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.

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Q: Name 5 teams (if you can) in the West that the Raps can beat when Raps go on the road. My guess is NONE.

 

 

Howard F, Thornhill

A: What’d they go last year? 2-13 on the road against the West? No, I probably can’t give you five they’d win this year. Besides, if I gave you five, you wouldn’t need to watch the games, right?

But they might. Or they might not.

Ain’t sports grand?

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Q: Doug, give it to me straight up okay, Rob Ford or Vince Carter?

 

 

Chi L, Calgary

A: Vince. Not even close. But I don’t have to live in Toronto. And we have our own Mayoralty, um, issues to deal with here in Mississauga.

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Q: Hey Doug, if you were to look into the minds of GM's around the league, how would you rank the desirability of the players on our current roster? (It might be interesting to consider players and their contracts and just players independently). Love the blog!

 

 

Dale S, Kleinburg

A: You want me to rank ‘em? Hmm.

Virtually impossible but that’s what we do over here, the virtually impossible.

I would think teams would want DeRozan for his contract and his skill, Davis for his contract and age, Weems because he shows some promise, Bargnani because – believe it or not – other GMs get past the rebounding stuff and see a matchup nightmare, Jose and Jarrett would probably be tied, although Jarrett’s deal is better, I think the jury’s still out on Kleiza and I’d say Evans has more cache than Banks in the “expiring contract” marketplace because he’s got a bit more game. Wright, Alabi, Andersen and whoever else I’m forgetting are non-factors are the moment. Wright might be wanted because he’s got some experience, but he’d certainly not be at the top of any GM’s list.

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Q: Hey Doug, were any eyebrows raised around the league about the trade with the Phoenix Suns. If not why didn’t they make any deals in the past?

 

 

Bob W, Winnipeg

A: Um, I presume you’re talking about Turk for Barbosa? Ah, no; don’t imagine anyone really cared all that much and while I don’t imagine the Sarvers and Colangelos will be sharing a bottom of some robust red over a candlelit dinner in some toney bistro, they aren’t going to avoid each other if there’s a deal both teams think makes sense.

And I’m guessing they didn’t make any deals in the past because Phoenix wasn’t going to trade that Nash fellow to Toronto.

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Q: Eight preseason games is a joke and, in my opinion, a way for some teams to suck more money out of season ticket holders. Is there any talk of decreasing the number of preseason games in the new CBA? I know they cut back a few as a quid pro quo for going to a best of 7 format in the first round of the playoffs, but 8 is still probably 4 too many.

 

 

Sean K, Ottawa

A: Of course it’s a joke perpetrated on fans who pay money to see pretend games. Me? I’d cut it to four for sure and not shorten camp at all. I’d use the extra week to stretch out the regular season and cut down on the back-to-backs, three-games-in-four-nights and four-games-in-find grinds we have to go through.

Think that’ll happen? No way.

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Q: Hey Doug, I know that no one expects much from the Raptors this season. I have been a Raptors fan from day one (I actually still have my #4 Vincenzo Esposito jersey that I bought because I couldn't wait to wear a Raptors jersey and he was the first stiff they signed) and sat through some miserable seasons, but I don't think this will be that bad or much worse than last year. Can this roster compete every night or am I just wearing Raptor coloured glasses?

 

 

Rob N, London

A: Stiff? You calling Vincenzo a stiff? Harsh. True, but harsh.

Anyway, let’s look at it this way:

If I say, yes, they can compete and aren’t nearly as bad as many think, I’m a stupid homer who may as well be on the payroll and I may as well be, you know, European or something.

And, if I say no, they stink and will be lucky to win 20 games, I’m just going with the crowd and another voice in the choir. That stinks, too.

But I will say this: They won’t be as bad as a lot of people think.

(Homer!)

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Q: Doug, I watched some live streams of the FIBA world championships and was impressed with Kleiza. I think he is skilled and tough and will bring some Garbajosa - type presence to the Raptors. I'm guessing that 12pts, 7 rebs, and 2 asst. per game is probably realistic projection for the upcoming season, which means that Colangelo has effectively replaced Turkoglu's numbers at half the cost (but probably not his playmaking). This team probably needs 3 miracles to be really good: 1) Amir replaces Bosh and gets 15pts/10rebs 2) DeRozan and Weems turn into elite shooting guard/slashers and 3) Kleiza is better than Turk at half the price.

Which one do you think is most likely to happen and what are the chances of all three happening together? I'd guess that the chances are slightly better than 1/1000. Let's hear your take.

 

 

Shawn T, Vancouver

A: I’m thinking you’ve got some pie-in-the-sky stuff happening there but why not dream big, right?

If you need me to guess, which is what this is, I’m thinking the Kleiza thing happens before either of the other two.

