A long weekend with some good, some bad and some blah

Random thoughts after a long weekend.

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So another one is over.

Was a very good weekend, all in all; the game was pretty good, the stories were pretty obvious and I think well done, the infrastructure here worked well (and you have no idea how traffic congestion, messed up bus schedules and weather can ruin one of these weekends for everyone) and the hospitality suite was open until 2 a.m. and the food was good and plentiful.

And now maybe it’s going to come to our little town, as I mentioned yesterday.

Too bad for the fans and season ticket holders.

One of the great fallacies about hosting an NBA all-star weekend is that the season ticket holders and fans in the city will benefit.

Nope.

I’d say perhaps 10 per cent of the tickets to the Saturday and Sunday night events are available to regular folks in the host city, the rest go to corporate partners and friends of the league.

This is the NBA’s showcase for itself, it takes care of its buddies and money-making partners, the locals get to see the show up close and personal but as for getting into the arena: It’d be far easier to get to a Finals game than it is to the all-star weekend.

But it is a show. A big show.

The Jam Session, at a cost per ticket, is cool to see; the city benefits from the Day of Service with a lot of volunteer work at a lot of different venues and the hotels, bars and clubs do a land office business.

But the people?

The people get to watch from afar for the most part, there are many famous people in town to gawk at; not so much the inside of the arena.

I’m just warning you; it’s a fun weekend in a lot of ways, just maybe not in all the ways you’re thinking.

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Right, the dunk contest.

Good on Terrence Ross and all that – he won, was probably the best guy on the night so it was deserved – and it was a pretty good coming-out weekend for the 22-year-old.

But, yeesh.

I don’t know what they’re going to do with that event but doesn’t something have to change? If I want to watch missed dunks, I’ll find a tape of the year in Denver where they dunked like four-footers on a 15-foot rim. Or I’ll get someone to videotape me.

But what do they do?

I know many people want to penalize competitors for missing dunks, taking away points or something like that and there probably is some merit in that, to a point. But if you’re costing them points, doesn’t that stifle creativity? Wouldn’t you get more boring, safe dunks at least to start the event because no one would bomb out early? I don’t know.

Banning props would be okay with me; watching Mark Eaton sit in a chair and hold a ball over his head was mind-numbing, I feared for that little kid’s well-being when Ross was leaping over him.

But something has to be done to juice the Saturday night events when the most compelling and interesting thing about it is the three-point shooting event.

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You want to talk about brown shoes at a back tie affair?

Amid all the musical stylings of Sunday night, they kept playing this little ditty and while it’s toe-tapping, it really didn’t fit.

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Coolest thing I saw

Saturday night, about 15 feet from me, sat Julius Erving, looking as dignified as ever.

The dunk contest was about to begin and there stood Kevin Durant, Russell Westbrook, Blake Griffin and James Harden, a bunch of kids having fun.

Then they saw Erving and you should have seen them. They looked like teenagers, slowly walking over, shyly, to hug and say hello to the legend

Of course, the fact they were all dressed like geeky high schoolers helped with the “teenagers meet the idol” vibe.

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Two things I hope I never see at any NBA all-star weekend again:

That Cannon dude who hosted Saturday night.

Sure, young and arguably hip and not Ernie Johnson so he fits the demographic a bit better. But, yikes, he can be painful.

The little goofball Hart.

You know the guy, the so-called comic who wins the MVP award at the celebrity game and that gets him airtime Saturday and Sunday.

Frankly, if I never saw him again anywhere, I’d consider my life better for it.

End of rants.

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The Raptors?

Word from the executives I talked to over the weekend here and by electronic methods, all suggested there’s not an awful lot of trade activity percolating right now, which we all know can change at the drop of a hat.

The big one, of course, is Bargnani and one note I got this weekend simply said:

“Looks like the summer.”

Now, I know Bryan pretty well and I would say he’ll do something small this week, it’s like second nature to him, to make a deadline-week deal just to be in the fray.

But, at this minute, there’s nothing serious going on for anyone, which is good since I have an hour of work and then a three-hour flight to deal with.

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Uncoolest thing I saw

You know how I sometimes rant about the so-called “media” members who show up at these things with little or no work to actually do?

Well, it’s Saturday night, again, and a couple of very good media row seats that were reserved for team and league public relations personnel come open.

