An old friend comes back and another one leaves -- sort of

You never know what you’ll find out when you hang around a saloon for a while.

During the very cool Canada Basketball bun-toss and chinwag Thursday night, this little nugget was passed my way.

JT’s coming back.

That’d be Jim Todd, one of the all-time favourite Raptors assistants, and now he’s going to be working with Leo Rautins on the national team staff.

Michael Malone isn’t returning – he’s got a new gig in New Orleans he has to worry about – so the folks were trying to figure out where to find a replacement and they hit a homer, I think, with Jim.

He knows the game inside and out, he’s a great communicator and, let’s face it, working all those years with Sam has to have shown him how do deal with diverse personalities.

Not sure when the official announcement will come – the team starts assembling here on Monday – but it’ll be nice to see an old face when they start serious workouts on Wednesday.

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Okay, a digression but I don’t care.

The Canadian newspaper business – and our little part of it in particular – is worse off today.

Dave Perkins, or Perk as he’s known to all and sundry, snuck out the back door at the end of Thursday, bringing the curtain down on an extraordinary career.

Now, he’ll still be around a bit – the tall foreheads at our place got it right and he’ll be an occasional contributor in his quasi-retirement – but his days as the full-time conscience of our department are over.

Perk’s a classic, and a giant. He’s been scribbling at our place for about 33 years, I think he said, and he’s done it all.

I’ve had the honour of working alongside him an awful lot, we walked the Great Wall of China, check out the Acropolis, saw Sydney Harbour and did sushi in Nagano and been in a whole bunch of North American cities.

If you think he tells a good story in print, you should have the privilege of sitting in a big old rental car smoking a foot-long cigar as he conducts his driving tour of New York City, which is a must for any young kid lucky enough to be there with him.

“Albert Anastasia got shot over there. This is where this other mobster got whacked. There’s where Lennon got it. That’s the greatest sportswriter bar in the world.”

He is a raconteur beyond compare.

Here’s the thing about guys like Perk. There aren’t enough of them left. I don’t think we’ve got one in this city, I can’t imagine there’s one like him anywhere else in Canada and the way our business is going, I’m not sure anyone can elevate themselves to his class.

Now, he’s a tad crusty and if someone sees this and points it out to him, he’ll probably be a bit miffed but, truth be told, our business lost a giant and it sucks.

You readers were better off for having Perk in your life and that’s about the greatest thing you can say about a typist in this gig.

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Anyway …

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I’d be remiss if I didn’t mention this since it’ll probably evoke some questions.

Chris Bosh went on TV and said he didn’t check out and played hard.

Yawn.

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Oh, one last shot at the mail. The plan is for me to get at least one morning off this weekend; not sure which one but I’d like to have the mail almost ready in case I want to do it tomorrow and shut it down for Sunday.

So click here, say hi, bring your best stuff.

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Hey, I read that Chicago’s interest in Tracy McGrady is waning after he stopped by for a workout and an interview.

Wonder if he’ll be on Toronto’s radar now?

(I keed, I keed).

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Oh, right, the Raptors.

They didn’t do anything yesterday, Bryan was at league meetings in New York, I understand, and it was a quiet day around the office.

Just keeping you up to date.

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Actually, one little thing but I couldn’t nail much information down.

I do think there’s a chance they’ll add some kind of assistant to the staff, not necessarily a senior guy to replace Mark Iavaroni but there is some interest in another basketball development kind of guy.

No rush, of course, and no names at the moment.

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Speaking of coaches, big weekend ahead for Jay.

He’s just come off a week with the USA senior team – he was at its Vegas camp helping out – and now it’s off to Dakar, Senegal, for the NBA’s Basketball Without Borders program.

Jay and Masai Ujiri are part of the contingent that works with promising young African players on skill development at the camp.

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Okay, another day, another drive down the QEW and another day of ‘not sure when I’ll get back here but I will’ scheduling.

See ya.

A few little things that are wildly interesting -- honest

All right.

Bryan on Bosh. Since you insist.

I actually got to listen to the now-infamous radio interview – which is far, far, far better than reading any of the interpretations of it because I kind of like to hear the nuance of the words and their context – and I expected, it was far less incendiary that I was led to believe.

The one thing that caught my ear, though, was the suggestion that Bosh was medically cleared to play with the ankle after the all-star break and was more careful coming back than perhaps the team would have liked.

(And, contrary to the Associated Press story that’s on our site right now, that’s the issue, rather than the broken nose-surgery thing at the of the year; at least, that’s how I heard the interview)

I know pain management and recovering from any injury varies from player to player and circumstance to circumstance so I’m not sure there was anything anyone could do except ask every day whether a guy feels good enough to go.

Other than that?

Well, it was no surprise that Bryan thought issues arose around the all-star break, he said that in late February and early March.

And it was no surprise that he made mention of the various moves they made to surround Bosh with different teammates because he talked about that a lot after the season.

What the whole thing was, I think, was a compilation of various issues rolled into one interview at a slow period in the off-season and caused a stir disproportionate to the actual words and news.

That happens a lot.

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Wow.

A trade. That went through.

My, oh my.

How about that?

Anyway, David Andersen is not the answer, I don’t even know if he’ll play an awful lot but it’s a tweak to add some depth at no cost and what’s the harm in that?

Look at it this way: If they get anything out of him, a few minutes here and there; a basket at a key point in one game; some serviceable time if someone ahead of him gets hurt, it’s more than worth it.

