Of trust, toughness and the athlete of the year

This whole Groundhog Day of a season would be damn easier to handle if Andie McDowell was involved, that’s about all I’ve got to say.

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THREE POINTERS

The ball can actually move

Side-to-side, that is. In Toronto’s offence. We know it can, we saw it in the first half and parts of the third quarter yesterday.

Want to know why?

It didn’t happen all the time but it did happen a lot and it was when they put Kyle Lowry off the ball to start half court sets.

Now, I’m not laying this all on Lowry at all but he does have a tendency to dominate the ball far too much. Getting them into an offence that doesn’t immediately start with him handling the ball worked quite well the few times I saw it Sunday afternoon.

Yes, he does have to have it in his hands a bit but he seemed far more comfortable moving it on when he was the second or third touch.

As we know, there is a level of Hero Ball to this team when things start going south; it’s funny that they forget what worked so well early in a game.

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Some toughness?

I know it doesn’t really count because it was just one game but there was a welcome level of feistiness to these guys Sunday, wasn’t there?

Saw the nice Kleiza elbow to Blake Griffin, Valanciunas hit some people and even Bargnani – yes, Andrea Bargnani – gave as good as he got in the post.

It was, to grab a word from the distant past, a nice “disposition” to see and something we haven’t seen in a long while.

Now, I’m not suggesting they’ve turned some imaginary corner or anything like that or will be known forever as thugs but that’s the kind of physical play – sneaky and open – that they need.

It could have just been than they were collectively fed up with what’s going on, which is another big step in the process of salvaging something out of this season.

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So where from here?

Wish I knew.

I do think they still need to make some kind of change – to the starting lineup, the rotation, the roster – and I’d hope that three good quarters against a very good thing isn’t some kind of Fool’s Gold for them.

It’s interesting, in the wake of Bryan’s weekend public pronouncements, that the overwhelming feeling I got from public and private conversations is that everyone is taking their fair share of blame.

No it’s not strictly a talent issue because there is more than enough talent to have won more than four games.

No it’s not strictly a systems issue because we’ve seen those systems work for extended periods of time, just not often enough.

I think, at the very heart of the matter, it’s a trust issue.

And that’s entirely down the chain and might not be surprising.

Now, I’m not saying that people don’t like each other or think they are being undermined or anything like that; I think it takes time to develop trust that the general manager will get the right players, the coach will use them correctly and that the players trust the coach will use them right and their teammates will treat team right.

It’s something that absolutely takes time; with this team it’s taken too long.

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More? Okay.

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Big day back at Mother Star.

Some of the Wisest Minds In Canadian Sports will sit around a board table and decide the winner of the Lou Marsh Award and probably drink coffee and eat bon-bons and whatever other delights are available.

Logical choice, right?

Has to be Christine Sinclair?

Probably, and we all wrote about it when she was becoming one of the best stories of the London Olympics, but if I know my colleagues and friends, there will be some discussion about other possibilities.

Sinclair, of course, was in many ways an un-Canadian Canadian at the Games. She was tough and wanted to win at all costs, she spoke her mind, ripped officials and was one of the best players on a good team that captured the attention of the country.

I would suspect she will win, and likely with little contention and it will be an excellent choice.

But I’m going to give you one other to think about:

If becoming an Athlete Of The Year has to do with doing your best when it counts the most, you have to think about My Favourite Trampolinist.

Mock the sport all you want – and I know you want to – but at the most significant event of her career, under the biggest pressure and with the most on the line Rosie MacLennan came up with the best performance of her life and won a gold medal.

That’s incredible to me. She didn’t just win, she won knowing she had to have the performance of her career and nailed. That has to be worth something, right?

But I bet it’s Sinclair and that’s another outstanding choice.

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I think I’ve only seen bits of one episode of the seldom-seen TV show Portlandia but it’s got a pretty catchy theme song and since we’re headed there in a couple of hours, why shouldn’t you hear it, too.

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It’s about a 100-metre walk from our seats to the press room at the Staples Center.

By the time I’d walked back to dump off my machine at the end of the game and walked back towards the court to go do some locker room interviews, all of the courtside seats had been removed, the basket stanchions had been collapsed, most the Clippers signage around the court was down and that’s how quickly they move to covert it from one Los Angeles team to another.

And at about 4:30 p.m. Pacific time when we walked to find a cab, the Laker court was down and it was like the Clips had never existed.

Of course, since the Clippers are the best team in L.A., that’s not exactly true.

