A day like few others, and the ride could continue today

The word for today:

Beware.

(Most of you know what I mean, right?)

-

Holy crap

What kind of day was that?

I wish I could tell you what the latest is with Dwight Howard and whether or not he’ll sign the paper that’ll keep him with Orlando next season but I can’t because I’m typing this at about 6:15 a.m. and it’ll probably change twice before I post it around 7:15 a.m.

But I will say this, for a league that’s had The Lockout and How U and The Decision and The Compressed Season From Hell in the last 12 months, this might take the cake.

(How about this: Howard signs the waiver, the pissed off Magic trade him to Charlotte anyway, the Bobcats win a few games so they don’t get the first pick and Jordan plucks some Kwane Brown-Adam Morrison clone in the draft and Howard’s rich but miserable for another year; how cool would that be?)

Anyway, the whole thing really was amazing and shows, yet again, how much of a players league this is and shows, yet again, what kind of waffling Howard has been doing for almost a year now.

I don’t know what you can do about him wanting to leave – if he does – because he’s earned that right and this is employment, not servitude. I do think we can take some kind of solace that he’s not looking to leave some horrible team to join forces with a couple of great teammates; he wants go from Orlando, which is 26-14 now to apparently join New Jersey, which is 15-19 and while Deron Williams is good, he’s not that good and that team’s still years away.

But what the whole exercise showed – and I followed it closely bored in a hotel room – is that, again, the rush to publish causes unnecessary angst and allows far too much misinformation to get out there.

First, he called a team meeting after shootaround to say he was staying next year and then the tweets and stories said, well, maybe that’s not what he said. Then he was going to tell the Magic that he and his agent had the paper and would sign it except that, well, maybe he wouldn’t.

Then he was going to leave and now overnight he’s going to stay and perhaps the most fun I had was watching my good friends in the New Jersey media pull their hair out at each turn because his indecision made their lives miserable.

It was one of the great days in over-reactive media – and bless their hearts, they rushed to publish what they believed to be true – and a hoot to watch unfold.

-

Raptors?

In a second.

How about our Lead Up To Saturday Musical Interlude with this group – Celtic Woman – I first discovered at Christmas.

Man, these ladies can croon.

-

Right.

Now.

THREE POINTERS

Nothing’s going on

As we mentioned in the bottom of the game story, no movement expected at the trade deadline this afternoon, which is consistent with what we’ve heard all along.

Talked to a few players in the locker room before and after the game and none of them had heard from their agents that anything was percolating and none of them seem overly worried.

But if you know Bryan, and you’ve read about his deadline deal days in the past, the sneaking suspicion is he won’t be able to stop himself and at least something small will happen.

Maybe it’s Fred Jones for Juan Dixon big or Juan Dixon for Primoz Brezec big; something’s coming, I can feel it in my bones.

-

Shots will be there

Not sure how many times I saw it last night but if the Raptors keep running a play where the small forward sets a side screen for the point guard and Andrea drifts to the sideline, the other big is going to be wide open in the paint because teams are cheating a second defender to Bargnani consistently.

And that’s going to mean a lot of little 15-footers for guys like Ed Davis and Amir Johnson and once they get a big lug like Valanciunas in there, things could get good.

-

Time for toughness

It was Dwane’s big issue post-game, one we’ve heard before:

“We took three steps ahead last night in Cleveland against a team above us and we took three steps back tonight with our … physicality. Our fours and fives in the paint have to be physical, strong and that’s where Humphries went to work.”

Not sure how many times we’ve said it but these guys have to get physically stronger, or get men in there who are and that’s the biggest job ahead of them this summer.

-

I swear to whatever Supreme Being is In Charge Of All Things that in my next life I’m coming back as a hotel room designer and I am making sure there are enough wall plugs so that I don’t have to be jammed into a tiny entry hallway with the iron plugged into the wall in the bathroom.

End of rant.

-

You saw this, right? Me and my boyz Cathal and Barack and a little fun with the brackets?

Seriously, I have no real idea why I picked half the games I picked but pick ‘em I did.

And, yes, everyone could go with the chalk and it would probably all work out in the end but what’s the fun with that?

Now, I’m not entirely sure I could name you a list of Sweet 16 players let alone the teams that will advance that far but put ourselves out there is what we do.

And we’ve done it.

Now, go forward and mock.

-

The cesspool that is the Knicks – and you have no idea how bad I feel for my friend Glen Grunwald for being caught up in that, even if some of it was his own doing – is classic, isn’t it?

No one saw D’Antoni quitting coming this soon – and I still think it might be simply a matter of semantics and hush money that drove him out – but it was another great chapter in a great, gruesome story, wasn’t it?

I think you all know how I feel about the Knicks and I don’t know that Red Auerbach himself could fix it this season but to get Dwane’s take on it was quite interesting.

Of course, he didn’t talk specifics about what they do, but he did talk about coaches and the lives they lead when we chatted before the game.

“The hardest part is the speculation … (more) than the actual firing because all of us are grown men, I’ve never gone into a job being afraid of being fired.

“My thing is you do the right thing, as long as you do the right thing and coach for the right reasons, you can always sleep at night and you’ll always be employed at some level.

“It’s just the speculation and the talk and for all but one person it’s fun. But, again, and I know Mike D’Antoni coached for the right reason, he had his principles and all of us, as long as you coach for the right reasons you can sleep at night and let the chips fall where they may.”

