Staying true to oneself and a chance to show something

Of course I didn’t watch the entire game; that shouldn’t surprise you.

Big day, the 12-12-12 concert was over the top and, as I had suggested to a few, it was night over way early since I’m getting way old and 12-day road trips knock the crap out of me.

So, no game-specific stuff but …

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THREE POINTERS

It’s part of the gig

Did get to shootaround in the morning – felt it was an obligation I needed to fulfill after writing some critical words – and it was interesting to hear Dwane talk about all the stuff swlrling around him and the team.

Look, Dwane’s a grown man who’s been around this game forever, he knows what pressure, he knows it’s a win-oriented business.

But he also knows he’s not about to compromise himself or his principles no matter what and that’s an admirable position to hold.

“I’m a fighter, I’m scrapper, I’m still with this team … I’m not shying away from this challenge or this opportunity … we’re all men, we all have a job to do.”

I don’t know what the future holds for Dwane, I do not think this situation calls for his dismissal because I think that’s in many ways a knee-jerk reaction to two bad months.

But, to him, it really doesn’t matter what I think or what you think or what anyone thinks. He is going to stay true to himself, not compromise his principles and do his job to the best of his ability until someone takes his clipboard away.

Wouldn’t want it any other way.

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A chance to shine

Yes, it sucks that Bargnani is injured and that Lowry is injured and that Kleiza and Pietrus can’t stay healthy for more than a game at a time and than Anderson (who likely plays tomorrow) and Fields remain on the shelf.

But what’s it mean?

Well, one guy to look at is Ed Davis, who should now get the longest sustained period of playing time in his career and we’ll see what he’s got.

I’m told he was pretty good last night against Brooklyn (really, I watched way more of the concert post-dinner than I did the game) and now the question is: Can he do it for 10 or 12 or 15 games in a row.

Probably not – few are truly good for that long a period – but Ed’s shown flashes all season dating back to training camp and it might the most fascinating thing to watch as the next few weeks unfold.

He’s a good kid, I hope he does well, and he’s got solid skills and basketball instincts. Now it’s a matter of showing them on a consistent basis.

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I hear …

Am told there weren’t an awful lot of boos in the arena and that’s a good thing since it appears the few healthy bodies played hard and pretty well for long stretches and the game was at least marginally interesting.

Or maybe everyone was saving venom for Friday when the player formerly known as HWSNBN arrives with the Mavs.

Hope not; we’re past that, right?

And, besides, Vince is going be the best small forward on the court, I bet.

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Anyway …

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So, yes, I did see a fair amount of the 12-12-12 concert for Sandy relief; enjoyed Springsteen and Bon Jovi, was pleasantly surprised by The Who and Rogers Waters with Eddie Vedder was interesting.

Missed Nirvana with Paul McCartney and I’m told that’s too bad because it was pretty good.

But thing that struck me a lot of the night was the logistics of putting something like that had to be nearly impossible, that the artists need to be commended for giving their time and talent to raise funds and that it was a pretty cool show.

Now, someone would have thought of something like this, I’m sure and a huge concert in a great venue with a worldwide audience shows you how far we’ve come since, I believe, the first of that kind of endeavour.

Remember Band Aid?

I did last night.

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Lots of mail but room for since a lot of what I’ve got is game-specific to the road trip and by the time the mailbag gets up here Sunday sometime, it’s going to be somewhat forgotten.

Help me out, folks.

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This is a rather interesting story out of Philadelphia on Wednesday night after the Bulls went in there and beat the Sixers.

Joakim Noah had another big game – 21 points, seven rebounds and five assists – and then chalked it up to wanting to stick to Philadelphia fans who cheered when he was suffering from a sprained ankle last year in the playoffs.

Now, we know Philly fans can be merciless a lot of the time and sometimes the good-natured abuse they hand out can be fun.

But for the life of me, I cannot understand the depth of depravity – and I do think that’s the right word – that people reach to allows them to think they can cheer because someone gets injured.

Sickens me, actually. And it should sicken all right-thinking people. Shouldn’t it?

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Hey, thanks, all you brainiacs.

Thanks to you, I share some anniversary memories and now I’m on the hook for dinners, flowers, diamonds, jade, other jewels and, I believe, gold and frankincense and myrrh because Super Wife got wind of all the best wishes and read them.

