Casey needs to see attitude adjustment from Raptors

Sure, field goals and assists and rebounds are nice but what coach Dwane Casey really wants to see from the Raptors these days is attitude.

In a couple of desultory weekend blowout losses – Friday at home to New Jersey and more noticeably Saturday in Philadelphia – the Raptors showed an alarming amount of ‘give up’ when things didn’t go their way.

It’s a troubling attribute that Casey simply won’t stand for.

“Like I told our guys, no one’s going to feel sorry for us, we can’t give in to fatigue and frustration and let teams blow us out and blast us like that,” Casey said after a 90-minute game-day shootaround session Monday morning. “We’ve got to develop that toughness and if we don’t, we’re going to have a lot of Saturday nights in us.”

The trouble stems from the Raptors allowing offensive impotence to creep into their defensive play. It’s been a trademark of this team that when it’s not scoring, it’s not playing with defensive intensity.

It’s a surefire way to continued losses, and a surefire way to rankle a coaching staff.

“I thought we had a good disposition for 28 minutes against Philadelphia; once we didn’t see the ball go through the basket, we lost that disposition,” he said. “Our thing, as a growing process, is to make sure we stay focused whether the shots are falling (or not), things not going right for us offensively, we have to pull up our boots, put on work boots and come back on the defensive end and stay in the game.

“Every game we’ve lost has been on runs and subsequently not functioning on the offensive end has caused that. We can’t let that effect us, we have to push through that with our defensive toughness … that’ll help us get through that.”

As for news, there was scant little to report from the preparation for Monday’s home game against the Minnesota Timberwolves.

Forward Linas Kleiza has decided to make a quick trip to Colorado to see the doctors who operated on his right knee last February before he gets back on the active list, which know would seem to be Friday in Toronto against Indiana the earliest.

Jerryd Bayless isn’t ready to come back from an ankle injury yet – he told us it’d probably be Friday as well – so it’ll be the usual suspects against the 3-5 Timberwolves to kick off Toronto’s only stretch of back-to-back-to-back games this season.

Of course, the big matchup is going to be between Spanish national team teammates and good friends Jose Calderon and Minnesota rookie Ricky Rubio. They’ve been hanging out here for a day or so catching up, Monday night they’ll have some time going head-to-head on the court.

“I’ve been with him for a while, great player, great guy, there’s nothing bad about him,” Calderon said of his buddy.

“He’s doing great, no surprise at all what he’s been doing, he’s been playing this sport for a while professionally, he knows how to play and I love to see how he plays.”

 

 

 

Bad D League message, good Tebow message and some Raptors

You folks all a’twitter with anticipation?

The D League Showcase is this week!

All the teams in one city for four days of non-stop minor league basketball! Better get the PVR set, right?

Um, no.

The D League, at this point, doesn’t seem to know what it is and even for a guy who doesn’t care all that much about it, that’s kind of disturbing.

There are far too many washed-up NBA players trying to make a buck and work on their games that I wonder if isn’t sending the wrong message to fans, and teammates, and even NBA executives.

You’ve got Mike James, Ricky Davis, Greg Ostertag and Antoine Walker – and I’m sure there are other guys I’m forgetting in putting a list together right off the top of my head and, frankly, that even diminishes the league even more in my opinion.

It’s supposed to be a place where young kids can try to get noticed or young NBAers can work on their games.

It’s not exactly my cup of tea but that’s what it’s supposed to be and the presence of former NBA guys whose careers are absolutely over – or should be – runs counter to everything the league stands for.

Not sure there’s an answer – teams will do what teams want to do to sell tickets and generate hype and perhaps win a game or two – but for every Mike James on a roster, there can’t be a Solomon Alabi and that’s not what the league is intended to be.

Believe it or not, I haven’t looked all that closely at the rosters of all the teams for the Showcase – and I cannot imagine spending any time in front of the TV watching games – but if the league’s going to exist, it has to exist for its original reason, for kids to play, not for old men to reclaim lost glory.

-

I’m going to say this right out loud:

I cannot wait to see Ricky Rubio play tonight.

I’ve seen the kid quite often in person – most notably at the worlds in Turkey a summer or two ago – and there really is just something about him.

Maybe he doesn’t shoot it as well as you’d like quite yet but that’s a teachable skill, what you can’t teach is court vision and flair and, man, this kid’s got it.

There aren’t too, too many regular season games I look forward too – and there are going to be fewer in this abomination of a regular season when every team seems tired every night – but this is one of them.

