Of people, purses and all-time numbers good and bad

Lots of little things today as camp marches on.

It’s a red-letter day for the Heroes Of The Hardcourt, actually. The end of two-a-days is always welcomed.

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Remember Brian Skinner? Dude with the weird beard they had here for a very brief interlude way back in the day?

Well, might he be the guy that lands the Raptors Erick Dampier?

Skinner signed a non-guaranteed deal with the Bucks yesterday and word I’m hearing around the league is that Milwaukee is no longer in the race to land the veteran centre.

Am told now it’s down to Houston (24 minutes a night behind Yao) and Toronto (likely a starting spot and an increased role) and Dampier is supposed to be in town to chat sometime today.

Not sure what they’ll do with him, probably give him a tour of the joint and sit him down with Jay and the staff to go over what they want to do here this season.

I have no idea what his thoughts are – and I’m pretty sure he’s not going to do any media today – but you’d have to think that what’s offered here isn’t so bad. I know Houston would have a better shot at a playoff berth and it’s probably a team with more talent but if you’re 35 and looking for one contract after this one, why not go where you’re going to have more of a chance to make an impact?

I will say this, though: I think it’s pretty much getting to fish-or-cut-bait time for all concerned.

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Quite an interesting chat with Sonny Weems last night after the evening practice.

You see some of the results here but he also made a couple of other points that kind of made me think, yeah, this kid is growing up a little and more comfortable with his place in the city and the team.

We were talking about him and DeMar going out among the people to goof around and play ball and stuff and he made the point repeatedly that they’re just doing it because it’s what they do and not for any glory or fortune or whatever.

But he’s also wise enough to know that there may be those out among the people who have ulterior motives and he’s wary.  

 

“You just have to know where you can go and where you can’t go. That’s all it’s about. When you get outside your area and try to do things too much, you need to settle down.”

How do they know?  

“Our backgrounds. Coming where we come from, you can sense that’s not the place to be and this is the place to be.”

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I believe that one thing you shouldn’t do when you’re leaving a practice gym is go and pick up your European Carry-all (aka, purse).

But there was Alvin Williams, who should know better, sporting an over-the-shoulder number when he departed practice yesterday morning to jaunt off to some high falutin’ Henchmen meeting.

Of course he got grief from the other coaches and some of us and it will continue unabated. Wait ‘til he shows up wearing a shirt with a three- or four-inch collar sometime.

Said Jay after Alvin had wandered off to wherever Henchmen go:

“We’re trying to get him one of those clip-on ties so he can just do it a lot quicker and snap it on before he goes.”

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Don’t get me wrong, I loved all the bad shooter suggestions yesterday, they really got the list going but, to be clear, I was talking only about guys who’d played for Toronto.

No way I leave Bill Cartwright or Anthony Mason off my list. Or Reggie Miller for that matter.

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Cue the spooky music.

I heard on my early-morning coffee run that it’s 50 – FIFTY – years ago today that the Flintstones first hit the air and I get back home, turn on the machine and see that Stoney Curtis died?

Wow.

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Hey, Vancouverites?

All suggestions for ways to kill idle time greatly appreciated. Super Family and I were out there a year ago for a very nice vacation but this is a Grunt Trip and therefore there will be more nights free.

Let’s have ‘em.

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David Stern is not to be trifled with. And Ted Leonsis sure found out that the NBA is nothing like the NHL.

In what had to be the quickest fine ever leveled by The Commish on an owner, it took about five hours for Stern to dock Leonsis $100 Large for having the temerity to suggest NBA owners are after an NHL-style hard cap in their next CBA negotiations with the players.

Now, there is no doubt in anyone’s mind that Stern’s message was aimed at far more people that the new Wizards owner and if you thought there’d be any leaks as the talks continue, think again.

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We noted that Leandro Barbosa settled on No. 20 and, of course, it sent us immediately scurrying to the guide to see who besides him, Damon and Alvin wore that number. It’s Fred Jones and Carlos Delfino and it sparked a mini-debate over which was the greatest number in franchise history.

Me? I go with 20, but it’s a close race with No. 15 which was, well, you know the one guy and Vince Carter, too. Third place? How about No. 13, which was Doug Christie, Jerome Williams, Mark Jackson and Mike James? That’s not too bad, either.

Now, as I’m sure you figured, we quickly went from “best” to “worst” and that’s when things got interesting.

What do you think? Is No. 55 – Rafael Araujo and Acie Earl (who for the longest time held the franchise single-game scoring record) worse than, say, No. 9 (Tony Massenburg, Sharone Wright, Roy Rogers, Kornel David, Rick Brunson, Pape Sow and Maceo Baston) or, for instance, No. 25 (Oliver Miller in one of his many incarnations, John Long, Lloyd Daniels and Aleks Radojevic).

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Remember way back a couple of weeks when I said I didn’t know if any of the pre-season games were going to broadcast and that I hadn’t heard that they would?

Well, it’s not been announced yet but you might be able to see up to six of them.

TSN or TSN2 are allegedly doing the ones in Vancouver and Montreal and Raptors TV is going to have the four at home.

That’s a whole lot of suspect pretend basketball games to whet your appetite for a suspect real basketball game season.

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Mail?

Yes. Please. Here.

Long flight tomorrow and need something to do on it.

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I believe my new favourite Blue Jay is the kid who wore the eye-black moustache as a tribute to his manager last night.

Tres cool.

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Creative opportunities abound; and a look at some odd shots

It strikes me that there’s a great opportunity for the coaching staff to do something unique with this Raptors team.

