Time to come home for a while and chill

So, the killer part of the early-season schedule is over, the 12 games with eight on the road, tough trips out west and to Florida and where are they? Maybe a game worse off than I thought but, otherwise, pretty much bang-on.

And we move forward and see where the journey takes us.

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THREE POINTERS

Almost there

Cutting the wing rotation to three guys – no Julian Wright – didn’t do much for DeMar DeRozan (more on that later) but it did a lot for Sonny Weems, who had a career night.

And I wonder if it’ll give Jay cause to think about tightening things when Leandro’s back, which could be as early as this weekend.

If I know Jay, and the way he sometimes thinks, he saw Sonny get off to a quick start and rode him a bit harder than usual, which turned out to be a very good thing.

Maybe they need someone – anyone – to get off to a torrid start to kind of force the coach’s hand. That’d be a good thing.

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Last time …

We do the DeMar’s Arrived piece, I think.

Coming off that Florida journey where he was so good, everyone lauded him and how’s he reward us? With a couple of clunkers, 12 points, nine shots, two free throws in Washington, four points, three shots, two free throws in Philly, and it just goes to show you.

He is young, still very much learning the game and his place in it and there will be some inconsistencies as the season goes along.

But I guess the one thing that jumps out at me is that he played 32 minutes one game, 31 the other and I don’t think that’s enough.

I think they need to leave him out there for 38 or 39, let him try to figure it out as he goes along.

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You know I’m going to …

What was that?

Thirty points and seven boards for Bargnani? Gonna be an easy day around here, methinks.

Yes, he was atrocious in Washington but that doesn’t mean he was going to be atrocious every game. The kid is skilled and he’s a shooter and sometimes shooters are going to have bad shooting nights and it often carries over into other aspects of their games.

But as we saw in the Philly game, the kid can fill it up in a variety of different ways, there was a rather emphatic dunk, a whole lot of one- or two-dribble jumpers and he actually contested some defensive rebounds.

The tendency here, and a lot of places, is to over-react to bad games and bad nights and see it as a true indication.

It’s not, not for Bargnani, not for DeRozan, not for Jack, not for anyone.

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And …

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You busy at noon?

Want to take a break from the crush of the day?

Well, join us for a little question and answer session; I’ll be sitting around Casa Doug just waiting.

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Let’s say a week ago, someone had stopped you on the street and the conversation got around to the Raptors.

If your friend had said they’d come back from Orlando-Miami-Washington-Philly with a 2-2 record, would you have been okay with that?

After scoffing, of course.

I’d think so.

And I’m going to say this now, like I’ve said it to a lot of people privately: Not only don’t I think the Raptors are the worst team in the league, I don’t think they’re the worst team in their division.

-

This dropped in the mail yesterday and seemed a tad topical so …

Q: Hey Doug! Seeing how you're such a huge Spurs fan (Spurs by 12), did you hear about the divorce between Tony Parker and Eva Longoria? (sparked by cheating of course)!

Jessica H, Guelph

A: A shocker.

Anyway, I guess it – and news of Steve Nash’s separation a week or so ago – doesn’t really surprise me. Look at the incidence of divorce and separation in society as a whole, we shouldn’t think it’d be any different in pro sport, should we?

But my question is: Should we care? Are the titillating details really necessary and something we need to know? I guess if players put themselves out there with their families they kind of bring this stuff on and maybe the celebrity status of Parker-Longoria made this kind of news inevitably interesting. But it most certainly didn’t with Steve, who never put his family in the spotlight.

I know that what passes for “news” these days runs counter to what I think it should be; I’m far more about good stories well told than minutia of private lives.

But that’s just me.

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What’d they say in Philly about that one?

Well, why don’t we check here and have a look.

(Remember back when Doug Collins was a broadcaster? Liked his work but thought he was too reliant on numbers? Read the story. Same thing now.)

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I have to tell you, if Chris Bosh wanted notoriety and fame in his new role as Third Rail Of Heat Basketball, he’s sure getting it.

There’s the video that’s talked about in this story (perhaps a tad premature given it’s 10 games into the season and he had 35 last night but Skeets and Tas are two of the very best out there and I’m a big fan) and he’s getting slagged all over the league it seems. It’s odd, but somehow he seems to welcome even the bad attention.

