The dog days aren't here quite yet

If there’s one thing I’ve learned over the past few years, it’s that NBA teams like their Augusts to chill and do nothing. That’s executives and players and, yes, beat grunts, who try to catch a breath.

What’s the context? The context is that Bryan did not come back from Vegas with a new player or two and it’s July 19 so he’s got about 10 days to work his magic on the point guard, small forward, backup big things he has to deal with.

Here’s hoping sooner rather than later.

(Of course, national team stuff and a trip to Turkey kind of eat up some of August but what’s a fella to do?)

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One guy who isn’t coming back – maybe to clean out a condo but that’ll be it – is Marc Iavaroni, as I’m sure you all read in this piece that came up late Saturday night.

Now, if I believe head coaches get too much credit and take too much blame, you can imagine what I think of assistants.

And while there seems to be a lot of slagging of Marc out there, mostly from people who’ve seen him interact with players or colleagues, it’s pretty baseless.

Yes, he’s a quirky guy, no question. Yes, the team’s defence was subpar all season.

But to think he single-handedly decided what they’d do, or single-handedly turned perimeter defenders into statues is folly.

He worked hard on skill development with the bigs – he spent every pre-game period and a lot of post-practice time working with Andrea on the block – and he suggested some defensive systems that didn’t work.

And then they changed some things, as all smart staffs do when things weren’t going well and they didn’t work, either.

Coaching is very much a collaborative effort, discussion and suggestions and debate until the man in charge – Jay – makes the final call and says, ‘yes, we’ll do it this way.’

Marc was brought in a year ago to provide some fresh ideas, on both sides of the ball with a focus on defence, and they didn’t really work out all that well.

So you move on. Try something new. See how that goes.

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The word I got from a couple of People Who Count when I asked if they’d replace Marc was: “Perhaps.”

If they do, I’d expect it be someone young to focus on skill development as much as in-game strategy.

I think PJ will help Jay a lot in that regard, Alex showed last season with his work with Amir Johnson that he’s good at developing players and I know Micah’s going to have the staff prepared for whatever opponent is up next.

So if they do hire someone, I don’t think it’s going to be a “name.”

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I know there are some asking about news conference thingies with the new dudes, Linas Kleiza and Leandro Barbosa.

Not going to happen.

We got all the time we’re going to get with Kleiza when we ran into him – nudge, nudge, wink, wink – the day he signed his offer sheet. (And here’s the result of that conversation).

And Barbosa, I’m told is back in Brazil and they aren’t going to bring him up.

So it’ll be training camp, or maybe in Turkey late next month, when we next get words.

Oh, and it’s not a given that Kleiza will be playing for Lithuania at the worlds, funnily enough in the same group with Canada. When I asked him about it that day, he was kind of ambivalent and suggested Lithuania may send a young team to the worlds as the vets take the summer off before the country hosts the European championships in 2011.

Not sure what that might mean for Canada but having an inexperienced team in their group can’t hurt, can it?

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This might rankle some but over the weekend the realization hit me – again – that if they ran a car race on my crescent, I’d go sit on the back deck.

Really, I don’t get it. Doesn’t mean it’s bad, just that I don’t see the allure.

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Hey, you’ve read about the Canadian teen girls, I presume (if you haven’t, it won’t take long to get through this) but I don’t know if many of you know about the Canadian women.

The senior national team began its preparation for the worlds later this summer out in Vancouver over the weekend, beating Chile on Saturday night. The details are here and I see they go again tonight in Richmond and if you’re out that way, you might want to take it in.

I know the men are going to get the bulk of the attention in the next little while (they’re starting pretty soon as we turn our attention to the world rather than the NBA) but the women’s team is pretty darn good and might surprise one or two of you later this year.

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Ken Berger’s got a nice piece here on Michael Jordan and the whole LeBron James thingy and, not surprisingly, he makes a lot of the same points a lot of us made about what would have happened in the olden days.

(Of course, Ken didn’t ask Jordan why he screwed over the Raptors but that’s not his gig).

Anyway, James, far more than Bosh or Wade, is getting hammered these days, isn’t he? I was wondering what the fallout from his whole summer of tomfoolery would be and it’s been a bit more drastic than even I had thought.

For a guy who handled himself pretty well at the start of the process, I’m not sure he’ll ever totally be able to make up the way he screwed up the finish.

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Okay, here’s the deal. Wee family issue popped up over the weekend so I’m not Golfing Boy today, not sure when I’ll get to all the comments but I will.

It’s not personal if they don’t get up right away.

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Comments

[Andrew Gregg]

Hi Doug:

I see that Jamaal Magloire has re-upped with the Heat. For that reason alone I hope Miami can win a championship. Jamaal is one of the good guys and an NBA ring would look very good on his finger.

Meanwhile, I have a question for you about DeMar Derozan. What are the chances that he can become an elite NBA player? Does he have the tools and the attitude? Or is he limited by his size, skills and court-smarts?

Thanks Doug,

AG, Toronto

[D Degroot]

Jordan played with Pippen and Rodman (among others), Magic played with Kareem and Worthy and Bird played with McHale among many others. That's not even getting into Barkley, who switched teams three times, once to join Drexler and the Dream. Why did Bird, Magic and Jordan never switch teams? Aside from the very different contractual situations of their era, because each played in major markets with players who were among the top five in the entire league.

Here's another story on Jordan's comments: http://sports.yahoo.com/nba/blog/ball_dont_lie/post/LeBron-James-takes-the-easy-way-out-Good-for-hi;_ylt=AuwD7Z6MXEE._JslSHRFB.y8vLYF?urn=nba,256810.