For the first time maybe ever – and certainly in the most recent past – there is a level of versatility at two key positions that should allow them to be creative and stretch their imaginations.

I’m talking about Leandro Barbosa and Linas Kleiza, two very key components to whatever it is this team does this season.

I know Jay’s never had that kind of player at his disposal; it’ll be interesting to see if he can maximize the talents they have.

Barbosa becomes the quickest player Jay’s ever coached and has the ability to break down his man from the backcourt spot with pure speed, an attribute that neither Jose nor Jarrett possess. Think of Barbosa as a bigger, better T.J. Ford.

Jay’s already been talking about a lot of dribble-handoff stuff with Barbosa, I’m sure there’ll be some drive-and-kick action but there have to be many more ways to utilize his talents.

Kleiza? He’s big, strong, mobile and can play both forward positions, another kind of player Jay’s never had to coach.

Can he play Kleiza with Bargnani? Kleiza with Johnson? Or Johnson, Bargnani and Kleiza and put the Lithuanian on the block?

The possibilities really are endless and that’s got to be kind of exciting.

No idea how creative the staff will be but, who knows, it might be fun to watch.

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Speaking of Barbosa, as we seem to be a lot lately, I’m sure a lot of you noticed him wearing No. 28 at media day.

Well, don’t go rushing out to grab a jersey yet.

He doesn’t want the number, they’re trying to get it changed (I’m not sure to what, just something different) and they’re waiting to hear from the league.

Barbosa wore No. 10 in Phoenix, which is a non-starter here, but I hope they do something because No. 28 is a stupid number.

(Sorry all you No. 28s out there)

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Hmm.

Fooled a few people with the low talker-puffy shirt thing yesterday, I see by the e-mails.

Good for me.

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List time, sort of.

So, a Low Level Poobah and I were standing around watching the end of practice, when the players are doing shooting drills and over on the other side of the court, getting up some shots (regular ones, not like the ones detailed here).

He’s got a somewhat unorthodox shooting stroke, to say the least, and it leads LLB to ask, “Worst shooting form ever?”

Hmm.

Easy  

Shawn Marion

What the hell is that? Seriously.  

 

Marcus Camby

Let’s say “unfurl” rather than shoot.  

 

Acie Earl

Odd gait, odd stroke, odd fellow.  

 

Matt Bonner

Sacrilege, I know. But the over-the-shoulder heave isn’t in any textbooks.  

 

Leandro Barbosa

Why not add him?

I’m sure there are dozens more and that’s an entirely subjective list rattled off the top of the head.

Anyone got anything else?

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And I could use some early-week mail, thank you very much.

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A digression.

Hey, apparently Cito Gaston’s leaving the Jays?

That caught me by surprise.

(I keed, I keed).

Anyway, I have a wee bit of history with Cito, although it was a long time ago.

Way back in the day, I was something of a seamhead at The People’s Wire Service and did a whole lot of baseball in the ’92-’94 era. The first two years were a circus, team was great, media deluge every night, a lot of fun.

Not so much ’94, of course, with the lockout and canceling the World Series and the ridiculous idea to try to start the ’95 season with replacement players.

I did spring training in ’95, at least a little of it, and it was crazy. We’d go over to the local Dunedin High School where regular Jays were working out on their own (I still remember shagging BP fly balls in left field when they needed extra bodies) and we’d have to make obligatory trips to the minor league complex to see Cito, who was trying to manage the replacement team. It was odd, to say the least.

But some nights, a gaggle of grunts (hi, Bear; hi, Larry) would retire to Eddie’s, a Dunedin hot spot and every now and then Cito would walk in.

He was a good man, loved to talk, possessor of strong opinions but willing to engage in conversation.

Those were good nights and I came to quite like him.

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I don’t know if the folks who run Canada Basketball will read this (I certainly hope they will) but I’m going to offer this suggestion right now:

They have to re-up women’s coach Allison McNeill.

At the very, very least they have to give her a contract that covers next summer with an option for 2012 if they make the Olympics.

The over-riding impression I’ve got since the women’s worlds started – confirming what I’d thought through the years of doing stories on the team every now and then – is that she’s a motivator, tactician and entirely dedicated to the program.

And you cannot argue with her success. This is the second straight time Canada’s been to the worlds after a 12-year absence; they have a chance to improve on the 10th place finish of four years ago and the team is young and improving.

Makes no sense, none, to make a change now.

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Who knew Michael Bolton could be so bitter?

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We know there’s some competition for starting spots with this group and it is early days but Jay did give a bit of a hint which way he’s leaning after practice Tuesday morning.  

 

“I would think that Kleiza’s probably not as cemented in as Andrea … (but) we have a pretty good idea of where we want to go.”

That would be as I kind of expected all along, that Kleiza would be one of the starters.

 

 

 

A tidbit or two from this morning

Well, we got into see the end of some shooting drills and some stretching and there were no Raptors doubled over in pain so that’s a good sign, right?

First workout was about two hours, Jay said he had to shoo ‘em out of the gym so they didn’t wear themselves out before tonight’s session, which will primarily be scrimmaging.

Teams are allowed only three days of two-a-day workouts and on those three days only one of the practices can be “contact” work so they’ve decided to teach in the morning and run at night.

Only news of remote interest is that Solomon Alabi, who was bothered by a hamstring injury, did the entire workout, much to the surprise of everyone. No word on whether he’ll run tonight or not.

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Oh, and there were no new faces and I’m told the Raptors are still holding out hope they can entice Erick Dampier here.

