Cheer the people, not the jerseys

I’m sure you might have heard about the Raptors and the camouflage jerseys they’ll wear tomorrow night against Chicago – and three other times this season – as a tribute to the Canadian Forces.

Not sure exactly how I feel about that; I can see it as a bit of co-opting an issue (support for the men and women who put their lives on line for us every day) but I can also see the “honouring” aspect of it and whatever we can do to increase awareness of the risks these men and women take and thank them for it, we should do.

It also helps that some of the proceeds will go to Forces family fund that, among other things, is used to construct sports facilities for the children of servicemen and women.

And it is part of a longstanding relationship between Maple Leaf Sports and Entertainment that dates back years; they give time and money and support to the forces and that’s a tremendous thing.

There will be members of the armed forces and their families who are at the game as guests of the Raptors and that’s another good thing.

And I will tell you this:

We can debate until the cows come home Canada’s involvement in various conflicts around the world, it is a discussion not really suited for here, but when they get around to recognizing the servicemen and women and their families in the arena, whether it’s by trotting them out to the court or playing some video tribute, I would think a standing ovation would be in order.

These men and woman have chosen, at great personal sacrifice in many cases and knowing full well the dangers inherent in their choices, to put their lives on the line daily for our country. They deserve all the accolades they can get, and we need to give them the respect they deserve. It doesn’t really matter, I don’t think, what your opinion is of what we do, you cannot help but feel respect for our soldiers.

Still, doesn’t something rankle, just a little bit? Can’t really put my finger on it, whether it’s a level of exploitation or something like that, or trivializing what the men and women do each day but there’s just an uneasiness about it.

I guess, on the whole, it’s not a bad thing when everything is taken into consideration.

The jerseys themselves are, um, unique. As a one-off thing seeing a guy standing around wearing them and they don’t look too bad; I’m wondering what the totality of the view will be when there are five of them running around a confined space. I can see the retina-burning possibilities there for sure.

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Wow.

Peter The Irregular sends this in and it’s classic:

More than half of the Raptors 30 losses this season have been closer than Monday night’s 8-0 Leaves game.

Take that to your MLSE Trivia Contest. Means nothing but kind of nice to know.

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Oh yeah, C. Kelly is in New York for the big tilt tonight; I’m planning a restful night so the IGBT will be back tomorrow for the Bulls.

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Guess the Old Smith Reverse Jinx worked well with the football, no?

Peyton Manning’s headed to Denver – and doesn’t that tempt fates taking work away from Tim Tebow – and all the Alex Smith stuff quiets down a little bit.

And another Alert Irregular points out that there is speculation that Smith will indeed change representation and, frankly, I think he should regardless of where Manning ends up.

Tebow? Mythical Just Win Quarterback should probably stay put and be a backup to a guy who took his job after having four neck surgeries and who is in the mid-30s. Will make Tebow’s return to pick up the pieces if or when Manning gets hurt all that much more dramatic.

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Only saw snippets because Bulls-Magic was a bit compelling at times and Celtics-Hawks was like watching a train wreck but totally underwhelming inaugural performance by DWTS pre-show favourite Martina Navratilova.

Too bad.

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I’m sure you’ve all read the dispatches this morning about the HOTH and the fact that it’s about 99 per cent that Jose Calderon will return tonight (he’ll go through shootaround just to be sure the wonky ankle is okay) and he’ll be right back in the starting lineup.

As he should be.

Forget for a minute that I don’t believe guys should lose starting spots – generally – simply because they are injured; I will repeat this one more time: The Raptors are simply better with him running the offence.

Andrea Bargnani thrives more with a point guard who is accomplished at running high screen and roll stuff; Calderon is a better distributor all around and everyone else is more effective.

It is, to me, a no-brainer.

But that is not to say the Jerryd Bayless hasn’t filled in admirably and isn’t playing some fine basketball.

