Not much in the way of news but ...

Kind of a slow day around the lads Tuesday as we get ready for the impending arrival of Trey Johnson, which should coincide with the return of flu-ridden Jose Calderon.

And that, folks, is what passes for news these days.

Luckily, there’s this kind of stuff:

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Let’s say you’re an NBA coach and there’s less than a second left and you’re down two and you’ve got to call a play.

What’s the one thing you want more than anything?

Options.

A chance to draw up something the other team might not expect, or at least a chance to have two or three different things in mind that you’re confident will get you even a passable look.

See where I’m going with this?

So did Jay.

“I don’t find that difficult (drawing up a play); I find it difficult to disguise who we’re going to go to because our options are a little bit more restricted with the guys being out of the lineup.”

And that’s a part of why things are tough. With a group on the floor with the game on the line that was Jerryd Bayless, Sundiata Gaines, DeMar DeRozan, Andrea Bargnani and Amir Johnson, everyone in the Air Canada Centre knew that it was going to be Bargnani who was option No. 1, 2, 3, and probably four and that’s why the Grizzlies had like three guys paying attention to him.

How much easier would it have been to have, say, Calderon, Barbosa and Kleiza instead of Bayless, Gaines and Johnson?

It will be forever thus with such a depleted roster.

And, no, Alexis Ajinca won’t be one of them.

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Out of the mouths of babes, or at least teenage saxophonists who have a passing interest in what Dad does for a living.

It’s breakfast the Day After The Streak Ended and Super Son is reading the paper along with Super Wife – because they know where their bread is buttered – and they spy a story that says something about the Raptors’ slump continuing and much hilarity ensues.

“How can it be a slump if they’ve never been good, dear old dad?”

“Hey, my darling husband, is it a ‘slump’ if it’s what they’ve been doing all year?”

Tough crowd at Casa Doug, no?

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So the New Orleans Hornets hit an attendance benchmark that means they’ll be staying the city until at least 2014.

The good: I’ve found Fritzel’s and Frenchman Street for the next couple of visits.

The bad: It takes Seattle out of the mix for a while.

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We – still – mourn the streak.

Not really, but Jay did talk about it, quite facetiously, after practice Tuesday.

Couple of good one-liners and the expected “It doesn’t mean anything, it wasn’t something we were going to change game plans for” stuff.

Like this:

“It’s one less thing we can put in our media notes. That’s about the extent of that streak being broken.”

Before that, he’d been asked when he first heard the tragic news:

“I found out as we were walking off the floor. Somebody yelled at me that I should be fired because we didn’t make a three.”

Cold crowd.

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While on the topic of Alexis Ajinca, who looks like a strong wind may blow him over, I think I need to point this out to anyone thinking he’s going to come in and have an impact:

In his career, he’s played for Larry Brown and Rick Carlisle, who I think we can all agree are not bad coaches, and they haven’t been able to find a way to use him with any regularity.

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This seems strange, getting a link for you from the Philly papers and knowing I can’t see my late friend’s name.

Anyway, here’s what they had to say there today.

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Hey, it’s already Wednesday and the mail slot over there is virtually empty and you people need to get going, thank you very much. You know the drill.

It’s taking a long time to search out what’s there, too. Apparently some hockey dude is having a birthday or something like that and there’s like 60 pages of memories.

Anyway, did find this one:

Q: Hey Doug! As the Raptors' season has been a bit more disappointing of late for fans and franchise alike, you should know that your work is never in vain. It is the kick start to my day!

My question is this: having heard your dulcet voice for the first time on the Fan590, I was shocked at how off I was in my assumption on how you sounded in real life. For some reason I was picturing something akin to Jon Lovitz (I'm sorry). Since I know you love to add as much extra, unpaid work to your schedule as possible, do you think we will ever hear you a la podcast like Cousin Sekou (who I should add, dropped your name on the latest Hangtime Podcast).

Wow, I made a mess of this comment.

 

 

Andrew P, Toronto

A: I got a mention from Cousin Sekou? Outstanding. I hear he’s coming to London in March, too. Maybe I can do a guest spot.

In all seriousness, we haven’t talked much about podcasts at our place in a few months. Seems the video component of what we do has been put on the backburner for some reason but I think we need to get it back.

Trouble is, do we do it once week? Once every two weeks? Whenever the mood strikes? I promise to talk to my bosses this week and see how they feel.

And I’m okay with Jon Lovitz, actually.

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You all had your haggis last night, right?

And you all know why you did, right?

Thought so.

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Ajinca? He’ll be No. 42.

Guess the Donyell Marshall jersey retirement plans are dead.

Not to mention Walt Williams, Kevin Willis, Art Long and The Legendary Mengke Bateer.

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Comments

[J]

@JHK:

"I don't understand why we bank on guys that other teams (multiple teams) pass on. Ajinca is just a latest addition from the Wright, Kleiza, Weems, Dorsey, Bayless etc."

What's your point? That we should only have players that we've drafted personally? Because any player we don't draft will have been passed on by at least one team if when we acquire them. Considering Kleiza and Wright have only been on one other team, seems like your bar is set pretty damn high. Even draftees are passed on by multiple teams unless we have the #1 pick. Bet the Lakers are wondering why the team bothered to add the likes of Barnes, Brown, Ebanks, Caracter, etc.

[John]

Haggis can only be compared in color, texture and taste to something that has been previously eaten... @Lori, sorry darlin, but what you made was a vegetable stew... I am sure it was delicious though! Good point on gun control in the US. A couple years ago we were down in Florida and went to WalMart to get some Lawn-darts but they were banned so we brought home a couple assault rifles instead...

[pran]

@J I think the point he's trying to make (as well as myself) is you can't expect anymore from these guys than you have already seen, it amazes me that we pick up players teams have passed on (for good reason) and expect them to come to the raptors and being a major part of this team.

[pran]

@ doug: if the raptors defended the way you defend them we'd at least make the playoffs, have you ever bothered considering we're not doing something right? no you haven't lazy, if you have the cajones post this

Blogger's note: Enjoy your swansong.

[J]

@pran:

"@J I think the point he's trying to make (as well as myself) is you can't expect anymore from these guys than you have already seen, it amazes me that we pick up players teams have passed on (for good reason) and expect them to come to the raptors and being a major part of this team."

You're clearly missing *my* point. You don't get SOMETHING for NOTHING, unless you pick up on a player before another team does. Just look at Chauncey Billups, who even we passed on early in his career. Or Steve Nash, Gerald Wallace, Jermaine O'Neal, and the list goes on with players who were either given up upon by their original teams or bounced around a bit before finding themselves. Who decides that "you can't expect anymore from these guys than you have already seen?" You? Remind us of your scouting certifications?

You say it amazes you that we "expect them to come to the raptors and being [sic] a major part of this team," yet I think the problem is you're putting too much expectation on these players. What did we give up exactly for the players mentioned? We traded a bit player (Belinelli) who didn't fit into our plans for another bit player who fit better on the depth chart (Wright). We picked up Weems essentially for free along with Amir for the rights to someone who hadn't been playing for us (Delfino) and a prospect who hadn't panned out (Ukic). What did you expect? Lebron? Don't even get me started on Dorsey (warm body) or Ajinca (we're being paid to absorb his cap hit). It must be miserable not getting Dwight Howard and Kevin Love for free.

Please, in your infinite wisdom, suggest some players that we should have picked up, and let us know why their respective teams would trade them to us?