And, you know, why wouldn’t he consider it?

Money’s going to be the same everywhere but I imagine he’d start here and he won’t in Houston (Yao Ming) or Milwaukee (Andrew Bogut) and you know he’s got some experience playing in the front court along with the likes of Andrea Bargnani since Damp played with Dirk in Dallas.

Anyway, not sure how hot those embers are but there’s a bit of smoke still there.

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Jay on tempo:

Paraphrasing: We want to play fast, not stupid and not out of control.

This is not Seven Seconds Or Less, it’s not even Seventeen Seconds Or Less, it’s trying to push tempo but not at the expense of getting good looks.

We’ll see how that all works out because everything has to do with defence and defensive rebounding.

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Oddest sight?

Leandro Barbosa doing some individual shooting drills.

He’d be on the baseline, maybe 15 feet from the hoop, bouncing on his right foot. He’d bound a couple of times, hop about five feet to his left side and hoist a jumper.

Why?

Seems he got it from Steve Nash and, you know, what works for Steve should work for Leandro and that’s an admirable goal.

There’ll be more on that later because Barbosa’s the story du jour.

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Okay, conference call with the women at the worlds – hard loss losers by five to Greece – is about to begin.

We’ll be back later.

 

 

 

 

Leader? That's one of the key things to watch for

The gang's all here! (REUTERS PHOTO)

There were all kinds of interesting topics broached at media day, most of which will need far more investigation and time to develop than we had in short period we got with everyone on Monday.

One that will re-occur over the course of time, and we’re talking weeks if not months rather than days, is where this team will get its leadership.

I’m not talking about the screaming, yelling, faux leadership we sometimes see, but the kind of calm reassuring personality who, when things are going rough, will be the guy teammates and coaches look too.

And, to be sure, there will be rough patches with this team. Many of them and they will be quite trying.

As all kinds of people mentioned, leadership cannot be bestowed, it has to be earned and it’s earned on the practice court and the locker room rather than under the bright lights of a game.

I think Jay probably made the best point:

“I’ve always said it doesn’t have to be the guy who talks the most. When I coached that 2000 Olympic team, Steve Nash was the leader and I don’t know if he said two words in the locker room to many of the players. He led by example.

“Yes, there can be vocal leaders but if you can’t back it up with your actions on the floor, the players see right through that.”

There aren’t a lot of “old heads” on this team, guys who have been through the wars and have the battle scars that come with tremendous respect.

What I want in the leader of a group I’m in is grace and the ability to help others out when things are not going well. Anyone can “lead” when things are good; the greats lead when things are bad.

The disingenuous, as Jay pointed out, are quickly exposed.

I don’t know who that might be on this team because no one’s seen it in action yet but a youngish group that could very well struggle needs someone from within to be able to settle things down, to soldier on with the same determination win or lose.

Who emerges as that guy might be one of the more fascinating things to watch as this season unfolds.

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Let’s see  

“We want to prove people wrong”

Check.  

 

“It starts with defence”

Check.  

 

“Of course I have to rebound better”

Check.  

 

“It’s not who starts that matters, it’s who finishes”

Check.  

 

“We embrace our European-ness, it’s a heckuva continent”

Un-check.

Still, we hit it pretty close with the list from yesterday, no?

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It’s Monday, it’s DWTS and as I click through for a minute, all I can think is:

What kind of Mother would name her son The Situation?

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You know who one of the forgotten Raptors seems to be? That’d be Reggie Evans.

Yes, last year was a total disappointment, what with him missing 50 or so games with the foot injury and then playing a tad selfishly when he did get back on the floor.

But of all the guys who seem to have changed their bodies a little bit – mostly the young kids who are simply growing up – I was pretty surprised to see how slimmed down he is.

No idea how much weight he’s lost, one guy put it at 20 pounds, but he does look in far better shape than he was even at the start of last season.

Funny what a contract year might do for a guy.

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Ed Davis is a low talker and if one of the coaches shows up today in a puffy shirt, I’ll know why.

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From the department of “they all said the right things” both Jose and Jarrett seem quite cool with the competition that’ll rage for the starting point guard spot.

I have no idea who’ll win – and no one does, really – but neither of them seemed at all interested in backing down from the challenge.

Said Jarrett:  

“Competition is always good in every day life. You don’t get lax, it keeps you on your toes, it keeps you sharp. I think if there’s competition at training camp every day it does nothing but keep you sharp. At the end of the day, it’ll get settled by us and that’s the best way to do it.”

Said Jose:  

“I think that’s going to be like always, everybody has to compete for their minutes so I think Jay is the one who has the tough position to choose. We have to work for ht tam win games; we’re different so I think that’s good.”

Said Jay:  

“I think a lot of it will be determined on chemistry, on how well they play in training camp and that’s one of the things we’re really excited about when we start camp tomorrow is that it’s going to be competitive and it’s going to competitive for starting positions and playing time.”

Said Doug:

“It doesn’t matter who starts, it’s who finishes but I still think Jose runs a team on the floor a bit better and probably should be the starter."

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Let’s start the mail process.

Click. Send. Make my day.

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Had a chance to quickly talk to Andrea before he was shuttled off to do a dozen or sit sitdowns and photo shoots and a massive scrum and, of course, after the obligatory “how was your summer” stuff, the real topic was broached: Me: Hey, saw that video of you and your friend for GQ. That was something.

He: Yeah, it was a good summer.

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I couldn’t help but notice that Carmelo Anthony didn’t get traded in some huge and convoluted four-team transactions.

