A matter of trust and some terrible cabbies

Remember way back in the first month or so of the season when things were going so horribly wrong for the HOTH and I wondered if there weren’t some trust issues between new teammates?

Well, now I’m wondering again and Dwane kind of brought up that point when we were chatting yesterday.

Not in a terrible way like they don’t trust each other and hate each other and will never get along; that’s simply not true.

No, it’s trusting in ball movement and the willingness to share.

There’s no doubt the offence has been more stagnant in the last month or so and lost amid discussion of defensive lapses the other night in Oakland was the fact they only had 16 assists.

That’s nowhere near good enough.

Dwane’s explanation was pretty simple.

“I think some of it is we were getting in the habit of throwing it to Rudy and watching Rudy – or DeMar – go to work and we can’t do that … We have to respect the other team’s ability to stop those two guys and when they send two guys to them, that means someone else is open, we have to start trusting the pass.

“I thought we trusted the pass more.

“We’ve been going through times where we don’t trust the pass and that we’re going to get it back. That’s what we have to do with this team. It’s learning to play with each other.”

It was always going to be a process and you can see snippets of good ball movement and player movement and cohesion at times, you just don’t see it enough.

That’s another task for the final 20 or so games of the regular season and another reason they need to stay with the regular rotation as much as possible.

It’s all well and good to say “play the kids” but if there’s work to be done with the grownups, that has to be done.

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No, it is not at all my cup of tea but since there’s a joint called Cooperstown right behind the arena here, why not a little Alice?

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This is a total and unequivocal jinx and we know my powers in that regard, right?

(Although I have still not been the least bit flu ridden so take that, germs!)

I don’t know if it was the timing or what but we left the hotel in San Francisco about 6:45 a.m. yesterday and were checked in and through security by 7:17 a.m.

Now, I know TSA will screw me over at least once on this trip by having only one of four lines open with dozens of people waiting and LAX has the potential to be horribly ugly but someone got something right in San Francisco.

And if my enemies at Pearson are reading this, I’d suggest you send some people with common sense out and about to learn how to manage lines and set up security checkpoints.

Oh, and then blow the damn airport up and start again, perchance seeking input from people who travel.

Thanks.

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So we’re at practice and talking to Dwane about Amir (you can see it here if you’ve missed and I can’t believe you haven’t) and he mentions that he talked to him about putting Bargnani back in the starting lineup.

Did he have to?

“No I didn't. But I talked to him (Johnson) like I try to communicate with all our guys. You never know so you do it to make sure. You do it out of respect more than anything else. He's huge. He's the spirit of our team, kind of the fibre of our team and going forward, people talk about the core of this team, he's a big part of the core.”

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Worst.

Cab.

City.

Ever.

Yep, that’s Phoenix. Not only can you barely find one with a search warrant, when you get one, it can be a harrowing thing.

Context to the first story: Downtown Phoenix is hardly “sprawling” because it’s about eight blocks big and right at the bottom of it are the ballpark and the arena.

Okay, we call the cab to get to practice, it arrives after about a 15-minute wait, we tell the guy we’re doing to the US Airways Centre and he says, “where?”

The arena. Downtown. Where the Suns play.

“Do you have an address?”

No. It’s the freaking arena. Big place. About 15 minutes from here.

“I think I know it.”

Get the address off the trusty iPhone and we get there.

Now, after a great pizza at Pizzeria Bianco (and if you don’t get there when you’re here, shame on you) we have to walk about seven blocks through desolate downtown before we stumble on a cab stand at a hotel.

Tell the guy where we want to go, he swears he knows it and by the time we figure out that he has no clue what side of our hotel the bar we want is on, he’s almost drilled a cyclist going across the street and leave a slight bend in the corner of my glasses frame when I hit the back of his seat as he stopped just short of killing a guy.

Gotta love Phoenix cabs.

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Okay, the grandfather who was sitting three rows across from me at SFO before 8 a.m. Tuesday should probably have been USING HIS INSIDE VOICE when he was telling the two urchins he was minding how much they’d enjoy going to the opera.

As Things That Bug Me About People At Airports, loud talkers is most certainly in the top five.

WE DON’T WANT TO HEAR YOU!

And seconds after I thought that, Gumby looks over and says: “Do you think that guy ever shuts up?”

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Do you think the Champions League will apologize?

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Comments

[AT]

that's what is great about basketball.. so many different moving pieces and countless coaching options ...why coaching is so important to winning in basketball... The raptors could have been a playoff team and it was a matter of putting the right pieces out on the court at the right time... some guys excel of the bench, other don't and some it doesn't matter. Bargnani starting makes a huge difference in his game.. Amir can turn it on the minute he gest out there regardless if he was sitting on the bench...

