Of point guards, Rafa's bold pink outfit and Canada-France tonight

Hmm.

Indy’s out of the market for a point guard and Toronto still has two.

Oh, woe is them?

I don’t think so.

As you well know, the Pacers had talked to the Raptors a handful of times, they couldn’t work out a suitable deal so Indy moved on and got themselves a pretty good young guard.

Good for them.

What’s it mean here?

Nothing.

I’m sure Bryan will still field calls about Calderon – and Jack – and while so many of you refuse to believe it, there are people in the game smarter than us who think Jose’s pretty good.

Whether a deal gets done or not is impossible to say, I suspect it’ll be harder now with one natural trade partner no longer looking but I’m sure efforts will be made. But what if nothing happens? Is that a calamity?

Not in the least.

I’ve said all along that I didn’t think they “had” to trade one of the guards but that they would try - but going to camp with both Calderon and Jack is not a bad thing by any stretch of the imagination.

It’ll be up to Jay to figure out who’s best as a starter and who’s best coming off the bench and that’s what coaches get the big bucks to do. Me? I’m fine with two of them being here, as long as there’s a clear-cut distinction in the minds of all the players and coaches who has what role.

The reason for moving one of the guards was to get something back to fill other holes, like at the three and the five, even if such a move would weaken them at the point.

If nothing happens there, guess Bryan will have to find other ways to address those other points of concern.

-

You know what really surprises me about the big four-team deal yesterday and the reaction around these parts?

It’s astonishing that people were ripping on the Raptors for somehow “missing out” on Collison.

I’m sure they made a ball and I’m sure if they had someone like Ariza to give up and were willing to take on the odorous James Posey contract and were able to get two other teams involved to the point where they were satisfied with what they’d get, Toronto might have been involved.

But to think the Raptors “missed out” is simply foolish. Sometime teams get what they want in other places, it’s as simple as that.

-

But how about that Julian Wright, eh?

Considering he played less than 13 minutes a game for a Western Conference team the Raptors only saw twice a year and has been in the league a whopping three years, I certainly don’t have a book on him or a good handle on what he can do.

I believe it was a move made to take a shot at something different.

It was apparent with DeRozan and Barbosa and maybe Weems and possibly even Jarrett playing some two that there was no place for Marco here and getting a young kid at the same money who might be able to contribute a little bit is a no-brainer.

But it’s also not a very significant move.

-

Mail time.

Q: I enjoy your Q&A immensely as it delves into interesting areas not covered by normal columns or blogs.

Thanks for your answer regarding Jay today.

I do sometimes wonder how many submissions you have to ignore as inappropriate or opinions disguised as questions. Please keep up the good work (and keep the filters on).

Bruce H, Whitby

A: It really depends on the issue of the week and time of the year, as you can well imagine. Let’s say something happens like, oh, Bosh leaves. Well, we might get 50 a day that are 45 rants and five questions and it’s getting through the rants that make the day a lot longer.

As a rule, I try to get not to every question but to every topic and I’d say, as a general estimate, I probably answer 65-70 per cent of the queries shipped this way.

The ones I most like are ones that don’t deal the mundane stuff like, “why didn’t Jay use DeMar in the second half of the third quarter of Tuesday’s game” or “why don’t they sign Tracy McGrady and Allen Iverson, you dope.”

The biggest issue I have is answering the same question week after week. I know it’s impossible for everyone to read everything done here – and very presumptuous to think anyone would – but if I’ve hit on a topic one week, it’s probably going to be another couple of weeks before I get back to it in some other form. Kinda stinks for the gal sending the second question on the same subject and that kind of bugs me. Nothing really that can be done about it, though.

I will say, however, you are an inquisitive lot.

And, speaking of, click, send, yadda, yadda, yadda.

-

Okay, if I can remember how, I think we should do a live blog off tonight’s Canada-France game, don’t you?

I have no idea how it’ll work since it’s not on over-the-air television anywhere or on radio and I have no idea what kind of crowd we’ll draw but let’s see if we can get at least a few people here just before 7 p.m. and see how it goes.

-

How about that Isiah Thomas.

One step ahead of Sheriff Stern, he withdraws from his gig as a “consultant” to the Knicks because of the conflict of interest it would have created – and the rules it would have violated – had he kept that job and still coached his college team.

I still say Isiah is a good schmoozer and an excellent judge of college talent (check out his draft record) but I do know the NBA looks quite dimly on contact between team employees and draft-ineligible collegians. And that’s exactly what Thomas would have had every single day.

Makes sense he doesn’t have the Knicks gig, I’m glad he stepped back on his own before he was told to go.

-

So, Tennis Boy’s era is over and not a minute too soon.

Aside from one glaring error (Novak Djokovic won the 2008 Australian Open, I guess I just read right past that in his bio) I seem to have escaped unscathed.

Couple of quick points: Tennis replay is outstanding. I know it’s got to do with the finite measurement of the court and entirely clear-cut rules of in and out but it’s quick, it’s efficient, everyone in the stadium sees it and it’s never, ever wrong.