Big deal? Heck, no. But a deal nonetheless and, this summer, that’s huge news.

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David Andersen is the third Aussie to be on the Raptors team.

Anyone get the other two?

And no scrolling down, that’s cheating.

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Of course there’s more coming.

It doesn’t take a rocket scientist to figure out that Bryan cannot be done yet in his summer moves; I fully expect he’ll find a taker for Jose Calderon – although I’m still not sure that’s the wisest thing to do – and I know he’s been trying to move Reggie Evans, if at all possible.

I don’t know when stuff might happen but I am 100 per cent certain – and this comes from talking to people here and around the league – that more is to be done before we can even think about assessing the summer of activity.

That’s the thing about this time of year. Sure, we can look at each individual deal and wonder if it’s good or bad or somewhere in between (and somewhere in between is pretty much how you can look at everything) but the total package has to be assembled before a full assessment can be made.

And we are certainly not there yet.

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Hey, thanks everyone.

David Andersen played the better part of a decade in Italy, Russia and Spain, he wasn’t born on this continent and he’s only been in the NBA for one season and I don’t think there was one comment that said:

“Arrghhh. Bryan and his @($*!*#^@#%@!* Euros”

Really, thanks.

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Shindig tonight.

Details here.

Be there or be square.

Actually, it might be kind of fun if there are handful of the senior men’s national team players around these are guys you don’t know, hardly see and if you get a chance to stop by and chat, you might find they’re people you’d like to cheer for.

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So, I’m still confused. Is Russia in Europe or Asia?

(Joking, folks. I’m joking).

But you can add geography to the fun stuff we’ve done around here now.

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Once Turk’s little “I’ve got to get myself out of Toronto” diatribe hit the airwaves way back in the day, if you had been told he could be traded for a backup combo guard and a backup big man and be out from under that contract and save about $30 million in long-term money, would you have been okay with it?

Just wondering because that’s pretty much exactly what happened.

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I wouldn’t trade Jose Bautista, by the way, since that seems to be the big sporting topic of the moment. Of course, I would trade him if I got some good prospects and maybe a bench player for him.

How’s that for equivocation?

Seriously, though, doesn’t this whole issue in baseball kind of mirror issues in every sport in so many ways? There are no absolutes, it’s ridiculous to make bold and blanket statements like “trade this guy” or “don’t trade that guy” because none of us knows what offers there are, what other things might come into play and to simply make declarative statements does nothing.

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Mail? I can handle a bit more and since today’s an office day mostly, I might have some to get some answers going.

As always, click here and type to your heart's content.

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Nathan Jawai and Paul Rogers.

They are the other two Aussies.

Rogers, of course, never actually played a game; he was signed as a free agent in February 1999, had a broken foot and was around just for a look-see and then was renounced the following August.

Yes, we are full of odd trivial knowledge in these parts.

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Raptors make a trade -- but it's a small one

This isn't going to go down as earth-shattering but the Raptors have made a small deal.

They've acquired David Andersen from the Houston Rockets and some cash for a future second round draft pick, according to team sources.

Big? No. A deal? Yes.

Andersen slides into the trade exception and the second-round pick that goes out is one for 2015 belonging to the Clippers and is protected Nos. 51-55.

I know, that's as obscure a pick as you can imagine.

Andersen's hardly overwhelming but is maybe intriguing.

He's a 6-11 Australian who came to Houston from a career in Europe and Russia last season and averaged 5.8 points, 3.3 rebounds and about 14 minutes a game in 63 games.

He's more depth for the frontcourt and with a contract that pays him $2.5 million this season with a team option at $2.7 million for 2011-12, he's hardly a bank-breaker.

Of Yao and tampering and remembering Dwayne Jones

Not a lot of big stuff, but some stuff nonetheless; thanks for hanging in during the slow time. We’ll try to get something juicy over the next 48 hours or so.

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So the news that Yao Ming thinks he’ll retire if his chronically bad feet don’t get any better is hardly surprising – I don’t see what other option he’d have – but it’s also sad in many ways that he’s even got to contemplate it.

Here’s a guy who really hasn’t been able to show exactly what he is for any real length of time. He’s uniquely skilled, huge, with a soft shooting touch and, it appears, a body that just can’t handle the rigours of the NBA life.

But you know what I hope?

I hope he’s Zyrdrunas Ilgauskas and not Bill Walton.

Big Z had foot issues that looked like they were going to derail his career but he fought through them, went through more rehab than any man should have to go through and had a long – still going – and productive career.

I’m a big fan of Yao as a guy, I’ve dealt with him a few times, saw what he means to basketball players in his country when we were at the Beijing Olympics and it would truly be sad if he had to cut his career so short because of health issues.

His iconic stature in Beijing was something to behold, just being at games involving the Chinese team was an event I’m glad I saw and something that can’t easily be described.

I don’t know how truly serious these issues are, or how genuine his thought are about calling it a career but if he has to, that’s really too bad.

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I’m going to do this one more time, with emphasis but without prejudice, because you’ve asked:

Forget for a second that Tracy McGrady’s old and hurt and who knows what he’s got left in the tank. Forget all that.

As perhaps you recall, he hated it here a decade ago, he sat in the visitors locker room late last season slagging Canada and the taxes and suggesting that maybe Bosh would want to leave so, please, for the love of all that’s good in the world, ask yourself this question: Why would he want to come here?

End of story. End of discussion.

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Mail? Sure, we can handle more. Just click here and send it along.

