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.

Comments

[Justin]

T-Mac at starting SF for the Veteran's minimum 1 year deal. If he's as motivated as he says he is and can't find another team to take him, is it worthwhile for the Raps? I know how you feel about washed up old guys but I think he's still got a little left in the tank and I think we're in desperate need of some offense with the loss of Bosh and Turk.

[LeeZ]

Doug, I know you're not the biggest Hollinger fan, but he makes a good point here: "The whole Matt Barnes saga was jaw-dropping: It appears both Barnes' agent and the Raptors' front office leaked to the media that Barnes would sign a two-year, $9 million deal with the Raptors in a sign-and-trade -- in fact, every major outlet reported it. Only one problem: The deal wasn't even remotely legal under the salary-cap rules, revealing a shocking ignorance of a very important piece of the business on the part of NBA professionals." So my question is: is anyone in the Raps organization putting out any info on how this whole mess came to be? Has anyone told you "yeah, we screwed up", or "Orlando screwed up, not our fault", or SOMETHING, ANYTHING to explain, justify or make excuses, because there's enough egg here to be spread on a whole bunch of faces, and you'd think as image-conscious a guy as BC would want to get the message out that it's not his fault. Have you heard anything at all?

Blogger's note: Nothing so far, and not because of lack of effort. Sounds of silence around there. And in Orlando

[Jerry]

I am pretty sure Colanagelo hinted at the same thing in his year end press conference.

[J]

That Miami Herald piece/blog entry/article (?) was hilarious. My favorite part was where the writer said, "if the comments are reported accurately"... wait, what? That was when I realized the writer didn't bother to even listen to the interview.