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Yes, Jonas is a popular young fellow with Lithuanians on the road; was a group of about 50 waiting for him before the game in L.A. and I can only imagine what it’ll be like in Portland tonight with all the Blazers fans who fondly remember Arvydas Sabonis.

You know what I like about the kid the most, maybe?

He is not jaded yet, he’ll stand and sign autographs and speak to people and every time he sees even a beat grunt, he has to shake hands as a way of greeting.

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Comments

[jc]

What needs to change? People's expectations. Frustrated that we are not the same top ten defensive team as last year? There is one (1!) player in this year's starting 5 that was part of the team that earned that last year. This team was terrible last year. Being bad this year will be an improvement. Throwing a bunch of promising parts together could work but that will take time. They are the definition of a team finding their way...inconsistent. What should the expectations have been for a team learning as they go playing their first quarter of the season on the road against playoff teams (at least it seemed like that)? Last year was a tunnel. At least this year, there are some lights at the end of that tunnel

[Ryan]

I think I've come to the realization that the problem with this team isn't Bargnani... it's, ultimately, that this team doesn't have a star player.

This is a star-driven league where a player can swing fortunes of an entire franchise. The Raptors don't have any player near this level of talent. The great ones display this talent in 4 years. DeRozan's certainly on the cusp. But he doesn't have that take-over-ability that the star's inherently have.

So I'd say I have to agree that Bargnani isn't the problem, trading him now would solve nothing except showing one's ability to press metaphorical panic buttons.

Truly then, the team's only solution will come in the form of either Lowry or DeRozan becoming a legitimate star (possible, but my money would be against it) or the draft. So trading any piece now to become marginally better tomorrow would make the team worse next week.

Not sure where this sober second thought came from, but it's probably from the realization that this team is far, far away from competing and how spoiled we were with Vince, who was on track for the Hall of Fame while he was a Raptor.

So I guess then all we can do is sit back, hope this team figures something out, and sit tight because unless Colangelo gets a Top 5 pick in a trade, him making any trade now seems senseless. I don't think he'll panic, but here's to hoping that will remain true.

[Marcus Rush]

Congratulations to Kyle Lowry....after 14 games as a starter he finally accumulated his 84th assist yesterday which translates to 6 per game. Jose in 7 games as a starter had 83 assists or rounded off 12 per game. Well done Kyle. As well the teams defense is 3-4 points better with Jose as the starter and that includes the triple overtime 140 points in that mix.

If Kyle Lowry was one half as good as Armstrong and Devlin carry on about the Raps would be unbeaten. Yesterday they were lauding him for having 5 assists in the first half and doing a great job of running his team. Devlin even got excited in a recent game when he deflected a pass.

Two players, Jose and Kleaza, were never given a chance to start on this team as those positions were predetermined before the season even started. Despite what everyone said about the team meeting I feel the coach has lost the room.

Jose should be moved and hopefully to a contender...its too late now for him to put up those fantastic assist numbers this year but it sure would have been fun to see him and Rondo go at it for the assist leadership.

[Lorie]

Carnivore Heaven!!! Love it. Reminds me of the premise in the movie "Defending Your Life", that Heaven is a place where you can eat all you want, never gain an ounce and always feel great. Always. While clad in comfortably forgiving fashions. http://youtu.be/XI7t7HZRFMM

[Boko]

Coach Casey, here's a rotation suggestion:
START José-DeMar-Mickael-Amir-Andrea
SUB Kyle-Terrance-Ed-Jonas
(This is based on a quick analysis of 82games.com's "Top Five-Man Floor Units" stats)

[doug]

this is what I would do if I were the CEO of MLSE....call Bryan into my office and give him a 3 year extension, for one he has had a solid last couple years, plus it would take away his lame duck status and send a clear message to players and coaches that he isn't going anywhere and they have to be held accountable....but as a caveat I would tell him or instruct him or strongly hint, that we are hiring a true NBA coach, not a assistant, someone that has been tried and tested such as a SVG....then i would tell him that since we have never gone over the tax, that he can sign said player in FA even if it means going over in the off-season....a message needs to be sent to fans/players/etc that this team is serious about winning as Jays did and are doing...enough is enough....now having said that I predict a Raptors win this evening, not out of wishful thinking but out of a realistic observation....ok cheers...

[Mike kovacs]

Lorie thanks for the clip, I need to watch that movie.

[Tom James]

I heard you called the T.O fanbase idiots. true?

Blogger's note: Used the word, was a bit of a joke; sorry if anyone offended