You should be, too.

Oh, and after a Saturday hiatus, we’re back again for the IGBT starting around 7 p.m. See you then, right?

-

Here’s a question:

If you had a young athlete who was respectful, accomplished, seemed to have his priorities in place, knew where his sport fit in the grand scheme of life, had never been in trouble and had created one of the most interesting storylines of the this or any season in recent memory, why wouldn’t you like him?

Yeah.

Teee-bowwwwwww!

No, I don’t quite get this sense of ridicule that seems to have been following Tim Tebow all season as the Denver Broncos quarterback writes one of the more intriguing stories I’ve come across in years.

Yesterday’s effort – and don’t you know that the fact he threw for 3:16 yards isn’t going to give a lot of people a lot of fodder for a lot of lines – was spectacular.

It was dramatic, it was fun, it was performing well under incredible pressure and it should probably be a more lauded than it is.

Sure, it’s easy to mock Tebow for his overt religious believes, his “aw, shucks” and “gee willickers” kind of persona, you can make fun of his odd stats in some games and you can have a heyday with his skillset.

But I’d far rather celebrate his accomplishments than some of the “Hey, look at me! I didn’t something I’m supposed to do” brethren in professional sports.

Sure, some of you, and likely I, are going to get tired of the uber-hype this week but I can guarantee you one thing: It will not be generated by the man himself.

And I’m really, really fine with that.

-

Once again, apropos of nothing, really, the only radio station I listen to – Q107 here – had what was billed as a “long song” weekend. You know, stuff over six or seven minutes that we never get to hear any more.

Well, the list of listenable long songs would be hugely long – remember when we did Stairway to Heaven vs. Colour My World vs. Free Bird? – but I don’t think anyone does “long songs” consistently as well as Springsteen.

This might top my list and you need a seven-minute-or-break, right?

-

So, somewhat of a lost weekend for the HOTH, no?

Drubbed at home, drilled on the road and off yesterday before they start the season’s only back-to-back-to-back grind tonight.

Now, as you know, we all saw something like this coming, we knew there would be nights when they just weren’t good, bad game were going to pop up and, trust me, there are more to come in the final 58 games of the regular season.

Nothing to get alarmed about, nothing to be surprised about; this is, as everyone knows, a work in progress and sometimes that progress is going to come very slowly and very incrementally.

I think the most troubling thing was the relative passivity of DeMar DeRozan in back-to-back bad games. The three points against Jersey here on Friday, the eight points in Philly on Saturday simply weren’t good enough. It’s not like he was simply taking and missing a lot of shots, he had only six field goal attempts against New Jersey and 13 against Philadelphia (not bad, but they needed more); it’s that for long stretches he looked detached and a bit disinterested.

That’s not good enough and something that has to be changed.

-

 

 

 

The end of the weekend mail

Wow, you folks went nuts here.

Lots of questions, lots of good ones and a couple I’m going to save because they present chances for lists and you know we love lists.

Now, read this while you contemplate DeMar DeRozan’s awful weekend and we’ll be back with the usual fare first thing tomorrow morning.

Thanks.

-

Q: Haven't written for a while but reading daily ... with thanks to you. Your remarks today about impact of frequent games, etc on predictability of outcomes is exactly what I've been noticing and enjoying. Early season comments focused on Raps being at a disadvantage without full training camp, but isn't it really an opportunity for Raps as other teams "expected" to be better than them haven't jelled yet either? Do you recall the "start of season" results vs expectations from other shortened campaigns?

Barry P, North Bay

A: I can see where it’s absolutely an advantage to them because no one expects them to do anything and they are going to catch a lot of unprepared teams unaware of their style and dedication to defence. It’s new and it’s going to take the league a while to really notice; until then, they might steal a few games here and there.

And the only other shortened campaign in my lifetime was in 1999 and these guys were so bad and such an afterthought there were probably fewer expectations that year than there are this year. They did have that rookie Carter kid and Kevin Willis but no one thought about them at all.

And Butch coached the life out of them – as he always did – and I think they were on the periphery of the playoffs until almost the last couple of weeks of the season.

It was a fun ride.

-

Q: Doug, anew year, the mind wanders. Off the top of my head I can't think of any former NBA players turned beat writers or columnists. Joe Cowley fills that bill in baseball and the list expands if you consider book writers like former Atlanta Brave Pat Jordan and former NFL star Mike Green. Did Charlie Rosen ever have a cup of coffee in the Show? Can you think of any others that actually became writers, beat or otherwise. (And no, serial how-to writer Pat Williams doesn't qualify. Players only. Nor do biographies).