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This Marc Stein story at espn.com is pretty juicy for the simple reason that it addresses the topic that’s on a lot of minds right now: Tampering.

It is indeed a bold step by the league to all of a sudden send out a memo reminding teams of tampering rules and the penalties for violating them and it is a bold, bold step to name a specific player in Chris Paul.

Trouble is, though, there is nothing in the rules right now that precludes players from talking to players and I’m assuming that’ll be addressed in the new collective bargaining agreement.

The issue about teams tampering is very clear and I have a feeling some of the memo sent by the league is aimed at agents, who sometimes tend to be trade-brokers.

An agent will say, ‘hey, I think I can get you my guy from Team X because he wants out and if you offer this, there might be a deal there.’

Or an agent might say to a player, ‘hey, if you want, I can see if I can get you to this team, if you let your team know you want out.’ It’s kind of pre-emptive trade talk chatter that really does no one any good; it’s agents widely over-stepping their boundaries and it’s where a lot of the leaks and “trade demands” come out.

I know this most recent league missive is a bit of shutting the barn door after the horses are out but it was time for a not-so-gentle reminder to teams that there are consequences, serious consequences, for trying to circumvent the rules.

Will it work? I think D. Stern can put the Fear Of Whoever in the minds of owners, governors, GMs and players, he is not a man to be trifled with and this is a clear and definite warning.

About time.

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Hey, remember Dwayne Jones, the other guy in the Barbosa-Turkoglu trade that happened, oh, eons ago?

Well, not sure how long he’s going to be around.

I hear Aug. 15 is the date his contract for next year – and at five years in his minimum tops $950,000 for next season – to become fully guaranteed and I cannot for the life of me see the Raptors keeping him around.

I don’t know much about his game but I do k now that if a guy’s been bouncing around for five years and has never really cracked a rotation or made significant contributions, I’m not sure a team like Toronto needs to keep him around.

I’m getting no word from people in the organization about what their thinking is on the matter but I have a feeling we’ve seen the last of Jones.

Oh, wait, we’ve never actually seen him. So I guess we won’t even see the first of him.

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Okay, same drill today as yesterday, folks. Morning drive, this time with Super Son, to do some visiting in Niagara Falls and not sure when I’ll get back to this infernal machine once the day gets fully underway. Thanks for understanding.

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Tommy, er, Joey and Linas get some good news

Another quiet day in the books but we still manage to get the following fun, frivolity and joyful pieces of easy reading.

Have fun.

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Hey, you all know Joey Dorsey made some money last week, right?

The Raptors are keeping him around for at least a little while longer, I hear, and he’s got another $200,000 or so in guaranteed money now.

But still no guaranteed spot.

I haven't seen the precise terms of his contract with the team but if it’s like a handful of others from similar situations, I’m sure the guarantee now gets him through training camp and the pre-season.

If he’s still on the team opening night there’ll be another guaranteed amount kick in and then there’ll be a third threshold sometime around December.

It’s got to be pretty much the same as the deal Quincy Douby was here on because the situations are pretty similar.

I think what might ultimately determine Dorsey’s fate is whether Bryan can find a way to deal Reggie Evans, who does pretty much the same job although he’s older and certainly has a higher opinion of his offensive skills than, say, the coaches do.

If Evans is gone, that’s Dorsey’s role, as fifth or sixth big who can fill in when needed and will work hard in practice to challenge his teammates. I don’t ever think he’ll be an impact player, I’m doubtful he’d ever be a rotation player on a good team but if there’s a spot on the roster, why not give it to him? But there has to be a spot and right now, there isn’t.

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Here’s some press-stopping news:

Linas Kleiza’s a Raptor.

I mean, like, officially, officially, officially a Raptor.

There was some FIBA paperwork that had to get cleared up yesterday and not until it was filed with all the appropriate people could the deal be finally sealed.

(No, there’s no suggestion Michael Jordan is now running FIBA and had second thoughts).

Anyway, it’s done, done.

Maybe we’ll get a chance to talk to him late next month in Turkey when Lithuania’s in the same group as Canada at the worlds.

Or not, since he said he wasn’t sure he was going to play.

But if we don’t see him there, we won’t see him until camp, I don’t imagine, because they won’t be bringing him over just to talk to us.

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Let’s give an early shot to the call for mail bag; I’m kind of hoping to get a couple of days off this weekend from the regular grind and want to get started on the mail early.

Click here, say hi, ask questions.

Thanks.

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So Chris Paul meets with his new GM, Dell Demps; and his new coach, Monty Williams, and my in-box is flooded with e-mails from New Orleans.

No trade demand. Productive meeting. All on the same page. Looking to move forward. Excited by the plans.

All of which means one thing:

He’s gone.

No, I don’t know that for sure but the whole exercise smacked of a contrived united front and if there are quiet talks going on behind the scenes, it wouldn’t surprise me in the least.

Paul was a diminished asset when there was an alleged list of teams he wanted to play for but I would imagine the Hornets would have said, “look, you’re not going anywhere for two years unless we can make a move that helps our team so keep your trap shut and maybe we’ll get something done.”

And then they can deal him anywhere they like, let him play out his two years before he’s a free agent and then let him see what the new CBA will allow him to do.

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Digression time

(And get used to ‘em, it’s truly dog days tim a round here and with no Monster Lizards At The Olympics to write about, you’re in for some major league digressions).

The other day in the mail, someone asked me about favourite airports in North America and I dutifully supplied a list.