Whole lot of ink was spilled on that one, wasn’t it.

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Might have been the most well-attended media day in years. Seems odd, given the low expectations and the lack of real buzz around this team but there were all kinds of different organizations represented.

Figure we’ll be back to seven or eight of us this morning, thankfully.

Fewer people, more chance to get some quality time with a guy or two.

Yesterday was a bit of a gong show (no Unknown Comic, though) because there were scrums going hither and yon, little booths set up when there players hid out doing one-on-one things with TV networks and radio stations and much confusion about who was where when.

In the estimation of some of us, it’s the second-worst day of the year, almost as bad as the day-after-the-season-ends when we’re jammed in a little ante room and sit for six or seven hours while guys clean out their lockers, say their goodbyes and finally come to chat.

Today thought? Today will be good, I have a feeling. Might actually get some work done.

 

Not a whole lot of news but some tidbits

Oh, how I wish there was some hard news to pass along.

But Media Day’s been done about an hour and as I just mentioned to a friend, it was pretty much a news-free gong show.

Yes, they want to work on defence first as training camp unfolds.

No, there have been no decisions made yet about who will comprise the starting five.

Yes, they truly relish the underdog, disrespected role and that sounds like a card they’ll play all year.

Coach Jay Triano:

“That’s absolutely fine. I love that challenge, I love the challenge when people tell us that we’re not good or people don’t think that we’re going to be that good. I want the other teams to believe that when they come here that this is going to be do an easy game.”

I sense a theme for the season:

Ignore us at your peril.

Sounds as good as anything, right?

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Did get a chance to check in with Bryan and a henchman or two about the move to add a big.

They have spoken to Erick Dampier and his people, as we reported a few times, but if it looks as if that ship has sailed, the impression I’m getting from folks is that Earl Barron, a 7-footer who finished last season with the Knicks, is next on their list of possibilities.

And there’s every chance that if they hear Dampier’s going to choose Houston or Milwaukee over Toronto, Barron could be in town as early as Tuesday to start working out.

And if they want to keep him, despite having 15 guys on the roster, it sounds like the Joey Dorsey contract, not fully guaranteed right now, would be the one they eat to create a roster spot.

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Huge throng out there today, a few media types that we won’t see again until the season ends.

I have to say that, having been around this business and this league, for more than a few years, this team has always attracted broadcasters and writers entirely disproportionate to its success on the floor.

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One guy I didn’t get a chance to talk to, and I’m not sure I even saw, was Solomon Alabi, who’s got a hamstring issue.

But one guy did tell me Alabi had been doing some light running and might even be able to do some on-court stuff late this week.

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Oh, and we did get the requisite vow from the general manager that the goal is to be in the playoffs. I have no problem with talk like that, I’d be far more bothered if he said that wasn’t the goal or something like that.

Not much bold talk, though, from any of the players or coaches but there does seem to be a quiet confidence about this group.

Said Jose Calderon, who is 100 per cent ready to go Tuesday:

“We go into the season with great expectations, we can be a better team. I think we have a lot of players who can play, maybe we don’t have that star role for somebody, I prefer sometimes it’s better to have five guys scoring 12, 15 points than to have one get 35. We have to play like that, share the ball more than ever and play like a team.”

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Anyway, hope that holds you over until the stuff gets filed for the paper, which is all about the “grind” of media day.

 

Finally, it's here in all it's glory: It's Media Day!

Happy Media Day!!!!!!

I know, it’s like the first day of school, isn’t in? Everyone shows up all shiny and new, ready to tackle the new year full of vim, vigour and enthusiasm.

I presume a lot of you know how it works, it goes noon-3, the players wander up from the privacy of the locker room and run through a series of media stations. They do interviews with us and the radio and TV folks, some in scrums, some in one-on-one sitdowns and there’s no real order of who shows up when so it’s something of a circus if three or four of them arrive about the same time.

Then we all retire to our respective writing places and try to come up with something fresh, or some angle no one else has and it’s generally an exercise in futility because there are so many of us there, there’s no real “news” to report.

This is my 15th one of these things (missed 2007 because I was traipsing around Rome with Super Family waiting to head up to Treviso) and they really do kind of meld together.

So, because I kind of have an idea of what’s going to be said today; and because I’m always trying to give you stuff well in advance of it actually happening, here’s what they’re going to say. Or not.

It’s up to you to figure out what’s real and what’s imagined.  

It's okay, we want to prove people wrong.

 

There is no point guard controversy, the guy who can help the team the most plays.

 

It's not who starts games, it's who finishes them.

 

Ball.

 

It all starts with defence.

 

Chris who?

 

We embrace our European-ness, it's a heckuva continent.

 

We're going to bring Linas and Leandro and David along slowly, the world championships took a lot out of them.

 

My goals? To help the team any way the coach wants. And to be an all-star.

 

Of course I have to rebound better.

 

We have the greatest Beat Grunts in the history of journalism covering us on a daily basis.

 

At least we’re not in Buffalo.

 

Anyone want to go play pickup ball in Oakville?

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Got the three worst camps out of the way last week one day, let’s do the three best.  

 

Treviso, 2007

Look, the front acreage of the hotel was a vinyard that grew the grapes that made the wine that we drank with dinner in an outstanding hotel restaurant and we were half an hour from Venice and they played pre-season games in Rome and Madrid.

There’ll never been a better one.  