As always, you are the king of lists.

Gary M, Brampton

A: Not beat writers or columnists that I can think of – the basketball players tend to gravitate to the simpler pursuits of television and radio – but if you were to find stuff written by Paul Shirley, either on blogs, in magazines or wherever, I bet be pleasantly surprised, entertained and informed.

Other than that, though? Pickings are slim.

-

Q: Hi Doug. What's your (or Mother Star's) policy regarding quotes? Do you edit them or must they match exactly what the subject said? I ask after noticing a difference between the Sun's and the Globe's record of something DeMar said after the Knicks game:

In the Sun: "We didn’t let their run get to us," guard DeMar DeRozan said. "The last couple of games when teams made a run, we let it get to us. We kind of broke down a little bit on the defensive end. Tonight we didn’t let that happen."

In the Globe: “We didn’t let their run get to us,” DeRozan said. “The last couple of games you know teams made runs on us and we let it get to us and we kind of broke down on the defensive end. So tonight we didn’t let that happen.”

Mark S, New York

A: My policy is to quote verbatim – from transcripts of recorded conversations -- but to remove the “you knows” or “ums” or “errs” that always creep into sentence and cloud them.

As for puctuation, you can tell from listening generally whether a comma or full stop are necessary.

-

Q: This video clip shows one reporter stiff-arming another (both female, as it happens) in pursuit of a scoop interview with the head coach. Doug, did you ever see the First Lady of the Beat engage in such tactics over the years? Have you personally ever engaged in "shady" or aggressive behaviour to beat, say, Stumpy out of a scoop? Do I smell a top five list of things you or fellow grunts have ever done to beat out the competition? Surely when you reporters have a few drinks to discuss the old days, stories like that must get told and retold, no? You can leave out names to protect the guilty!

Lee Z, Ottawa

A: The First Lady Of The Beat is wily but I don’t imagine she’d ever resort to a physical altercation. And the only thing close to contact comes when some camera person gets late to a scrum and tries to weasel his or her way into the throng without so much as an “excuse me.” There have been times when words have been exchanged and times when writers have discreetly moved into the shot to screw them up because they were being rude. Not often, and certainly not all of them, but it’s happened. With me.

Now, we will surreptitiously try to get a leg up on the other guy (I once “interviewed” Morris Peterson over my shoulder while pretending to be in another locker room scrum) but that’s about as shady as it’s been. Fun, though.

Oh, and Kleiza told me he doesn’t remember on specific incident when he hurt his knee, it just go progressively worse from the time the world championships ended until the time he decided to have the surgery.

-

Q: Hi Doug. I was just wondering, now that the lockout is over, do the Raptors have regular contact with Jonas Valanciunas? Do they try to direct his workouts and practice habits, or do they pretty much leave him be until he shows up next year?

Best,

Tim M, Kingston

A: I went right to the top to get this one.

You know, of course, that they could have no contact whatsoever with him during the lockout but now they are developing – along with his North American and Lithuanian agents – a plan for the next six months that includes everything from physical assessment and training to language development.

Bryan expects to make a visit in the next couple of months to see him and spend some time with him, Maurizio is actually going this week to watch him play and practice and Dwane’s been in touch with his coach – who worked with Casey in Minnesota in 2004 – to talk about basketball-specific development.

Oh, and Ed Stefanski and Marc Eversley will get over to see him sometime, too.

Seems everyone’s going but me.

(Boss? You reading this?)

-

Q: Hey, Doug, how you're doing? I have to admit I haven't enjoyed watching Raptors this much since HWSNBN's era. I'm absolutely supportive of Colangelo's plan and I hope it doesn't contain too much losing because I figure it would probably give the team a better pick, but maybe discourage potential free agents to sign with the team next summer.

So I'd like you to give me best-case and worst-case scenarios for next season, considering Raptors will have a lottery pick and loads of cap room. I know it's a bit early, but still…

Who do you think BC's primary targets in FA class are and what's the chance he gets any of them? And do you think he would react if some of them became available before the trade deadline as expiring contracts or lose the opportunity to get them while hoping he could fare better during the summer?

Keep up the great work and say hi to Jay Triano for me. I had a chat with him this past summer in Ljubljana, maybe he remembers me.

Your old acquaintance from Croatia

Toni H, Zagreb

A: I’m doing okay, thanks.