Odd kid. Good kid, but a touch odd.

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Speaking of mail, I’m off on a super secret one-day voyage on Saturday between Friday-Sunday games so I’d like to get started a bit early.

Help me out, folks.

Click. Write. Send.

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I don’t know Greg Oden at all, have spoken to him maybe once in my life, but, man, do I feel bad for that kid.

Another knee surgery, another season lost and, really, there have to be legitimate concerns about his career now, don’t there?

Really, a sad, sad story.

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Comments

[Penny]

Doug - Do you know if the coaches are deliberately keeping Jose's minutes around 24 or 25 so that he doesn't develop an injury again? As one poster mentioned yesterday, it seems that when Jack is playing well, he sometimes plays up to 35 minutes but Jose never reaches 30 even when he outplays Jack by a wide margin as he did last night.

Blogger's note: No, not sure it's deliberate but it might be in the back of their minds. But Jarrett's only played 35 once.

[Peter]

I really try not to bash Bosh, but he says the stupidest things. In the ESPN post game interview after his GREAT game last night he talks about how Coach Spoelstra has been getting on them again in practice. Bosh's quote at about 1:50 of this video, "He (Spoelstra) wants us to work, we want to chill"
WHAT???
We want to chill? Not something Kobe, MJ, or anyone from any winning team in Boston would ever say. True champions want to work. Bosh really needs to stop saying stupid things.
Here's the video clip for reference.
http://espn.go.com/video/clip?id=5819510

[sam]

What would be nice to see is the entire team clicking at the same time - Strong game by Andrea and Sonny - Quiet night for DD - I'm all for keeping Sonny in the Starting 5 if he keeps driving the basket and playing smart. From what I read of Dave's report Reggie called a players only meeting and took them to task. Reggie seems to have taken over as team leader.I certainly hope ego's don't get in the way of the team moving forward -

[AT]

Great "like a bosh" video!!!
for all those bargnani haters out there, how about being a trail blazer fan right now?
Doug, who would you have picked in the 2006 draft?

Blogger's note: Hindsight's silly. Can't say

[Derek]

Morning Doug,
I agree with what you wrote today - that Bargnani is "capable" of scoring in many different ways, even when his jump shot isn't falling. However, that's what made the previous night in Washington so frustrating. When his jump shot wasn't falling, he made no effort to score in any other way, nor did he try to focus on rebounding or defense, given that his shot wasn't there. Last night, everything worked for him, and when that happens, he's a pleasure to watch. The problem with Bargnani is that typically its "all or nothing". You can live with that from your 6th man off the bench, but not from your starting center, who the offense is supposed to run through night in and night out. With how long he's been in the league, I don't suspect that he'll change much. He's not the kind of player who can "grind through" a bad night to make his presence felt on the nights his shot doesn't fall - which is hard to believe for a mobile 7' center. I still think they need to move him if they get the opportunity for a good package, as I'd rather have a guy who averages 15 pts, 8 rbds per game night in and night out, than a guy who puts up 30 one night and 8 the next (both while hoisting up 20+ shots per game).

[Zach Lyon]

It’s odd, but somehow seems to welcome it.

Chris does?

The sentence confused me. How does Chris seem to welcome the negativity? The kid's very odd. I feel like we were willing to look past it but everyone else is North America is itching to label him the Rupaul of Big men.

[kelsey]

Ah man Greg Oden, what a tough start to a for sure not long NBA career. Thank goodness for guranteed money. Im sure he has put money aside.

Toronto we have it rough with the team. I was reading a that philly newspapers comments. The fans are certainly not happy or optimistic. wow..They want iggy gone.

The good and bad of Bargnani, He can be a killer on offense, but the camera shots from over the back board tell the story, If this guy would just box out more it would be such a help to this team. Also the more small things he does Im sure the more the team(players) would respect him when he is calling for the ball.

Weems has offically stolen the starting spot (hopefully) Klezia is a bench player and doesnt use basketball sense to often. He plays like a guy on a team with out a leader.

