Is a rush to get out "news" a good idea; and Forbes is coming

It was about noon Monday, I guess, and we were standing around the concourse outside the practice gym waiting for Dwane to finish one of his three-hour practices.

(As an aside, and to be elaborated on later: This guy runs the consistently longest training camp practices for the Raptors since Brendan Malone).

Word comes down that, egads, the Chris-Paul-to-the-Clippers deal is dead, done, over.

Turned to someone and said, probably out loud: It’ll be back on by five tonight, don’t worry.

And here we are, almost 48 hours later and according to reports, not only is Paul to the Clips alive, so is Paul to the Lakers and, well, and yawn.

The bigger point is: How crazy is this whole twitter thing and is it the end of civilization as we know it.

Do we need minute-by-minute updates? Do we need people to make declarative statements in 140 characters or so that can’t possibly provide the greater context needed? Do we believe what we read in hurried transmissions from cell phones or whatever, knowing most if it comes from a single conversation or two and, often, is a simple fact of one side in an issue using a third party to get a message to the other?

I can see where short bursts of information serve a purpose – I used it not six hours ago to get the Gary Forbes news out there – but that was for something definitive. I know we live in a media world that’s too “immediate” for my liking, in a rush to get “news” out – even in less than two or three sentences – we lose the opportunity to provide depth of information, or context so often needed.

It’s not going to change, I fear it’s only going to get worse and I honestly wonder who is best served.

Now, making snide comments, providing definitive news, taking gratuitous shots may be fun; passing something off as “done” without the ability, or willingness, to provide a “why” or even a caution that it may not be actually, you know, “done” seems counter-productive to me.

-

Oh yeah, that midnight or so tweet from me (too late for the paper, missed the web people, I guess) was this:

Gary Forbes is coming.

Not a huge surprise and ends Bryan’s off-season free agent shopping and the guy should be here sometime today.

The thing I want to know (in a joking kind of way, in case you don’t get it) is how Leo’s going to react when Forbes checks into his first game.

He is, after all, the guy who dropped 39 points on Canada for Panama in the final Olympic qualification loss last summer; a defeat that hastened Leo’s departure as the national team coach.

Forbes will be forgiven by all involved, right?

-

Oh yeah, there’s this from a while ago and I’ve been saving it.

Q: Ahhh, the immortal "you want me to hold the chicken?" scene. (Editor’s note: It was Jack Nicholson in Five Easy Pieces, in response to a mailbag question). One of the greatest movie scenes of all time.

Doug, I smell a top five list: all-time favourite scenes (not just one line, like Frankly my dear I don't give a damn", but a full scene. So, in addition to Five Easy Pieces, I'd include the scene in Casablanca where Bogie has the speech about "people's problems don't amount to a hill of beans".

Maybe the scene in Annie Hall when that pseudo-intellectual in the movie theatre line blathers on about the medium and the message, and Woody gets the real Marshall McLuan to confront the putz and tell him, sir, you know NOTHING about my work. And then there was that scene in Porky's when...er...never mind.

How about you, Doug?

Lee Z, Ottawa

A: I know it’s taken a while, sorry. Was caught up in other stuff and now I think one every other day or so from the personal list will be a good idea.

One of the top five:

Has to be this one, right?

Now, you’ll let me have my fun between now and the end of the year or so, parcel ‘em out bit by bit? Thanks.

-

You will have noticed, no doubt, that neither Reggie Evans nor Julian Wright – the former somewhat of an icon here in Toronto, the latter just a wee bit behind him – have yet to find gainful NBA employment this season.

I am a bit surprised about Reggie, although I would think now with Nene signed in Denver, a few big-man dominos may fall and he’ll get a gig shortly.

I had heard Boston had some interest, I know Portland took a long look before signing 74-year-old Kurt Thomas and someone out there – now that a lot of rosters are actually taking shape – will likely give a serviceable backup big man a contract.

As one NBA guy told me recently: "If Reggie plays 18-20 minutes a night for you, he’ll get you six extra possessions and he’s a good add; if he has to play 35 minutes a night for you, your team’s no good.”

Now, Julian?

Well, that’s an entirely different story. I like the guy a lot, he always had time for us, worked hard, solid teammate it seemed by all accounts. Trouble is, and I was saying this in the middle of last season and I’m not sure people were paying attention: He’s really not that good, at least not to get a lot of minutes. I’m not sure there’s a job for him right now or if there will be as camps progress. I do know he’s done a lot of work producing music over the summer, it’s a passion of his; hope it keeps working out.

-

Guess we best get started.

Mail. Here. Please.

And can we please, as we do most weeks, avoid the minutia of “Why can’t Bargnani rebound? Why didn’t they sign Jeremy Lin? Shouldn’t they amnesty Jose?”