I can’t presume to know who Bryan might have his eyes on – he’s not telling – but I do think he should wait until next summer to see who’s out there rather than do something mid-season. There might be guys who become available in trade talks after the season who aren’t movable in March and no sense limiting your options.

But, of course, I could be wrong and he’ll pull the trigger on some big deal at the deadline but every indication I’m getting from people I talk to in the organization is that he’s going to wait to see how much money he has to spend (does he amnesty someone to boost the funds available is the big question) instead of limiting himself in the season.

-

Q: Have you heard of Bargs working on any kind of different training regimen. I'm noticing that his legs/lower body work has been noticeably different so far this year, allowing him to have much more in his shot and his defensive/offensive strength. Was this something that was noticed by the coaching staff?

Jonathan W, Scarborough

A: Nothing specific to his training methods but I will point out the Raptors hired Alex McKechnie as the director of sports science and he works closely with all the players on developing core strength. I would say Alex might end up being the most valuable addition the team’s made this year.

Some Raps, some NFL, some pucks and some music. What a place!

As the man used to say:

I know. Mail earlier, this now. Heckuva day in our little corner of the interweb.

Have at it, kids.

-

THREE POINTERS

Being prepared

The Nets did a few different things to Bargnani last night than other teams had and while he was good – 17 points is nothing to sneeze at – he wasn’t as good as he’s been.

But it’s not like the Raptors weren’t expecting it and there’ll be more they have to deal with. Dwane laid out part of the plan yesterday morning.

He’s playing at an all-star level and that’s one thing we worked on yesterday and today, what teams could possibly do to try to stop him, whether it’s blitzing, trapping, double-teaming, we’re prepared for that.

A lot of teams are going to start zeroing in on him, his challenge now will be to combat that with more focus, more attention to detail and his teammates are going to have to present themselves and be at the right place at the right time.

It’ll be interesting to see how Bargnani reacts to the attention. He wasn’t particularly adept at it early in his career when, say, Bosh was out and he was the man but this seems to be a new, focused Bargnani.

-

The secret’s out

For a couple of games now, DeRozan’s been wearing some silly leggings and even I could tell it wasn’t for fashion because, well, because it looks silly.

Finally got around to asking him:

To keep my knees warm.

Guess he gets chilly, doesn’t want to stiffen up so he’s got almost ankle to thigh coverings.

Guess that’s a sign of age?

-

Dopes

I still don’t quite get the booing of Hump – all he did was get married and divorced from someone who seems part-floozy, part-internet-vixen, part-nothing to get all excited about – but whatever.

What I don’t get – and I’m glad security at the arena stopped it -- was the idiotic display of giant Kardashian heads across from us.

Bush league.

-

And …

-

Is this the best football weekend of the year?

Probably not – next weekend is, I’d say – but four playoff games over two days is one of those Gridiron Orgies so many people like. Me? Can’t too enthused, to tell you the truth. Maybe it’s the sports overload in my life but where I used to make plans with the cronies to sit and watch playoff games for hours, that’s not the case any more.

But, in what can only be called A Showdown With The Dopey 8-Ball, here you go:

Detroit-New Orleans?

Ugh. Lost respect for and interest in the Lions a month or so ago when it became apparent they were a totally undisciplined group coached by a madman; the Saints are a nice story in a great city and might be the best team in the NFC when it’s all said and done.

If that’s not a rout, I’ll be stunned.

Take the Saints, give the points and take the evening off.

Houston-Cincinnati?

Double ugh.

Unless Warren Moon’s quarterbacking the Oilers (oops, never mind) or Cris Collinsworth is catching passes for the Bengals (um, not going to happen) if there’s a good repeat of Big Bang Theory on tube I’ll go watch it rather than sit through this potentially dreadful affair.

But if you’ve got to make a pick, you’ve got to make a pick.

Hold your nose and take the Bengals because didn’t the Texans lose to Indy?

Atlanta-Giants?

Giants? The G-Men. The New York Football Giants?

Yeah, they seem to be the sexy pick, Eli Manning’s the fourth quarter magician and Coughlin’s coaching them up as the saying goes and blah, blah, blah, blah, blah.

That’s all New York-centric media pap and I detest New York-centric media pap almost as much as I detest liver.

This may not be the wisest of reasons but I say take the Falcons just because they’re not from New York.

Oh, wait. They’re from Atlanta. Atlanta blows.

Maybe no one will win.