But how do you get on the list? Here’s five things every airport has to have:

Expansive security areas so we aren’t crammed in while the 10 Bucks An Hour TSA Kidlets do their business. Philly has the best security area I’ve seen, huge, lots of lanes, rather intelligent workers who use common sense.

On-site rental car agencies. Shuttles bite.

Starbucks. ‘Nuff said, a guy needs his quad vente non-fat latte (Hello, Hwy. 10 and Harbord! Top Starbucks in the world, I believe).

Good restaurants. No Sbarro or Cinnabon or whatever that other junk is for me. Wolfgang Puck’s place in Denver’s really good; Minneapolis has all kinds of good spots.

Good weather and no delays.

I know, I know. It is to dream.

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Hey, all you good folks out in the B.C. area, check this out.

Not sure how convenient it is for you, but the senior women’s team has a couple of games out there tonight and Thursday and if you get a chance, you should go see ‘em.

There’s going to be a lot of attention paid to the men in the next little while since they start camp and have games out in Vancouver and then back here in mid-August but, I have to tell you, the women are good.

Their worlds are until after the men so there’ll be time to catch up with them but they might have an even better chance at getting to the second round of their worlds than the men will at theirs.

It’s not often they play at home, and they’d probably appreciate some support.

Oh, and while you’re at the Canada Basketball website, don’t forget to read about the Happy Hour thingy that’s here in Toronto on Thursday night. Sounds like a pretty good time to me.

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Okay, I’m off to Niagara Falls today to do some family stuff; not sure when we get to comments but I’m sure there’s a place with wireless and a coffee or some other beverage where I can at least spend lunch. So if you don’t see your pearls of wisdom immediately, know it’s not personal.

No beaten-up old guys need apply

I read with great delight that Tracy McGrady is likely to sign with the Chicago Bulls.

Not so much for Tracy -- I don’t particularly care where he ends up -- but for me.

(And while it is all about me, this is also all about the Raptors so indulge me).

There won’t be a dozen of comments or e-mails suggesting the Raptors sign McGrady or Shaq or Allen Iverson or some other washed up star to fill out the roster.

Not only are their skills declining – McGrady’s been hurt forever, Shaq’s getting quite long in the tooth, Iverson was a ridiculous idea a year ago and even moreso now – but they are not the kind of guys anyone connected with this organization should give a second thought to.

This team, right now, is not a place for a veteran to come in and play out his dotage; they need young kids hungry to prove themselves or mid-20s guys ready to truly blossom.

I don’t care what word you use – rebuilding, re-tooling, changing, adjusting, whatever – this team this year is going to very much be a work in progress where you’ll have some kids still trying to figure it out, some trying to make their name and I’m wondering if it won’t be at least more entertaining a product that we’ve seen the last two years.

I think Bryan’s one last move – or maybe his two last moves – should be to add someone who can grow with the group, not someone like an aging star ending his career who might provide a couple of extra wins at the cost of the development of guys who may be here for a while.

So Tracy and Shaq and even Josh Howard, who is intriguing if he wasn’t hurt and most likely too expensive, should find other homes where they fit better because I don’t think any of them bring anything to a team trying to establish an identity.

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How could you possibly not like a guy who sat around having beers waiting to see if he made the cut and a dude who lost some weight trying to get fit and found out he didn’t like it so he’s somewhat portly again?

Really?

Carl Pettersson – you can read about him here – has truly vaulted up my list of favourite PGA Tour guys now.

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Dang!

Missed the tryouts for the June Taylor Dancers yesterday.

Hope it went well.

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What’s up with the Raptors? Well, word I got over the weekend from folks was some things are “simmering” but nothing is imminent. Figure that’s just the normal state of affairs around there these days and probably doesn’t mean an awful lot.

But figured you’d want to know.

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Bit of a digression but what the heck, it’s not like there’s a lot of basketball to digest. So …

You know, everyone’s job has some good points and some bad points and after almost a week of being Golf Boy, I have devised the following lists for your reading pleasure

The Good

No night games.

You do your interviews outside the scoring trailer and not in some stuff locker room.

For the most part, the guys you’re talking to want to talk to you.

They don’t play stupid music during competition and there aren’t 19,000 people screaming when you’re trying to file at the buzzer.

Fresh air and sunshine when you’re working doesn’t bite.

The Bad

The stadium’s so damn big.

Rain delays

Having to park kilometers away and be shuttled into the course.

No Chicken.

You watch those guys hit balls and you think, “what game is it that I play?”

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So the Miami Herald did this big long takeout on Chris Bosh over the weekend and there’s some interesting stuff in there.

Takes a couple of shots at Toronto but praises the city but the one that kind of made me sit up and take notice – and there’s a comment in the comment section about it, too – was that now he’s happy that people will know where he plays and who his teammates are.

I’ve got to say this: If Bosh’s team had won, people would have known where he played and who was on his team. I saw first-hand with that other guy – if the Raptors are good, fans will find them. It was a bit of a rock star franchise for a little while in the early-2000s on Vince Carter’s talents; Chris, for all the good things that he does, was never on team that was that successful.

But, trust me, if a team wins, the fans and the networks and the folks back home know about it.

And that’s the thing to be mindful about first and foremost:

It’s not the market or the country or whatever; it’s success on the court that determines how a franchise is perceived.

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You know what’s going to be cool?

Some actual basketball to watch in person.