I’ve seen him, and continue to see him, in some kind of backup, score-first energy guy coming off the bench, kind of a Barbosa Lite right now, a quick fearless guard able to take his man off the dribble and one who’s shooting better now than he has at perhaps any time in his career. There is a spot for a guy like that on this team and unencumbered by the presence of Barbosa, whose “take three steps back, drive the ball just about every time he touches it” style kind of limited what his second-unit backcourt mate can do.

That’s Bayless’s job now and I would think he could shine in it.

Barring any further setbacks for Calderon, the rest of this season amounts to a 21-game audition for Bayless to see what he can do; he is a restricted free agent in the summer with no 100 per cent guarantee to be back. I know the organization is high on him, they see a young, accomplished scorer with solid defensive skills and in many ways, the departure of Barbosa was done so they could get a good look at Bayless in a role they see quite suitable for him.

Hope he takes the ball and runs with it; and I fully expect he will.

 

 

 

When agents operate with conflicts of interest

Pins and needles?

Well, no.

It’s not exactly LeBron James or anything like that, and there’s no deadline in place to get the hype machine roiling towards some make or break moment so maybe that’s why the Peyton Manning Saga hasn’t become bigger than it has up here.

You know the drill, right: Injured quarterback due all kinds of money is cut adrift by only team he’s played for (a decision that karma suggest the Indianapolis Colts will rue) and is now doing some circuit of NFL teams looking for a job.

Been to Miami and that’s a non-starter; visited Tennessee and that remains a possibility; was seen by Denver and the Teboists are aghast.

But the one that’s most interesting to me is Manning thinking about the San Francisco 49ers and not because it would pair a great quarterback with an apparently good coach and a solid defence and likely create an early NFC Super Bowl favourite.

No, what bugs me about that one, and the thing that brings all kinds of questions of conflict of interest into play is that Manning has the same agent as Alex Smith, the guy he’d replace should Manning take his talents to Northern California.

(I would doubt we’d get The Decision, Football Style, given the blowback on LeBron, right?)

Anyway, I’ve always thought that agents in pro sports, particularly in the NBA because that’s what I know best but also in the NFL and, I presume, the NHL and MLB, hold far too much power and manipulate teams and players and situations far too greatly.

I understand the need for agents to have multiple clients – they have to make a living – but doesn’t it kind of stink that the guy who is doing his best to get Manning a job in San Francisco is doing it at the expense of another client whose best interests he’s also trying to protect. Or rather whose best interests he should be trying to protect, because in this instance that is not happening.

I guess what should happen, and I have not idea if this is workable, is for the agent working for Manning recuse himself of all things involving Smith, or vice versa. Set up some kind of Ethical Wall as they do in law firms, where people operate entirely independent of each other.

Agents are, in my opinion, far too powerful far too often, they manipulate the system too easily; representing one guy who is going to take money out of another client’s pocket just strikes me as wrong.

And if I’m Alex Smith and the guy who is supposed to be looking out for my interest is trying to bring someone in who’ll cost me my job, I’m looking for alternative representation.

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Hmm.

Seven of the Sweet 16 left and only two Final Four picks left?

Yeah, my college basketball knowledge is indeed suspect.

How’s your bracket?

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So Derek Fisher is now a free agent, having reached a buyout agreement with the Houston Rockets for the rest of his contract – he had this year and next left on his deal when he was traded last week – and, thankfully, the NBA has closed up one of the gaping loopholes in the CBA that created all kinds of problems.

While I have no problem with traded players working with teams that acquire them to get out of the rest of their deals (“Life is a negotiation,” as David Stern said during the Sacramento arena talks) I’m quite glad that the ability to manipulate the system so a player gets free go back from whence he came is gone.

Fisher is now free to make a deal with any team in the league as he pursues a sixth NBA title but he can’t – thankfully – go back to the Lakers until July.

Players getting out of deals so they could go back home was awful; this way seems much more fair or something.

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Oh yeah, it’s London-Halifax in the NBL Canada final – fitting, I suppose, since they were to the two best teams in the regular season, I understand – and the Lightning win Game 1 by three on Sunday afternoon.

Game 2 in the best-of-five series is tonight, Games 3 and 4, if necessary, go Wednesday-Thursday in Halifax and if they need Game 5, it’s back in London next Sunday.