Pittsburgh-Denver

I know, I know.

Teeee-booowwwww!!!!

Right. Tebow. Here’s the thing: Great story, no doubt. Can’t play, no question.

Can’t see how this one’s even close.

Take that, 8-ball!

-

Don’t forget, a night off from the IGBT tonight. Cathal’s on the scene, I’m sitting this one totally out.

-

Okay, apropos of nothing …

Just made the daily foray to Starbucks (hi Hurontario and Harbord!) and, as always, Q107’s on in the car. It’s the end of the awesome Legends of Rock hour (great listening) and it’s all Pink Floyd and the end of this ditty comes on and I figure you should hear what I heard just ‘cause I’m a nice guy who shares stuff.

Enjoy.

-

Am sure you heard this story about the NHL Players Association scuttling the league’s plan to re-align, right?

I’m not sure who looks worse in this mess:

The players for setting the stage for a work stoppage by putting the kibosh on what seemed to be an entirely logical plan that would have increased revenues and therefore driven up salaries.

Or the league for not making sure it had it’s “partners” on side before making the grandiose announcement that things were going to change.

Seriously, both sides have handled this quite poorly, methinks, and it’s obviously the first shot over the bow towards a long and bitter CBA negotiations next fall.

And since there’s about eleven kabillion more pucks writers and commentators around than there are basketball scribes and talking heads, I fear it might get crowded in gyms next year.

But also think of it this way:

There’ll be about 21 hours a day of radio and TV time free for other sports because there might not be some “which fourth line winger pulled a groin today and how does it impact our Trade Deadline Telethon?” stories to listen to.

Oh, and concussion specialists will be free to deal with regular humans.

-

 

 

 

The start of the weekend mail

Hey, sorry I’m a bit late; sleep’s good, it seems.

Give me a little while I’ll scribble some thoughts on last night’s stinker and let you know who’s going to win the football games.

Until then …

(Oh yeah, you've got to today to get some stuff in for tomorrow, click here to do it)

-

Q: Hey Doug. I have to admit that our heroes are certainly better this year than I thought they were going to be, I even went to the game last night against Cleveland and was impressed with the product that Coach Casey has instilled on the team.

Two questions, if the Raptors continue on this road and go .500 the rest of the way A) What is the possibility of Dwane being Coach of the Year? 2) Andrea Bargnani winning Most Improved?

Thanks

A L, Mississauga

P.S: You are definitely Beat Grunt of the Year in my books.

A: Oh, if they stay this course – and that’s a tremendously big “if” – I’m sure both of those guys will get some serious consideration for those awards.

But we also have to wait and see what else transpires in the league.

Grunt of the Year? Cool!

-

Q: Doug: I love this helter skelter type of season. Do you think next year we will hear any teams complain about their brutal schedule, which may have 2 back to backs in January?

Ken B, Matheson

A: Sure there’ll be complaints, it’s what they do. You might even hear the odd grunt whine about a tough trip. Remind us then how goofy this season is, would you?

-

Q: Hey Doug. That's really great that you are again on the selection committee for all-stars, and I like that Bill Simmons got a crack at it. I look forward to his column on it. Knowing how much he's down on Jose Calderon did you have to talk him into including Jose on the ballot? Any chance that you'll be on his podcast so that I can finally hear a voice that knows more than the names of the Raptors?

Paul W, Toronto

A: No, it was quite obvious to us all that (a) Jose was deserving of being on the ballot and (b) he was one of three Raptors who needed to be included.

And I won’t be holding my breath waiting for the podcast invitation and if I could figure out a consistent day/style/method of doing one here, I would. That hasn’t happened yet because there always seems something else to be done

-

Q: Good day Doug. I know that everyone knows all the rules re roster but with Solomon in D, Gray away for ??, Linas injured can they bring in a spare big on a trial period to help them get over the back to backs etc.

I expect there is a rule against that - but don't they have an empty roster spot?

Bill W, Toronto

A: They could, but they’d have to waive someone on the current roster and pay them not to be here and I don’t see that happening at all. The roster of 15 is full.

-

Q: Hi Doug. I was hoping that you could please help me out with a friendly wager that I have made. Can you please confirm that the Raptors Mascot ("the chicken") has been the same man for the past 17 years, thus making him roughly 40 years old?

Thanks, and keep up the great work.

Isaac H, Toronto

A: Not sure how much she/he/it wants you to know but if you bet on it being the same person, you win.

