Lists and hirings and a little bit of Bulls-Heat

A rather fungible series of basically unrelated topics today as we plod along.

Enjoy.

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How about a list?

There’s a lot of love floating around these days for Dirk Nowitzki, isn’t there?

And because of the way he’s been performing over this post-season, we’re hearing all kinds of discussions about where he’d fit on the list of Greatest Non-American Players Of All-Time.

(The discussion of where he fits overall comes when he wins a title).

Anyway, I’m not always in favour of differentiating between people from here and people from elsewhere but, what the heck, we need some stuff for here, don’t we?

So, taking out guys like Tim Duncan (Virgin Islands), Patrick Ewing (Jamaica) and Steve Nash (Canada), here’s a personal list of five down to one of the best of the rest:

Drazen Petrovic

Yes, he died way, way, way too young and probably never realized his ultimate potential but, man, could he play.

Vlade Divac

Sure, he all but perfected the flop and that probably costs him a spot or two on the list but as a passing big man, he had few equals.

Peja Stojakovic

There probably haven’t been five guys in the history of the game with a sweeter shooting stroke. Oh, and he’s the only ex-Raptor to be considered.

Arvydas Sabonis

No, we never saw him at his prime in the NBA but go find some of his highlights in Portland and when he played in Europe and you’ll find the prototypical passing-shooting-rebounding big man, the kind of multi-faceted player we don’t grow over here.

Dirk

I know it’s trendy to have him here today but this is more than just a reward for a couple of big playoff series. The dude has been virtually unstoppable for years. Now, he can’t defend on his own to save his soul but …

Of course, No. 1 would unquestionably be Hakeem Olajuwon but I'm taking him out of the loop because he got all his training in an NCAA factory.

And, it was tough to leave off Toni Kukoc and Manu probably gets some consideration as he gets closer to the end of his career and I’m sure there are others you like but I’ll argue those five any old day of the week.

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All right, here’s why they don’t put the actual drawing of the lottery balls on TV for those who were wondering yesterday.

It’s mind-numbingly boring and fast. And done with such necessary solemnity that it probably has to be done behind closed doors. I’m talking, for the most part, a snorefest.

Really.

A league official goes over the process in painstaking detail including what would happen in the “disaster scenarios” of the power going off (draw by hand), the machine spewing balls everywhere (draw by hand) or balls getting jammed (reset the machine).

Now, if the balls had started spewing from the machine and flying all over the room, that would have been cool.

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How come the Rays are kryptonite to the TOD?

Yeesh.

Gonna make it hard to climb that division ladder if that rung is always so slippery.

Speaking of the diamond, the Mighty Rockies were flooded out of practice No. 1 last night; we’ll take another shot at it this evening so think good thoughts.

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And one last kick at the lottery can and then maybe we’ll put it to bed until next year.

Q: Few things:

Very happy that BC is back with the Raps. I feel that he and his moves are the only hope that we have for a team that contends.

For the draft, if the ping pong balls are all in there, isn't it possible that a 25% (or any other team) team could get pulled more than once?

Or do this just disregard the choice if the team was already selected?

Great blog! Love the insight and I've been following for what it seems like forever!

 

 

Ho T, Kitchener

A: Yes, it is quite possible that a four-digit number assigned to one of the teams could come up twice in the three draws they do.

And as the nice gentleman explained to us, if that happened they would simply ignore the second and just repeat the draw.

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A confession?

Didn’t see a whole lot of Heat-Bulls last night, the mind got a bit foggy and the eyelids a tad heavy, life kind of got in the way.

But what I did see was the emergence of Udonis Haslem as a bit of a force and that might be the thing that keeps the Heat hopes truly alive.

Yes, James and Wade are going to get theirs but having a big who is strong enough, and savvy enough, and quick enough to at least match the efforts of Taj Gibson and Omer Asik limits Chicago’s biggest advantage.

But I don’t know that Chicago can run its offence any better than it did in Game 1 nor any worse than it did in Game 2, either.

This one’s shaping up to be an excellent series.

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You know how I’m sometimes talking about dislike or mistrust for twitter, how it doesn’t allow for nuance or inflection and how the world, to some of us, is simply too fast.