[Andy]

Dwane Casey lacks offensive creativity. From the day he got here, I was sold on his defensive philosophy, he seems to know what he's doing on that end of the floor - but his responses during press conferences on what approach he would take on offense was always "an unpredictable offense". I wasn't sure what that meant at that time; now I know it means that he has no game plan and he doesn't know what he's doing. Even during halftime when Rod Black/Leo do their crummy interviews, it seems like their coaching staff didn't have the attention to detail on the offensive side as Jay Triano or Jim Todd did.

I know you won't rank Raptor coaches while Casey is currently coaching but I'll have Triano and SMitch rather than Casey. I love BC and I think he should be here for the long term, because he's drafted wisely, made smart and bold acquisitions, I can see the vision that he has for this team. But his biggest blunder was his coaching selection last year. There's no denying that the talent he's put on this roster, but it has under performed and the onus was on Casey to make these guys work. I think that Casey should be let go at the end of this season. Now would be fine too, but obviously it would be a bad political situation to do so.

[Ren Rivers]

Simple answer to the problem - and we all know it - bad trade.
Boy, do they miss Jose

[cc]

@ Ren Rivers, tell that to some guys in this forum who was enjoying Rudy’s game winners earlier…..

[Nick M]

'Oh, and then blow the damn airport up and start again'...
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And now you are the newest member of the 'No Fly' list!

[Peter]

I'm no expert, but I believe it's illegal to suggest that we "Blow the damn airport up"

Hope that Smelly Taurus likes driving!!

:)

[Rob.V]

That's funny about the cabby. You can see the bloody stadium from virtually every street in Phoenix, it's not hard to miss... even without an address!

Discipline and ball movement on offense is important, no question.

Casey is of course bang on, and sees exactly what we see. Now, you cant put all of the responsibility on Kyle because "5" players need to share the ball. Having said this, it does start with Kyle. Somehow he has to learn to get people the ball in the right position's. He did a good job with the high screen and roll with Andrea last game. Now he needs to put it all together and know when to give Rudy the ball and more importantly... when to look him off as well.

Since the Gay trade Kyle has been passive offensively himself. He's an offensive threat and I think he simply has to learn to pick his spots for him and his teammates a little better down the stretch here.

Having said all this: DEFENSE!

[james]

Recommended to our blogger and all irregulars: While waiting for auto service yesterday, I happened upon a printed magazine (a curiosity, I know) called Sports Illustrated, wherein a Mr. Ballard related the story of his road trip along what he called the NBA's trail of tears, running north between the Bay area and our very own west coast metropolis. Put another way, he linked the perpetually incompetent Warriors (an entire generation of Barry's have grown, had NBA careers, and become analysts since Papa Rick's championship), the even more dysfunctional Kings, the snake-bitten Blazers (passing on Jordan and Durant in favour of Bowie and Oden), the gone but not forgotten Sonics, and the gone and almost completely forgotten Grisly's, er Grizzlies, a horrific tale amusingly told. Particularly kind words are reserved in Vancouver for Stu Jackson.

[charles n.]

Phoenix: a hollowed-out US city with sprawling suburbs/other cities all around.
It can make us realize what a fantastic vibrant mixed-use city we have in Toronto - people, businesses, walkability, etc. We need to improve sure...but what a different idea we have about what a city should be. Doug: what are the most walkable, best downtowns you visit in the NBA?

Blogger's note: In the big city department? Chicago and Boston, probably. I'm not a huge New York guy but ...
Small city? Charlotte and Portland, I'd say off the top of my head.

[D-Mac Ottawa]

How do, Doug. Thanks for the story on K. Lowry (and may I add that my earlier "concerns" have magically resurfaced again this past week or so?). Anyway, would you mind detailing what you/DC referred to as "jamming the ball" a bit for us? I'm also wondering how the heck you send "one and a half" guys "and everybody else gets back"... ? Many thanks.
And regarding Amir. He's in the upper reaches of Raptordom, along with Boogie and AD, for heart and work ethic.
Cheers. Go Jays!

Blogger's note: Jamming the ball: Doing something to either disrupt an outlet pass after a mis or an inbounds pass after a make that doesn't allow the opposing team to run.

[doug]

lack of ball movement on this team is a valid point...and low assist totals etc, but what I don't see mentioned is that Jose,Bargs,Amir,DD had one thing in common they played together for a fair length of time and it showed in their trust, court presence of one another and so on....that is why I don't get all this angst at times, it will come, people only learn to play together through exactly that playing together....and as far as offense goes I take whatever Casey says about it with a grain a salt, he has no feel whatsoever for the offensive end of the court, I can see why the T-Wolves cut ties with him so soon a she is proving to be exactly what he is...a defensive assistant coach.....ok rant time, we talk television on here frequently, what is with all these new shows called "Million Dollar Rooms, Pools, Closets ", they are so decadent and disgusting to me, I ask myself this well seeing them being promoted are these the same people that are against their taxes being raised?, I think yes...their complete and utter garbage and self-indulgence....ok thats it cheers...