One of the big concerns about a new league is the competitive nature of the inaugural season, the last thing anyone needs is to have one team so far above the rest that the championship is something of a given.

Hasn’t happened here, that’s for sure. Halifax and Quebec went all three games in their semifinal, London swept Saint John but both games went to the final minute, and Lightning-Rainmen is a compelling and close final.

Kind of hope it goes five games, and I can change a flight up so I can get back from Chicago on Sunday to see this one play to a dramatic finish.

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It’s Windsor and UBC in the CIS women’s basketball final tonight, tape delayed on NBA TV Canada at 9 p.m. and it’s probably worth a look, don’t you think.

I’ll check some out but, have to tell you, there’s at least a bit of interest in DWTS, which kicks off tonight.

I’d love Gladys Knight if she had the Pips but that’s not going to happen; if I had to go with an early favourite, I’m thinking Martina Navratilova might have some moves.

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Raptors?

Dead quiet yesterday after a rather zany couple of weekend days with the crazy game in Memphis, the plane trouble, the collapse in Charlotte and a somewhat fitting end with a little trouble at Pearson that forced them to wind up at a different terminal than usual and added about 75 minutes to the flight home because they had to wait for taxis to get them to their cars at the charter terminal on the north end of the airport.

Probably deserved a day off after that end to four games in five nights and with another four in five starting tomorrow.

They’re back at it today, I presume we’ll find out that Jose will practice and try to go tomorrow night in New York and that’ll be about it.

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The end of the weekend mail

Congratulations, folks, you’ve done it again.

Good stuff in here to finish the weekend; I’ll try to get back before my flight with some stuff off the big game Saturday night.

Hope you all had a good St. Patrick’s Day.

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Q: Hello Doug! So, if timing's everything, I wonder if there've been occasions when you find yourself - thanks to the celestial and the schedule - in just the right place at the right time? And maybe Charlotte will be perfectly suited for a St. Patrick's Day pint (or three), but I'm wondering, if you could choose, in which city, in which pub, drinking which beverage would you be most happy to find yourself on March 17th? And, now for a wee bit of a reality check, can you share your most memorable on-the-road St. Patrick's Day ever? I know if printed, this will appear the day after St. Patrick's Day, but for many of us the effects of the "celebrating" tend to linger through to the day after. :) Cheers!

Lorie P, London

A: You know me, I’m more small city than big so, seriously, a place like Charlotte, or Indy, or OKC or San Antonio, somewhere with a bit of a compressed downtown good for walking and close to my hotel would be perfect. Although having just done Beale Street and having recently been on Bourbon Street, those two might work.

Did land in New York one year about 4 p.m. on St. Patrick’s Day and it was so, so packed it was impossible to move, let alone have fun. And I’m not one for lining up for bars, there’s always another one down the street.

Oh, and the night we were in Salt Lake on St. Patrick’s Day was a bit of a hoot, that was the first year the Raps wore their green and nothing says St. Patrick’s Day like green dinosaurs in Utah. Did manage to have a few with Jack that night, as I recall.

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Q: What's the difference between being waved and a buy out? Also what restrictions are there on teams looking to pick up a waved player or a bought player?

Finally, are there any players recently bought out who could fill out the Raps roster, who they might be interested in taking a look at ?? (Terrance Williams??) or will they fill out the roster with a D-League player or two?

Thanks!

Jeffrey M, Saint John

A: A player being “bought out” usually negotiates a settlement of the money owed him; a waived player gets all his dough.

And, no, there is no interest right now in bringing anyone in “to take a look at.” That’s exactly what they’re doing with guys like Forbes and Bayless, who need the minutes to show what they’ve got.

Other team’s cast-offs hold no allure whatsoever at the moment; you will see someone signed at some point simply for book-keeping purposes to get the Raptors payroll up to minimum levels but as Dwane told us Friday, they don’t need to look at guys, they have enough of them already.

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Q: Hello Doug. Just a couple od years ago, Portland was a shining example of an exciting young team on the rise, with loads of talent and dangerous potential. What's your synopsis of what the hell has happened since then?_Thank you, and for all your daily efforts here on the blog.