My friend Howard Beck of the Times, um, tweeted this yesterday afternoon and if I could write that well, this is what I would have said.

Makes my point pretty well.

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So you run in an election, the people speak, you lose and time to get on with a real life, right?

Or, you could become a Senator.

What a country!

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You know how Bryan said the other night after he got his new deal that he had to hit the ground running and make some quick decisions on people? Well, I’d hope he gets it done quickly because there are a lot of people twisting in the wind.

The entire coaching staff, save P.J., is without contacts about the middle of next month and that has to be Job 1. With the draft evaluation process now taking on even more importance given that they’ll have more players to look at, having no distractions or doubt about the future can’t hurt.

And if he is thinking about making some changes, or if Jay gets his option picked up and wants to make some changes to his staff, now’s the time.

That’s not even mentioning Maurizio Gherardini, who is also a “free agent” in June, and needs to come back, in my opinion.

The work that assistants do behind the scenes, facilitating stuff here and in Europe, gathering information, keeping the franchise in the forefront of people’s minds, is big. You may not see it but it’s also important work. Things like making sure the Raptors have access to practices and players and managers is not something anyone sees but if assistant coaches or assistant GMs can do that work behind the scenes, it helps; and every little bit helps.

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You’ve done okay with the mail so far but there’s always room for more.

You know the drill.

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Comments

[Tim H.]

Wow! On top of all else, you are now introducing us to new words!! Frangible? I had to look it up. But I am now wiser for it! Thanks!

[chris]

Calling Peja an ex raptor is like saying you dated Angelina Jolie because you shared an elevator once.

btw - you forgot Pau and Yao.

[Matt M]

I think Encarnacion was the TOD's kryptonite yesterday. But Lind should be back in a week or so pushing Edwin to the bench where he belongs.
Thanks for the Euro list. For your next mission, should you choose to accept it, you should think of a list of the best active players that would push the HOTH into an elite team category and recite it to whoever wants to replay Don Cherry's 'Euro's are soft' slant.

[Mike D.]

I am in complete agreement with your friend's article about electronic media diminishing our attention spans....as evidenced by the fact that I'm reading your blog instead of working.

[Tim]

Manu Ginobili doesn't make the list of best non-North American players?

[O.J.]

Wasnt maurizio supposed to be able to discern the top euro talent and bring that to us? As an assistant gm he is mostly advising us on euro players his supposed specialty. . . I havent been impressed with him thus far and feel he should be let go.

[Bill]

No love for our "prototypical non-passing-shooting-non-rebounding big man of our own?

[Jack]

"That’s not even mentioning Maurizio Gherardini, who is also a “free agent” in June, and needs to come back, in my opinion."
Really? What has he done to better the team? Wasn't he hired to baby-sit Bargnani?
Ah... so he should be re-hired to continue the baby-sitting.
OK.. understood.

Blogger's note: Apparently not understood. But thanks for trying

[Dave]

Nice article. I listened to Bill Simmons' podcast this morning too...

[Dave in BG]

Is the Draft now officially a "discussable" topic?

Blogger's note: Go ahead

[jeff]

In regards for the whole Twitter issue, if i may, just leave a link here for a wonderful rebuttal: http://gizmodo.com/5803164/new-york-times-editor-is-a-horrible-troll-who-doesnt-understand-the-modern-world

Yes the title is bit off putting, and it is from a tech blog so there is definitely some bias there. It's worth taking the time to read if you use any form of social media at all (facebook, twitter, blogs...)

Doug, you've been in the game for a long time now. In print before the participatory of Web 2.0, and most likely the web itself. There's been a huge shift between people's preferred choice of medium in that time and I feel you've been really successful of bridging that gap. You also run successful IGBT and this blog, so it seems kind of strange that you haven't yet found a comfortable way of using twitter. Ever think of doing an IGTB (in game twitter blog)? That way you could still pick and choose who you respond to, but we could also join in the conversation amongst one another at the same time. Quick example is Howard Stern spontaneously twittering a cometary when his movie came on the tv one day.

[Peter]

Come on Doug, don't be that guy. No need to put Canadian politics in a basketball blog.

[jon]

Absolutely in shock that B.C. received an extension. The guy knows nothing about basketball. Dresses nice, though.