Jose or Jack..They need both gone..Jack is showing signs of post injury tj ford...dribble down no pass and shoot. Jose still weak defensive but better ball control for team. No win situation

Houston is struggling nice if they could get this at home.

[Coach K]

Doug, it appears the confidence level of the players as individual offensive threats is increasing, even in the face of losing more games than winning. I believe this is an indicator Jay and his coaching team is doing a good job even while losing games. Your thoughts?

and REGGIE again. Man this guy really is only interested in winning and is willing to do things we don't see in the NBA on a regular basis. In the last few minutes of last nights game, "annoying" clapping while opponents were attempting free throws, while guarding the player with possession using his hands to block their view of the passing lanes when defending from behind and finally creating a turnover. Is his attitude appreciated or scoffed by the league?

[Jack]

I'm pretty sure the Bargnani cheerleaders will be out in droves today. 30 points, 7 rebounds. Woo-hoo! So what happened? Someone gave him a CPR, just like what Reggie suggested that the team needs more heart?
I'm not saying he can't shoot. When he's given free reins to attempt 20-25 times a game, there will be times when most of them go through. What I don't see in him is intestinal fortitude. The heart to play the game hard. He doesn't fight for rebounds like Amir does. He jumps once to go after a rebound. Most of the time, he's caught watching the plays because he's always outside the 3-point line. So how can he get offensive rebounds?
Yes, he performed admirably last night. But I'm sure he'll go back to his usual ways pretty soon. That's the style of play he learned, soft, and it's not going to change just because he's in the NBA. You can't teach old dogs new tricks.

Blogger's note: The usual ways? Like the eight of 12 games he's had 20 or more points or the five when he's had more than 25? That, to me, would be the norm. And if that's his "usual" ways, they'll be quite happy with that, trust me.

[AT]

Thanks to Peter for the link to the ESPN Video Clip..
"...we want to chill"....????
Really Chris??? Hope that Pat Riley did not see that.

[Johnn19]

Doug:
With Andrea, 12/18shots, Sonny 10/18shots, feeding the hot shooters (55pts) and Jack with 2/13shots, just "jacking it", it did not leave much for DeRozan, who did contribute defense and 5 assists, supporting Calderon's 8 asts, to the offense, in 32 minutes.
Not everybody has to score everygame to win, as the Regends 14 and Kleizas 7 rebounds were just as important.

[pain777pas]

Morning Doug,
I am truly saddened by the Oden tragedy. 1st round and overall pick and hasn't played at all. His career could be litterally over. Now onto last night. Doug your wrong in thinking that we would be off the Andrea slagging. I am not here to bash but bring the truth and perspective. If the Raps lost last night without Iggy playing would have been season ending. Doug, these are not the VC Raptors. These are not even the CB Raptors or the DS Raptors. What we have here is a situation where if the Raps lost last night the fans and the team should all have their faces in their palms for a moment of silence. Yes, my new hero Weems had a great night and I really like how he was trying to move the ball alittle more instead of taking shots right when the ball gets in his hands. Weems should know that Demar needs him to help him out. Weems is a little older and believe it or not probably looks up to Weems a little bit. It's Weems responsibility as a team mate to support and try and get him off to boost his confidence. Yes, Doug I think Weems is a talent that has to step up and CAN do it. Andrea, I mean this has been said before he can shoot and is 7ft so open looks are gonna be there even when defended. #s against the 76ers are nothing. Bosh with 2 of the best in the game getting 35 and on the line 11 times against a potential playoff team is impressive. I will not be sucked into to hoping for wins because this was a team that they better beat or the season is over.

[pain777pas]

Morning Doug,
I am truly saddened by the Oden tragedy. 1st round and overall pick and hasn't played at all. His career could be litterally over. Now onto last night. Doug your wrong in thinking that we would be off the Andrea slagging. I am not here to bash but bring the truth and perspective. If the Raps lost last night without Iggy playing would have been season ending. Doug, these are not the VC Raptors. These are not even the CB Raptors or the DS Raptors. What we have here is a situation where if the Raps lost last night the fans and the team should all have their faces in their palms for a moment of silence. Yes, my new hero Weems had a great night and I really like how he was trying to move the ball alittle more instead of taking shots right when the ball gets in his hands. Weems should know that Demar needs him to help him out. Weems is a little older and believe it or not probably looks up to Weems a little bit. It's Weems responsibility as a team mate to support and try and get him off to boost his confidence. Yes, Doug I think Weems is a talent that has to step up and CAN do it. Andrea, I mean this has been said before he can shoot and is 7ft so open looks are gonna be there even when defended. #s against the 76ers are nothing. Bosh with 2 of the best in the game getting 35 and on the line 11 times against a potential playoff team is impressive. I will not be sucked into to hoping for wins because this was a team that they better beat or the season is over.

