A bit of a drubbing and a season of road trips

I beg your pardon.

What’s that?

Huh?

Speak up!

The what?

I can’t hear you.

Oh, Aerosmith?

It was good, thanks.

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So, that was a rather inglorious start to a European tour for the Canadian team, wasn’t it?

Nipped 123-49 by Greece in Athens (no, my fingers didn’t hit the wrong keys, they lost 123-49), it’s not the totality of the decimation that’s most troubling.

Getting drilled by Greece in Greece a day after landing isn’t a big shocker, quite aside from the fact that Greece is very, very, very good and should challenge for a worlds medal.

It’s that Canada’s running out of time to get its full roster on the court to develop some kind of cohesion before the worlds start in a week and a bit.

I see by the boxscore (and I wasn’t able to reach anyone over there yesterday) that Andy Rautins didn’t play (he tweaked a knee in the last game against France) and Jermaine Anderson got back but only played a bit less than 10 minutes.

I know Canada prides itself on its depth and they do go nine or 10 deep in pretty much equal skill but they need all of those guys to have any chance of getting past the first round in Turkey.

And on a team that I think is going to be challenged to score very much, not having Rautins, their best shooter, or a healthy Anderson, best ball-handler and on-court leader, is a crippling blow.

There are still five tuneup games left for them, all against pretty solid opposition that will give them a true indication of where they are before the worlds begin but they absolutely need a full team to work together for as much time as possible.

That’s going to be the mission in the next week, regardless of what the results of the games are.

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So, Super Son and I are sitting there about 25 minutes into Steven Tyler and Joe Perry (man, I didn’t realize how he could play) and all of a sudden this aroma starts wafting through the air.

Kid looks up, eyes get wide (at least they didn’t get that faraway look I hear about) and he smiles.

“Yeah, you were right, dad. There is some here.”

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So, the word I’m getting is that the TV deal for the world championships is going to be a bit bigger than some expected.

If you were to suggest to someone that it might be a multi-year deal that includes the women’s worlds and various other FIBA events and will be with TSN and its networks, you might be bang on.

No idea if it’s done today or tomorrow or when but the vibe I’m getting is that it’ll be sooner rather than later.

And I have to say, if it does indeed include the women’s worlds later this year from the Czech Republic, that’s huge and a big step and both Canada Basketball and TSN should be lauded.

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Speaking of ex-Raptors, did you see where Nathan Jawai has signed with Partizan in Serbia?

I can’t say I’m even remotely surprise that Nate’s NBA career has come to an end, he never really had the tools to play a lot. He wasn’t particularly tall enough or quick enough and didn’t have the instincts needed to thrive, or even survive.

Good guy, though, and I wish him well in Europe, where I hope he has a long career.

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Okay, can I put this out there now?

Please, please, please, I beseech you:

We need to stop with any and all “can the Raptors get Carmelo Anthony” stuff?

Please?

One, there’s now way in the world Anthony’s going to ask to be traded to a 40-win team that hasn’t been in the playoffs in two years and doesn’t look like its headed there this season.

Two, they don’t have the assets to get him, the trade exception isn’t big enough and no way the Nuggets let their best player walk away for nothing.

Anyway, the only way – and this is even far-fetched – that Toronto could get involved on the periphery is by being the third team in a three-team transaction to help facilitate a deal and, even then, I’d caution Bryan to take it nice and slow and only get involved for what could be termed a home run of a deal.

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Okay, let’s end with a quick list.

Lots of chatter about the schedule since it’s been out and a close look at it offers this.

If you’re looking for a road trip to go and watch the Heroes Of The Hardcourt, I can find you one a month that might be kind of cool for different reasons.

Want them?

November

12th at Orlando, 13th at Miami

A Friday-Saturday back-to-back will necessitate a drive across the state on the Saturday morning but you get two really good opponents, perhaps some warm weather if you’ve got some time, a Sunday at South Beach.

December

12th at Charlotte

Probably not the greatest of games but it’s kind of a slow month and the arena there is very cool and one of the top 10 in the league, in my opinion. And if you don’t stop by Ri-Ra a couple of blocks away and check out the Irish music, you’ve done yourself a disservice.

January

15th at Washington, 17th at New Orleans

Get your culture in Washington with the Holocaust museum and Vietnam Memorial, a nice area of bars and restaurants for pre- and post-game and then a night off in New Orleans and if you’ve never seen Bourbon Street, you should. Just once, mind you, but you should see it.

February

Stay home

Take the month off, rest up, save your money.

March

23rd at Phoenix, 25th at Golden State

Phoenix in March? Warm and nice. Good arena, too. And, yes, Golden State plays in Oakland and that’s pretty yucky but you stay in San Francisco and I guarantee you’ll have a good time.

April

2nd in Chicago

It’s Chicago. ‘Nuff said.

Happy travels.

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Mail? Sure, why not.

Hit the button here and we’ll see what we can do; pretty slow times around here so we can get to a lot of ‘em early in the week, I hope.

