?

[Lorie]

Hi Doug,
Towards the end of the Dallas-San Antonio game last night, when it was apparent Dallas was about to be eliminated from the playoffs, the television camera settled on Mark Cuban's face as his eyes followed Dirk Nowitzki as he took a seat on the bench. Did you happen to catch it, too? Now, I am no expert at reading faces, and I certainly don't know Mr. Cuban, but the emotions on Cuban's face were almost palpable. Yes, it is going to be an interesting, interesting summer - on many fronts.

[Joel]

I beg the Raptors to give Bosh he wants. Phoenix has no future. Cleveland has no future (without Lbj). San Antonio has no future. Dallas has no future. Denver has no future. But they all have the now. That's all they care about. Look what they're doing today- they're competing and having fun. They don't care about next years and rebuilding. Rebuilding is only an option for teams who've never won and are scared to win. The Raptors have been rebuilding for 15 years. Trading Damon didn't work for Zeke & Grunwald. Trading VC didn't work for Babcock. Trading CB4 would just be more of the same, only Colangelo-style. Teams like New York are the exception. But most teams that build for today by adding contracts and big name players also manage to compete long-term. Winning breeds winning.

The Raps have never really tried what Bosh seems to want. VC got some things back in the day but he mostly wanted teammates re-signed. This is different. I really want Colangelo to believe in his star and take a chance into the tax. If the C's could do it in '07, I don't see why BC doesn't try the same thing. You don't get jewels like Bosh on street corners. And I'm skeptical of any team that consciously chooses rebuilding mode. That tactic pretty much never works. In fact I would say it absolutely never works. Let rebuilding take its own course. Until then try to win as much as possible and do all it takes.

Step 1 is to make Chris Bosh happy. He's a star in his prime and a lot of teams would build around him. That's a sign. No one wants to build around Andrea Bargnani. That's another sign. After 15 years we're desperate. Stop making the same mistakes. Re-sign Chris Bosh, please God.

[Lake Simcoe]

Every year now there are boring questions on reseeding. Should those guys understand that good team really don't care about it!?

[Matthieu]

Hi Doug,

Glad you've put the link to your article on Kobe in the blog because the piece doesn't appear anywhere on the sports homepage. Weird, kinda.

[Penny]

Hi Doug - Just want to wish every other accountant in the country a Happy April 30 - yes, the long awaited day has finally arrived.

[Marcus Rush]

The more I watch these NBA playoffs the better Jose becomes. Billups has been absolutly destroyed by Darren Williams, the same Williams who will be shut down if they play the Lakers just like he was in the late season game when Artest guarded him. Kidd has been a total no show in Dallas. Andre Miller was terrible last night. The list could go on...probably Nash folds up like a cheap suit when he faces the toughness of the Spurs. Boston has a chance against the Cavs but only if Rondo decides to be a playmaker and not a scorer. For the 10 people, if it is that high, stop the get rid of Jose rants.

[Parminder]

Wake up folks - it's not the part that they're Euro that sucks about the foreign players on our team. It's their mettle (or lack thereof) and defensive intensity, and our good ol' North American players have the same issues.

[Blake Kennedy]

Couldn't disagree more about Bargnani's offseason. He should have been kept well away from that national team so he could do actual hard development work in the weight room. His leaping is pathetic, his conditioning needs work, his core strength is obviously lacking and most of his lack of aggressiveness comes from the timidity of being at a physical disadvantage to his opponents.

You want him to work on his rebounding? Stick him in a weight room. Then, if he wants practice time, have him scrimmage in a community gym against a bunch of NBA-worthy dudes and let him fight it out with them. We know he can rebound and defend against subpar European competition, and the competitive level of the countries Italy's going to be playing makes allowing him to play for that squad an epic fail.

I know that sounds dramatic, but the toughest guys out there are also the guys who move the most weight in the gym. If this is truly going down, the Raptors need to trade Bargnani immediately because he's never going to get any better than what he is now.

[Jack]

So you've pointed out that European players are not the problem with the Raptors, huh. The Raptors just got European players that don't play any defense. Those guys you mentioned, they blended well with their teammates.
I read something in Frank Zicarelli's column in the Sun today.
"The highest-ranked international prospect to declare is Donatus Motiejunas of Lithuania. The seven-footer plays for Benetton Treviso in Italy."
Raptors Gherardini Benetton Treviso
Hmmm....
Are you preparing the Raptors fans for another Euro draft?