You’ve done a great job making the mail a variety of things, basketball and non, would love to keep that going.

Thank you.

-

And, finally, nothing says Christmas like a lovely little ditty about a couple of drunks, right?

-

Comments

[SAS]

Like the Forbes addition, quite honestly I like all the additions BCo added. We went from 1 1/2 SF (Kleiza's the half) to 3 1/2....Wonder who sits and who plays, who starts and who finishes. I think they should keep Johnson in the starting 5 cause he's the biggest of the kind however Butler offers a 3 point threat at the 3 but that ends up stifling the development. Gonna be quite interesting......Doug doesn't it seem like we have a roster of more guys that can give us something as opposed to before when we knew who would sit and sometimes not even get dressed? Casey mentioned that he was gonna use possibly a 9-10 man rotation, so who are your casualties off the top that will be sitting for long stretches and also who would you pencil in the start at the 5?

Blogger's note: No clue right now, and Dwane didn't have any real idea yesterday, either. Figure Alabi's toast for playing time, can't see 'em using both of Magloire and Gray along with Amir; and only one of Bayless or Carter will play most nights and someone has to emerge of Butler-Forbes as that backup right now. Best guess I have at the moment

[Matt M]

So now that Forbes is officially a Raptor what can we expect from him? End of bench player on a bad team? Potentially a rotation player with upside? Another option for fans to offer as an alternative to the current starting PG (like Delfino back in the day)? Just curious...

Blogger's note: Let's get him get to town and have a practice or two so we can see what he's got

[Matt G]

I hope you have some love for scenes suchs as "Luke, Obi Wan didn't tell you who your father is..." and "I'm Spartacus....No I'm Spartacus" and maybe even "Hey Look! It's Enrico Pallazzo!".

[Gene Oleskiw]

Thanks Doug, Fairy Tale of N.Y., my one and only all time best Christmas tune

[Heath]

I've got to vote for the train station/baby down the stairs scene in The Untouchables, and of course the best car chase scene ever from Ronin, the one towards the end where it's just the sound of the cars, no music.

[joeu]

Memorably moving movie scenes ... Network has to be there, right ?

And car chases ... To live and die in LA ( A really young looking William Petersen )

[Jay]

For sheer intensity of action, the steamroom fight to the death in Eastern Promises is a potential scene of all time for me.

[Peter]

Great blog today Doug!

This year's raptors have a few intriguing pieces, and it'll be interesting to see how it all comes together. I like the focus on defence, and the new veteran presence we have that will (hopefully) keep guys accountable.

Fairytale of New York, nice touch!

[Rob.V]

I haven't seen that movie however, how (and when) did Bill Murray become a leading actor?
-
I don't dislike him at all (and again I have no context to relate that particlular scene to) however please dont tell me that the 97 year old Bill Murray actually has a sex scene with the (20 something) young and gorgeous Scarlett Johansson??.
-
Please, say it isn't so.

[Cluck Kent]

I grew up believing that twits were –not to put too fine a point on it - stupid. As an adult I have seen no evidence to the contrary. As a society, I think we’re becoming less and less about substance and more and more about petty pretense and celebrity worship. IMHO, twitter simply extends the already inane to a whole new level of drivel. I mean, if the old lady from the hamburger commercials were still around today, couldn’t you see her looking at most of this social media stuff and saying, ‘Where’s the beef?’ I really don’t think twitter could have taken a more appropriate name but from the volume of tweets out there, I’m guessing most folks don’t understand irony. I’d rather have substance in my news, not gossip. I recall some tweet lady saying that she tweets so often she was starting to think in 140 characters. Seriously, how deep can those thoughts really get?

I know nothing about Forbes, but from what I’ve read, I think Brian is assembling a group that will provide toughness to a core that needs to learn how to be tough – mentally and physically. It’s going to be a tough year and there are going to be a lot of consecutive losses. As you’ve pointed out before, losing takes it’s toll on young psyches so they will need the veteran leadership to keep them from focusing on the losing and keep them focused on the longer term target.

Favourite movie scenes? Well, I probably don’t have a favourite, but one that I would include near the top of my list would be the final scene from ‘The Wind and the Lion’. Sean Connery – I’ll betcha he never tweets.