[Peter]

Thanks for the blog, Doug.

I love at the end of that "Like a Bosh" video, where the stapler starts working again and he says, "Hm, guess you overreacted." Perfectly captures the way people are saying Miami, and Bosh, are a bust after so few games.

[JHK]

Is Portland thinking of 'What If' nowadays?
But then again, they did steal Roy at 7 or 8 or something like that.

[Lorie]

Morning Doug, (or is it "Intrepid"),
It's not a voyage on the SS Minnow one hopes? And how can it be super secret if you told us??? (Just between us, - and because usually the higher the classification of secrecy, the quicker it gets reported - I'm thinking at Mr. Stern's request you've been summoned to attend meetings at a strategically critical point in the CBA negotiations?)

[D-Mac Ottawa]

Morning Doug,
Man that was some pretty bad basketball by a couple of pretty bad teams right there. You still maintain you'd prefer watching that to, say, a Duke-Michigan St. tilt?
My impression was it wasn't so much the Raps' potent lock-down defence in the 4th quarter (ha!) as it was the Philly's simply managed to out-ugly the Raps. I was impressed more with Barg's defensive swats than anything else. (Box score credits him with one. I thought I saw three. Anyone else?)
I'm also thinking the Jack Attack is no way at all to run a railroad (whoever made the Mike James reference the other day pegged it). Jack is at his best as a spot shooter; he was a quasi-assassin in that role for Indy. He's fearless in the lane, sure enough, but he's a bit too quick to venture in there without a map sometimes, and his passing isn't uber-point-guard-like. (And for the record, when I say I think they need to keep the Young Gunz together, I'm referring to DeRoz, Sonny and Amir. Jarrett sometimes gets lumped into that picture, but he's a seasoned veteran by comparison.)
Cheers. Go Raps – enjoy some home cookin' (and keep 'em in line, Reggie!).

[d]

Should we feel bad for Oden ? Sure. But the reality is the Portland medical staff have handled him badly.

How does a player, in rehab, all of the sudden need microfracture?? How was this not seen in previous tests, CT scans, and scopes. If i was his agent, they would be who i go after first in a lawsuit.

Toronto fans, rejoice you are not a Blazers fan. Roys knees are shot, Oden is done for years, Joel P is out, Oberto retires, and the team really stinks now and for the future. Add to that Richard Cho is obvisouly way in over his head and things are not looking good for Portland.

A lockout might be the only thing that saves Odens career. It would give him 22 months to recover before "next" season began, based on one season being lost to labour strife.

And yes, the Raptors are not the worst in the league, but over 15 years, probably only Clippers, Warriors and Grizzlies have been worse. So we are the 4th worst team in 15 years and about 5th worst for the season so far. Glad to see MLSE is dedicated to improving the on floor product.

I wish I could get paid millions to run franchises into the ground. Seems like an easy enough job, and if you screw up, voila, the inner clique of the NBA will allow you to get rehired and do it all over again in a new city.

The St. Louis/Seattle/Kansas City Raptors gets closer everyday....................

[ChrisD1]

Doug - Not Bargnani bashing in any sense here. He's a skilled guy who does what he does best. Shoot. In your opinion, dont you find he puts up a "soft 20-25" points or whatever? I mean, he'll nail 14-16 in the first half and then sort of floats by getting the rest of his points in regular runs. Not in the peak "game on the line" type of points. Has this been noticed? I mean, even on a bad team, someones gotta score points. Im just saying his numbers may be a bit misleading....kinda like when Mike James was a 20pt and 5 assist type of guy.