But, a wee bit seriously, it brought both of us great joy and happiness that so many took time out to write.

As I’ve said many times before, this little place is like the coolest cocktail party ever, interesting people, fun conversation and the ability to move to vacant stool or table should the desire hit.

Many thanks from the bottom of our hearts, even if mine in stone cold.

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All right, a practice day – got a bit easier when the Mavs cancelled a late-afternoon workout here after a double-overtime game in Boston last night – and the big question is what kind of story we can possibly dream up out of Raptors practice. Methinks this is going to be a slow day in that regard because we’re almost at the point where we’ve got nothing to ask and they’ve got nothing to say.

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Comments

[Liam]

Hey! We're not all idiots! We're just craazzzy!

[Mike kovacs]

Is the ref going to get a suspension for contact with a player? He really did bop Hump in the nose.

Although davis did play way those 'bogged down plays' were often due to Davis not going where he ought to be going and Jose franctically trying to get him to move.

With AB now out indefinitely BC's hands are now really tied ( or any new GM's ). As you said to Bob yesterday, something should be done but that really cuts down on the trade options.

[jc]

Hey Doug,
I was surprised to hear you on prime time on your big day but I guess duty calls. Compliments to your wife. I just want to float an idea by you (you need not print the whole thing). A few weeks ago when the Raps were 3-10, I looked at the next eleven games. Looking at each game individually, there were only two that I thought anyone in good conscience could say before the game that we would win. Phoenix and Sacramento. I figured we would win one of them. The rest would be losses, hard fought or otherwise. But this wasn't a cynic's perspective. I like where the team is going, I just think that for where they are at in their evolution, those would not be games I expected them to win. Soon the schedule turns and I expect more. The point I made was that it's the exact same team (recent injuries aside) at the beginning and end of this stretch. If one were to be calling for heads now, they should have been doing it then. Or, more appropriately, if you weren't calling for change then you should not be doing it now. Let's finally give something a chance to grow. Your thoughts?

Blogger's note: Not many thoughts, actually. Guess maybe it's a different time, things are a bit worse and the manner in which defeat is achieved has something to do with. If you listened, I didn't advocate major change but something has to give, in my opinion. That you don't share it is cool

[sam]

@mos high's assertion is that Calderon hasn't led this team to promise land in the past and should be a back up or traded has one major flaw. The team has nothing else at the point. Lowry can't run an offence as well as he can run......John Lucas III has had little to no impact on the team aside from a few preseason games. He's a point guard in name only.
Ed and JV wouldn't have had the game they had last night with out Jose getting them the ball..... Its's doubtful that Lowry would have paid that much attention to either of them.

[jc]

I actually didn't get to hear most of the show. When I said "you" it was more in the collective sense, not directed at you. It's just been an interesting study in social science to see how the frustration has mounted over this stretch when the Raps played just as predicted. Anyways, no need to post this...just wanted to clear that up

[Boko]

I agree that José is a better PG than Kyle right now. I also think that if our #1 priority is to win every game possible this season, we need Amir starting ahead of Jonas. This would have José passing to the vets in the starting unit (DeMar, Mickael, Amir & Andrea), AND Kyle taking the ball to the hole with a bunch of younger players (Terrance, Ed & Jonas) feeding off whatever results cause they have the energy to do so best.

[Andrew Gregg]

Hi Doug:

And here we go...Heisler from Sheridan Hoops (which I read often) has the Raps ranked 30 out of 30 this week:

http://www.sheridanhoops.com/2012/12/12/heislers-nba-power-rankings-after-week-six/2/

Toronto doesn't have the worst record (yet) but the injuries to two starters is the killer.

Awhile back I read that Valanciunas is going to work with Olajuwon in the off season. Any truth the rumour that Eric Montross worked with JV in the past, teaching him how to run up and down the court? I swear there are some moments when I think it's Montross out there instead of Jonas...

