Lists and hirings and a little bit of Bulls-Heat

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

Enjoy.

-

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.

-

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.

-

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.

-

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.

-

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.

-

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.

-

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!

-

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.

-

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

You know the drill.

-

 

 

Comments

[Harm (NL)]

How could you leave out Rik Smits? I keed.

But shouldn't Dikembe be on the list?

Blogger's note: Could be except for the whole Georgetown thing

[Grits]

I'm ok with politics in a sports blog, it qualifies better than DWTS. So regarding the senate appointments, you forgot to mention the resigning from the senate to run in the election, then getting appointed when you lose. Or the size of the cabinet itself http://bit.ly/jdZAJf

Blogger's note: There are those who would disagree on the DWTS. Me included :)

[Lorie]

Woops...Forgot something! Under the heading "Social Life 101" subheading: "Please Provide Me With An Excuse For Not Doing Housework ALL Weekend", when are you planning on hosting the next IGBT? And please tell me it's going to be Saturday AND Sunday??? Thanks!

Blogger's note: Am afraid it's going to have to be Sunday for Heat-Bulls, other life items in the way

[Natalie (Vancouver)]

Hi Doug, hope you are having a lovely day.

If I may step outside the bounds of the NBA for a moment, do you have any insight/thoughts on Dick Ebersol's sudden exit from NBA Sports?

Cheers.

Blogger's note: Of course you can, it's what we do here. The guy is Olympic TV and he revolutionized how the Games were broadcast. Huge blow but let me think more until the morning, if I may

[joe]

Hi Doug,

I was wondering if you've had an opportunity to watch Kemba Walker play and what are your thoughts on him. I've seen on some video and I was impressed by how fast he is, probably the faster guard in the top 5. Not sure if his height will curtail how good he can be at the NBA level.

Thanks

Blogger's note: Not in person but scouts I talk to are very high on him and think he'll be a fine NBA player

[Wallace]

I wouldn't call him a "sleeper" since he will likely go in the first 7 or 8 picks, but I have to think that Brandon Knight will emerge as the surprise pick of this draft in years to come. Doug, based on current in-house projections, if he's available at 5, do you expect the Raptors would take him?

Blogger's note: They could, depending on how workouts go, what else happens

[Adam]

People here don't seem to understand EVERYTHING that Gherardini brings to the table. He had a huge hand in landing Parker, Garbajosa, Kleiza among others. Was apart of the effort in recommeding that we draft Bargnani who's ended up being one of the top players in his class. Remember that whole transformation that the team took when BC and Gherardini arrived? I'm sure he was right in the middle of that. He's undoubtably been scouting top euros such as Enes Kanters, Jonas Valanciunas, Jan Vesely, and Donatas Motiejunas that we'll see June 23rd.

Re-signing him is a must in my eyes. He's also a big reason why european players such as Rasho want to play here.

[Jerry]

How is it that they can say that Cleveland got the #1 pick that would have gone to the Clippers. If the Clippers kept the pick they would have had one more ball in the machine. Is there any way to know that would have been the exact ball that Cleveland got their #1 pick with? They would have painted the clippers # on the exact same ball?

[GM]

* Doug used fungible, not frangible (unless I missed it).
* So the Ping-Pong balls would make for boring television. Okay. But it shouldn't be an either-or proposition. If there's a problem, the bigwigs should put their heads together and come up with a better solution that we can witness. As @doug suggested, they could go back to no lottery, like in the NFL. Or maybe they could draw the balls out, 1 through 14, and place them backwards in a rack so we can't see the number or logo on them, then reveal the balls in reverse order. If there needs to be a redraw along the way, place those balls backwards on a separate stand and reveal those later so we can see all the balls that were drawn. Or, if that doesn't work for whatever reason, I'm sure they could come up with something better.
* Someone mentioned that Vlade wasn't as good as Pau. I beg to differ. Vlade was pretty damn good, first with Magic and the Lakers, then even on a bad Charlotte team, and finally as an aging star on Sacramento when he had to use his wile to get by.
* Nice column by Beck. Funny that you received it by Twitter.

[Natalie (Vancouver)]

Oops I meant 'NBC' Sports :P Cheers for the reply Doug.

[D-Mac Ottawa]

@GM, no, you're right, Doug used "fungible" and I somehow managed to type "frangible" – though I meant "fungible", mind you. Busted, as charged. Good eye.
Cheers. Go TOD! No need to spot the competition 6 just to keep things interesting. No, really.

[Lorie]

@Everyone Who Cares About Improving The NBA Lottery Process (And Who Is Old Enough To Recall This): Could anything really improve on the drama, transparency of process - not to mention high production values - that Faye Dance and Fred Davis had way back in those early Wintario shows? (Geez, the chance at $100,000 used to be a Really Big Deal, didn't it?)

[coachd]

Hi Doug,
Have to agree on all counts with your description of Gherardini. While it may not directly involve the Raptors, his involvement with Canada Basketball , at Colangelo's urging and blessing I believe, is beginning to pay to some dividends. And, hopefully someday we have may Canuck-haters complaining that there are too many canadians on the team.

[J]

Man, what's with the non sequiturs today. Yes, Gherardini was hired in part to give us an edge in Europe. No, it doesn't mean he's omniscient. To say he should be fired pretty much because of Bargnani alone is silly. Even good talent evaluators get it wrong; the only difference is people don't have the "Euro" factor to get stuck on.

@Jerry:

Yes, they do differentiate between each pick, even if they belong to the same team.

[Kent]

@Adam. Oh I know Maurizio had a huge hand in giving us all of those lovely players you mentioned. That's why I suggest the raptors throw him an awesome good-bye party for his help.

[Andrew Gregg]

Hi Doug:

Since this is considered such a weak draft (I've been listening to ESPN Radio and they say it is, so it must be true), I say the Raps should use the number 5 pick on Bismack Biyombo, simply because his name is Bismack Biyombo. The marketing possibilities are endless.

AG, Toronto

[sg60]

Thank you for the link to the article by Howard Beck. Very insightful.