[Max]

But why shouldn't James get the majority of the bad pub?
Wade re-signed with old team, Bosh left a meandering team that didn't make the playoffs.
James left a team that combined for more than a 120 wins the past two seasons, but whose play was questionable, especially number 23, in the playoffs.
He deserves the criticism.

[Eli]

Hey Doug,

I know your not into the hypotheticals, but has Bryan looked at Josh Howard or Al Thornton as an option at small-forward?

Blogger's note: No, and I don't know

[Young James]

Any legs to this??? I just saw it on Rotoworld.com

(Matt Barnes will "likely" sign with the Raptors, according to Associated Press reporter Tom Withers.
Talks between Barnes and the Cavs appear to have stalled and he might be drawn to Toronto, which has minutes available at SF and plays an up-tempo style).

[Young James]

Any legs to this??? I just saw it on Rotowrld.com

(Matt Barnes will "likely" sign with the Raptors, according to Associated Press reporter Tom Withers.
Talks between Barnes and the Cavs appear to have stalled and he might be drawn to Toronto, which has minutes available at SF and plays an up-tempo style).

Blogger's note: Just got back from a long day of family issues; don't know, am trying to check

[Mike]

Anything on the Barnes to Toronto rumblings? Thx Doug

Blogger's note: Just got back from a long day of family issues; don't know, am trying to check

[Malin]

Hi Doug,

Been wondering this for a while and I hope it's not too late to get a comment with a response but what gave Marc Iavaroni his reputation as a defensive specialist? I remember reading early that they brought him in for that reason but wasn't Phoenix defence and Memphis defence pretty bad while he was there? Did he do something before that? Just curious.

Thanks!

[K Price]

Doug have you heard anything???..."Forward Matt Barnes is close to a deal with the Toronto Raptors. #Cavs are now out of the running, sources say. Twitter

Cleveland Cavaliers, Toronto Raptors, Free Agency, Matt Barnes | share

Blogger's note: Story just filed

[bobby]

Everyone its gonna be official on tuesday that matt barnes is going to sign with T-DOT

heres the link

http://sports.espn.go.com/nba/news/story?id=5393637

[parker]

matt barnes is a raptor""""" can you confirm

Blogger's note: Story just filed, not done but close

[Mike kovacs]

For the Raps to sign Matt barnes do they not need to use the trade exemption and thus need the magic to sign him then trade him? Or can they sign him outright?

Blogger's note: Has to be sign-and-trade

[Joe]

Doug,

Hope the family issues are taken care of.

It seems Matt Barnes is officially a Raptor. Here's the link:
http://sports.espn.go.com/nba/news/story?id=5393637

Blogger's note: Not officially, story just filed

Good move by BC. I hope he can move one of the point guards for a defensive minded centre now.

[Matty-Pix]

Barnes confirmed on his Twitter

Blogger's note: So did Tyson Chandler last week

[Matty-Pix]

Link:
http://www.nbadaily.net/mainstory.cfm?articleid=98

[Matty-Pix]

"Barnes confirmed on his Twitter

Blogger's note: So did Tyson Chandler last week"

Hahah ... valid point!

[VikZ]

Hey doug, someone posted a link to the story about the rookies... anyways I was reading and this line came up: "While a lot of the credit for Cousins struggles should go to Dorsey, Cousins fouled out with his tenth foul on Alabi late in the fourth quarter."
It takes 10 fouls to foul out??? That's a little ridiculous, no?
That probably at least partially explains why there have been so many foul shots in the d-league games

[Joey]

Hey Doug, You mention in your article that it will eat up about $9 million of the trade exception... why is that when his salary for this season will only be say $4.5 million? Is it the entire sum of the contract that is counted against?

Blogger's note: No, my math was wrong; I'll get that fixed now

[Gary]

is there a typo here??

$14.5 million trade exception the Raptors got when Chris Bosh left for the "Orlando Magic" shouldn't it be Miami Heat?

[Mathew]

Hey Doug,

have you heard if this is going to be a sign and trade that could include calderon going to orlando and gortat coming back here with the TPE involved?

[Julien]

Hey Doug,

I hope the family issues were not too bad. If Matt Barnes signs with Toronto, I think it's a good move. Now that a sign a trade with Orlando is in the works, do you think that larger trade could involve Gortat? I read a few days ago that Otis Smith would not trade to save some money, so is there any chance to have him, or BC is looking somewhere else?

[Ryan Morrison]

Hey Doug, isn't a little weird BC signs Barnes when it seemed as though he had already filled a similar void with Kleiza? With that being said there hasnt been any offical word on Klezia yet which quite frankly should've happened by now. Did Kleiza or BC back out of the deal? Can a team back out of a contract offer similar to the way a player could back out?

[m]

Just two comments, I hope the family issues are cleared up, and thanks for blogging today, nobody would have minded if you had shut it down for the day.
And secondly, do we have to listen to/read Aditya's constant sniping at you, it's very tiresome.

[Jeff Steele]

Starting Line-up:

Jack
Derozan
Kleiza
Johnson
Bargnani

Backups:

Calderon
Barbosa
Weems
Barnes
Davis

Something seems off here...BC should be looking to acquire a big man but it looks like there are very few options left. Hopefully that team that is interested in Calderon (Portland maybe) could send a big man over in a deal to let Barbosa slide over as the back up PG, then Weems, Barnes and Davis could play their natural positions on the 2nd unit as well. If not we will have trouble guarding the 7 footers (that Tyson Chandler would`ve matched up with so well against, d`oh!)...

[Jeff Steele]

Troy Murphy is currently being shopped for a PG, wonder if there is any chance Larry Bird would go for an offer of Jack or Calderon for Murphy...