Here’s one thing, though:

The Trail Blazers have dead quit on Nate McMillan, anything that happened in that game last night needs to be couched in those terms.

-

Okay, folks.

Off to the airport soon, land about noon Memphis time and will hit the ground running with whatever trades have happened.

But if it’s a slow day – and it could very well be – I’ll need something to do before the barbecue evening at Rendezvous so get me some mail, will you.

Click. Write. Send.

-

 

 

 

Comments

[Tim]

Ten minutes after 1pm and Doug still hasn't gotten to the comments. Must be a busy deadline day. Beware the Ides of March indeed!

[GM]

How good can Deron Williams be if his team sucks so much? Now, I should stress I don't subscribe to that line of thinking but it seems as if some fans want to have it both ways. If player X has never been on a winner it must be because player X is nothing but a role player. But Deron Williams can elevate a team? Apparently not.

[Rob.V]

Dude, you in flight?
-
Trade deadline and all is quite here... we need you. lol!
-
Barbosa was a no brainer... any other moves on the horizon for the Raptors over the next 50 minutes?

Blogger's note: Just landed, made a call, don't believe Carter's in the deal; need a bit more time to work

[Rob.V]

I'm not sure what happend there however I wasnt seeing any of the posts, you can disregard my earlier submission.
-
Barbosa makes sense. A 2nd rounder from Indy may not amount to much however what this does is open up more minutes to see what others can do. It also (very quietly) puts a few more ping pong balls in the machine (although we are not suppose to talk like that).
-
We have to keep in mind, the Raptors are not going out of their way to "win" this year. We may not like it, however it is a fact.
-
If they want Barbosa back next season (and there is a fit) there's no reason why they cant entertain that option then.
-
If the 2nd rounder pans out, great. If not, we're no worse off.

[D-Mac Ottawa]

A second round draft pick... and that's it?! Not even proverbial "cash considerations"?! The Blur does not equate to an unknown second round quantity. There has to be some cash back, too, no? No?
@joeu, you beat me to the punch; I was thinking those same words exactly.
@doug, kudos on making the first call about the Knicks soap opera – and Linsanity was still the story of the hour, so that makes it an even better call.
Cheers. Go Raps! Sure hope Forbes finds a third gear, like, overnight, and no more nights off for Kleiza (he didn't show up at all last night).

Blogger's note: They've taken calls on Barbosa for weeks, this is what they got

[jason p]

does the increased cap room be used to offer chandler, Wilson more money?

Blogger's note: No; same money they would have had in the summer regardless

[doug]

I always like the NBA trade deadline as you know unlike other leagues (who shall remain nameless) there will be trades and they will involve "name" players...most surprising trade was Lakers letting Fischer go, best trade to me to help a contender is the Spurs getting Jackson, talk about a perfect fit in a perfect system for a player, this is it....and to those looking forward to the draft, buyer beware, as we just saw today 3 top picks in the 2009 draft traded to their 3rd team...Thabeet,Flynn and Hill....the pick of DD doesn't look too bad considering he was chosen after all 3 of those guys....@D-Mac thanks, just never,ever saw Melo and D'Antonio as a fit, and by all accounts D'Antonio did quit, so good for him to bail on that mess, no one deserves that...someone said yesterday on some media report that at least Jerry Jones makes no bones about it, he makes the personnel decisions for the Cowboys,like them or not he takes the heat... whereas a slimeball like Dolan everyone knows calls the shots for the Knicks but he just passes it along for others to do his dirty work, pretty classless type guy he is....and good for D'Antonio to do what he did....cheers

[Mr. Cook]

The Barbosa deal frees up $7.6 mil that can be used before July 1st or about $12mil total with renouncing RFA rights. Good call.

[Pipit]

I didn't know how much Barbosa is devalued in the market. He didn't had the chance to showcase more of his talent due to limited minutes. A very good supposed to be starter player who is a victim of being known as a 6th man. I like his intensity and for sure will miss his kamikaze plays. I wish you all the best, Brazilian Blur!

[The J]

They get a TPE out of this too, right? Still thought he was worth a late 1st rounder, but this is something as opposed to nothing.

Blogger's note: You thought differently than about 29 NBA GMs

[M]

Doug, hoping you do a trade winners and losers for all the happenings today. Can't believe everything that happened in Portland.

One question in regards to the barbosa deal and free agency in the summer. We really need a marquee player at the SF position and presumably an upgrade at the point (I love Calderon but I am thinking longer term).

With the cap space we have and the draft, who could Colangelo possibly pick up at the 3 or 1 to get us to .500 next year? And I don't mean someone we rent for a year... I feel that Toronto hasn't had great success in the free agency business - hard to get a great player to come here. Maybe your thoughts on the chances of Colangelo filling these needs versus actual players that fit that bill?

Blogger's note: Too early and too many avenues available now to even guess

[J]

@The J:

No TPE. TPEs are only created to preserve a team's cap position. For instance, if a team that is $10 mil above the cap dumps a $10 mil contract for nothing, a TPE is granted so that the team can get back to its $10 mil above the cap position (they would otherwise have to slowly rebuild their cap position). The Raptors, for the first time in as long as I can remember, are under the cap this season, so they don't need anything other than the added cap flexibility gained from dumping Barbosa to get back to their pre-trade cap position.