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Q: Hi Doug. 'Tis the season when predictions start being made for teams, and I've read a few comments about how the Raptors are a big unknown for many reasons (and I generally agree). One reason cited is the fairly large TPE and when/if the Raptors will use it. I understand the TPE counts against the cap (which is why we have no more room to outright sign players), but don't we also need to have roster room before we can exchange some or all of the TPE for a player or two? How does that work in general, and what might the Raptors specifically do?

Second, somewhat-related, question - I see on the official website that Patrick O'Bryant and Rasho are still on the roster. When/how do they eventually expire? My sense is they are both not in the plans for next year.

 

 

Kate C, Toronto

A: Sure, they need a roster spot to add anyone but that’s easily done in a trade that sends someone away or, in the extreme, waiving someone and eating their salary just to get under the 15-man maximum limit. What they could very well do, for instance, is trade someone making $5 million this season for someone making $15 million and use $10 million of the trade exception to assume the difference in salary.

Now, on the website stuff, you have to absolve the Raptors of blame for the roster. That kind of stuff, along with stats, is handled at the home office in New York and someone’s obviously asleep at the switch down there. Rasho and Patrick are gone and the last time I looked at the roster on the website, they hadn’t added PJ Carlesimo or Scott Roth, either. Guess it does go to show you that you can’t believe everything to see on the web. Except here, that is.

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Q: Just recently, as I was at work, a popular sports writer who I won’t name walked into my work and I asked him who he thought were the top 5 players in basketball right now. He told me he thought they were (in no order) Kevin Durant, Lebron James, Carmelo Anthony, Kobe Bryant and Dwayne Wade. Who would you say are the best 5 players in basketball right now!? (And not to knock on Carmelo but I totally would take Dwight Howard over him!)

 

 

Mario Asimakis, Toronto

A: Hmm, let’s see. What strange workplace did I walk into recently? Do you work in a, oh, I dunno, a bistro?

I think you’d get pretty much the same answer from about 95 per cent of the people, the dissenters being big fans of Howard, of course; who might nose out Anthony on some lists, including mine and yours.

I’d make it a tie between them, actually.

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Q: You know Doug, I always considered Chris Bosh a real class act. He always said the right things. Until he didn't. Now everything he EVER said is suspect.

I consider Jose a gentleman and a class act. Actually appearing to mean what he says. Others I am suspect of.

Of all those who play/played for the Raptors, who do consider the classiest, on and off the court and most likely to sustain this through their careers (or HAVE sustained it). And is this "classiness" at all important to the team or does it all take second place to their performance on the court.

(*smiles - I think you're a class act yourself - I read your blog daily for the best insights and honest takes on what's happening in Raptor land. Shameless flattery there.)

 

 

Art Griffin, Pasadena, NL

A: Aw. I’m blushing. You’re totally right, but I’m blushing anyway (I keed, I keed).

It’s the usual suspects, as I’m sure you’d guess. Dell, Alvin, Oak was a classy stand-up guy, same with Rasho, Muggsy Bogues, Kevin Willis.

This group’s pretty good, too. I’ve got of time for DeMar, he seems to carry himself well, and you know I think Jose’s a classy fella, too.

And I think if you look at that group, you’re going to find guys who do well, or have done well, when their careers are over.

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Q: Hey Doug. I recently saw that Marc Gasol's contract is up this season. Since Memphis is in need of relief, do you foresee the Raptors making a run at him? They could over pay him with the extra money they've got, and it might work out well with a true big playing the post. We'd have a developing wing in DD, a versatile PF in Bargs, and a tough 3 in Kleiza.

In my opinion, this is a golden opportunity that they should chase full throttle.

 

 

Colin K, Ann Arbor

A: We’re into 2010-11 free agency already. Sweet! It may indeed be a golden opportunity if they clear significant cap room here, which they don’t; the Memphis front office has a collective seizure, which it might, and doesn’t want him and stars all align perfectly in some cosmic moment of stupendous coincidence, which they won’t.

I guessing this doesn’t happen.

Besides, isn’t he just another Euro?

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Q: Hey Doug, being a Raps/Habs fan I've certainly heard my fair share of booing at home games. How much do you think that affects the games of the younger guys, most of whom where studs in college and never really booed before? I know we hear a great deal about mental toughness, but is it really fair to expect that from a 22-23 year old before they've been seasoned? On a side note, how about a list of the top 5 mentally tough players in the game today?

 

 

Ryan M, Ottawa

A: Ah, these kids have been booed before, mostly by rabid college fans, and I don’t think it gets to ‘em at all. Bugs me a bit but who cares, right? Seriously, most of the time, if the absolute truth were told, the players who get booed deservedly know they’re playing poorly and it doesn’t get in their heads at all.

The top five? You’ve got to remind me sometime during a regular work week, that’s got morning blog written all over it.

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Q: Have you done a position by position comparison of the Raptors team last year vs. this year's team? Besides Bosh and Turkoglu could you summarize who has departed and who has arrived? At what aspects of the game are they looking stronger or weaker compared to last year? Thanks.