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Comments

[Eddie]

"One, there’s now way in the world Anthony’s going to ask to be traded to a 40-win team that hasn’t been in the playoffs in two years and doesn’t look like its headed their this season."
.
That must be the cue for MLSE to raise the prices again, given the uniqueness of not having even one star player, let alone three. Of course that has nothing to do with Americans hating Canada, contrary to what they say.

[Peter]

Unrelated to today's blog, but I loved Jerry Buss' comment in regards to getting a bonus for making the playoffs. "If you don't make the playoffs, you don't work here anymore."

And that's why they're champions. I'm looking forward to when our GM or owners can say the same thing.

[Mike D.]

Does Steven Tyler still do that thing where he lies on his back to sing for a bit and then jumps to his feet in a single motion? Or does he now clutch his back afterwards (or just stay on the ground for the rest of the set) like the rest of us?

Blogger's note: Oh, it takes a little bit longer than it used to, that's for sure

[pain777pas]

Doug,
Did you watch the grill room the other night when they were talking about the Raps being the worst team in the LEAGUE? I tried to find a way to disagree but everyone has a definitive #1 player the emergence of Derozan and Andrea could be the X factor. What's your take on those comments?

Blogger's note: None, really

[dc]

Just looked over the upcoming season schedule, I'll make a prediction that the raptors record will be 24-58. Thoughts?

Blogger's note: None, really. You might be right. You might be wrong. I'm going to wait until late October because I think it's a tad ridiculous to guess today.

[BL]

and are we still surprised that nobody shows up to see Team Canada play at the ACC?

[The J]

Why does your Raptors road trip suggestions stop at April? Where is May and June?

[Sean]

Great story on TrueHoop about how the NBA schedule gets made.

http://espn.go.com/blog/truehoop/post/_/id/19219/how-to-build-the-nba-schedule

I guess I never really thought about it, but one of the reasons the Raps never have a Sat. night home game (even when the Leafs are on the road) is because they never play in the Thurs TNT games. I personally would prefer Sat night games those over the early Sunday starts, especially during NFL time.

[Peter]

Hey Doug,

I wonder if Jawai's NBA career could have been better/longer if he hadn't been sidelined with heart problems for most of his rookie career. Or maybe, he was never going to be more than an end of bench guy anyway.

Either way, he did seem like a good guy, and I wish him all the best.

Thanks for the blog doug.

[Ryan]

I haven't read the blog since the Chandler deal got nixed. It was one of the six things that was a must read every morning. I decided to read it today, it got me even more depressed than the last time I read it. For someone who literally has a bad night every time they lose wait to read up/watch around next years draft?

[capt kirk]

Eh Doug, You totally surprised me with your Bill Clinton impression regarding the Aerosmith concert? Did you really warn Super Son in advance or was it part of some kind of coming of age ritual? Did you miss the shove?

Blogger's note: Warn? No, not warn. And, yes, if there was a shove, I missed it. Too smoky :)

[Cluck Kent]

I definitely remember someone in the Raptors organization saying that they were thrilled to get Jawai and in fact they may have taken him over Hibbert if they hadn't made the trade. I guess that must have just been hype? I also noticed that a few picks after Nathan, the Spurs took - with a pick they had received from us, Goran Dragic, who they turned around and sent to the Suns.

[Zombywoof]

I remember when I won a pair of tickets to "A Hard Day's Night" from CHUM and my mom took me to the show. I was mortified, I wanted to crawl under my seat. Rock & roll is supposed to be about rebellion and thumbing your nose at your parents. Times sure have changed!

[PeterK]

I agree with Cluck Kent that Raps have a terrible scouting/drafting people. You can't really judge those guys are based on the lottery picks because it is a lottery pick - you win big sometimes. But based on their late 1st rounder record or 2nd rounder record, they are next to horendous. Mo Pete is just about the only non-lottery pick that panned out O.K. I'm not even going to mention the busts... you guys all know.

[Zombywoof]

@capt kirk

Are you saying Doug never inhaled either? If so, there are now at least two confirmed twits on this planet. :)

[doug]

so Joe Perry "accidentally" did knock Steven

[doug]

my typing is terrible..I don't like this lower keyboard on this new desk...anyways as i was saying Joe Perry did "accidentally" knock Steven Tyler into the crowd...no love between those 2...guitarists although a major part of any band never get their due, lead singers take it all...hence the tensions between Richie Sambora (Bon Jovi), Slash (Guns n Roses), Perry, etc, etc....lead singers are prima donnas...if I was Slash, or Richie, or Joe i'd be ticked to...Mark Knopfler is one of the few that left a band and made it on hi own although he was lead singer, even Townsend went out on his own to get away from Daltrey, but then realized what pays the bills...ask Gilmour in Pink Floyd about it ...Comfortably Numb best guitar work ever...Roger Watters takes all the credit for "his" epic album........forget drummers , guitarists get some of the love, but are short-changed by the guys with the mic...