There's nowhere like Erie in the fall, and other fun things

Little more than a series of unrelated items, thoughts and digressions after a day of travel and no practice. But here you go:

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Solomon Alabi and Ed Davis are with the team today but not for long, I’m told.

I think you’ll see Alabi assigned to Erie of the D League the first of the week so he can go down there and get some practice and game work with the Bayhawks.

And I’m told Davis may get some time down in the minors in the next little while (maybe a week or so away) to get some game work in as he comes back from knee surgery.

I guess both moves make sense, although I do think each of the young bigs would benefit almost as much from practicing against NBA guys than playing in a guard-oriented minor league, but as long as they’re not gone long, there’s no big problem.

The Davis move is the one I’m sure you’re most interested in, given the daily questions I get about his return.

Glancing at the Erie schedule, they play at home the 19th and 20th and then away the 26th and 28th so you’re logically looking at Davis getting back with the Raptors sometime after the 28th and – maybe – being in an NBA uniform for the Dec. 1 home game against the Wizards.

That’s if there are no setbacks, of course.

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This trip?

Orlando-Miami back-to-back; two days off and then Washington-Philly back-to-back?

Oh yeah, I can see one win but they really, really need to get two for their collective psyches.

One puts ‘em at, what, 2-10 coming out of this brutal start? Hmm, that’s not quite good enough, is it? I would have said 4-8, maybe 5-7 would have been a legit goal the day before the season started.

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Quick trip to the mall?

Q: At the beginning of the season, Triano said Andrea had to learn to play big minutes, but Triano, with his erratic substitution pattern gave him 20 minutes against Golden State and has rarely played him as much as 35 minutes a game. Isn't it time to let the big guy sink or swim? It's not like Triano has a lot of choices, but he doesn't appear to have much confidence in Bargnani.

Allan W, Toronto

A: Should Bargnani play more? Maybe but it’s not like he’s the forgotten man out there, although that seems to be the common misperception.

The Golden State game was unique in that he was in foul trouble, the guys who were playing ahead of him were playing quite well in the second half so I have real problem there.

And the fact of the matter is, he averages a team-high 33.3 minutes a game – about six minutes more than anyone else – and he played about 38 the other night against Charlotte. Not that far off his ’09-’10 season average of 34.9.

As long as Jay’s staying with a four-man rotation up front – and I think that’s wrong except on nights when there’s foul trouble – I imagine 35 a night is about what it’ll average out to.

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Man, there is a lot of cable television available in this room.

No wonder everyone wants to live in this great land.

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So, no Barbosa and it’s looking entirely like Kleiza won’t play at least tonight so that’s going to mean more time for Julian Wright and I wonder how he’ll handle it.

You know I like what he brings but the question is whether or not he’ll bring it every night.

I imagine he will because he seems to be quite professional about his work but there have been more than a few players who’ve looked extremely good in one-time appearances before they regress as time goes on.

Hope that doesn’t happen with Wright.

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Yes, the Raptors have had a conversation or two with Erick Dampier this week in light of the deal he had in Houston falling apart.

No, there is no resolution but there’s still a possibility they’ll sign him.

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In a three-hour layover at Dulles (not a bad airport, at all, as a matter of fact), I should have done a scientific study to see which souvenir was jumping off the shelves the most.

Would it have been:

The one with Dubya’s smiling mug on a fridge magnet asking:

Miss me yet?

Or

The one with the three-panel head shots of Bristol’s Mom going from normal to something approximately Edvard Munch’s Scream saying:

Stop the insanity.

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What’s up in Orlando?

Let’s see what Josh was scribbling yesterday.

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Speaking of Orlando, here’s the trip down memory lane:

A major meltdown

This was as classic night. They lose – I think Bosh might have been out with an injury but I don’t remember for sure – and we’re talking to Sam in the hallway outside the locker room.

All of sudden, entirely unprovoked, he starts on this all-world rant about – of all things – Jerome Moiso and how he can’t play him because he doesn’t work hard in practice and how he needs guys to take responsibility for their skill and it was quite a Sam Rant.

Anyway, we run into the locker room to ask Jerome about it – he had no idea what was coming – and he looked like a deer caught in headlights. Not sure why Sam did what he did but it sure made for an interesting story.

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Prank time

Used to be a fellow who covered the beat for the Sun known as Quag and they got him good one day.

