And another fan favourite is heading out

Well this ought to get a few of you going.

While I took the night off, it seems they’ve agreed to send James Johnson to the Sacramento Kings for a second-round draft choice. The deal’s not done but it could be today and it will come as no surprise whatsoever.

Hardly a windfall, right?

Now, I know Bryan is looking for whatever financial relief he can get – even miniscule like the $2.8 million or so that Johnson was due to make this year – so maybe he could have gotten a player back but that wasn’t the plan.

I’m going to put James up with Julian Wright, Antoine Wright and maybe even Pops as guys who fans tended to like an awful lot more than coaches.

As we mentioned a couple dozen times last year, James would have a tendency to go rogue, especially on offence; he had the bench episode with Dwane that resulted in a de facto two-game suspension (they didn’t actually suspend him because they didn’t want to take money away from him, which is an honourable thing to do in many ways) and, frankly, his effort – according to people who saw him in practice every day and watched games more closely and analytically than you or I – was too inconsistent.

So he’s gone, or will be in the next few hours, and while many will lament what could have been or what he did, they don’t seem to have nearly the same opinion.

Maybe they’re wrong, I believe they’re right and the departure does nothing to swing the balance of power in the East. Nor does it lessen what this team is or will be.

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Things that happened on the weekend that we missed:

Woody Guthrie would have turned 100 and who didn’t sing this in some school music class way back in the day when (a) they had music classes in all schools and (b) teachers were able to embarrass everyone into singing.

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Okay, Tuesday ends the amnesty period and if Bryan uses it – and he continues to say it’s a last resort and there’s no plans right now – I’m thinking it’s a big mistake.

Especially if he does it for Jose, which, according to the last time I spoke with Bryan, was not in the cards.

No matter what you think, Calderon is an asset as much as anything, a solid guard with a big contract and to limit your moves with him – if there are moves to be made – by giving him away for nothing makes no sense whatsoever.

It leaves you with no backup point guard and there aren’t an awful lot of proven NBAers floating on the market; there’s no indication there’s a $10-million player out there that they’re interested in adding; why not wait, use the player in the season to see what’s up for trades and, at worst, have that money next summer.

No, it’d be the dead wrong thing to do.

Other candidates? Not sure there are any. The Kleiza piece was interesting but now maybe there’s a role for him at the three; I think if you need to divest yourself of either Amir Johnson or Ed Davis, it’s better to explore trades than giveaways.

-

In a moment of entire weakness, got home from my gig at the ballyard on Sunday (this and this came out of a relatively easy day) and Super Son’s got the Raptors-Heat summer league game on and I figure I’d watch some.

In that game there were 61 fouls called in 40 minutes, the winning team shot 32.4 per cent from the field, the losers shot 35.3 per cent from the field and teams combined to go 4-for-28 from three-point range.

I resisted a terrible urge to stick a pin in my eye but when it was mercifully over, the vow was made again to never, ever watch a summer league game. Even if means painting a wall somewhere and watching it dry; that’d be more entertaining.

-

This is classic.

In an interview yesterday about Jeremy Lin and the back-ended “poison pill” offer sheet from the Houston Rockets, these words tumbled out of Carmelo Anthony:

“It’s not up to me. It’s up to the organization to say they want to match that ridiculous contract that’s out there.”

Now, I’m not sure about the levels of solidarity between members of the players association but shouldn’t one guy want his brother in arms to get as much money by whatever means as possible?

Isn’t that the deal? Maximize your value, rightly or wrongly or however it impacts one team or another?

Look, sure it’s a big, potentially arduous contract that Lin might sign off a career that’s spanned all of 25 starts or so. But he got it, not sure I’d want a potential teammate to be telling everyone how ridiculous it is.

-

So I’m a Seamhead for one day and it’s a big one since the iconic Bob Elliott gets to throw out the first pitch and I am really, really glad I was there to see it.

Big Boy, as he’s known in some circles, gets the J.G. Taylor Spink Award from the baseball Hall of Fame in Cooperstown next weekend and Sunday was the last Jays home game and they decided to honour him with the first-pitch thing and a video tribute before the game.

Now, I’m not sure how many of you know Bob but if there’s a more connected, respected, hard-working beat grunt in North America, I’d be surprised.

He is the epitome of what our craft should be: Fair, even-keeled (I don’t know that I’ve read him “scream” in a column in the almost 30 years I’ve known him) and readers would be far better served if more of us were like him.

He is a baseball guy – sandlot, national team programs, minor leagues, major leagues – and he treats the game and the men and women in it with respect.

