This is becoming a rather good story, isn't it?

I don’t think I’ve had an e-mail or a comment with the word “fired” in it for about a week.

Funny, eh?

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THREE POINTERS

Time to bulk up

There is no doubt in my mind that Jonas Valanciunas is going to a fine, fine basketball player and he had moments last night – the first quarter especially – where he showed that.

But he’s also 20 years old, he’s tall but relatively slight and job No. 1 this coming summer will be to hit the weight room and try to get stronger, a lot stronger.

He got pushed around too much by the likes of Greg Monroe last night and it hit home just what he has to do.

I don’t think his game is ever going to be based on finesse so it’s time to find some power and strength for that 7-foot frame.

If he is to become anything of a low post presence – defensively and offensively – he’s got to be able to better hold is ground in the wrestling matches that take place in the paint.

We saw some power against the Pistons, a couple of nice dunks; and we saw some of his speed, finishing on the break and rolling to the rim.

He’s got the disposition to be tougher, no question, and once he gets that, the sky truly is the limit.

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Mr. Fourth Quarter?

Alan Anderson is really turning into the find of the season, isn’t he?

He’s one of those guys who just knows how to play, seldom out of position, a far better shooter than many had anticipating, and the kind of leader teams need.

I think it was on that dreadful trip that I mentioned how he’d make sure to be up in someone’s ear during every timeout and even during play. Now that he’s back on the court, his contribution has increased exponentially.

I’d say he’s being used perfectly, toughness off the bench defensively, a closer who can make shots and plays down the stretch of close games.

He is precisely the kind of unheralded player that just helps a team in so many different ways, it’s hard to quantify his value.

This is how Dwane put it:

“He’s our voice of reason right now, a veteran guy. He’s hungry, the young man’s been to China, Europe, got cut, his back’s been against the wall. That’s why I like him, he’s an underdog and he plays like an underdog, he’s hungry and I think that’s way you have to play in league, like nobody owes you anything. You have to play hungry, you have to play desperate … be the first one to hit.”

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An apt comparison?

It’s awfully early and we have no idea how the season will unfold but you know who Jose Calderon has reminded me of this week?

Antonio Davis.

No, not because he’s strong and tough or anything like that. Because when things were their darkest he simply got determined to turn things around, just like AD did way back in 2002 when he put an injury-ravaged team on his back and led it to 10 wins in the final 12 games and a playoff berth.

I don’t know where this season will ultimately end up but if it gets good, you’re going to look back at this week and marvel at what he did to help turn things around.

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What’s up for the rest of today?

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Hey, notice anything about these three wins at home?

No confetti at the final buzzer!

Good call by whoever made it.

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Mail?

Yes, please. Kind of dry over there, need an entertaining missive or two; figure I’ll be sitting somewhere this afternoon waiting for a friend to celebrate the holidays with he’s been known to be tardy so I’ll need to kill time.

Thanks.

Click. Write. Send.

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Okay, nothing may say Christmas like Twisted Sister.

And nothing really says Christmas like The Ramones.

But nothing really, really says Christmas like The Kinks.

Honest.

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It would appear from this story that it’s going to be tough year – and a devastating penalty – for Toronto’s Myck Kabongo of the University of Texas.

He’s apparently going to be suspended for the entire season for receiving “illegal benefits” during a summer trip to Cleveland to work out.

It’s murky and it gets to the heart of all that’s wrong with the NCAA, in my opinion.

It’s a rather high-handed organization, that seems to be to be quite selective in its investigations and penalties and now it may have taken away the most significant year of Kabongo’s life since he was seen in some circles as a possible first-round NBA draft pick.

I don’t presume to know all the details, just what I read; if an agent – who actually isn’t an agent but a recruiter of some sort – was involved in the paying for a training trip for Kabongo, I wonder what the repercussions are for the agent, or the agency?

Likely nothing and that sucks.