We’re at shootaround talking to the coach of the day (think it was Sam again) when all of a sudden two Orlando cops show up. They ask for Quag and start busting on him for blowing off a toll booth on some ride down an interstate and it looks entirely like they’re going to arrest him.

Turns out one of the Raptor media relations guys with connections down here had cooked up the prank with some friends.

But you should have sent the look on Mike’s face. Priceless and gave some juice to an otherwise boring shootaround chat.

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This one might hurt

I still contend to this day that the shot that Bosh took at the end of Game 2 of the 2008 playoffs was a good one.

A 20-footer but a guy who made ‘em far more than he missed them instead of driving against Dwight Howard, who’d just blocked one of his shots, was fine with me.

The miss killed them and might have been the one play that decided the series (at 1-1 going home I’d like Toronto’s chances) but it was still a good shot that just didn’t go in.

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Mail?

Click here if you like; we’re on the same schedule as last week with the usual drivel Saturday after the Friday game, Sunday after the Saturday game and a big ol’ mailbag on Monday so you’ve got lots of time.

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Okay, new arena to check out and grief to give HWSNBN for his unfortunate facial hair decision.

See ya later.

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Comments

[Zombywoof]

Butch & Oak.... oh yeah!
After the weekend we will be 1-9, sitting comfortably in the basement where we'll remain for the rest of the season. The Raptors won 21 games in their inaugural season with a bunch of castoffs. This team can only hope to do as well. How can you continue to play 5-on-4 to start games? The other day somebody asked how many games it would take before JT is canned. Doug laughed it off, but it was a legitimate question. It's not really JT's fault, it's all on BC. But he ain't going to fire himself, and somebody has to take the fall for this mess.

Blogger's note: No, it's a ridiculous unanswerable question. Could be 10 games, could be 20, could be 40, could be at the end of next year. Anyone who thinks they can offer a legitimate answer to that question is flat out lying.

[Lazaros O.]

So Henry Abbott has a nice piece today at TrueHoop where he discusses the merits of using rebound percentage as a better measure of rebounding ability compared to rebounds/game. So who leads the league in rebound %? No other than our own Reggie Evans who "is the guy well ahead of the pack". The other three in the top-4 are Love, Camby and Noah.

[Rob H]

"Man, there is a lot of cable television available in this room.

No wonder everyone wants to live in this great land."

Well played sir.

[The J]

Canada doesn't have good cable. Hmm...I didn't realize that while I was watching the Celtics destroy the Heat on NBA League Pass last night.

[The J]

Rob V. - I thinks Colangelo should hop on the next plane to India, and start talking to this kid about the Toronto Indian community. I mean it worked on Hedo, and I'm sure there is a larger Indian community in TO than there ever was a Turkish one.

[Vox]

I am not sure what Brian Colangelo was thinking last summer?
Why he did not go after Al Jefferson and did not take Michael Beasley????

I do not get it?

Obviously this team has failure written all over it and either of these two players is 3 classes above anybody else on Raptors roster.

I thought he had a plan but it just sucks. I do not think he deserves another contract extension, I just do not. It is beyond me how he managed to build the worst team in the NBA.

Minnesota Timberwolves have lots of financial flexibility and are the youngest team in the league, Raptors just suck, plan and simple.

[Skiff]

@Coach K

Bargnani Bashing: no problem with him, just can't be the featured player on a good team. He's a piece, a good one, but never a great one.

Colangelo Choking: 5 years, losing record, looking at <30 wins this year; has drafted noone of consequence; lets a top 20 player walk without getting anything except a TPE that for some reason people think will turn into something useful (honestly, what do you really think we're getting with this??); apparent lack of a plan to improve the team now and for the long haul; fixing his mistakes is comendable (turk, etc.) but let's not forget he made them to begin with!

Gheradhini Galling: Oh yeah, we got some great Euro players on our roster...good thing we're so connected and reaping the rewards of it all (sarcasm obviously).

Boy I hope we stay on this course...these 5 years have been AMAZING!!! Can't wait until they all sign their extensions (which is inevitable since MLSE is in charge). ugh.

[J]

@JHK:

"If Raps use the TPE to give up let's say a player who earns $5 mill a year, and get someone who earns $10 mill a year. Is TPE gone now? is there 'left-overs'? Does it get transferred to the next team at all? (They now have $10 mill TPE).
Blogger's note: I believe there are leftovers."