A few minutes later, here come two credential-wearing yutes to take them, regardless of who they were assigned to.

That in itself is not an egregious breach of protocol but the fact one of them was carrier a full cup of beer and order of nachos was about as blatant a professional gaffe as there is.

And when the dude knocked the beer over on the back of a team employee sitting in front of him, it went from bad to worse.

Spilled beer smells, it seems.

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Comments

[Matthieu]

Thanks for the post, Doug. You must mean Russell Westbrook I suppose ;)

Blogger's note: 6 a.m. brain cramp; fixed

[Dallas]

Hey Doug,

FYI you have Russel Westbrook as Michael Westbrook

cheers.

Blogger's note: 6 a.m. brain cramp; fixed

[Rob.V]

All Star game would be great here regardless of what we'd get to see. It seems as though things are lining up for Adam Silver to begin building his resume with the NBA's first "international" All Star game.

Skills Competition: We say it every year. They have to add to this event or change it up somehow. Maybe it's a series of passing drills from different distances. I have no clue, but something fresh. Dunk Contest: The young un's are all nerves. Somehow,someway they've got to get the more athletic seasoned vets in the contest.

The 3 point contest always seems to have some drama, cant say I have a problem with this.

Summer, will have to do then I guess. I do find it interesting that BC hasn't poached the D-League (or other) for a PG yet, I guess this means there may be something small in the works via trade as you suggest.

Any internal talk of say a Rautins coming in as the 3rd PG?.

[Matt M]

Hopefully Bargnani turns his season around. It would be nice to see him positively impact the Raptors ability to win, much like he did at the beginning of last season. If he doesn't then it seems most likely he will be an amnesty candidate cause I'm not sure another team would be willing to give up a good ~$10 million player(s) for someone who has yet to live up his billing, even as a shooter, at this point. It will be interesting to watch to see if I'm wrong on this.

[Rob]

great news regarding Bargnani... I always thought that if a trade were to happen it would be because the front office gave in to the fans pressure which is never a good thing... also whats the worst that could happen by keeping bargs till the end of the season.... his trade value can't get any lower...

[doug]

this is what they should do for the dunk contest...forget doing it live, instead every arena has top end video screens, and for the all-star game you can erect a big honking one.. you then have the best 20 dunks of the season shown...and through a process of home voting, judges, players you decide on the best dunk of the year so far...imagine what players would try during regular season to make that dunk contest....will never happen but the live dunk contest has been played out as a legit contest and this would be worth a shot...plus I turned on game at 10ish to check out score and it was only at halftime, that's ridiculous..never watched a sec of the game at all....ok cheers..

[Andrew Gregg]

Hi Doug:

Crossing my fingers that Coangelo keeps his itchy finger relaxed and resists pulling the trigger on Bargnani for Boozer (although I do feel the team is a little short on Alaskans). As much as I'd like to see the can tied to Bargnani I'd much rather see the Raps get the best deal possible. If that means waiting till the summer, so be it.

I've read on-line more than once that Kleiza may be the amnesty victim. Is there any wisdom in using the amnesty on Bargnani instead? In your opinion, is it better to get something (anything?) back in a trade or just cut him loose and save the cash?

AG, Toronto

[Dallas]

If they want to fix the skills comps of all star, have every team send a player to each.

So each team chooses a player to represent them in the pg course, the 3 pt shoot out, the shooting stars, and the dunk contest.

Have less filler and have early rounds through the day with guys advancing to finals in prime time.

[Alan C.]

Doug, in the article about the all-star game coming here, you said that, according to an insider, space was no longer an issue. Any idea what they meant by that? Are new facilities coming to the ACC?

Blogger's note: I understand the long-term contract for the auto show that's always been on all-star weekend is either up or its dates changed

[kathyt]

Thank goodness all star weekend is over. Zzzzzzzzzz, the highlight clips of the game this morning was more than enough for me.

I thought the clip of Chris Paul dribbling the ball through Bosh's legs followed by Tony Parker was priceless. Chris Bosh, the Rodney Dangerfield of basketball... no respect.

Time to get back to the real games.

Andrew Wiggins has been in the news quite a bit lately and he seems like a nice kid, but why for the life of me does a 17 year old need to wear earings the size of Cuba is beyond me.