 

 

Terry M, Toronto

A: I haven’t, I don’t imagine I will and that’s because it’s a rather futile process, isn’t it? Year-to-year’s not fair because of all the other variables that go into a team’s success, chemistry, the natural growth of young players, relative talents of the opponents and the like.

It’s not really an exercise that would yield much good, I don’t think.

 

 

Comments

[JHP]

Good Morning

At some point during the season the Celtics will undoubtly have 5 players on the court with an average age of over 34. Sadly they will probably be better then anything the Raptors will be able to field. With your many years of experience would this be one of the oldest groups (modern era) ?

Blogger's note: I'd suspect modern or any other era

[Boko]

Doug, when you were replying to Dale S of Kleinburg, did you forget to mention Johnson & Barbosa, or are they part of that last group that is 'not worth mentioning?

Blogger's note: I absolutely forgot them; I'd put 'em in the middle, probably Barbosa ahead of Johnson because of his contract. Knew there were names I'd left out.

[doug]

this blog question and answer segment is a role reversal for you...as a reporter you ask they bluff, here we ask you bluff or say you do although there is no bluffing that I see....

I tend to agree in that this Raptors team will not be as bad as others think, plus fans tend to have this insulated view, has anyone looked around out there, there will be some bad teams out there this year...so all this will the Raps be the worse team, is non-sensical.....plus as a aside, there are a lot of things that I don't understand , but one of the more perplexing to me ever, is how can Rob Ford have such a large lead??...voter anger is one thing, frustration etc...but come on, Ford reminds me of "Lumpy" from Leave It To Beaver...which isn't a bad thing overall but as qualities I look for in a mayor, not even close....ok enough politics, and reading his name in your blog....just gives me the chills....

[mdc]

Any list of classy, stand-up Raptors has to include Anthony Parker near the very top.
And don't forget Matt Bonner (good character of any sort is always classy).

[b123]

I'm a but confused -- in response to Kate C, you wrote: "What they could very well do, for instance, is trade someone making $5 million this season for someone making $15 million and use $10 million of the trade exception to assume the difference in salary." I thought earlier you said the trade exemption could not be paired with a trade...? I probably misunderstood earlier?

Blogger's note: There need to be "assets" involved in the use of a trade exception; it can't simply be used as free money to sign players.

[Lorie]

Doug!
Ta-Dah! It's Media Day tomorrow!!! Are you giddy with anticipation??? (Is today then like Christmas Eve for Beat Grunts everywhere??? Visions of sugarplums and bouncing balls in your heads tonight as you sleep - if the building excitement lets you sleep at all?) Seriously, (sort of!) is it the same format every year, or do they shake it up annually?

Blogger's note: They've moved to the fancy-schmancy new atrium by Gate 5 from the practice court but the rest is pretty much the same.

[J]

@Doug, b123 & Kate C:

"I'm a but confused -- in response to Kate C, you wrote: "What they could very well do, for instance, is trade someone making $5 million this season for someone making $15 million and use $10 million of the trade exception to assume the difference in salary." I thought earlier you said the trade exemption could not be paired with a trade...? I probably misunderstood earlier?
Blogger's note: There need to be "assets" involved in the use of a trade exception; it can't simply be used as free money to sign players."

Doug, I think your non-verbose explanation here will probably create some confusion or misconceptions.

What Doug probably meant was you can't trade something for nothing, though using "it can't simply be used as free money to sign players" is confusing because it sounds like you're talking about signing free agents with the TPE credit (which, yes, isn't possible either).

In Doug's scenario (which, by the way, assumes our TPE credit is $15 mil instead of $14 mil, so I'm going to adjust it back to $14 mil to avoid any confusion), the $5 mil player + $9 mil TPE credit for a $14 mil player is actually a two-parter: Toronto first acquires the $14 mil player from Team B using the entirety of the $14 mil TPE credit, thus generating an equivalent $14 mil TPE credit for Team B (assuming they were over the cap); then, Toronto trades the $5 mil player to Team B, thus generating a *new* $5 mil TPE credit for Toronto. The end result will look the same on the outside, but the $5 mil TPE credit will be due to the outgoing $5 mil player and will not be a leftover portion of our prior $14 mil TPE credit.

Mind you, assuming we don't want to trade away the $5 mil player, we could have simply traded for the $14 mil player outright. How? We send Team B something nominal, like some cash or a conditional 2nd round pick that we protect up through the 59th overall pick (so they only get the pick if it's #60).

However, in case I am wrong and Doug actually meant obtaining a $15 mil player by using our $5 mil player and $9 mil of our $14 mil TPE credit, that's an absolute no-no. We would no longer be able to absorb the $15 mil player with our smaller $14 mil TPE credit, and would have to do something creative like bring in a third team to facilitate the trade. Example: Toronto trades $5 mil player to Team B for $14 mil player (as above), then flips the $14 mil player to Team C for the desired $15 mil player.