TPE credits aren't transferred, though it may seem like it. It's best to think about it in separate transactions. While the exact details will depend on the deal, it'd probably work something like this if the other team is over the cap:

Team B trades Player X with $10 mil contract to the Raptors for something nominal, which uses up $10 mil of our ~$14 mil TPE credit. Team B receives a newly generated $10 mil TPE credit as a result. The Raptors then send a player worth $5 mil to Team B for something nominal, using up half of Team B's $10 mil TPE credit and generating a new $5 mil TPE credit for the Raptors.

End result: The transactions would probably be reported as one deal to the public, the $10 mil and $5 mil players get swapped, Toronto is left with TWO different TPE credits -- one worth $5 mil and the other worth ~$4 mil -- and Team B has $5 mil remaining on their new TPE credit. Please note that TPE credits cannot be combined with a player or other TPE credits so cutting our TPE credit into smaller parts isn't exactly optimal.

[GM]

* I know coaches love players who practice hard, but surely they realize that some players are simply not good practice players but produce in game situations. Not that Moiso was one, and I understand not wanting to promote laziness in practice, but the bottom line has got to be game situations, not practice.

* Nice prank story. Doug, have you ever been victim (or perpetrator) of an on-the-job prank?

Blogger's note: Thankfully, not yet

[d]

1-9 after the weekend for sure. Whats more scary is that they could be as bad as 1-15 or 1-17 in the next couple weeks. With the lockout looming, this is one of the worst years ever to have a high draft pick unless the senior NCAA class this season is insanely gifted.

I knew it would be bad this year, just not NJ Nets 2009/2010 bad.

Other than maybe the first two seasons, this is the most untalented team ever assembled in Raptordom. Ever.

What the hell is Bryan thinking when this "product" marches out on the floor nightly? Is he proud of what he "built"? When he stands in his little cubby hole and watches this farce of basketball at the ACC, is he sitting there patting himslef on the back? Does he have no pride at all? It makes me sick that they (GM's) are allowed to destroy a team, get paid well for doing it, then sit back 300 days a year and do absolutely nothing!!!! Really, some handshakes, press junkets, some meetings, how hard is it to be a GM? Discuss trades for weeks that could be consumated in a phone call. We all have ESPN trade machine, so why do discussions last months and months????? Idiotic.

If he was CEO of a company, fired his best employees, reduced revenue, discontinued its best product and offered no hope for a better future, would he still be the CEO? No way in hell !!!! Fire Peddie, then hire someone that will fire BC, then get some Men, not Metrosexuals, to run MLSE.

Unreal. Just unreal they are allowed to get away with destroying our franchises. Just not fair.

[Leaf fan in Van]

Doug, I live in BC and your suggestion that the Raps can win 2 of 4 ("can" or "need to" is semantics) makes me rethink the west coast assumption that we have the best "bud" in the country...They will most definitely go zero for Floriday (ala the Leafs) and they might just loose each game by 25+. Then they get to hang their heads for a couple of days before losing the next two in the same fashion they lost to Charlotte...they WILL be 1 and 11 after this trip, and looking ahead a few weeks, might win one game in their next 13? If this is not enough to send JT back to the SFU courts, then what is...

[Manale]

I'm just going to shut my eyes for the rest of the season and imagine Butch and Oak are running the show.
Ahhhh.
Now THAT's fantasy basketball.

[James]

Just please show up tomorrow bos against Bosh. Don't let him go off for 30 points.

[Tabber]

Ooh, can we get the lottery numbers for next week, from those who know what's going to happen? Just put them up here and we can all tell how smart you are - and make sure you all put the same numbers up, now, boys and girls. No cheating now.

Gotta admit, I don't know why people who know the future are reading the Star. I'd be out buying all the lottery tickets I could for as long as it took to get enough to live in luxury for the rest of my life, then buy MLSE, Rogers, QMI and Bell just to fire the executroids!

[J]

Guess with all the crystal ball gazers, nobody foresaw the gem tonight. Maybe wanna file for a couple RMAs so y'all can get your doom and gloom antics ready before the next string of losses.

@Vox: Go after Al Jefferson? You're a funny dude. On one hand you preach youth and financial flexibility, and on the other, you're suggesting we should have traded a youngster, two lottery picks *and* our financial flexibility for Al Jefferson. Just so we could do what exactly? Miss the playoffs and not have anything to show for it?