Mavericks at Raptors, game-day Dino-bytes

The usual game-day, post-shootaround look at tonight’s Raptors game

 

DALLAS (11-11) vs. TORONTO (4-19)

Air Canada Centre

TIPOFF: 7 p.m.

TV: TSN; RADIO: FAN590

 

Probable starters

Dallas: Derek Fisher, O.J. Mayo, Dahntay Shawn Marion, Chris Kaman; Toronto: Jose Calderon, DeMar DeRozan, Mickael Pietrus, Ed Davis, Jonas Valanciunas.

 

Key backups tonight

Dallas: Vince Carter (remember him?), Darren Collison (was a starter until Fisher’s arrival); Toronto: Amir Johnson (refreshed after one-game absence), John Lucas III (has to run offence efficiently).

 

Season series

Dallas 109, Toronto 104, Nov. 7 at Dallas

Mavs had a big lead and let Toronto back in the game, just not back far enough. Chris Kaman and O.J. Mayo got Toronto with 22 points each.

All-time, the Raptors are 10-22 versus the Mavs and 7-8 in Toronto.

 

What happened this morning

A bit of good news

Hardly earth-shattering but Alan Anderson’s got the nod to play with no minutes limitations. He’ll come off the bench but should get substantial playing time.

“I wouldn’t have come back if I was limited in anything,” he said. “I’m full go to.”

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Amir’s sorry

First chance to speak with Amir Johnson since the league suspended him for that untimely mouthpiece toss Monday in Portland and he was as contrite as you’d expect.

“It was hard, letting your teammates down,” he said, before telling us he’s apologized to the other Raptors.

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Whistle-blowers

For those who care, Bill Kennedy, Bennie Adams and Karl Lane are in charge of this evening’s festivities.

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Can’t wait

We will be among greatness tonight.

There’s a suggestion that Arvydas Sabonis, one of the truly great players ever, will be in the building. He’s here checking out his countrymen Jonas Valanciunas and Linas Kleiza in his role as chief of the Lithuanian basketball federation.

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Oh yeah

Vince says hi. We’ll have more on him here later on this afternoon.

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Since we asked …

Rick Carlisle knows a thing or two about Dwane Casey and he knows a thing or two about the NBA so it was logical to query him on the state of the Raptors, wasn’t it?

“Case is a great coach and he’s a champion. I’m sure they’ll stay the course. They’ve got a young team and they’re beat up with a lot of injuries.

“They’re extremely dangerous, they had Brooklyn down 15 points in the game the other night.

“This franchise is a lot healthier than it may appear from a won-loss record. They’ve got a great young coach, they’ve got one of the best GMs in the league.

“You asked me my opinion; that’s my opinion.”

 

 

 

Comments

[JHK]

Haters can say whatever they want but I love Vince.
Yes he mistreated us towards the end but it was a pleasure to have him playing for us during his pre-prime/prime days.
Oh and yes, those days happen to be our only winning days.
It's time to let that grudge go and give this guy some love.

[who cares]

What else is Carlisle going to say about Casey, an old buddy who worked for him?

I mean really.... why don't you ask if he'd like to have Casey's job if he had the chance..

Season is pretty bleak when a team much better than the third season team is on track to get as many team as that "bad" team.

Fire BC and all his cohorts - clean house baby!!

Blogger's note: Just once -- ONCE -- I'd like to hear someone say fire someone and present an alternative guaranteed to be better. But that's too hard, I presume; means actual thought and not kneejerk reactions

[LeeZ]

Blogger's note: Just once -- ONCE -- I'd like to hear someone say fire someone and present an alternative guaranteed to be better.

O.K., I'll put my money where my mouth is and say Ron Jeremy er, um, Stan Van Gundy. I think he'd be a great fit for our team. He would TRULY insist on accountability and would change the culture. He's not afraid to do things his own way, come hell or high water. Like I posted earlier, I think DC needs a proper amount of time to grow into the job, plus he needs an offensive coordinator, but if they did decide to can him, I'd be o.k. with SVG. What do you think, Doug?

Blogger's note: I think Stan is an excellent coach. With this collection of players he would certainly be different but no on can guarantee better. I remember people over the moon when Glen hired Lenny Wilkens

[coachd]

Hi Doug,

I think what the Raps have lacked the last couple of years is some quality veteran leadership coming off the bench and in the locker room.. As crazy as it might sound, would they have been better off keeping Jamal Magliore on the roster this year? I know that he didn't have much left, but maybe your 15th man isn't there for the playing time. That or maybe they should have gone out and gotten a quality bench guy like a Garbojosa or a Parker. I'd still like them to bring Carter back in the fold.

[Bob]

Blogger's note: Just once -- ONCE -- I'd like to hear someone say fire someone and present an alternative guaranteed to be better. But that's too hard, I presume; means actual thought and not kneejerk reactions.

I agree Doug. It's getting annoying. And the rare time anybody does offer a name, it's like "Fire Casey and Colangelo, bring in Jerry Sloan or Phil Jackson to coach, and bring back Glen Grunwald as GM". Talk about crazy pills... We have a more realistic chance of finishing first overall this season than getting Sloan or Jackson to even return a phonecall regarding coaching, and i'm pretty sure Grunwald is quite happy where he is at the moment... I think these are the same fans who are like "we should trade Calderon and Fields for Rudy Gay" or "package Bargnani and Calderon for Kevin Love". They do seem rather clueless.

I personally feel at this point, with such a young team, Casey and Colangelo should BOTH finish the season (barring an upcoming stretch of say10 more straight blowout losses) and re-evaluate AFTER the season. Just my opinion, i don't claim to be an expert, but do try to keep a realistic view of the situation.

PS why aren't Cleveland or New Orleans or Detroit or Washington freaking out like Raptorland is? Does anybody think we are really any clearly better than those other young, growing teams?

[Bob]

Shaq and Dwight Howard have both at some point said negative things about Stan Van Gundy. Although from those two hoolilgans, i take it with a grain of salt. Any idea what it was about?

Blogger's note: Nope

[B. Lobb]

Hey Doug,

I've been thinking about some of the "off paper" aspects of this team, the qualitative aspects. I'm not convinced Lowry's leadership is the best for the team. He's impatient and immature. The young fellas need a solid lockeroom leader to help focus this team's talents. With all do respect to Lowry and his on the court skills, I think he should be packaged in a trade with Bargnani. They would fetch more value and we can keep Calderon around (whom I think is more valuable than people think). As for Bargnani, he's so defensively soft that it really runs against the defensive culture DC is trying to instill. It seems risky to trade arguably your two best players but moving forward I think it's best for the team and after watching tonight's game, I'm even more convinced. What do you think?

Blogger's note: I don't think any self-respecting GM would trade anything of note for two injured players, let's talk in a couple of months