Leo’s team starts dribbling into town this week, camp begins on the weekend to get ready for the worlds and I’m going to be quite interested to see how the team shakes out.

And hopefully it’ll provide some fodder for stories because other than that and any breaking news on the Raptors front this looks like a very uneventful week ahead.

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Have a go at the regular fare

All right, one more day of Golf Boy, maybe a day or two to decompress and then perchance I can persuade the general manager to make some blockbuster move that’ll keep everyone going for a couple of days.

Until then, there’s this:

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Q: What do you think of the whole Chris Paul wanting out of New Orleans? It's somewhat disheartening that he's following LeBron in trying to create some sort of super team elsewhere instead of trying to bring players to N.O.

Nathan C, Toronto

A: It’s absolutely disheartening and just adds another layer of “who’s running this league” stuff to the debate. I can kind of see Paul’s point in one regard, that team has issues at ownership, a new general manager, a new coach and so-so talent but I’m of the opinion that players who sign contracts should do whatever they can for the duration of them to live up to the terms and make the team better rather than try to finagle their way out of them. Or else sign shorter term deals in the first place.

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Q: Hey Doug -- The positive side of covering golf is that at least it means you can blend in far more easily with the athletes, right? (I keed, I keed...)

You asked for some entertaining questions, and if there's one thing that's entertaining, it's putting basic bar discussions into semi-newspaper form. So, with that in mind, of that Raptors first-round picks since they came into existence, who's worked out the best for the team? The worst? The most surprising? If you're feeling really keen - and the rain keep pouring down - I'd love to see them ranked.

Thanks so much for the blog -- always enjoy reading your work.

Chris R, Vancouver

A: Tell you what, let’s do this right now and we’ll do something more substantial some quiet morning during the week.

For what they got out of them and where they were picked, I’d have to put Mo Pete (No. 21 2000) as the undisputed No. 1 and Rafael Araujo (No. 8, 2004) as the undisputed worst.

The rest? There’ve been some hits (Carter, Bosh, Stoudemire, Camby for what he returned), some misses (Mike Bradley, Kareem Rush) and some others who were so-so. To go through and rank them 1-15 is for another time.

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Q: Hi Doug, the blog is awesome, yadda yadda.

I understand, the Raps have no chance of trading for CP3. However, with the trade exception in hand, would that put us in the running to help possibly facilitate a trade with NO and another team, and potentially pick up something in the exchange? If a team like Orlando (way over the cap) is close to landing Paul, but can't make the numbers work, can BC swoop in to help with the finances, in exchange for players or picks?

Peter R, Toronto

A: It absolutely puts them in position to facilitate transactions, not only with Paul specifically, but in other instances, too.

I’m not saying that will transpire but I do know Bryan has a way of looking at deals with a creative mind and if he can get something he wants by being in the middle of some three-team deal, he’ll do it.

It’s also part of the reason I think he might wait to use some or all of that trade exception; who knows what might come up once the season begins.

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Q: Hi Doug. Just wondering who you think will take over from Chris Bosh as the face of the franchise if we went into the regular season with the roster we have today? Many people would probably say Bargs, however I like the idea of Amir being the man who people want to see. He has more personality than Bargs and he seems to be loyal to Toronto.

Leon R, Cambridge

A: I’m not sure they’ll have a “face” of the franchise, the feeling I’m getting is that most of their marketing, which is often how fans are force fed this player or that, will surround a couple or three guys.

And since I’m not the target audience or a guy who pays attention to ads, I’m not really concerned.

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Q: Doug, this is an off-Raptors/basketball question.

I have flown around the world quite a bit but not so much in North America; just Toronto to Vancouver once.

Could you give me the top 5 best airports in North America? (convenience, cleanliness, transportation, staff etc) You may include Pearson.

Peter K, Oakville

A: I may include Pearson but I certainly won’t.

Right off the top of my head right now (and this is without any great amount of research), I’m going with Denver, Minneapolis, the new one in Indianapolis, I’m okay with San Francisco and Philadelphia.

Let me, sometime in the middle of this week, get into the "what makes a good airport" (if I remember to do it) because that's kind of fun.

If I never have to go to O’Hare, LAX, Miami, Memphis or Sacramento again, I’ll be fine.

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Q: Hey Doug!

I noticed that you wrote your Matt Barnes article with a certain degree of doubt - leaving room for the possibility that by the time the paper hit my doorstep the deal may or may not have been final.

I also liked your blog explanation the next day, about how the 24-hour/day news cycle makes things more difficult these days. It's always interesting to hear from a journalist's point of view how things are changing, and the new challenges of the day.

There's always been a drive in journalism to 'scoop' the other guy, but do you think that the ability to instantly report, 24/7 means there's even more of a drive to be the first one with the scoop these days? And is that drive to scoop the other guy something that is largely ego-driven, or are journalists under pressure from their employers (or their readers?) to be the first to report?

For the record, you're my first Raptors read every day not because you'll have the story first, but because you'll have the story right! And when you're RIGHT and FIRST, well that's just a bonus.

Rob E, Toronto

A: The drive to be first usually comes from bosses who want the satisfaction of hearing or reading credit to their organization, newspaper or whatever although there are a handful of writers who share that same sentiment.

Frankly, I’m not sure a lot of regular folks give a rat’s bum who was first as long as the person they trust covering the team they watch have the news eventually and are able to (a) confirm what are usually “sourced” reports and (b) put some context to them that might not exist in some quick-hit little item.