I don’t know what recourse Kabongo has – should he leave school and try to hook up in the D League or Europe, should he stick it out and take his chances on the draft without playing a game for a year? – but this could be a devastating blow.

Again, I don’t know who was right or who was wrong or which rules were contravened, I just know this seems awful harsh to me and I wonder if the NCAA would devote other reasons to other cases that are sure to be out there?

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So the Buffalo Bills centre slags Toronto, the ‘dome, the fact his team has to come up here to play once a year and …

Well, yawn.

Everything he says is right; compared to Ralph Wilson Stadium the Rogers Centre is a mausoleum, no player wants to play a “home” game a long bus ride away from home and there really is no benefit to anyone in uniform to having come to Toronto to play once a year.

But, and this is where the conflict comes in, it’s a business opportunity for ownership and players actually have no say in the matter; nor should they, really.

So even if everything he said on some radio show as true, it’s tough noogies, he’s got to suck it up and play.

Of course, it’d be way easier for people here to at least have marginal interest if the Bills weren’t putting on butt-ugly demonstrations up here and maybe concentrating on that rather than whining might help.

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Okay, the lads are off, gives me most of today to do Nothin’ But Net and I presume I should start thinking about some Christmas shopping, no?

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Comments

[Mike kovacs]

The hypocrisy of the NCAA knows no bounds. All of the money that they make off of the skills of these kids but someone cannot have some travel expenses covered? As the ESPN documentary explains very well hey do not prepare these kids at all for the money that they make later with so many of them going bankrupt.

[SirTophamHat]

What bothers me about what ChrisD1 says is the idea that he is hoping for a player to fail in favour of another one. I have never understood this way of thinking. I am a fan of the team and I want the team to do well. I don't care about what an individual player does as long as the team wins. Some people in this fanbase (too many) seem to have this opinion that it isn't good enough for the team to win, they need certain players to do well and hope for others to fail.

[jc]

Was this what we've been waiting for? A Raptor finally directing the ball to Jonas' outstretched arms in the post! It looked a lot like those grainy lithuanian youtube videos we feasted on last year. I know, easier said than done but nice to see. Sure, it lead to a couple of turnovers but when it worked, it lead to high percentage shots (like 100% high percentage). If you factor in the turnovers, it's still a pretty successful play. For the first time last night, I could see what you meant by Demar looking off JV in the post and then taking a lower %age shot. I guess that's next.

[Michel G]

From an earlier post: "I'd keep José and get a new PG of the future that can make the others on the floor play winning basketball ..."

Kyle Lowry has played 16 games for the Raptors. Five or six of those he was recovering from the foot injury. He leads the team in free throw attempts. He's a great rebounder for his size. And we could have used him at the end of the game when Detroit's defense got more intense. His ability to break down defenses is a tremendous asset. Can we give him a chance? The propensity of Toronto sports fans to throw people under the bus is amazing.

It does not matter to me who starts. Jose is a world-class point guard and he runs Casey's system at both ends of the court very well. However, if Lowry does get his starting job back, having Jose, Alan Anderson and Amir as the primaries off the bench will make the Raptors a tough opponent for the rest of the year. And if it wasn't for the 4-19 start, playoff worthy. You never know though.

[LakeSimcoe]

"to hit the weight room and try to get stronger, a lot stronger"

Wasn't this advice given to Bosh years ago? What was the outcome?

Blogger's note: He's substantially bigger and stronger than he was; and so is DeMar DeRozan, who followed the same advice. And ditto Ed Davis. Your point?

[D-Mac Ottawa]

Hi Doug. I didn't get a chance to see last night's game. Just wondering if it did anything to further stir up or 'solve' the great #8 Ross vs. #9 Drummond debate.
I still see in Amir some of the AD comparisons you mention regarding Jose. That guy's as tough as the rock that Dwane wants the rest of them to keep pounding. And he has some game too.
Good observation @ LeeZ about JV being flat footed and lodgepole straight too often. He's playing defence... but what he's defending at this stage is himself from the zebras. He's adopting an "I didn't do it" pose before the play even develops. He'll learn – and then watch out.
Cheers. Go Raps!