[GM]

I hadn't watched the all-star festivities in years, but since I have a basketball-crazy 8-year-old, it was required viewing. And it was fun watching it through his eyes. The 3-point contest has always been my favourite, and still is. The dunk contest, as you said, needs work. I don't remember what they did back in the Dominique era, but wasn't it one attempt per round? I like that. It may stifle creativity but I find watching missed dunks stifles enjoyment. Ross' first dunk was amazing, but on each miss it got less and less amazing.

And, oh my God, you nailed it with Cannon and Hart. They were horrible. I know Hart is one of the most popular comedians in the world right now, but if his schtick on the weekend was any indication, his act isn't worth watching. It occurred to me he was like a clown from the 1950s, kind of Jerry Lewis-like in his need to be noticed. Loud doesn't equal funny.

To go back to a topic from a few days ago, I checked who was in the Hall of Fame to see how many were past champions. I came up with Barkley, Bing, Dantley, English, Ewing, Gervin, Lanier, Malone, Maravich, Miller, Mullin, Murphy, Thompson and Wilkins. A few were ABA champs (Gilmore, Hawkins, Issel). But it occurred to me that it is the Basketball Hall of Fame, not the NBA Hall of Fame, and if those players had stellar college careers, they might be included. Or some might be international players and we don't know what championships they've won. So winning an NBA championship should only be one small factor for consideration.

[D-Mac Ottawa]

I like the idea of the HORSE thing in place of the dunk thing. I'd also rather see @doug's suggestion than further repetitive live stuff. Here's what Vince and Kenny had to say about the dunk contest 13 long years ago: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kro3Caums2c
Cheers. Go Raps!

[511]

The dunk contest isn't perfect but it's hard to imagine it ever being so. It pretty much is what it is … and with it featuring a young Raptor this year, I quite enjoyed it. With the time limit - as opposed to a '3 strikes and you're out' (say) - the dunkers are encouraged to attempt the more difficult dunks (as has been often pointed out), so … while them missing repeatedly can be tedious, when they do hit it -- as TRoss finally did on his first dunk -- the results can be spectacular. As TRoss' dunks mostly were.

Mainly, I was happy that there were no ridiculous prop elements (sponsor cars) this year and that there were no obvious ripoffs (like DeMar was). And for us, it's extra fun that a Raptor won it. Nice to see some glory for the home team.

[john]

Amnesty Kleiza yes, Amensty Bargs would be crazy. BC can still get something for him, its just that he doesn't like what that something is. Kleiza is not worth much on the market cause it doesn't look like he will play again. His contract is worth more to the Raps cause they can amnesty him and no one else can.

[ronmor]

Doug,

My view on Andre Bargnani. I don't think he has been comfortable in the Raptors' system since game one and that has resulted in his overall poor play this season.

It was obvious that when Lowery was running the team that he seldom used his teammates on the floor very effectively. This was reinforced when Jose became the starter and led the Raptors back to respectability.

No one suffered more than AB from Kyle's helter-skelter play. His poor shot selection and underpar rebounding and defense were a consequence of this. Furthermore when Jose became a starter Andre was injured.

Now that Jose is gone and Gay is the main man AB finds himself in a completely new role with the team, option #3 on offense. Also, is does appear that most of the Raptors whether by design or intuition defer to Rudy and do not see much value in Andre.

Bargnani has only played four games since his return and was a solid contributor on both ends of the floor in his first two back. In the last two games Andre was playing with the lingering effects of the flu so his performance was definitely skewered.

Aong with some other contributors, I believe that Colangelo should stay the course with AB for the remainder of the season and if Andre's overall performance
is similar to his preinjury play then an off-season trade would no doubt benefit the organization.

RSM

[doug]

I'd be shocked if AB was still on this team come Friday...it's time to move forward and in fact if hindsight was 20/20 he should have been traded last year...he doesn't fit in at all with this group and time for both parties to have a change of scenery...plus I don't want another major move in the summer as this team has had a continual revolving door, get what you can for Bargs and lets move on and get some stability for the organization, Dwane, the players and the fans...plus there is no way BC in my eyes who is seeking a extension allows this to hang over his head, I could be wrong but he needs to move him and the sooner the better...cheers...