[chris]

Doug - do you know if Bargs is attending Newell's big man camp this summer? He seemed to REALLY benefit from it the one summer (i know of) that he did....

Blogger's note: Can't imagine he is, it conflicts with European stuff.

[Tosh]

The athletic training and progression of this team/organization is horrendous. It took Bosh seven years to put on some bulk in the off season and gain some respect. The biggest progression of Bargnani's game came when Jermaine O'neil told him how to weight train and block shots. Incredible.
Turk stays out of shape the whole season & nobody cares.

Doug, Who is in charge of this aspect of the team? How long has he been there and is he being held accountable?

[Pipit]

Two consecutive nights without the in-game blogging. Guess you can't just tell us here that there is no more people interested and logging-in on your in-game blogs. Come on Doug, you can tell us the truth.

Blogger's note: Actually, the numbers have been the same for every game, give or take about 15. But thanks for the assumption. And, frankly, I don't have to tell you anything.

[Chris]

I know there have been a lot of comparisons of Andrea to Dirk but really they are not even close. Yeah Mago can stretch the D and is 7 ft tall. But Dirk has passion, guts and a fight in him that Mago definitely doesnt...yet. I dont think playing with Italy is the answer. Getting benched for not working hard might send the message. He cant understand defensive rotations yet, cant take charges and cant fight for rebounds and he is 7ft tall. His leaping is pathetic. Why cant contracts be based on performance??

[Tree]

Parminder's 100% correct - it's not the nationality, it's the mindset. That's a culture issue: the team culture (Euro's and American's alike). Trashing players as being to "Euro" is ridiculous. If anyone wants to make an argument that players like Hedo or Bargnani don't play like they care about doing whatever it takes to win, fine - but please refrain from mentioning their passports.

But Doug, your list has some serious issues. You refer to 7 players, but only 3 are European. Jennings spent 5 months in Europe, so that's a stretch (and I seem to recall that the consensus before the draft was that his year wasn't a glowing success in Italy).

As for the South American's, I don't think it's fair at all for them to be lumped in with European players when discussing style of play. If I were to make a generalization about the SA players in the NBA, it would be that they are hard workers that genuinely care about winning. The only criticism I'd level their way is that they seem to be some of the worst floppers in the game (I'm looking in the direction of Manu and Varejao in particular). But, as sad a commentary as it may be, flopping shows a willingness to do whatever it takes to win (including looking like a giant fool).

[doug]

it's interesting to see what the fans who think we have to many Eropeans now will do if we do a sign and trade for Dirk...both players get max deals out of it...the angst factor will raise exponentially....Mavs will be shaken up, I think Carlisle may even be on shaky ground.....to the blogger that responded to my statement yesterday as to why I would even give credence or credibilty to LeBron even if he won a chanpionship...with Lebron i feel he needs to win a championship just to back up his act, this superior attitude...if he does it at least it gives him some credibilty which you have to cede to him.....but as far as a player goes, my nephew 12 year old was watching a cavs playoff game with me a few nights ago, and he said is Lebron the best player you ever saw (which is fine as he is 12 and his b-ball world , his perspective is based on a very small window)....my answer was not only isn't he the best player i have ever seen i don't even know if he would make the top 20 at this time....and i meant it...his "skillset" doesn't appeal to me at all...he's like a footlball player playing b-ball, no grace, just power...plus his ego on top of that just makes him not one of my favs nor will he ever be....but to me he needs to win a champpiopnship to validate his image, whereas players like Barkley,Malone,Stockton never won, but it never affected their image... but LeBron needs to and if he does i will give him dues, but it still won't mean he has gained more of a acceptance to me as a player as he just doesn't represent to me what has made me a fan for all these years...

[John]

I cant agree with some who says that you just win by signing free agents and winning breeds winning. Its not that simple. I think that you have to rebuild in the draft, but once you get the star, that’s when the extra cash has to be paid to surround him with good, experienced, expensive players. the only way that the C's got those players was because they had lots of draft picks and like 2 players! They were a HORRIBLE team 5 years ago. So was EVERY other east conference team still playing in the playoffs. Does everyone not remember how bad the Lakers were in the 90's or the Celtics were 10 years ago? No one wins without the top 3 pick and then spending the money on the others.