[Rob.V]

@Rob V....Kidd is not the Kidd of 10 years ago, in fact Barea was more valuable in that series...Fisher are you kidding me...seriously??...Rondo was and is part of the formula in Boston..Garnett/Pierce/Allen drive that car....Payton again are you serious, he contributed as much to the Celtics as i did...Parker, he wasn't the key piece on those teams, Duncan was the guy that drove the car on those teams...Billups has as much chance of getting to the HOF as i do....look at those teams....during the last 20 years we have Jordan/Pippen.Rodman, then Duncan, Kobe/Odom/Gasol, Pierce/Allen/Garnett then Dirk/Chandler....no where in that group was the key player a guard...Paul will not bring a team a championship, if so what did he do in New orleans....guards are way over-valued...the player any winning team needs is the composite guard/forward playmaker...hence the value of Jordan/Kobe/James/Dirk etc...any guard can be plugged into those teams...and players would love you to be on the HOF election committee, you seem to think every player is a HOF...Kidd is based on his work years ago, not last year...and Payton when he was the glove in his prime in Seattle..none of the others are HOF'ers in my opinion yet...
*************************************************************************************
Tony Parker absolutely was a key piece. He has 3 rings and 1 finals MVP so unless we’re judging him through “Dennis Johnson” type of (hall of fame induction) glasses… he’s going to be there as well. There is “no way” the Spurs win those championships without him.
-
He was the absolute best (still top 5) at slashing and penetrating the lane (cannot be stopped).
-
If Barea was more important than Kidd why wouldn’t the Mav’s just amnesty Kidd and sign Barea to a long term deal?. Look, Barea was great in the playoffs but he is a “change of pace” guard, it’s why he worked there. Let Barea run a team (for a minimum of 1 season) before we are anointing him more important than Jason Kidd please.. there’s no way I’m going to buy that argument. Jason Kidd does a little bit of everything.
-
But don’t take my word for it, let someone more familiar with Mavs (from the finals) state the importance of (old) Jason Kidd.
-
He never ceases to amaze me," a fairly ill Nowitzki sniffled in his post game press conference. "He can dominate a game without scoring one point. We've seen it the last three years here together, what kind of all around player he is without even scoring. How he facilitates, how he defends, and how he runs the show is amazing. He's been great."
-
Fisher?. Yes, Fisher!... you think Kobe gets 5 without him?? Go back on the history of those 5 championship teams (any one of them) and I dare you to find me a playoff series where Fisher didn’t drop “daggers” and neutralize the other teams PG play on the defensive end.
-
Fisher is a “winner”. He may not get the glory (or make it to the hall) however he was a big, BIG part of those championship teams. Did the Lakers win the championship the year he hit the miracle shot (0.3 0.4 left) in San Antonio? If I recall correctly I believe they did. If they don’t win that game they don’t win the championship that season. Kobe now has 4 and Shaq retires with only 3. So, hell yeah!!, Derek Fisher.
-
Chauncey Billups: Again, you think the 04 Pistons win without “Mr. Bigshot”. Nope!!!
-
Rondo: Say what you will however he is already regarded as one of the best point guards in Celtics history (probably will be if he doesn’t get traded).
-
Of course I dont think they should all be hall of famers however I do believe that a championship team can only win by being strong at multiple positions (they all matter), so I am surprised that you would say the point guard position is overrated.
-
Your argument of listing all of the key components to those championship teams doesn’t hold water because you could say this about every position:
-
What has Kobe/Odom/Gasol done on their own?
What has Garnett/Pierce/Allen done on their own?
Dirk?... Here of any of the 04 Pistons accomplishing anything else since?
-
What has (Insert name here) done on his own??
-
Here is what we can agree on:
-
You’ve given me Payton and Kidd as hall of famers. Tony Parker will be there as well (IMO) or heads should roll. So that’s a minimum of 3 of the 6 starting PG’s that have won all of the championship over the past 10 seasons.
-
The facts are: 50% of the staring PG’s over the past 10 championships will be inducted into the hall of fame (with an outside shot of possibility more going as well).
-
That is pretty good evidence to me that the PG position is “important” in the NBA, so we’re going to have to disagree on the importance of a Chris Paul.
-
But I tell you what, if we both somehow manage to become GM’s next off season I will (over) pay CP3 and you can sign Marcus Banks (no offence to MB) since this position is not important to you… let me know how that works out for your team.

[sam]

@ Rob V - Lost in Translation is a really good movie. Bill Murray was surprizingly excellent and rest assured nothing happened -

Forbes is officially a Raptor now for 2 plus one - My best guess from all that I've read is he may be a little like Sonny, or possibly good/bad Joey. A little inconsistent but with some ability -
Aaron Gray is a big body - that has played limited minutes in his career, but showed some promise against the Lakers in the play offs last season.
Bultler is coming off a suspect year, but is considered a threat from beyond the 3 point line. Carter - is the grizzled veteran who will play some minutes and lead by example frm the end of the bench. The optimist in me says BC did a solid job of filling out the roster - the realist thinks it will be a long (abreviated)season - CAN'T WAIT!