David M, Ottawa

A: I wish I knew because that city and those fans deserve better. I will suggest – and this is just an opinion – that ownership and senior, senior management has screwed it up completely by leaving a huge leadership void on the basketball side, the team doesn’t even have a general manager.

It’s a mess and I wonder if they’ll be able to find anyone fully qualified who’d want to go in there and try to fix it.

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Q: In the Barbosa trade, the Raps got a 2nd round pick and financial considerations. What are financial considerations?

Andrew S, Toronto

A: Cash. Up to $3 million, although I’m told it was nowhere near that in the Barbosa trade.

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Q: Doug, is there a purpose to the rubber bands so many players seem to where around their wrists during a game? It would seem possible to me for an opposing player to get a finger caught in one of those bands and potentially break a bone.

Steph R, Glencoe

A: They’re pretty tight so I’m not sure they’re dangerous – if they were, the league would clamp down, as they did years ago on jewelry – and it has something to do with biorhythms or magical mystical powers or something like that. May work. May be entirely bogus.

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Q: Doug. I sense that you are reluctant to dissect the actions of the refs. However, I do have a legit question with respect to the Memphis game.

With 3.8 seconds left, DD was fouled on an inbound play. The ball was never touched nor did the clock move. I thougtht that this would mean that the Raptors were to get free throws plus the ball back. I suppose one could argue that a foul committed while the inbounder has possession of the ball is different than when the ball is in the air (though the official time clock says otherwise). But realistically, holding is rarely called till the ball is thrown in and one's movement is restricted.

In the future, can a team playing the Magic for example, tackle Dwight Howard while the ball is in the air to someone else? Oh and in the Raptor scenario please do not defend the refs and claim that the perpetrator was "making a pay on the ball" since he never got within 10 feet of it.

Jim S, Whitby

A: The officiating was awful, no question about it. But so what, go play. And on the play in question, the determining factor is whether or not the ball has left the inbound passer’s hand; the refs determined it had. Had it not, it would have been shots and the ball.

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Q: Doug- the idea that US college players are pros in all but name - and therefore should be paid - is gaining traction. All this in a situation where over $1 billion(!) per year is made "off NCAA college hoops" by the NCAA in USA. We know the players are "kids"; we know that for a lifetime we have been told they are "amateurs". But NOW, interestingly in an era of new awareness about terribly unfair disparities in wealth, the players' situation is likened to that of poorly or unpaid corporate interns: exploited by their "employers" who market their images and make millions off of their athletic work. And we know that all this is the "pipeline" of players to the NBA - where you and we fans wait to watch the "interns who graduate and make it"(most don't). What do you think? Are we about to watch some sea change in this "system" or are we watching a passing phenomenon of concern for this sort of exploitation.

(I know many would not like the word, but after all, what other word is there?)

Charles N, Toronto

A: I would think at this time in history, there will be – and should – be an increased push to provide college athletes with a stipend. The disparity of wealth, those who create it and those who enjoy it, is just too big.

And I am all in favour of some sort of monthly “wage” if that’s the best word, for athletes who generate all that income. There is absolutely, in my opinion, a level of exploitation; that’s a strong word but it’s correct.

And it goes deeper than just “paying” kids to play games.

Let’s say you’re at a school on an academic scholarship, getting a “free” education in some pursuit like business or engineering or music or anything. You can find work as a teaching assistant, a research assistant, something associated with the university where you are attending school; if you’re an athlete enjoying that same benefits, you can’t work, it’s against the rules and that’s ridiculous, to me.

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Q: Hi Doug. I was listening to the radio broadcast of the Raptor/Cavalier game this week with Paul Jones and Eric Smith. That got me wondering. Over your long career, have you ever had an opportunity to do the play by play or colour commentary of a basketball game or other sport? If not, would you ever consider doing it if you had the chance? Thank you and keep up the great work.

Joe D, Mississauga

A: Way back in the day, and I’m talking about Year 1, I used to fill in on the radio every now and then and it was a bit of gas, I must admit.