The problem is, the Raptors are owned by a group that is in the sports business to make money for their union members. They are a very smart group and they are doing a very good job at getting their members returns on their investments. Don't anyone get their hopes up that all of a sudden they will go $10 million over the cap. How would you then explain to the union brotherhood (who makes 40K a year) where $20 million has gone. The best hope that any of the Maple Leaf sport entertainment group has to win a championship is that the Teachers Pension sells. And you cant really blame them can you?

[The J]

Hey Doug,

You talked about the Mavs possibly making moves to shake things up this summer, but do you personally think they should? I ask that because in some ways their situation could be compared to that of our Raptors. The Raps made a whole bunch of moves in the off-season, and while this dramatically changed the roster, it also made them somewhat better (increase in total wins). However, despite this they came up short of their goals (Play-offs, maybe 2nd round). The Mavs did essentially the same thing, just at the trade deadline not before the season. Similarily it gave them short term sucesss (good regular season, 2nd in west) but they too came up short of their goals (deep play off run, maybe championship). However, as you discussed with the Raps, that much change is unlikely to result in immediate results. It is more important to keep that core together and see what they can do with another season and with more time to gel. Meanwhile the perfect example of keeping a core together, the Spurs, were the team that ultimately had the real success. So would you make changes to the Mavs, or would you give them another season as they are presently formed, to see what they can really do?

[The J]

Also another question for you surrounding Dirk. How much do you think the possibility of Dirk being a free agent will change things this summer for teams. I would imagine with all of the teams looking for a franchise player, or a compliment to their franchise player, might suddenly have another option. For example, the pairing of LeBron and Bosh or Wade and Bosh, could suddenly become LeBron and Dirk or Wade and Dirk. An already interesting summer may have just gotten more interesting.

[Andre]

Milwaukee: Point guard learned to be a pro in Italy, Argentine small forward, Turkish power forward.

San Antonio: French point guard, Argentine shooting guard.

Phoenix: Brazilian backup guard, Slovenian backup guard.

Raptors: Spanish Starting PG, Italian starting C, Turkish starting SF, Italian backup Guard, Slovenian backup centre.

Now i dont complain about have europeans on the team... but there are too many that on THIS team, that dont PLAY a lick of defense, offensively limited, and go to clubs at night and Smoke. (And yes, I know for a FACT they smoke)

I think if Bosh doesnt sign we need to remake this team, using the draft and getting young talent.

[Heath]

How did your ROY voting match up with the results?

[Jc]

No hit for you. I was just thinking the same thing and wanted to see who the bucks' starting five were. Don't forget they are supposed to be anchored by an Australian centre too

[kelsey]

I will not back down from my comments all season.

I will stick with them...YOU CAN NOT WIN WITH TEAM FULL OF EURO PLAYERS IN NBA.. (which most of them play soft,not ALL but majority)

No disrespect there are awesome euro players. I dont enjoy jabbing, the truth must be told. Look at arguably the best European player ever in the NBA. Dirk aka the Dud..

Yes he has won many games and helped team to good regular seasons, But the drag against him is that he is to soft!! Am I lying?

Doug you cant mix the south american players in that. I know Ginobili by "race" is european, however he is from south america and they seem to be a little gritter, like Amusdon from Phoenix as example.

Jennings 1 yr oversea's come on. cant lump him in there.

I loved Garbajosa, because of his grit, give me that over softy Bargnani anyday. But most Euro players are finesse and it cant work.

It is ludacris that people think Toronto could build around Bargnani. It turns my stomach to even write that statement.

If Colangelo cant move him, then he must, MUST come off the bench. Who really think that Toronto could win more than 35 games with the Trio or Bargnani, Calderon and Turk? What the heck is any good having offensive talent and being a lame duck 7ft on the boards and defense. Toronto must ride themselves of this bad aura of softness!!!!

[CC]

forget what Bosh said months ago Doug, but would you do a sign and trade with the Mavs for Dirk? why or why not.