Here's a little start on the weekend mail

Hey, let’s do the same thing as last week since I’ve got nothing, really, from Friday.

Here’s the start of the mail and we’ll get to a whole lot more tomorrow, which will give me something to do sitting out any rain delays at the golf. Or, worse comes to worse, while I’m sitting somewhere tonight relaxing.

Enjoy.

If you want to give me something to do, click here, say hi, send in a question and we’ll see what we can do.

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Q: Many of the teams these days are employing statisticians and other math types to look at new ways of assessing talent. Morey in Houston is certainly a biggie, and he has been a big influence on all of this by helping found the Sloan Sports conference. I believe that San Antonio, OK City and Portland (when Pritchard) were some of the best. These guys seem to have more of a knack of getting good contribution and not overpaying for talent. To what extent does Bryan use analytics to help him assess talent, and determine appropriate pay scale. We were lucky to get out of Hedo's contract, but even at the time, he seemed overpaid - a guy coming off one really great season. Thoughts?

Andrew W, Toronto

A: They use advanced analytics from a respected pair of statistical analysts as part of their evaluation process. It is not – and should not – be the biggest determining factor in building a roster, in my opinion because of the other variables that make building a team an inexact science.

And Hedo made $7 million in 2008-09, helped a team get to an NBA final and got a raise to $9 million in 2009-10. I have no problem with that at all.

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Q: Hi Doug. I will keep this short and sweet. What are the league rules with regards to a player changing a number. From the research I've done it seems as though some people believe that you have to apply with the league office to have a number change months in advance that it happens. If this is correct (which I am hoping you can confirm) wouldnt this indicate that Chris Bosh had intentions of leaving the Raptors well before the regular season ended?

Frank C, Toronto

A: This is a level of conspiracy theory heretofore ignored.

But, alas, a player changing teams can change numbers as he wishes; if he wants to change it while remaining with his team, he needs to inform the league.

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Q: Hi Doug. What have you heard about Nathan Jawai? Has he improved his game? I'm asking because I noticed he's a restricted free agent.

Cruz F, Toronto

A: Nate, while a very nice man, never developed any level of skill needed to play in the NBA. I fully expect he’ll be in Europe or Australia next season.

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Q: Hi Doug. Love the blog, always a great read.

My question has to do with trades, and in particular, how GMs relate to one another. It seems that BC tends to deal with similar teams when making trades (a few with Orlando in the past while, even if the Barnes deal falls through, etc.). I know there are exceptions to this, but do some GMs just have better relationships with each other and therefore they are more likely to do business with one another, or is it simply a case of going after the players you need/want who are available?

Peter R, Regina

A: Sure, there are better relationships between some GMs than others but that doesn’t mean you always do deals first with people you are more familiar with.

General managers really aren’t about to let personal relationships, good or bad, determine what they do; they’d do deals with the devil if they thought it would make their teams better.

What generally happens is a GM might scour another team’s roster, think they might have a shot at guy they want and make a cold call, regardless of past transactions.

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Q: Hi Doug. What do you think is the missing piece in the Raptors' rotation of bigs? I think you could live with a rotation of Amir/Davis/Dorsey (I'm assuming Joey's potential and cheaper contract have made Reggie Evans redundant) combo at PF and Il Mago can start at centre, so is the missing piece a steady vet to back up Bargnani (I like Solomon but he's probably a little young)? If so, do you think this means the return of Rasho by default?

Mike D, Toronto

A: I’d like to think so because I like Rasho a lot as a man but I don’t know that he has the skills left that this team wants. So I’d be quite surprised; then again, I’ve been surprised before.

I also know Jay doesn’t mind a four-bigs rotation and they do think that Davis can eventually guard both positions so maybe they’d be content with that group. I’d be leery of an undersized Dorsey and a young Davis as half of it, though.

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Q: Hi Doug. In looking at BC's first pick up of the off season, Linas Kleiza, I can't help but wonder if maybe Mr. Colangelo should have saved his "powder" to complete a Matt Barnes deal or acquire a solid big?

I must admit I have never paid much attention to Kleiza however in reading reports published back in his draft year of 2005 this one line jumped out at me:

“Not a very good defender due to his lack of athleticism."

Doug assuming Linas hasn't become an above average defender do you really think it was wise to spend so much of the mid-level exception on this type of player?

Thanks

Mike D, Cambridg

e

A: Well, I would presume that five years ago, as a 20-year-old coming out of Missouri or as a rookie in the NBA with Denver, Kleiza would have been a very poor defender. I don’t think he’s the same kid now as he was then, though. He may not be an above average defender but he does have some athleticism.

And the fact is, the Raptors wanted him and went out and got him; I don’t know if they figured Barnes would last as long on the market as he did so it makes sense to me that Toronto would make its move on Kleiza when they had a chance.

Who knows if other deals that were in the offing may have had played a role in what they ultimately did but you take your shot when you get your shot and if another comes up – like Barnes – you take the shot at that, too. Sometimes it works, sometimes it doesn’t.

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Q: If there's not much left on the free agent market, then we're left with trades. So, given what Toronto has to offer, what teams should the Raptors be targeting to secure a starting SF and C?

Geoff E, Toronto

A: I’m not sure they would be “targeting” one or the other, rather they’d be looking at all kinds of different scenarios to see what might pop up. If it was me, however, I’d probably be more interested in finding a big rather than a small forward although both spots need some help.