[yertu damkule]

Doug - just because 95% of your followers focus solely on the offensive side of bargnani's game doesn't mean you should as well. The fact that you think his 'good' games outweigh his 'bad' - when factoring in all aspects of the game - leaves me a bit bewildered. Of course, I'm a lowly peon, and you're the erstwhile expert, so of course, I defer to your assessment. 'Uniquely skilled' doesn't necessarily equate to a positive descriptor...

Blogger's note: My assessment is that last night he played 36 minutes for a team that held an opponent to under 37 per cent shooting and since, in my expert opinion, defence is a team issue, I'm quite all right with the effort against the Sixers. Some people, it appears, can't ever be happy.

[Matt M]

I do it too, because the ~10 point, 1 rebound clunkers are harder to watch when the team sucks, but Bargnani is unfairly portrayed as a goat this team could do without. It isn't as though he's a bad player. In fact he is a very good player. His problem is that he needs to be about the second or third scoring option and needs a better complementary big than Reggie Evans (Kendrick Perkins comes to mind, Joakim Noah would be ideal, but you would still need better scoring at the wing or point to be an winning team).

[John MacDonald]

If memory serves me right the year the Raps drafted Bargs was the first year that the NBA made it manditory for the players elligible for draft to be one year removed from highschool (or a certain age). If however the NBA waited another year we would have been stuck with Oden (because he just graduated high school and was considered a number one pick before he even played in college). So makes Bargs look like a gift. Timing is everything I guess.

[Leonardo]

Hi Doug, good writing.
Bargnani is averaging almost 21p a game, up 7p his career average. First time in his NBA career he is playing as "main" guy in this team. Let him adapt in this role. I do not want to defend him, he suppose to do more in the defensive and rebounding department.
All the players that were drafted in the first 5 places in the 2006 draft (with the exception of Bargs) have been playing as first or second violin for their teams since day one. The second drafted in 2006 was LaMarcus Aldrige, I do not sincerely think that he is better than Bargnani. Brandon Roy apart who was a better choice? Rudy Gay? Look at Memphis in the past 3 years. Remember in that draft year Patrick O'Bryant was draft 9th.
Andrea spent his first 2 years in the NBA with the fear to miss a shot (thanks to Sam Mithcell), and without a play designed for him and who was the main guy last year?
Bash him in the end of the season if he fails.

Note: For the good of the Raptors it is better have the worst season ever that go to the play off or nearly miss them, otherwise we will end up like the Knicks in the last 5-6 years.

[DaveT - Ottawa]

I'd actually submit that being "uniquely skilled" is the number-one thing that lets NBA players be *good* NBA players. That's what I'm waiting for with DeMar DeRozan: he seems to be a good athletic shooting guard. But his handle isn't great, his shooting is suspect and he may not even be the most athletic guy on the team (in a close race with Sonny Weems). If he develops that ability to attack the rim, hang in the air and rack up fouls on the other team, that may be his niche.

Basketball players who excel at one thing can carve out a nice living. If you can do 2-3 things then you can be an all-star. More than that and you're LeBron/Kobe/Durant, etc.

[Penguin]

Some thoughts on last night's game. First, we should remember that Philly was missing Iguodala and that's huge for them. Second, even without him, Philly was killing the Raps on the offsensive boards, at least in the first half, or we would have put them away far earlier. Yes, Philly shot under 40%, but more because they missed open looks than great D by the Raps. Bargs has a good shooting night? Okay, he does that now and again. Getting more than 20 points a night sounds good unless you looking at how many shots he took some nights to get them. Still, he is a decent shooter who would be better if he went to the basket more and got a little dirty. He got 7 rebounds last night. Sounds good, but, if you watched the game (and I know you did), how many of those virtually fell into his hands? How many times did he box out, leap, or fight for them? Not much. I still like Jack, but I am afraid he is beginning to remind me of Mike James and TJ Ford. He's monopolizing the ball too much looking for his shot. Worst example last night was a 2:1 fast break with Demar who was wide open. Jack forced up and missed the shot! Bottom line, a weak, but improving team beat a weak team playing at home that sounded like a tomb. Not sure that I have heard such a dead crowd in awhile.