-

Q: Hi Doug. Hypothetical for you. You're Ed Stefanski and it's the 2012 trade deadline. The Raps are 2 games out of the 8th spot and Bryan tells you he's tempted by an offer from a club willing to trade the Raps a veteran, but still starting-calibre, SF with a few years left on an expensive contract. Do you tell him to pull the trigger and chase the playoffs? Or do you tell him to bite his lip, stick to the plan, and hope to make the playoffs with the current group knowing that a lottery pick and cap space awaits if they miss the postseason?

Mike D, Toronto

A: Well, you know me and hypotheticals and how much I love them.

So, without knowing precisely who you’re talking about my immediate reaction is to stay the course; there will be more players available next summer than there will be at the trade deadline.

-

Q: Hi Doug, always enjoy reading your blog. Based on the recent surge of Bargnani, do you think this will be enough to warrant him his first All-star nod?

Colin F, Edmonton

A: Never say never and he’s certainly playing at a high level through six games but …

He’s listed as a forward and it’s a virtual certainty that the starting forwards will be LeBron and either Stoudemire or Anthony. Coaches then need to add two forwards, two guards, a centre and two “wild cards” to the team. If you’re looking at possible forwards you’re going to be seeing Kevin Garnett, Paul Pierce, the other one of Anthony/Stoudemire, guys like Luol Deng (better team), Chris Bosh (better team) and even Andre Iguodala. I would bet my house that the starting centre will be Dwight Howard and I imagine the coaches will give strong consideration to Tyson Chandler and Joakim Noah.

It’s a tough group for Bargnani to crack; he may but I think it’s a very big longshot.

The Goods On The Game, Nets at Raptors

And here we are again.

Enjoy.

Bit of a surprise but Raps may get Kleiza back this weekend

In something of a surprise, the Raptors may get a new, old face back very soon.

Linas Kleiza, who told us in New York on Monday that he was a week or so away from returning, could dress for Friday’s home game against New Jersey or Saturday’s game in Philadelphia, coach Dwane Casey said after shootaround Friday.

Now “dress” and “play” are two entirely different things, remember.

Kleiza, who hasn’t played since having knee surgery in February, isn’t about to all of a sudden assume a huge role, Casey warned. It’s entirely possible he’s very much eased back into things, particularly because Kleiza hasn’t even had a full contact practice.

He’s been doing some 5-on-0 work for a week or two but the paucity of practice time, and his rehab work, have kept him out of the full range of workouts.

Still, he will eventually give the Raptors a veteran forward to add to the mix along with Rasual Butler and James Johnson. Casey is pretty happy with the defensive efforts he’s getting from those two guys but Kleiza presents an improvement offensively.

For the Nets, who drag a 1-6 record into the game, there’s some question on who might be available.

Kris Humphries said Friday morning his sore shoulder is better and he expects to play but coach Avery Johnson said the availability of Humphries and point guard Deron Williams won’t be determined until after the pre-game warm up.

 

 

 

 

Fans will be fans, let 'em have their fun

I understand there might be some local angst over the fact the pucks fans in Ottawa went berserk late in the process and voted in one of their own as an all-star starter and costing that Kessel bloke a spot on the opening six?

Big whoop.

All-star stuff seems to be all the rage the last couple of days, first with our ballot and now with the hockey one and if there’s a word that’s appropriate for the people up in arms, it’s this one:

Chill.

Fans are fans; if you’re going to give them the vote you have to live with some odd results, they are going to pick their favourites regardless of talent level or the production in any one season and who really cares?

It’s not as if the game (theirs or ours) means anything; they are basically glorified exhibitions and shows and what does it matter who gets introduced as a starter and who comes off the bench?

It’s not like the coaches or whoever decides who the other players are will screw up and leave off someone who is worthy.

Look, leagues want fans “engaged” even if it is just clicking on some names on a computer screen or punching holes in cards in arenas.

And if that makes ‘em happy, it makes me happy.

Sure, we’ll get instances where a Yao Ming will sit out half the season and be voted an all-star starter; there will be years when Tracy McGrady’s right in the hunt for a start despite not playing; a season will come when the host city has five or six starters depending on the sport and the interweb talents of their fans.

As mentioned: Big whoop.

There are certainly more important things in the sports world to worry about other than who starts a meaningless all-star game.

Now, I’ve got to go vote for Aaron Affalo, Joel Anthony, Anthony Morrow, Marcin Gortat and Boris Diaw. Be right back.