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Q: Just two quick questions:

With Bosh and James leaving their respective teams for less pay than they could receive elsewhere, would you say that this is a paradigm shift in free agent attitude?

And when players leave like this, is it considered an indictment of the composition of the teams they left - that they have no faith the GM will get the player mix right? It sounds like the top players are trying to be their own GMs. Perhaps franchises don't need GMs anymore, but really good salespeople instead.

Brad B, Ottawa

A: I think at the very, very top level, where money is not an issues simply because the overall size of the contracts, you may see players eschew some money to give themselves a better competitive advantage. But for the middle-class who aren’t signing nine-figure deal, I think things will stay the same – money talks. Of course, we have no idea what impact a new CBA will have on that.

And GMs have to be more sales-oriented now, yes. And I’m not sure if it’s an indictment that a GM will never get it right in the minds of players who leave, it’s probably more a fact of not thinking the GM can get it right in a hurry and getting out at an opportunity that may not come up again.

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Q: Doug, help me understand. Why couldn't the Raps have signed Barnes as a free agent like LA did? why did we have to do a S&T and offer 9 mil. If we have 14mil left to spend, do we have to spend it on one player or can we spend it on 2,3 or as many as we can get players for 14 mil. So a player who would get more minutes than in LA, goes to LA to probably sit on bench. Why can LA sign him for 3.6 mil, and I bet overall the LA payroll far exceeds the Raptors payroll. So the best team in BB improves itself, and a team that tries to improve itself can't. It doesn't seem to matter what BG does, he can't improve the team. We can't sign a player but we'll carry Banks & Bryant who will sit on the bench and do nothing. Also, David Stern should have stepped in and declared the trade with Charlotte valid once the players were informed. If they were not then MJ has every right to back out, but once the players have been told then it should go through. Also, in changing trading partners, did Charlotte actually do better in the trade than if they would have stayed with Raptors offer?

The NBA is the worst league with regards to contracts and free agency. There will always be only a few good teams. A totally selfish me first league. Something is wrong when players making 5-10mil don't even play 15 mins a game. When most of these individual players make more than a whole CFL team like the Argos with a payroll of 4.3 mil (1 player versus 43 players) something is wrong.

Thanks Doug, appreciate your expertise.

Angelo R, Toronto

A: I don’t know where to start.

The Raptors don’t have $14 million left to “spend,” they have a $14.5 million trade exception (and a $2.7 one from the Turk trade) that they can use to acquire players under contracts to other teams. They Lakers had enough money left in the mid-level exception to make the offer to Barnes; the Raptors didn’t.

The rest? Good rant.

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They lose out on Barnes, so what's a team to do now?

So much for Matt Barnes, I guess.

He’s gone to the Lakers, two-years and $3.7 million, and it’s pretty obvious that, all things considered, two-time champs there beats two-time non-playoff team up here.

Barnes probably could have done the same deal in Toronto had he really wanted to be here by forcing the Magic, who could have taken that much of a cap hit to start, into a sign-and-trade transaction.

Didn’t happen and when Toronto’s $4.5 million first-year offer went away, so did he.

Too bad, I still contend he would have been a good basketball fit with the Heroes Of The Hardcourt, bringing them an edge they don’t have.

But, really, can you blame a guy? If he’s going to make the same money anyway, why not go play for the Lakers in the state where he lives and try to win a title rather than come to Toronto and try to squeak into the playoffs.

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So, the question now is what’s next?

If you look over the list of remaining free agents (and here’s a pretty good one courtesy of yahoo.com), I think you can say there’s not a whole lot there that’s even remotely interesting to this team.

Yeah, there are some names you might like and some guys you might think fit but considering what the Raptors are and what they need, there is really squat available on the market now that Barnes is gone.

That means if Bryan’s got a move or two to make – and while maybe he can live with Linas Kleiza and Sonny Weems as his small forwards but he cannot live with that rotation of bigs – he’s going to have to make a deal and use some of the trade exception money he’s got.

Maybe he does try to hit a home run, or maybe he settles for a so-so pickup to round out the roster but I say it’s going to have to come from somewhere other than the list of free agents who might be amenable to a sign-and-trade transaction.

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Wanna do mail?

Since the golf’s already two hours delayed (first tee time now not until 9 a.m. because of the incessant rain hammering us right now), I may have some idle time.

Click here, send away and I can’t wait to hear from you.

Well, most of you.

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I’m not sure if it’s exactly the right analogy but as the pressure to write bore down, it felt like covering a buzzer-beater on Day 2 as Golf Boy.

A guy in the last group setting a course record is not something you plan for, that’s for sure.

One thing we’re allowed to do in this gig is cheer for your story – not a team or a guy or a gal, but your story – and there was a pretty nice one to write about Vance Veazey that was all set to go when Brent Delahoussaye began his assault on the record.

I’m not suggesting we wanted him to make a series of Smith-esque bogeys, doubles and others but, well, I liked the Veazey story a lot.

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Okay, I need to say this to stop the onslaught of e-mails and comments.

No, the Raptors cannot and will not get Chris Paul if, in fact, he’s traded.

Remember way back in the day when we were talking some kind of silly trade and it was suggested by a wise old man that you need to consider any crazy transaction from either side?

Well, if have to gut your team to get a guy like Paul, why in the world do you suppose he’d want to come here? And I can almost guarantee you that a 40-win Eastern Conference team in another country that just lost the best, or second-best, player in franchise history is not alluring to Chris Paul.

Not going to happen.

Seriously.