But I do truly like the writing process, and the permanency of what you do (radio tapes disappear a lot more quickly than papers and now internet searches) so I’m quite happy doing a wee bit of TV or radio as a guest and then going back to what I think I do best.

The Goods On The Game, Raptors at Bobcats

Good evening, folks.

Once more, into the breach

An odd night and an odd game; and Erin Go Braugh

Well, that was one of the best ugly games I’ve seen in a while, except for the whole “miss first edition with gamer but write a plugger on Forbes in about seven minutes while watching to see what’s actually going on and talking to the nice people in the IGBT” stress.

But that’s what they pay me the mediocre bucks to deal with, isn’t it?

To recap:

Memphis missed 20 of 51 free throws.

The Grizzlies threw the ball around like it was on fire with the 18 turnovers; the Raptors threw the ball around like it was on fire and burning toxic chemicals with 22 turnovers.

The Raptors wanted to foul but fouled too early; they wanted to foul and couldn’t catch a guy to do it; they didn’t want to foul a guy shooting a three-pointer but they did.

I saw the rarest of back-to-backs with a toe-on-the-line-free-throw-line-violation-followed-by-a-palming-violation and as I was mentioning to Jonesy after the game, I would bet you could comb play-by-play logs of every NBA game ever played and not find those two calls being made on successive possessions.

Oh, and it took 3:13 to play.

Yep, one for the ages.

Anyway …

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THREE POINTERS

Odd timing

Leandro’s gone and Jose’s hurt and that leaves three guys – Bayless, DeRozan and Forbes – to play two positions and Dwane’s doing some juggling.

And for players, who can be creatures of habit, it must have felt odd, for one night at least, and likely for tonight.

DeRozan, for instance, usually plays the first nine or 10 minutes before getting a break when Leandro came in.

Last night, DeRozan played the first 16-plus minutes of the game and then the final 90 seconds or so of the second quarter, which is a truly unusual run. Second half was a bit different, he got a break in the third quarter so he’d be fresher for the final minutes as Dwane tried to figure it all out.

It’ll change, of course, when Calderon’s back and Forbes simply slides into the Barbosa role but it was a weird night and might be the same this evening.

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Helping in many ways

Jamaal did a good job in his 15 minutes wrestling with Marc Gasol but that’s not all he did to help.

It’s early in the second quarter and the Raptors made some egregious mistake – I think Aaron Gray might have made a rather silly pass – and Dwane’s hot. He’s yelling a bit and you can see he wants to explode and while he’s staring daggers at everyone, Magloire gets up off the bench, takes a step or two on to the court during the stoppage and offers encouragement, deflecting the attention of a couple of teammates away from the irate coach.

It was a solid veteran move to diffuse a situation and I’m told that’s exactly the kind of thing Magloire’s been doing all year, acting as the older brother calming everybody down.

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Sometimes it’s not a bad thing

Yes, the Raptors fouled far too often for most of the game – 35 personals, two guys disqualified, handful on the verge – but I’ll tell you this.

That was a tough a game as they’ve played and that’s not necessarily a bad thing.

They hit Gasol and Randolph and Gay, guys like Ed Davis and Amir Johnson went to toe-to-toe in the paint and, as much to themselves as anyone, it proved they have the “physicality” to not take stuff lying down.

Now, I don’t prescribe sending the other team to the free throw line 51 times in a game with regularity but if they play that tough and are that willing to bang, it’s not a bad thing at all.

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Here we go …

Slainte.

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Two cabbies, two levels of knowledge.

On way to shootaround, guy finds out what I do, we get to talking NBA and college basketball and, it being Memphis and all, it gets around to John Calipari, who is not liked by all around these parts.

Me: What’d you think of Cal?

Smart guy: We run that crooked cheating (word best left out of a family blog) out of town. He damn afraid to come back here.

Much salty language ensues and it’s apparent that Calipari is not on this fellow’s Christmas card list.

And then, on way to game …

Driver: And where are you from?

Me: Toronto, in for the basketball game.

