Now they can get started for real, thankfully

I think we can safely say that no matter what, the NBA pre-season is too long, right?

Anyway …

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Three pointers

One small step

Not a big deal but certainly something that a few people noticed, on both sides of court.

DeMar DeRozan inadvertently knocks down Avery Bradley about midcourt in the second half, at a point when I don’t think things were going particularly well, if memory serves.

DeRozan has a bit of a look of disdain on his face after the play and where in the past he might have tried to help the guy up or at least don’t nothing untoward, the HOTH got up and clearly stepped right over the head of the prone Celtic.

Like I said, not a big deal but for a team that at times in the past seemed to have been a bit intimidated by the mean old Celtics, it was kind of telling.

One of the guys on the staff was telling me even before Sunday’s game was that he wanted to see some aggression from the Raptors towards the Celtics, a willingness to stand up to them and that was at least a little sign.

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Two black holes?

Now it is an entirely small sample size but consider these statistics:

Starting small forward: Seven points in just over 41 minutes.

Starting centres: Two points in almost 40 minutes.

You might be able to hide one non-producing offensive player in a five-man starting unit – and Dwane told us before the game that he’s not looking for a lot of points from his centre as long as they provide a physical defensive presence – but I don’t think you can hide two.

Perhaps we can chalk it up to just a slow start for James Johnson, who did manage to have five steals against the Celtics in Boston on Wednesday but he’s also got eight turnovers in two games and those seven points.

Not that there’s a lot behind him. Rasual Butler’s hurt, Gary Forbes doesn’t look like the answer right now and if that’s not the trouble spot, I don’t know what is.

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Time management

One of Dwane’s laments after Sunday’s game was a lack of “awareness” of time and score and situation.

Well, the Raptors get the ball back with about 36 seconds left in the first half and it looked like a pretty good time to get a two-for-one to finish off the half.

Maybe not optimum but certainly something to work on.

Well, they ended up getting a three-pointer with about 25 seconds left and the chance evaporated. A very tiny thing but …

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And now …

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From the ridiculous to the sublime.

Was going to save this one for tomorrow to finish off our musical run-up to Christmas but after Earth Kitt yesterday (and wasn’t it a bit of a shock to see Catwoman acting like that) it’s time for something special.

Best. Carol. Ever?

Be in the conversation, maybe.

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Hey, I see the pucks are playing the Buffalos tonight? That hardly ever happens, does it?

Better than Houston-Indy in the NFL, I guess.

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You know, it’s all well and good that the Raptors are somehow going to “honour” our servicemen and servicewomen with those, um, interesting camouflage jerseys four times this season.

And because they haven’t yet “officially” unveiled them it’ll give ‘em time to do this:

Announce the dates they’ll wear them, promise that, say, 5,000 free tickets will be made available to each of the four games to soldiers here and relatives of those on active duties and promise that $5 from the sale of each every one of them at their two stores will go to a charity of the armed forces choosing.

Then I’m all for it.

As for the look? Well, you know me and fashion (and the lack thereof) but I’m not a huge fan; one guy standing around in one of those jerseys might look okay, 12 or 15 of ‘em might be a bit much.

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Enough basketball here for you?

(Don’t get used to it)

But if you want to talk about something else, like life in general or whatever’s on your mind, the mail’s available to you.

Here. Please.

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This isn’t the olden days

Lots of wondering from the folks about the offence and a whole lot of ugly reminiscences to 2004 and what has come to be known as The KO Era.

Not the same.

Not even close.

KO, for all his maniacal attention to defence, was also a micro-manager of everything to do with offence and that’s where the big difference is.

Where KO called almost every single play – often to the point of stopping the point guard of the day while he was headed up the court – Dwane does want let them get out and go whenever the opportunity presents itself and is not at all concerned about micromanaging the offence.

Now, he doesn’t have the firepower that KO had for most of that year – HWSNBN still had some game, Jalen was a pretty good scorer himself – but Casey wants to let ‘em play.

Those comparisons between the coaches don’t carry water.

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So, the NBL Canada’s back in the news.

Got a note yesterday that Mark Strickland is out as head coach of the Oshawa Power (second coaching change in the league’s inaugural season) and he’s being replaced by David Joseph, a well-known local who doubles as the dad of Cory and Devoe, two rather recognizable names.

Not sure if it’ll mean an awful lot in what’s turning out to be one of the more difficult markets for the league to crack but guess it does show that ownership out there is willing to make bold moves to salvage something of the season.

Salvage might be the wrong word, the Power isn’t a bad team, they play entertaining basketball and will get No. 1 overall draft pick Morgan Lewis back from injury for the end-of-the-season run.

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Okay, early flight back home, lots to do when I get there (you don’t think the mall’s will be crowded, with they? I have some shopping to do) so we’ll get to comments whenever we can.

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Comments

[Boko]

We need three players during the next 9 months:

1) Jonas is already coming to join our rotation up front with Amir, Ed & Aaron.

2) A very high draft pick is coming to join our rotation ...
a) at swing with James, DeMar & Gary OR
b) at point with Jerryd.

3) Leandro, José & Andrea will have to be traded to get the third player at this season's trading deadline. They have to be gone by next season, to make room for the three new players, and we can't for example, let Leandro go for nothing, and THEN try to trade for a player.

There are probably those that hesitate to trade our best driver, passer & shooter, but none of them are a #1 or #2 star in the NBA. We need to do something that gets us those two players ... Early indications are that Coach Casey may be able to boost Andrea into that level, but José is less likely, and Leandro is far less likely. Let's see where they all are after 30 games ...

[m]

"I can't join those anxious to see the back of Bargnani."
Interesting, seeing as he was one of maybe only three players on the team to look like they were worth a plugged nickel,

[Aditya]

@ LeeZ: +1
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Gary Forbes is a decent player who needs to play more... he's underestimated by some (thats for sure)..

hey Doug, don't be surprised if clippers are the #1 three point shooting team in the league this year.....caron butler, billups, CP3, tompkins, mo williams, randy foye, brian cook, ryan gomes (ofcourse you said their 3 point shooting is suspect).....

Blogger's note: Tell you what: Stay away until April and we'll discuss it. Promise.

[SheikYurbouti]

"Enough basketball here for you?

(Don’t get used to it)"
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Is there something to read into that which doesn't get into a snark battle?

[J]

This isn't related to basketball, but man, every time I see this grammatical mistake, I cringe like there's no tomorrow (I wonder how anyone can say or type it with a straight face and not realize it makes absolutely no sense):

"Should of"

Sorry, just had to point it out since it was thrown out at everyone in CAPS! My poor, poor eyes...

And to make this post basketball-related, I'm glad the person in question is not the GM of the Raptors.

[Penguin]

I am amazed at what way too many people are trying to read into two pre-season games, held after a very short practice time when all the players weren't even in place for all of it. DC isn't even playing his rotations or minutes the way he will when the real games begin. Is this team challenged in so many way. Of course it is. However, at this stage, we don't really know how it all is going to play out. So, everyone, take a deep breath. Thank goodness they didn't win both games against the Celtics. People would take this seriously, as well, and want to know when to order their playoff tickets or be angry that the Raps are blowing a high draft choice (see Leaf's fans about that one).

[furcifer]

The idea that the Raptors will ever be competitive with the Celtics, without a plan to entice top free agents to play in Toronto and keep currently players by promoting the city, like the Blue Jays did in the late 80s, early 90s, is a joke.

This franchise will continue to be an also-ran like the Golden State Warriors, LA Clippers, Utah Jazz (insert non-competitive team here)