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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Comments

[kevin]

I Know E Smith has been talking about Emeka as being an option at Center but his contract is a tad Hefty….Do you think that a better option would be Dalembert from the Kings? He only has one year left on his deal, he’s athletic and defense first type guy. What do you think?

Blogger's note: I don't think the Kings are going to trade a guy they just traded for.

[johnridgie]

Good morning Doug....
"We’ll try to get something juicy over the next 48 hours or so."
Could this mean something 'might' be in the works....?
Thanks.

Blogger's note: There's always something in the works

[Jonathan]

Doug,

How could you not cover the bigest story from yesterday... BC's comments on the fan about Bosh, its seems like every other writer has talked about it but you. And now the Heat writers are coming out and comparing BC to Dan Gilbert (which is kinda ridiculous when you hear how talked)... I'd like to hear what you think on this one.

Blogger's note: I don't see it as such a big story, frankly

[AJR]

Doug, not sure if you've commented on BC's remarks about Bosh.

Do you agree with them, or are there some sour grapes in there?

[johnridgie]

Oh Doug...
Being an everday reader I should have known better. Please allow me to rephrase this...have your sources led you to believe that a specific transaction could come together sometime in the next 48hrs?
Thank you once again.

[Kelsie]

Hey Doug,

No thoughts about Colangelo's commentary on the Fan590 recently?

Many insinuations and backtracking on things that he had addressed after the season ended.

I myself found it interesting that BC questions if Bosh is a franchise player and implies he quit on the team yet he was all in favour of re-signing him and called him a corner stone all year long.

IMO, it was a hatchet job similar to the Clevland owner with LeBron just not as explicit. I can't say what BC saw from his end, but as a humble fan I never saw Bosh quit on his team the 7 years he was here. The last 10 games he played in a Raptors uniform (minus the Clevland game) he averaged 26-10 and 9 ft attempts per game. That didn't strike me as 'quitting' or tanking.

He also said he was cleared to play on a bad ankle but took extra games off and stopped short of saying he should have been playing, but I wondered if it was fair to question a player who has never dogged it in that way? The team was going through a 'tough stretch' but don't all teams deal with injuries and good teams fight through them? (Portland last year). What was the rest of the team doing during this stretch?

I thought it was rather low brow commentary for an NBA Executive to be making these kind of insinuations to the media.

Any thoughts Doug?

[JT]

Doug,
What do you think of the less than Glowing words BC had for Bosh (on Fan 590) and Bosh's response to them yesterday?
I know BC's a passionate and straight up individual but I was honestly surprised he expressed his thoughts so candidly and openly.

[Del]

Hi Doug,

Have you had a chance to listen to the Colangelo interview as of yet.

I think I am one of many fans interested in your thoughts on this. I am a little suprised you did not dedicate a big part of your blog to this topic. Are you having trouble forming an opinion on it?

Cheers,

[O.J.]

Hi Doug,

I'm not a huge Omeka Okafor fan either but if we upgrade other positiona, or the talent improves internally over the years, don't you think Okafor could provide what Perkins did for his team: rebounding and interior toughness to compliment Bargs' finesse game? Also, wouldn't it make sense to try and pry Collison from New Orleans considering he will never get serious minutes as long as Paul remains there?

[Karen P]

Hey Doug how come STILL no comment on Bryan's interview with the Fan about Bosh throwing in the towel. It has to be one of the biggest stories for Raptors fans yesterday. Are you not allowed to comment??

Blogger's note: I didn't find it particularly newsworthy; it's pretty much stuff he's said in different forms since, oh, February.

[Young James]

"Could this mean something 'might' be in the works....?"

DUH - BC said in his interview on Bobcats show the other day that he has a number of diffrent things he's working on (which can be heard on thier website or read on many other mediums that cover basketball and sport because the interview has been reported over over again everywhere). Doesn't mean they are big deals, doesn't mean they will do anything at all, doesn't mean that "a number of things' is anything over 3 - what it does mean is...Your question has a obvious answer if you were to trunr on a television, internet or read the newspaper!

[Lavi]

Hey Doug,
No comment about BC's comments about Bosh yesterday?

[Pete]

So are we just going to ignore the comments Colangelo made about Bosh because he made it to a rival newspaper? What about Bosh's ignorant comments about Toronto? These aren't worth addressing???

Blogger's note: Bryan's comments mirror those he's made over months in one condensed form; the Miami Herald takeout? Big whoop

[Anthony]

Very sad news about Yao, its also sad that his decision to play at the Beijing Olympics is directly related to his current situation, if I remember correctly he was not fully healed but played anyway due to his national pride. I can understand that, but it appears those few Olympic games came at a very steep price.
Question:
It doesn't look like Steve Nash will ever get to wear a Raptor jersey... however do you see him in some kind of management/consultant role with the Raps within the next 5-10 years? Would love to see this guy working for the Raps at some level, his community work speaks for itself.

[Rapitup]

RE: Tampering

Problem with this entire idea is it seems to be coming more from the players, their agents and their 'entourage' rather than the teams.