He helped me along this path an awful lot of years ago when I was first breaking into the big leagues of beat writing and I’ll never forget it.

Not a better guy in the business and even if he bounced the first pitch into the right-handed hitter’s batters box, it doesn’t matter.

Fine tribute to a fine man.

-

 

 

Comments

[FrankL]

You made me laugh about the summer league game Doug! I confess to having turned it on for awhile, but only paid attention when I realized that they had Coach Sam Mitchell doing "commentary" - chatting with Chris Bosh and telling stories without paying any attention whatsoever to the game. I didn't leave it on after halftime; sounds like I made the right decision.

[Striker 77]

Morning Doug,

Did you see/hear the comments made by JR Smith about the contract offered to Lin? Dude was basically saying that it would make him angry if Lin signed something like that. I never even thought about how other players react to team mates hitting a huge pay day...Isnt this the way sports has been for the last 15-20 years? Very interesting reactions...

[AT]

aside from LK, the hole keep getting bigger at 3? BC must have something cooking, no? it would be shame to see the amnesty to be used on Calderon. I think that the amnesty was invented to help teams out from Baron Davis, Gilbert Arenas and Elton Brand contracts, not Calderon or Scola... what a steal he was for the suns.

[raptorsfan]

I don't like the JJ trade at all. I think he has alot of potential to be one of the better SF in this league.

I think he has the tools, talents and he could be a potential lock down defender.

Maybe, his court decision aren't that great but those things can be teach. You can't teach for physical tool, talents.

He is the one that lead the team in blocks and steals. He the only one has more than 1 steals a game despite playing only iike 25 mins I think.

I think it's a big mistake. He will turn into a better SF that the raptors could find.

[LeeZ]

Doug, you have violated the sacrosanct rule that binds all journalists: never bury the lead. Not only did you bury the lead, you didn't even INCLUDE the lead. The readers of this blog deserve better, Douglas, and we await your heartfelt apology. This is what you SHOULD have opened your blog with:New York will receive Felton and Kurt Thomas, while Portland will acquire Jared Jeffries, Dan Gadzuric and the draft rights to Kostas Papanikolaou and GEORGIOS PRINTEZIS. Yes, Doug, Georgios is BACK, baby!!! And the balance of power in the NBA has instantly shifted away from Miami to Portland.

[J.r]

Is the James johnson Deal perhaps part of a bigger deal BC might be working on ?

I know JJ was not the most polished member of the team but he was young and had tons of upside defensively. How on earth did we give him up for so cheap ?

[sam]

There have been a couple of players waded through the Raptors rotation that went on to have pretty good showings on other teams - Chris Humphries name comes to mind - As a member of the HOTH he never found his place, but became a pretty good player for the Nets.
James Johnson might be that same type of player, I certainly hope BC and company didn't give up on him too soon.

Good for Bob Elliott - well deserved recognition.

[Shaun]

Doug,

Thoughts on the Argos/Ticats game? Chris Williams had a pretty unbelievable game.

Blogger's note: Sort of ran out of space this morning; he sure did, and no way any CFL team can expect to win giving up two kick returns for touchdowns in one half

[Tim H.]

Hey Doug:

Two things (and maybe the first was answered in your response to Shaun):

1) "(More on that in the morning)." I assume that you were going to have something to say about the game in today's blog, but then BC messed that up with the JJ trade?
2) You may (or may not) be happy to know that your articles on the Star website now have the byline "By Doug Smith" (although the link to that article is "By Smith, Doug" So, who are you? ;>)

Blogger's note: 1: Yes

[Losing faith]

We traded away the first round pick used to select Norris Cole to get JJ. Now we have turned that into a future second round pick. Too many swings and misses. This trade doesn't bother me, but giving up first round picks for bench guys on other teams bothers me.

[peter from Saint John, NB]

Can't say I'm sorry to see JJ go. He had great athleticism, but was way too erratic, inconsistent, and undisciplined for what the Raptors need at small forward.
It looks as if Bryan isn't through making moves yet.

Despite the two meaningless losses of the summer league Raptors, I am quite impressed with the potential of Terrence Ross. Very atheletic, good shooter, good rebounder, not afraid to drive to the hoop. Looks like a good draft pick.

Can't wait for the season to start.