Driver: Toronto? A team from Canada? All of Canada?

Me: Um, yeah.

Driver: Is it a friendly? Or a real game?

Good question.

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I’m stuck in Charlotte watching a game and I’m sure there’s a raucous party raging back at Casa Doug ‘cause Super Dog turns six today.

Or so they tell me.

Good for her.

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Well, here’s a first.

I beat the HOTH to Charlotte.

Seems there was a bit of a mechanical issue with their plane late Friday night getting out of Memphis, they had to check back into their hotel there and didn’t get out until after noon, or weren’t supposed to because as I type this, they’re still back there and I’m catching a bit of the St. Patrick’s Day parade in Charlotte out of my hotel window.

(Had to get dropped off a couple of blocks from the hotel because the road was closed and was forced to cut across the parade route to get here. Felt a Ferris Bueller Moment)

Anyway, it’s the first big plane messup I can recall with these guys; they’ve been delays before but I don’t remember a plane issue keeping them back. They did get an extra night in Indianapolis a year or so ago because of weather but never mechanical issues.

Just heard everyone’s cool but they aren’t likely to get to Charlotte until about 3 p.m. local time and that’s a really short turnaround for a 7 p.m. game.

Could be another wild night ahead of us.

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The start of the weekend mail

Hey everyone.

You go through this while I catch a morning flight up or over to Charlotte (my sense of geography’s a bit off) and we’ll get back with some Friday post-game stuff whenever I can.

Oh yeah, might have a couple of hours to putter around on the ones I didn’t get to but there aren’t too many, if you want to get in on the fun, you know how to do it, right?

But first, a bit of Van?

We’ll have more later, it’s a big Irish day.

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Q: Will the NBA ever consider giving all of the teams that don't make the playoffs (1-13) the same amount of lottery balls. This way fans aren't compelled out of good sense to root against their [insert sub-500 record here] teams for the last three months of the season just in the hopes of getting the next [insert transformational star player here] in the draft.

It grinds on a fan base to go into each game hoping your team plays well but falls short. Because everyone is afraid of becoming that dreaded .500 team that can't go deep in the playoffs but isn’t bad enough to pick first or second in draft. Watching Raptors games have become a joyless affair.

If every team gets equal weighting come lottery time the number 1 pick will still go to a "have-not" team and fans can actually enjoy games by rooting for their teams and be rewarded with either a playoff berth or a chance at winning the lottery.

Something has to change. NBA must realize its not healthy for the fans in half their markets holding their noses, rooting against W's and waiting for a half-hour lottery draft show in May. Not exactly the kind of thing that makes you want to plop down 100 bucks to go see a game.

Alex P, Toronto

A: No, I don’t anything will change, nor does it have to. While a bit flawed, the lottery process is good, in my opinion. And since the draft is arguably the smallest part of building a successful team, I don’t know that anything has to change.

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Q: Good Morning Doug. I asked this question to you last night and was wondering, during the off season are there many trades that take place in the NBA? Also, can you explain the Raptors financial salary for next year, I read that they will have between 10 and 20 million in cap space depending on the "trade excemption"? I need some clarification.

Matt D, Dorchester

A: Sure, there are lots of trades consummated around the draft and a few sign-and-trade deals at the start of free agency so that possibility absolutely exists.

Without knowing specifics like the salary cap number, the Raptors are under the assumption – and it’s always a very good assumption – that they will have more than $10 million to spend on free agents with a chance to increase that significantly if they decide to use the amnesty clause on any player.

And let me use this to add this about the Barbosa deal:

Let's say it's draft night and the Raptors are picking, oh, seventh for argument's sake. They don't like the seventh pick all that much but some other playoff team does and they've got a really good player who makes $9 million a year they want to get rid of for tax or payroll purposes.

The Raptors can now trade for that guy without gutting their roster; they could not have made that transaction had they not freed up Barbosa's money this week.

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Q: I am losing any hope for the Toronto Raptors for the next 8-10 years. Miami, Chicago, Orlando, Indiana, and Atlanta appear to be strong. Then New York, Philadelphia, and Boston will always be competitors. Unless we land a mega superstar, what chance do we have in the years to come? How can we compete with these team with the Raps so young and so many pieces needed?