[Smalahove]

Detlef Schrempf deserves a mention, no?
Gherardini, what's he done around here? Time to turn deadwood into driftwood.

[Phil A]

A prototypical passing-shooting-rebounding big man that developed his skills in the US: Chris Webber. He was such a joy to watch

[TJ]

My top 5 overseas players all time would be:

5. Tony Parker
4. Drazen Petrovic
3. Manu Ginobli
2. Pau Gasol
1. Dirk Nowitzki

I think as time passes, people have the tendency to think of players from previous era's were better than players of today. (No way Vlade was a better player than Pau)

[D-Mac Ottawa]

A fine, fine link on social media and "un-learning". I blame the remote. It all started there. And the day your abacus was replaced with a calculator. But are they frangible? Well, you can still put your abacus to good use as a tambourine while you hum along with Bob Dylan. And I can't think of a better pond-skipping device than your calculator (or cellphone; take them out of their faux leather sleeves first, though). The remote? I still insist you can drill tiny laser holes in your siblings' heads unless you're fairly judicious with its use. Okay, so they're frangible – just not with each other.
If Bogut can stay healthy, he might make that top five list some day. Cheers.

[Kent]

"Wasnt maurizio supposed to be able to discern the top euro talent and bring that to us?"

He did. He brought us the 2-time MVP of the Euroleague in Anthony Parker, the top prospect at the time in Andrea Bargnani, and the leading scorer of the Euroleague from 2 years ago in Linus Kleiza. If the raptors played in the Euroleague, they would have been a dynasty.

[D-Mac Ottawa]

@Lorie, OMG I just did a spit-take on "When Stella Got Her Grunt Back"!! And no, there's no known cure for this type of Irregularity, thankgod. Doug, you need to get right on those movie rights! Cheers.

[Pipit]

Lobbying for Gherardini, Doug? You know that's a joke and most of the readers here know it also. No need to bash anybody here but just basing it on the results of the team since they handle it, it's moronic that you want to keep the core of the management and coaching staff while you have the chance to let them go because of their expiring contracts.

Blogger's note: "No need to bash" yet "it's moronic." Um, okay

[Steph]

Maurizio is not here soley to scout the euro's, nor is he here to work with Bargnani. Maurizio has done more for basketball Canada then anybody in recent times. The critisism he's getting is getting is undeserved.

[Angela]

fungible?

[Lorie]

Hey Doug!
Let's Talk Twitter, then! Good article. Valid points. And raises important issues. However, in the interest of a full discussion, here's a bit of a quid pro for your quo: http://radar.oreilly.com2008/11/why-i-like-twitter.html
I'm chastened to admit I gave up on the Jays last night and was surprised to see they 'bounced' back to within a run. Good on 'em, but let's work on that infield stuff. So, about those slippery ladder rungs, (now you're talking my lingo) the rungs must be so shaped that one's foot cannot slide off, and be skid resistant. Greater baseball minds than mine (and at last count there were in excess of 999 superbillion of them) will be working to ensure our TOD has its ladder in working order. The correct angle of ascent is about 1/8th the working length: so, too much too soon might be dangerous!
And back to that tweeting stuff for a moment. It's fun. It's instant. But does anyone else remember the joy of sitting on the verandah, waiting for the mailman (gosh, haven't had one of those in my 'hood for years, sadly) and there amongst the bills and flyers, you receive a handwritten letter in an envelope marked "S.W.A.K.". The Cheers today are from a Closet Luddite!

[bob]

Some kind of shake up needs to take place with mgmt. To state that everyone should be back when the team has struggled is an insult to fans. If Maurizio has done anything to deserve re-upping, then pls state it. Otherwise, I vote for him getting the boot too. Fans are craving for progress and maintaining the status quo doesn't provide any hope whatsoever. The vancouver Grizzlies were a joke and continued to be derided for struggling, yet they, despite having a stingy owner, went two rounds and surprised a lot of people. Toronto? Well, we have a bunch of nice guys. How Canadian...

[Jack]

Yes, Doug. Give us your reasons why Gherardini should be rehired.

Blogger's note: Globally respected, good evaluator of talent, key cog in development of the game in Canada, part of a team, intelligent.