[AT]

Doug just read somewhere in a blog that part of the reason that Jose(and agent) wants out is that it is a contract year for him and if he stays in TO, his chance to put up good numbers will be reduced compared to if he goes somewhere were he starts. Do you think there is any truth to this and does BC let that influence his decision as to what to do with Jose? Playing time is one thing but one this is arguably Jose's one last crack at ta big contract

Blogger's note: I'm sure it's a tiny part of it; am also sure it won't have an impact on what Bryan does

[Steven]

So as part of the sign and trade for Bosh the Raptors get back their first round pick and Miami's first round pick which they trade for James Johnson who they trade for a future second round pick. They also get a $13 million dollar trade exemption of which they use $4 million to get Barbosa and don't use the other $9 million. Then they trade Barbosa for a late second round pick and get a $7 million trade exemption that can be used before free agency that they don't use. The return on the Bosh sign and trade appears to be equivalent to the return on the McGrady sign and trade and Carter trade and the reason the Raptors continue to be one of the have-nots in the NBA.

[chris]

James Johnson was our best defender last year.

Blogger's note: In your opinion; not shared by all.

[Derek]

Morning Doug,
Does the NBA have "incentive" clauses built into their player contracts? (for points scored, games played, etc.)? I hear about incentive-laden contracts in the NFL quite often (and I believe NHL as well), but don't recall hearing it in the NBA. If not, is there anything in the CBA that prevents them from doing so? Would seem to me that when taking a flyer on a player with "potential" it would make alot more sense to offer a player a "reasonable" contract amount with the potential to be a "high" contract amount if the player meets or exceeds expectations. Or does the potential incentives mess up the cap #s?

Blogger's note: There can be some incentives - team-based, mostly -- built into contracts but they are relatively minor and are taken into consideration for cap purposes

[Mike kovacs]

Carmelo Anthony, let me introduce you to Mr Kettle...

[Mos High]

I watched both of the pre season games in full. I taped them on pvr so i skip the commericals. I dont watch it for which team plays the best just for the potential players that will be on team.

I like Acy is rough and tough, Raptors need that more then Solomon Alabi. Acy is just Raw good guy to go out and give some fouls and rebound.

Its only 2 preseason games , but I can tell why Raptors selected T Ross. He looks to have no issue getting free so he can get a shot. He has some silky smooth moves. Im sure he will be starting 2 for Raptors by December Demarr at 3.

James Johnson nice player, but Im sure there is a reason they traded him away. We need a balanced team. I wish they traded away Klezia, shot happy guy with Zero defence. Im sure nobody wants Klezia and his 4.6mill contract over next 2 years.

Its nice if they keep Calderon around and trade for good value during the year. Uzoh doesnt look ready to be a everyday back up point guard.

[LeeZ]

So, all kidding aside on the Georgios Pintezis thing, what would possess a team to acquire his rights in this trade? Is it to satisfy some weird criterion as part of a sign and trade (e.g. you have to at least acquire somebody's rights if cash is involved in the transaction, or something like that), or does Portland ACTUALLY want our boy Georgios? Is there something we don't know here? Has Georgie Boy actually developed a game all of a sudden? And if so, and if he makes it in the NBA, I can just imagine the letters you'll get! "BC screwed up AGAIN! He let Pintezis go for NOTHING!!!"

Blogger's note: I honestly have no clue why anyone would include him in either end of any transaction.

[LeeZ]

btw, I'm shocked you haven't been inundated with querries as to why the Raps aren't lining up to get Josh Childress, now that he's being amnestied. I think this heat wave has finally gotten to some of the Irregulars. Clearly we're off our game.

[John]

I know there's probably not a ton of difference between a late first rounder and an early second rounder and we were well served by taking a flyer on JJ and yadda yadda yadda. But the optics of turning a first round pick into a second round pick in a 12 month period aren't too impressive. A little reverse Midas touch? I can't wait to see the next winner of the Luke Jackson memorial former failed lottery pick SF project.

[rajiv]

Doug, the snake oil salesman has got to you once again which makes me wonder if you are indeed part of his entourage. The season ending sales pitch was the added flexibility before July 1, the salary cap that would bring a top flight swing man. Apparently that was all talk as instead of swinging for the fences our beloved raptors management have taken a swish at thin air. Their plan A, B C and the backup plan was Steve Nash and that he would rope in the ageing Grant Hill as well making the mighty Raptors instant contenders for the eighth playoff spot. Instead they land with Lowry who is a marginal improvement on the starting PG on the losing team from last year, an overpriced undersized SG marketed as the answer at the SF position. Lo and behold the much touted salary cap has been exhausted and the Raptors are in a good to have situation of a $10M caliber PG for backup that will help the team compete for the top lottery pick next year. Oh wait! There is the added flexibility generated by trading your starting SF and his huge salary of $2M for a second round pick. Time for the lackey planted in the media to step up and explain how a starter having a career year being jettisoned for peanut shells is a good thing. Unlike other Raptor management’s astute picks like DeRozan, JJ did not have shooting range, did not block shots and was often absent on defense unlike Ed Davis. You forgot to mention that his salary was higher than the darling buds at PF and SG and therefore provide the extra flexibility for the next snake oil pitch. The Raptors are now around the cap limit that will be used to complete the roster strength. On days we are feeling happy and buoyant, the fans will indulge in buying a Raptor game ticket so that they can quickly return to reality and leave the arena despondent and praying for a lucky toss of the coin next year.
When you read How Bosh felt everyday coming to work for a loser, it is no wonder no self respecting ball player or any other professional sports player wants to come to Toronto. In the absence of good competition, the starved fans have to make do with the snake oil salesman both in the arena and the lackey who endorses the salesman.