 

Ottawa, 2009

Second time’s always better, right? The first year was like a scouting trip; the second time around we knew where all the cool kids hung out (Hi, Keg in the Market, good afternoon Pub Italia). And a nice relaxing train right to and fro.  

 

Hamilton, 1995

It was new. It was a hoot. And since a lot of ‘em tend to run together, why not throw it on the list.

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I was thinking about doing some kind of “Five Questions” thing heading into the media day but then the poobahs called and wanted something for the Monday morning paper and, voila, it’s done.

Read all about it here.

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Hey, we’re not forgetting the women, right?

No way.

They’re in super tough to get into the quarter-finals and have a top eight finish since they’ve got the Americans today, France tomorrow and Greece on Wednesday.

It’s impossible to say for sure what it’ll take but they’re going to need at least one win and probably two to advance and that’s a tall order.

Still, the worst can they can be is 12th when it’s all said and done – they could finish as high as nine if they don’t move on – and that’s a pretty good feat.

Trouble is, neither I nor the Canada Basketball people I’ve been talking to in Czech Republic this morning have any idea when the games might be broadcast here in Canada. TSN or TSN2 are supposed to show them but they haven’t been scheduled yet.

The game to watch, of course, is USA-Australia which is Wednesday afternoon our time, in case you were wondering.

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Pops Mensa-Bonsu and Jannero Pargo sign in New Orleans and all I can think if is where are Garth Joseph and Donald Whiteside gonna end up?

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This is really apropos of nothing and it’s a wee bit old but, to be honest, I forgot about it for a day or two.

Did you see this story, where they found a tape of Game 7 in the 1960 World Series among Bing Crosby’s belongings? You know the game, Bill Mazeroski homers over Yogi’s head to give Pittsburgh a 10-9 win and championship.

One thing stood out beyond all else.

The game took two hours and 36 minutes!!!!!! Today, a 10-9 Game 7 is five hours if it’s a second.

And that, my friends, may be baseball’s fatal flaw.

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The Gangster signed in Russia?

Somehow I think that’s fitting.

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Yes, as we mentioned last week, the Raptors have been in contact with Erick Dampier. They, like the rest of the league, figured he was headed to Miami at the end of last week and kind of pulled back from those talks.

When he decided not to go there, they were in touch with his people again but they think it’s far-fetched that he’d take the minimum-salary offer they can make to come play in Toronto.

But they did make the cursory calls.

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Let’s finish off with one from the mail that I hung on to:  

Q: I hope this isn't too late for the mailbag.

Based on all of your years of following this team, how much of the fan excitement (or angst) throughout the season is dependant on actual success, or the success of surpassing expectations. I seem to remember the early years when they would win more games then fans expected, as really exciting times. If this team was able to match last year’s record, would you expect the fan base to jump behind this team and get excited? Or is a 40 win team (and a lottery appearance) a disappointment either way at this point in the franchise's history?

 

Peter L, Toronto

A: Oh, I remember those early days, too, when all the fans wanted was a competitive, hard-working team that would do them proud. Times have changed, though. I think fans have changed, too, and not necessarily for the better.

There is a far greater level of impatience it seems, perhaps born of expectations from the past, but mostly from this age of instant gratification that we live in. Not necessarily sure I like it, I think watching a team, or a player, grow and improve is something fans should appreciate and I’m not sure they do.

I will say this, though, to you point: If this team wins 40 games and is in a playoff race until the final days of the regular season, fans should be appreciative of it. I don’t imagine all will be, but the should be.

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Okay, still have about four hours left to figure out what, if anything, to tweet from this mess we’re about to walk into. Do you really want to know who showed up when or what they’re wearing. This might be my first big test (follow @smithraps, if you like because I could use the numbers) and I warn you it’s very much a work in progress.

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You've got questions and I bluff answers. Ain't life grand?

And in today’s installment we touch on: How bad they’ll be, how good they’ll be and the relative class of kids in the present and past.

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Q: Saw Dikembe Mutombo at Pearson this evening. My goodness he's a tall man. I never liked him as a player, but as a humanitarian, I'm a big fan. Any idea what he's in town for?

By the way, your work and that of Mr. Grange are mandatory reading at lunch time.

Do you agree that the hero's of the hard court will be hard-pressed to win many games this season, but they may well be more entertaining than the under-achievers of the past couple of years?

Thank-you in advance.

 

 

Bill W, Oakville

A: I fully expect them to be a bit more entertaining, actually. Probably because they want to play at a bit quicker pace and they do have some athletes. The winning and losing? Well, they’re coming off, what, 40- and 33-win seasons? I’m guessing they’re somewhere in the middle.

Alas, though, M. Grange ™ is no longer one of us; he’s going to do other things at his place of employment and a new Globe Grunt will be joining us on this merry chase we’re on. And we welcome her.

And Deke's got relatives here, I imagine it was some family shindig that brought him to town.

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Q: Hey Doug. Not sure if you are too familiar with the Australian sports here and the four codes of football (soccer, rugby league, rubgy union and Aussie rules).

However, one thing that I find extremely peculiar is the fact that in these leagues, players and coaches are able to, during the season, sign contracts for the next year with other clubs/teams and even declare their intention to switch codes.

I thought this was a bit odd and diluted the spirit of competition and created obvious conflicts of interest but its commonplace here and no-one really seems to care.

What are your thoughts on this and do you think this will ever happen in basketball? My gut feel is: not a chance on earth!

 

 

Jamil B, Sydney, Australia

A: It’s entirely odd to me, but having spent some time Down Under at the Olympics way back in the day, I find your country quite odd, in a charming kind of way. (If I hear Aussie, Aussie, Aussie, Oi, Oi, Oi one more time I may barf, but charming land nonetheless).