-

A somewhat interesting scene unfolded at the end of Raptors practice yesterday as we stood around waiting to talk to people.

All the players had gone but one and there was DeMar DeRozan with three assistant coaches and a couple of other staffers working first on his low post game and then on making hard cuts through the lane to take passes and finish at the rim.

It’s precisely the kind of addition to his game that DeRozan needs; I do think he could be an effective post-up guy and since his ball-handling skills don’t yet allow him to beat his man off the dribble attacking the basket, getting him to go hard and get the ball rather than go hard with it will make him a more effective inside scorer.

And a day after he took and made all those three-pointers, was really nice to see him putting a lot of extra time in on an equally important facet of his game that needs to developed.

-

Yes, this is relevant.

It has to do with this, thanks to an Alert Irregular from Ottawa:

“You said you wanted to follow up Baron Davis's tragic herniation with a copy editing story.”

Right, I did. It’s not as good as that one but …

No names because I’m not sure if the culprit and victim are still in the industry.

It had to be the late 80s or early 90s, whenever it was that the movie Rainman came out and at the paper I was working at, a rather gifted entertainment writer was assigned to review it. Now, I also remember this writer being rather persnickety when it came to his copy and his place in the grand scheme of things.

He wrote, as I recall, a glowing review of the flick, with particular praise for Dustin Hoffman. There was a sentence near the top of the piece that apparently lauded Hoffman for his portrayal of an idiot savant and the off the story went to the copy desk.

How do you think this fellow felt – and, remember, it was his name on the story, not the copy editors and he was quite proprietary about his use of the language – when he opened his paper and read how well Hoffman had been as …

The idiot servant!

Oops.

-

How good is this!

Beer cooler saves family!

I knew those things were important in so many different ways.

-

Paul Westphal gets fired in Sacramento and the immediate reaction?

Darn. I had Flip Saunders in the First Coach Fired poll.

Look, I can’t say for certainty what’s going on with the Kings, I’m not around them often enough, but even I felt the end for either Westphal or Demarcus Cousins had to be near last week.

That’s when the Kings, in a truly odd turn of events, issued a press release – from the coach, not the GM or the owner – saying they were suspending Cousins for a game because he had demanded to be traded.

I wondered at that point how much support Westphal really had – that’s exactly the kind of issue that demands a statement for upper management – and with his firing yesterday it seems to cement the thought that Cousins won a power struggle.

Sad, but true. And all too commonplace in sports today.

-

Mail?

You’ve done well so far; still room for more.

You know the drill. Here. Please.

-

Right, one more reminder.

Told someone the other night in the IGBT (and, yes, we’ll be back at it this evening) that my early, early impressions of Kyrie Irving would be coming. And then I forgot.

Well …

I presume there is every chance that Irving becomes a very nice NBA player but if we’ve seen nothing in the two games we’ve watched, it’s that he’s got a long way to go and it’s another cautionary tale about the length of time it takes point guards – especially young point guards – to learn their craft.

The one troubling thing to me – and this is only off two games seen in person so take it for what it is – is that Irving doesn’t seem to have that “second gear” that he probably needs. He’s not lightning quick to begin with, it seems, and he can’t find that extra burst when it’s needed most.

Maybe he gets it, there’s no doubt he’s still learning his job but right now, it’s obvious there’s lots of work to do.

-

 

 

 

A quick word from the boss worked; and up close with the pucksters

Where are all those people who thought 1-5 would be a good start in pursuit of a high draft pick next June?

Just wondering.

-

THREE POINTERS

A little chat

It was sometime late Wednesday morning when the kind but stern principal called the struggling student into the office to have a wee chinwag about the kid’s attention to his work.

(No, this is not a Super Son dissertation, although perhaps it could be)

It wasn’t entirely a reading of the riot act but it must have been close because whatever Dwane Casey told Ed Davis worked. Davis was as good Wednesday as he’s been all year and maybe all he needed was a talking-to from the boss.

Sayeth Dwane, after Davis went for eight points and seven boards:

“(I) just showed him the difference between his effort in the (first) Cleveland game versus his effort in New York, which I thought was not himself. I need energy, we want to develop Ed Davis but he’s got to earn it. And he did tonight. He came in and did a solid job, a much better job than he did in New York and he did against Orlando.

“We as a staff are not just going to give away minutes but he earned them tonight. The more he played as well as he did, he stayed on the floor. And that’s the way it’s going to be if you’re building the culture and building a team.”