AG, Toronto

[Lorie]

Finding Adam Sandler funny seems to be a divisive thing: most of the guy friends I talked to today thought his performance last night was hilarious, while my female friends thought it was stupid. Yes, the lyrics to his song were kind of witty, Sandler's chutzpah in using the tune of Leonard Cohen's masterpiece, "Hallelujah" just seemed so very wrong. In my opinion too many singers have tried to performed this song lately and most of them have sucked at doing it. With the exception of kd lang and the late Jeff Buckley no one but Mr. Cohen has ever done it well. (Oh, and John Cale.) And do you think Sandler even asked permission to use the music??? But other than that, the concert was pretty cool. Bruce and Bon Jovi were great, as was Sir Paul - who can rock a wee bit still - and Mick and the boys were not at all embarrassing. My own highlight, though was watching Eric Clapton doing "Crossroads". Breathtakingly. Perfect. Still. But - there were a few wonderfully wacky moments - of course - being live and all. Did you hear Brian Williams refer to Pete Townshend as Keith Moon? It was either a Hanukkah Miracle or Williams was as mesmerized as I was by the sight of the almost-unbelievably toned abs of 68-year old Roger Daltrey. Yeah. The kid's still alright. If not articially tight. :)

[Marcus Rush]

I am always amazed that when discussions come up regarding Jose they always focus on what he doesn't do as opposed to what he does well. Pick any point guard this year and pick their top 8 games...compare that to Jose's eight as a starter...has anyone other than Rondo been better? Look at the guys Rondo plays with as opposed to the guys Jose plays with and Jose's numbers are even more amazing.

[doug]

that 12-12-12 concert was a humdinger...the Stones cut there set short and Mick's line of (to paraphrase) "next time it rains in England hope you throw us one of these" sort of summed up his enthusiasm then he said about all the old English rockers there...which I found true and a good observation by him as there were a whack of them...so it's in New York a benefit for a American situation yet where were all the american acts?? ...but a whale of a show and the Who are ageless or should I say "The Two"..ok cheers.....

[LeeZ]

@Lorie: While I'm not anything close to being a Rufus Wainwright fan, I think his version of "Hallelujah" ranks right up there.

[doug]

in regards to the 12-12-12 concert....and Waters performing Comfortably Numb..it struck me his heart wasn't in it although Vedder did a bang up job...this is the only way this song should be done, my fav song of all time but these 2 make it what it is...and to @Rob V don't make fun of bi-polar disease and I am get what your saying and am not by any means am I a politically correct fellow but mental illness is never a disease to be mocked or has been for too long...that is why you get people passing judgement on a cold day towards people sleeping on the street...you think they want to be there??, you ask them yes, there's your tax money savings at work, psychiatric beds cut by the thousands. savings yes, homeless and unstable roaming our streets yes...enjoy your tax savings, ...ok cheers...

[doug]

forgot link to Comfortably Numb,,,

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hUYzQaCCt2o

[raptorsfan]

We're not idiots. Doug is idiot. BC is idiot. Casey is idiot.

Everyone thinks Casey is not the problem is idiot. Sure, there're so many issue but Casey is sure one of them.

Look at GS Warriors. Is there roster better than the raptors? Beside Curry, Lee, Jack, Landry, everyone else who played the miami are 1st or 2nd yr players.

They won over miami at their home and their record is 15-7.

Is there roster really better than raptors? Beside JV and Ross are 1st yr players most of them are at least 4th or more yrs.

If they can do it why can't raptors do it. It got to be coaching.

[J]

I lived in Philly for a while and the fans there are just over the top, which is why I'm not the least bit surprised that this (http://sports.yahoo.com/blogs/nba-ball-dont-lie/2-shot-philly-following-train-argument-between-bulls-192117187--nba.html) happened. Just ugly.

@Moshigh: If you're usually optimistic, I think we're due for a year's worth of My Little Pony/rainbow-filled posts. You threw in the towel as early as Game 5, if not earlier. Oh, and stop trying to make Calderon the scapegoat for being on losing teams. If you haven't noticed, it's a team game, and Calderon has consistently been one of the top three Raptors on the team over the past while, which says more about the rest of the team than it does him.

It's also not so black and white re: pass first versus attacking the basket. Both extremes have flaws that can be exploited, and the Raptors have played some really ugly ball thanks to the lack of ball movement. I was extremely happy to acquire Lowry as our point guard of the future, but the overall theme this season has been ugly losses with only Lowry (and sometimes DeRozan) filling up the scoresheet, while the team seems to be more involved with Calderon running the point. When few on the team can create their own shot, they need more Calderon and less Lowry.