And

Not sure about Rafael Nadal’s pink shirt on Wednesday; much louder than Roger Federer’s the night before but I guess that’s not a surprise, kind of meshes with their personalities and playing styles, no?

Hmm, the last time I might have paid this much attention to Nadal was when he was supposed to come to a Raptors game with Jose but got tied up beating someone at the Sony Ericsson Open.

Anyway, I believe that concludes my summer of Today I Am An Expert In This Sport because with basketball today and tomorrow, perhaps some rest time next week and then Turkey, I’ll be back swimming in familiar waters.

Lucky you.

-

Comments

[j-dizzle]

WHAT??? Colangelo traded an International Player for an American? How did that happen?

No American wants to play in Toronto. Only Euros, right? I mean no one. Are California and Illinois still part of the United States? Just checking.

[JT]

Doug, is there really even an identity to this team after the rumoured trade of Belli goes through? So far, we see the moves will provide more athleticism and defense at the expense of offense. The general athleticism at the 2 and 3 suggests a bit of a slashing or mid-range shooting team but the problem is none of these guys (Wright, DeRozan, Weems, or even Kleiza) are proven to be slashers or have good enough dribbling skills to be good slashers. Then you have guys who like to go to the basket in the interior (minus Bargs) but the problem is, they won't be able to because there aren't enough shooters or "all-star" to spread out the defense or create holes and these guys aren't good enough to be able to create the mid-range shots for the wings. Unless some drastic move is made to acquire a legit scorer, I really think the Raps might have a tough time winning even 30 games this season.

[pain777pas]

I have no idea what this team is going ot be without an inside presence. Andrea is not a true centre and Ed and Amir are young. Is not centre truly the position that needs to be filled as far as rebounding goes Doug?

[D-Mac Ottawa]

Hi Doug,
Hey, an actual live blog! Just like old times.
This whole Jose OR Jack thing has been the biggest red herring going. Unless one is being replaced by a clearly better PG, you NEED them both. Neither is an all star – neither has the whole package of goods. Meanwhile, they're both perfectly serviceable point guards. And what one may not have to offer, the other does, so they're complementary – and that's a perfect set-up for Jay to take advantage of match-ups, styles to suit the flow of a game quarter by quarter, and go with the hot hand (but it's on Jay to actually use those advantages: quarter by quarter, game by game – and not just at the point).
To move either Jose or Jarrett without a clearly better replacement at point, IMOHO, would be a huge mistake. You'd be handcuffed to one very predictable 'style' in a partial package of goods, with only Marcus Banks as a backup (again, another perfectly serviceable backup point guard, but just two PGs simply ain't enough).
Especially now, with Marco gone. Too bad. He was one maddeningly interesting hondo to watch, and I totally agree with LeeZ – Marco has the makings of one mighty well-rounded, dangerously entertaining point guard.
Go Rautinses! Cheers.

[Eli]

What do you think about a Calderon and Evans for Dampier deal? Its perfect for both sides. Dampier is a center who we could use at the 5 so Bargnani can go to the 4 and Dampier expires at the end of the season. It would be nice to have a guy like Erick around to mentor Bargnani, Davis, and Johnson. Thoughts?
Jack/Barbosa/Banks
DeRozan/Weems
Kleiza/Wright
Bargnani/Davis/Dorsey
Dampier/Johnson/Andersen
Send Alabi and Jones to D-league.
Looks good to me! Young and we get ready for next years draft.

Blogger's note: Why get an old centre to take minutes away from a young one?

[d]

Say the Raps mopve Calderon for any position player other than a PG, does that mean that Bobby Brown will be given a look as the backup, or at least be given an invitation to camp to try and crack the roster? I re-watched the summer league games and like his moxy and the way he meshed with Weems and DeRozan especially.

Blogger's note: That would be a possibility, yes

[Eli]

"Blogger's note: Why get an old centre to take minutes away from a young one?"
Bargnani(34) Davis(18)
Dampier(20) Johnson (24)
= 96 minutes at 4/5.
Works for me. What do you think? Am I correct in thinking the minutes will look like this for a big man rotation of these 4 players?

[graham]

sadly the people who post here are practically normal compared to the lunatic fringe on Real GM: thankfully none of them are actually employed to manage an NBA team. Clearly they all kill on Play Station or in Rotisserie or whatever. Just not actual NBA team building.

I am personally excited to see this year's edition of the Raptors. I hope they mesh as a team, that DeRozan emerges as a bona fide star SG, that Barbarosa is able to focus on being that 6th man of the year again, that Amir shows why he got the 4 year deal, Bargnani puts together a whole season of strong performances and not just 10 game stretches, that Ed Davis quietly shows he was the steal of the draft and the Raptors make the playoffs in about 5th or 6th position.
And along the way it would be nice if they did win in Miami just the way the old Raps stuck it to Jordan's Bulls one year -- it can happen.
Now I accept I am an optimist, but isn't that the true definition of fan? As a minimum I look forward to a team playing hard every night, having fun playing and doing their best -- trite I know, but past Raptor teams have not resembled this sadly.
Hope springs eternal.