Now, as for this whole signing-with-one-team-while-playing-with-another thing? Crazy. How do you not have a daily tampering angst? It’d cause carnage over on this side of the world.

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Q: Hi Doug. Great work on the blog. I have a question about the culture that might be developing within the Toronto Raptors organization, in light of the recent Ed Davis injury during an unsupervised "run". It seems that players are increasingly flaunting the rules and/or not putting in 100% effort every night (See: Ed Davis injury; Hedo Turkoglu nightclub incident; Chris Bosh deciding to rest down the stretch despite being cleared to play). My theory is that if American born players perceive, rightfully or not, Toronto to be a sub-par basketball city, then they'll be less likely to follow the team's rules and buy into the team's "system". That mindset, in turn, can create a culture of losing. So my question is, are the Raptors becoming the Cleveland Browns or Oakland Raiders of the NBA (I.e. a culture of losing, where guys "expect" to lose, and thus are more likely to flaunt the rules?)

 

 

Mark I, Oakville

A: No and, quite frankly, no one broke a rule at all.

Davis had every right to go play where he wanted; Turk went out for a little bit at the urging of teammates and he’s a grown man and entitled to do what he wants and Bosh felt he was still not 100 per cent pain free enough with the ankle injury in early March to play and pain tolerance is entirely personal and cannot be questioned, in my opinion. (I cite J.R. Richard as an example of my reasoning).

And I hope that’s the case you’re talking about with Bosh because there seems to be some awful misperception out there that perhaps he could have played in the final week of the season after breaking his face. He couldn’t.

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Q: Straight up - are the Raptors far and away the worst team in the NBA this year? And who do we have to thank for this? And how does that person still hold a position with the organization? Sartorial splendour

 

 

Bill M, Toronto

A: I have no idea if they are the worst team in the NBA; I don’t even know if they’re the worst team in the Atlantic Division. So there’s no one to thank, no one to blame, no one to worry anyone’s pretty little head about until the season unfolds and, you know, they play games on the court rather than dissect things on paper.

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Q: Hi Doug: I would like your frank opinion as to how may games you think the Raptors, as configured now will win. I personally think between 38 and 40 with the playoffs a possibility. Leaving Bosh aside for the moment, I think all the other moves, including coaching, have made them a better team. Definitely Barbosa for Turk. As for Bosh, sure we will miss his 24 points but he was too soft in the paint and gave up the ball too many times. Without him, I think we can be better defensively and that will mitigate the missing 24 points. Plus I expect DeRozan and Weems to pick up the slack.

 

 

Robert B, Thornhill

A: Robert? Meet Bill just above you.

I love the disparate opinions around here.

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Q: Hi Doug. Couple of things I've been mulling over for awhile and as I've been unable to satisfactorily resolve them on my own, I thought where better than here and who better than you to pose them to for your insights.

To start, I like Twitter. I find like most things, it's all in how you manage it. I follow a diverse collection of twitterers. On any given tweet update I could be reading Margaret Atwood's update on the Turnip's political aspirations, mini reviews from TIFF by the one and only Roger Ebert, live runway coverage by Womens Wear Daily from Fashion Week in Milan, the hilarious misadventures of those nutty New Yorkers Cranky Kaplan and his alter ego Wise Kaplan or the Question of The Day answered by the New York Public Library - among other things. It's like a personal tickertape of stuff I am interested in by people who interest me. And now, you tweet, too. It just keeps getting better! :)

But I am curious, when my friends and I tweet between ourselves, we are tweeting on behalf of ourselves, and we are not overly concerned about the what we say, or how we are saying it to each other. We speak freely.

How does it work for those of you who are tweeting in a "professional" capacity? Are there corporate, professional, ethical if not (and apparently this is not too much of an issue anymore) grammatical guidelines you must adhere to? Or are you under some sort of vast umbrella of responsible behaviour in whatever capacity you "represent" your employer?

And the other quick thing - which I'm almost embarrassed to ask, because it might seem naive and/or self-evident, but here goes anyway: do you write from a different "place" when you're writing about a sport that you've never played? By a very general definition, all sports have some common elements, but each has its own unique subtleties as well that, unless you've participated in them, might be overlooked to the untrained eye, or pencil. Silly question?

 

 

Lorie P, London

A: Anything that goes out on twitter, or anywhere else for that matter, has to be treated the same as anything published here or in the paper. I can’t manufacture information, won’t disseminate anything without checking and have to stay within the boundaries of journalistic ethics. So, yeah, I’m kind of careful and always will be.

Now, the other thing? First off, there are no silly questions, only silly answers, and answerers. The thing about what I try to do is that I don’t really have to write from a different “place” because it’s the people rather than the inside dope that makes good stories. If I’m Argo Boy, I’m going to write people rather than two-deep zones or blocking schemes. If I’m Golf Boy, it’s people rather than square grooves. If I’m Leaves Boy, well, let’s just say I don’t imagine they’ll trust me with that.

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Q: Re: Colangelo shopping for big men as Raptors camp looms.

Hey Doug. Just wondering if you think that the Jazz's Kyrylo Fesenko would be a good fit for the Raps?

He's young and is a legit 7footer. And in the little time he played, he seems to bring hustle and toughness (not necessarily the Raps bigs' best qualities).

He's a restricted free agent and apparently the Jazz have offered him a 1 year-1 million deal, but he's holding out for a multi-year.