Yogesh L, Woodbridge

A: Eight to 10 years? Wow. That’s long-term gloom and doom; perhaps another sport might be in order?

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Q: Hello Doug: so as of this writing (Wednesday), the Raptors are 4 games out of a playoff spot, so they are technically still in the race. Now, I want to clarify: I'm not saying they will make it, and I don't think they will. But let's do a hypothetical and say they somehow sneak in to that 8th spot (we'll assume in this situation it would be a playoff trip that leads to a four-game sweep at the hands of the Bulls). Fans would love it I'm sure, seeing as it would be a surprise, the players would obviously want it and would relish the opportunity even if it's only four games, and of course the owners would love the extra playoff cash. So yeah, there's obviously some positives to be had. However, this isn't supposed to be a playoff year -- it's meant to be a year of learning and watching a young team grow while waiting for some more pretty good pieces to come in. Sneaking in to the playoffs means they'd be out of the lottery and it would rob them of a potentially very good pick. Of course the front office isn't going to ask the team to tank it (and the team obviously won't), but I have to think despite all the positives a surprise playoff berth could do for the franchise Colangelo and his basketball office-mates have to be cringing a little bit at the fact they are basically in a race for the 8th spot that wasn't in their rebuilding plans until maybe next season. Would you agree with that?

Simon S-G, Toronto

A: If they’re cringing, they should be fired. You play to win and find out where you are at the end of the season and if that means eighth in the East and you have the 15th pick, so what?

You’ve already got a very high draft pick coming next year – consensus of non-Raptors scouts I’ve talked to this week is that Valanciunas would today be the No. 2 pick behind Anthony Davis.

So, to me, the pick is a bonus, they’ve got a promising kid coming anyway.

Win games, gain experience, teach the kids what it takes and, in effect, your 2012 draft bonanza came in 2011.

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Q: Doug, your comment about Ed Davis' free throws from the "low baseline shot" got me thinking.

The Raptors broadcasts all like to mix up the camera angles during play, sometimes near the end of the game, and I can't take it any more. During play, only the side camera angle should be used. The other baseline, under-the-basket or close-up cameras should be for replays only (OK, I'll allow free throws, too). You just can't see anything, and gauging the trajectory of a shot becomes almost impossible.

But it's not just for basketball. One prominent channel uses a behind-the-net camera for pucks power-plays and it's awful. The players are so far away and you can only see half the ice. Yet in both hoops and pucks, these horrid angles (for live action) are constantly used. Why? "Just because"?

Please use some of your vast influence to tell them to knock it off.

Thanks. Much appreciated.

Mike B, Toronto

A: I have no influence but, trust me, people in power will see this and your point will be made. It’s not just you, either; if there’s been one consistent complaint about the broadcast – and I don’t see enough to know if it’s legitimate – is the camera angles.

The Goods On The Game, Raptors at Grizzlies

Hi, everybody.

All over that electrifying Trade Deadline Day?

Bad deals, great songs and the inevitable Barbosa departure

To repeat.

Holy crap.

What kind of day was that?

Guy gets off a plane to find the team he covers made a deal out of nowhere and that opened the floodgates and if there’s been a busier trade deadline day in my time around this league, I can’t remember when it was.

Made of a busy writing day with this rundown of the deals and this Nothin’ But Net main and the Barbosa tale and it did leave one little thing for here.

The Lakers took the biggest gamble of any team that did anything yesterday.

And it was a bad move, I think.

Look, I know as well as anyone that there is no loyalty in sports, either from players or organizations or coaches; it is a business first and foremost and a business of winning.

But the Lakers, by dealing away Derek Fisher in what was little more than a cash dump – he had $3.4 million for next year, which is little more than a pittance – cut the heart out of a team and they will rue the day.

Sure, at 37 he was slowing down and they needed an upgrade and they got it with Ramon Sessions, who is an entirely serviceable guard they obtained from Cleveland.