Blogger's note: Thanks for reading and if you think I'm going to engage you in conversation with all the name calling, you're sadly misinformed. Bye

[Rob.V]

Hmm, I think what we're missing here and what we dont get to see is two fold:
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1. Work ethic
2. Attitude?
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Any team that aspires to be a winning franchise (in any business) cannot have members of their team who do not work hard, and complain. How many of you have terminated such employees or moved them out some other way? The buisiness of sports is no different I suppose.
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If you want to win you have to be "serious" about it. No jokers, no players that give effort when they want to. Dude had mentioned at some point that it was on record that JJ would play just heard enough to "get you fired"!. I have no idea where the quote came from however it doesn't matter... the perception is there. In thinking back, he also proved this to the team with his lasckluster effort after his discipline last season for a handful of games (looked like a completely different player).
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He may get it one day and go on to be a very productive player however this is a young and fragile team. They're going to need everyone on board this season to pull out of this 4 year (no playoff) tailspin.
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From what I had seen I liked Johnson as well however if you're a smart ass who isn't a team guy at my place of work, you have to go!, the same should apply to the Raptors.
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Coach seems like a very level headed quality character. If he wanted James Johnson on the team I'm sure Colangelo wouldn't have traded him simply for cap relief and a 2nd rounder... I think we're going to have to trust coach on this one.

[Lorie]

Doug!
Oh man...So, I was out walking the dog and had the mobile thingy with me and checked my twitter feed and I see your blog's been posted on it and the subject is that 'another fan favourite is heading out'. Well, I was so worried it was Jose that I didn't open the link for three hours. When is this amnesty thing over? Tomorrow, you say? Is it noon or is it midnight? 'Cause my nerves are frayed - frayed, I tell you. Anyway, while performing my pranayama - and regaining perspective and a reduced heart rate - cued up this very moving Pete Seeger and Johnny Cash performance.
http://youtu.be/NHbTWJ9tjnw
And Bruce Springsteen and Tom Morello seldom begin this poweful song without first speaking of Woody Guthrie's legacy.
http://youtu.be/n-mq0uJ7rlM
Cheers!
PS - And sitting in the stadium the other night, didn't you find yourself feeling sort of sad that this is Ivor Wynne's final season? All that history...Henley, Faloney, Gabriel, Clements, DiPietro, Zambiasi...and, of course, Mosca.

[LeeZ]

I'm not going to sing JJ's praises again, but I will say this: he must have had a pretty poor attitude with the Raps, either that or BC is cooking up something that requires the extra 2 mill in space. Because JJ clearly has the tools to be a very capable sf in this league. The things he was deficient in are areas that can easily be taught and corrected with experience, especially with a guy like Casey at the helm. I guess he just wasn't willing to buy into whatever Dwayne was teaching. If I'm right about that, it's too bad. Hope the kid figures it out.

[Rob.V]

So, we've all heard of the term Snake Oil Salesmen however I had no idea of the origin so I thought why not use this as an opportunity to learn something. Here you go, for those who might be interested.
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Chinese labourers on railroad gangs involved in building the First Transcontinental Railroad first gave snake oil to Europeans with joint pain.[2] When rubbed on the skin at the painful site, snake oil was claimed to bring relief. This claim was ridiculed by rival medicine salesmen, and in time, snake oil became a generic name for many compounds marketed as panaceas or miraculous remedies whose ingredients were usually secret, unidentified, or mis-characterized and mostly inert or ineffective.
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The snake oil peddler became a stock character in Western movies: a travelling "doctor" with dubious credentials, selling fake medicines with boisterous marketing hype, often supported by pseudo-scientific evidence. To increase sales, an accomplice in the crowd (a shill) would often attest to the value of the product in an effort to provoke buying enthusiasm. The "doctor" would leave town before his customers realized they had been cheated.[2] This practice is also called grifting and its practitioners are called grifters.