Would the Raps be able or be wise to offer him a contract?

 

 

Liam C, Toronto

A: They did call about Fesenko but, truth be told, the Jazz don’t want to lose him, he’s a restricted free agent who’ll likely have any offer to him matched and the Raptors don’t have money to make that offer anyway.

Of ping pong balls, another Henchman is born and best coaches ever

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Here’s an interesting fact those of you who think this season should be a year-long pursuit of a high draft pick.

Next year’s draft might be horrible.

Here’s why:

Let’s say it’s late May and all the underclassmen who are so highly-coveted put their name into the hat for inclusion in the draft, as they always do.

Now, let’s also say there’s no new collective bargaining agreement in place and it’s looking increasingly like a lockout’s coming about two days after the draft.

Can you hear the college coaches now: “You better come back for another year, you might not be playing anywhere in fall if there’s a lockout.”

Now, I imagine a whole bunch of top level kids might decide, yeah, having somewhere to play for sure isn’t a bad idea and they might just take themselves right out of the draft.

Maybe the season-long tank thing isn’t the wisest idea?

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All right, I guess Modern Family has to go on the list of contemporary comedies to watch.

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Let’s break this one off from a rather heavy mailbag I’m getting ready for Sunday morning:  

Q: Great work Doug, hope you're mentally prepared for a tough Raps year ahead.

Although my question isn't specifically related to the basketball, I've seen this occur for the Raptors as well. I've notice that the four papers we get in Toronto will often print stories with the same storylines, e.g. today 2-3 papers wrote similar articles about Bozek and Kessel's friendship on the Leafs (who cares?!). Is this a function of the team "suggesting" a storyline to run with, availability of certain athletes or all the writers banging their heads together to figure out what’s worth writing about on a slow news day?

Oh... also wanted to say, aren't you glad that you cover the NBA where the players have some semblance of a personality versus the NHL and their bland players with canned cliche answers to every question?

 

 

Shawn T, Waterloo

A: It’s not so much a function of the teams “suggesting” storylines as it is a function of pack-journalism where one guy sees one other guy interviewing someone and joins in and all of a sudden everyone’s got the same story.

Sometimes that’s because of the, um, energy level of the reporters, sometimes it’s because there truly is nothing else going on, sometimes it’s because guys don’t want to hear the boss say “hey, they had a piece on Kessel and Bozak we didn’t have. How come?”

But I know I need to do a better job of breaking away from the pack and it’s one of things on the agenda for this year.

I will say this, though: There are instances, and this could very well have been one of them, where there are so few players available after a practice or a game that you just have to take what you can get.

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Wonder if Alvin has any of those high-collared shirts in the closet?

Not sure if you saw this but Alvin Williams and Marc Eversely got bumps in titles and responsibilities yesterday.

Al becomes more of a front office guy as director of player development and Marc’s now called assistant general manager.

They remain, to some of us, henchmen.

But I was told this week the moves don’t necessarily mean they won’t replace the departed Masai Ujiri in the front office but a move in that direction is not imminent.

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So the women play at noon against Belarus and, as I type this, Australia’s doing the expected and is drilling China, meaning Canada will have advanced for sure regardless of what happens today.

But it’s still a big game under the somewhat wacky format FIBA uses for its women’s worlds.

In the next round, Australia, Canada and Belarus will play three teams form Group B, which is most assuredly going to be the United States, France and Greece.

The records in games among the teams that have already played carry over, which means Australia will start off at 2-0 and the winner of Canada-Belarus will be 1-1 and the loser 0-2.

A win today really does give Canada a big boost if they want to advance out of that second round and into the knockout quarter-finals.

Confused? Yeah, me too.

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Mail? You’ve only got a few hours left; write early, write often

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You know how we’re always saying stuff is cyclical and things eventually even out? If that four-team trade that’s being kicked around happens and Carmelo Anthony ends up in New Jersey, can we say the East is better than the West?

You could certainly argue the point, couldn’t you?

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So, looks like Nellie’s gone in Golden State as of Monday, leaving as the winningest coach in NBA history.

And we all remember how that happened, right?

Not only did Nellie break Lenny’s record here in Toronto, it was the very last time any of us saw Chris Bosh on his homecourt in a Raptors uniform.

Brings back the memories, doesn’t it?

I’m trying to think where Nellie fits in the pantheon of all-time great coaches. I do think he stole money late in his career, kind of retired and didn’t tell anyone but lots of people do that, I suppose.

He will be known, I think, mainly as the guy who made Dirk Dirk and that’s not a bad thing but I also think he’ll be remembered as a guy who junked up the game a little bit.

He did last a long time, though, and you have to give him credit for that.

But a long time isn’t all it takes to become one of the great coaches and I don’t certainly don’t have him in my list of the top 10.

That list, and I’m rattling this off the top of my head and comes in no particular order, would be:

Brendan Malone, Darrell Walker, Butch Carter, Kevin O’Neill, Lenny Wilkens, Sam Mitchell, Jay Triano.

Oops.

I mean:

Red Auerbach, Phil Jackson, Chuck Daly, Pat Riley, Larry Brown, Jerry Sloan, Red Holtzman, Jack Ramsay, John Kundla, and either Lenny or Pop or Rudy T.

 

 

Big win for the women at the worlds

It was the most important half of basketball for a Canadian women’s team in a very long time.

From down seven at the half after trailing by 13 in the first half, Canada rallied to take the lead inside of five minutes and went on to beat China 65-61 at the women’s world basketball championships Friday morning.