But to dump Fisher, who by all accounts was the conscience of that team, the minder of the strong-willed Kobe Bryant, the true leader of a fractious collection of egos and talents, was a horrible signal.

Jordan Hill, the guy they got, is a bit piece, couldn’t get a lick of consistent playing time in Houston and he’ll forever be known as the guy who cost the Lakers Derek Fisher. Tough tag to wear.

Anyway, guys like Derek Fisher, who win championships and comport themselves with dignity and class and who are model citizens for your franchise, need to be kept around until they retire.

They know that age is limiting their skills, they’re smart enough to realize it’s time to take a step back playing-wise but they are integral parts of a collective, and people who keep that elusive “chemistry” going well.

They are icons and they deserve to be treated better.

The Lakers took a huge, unnecessary gamble with that trade, I hope it blows up in their face.

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No, it doesn’t get much better than this.

Dubliners? Molly Malone?

If it ain’t Jack Armstrong and I in a saloon, it truly doesn’t get any better than this.

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Okay, with all the work and all the stuff, I didn’t get to see a lot of NCAA basketball all that closely yesterday – it was white noise most of the afternoon in the room; Rendezvous is TV-free zone, the Blues Hall was music – but from what I did see I will say this:

They need to get it back on ESPN, fast. Or Turner has to get some people in their studio who know college basketball.

The guys doing play by play and colour are okay, they’re doing games and it’s hard to screw them up, but you get absolutely no insight from the studio guys.

Not sure what it was like back home but down here we got blather and chatter and no information from the studio at all. I’m one of those casual viewers who wants to learn stuff; I can’t do that with Charles and Ernie and Greg Anthony looking bored and sounding uninformed.

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Leandro’s gone and that’s too bad because I don’t know if there was a more universally-liked Raptor but, in the big picture, it’s a good move, no?

It was inevitable that they’d lose him – they want the money to add to the kitty more than they want him at $7 million-plus – and doing it now helps him out, it helps them take a much longer look at Gary Forbes and what’s the harm in it?

And, no, there was never going to be a player coming back in an LB trade, we’ve been saying that and hearing that for months; and since you figure Bryan talked to about 29 GMs about him over the course of the season, it would appear that a second-round pick was it.

Too bad but sometimes what you’re selling isn’t being bought at exorbitant prices.

That’s just reality.

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Well, well, well.

Some NBL Canada drama.

In what has to be seen as something of an upset, the Quebec Kebs beat the Halifax Rainmen in Game 2 of their best-of-three semifinal last night and it goes to a deciding game tonight.

Winner, of course, gets London in the best-of-five final.

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You know how we run into conventions and whatnot out here on the road?

Well, checked in along with a few hundred people in my hotel who are here as part of the American Contract Bridge Association get-together.

Never felt younger.

And didn’t realize they still played bridge. Thought it went out of vogue decades or two ago; or when Super Mom and her cronies stopped having the every-two-week-bridge-club-gabfest on our street. That was always a big day when we hosted it, Super Mom would put out those Glossette chocolate covered raisins as snacks and the ladies would barely touch them which meant a very special, if sneaky, breakfast pour moi.

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Mail? I have this afternoon free and I don’t imagine I’ll get asked to the bridge game.

Do. It. Here.

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Here’s one quick rundown of the winner and the losers in yesterday’s flurry of trades

WINNERS

Indiana

Barbosa is precisely what they need, they move George Hill to the starting line and there’s all kinds of tempo off the bench, still.

Houston

Forget Fisher, the big pick up, I’d say, is Marcus Camby, who still has some game and whose length will come in handy in the post-season.

LOSERS

Portland

Two trades that got them nothing, the fire the coach and that’s one huge, ugly mess.

New Jersey

Didn’t get Howard, can’t get him until the end of the 2012-13 season and, by then, I’m betting Deron Williams is in Dallas.

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

The word for today:

Beware.

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

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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.

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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.

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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.

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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.

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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.

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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.

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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.

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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.

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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.

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The Goods On The Game, Raptors at Nets

Happy Trade Deadline Eve.

Everyone well?