And don’t talk about the trade exception, okay? If the Hornets lose him and get nothing at all back, they may as well shut the doors that day because the city will shun them and they’ll be on the move again.

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Hey, you want breaking news? Canadian Open in a two-hour delay so if you were headed out to watch a particular player, adjust your schedule accordingly.

Thank you.

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Thing That Make Covering Golf Worse Than Covering Basketball, No. 1

Rain delays.

Borrrrrrrrring.

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Hey, they’re still going over at the under-17 girls worlds in France, you know. Canada gets Argentina later today in the consolation round and then gets either Mali or Turkey to wrap things up.

It’s certainly not what they wanted but I bet finishing with a couple of wins would take some sting out of not being in the top eight. Not much, mind you, but some.

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Oh yeah, got a note that Leo’s team starts workouts here next week.

And this is why I love Canada Basketball now. They’re kicking off the camp with a little happy hour in a saloon I’ve been in before and that’s a pretty good idea, methinks.

Go here to find out more.

Oh, and one I did here a few days ago is that it’s looking less and less and less likely every day that the wheels of government bureaucracy will spin fast enough to get Matt Bonner on the team.

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A quiet day all around, except in Phoenix where Turk talked

I’m trying to figure out the last time I went a day without even writing a note about the Raptors or the NBA and I couldn’t come up with it.

But the well was dry, my friends, dry as a bone Wednesday which can mean only one thing: Something’s coming.

Really, with all the tweets and premature stories and information dribbling out that’s true in the moment but fluid enough that it could change in a minute, the flow of information from a lot of people I talk to is drying up.

Guess it’s a sign of the times and the 24/7 news cycle we live in but it does make a guy’s job harder.

And here especially, given the Charlotte thing and the Barnes thing and the relatively intense scrutiny this franchise operates under.

I’m not saying it’s going to be impossible to be out front on stories, but I’m sure it’s going to be much more difficult.

But I’ll also say this:

I did talk electronically to a guy I trust implicitly at the Raptors yesterday and asked whether there was anything going on that I should care about and was told it was quite a quiet day.

I guess that means stuff’s percolating but not sure how hot it’s running.

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Here’s the story out of Phoenix yesterday covering the triumphant arrival of one Hedo Turkoglu.

Not really huge news to anyone here, he wondered about the way he was used and the fit in Toronto; changed his number again for some personal reason; yada, yada, yada.

But I will say this:

I think he’ll have a pretty good year out there and there’ll be some “where was that” talk in Toronto.

Turk’s a good player with a unique skillset and a style that actually should fit okay with the Suns. No, he won’t run a lot of screen-roll stuff on his own but I have a suspicion that just being around Steve Nash will elevate his game.

Right Amare? And Joe? And Shawn? And Boris? And About A Hundred Other Guys?

Anyway, the Turk fit wasn’t good here, I don’t think the team handled him well – I don’t think they kicked him the butt enough early and a sense of entitlement crept in – and I certainly don’t think he handled himself very well either.

I wrote about mid-season that’s a bit of an odd duck, that his default position is to laugh stuff off even if it bugs him tremendously and he isn’t a guy who is going to wear anger or disappointment or even frustration on his sleeve too often.

It’s the way he is and they couldn’t figure out how to handle him; he couldn’t figure out how to really deal with the issues he thought exists and it just didn’t work.

Doesn’t mean it was a bad idea, in fact an overwhelming majority of people thought it was a brilliant stroke when he arrived a year.

It means they took a shot, it didn’t work out and you move on.

End of story.

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Things I Like About Being Golf Boy, V 1.0 Of Many This Week: No night games.

Was pretty cool to shut the machine down about 5 p.m. yesterday and be done. Not the same today, of course, but the evening will still be free.

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Kind of missed the under-17 girls yesterday because they played late in the afternoon Canada time and I was dealing with some stuff.

They lost, as I’m sure you heard, and now played for spots in the bottom eight rather than the top eight and a chance at a medal.

Not a great result, and I’m pretty sure the girls and the coaches are quite disappointed. I don’t think they had any idea what they were going up against when they landed in France but I do know from talking to them a few times that top eight was their first and biggest goal.

But at least now they have an idea of that the age-group talent is around the world – specifically Europe – and it’s a good baseline to establish.

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So David Lee is ruled officially out of the world championships, Robin Lopez is going to take the summer to work on his wonky back and Amar’e Stoudemire can’t get insurance his knee.

Coach K tells Mr. Sheridan that the USA will play a more unconventional style and calling guys forwards or guards or twos or threes or fours really doesn’t matter.

I’m entirely on board with that – pigeonholing guys by position really doesn’t make a lot of sense to me with the way the game is evolving – and it might actually be fun to see what style emerges.

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Now, I’m going to admit to being a bit of a golf fan and a player who can get the ball airborne more often than not (a fact that really helps with first-tee Nassau negotiations) but Anthony Kim kind of summed up the game the way of lot of people see it when we were chatting with him at the Canadian Open.

Was the undisputed line of the day and purely a joke.

Kim’s hurt and won’t play but was up pressing some flesh as a guy in the RBC stable players.

Not sure who it was in the scrum but someone asked him if he’d been watching a lot of golf on TV as he recovers from wrist surgery:

“When I want to go to sleep sometimes, I watch it.”

Ding. Ding. Ding.

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Okay, back the course and the quiet.

Want to help me keep busy? Send a letter for the mailbag here; entertain me, please.

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