Big win?

How about huge because it all but assures Canada will move on to the second round, which is no small accomplishment given the group of first-round teams they had to face.

China would need to beat Australia on Saturday (an upset of biblical proportions) while Canada loses to Belarus to keep the Canadians from advancing. And seeing the Aussies are touted to play for gold, that’s a huge stretch.

Kim Smith had 25 points for Canada – she was 11-for-17 from two-point range – while Tamara Tatham (11 points) and Krista Phillips (9) helped key that rally to start the second half.

We’ll be talking to coach Allison McNeill and a player or two in a couple of hours and will get back with as many more details as we can.

 

 

There's movement afoot with the Raptors

All kinds of nuggets came out of the wee chat I had with Bryan yesterday (the main points are pretty much covered off here) and there was one other thing.

Remember way back when Masai left, there was some question whether they’d replace him in the front office or not?

Well, not sure it’s going to happen right away but there are going to be some changes in responsibility, likely minor, in the front office in the next couple of days.

But the big thing, of course, was it sounds like something is definitely happening roster wise before they hit the court here Tuesday morning.

The list of possibles seems a bit underwhelming – The Gangster (who seemed a tad more, um, mature when I saw him briefly in Turkey), David Harrison (washout in Indy), Earl Barron (relative unknown, had one good game late in the year in New York), Peter John Ramos (journeyman) and Fabricio Oberto (he’d be my pick because of his experience but not sure how much he’s got left in the tank)

Because that group doesn’t, in my opinion, hold much promise for future growth, I’m wondering if the trade route Bryan was talking about doesn’t make a lot more sense.

After all, they’ve already got a full roster and I can’t see them paying someone to go away to keep any of those guys around. And the impression I got in the conversation was that he’s looking for more than training camp fodder.

Of course, there was nothing available, even on the QT about who he’s got his eyes on trade-wide. Not entirely surprising at all, given that news leaks on two aborted transactions earlier this summer (the Charlotte one and Matt Barnes) may have been partially responsible for them falling part. Not completely, but at least partially.

One thing I got is that there are all kinds of teams calling about all kinds of players on the roster, though. Many around these parts may not think there’s much talent or guys who are coveted elsewhere but I’m not sure that’s the case if you’re an NBA GM.

Guess it all winds up with this: There’ll be news over the weekend; think today might be quiet on the player front because there are some league meetings but I fully expect at least one or two new faces in camp.

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Total aside but if 30 Rock, which returned last night, isn’t the funniest contemporary show on TV, I don’t know what is.

But I have to say, The Big Bang Theory is growing on me a bit. It’s no Two and A Half Men but it’s pretty good.

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Here’s why I’ve got a lot of time for the women’s basketball team that’s over at the worlds.

I hardly get to see them, or even talk to them, they don’t do a lot of media but when they do, they are tremendous. Thoughtful answers to questions, their personalities shine through and they do seem to enjoy chatting about themselves, the game, the team and the program.

I’m not saying, for instance, that the men don’t but there’s something a bit more, I don’t know, refreshing about the women that I find endearing.

And they give good quotes, too.

On the phone with Nataly Achonwa yesterday (and remember that name, she’s going to be a good one), I asked the 17-year-old what it was like going against the likes of Lauren Jackson, who’s an all-world big and one of the top five players on earth. China’s got some big size up front and so does Belarus and I wondered whether Nataly found it tough to go up against such size.

“Every day before I got to bed, I pray I grow a little more.”

That’s pretty good.

And the other day on the phone, I asked Kim Smith about the whole matter of recognition and publicity and notoriety that this team simply doesn’t get because not enough people really care.

“I just don’t think people know about it (the world championships) or know about us. When people see us and come watch us play, they enjoy what they see. We’re a very personable group.”

That they are, indeed.

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Mail? Love some. This is going to be the last call for it; think this afternoon might be time to sit down and scribble some answers.

Click, write, send.

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List time

You know me and training camp, right?

Too long, too uneventful and only gets you ready for eight (yawn!) pretend games.

Anyway, with one about to start, here are the three worst in franchise history.

(We’ll figure out three good ones on the weekend or Monday)  

Barrie, 1996

Second year, dreadful doesn’t begin to cut it.

Stayed a couple of nights at some dumpy roadside Holiday Inn, which was the same hotel the players used and if you wanted to see grumpy, you should have seen them. Practiced in some hockey rink with one court and it was, in a word, horrible.  

Home, 2003

Dang Kevin O’Neill. Figured there was no sense in travelling anywhere and a few days of two-a-days we couldn’t watch was pretty bad. This year’s gonna bite a little bit, too but at least there’s the allure of Vancouver at the end of it. One thing we like? To get away at the start of the season to get into the swing of things.  

Buffalo, 2000

Nothing against Buffalo, per se, (well, except that it’s Buffalo and downtown was, um, blight) but camp began about 36 hours after we got back from the Sydney Olympics and dealing with jetlag was tough. Oh, and it was in Buffalo, too. I did bring back some pretty nifty red running shoes from Sydney so that was okay.

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In keeping with an early-week theme, Super Son ventured off to school shortly after 7:30 all primed for today’s Terry Fox Run for students at his place.

I’m hoping yours might be doing the same, I hope they raised some money and I hope, most of all, that they listen to the message the day carries.

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All right, gotta track the last half of the women’s game on this machine. Be back soon with a wee update.^

Watch twitter, follow me @smithraps and you’ll get it first.

(Yes, a shameful plug for more, um, followers or whatever they’re called)