[GM]

DAMNIT DOUG, IF NOW'S NOT THE TIME TO PANIC, WHEN IS?!?!... What? Four game winning streak, you say?... Nevermind.

[john]

@Michel G, amen to that.
Why does KL have to be traded because Jose has won a couple games?
Lets see how a healthy KL will do with a SF that can shoot a 3 and a couple bigs that can rebound before we toss him aside. The only thing that Jose's success proves is that the Raps have two very good point guards and I cant think of a team in the NBA as deep as the Raptors at this position. Everyone should welcome the fact that it is a Raptors strength and stop trying to trade it away!!!
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Hey Doug can you think of a team with a better tandem at PG?

[D-Mac Ottawa]

Oops, and I meant to add that I don't think there's another 7-footer in the league who has better quicks, lateral or otherwise, then Jonas. If he just stays healthy and keeps growing into himself, that guy is going to be way good. Cheers.

[Phil A]

If it ain't broken, don't fix it. I don't care whether Lowry, Bargnani and Fields are healthy. I don't want Coach Casey to tinker with the lineup. I like what I'm seeing and the offense is flowing smoothly with Jose running the point.

[Boko]

Michel G & john, if you think that Kyle can pull a José and actually be a sub with a good attitude, I think you're dreaming! ... Didn't he force a trade from the Rockets cause he lost his starting gig?

[john]

Boko, I actually didn't mention anything about who was gong to sub for who but thanks for reading.
All I said was that the Raps have an excellent tandem at point guard. I also think that Jose is confident enough in his abilities to know that it doesn't matter who starts the game, its who finishes it and he is such a pro he would just care about finishing it.
BC traded a first round pick for KL, why on earth would he trade him after he has played only 16 games and has career highs in point, steels and rebounds. Lets give it all some time is all I am saying.

[Boko]

john, yes it's only 16 games, but the trading deadline is Feb 21st, two months from tomorrow. He was estimated to be back Jan 4th. Say we give him another 14 games as a sub. That gives BC 3 weeks to find a trade for him if it isn't going well, and it's when everyone else is also looking to compete for the players that you might want. I'd do it before the rush cause it's my best bet at a decent outcome. And it avoids the mess an unhappy sub would create in the meantime!

[Michel G]

@Boko

What john said pretty much works for me. Correct me if I'm wrong, but didn't Colangelo say that when he was making a pitch for Steve Nash that he still wanted to trade for Lowry. He asked Kyle if he was ok with playing behind Nash and Kyle said no. I could be wrong.

Nonetheless, the Raptors knew what they were getting into when they traded for him. He sees himself as an alpha dog and they paid a high price for him.

And to answer your question Boko, no, I don't think he would be very happy coming off the bench. That's why this could turn messy. We're in the middle of 7 of out 8 games against teams below .500, so I wouldn't change anything right now. But when we start playing OKC, Miami and other good teams in January, the contributions of the injured players will be welcomed.

[doug]

this win streak is all well and good but to me it's a little about smoke and mirrors...as the problem with Casey this season has been his rotations and use of players down the stretches of games or wrong uses...so in this little streak much of the decision making has been taken away from him..so the true test to me will be when Lowry and Bargs return, how will he use him??...as Butch Carter said the other day on Mcown's show, Casey is finally starting to coach in that he was listening to too many voices/assistants/gm etc...so he needs to keep doing what he is doing as his weakness as a coach is recognizing and utilizing proper players in a game and not going to script......Amir is a beast he is becoming one of my fav all-time "marginal" players, by that I just mean he maximizes what he has, and just brings it every night....wonderful player...ok cheers...

[AT]

@511 I also saw that conversation between AA and JV. Looked like AA was saying "Don't Jump"... but on the replay he didn't jump but did reach..