[John S]

@ Matthew

Ariza is a small forward, Kevin Martin is a shooting guard. And they traded for Courtney Lee who is also a shooting guard.
Also, Ariza signed for the mid-level last year which is great value for a 25 year forward just entering his prime who can is a solid defender. The Rockets are barely a tax team and you would figure that if finances were truly an issue, they would not have matched Kyle Lowry's ridiculous 4 year $24 mil deal or signed Brad Miller for $4.4 mil.
If this was truly a salary dump, it doesn't make any sense to dump a good young player with a reasonable contract while retaining a lesser player in Lowry (and an older one in Miller) for a combined $10-11 mil a year.
But thanks for your well-informed and intelligent input Matthew...

[Craig]

Hey Doug - have you considered consolidating repetitive questions into a FAQ place on the blog? I run portions of our community website at work and it gives us something to curate answers in and point at.

Instead of dismissing the comment you could cut and paste a "see my answer or opinion on the subject here".

Just a thought, as we your audience, should try to offer tidbits to keep you sane - do with it what you like.

Blogger's note: I should, and could, and probably will do something like that; the only issue being the slight variances in various questions.

[D-Mac Ottawa]

Good on ya, Graham! Another 'hopeless optimist' heard from. When you're a fan of the game you can't help but get fired up to see what another new edition might come up with to surprise and entertain – cuz that's what it's really all about, isn't it? And it's a whole lot easier (maybe even healthier) to be a fan of the game than a fan of the team – especially these days, when that 'team' thing gets shuffled every few months or so, and rings tend to be purchased by only (one of among the few of) the highest bidders.
Doug, I had to rethink my own earlier comment about point guards here, because I still really haven't wrapped my head around Barbosa wearing a Raps uni. (Seeing is believing!) If I could see Marco in a PG role, could you see "Leandrinho" handling point duties on occasion with the roster as it stands right now?
Thanks. Cheers.

[sean]

I'm so sick of the Jose/Jack bashing. Look at the success with Jose and TJ prior to the injuries/ego issues, what's the differences between having a 20-10-5 pg [Chris Paul] and having TWO 10-5-2 pg [Jose and Jack].

Team play and communications are the key to winning. I don't mind getting Julian Wright, another young player ready to prove himself to the NBA.

[GDS]

Let's assume that Turkoglu had to go, Belinelli idem. Diaw never came. So who is exactly supposed to pass the ball in this Raptors' roster? Keeping Calderon is the best solution at (this) point. I just hope this team shares the ball, otherwise it will be a very long, boring season. Am I overly pessimistic?

[CM]

@GDS - I think so

Sonny has been working on his passing and he has already shown the ability to throw up lobbs. I don't know where the notion came that Jack is a bad passer, he had some great highlight passes last year. The assist figures aren't always representative of a pg's passing ability. An offense with lack of motion will harbour poor posessions and few assists. I think both pg's assist numbers will increase this season. Barbosa can also distribute

[CC]

keep Calderon.. this people don't know what their talking about. Raps won the Atlantic Division w/ him. Almost voted for the All-star (was snubbed because he was playing for the Raps... understandable) and could have beaten Team USA w/ Kobe and Lebron if he played in the Olympics.

[J]

There's plenty of comments already about Calderon/Jack, so this comment comes from a different angle. Just wondering if anyone else has noticed the following:

Calderon + Solomon + Ukic = Need more floor generals, so...

Calderon + Jack + Turkoglu = Not enough ball to go around, so...

Jack + Banks + Barbosa = Perfect?

Turkoglu had a major negative impact on Calderon's offensive contributions last season, and with him gone now, there's no reason to believe Calderon and Jack can't get along together. Neither Banks nor Barbosa are ever confused with decent floor generals, and while Jack has improved, there is still much room for improvement. I think if Calderon does leave without us getting back a true PG in the same deal or another, we'll be crying about our stagnant offense and trading Jack next season.

[kelsie]

Please expand on 'your humble oppinion'. Why is that you feel Jose is not a starter in the league. Collison hasn't spend a full season as a starter and people are basically putting him in the Top 5 pgs already. It's ridiculous. Jose is a proven play maker and proven shooter. Give him the minutes he needs, and a healthy Jose can run a team with the best of them.
At $9 million, he's expensive yes, but not unmovable, as proven by Hedo's far inferior season, and yet we managed a piece of the puzzle in return for him.
I remember fans were through the roof when Jose re-upped with the Raps, and now they are condemning him? Unbelievable.

He's never played a full season as a starter. His defensive flaws are glaring and are magnified once you realize he doesn't work or fight through screens and provides little resistance at the point of attack.

He also doesn't do much in creating off the dribble as he is more facilitator than anything. I was never "through the roof" when he was re-signed.

His best years came in a back-up role and since his responsibility has increased his performance has gone down and the flaws in his game exposed. He's better against back-up 2's which is a great role for him.

I'm certain on a team like the Celts or another defensive minded team he could indeed start, but would he be healthy the whole year? He needs too many 'ideal situation' scenarios to be in place before we can see his game shine. The shining hasn't happened here since he's re-signed with the team.