[Lorie]

Hello Doug:
Terrific song! And lovely scene from a great film: was Bill Murray ever more (surprisingly) perfectly cast? And thinking of perfect casting, I remember thinking when I heard that Daniel Day-Lewis was going to play the lead in 'The Last of the Mohicans' something along the lines of: "You've got to be kidding me? That scrawny dude from 'A Room With A View'? He'll be a joke as Hawkeye." But, it turned out he too was perfectly cast and delivered one of my favourite movie scenes of all time. Sigh. (And from what is now one of my Three Perfect Movies.)
http://youtu.be/tTI-7HImOE4

[Nick M]

Favourite movie scene?
-
Has to be the 'private school trial' from Scent of a Woman.

[AT]

I don't think anyone minds the twits, tweets or whatever they are called if they are are true, validated or confirmed pieces of news. Everything else is no better than what the print in those trash magazines at the grocery check out counter.
Doug, I am glad you don't get caught up in that soap opera world of twitter in the same way guys like Chris Boussard is.. and even though I am on the side of coming here for Raptors only news, I would rather see a great video from the Pogues than read a bunch of "might", "maybe's", "possibly","could be". "is interested in" etc etc.

[Geoff]

For me it will always be the opening scene of Apocalypse Now with Martin Sheen under the fan blades in Vietnam, mixed with the sound of the choppers and the Doors "This is the End".
Can't wait to see this team on Sunday afternoon. Can't tell what you've got till you see the product.
Thanks Doug. Another great start after firing up my machine.

[Peter]

Maybe I'm in the minority, but I don't mind the constant rumours. Don't get me wrong, I like the way things are done here. When I come here, I know that the rumours are well resourced, and accurate, and more often then not, I'm getting facts that have occurred, not just rumours as they are in flux. To me, the way this blog is done, is sort of like a very well done post game report. Having said that, I don't mind the constant rumours, and the twitter announcements. In my mind, it's a bit like the play-by-play call of the business side of the NBA. I enjoy trying to figure out what's going to happen, and what isn't. It makes for good conversation with a few friends. To me, it's not all bad. I'm glad that everyone doesn't do it, but I have room in my NBA fan mind, for guys like Chris Broussard who make the business side of the NBA into a play by play event to keep checking in on.

[Mike kovacs]

Classic movie, classic scene, classic song: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aR4YOwaHNn4

I hope that is a joke about Bill Murray not being a leading actor! ( Broken Flowers, the Life Aquatic ).

[SheikYurbouti]

Can't think of my favourite classic movie scenes at the moment, but offer a basketball scene from a classic movie:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=togQKkA_Zws&feature=related

[bill]

@ Rob V - you suck! (watch the bloody movie before commenting...you couldn't be more wrong)

[james]

"The thing I want to know (in a joking kind of way, in case you don’t get it) is how Leo’s going to react when Forbes checks into his first game."
Oh, THAT Gary Forbes! An intriguing addition to be sure. I'm sure Leo will be thoroughly professional.

[ad]

Why would BC compromise cap room for Forbes??? Wasn't the idea to sign players to 1 yr contracts and have as much cap room as possible next summer? Is Forbes so good that he's worth a multi yr contract? Another poor move by BC. Would've rather had reggie williams on a 1 yr contract or just leave that spot open

Blogger's note: Any offer sheet to a restricted free agent has to be for more than one year; the salary next year (barely over $1 million, I understand) will make no discernible dent in their spending. It's truly no big deal for a young kid

[D-Mac Ottawa]

Hi Doug, So the reload is complete. How would you grade BCo's efforts?
And here are a couple of all-time movie moment favourites for me (yes, they're old...): http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=q7CX_5D6y6E
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NfMCeidJ8bg&feature=related
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JlSQAZEp3PA
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=C8-B5cyfK6A&feature=related
Cheers. Go Raps! Four more sleeps to pretend tip-off!

[J]

You could cancel the season on Xmas day and link up "Fairytale" and I'd be happy. In all fainess though it's a song about a drunk and an "old s!ut on junk" ie heroin, both of which are Shane's main demons

[james]

Kurtz: Did they say why, Willard, why they want to terminate my command?
Willard: I was sent on a classified mission, sir.
Kurtz: It's no longer classified, is it? Did they tell you?
Willard: They told me that you had gone totally insane, and that your methods were unsound.
Kurtz: Are my methods unsound?
Willard: I don't see any method at all, sir.
Kurtz: I expected someone like you. What did you expect? Are you an assassin?
Willard: I'm a soldier.
Kurtz: You're neither. You're an errand boy, sent by grocery clerks, to collect a bill.