If it was a problem with the teams its realtively easy to punish. But when its from these other sources how do you prevent it? Its not like an agent or a buddy of a player is punishable by the NBA. Even players are hard to punish for 'tampering' if they are allowed to talk with other players. Could you even put in a clause that disallows players from talking to players on other teams?

Maybe thats just what needs to be done... fine players if they or any of their representatives fall into the 'tampering' category. Make sure they are very aware and wary of who these people are who speak for them.

Make all player 'representatives' of their teams, so that if a player talks to another player about switching teams, playing together etc. its as if the teams themselves did it.

[Nick M]

'Good morning Doug....
"We’ll try to get something juicy over the next 48 hours or so."
Could this mean something 'might' be in the works....?
Thanks.

Blogger's note: There's always something in the works'

Supreme Politicking, Doug. Have you thought of a career as a MP? Besides the House of Commons is bound to provide more intrigue then the 2010/11 version of the Raps!

[Yezdi]

Any thoughts on BC's comments on Fan 590 yesterday?

Blogger's note: My thoughts are they mirror comments that have been made by him since February, actually. Only in one interview instead of spread over months.

[Neil]

Doug not sure if you have heard the BC interview yet or not but im assuming you have heard something one way or the other ...so why no comments on the aligations made by Mr.Colangelo in regards to CB4 mailing it in after the all star break? just wondering why you havent mentioned it in the blog as yet but the Stars competitors did a full story on the interview with BC....i am sure you will say something along the lines of "havent had the chance to listen to it". Its seems to me that you are avoiding the biggest Raptor story this week for some reason.....

[mike]

Hey Doug,

I know that you mainly cover basketball, but in your opinion, which sport boasts the classiest and the most 'good-guy' athletes? Despite basketball being far and away my favourite sport, I realize that a great deal of NBA players aren't exactly the greatest role models for young kids. If I were to take my pick, I would say it would be baseball players.

[JT]

Doug,

Do you know if the Raptors have any interest in Rudy Fernandez or Sasha Vujacic?

[Rob.V]

Hey dude! Just wondering what your thoughts are on the Raptors possibly picking up Tracy McGrady?

Seriously though, I believe Colangelo made a few good moves this off season.

A - drafted bigs with upside who potentially can protect the rim.
B - Moved Turks contract for a possible 6th man of the year candidate (when healthy)
C - attempted to trade for a defensive minded veteran 7 1 centre (in a contract year).
D - added a hard nosed SF
E - attempted to add another hard nosed (more athletic) SF

I've personally never been a fan of Diaw's however I think he would have been much more valuable to an up tempo type system here in Toronto than what LB runs in Charlotte.

Not aquiring Chandler and Barnes this off season is tough however I'm hoping Colangelo wont go out and add another bloated contract for the sake of.

Maybe the best deal is the one he "doesn't" make at this point. He took his shots, they didnt pan out, and now maybe it's time to let the kids play and see what we have.

Besides a 30-35 win team next season (who plays hard every possession) will still be more entertaining than the half assed effort we witnessed on a lot of nights this past season.

I know Colangelo would never concede a season however to add an Omeka Okafor for the next 4 years... I'm not sure.

One more high draft pick (next off season) and a ton of cash to spend (maybe at the deadline or next off season as well) might be able to help shape this team for the next 5-7 years rather than bringing in someone now who will cost us flexibility down the road.

Colangleo likes to deal so he may be his own worst enemy at this point... he might have to resist the urge to trade for the rest of the summer.

[dave]

So everyone else in the news commented on BC's thoughts on Bosh on the radio interview on the fan590. There where requests from you to get your thoughts on it. I was looking forward to reading them on a 'slow' news day.

Links where put in the comment section for you to listen or read from your loyal fan base.. and....

NOTHING. Not even a word from you on your thoughts on the topic or what BC said. Why?

Blogger's note: I have family issues. All in due time. Sorry to disappoint but, frankly, tough.

[Raptoronto]

I don't think the agents are the issue at the moment, it's these "power brokers" that are technically not tied directly to anyone but seem to have the ear of players, agents and team execs...this letter from Stern was a warning to teams that speaking to these "brokers" will not be tolerated, but can he truly do anything about it? Certainly a bit late now that the Three LeAmigos are dancing up a strom in South Beach and the rest of the best will now clamour to join forces to compete.

[R.B.]

Doug,
First things first - how dare you take time off to do family stuff? Your blog/work should always be the first priority!!! (I keed, I keed hehe)
I completely agree with you that it'll be sad to see Yao retire. When he entered the league, he had such promise and seems like he was never able to reach the heights that he could due to various injuries. I hope he can fight through this and come back to play even if it's not at an all star level.
Hope you are having a fun day with the family!!
Cheers!

[Dan W]

Lets hope the Raptors suprise people this year. With a good chance of a lockout next season alot of draft prospects will proabably stay in school. It would suck to get a high pick again without any clear lottery talent.