Sound good?

Game recap: Raps dominate Cavs from start to finish in 92-77 win

-

Not for fashion

Still unsure about the leggings DeMar DeRozan wore in the game – I forgot to ask him – but the little elbow wrap that Jose Calderon had on his left arm was not there for fashion.

Seems he got tangled up with Tyson Chandler the other night in New York, went hard to the floor and has a rather nasty bruise and some swelling they were trying to keep under control.

Must have worked, given the 13-point, 11-assist, one-turnover gem he produced and if he’s ever played better in a Raptors uniform, I’m not sure when it was.

-

Speaking of …

Yes, DeMar made five three-pointers in the game after making five three-pointers all last season and he’s becoming some kind of Mo Pete clone around here.

Not to nitpick, of course, but he’d better not forget what his true bread and butter is, which is driving the ball, creating contact, getting to the line and using his athleticism to make things happen.

Eight three-point attempts and two free throws is not the ratio he needs to produce.

-

And

-

Ire? I love me some ire. And I think this might get some.

We’re standing around waiting for shootaround to end yesterday morning – 90 minutes they went, half again as long as the typical one – and here come the Leaves, wandering down the hall on their way to some outdoor practice.

First reaction:

They are tiny. I mean small. Physically unimposing. Normal.

In the NHL, size doesn’t matter. It can’t.

I’m talking 5-8, 180; maybe 5-10, 188 small. Sure, The Monster’s 6-5 or whatever and there was one other guy who was, um, big but other than that? Small, I tell you.

And, yes, I fully understand that hockey players have a level of athletic excellence that few can aspire to; that’s not the point.

It’s, yeesh, those guys are quite smallish and the next time I hear some commentator going on about how “big” someone is, I’m rolling my eyes.

As for physically imposing, if I had to rank the four sports that I’ve seen up close often, it’d be:

Football

Man, some of those guy are monsters and all of ‘em are cut. Well, maybe not some offensive lineman but the majority sure are.

Basketball

I know, I know. They’re freakishly tall and that’s what makes them physically imposing but they’re also generally tremendously big, too.

Baseball

Not all of ‘em – I’ve seen Jesse Litsch in the clubhouse – but they’re generally big fellows.

Hockey

Normal, I tell you. Entirely normal.

-

Do you think the fact the Raptors were about to begin a gruelling stretch of eight games in 11 days and don’t have deep-on-the-bench big man Aaron Gray available and still decided to send Solomon Alabi to Bakersfield of the D League will silence those who continually ask about his “upside” and mention how they heard he was having a really good summer developing his skills?

Nah. Me neither.

-

Stevie Boy Russell was the crack photog at the game last night and this is one of the typically excellent pictures he produced.

A bunch of others can be found here.

-

All right, the all-star ballot.

A sure you saw the release about who made it onto the ballot and who didn’t and let me tell you, it’s not as easy an exercise as you think.

You have to have at least three players from every team – you look at Charlotte, or Cleveland, or Detroit, or New Jersey and tell me who should make it from there.

You have to have 12 centres, 24 forwards and 24 guards from each conference – and there might be two centres, four forwards and four guards even remotely in the conversation.

Sure, we might have missed on some. I know the voraciously homer Miami media is climbing all over us for putting Joel Anthony on and leaving Udonis Haslem off.

Big whoop.

Sure, Haslem’s probably among the 24 best forwards in the East but he’s got as much chance of making an all-star team and you, I or Joel Anthony does. And if you need to find 12 centres, it’s almost imperative that Anthony be one; if you have to find 24 forwards and have that three-guys-from-every-team thing to deal with, well, someone like Haslem gets missed.

Yawn.

It was high comedy at times among the four of us – Bill Simmons of Grantland.com and espn.com, Cousin Sekou of nba.com and Ian Thomsen of SI.com – when we spent more than a couple of hours on a conference call trying to fill out the bottom of the ballot at all positions.

Boris Diaw swallowed Charlotte and made it by default; Grant Hill probably got on as much for career achievement as anything; The Artist Formerly Known As Ron Artest is there mostly so people can say “of course I voted for Peace, who wouldn’t?”

Is it perfect? Maybe not. Does it matter in spots 4-through-12 for centres or 7-through-24 for guards of forwards? Of course not.

-

Oh yeah, you did all right on the mail thing yesterday but there’s always room for more.

And I’ll take it here if you like.

-

 

 

The Goods On The Game, Cavs at Raptors

Folks, hello.