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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Comments

[Steph]

Rob V, I hope today is the day Mrs Smith doesn't read the blog, otherwise Doug might just haave a sore back tomorrow from sleeping on that lumpy couch...lol.

[TJ]

Curious? Anyone may answer this.
Is it in any way possible tha Barnes tweeted deal on purpose just to see if it gets other teams to react in time, hoping he really doesn't want TO to be his over all best option?
Don't get me wrong, I've been a fan of the game since the days of Bird & Magic to Thomas drafting Damon over O'Bannon to Bosh leaving and I'm still a huge fan of the game and I'm glad we have home team and I will always root for them.
Cheers

[Peter]

Golf Boy Doug seems to draw a lot fewer comments then Trade Rumour Doug, or Trade Rescinded Doug. Bet you're loving the break!

[smartenup]

give derozan and weems a chance to develop. I personally would have given turk one more year without Bosh to see if he could have exhibited some of his previously shown skills and star qualities. If it didn't work so be it. however if he exhibited some skill not shown last year and there was improvement his trade value would have also increased. It would have made it easier to attract some players of worth and not so easy for others to turn down the chance to play for a team to contend. OTHER RAPTORS WERE LIMITED TO LITTLE DEVELOPMENT BECAUSE " BOSH ALWAYS WANTED THE BALL". dON'T PUT ALL YOUR EGGS IN ONE BASKET. They get injured who do you have to go to. HAVING Barbosa, calderone and Jack is something to start building with. Don't Trade them, build with derozan, weems and johnson developing more, see how Bargs plays as a forward which he should be instead of center. Make a trade for some above average center, with whatever is left and see where you go. If it doesn't work get one of the top five draft picks for next year and keep your trade exceptions