More on a Canadian NBDL team

A few more thoughts on today’s column, which centered around my idea that the Raptors and Canada Basketball should partner on an NBDL team.

Any way you look at it, it’s going to be difficult to make money running this theoretical thing. As I mentioned in the piece, the Raptors have already had some talks about partnering with some local on the purchase of an NBDL affiliate. But it would make a lot of sense for Canada Basketball, which had heard nothing of the D-League talk, to get on board. Maybe Canada Basketball doesn’t have a dime to bring to the table, but it should try and leverage its position as the game’s national overseer and become actively involved in the team. The squad could prove to be a great training ground for Canadian players, not to mention Canadian coaches – who also, as of now, have few outlets outside of college and university jobs. The difference between a Raptors-affiliate D-League team and any old minor-league team is that the Raptors have a world-class management staff that knows a thing or two about developing players. Maurizio Gherardini, the Raptors assistant general manager, for one, ran the immensely successful hoops factory at Benetton Treviso. So what Gherardini could bring to the table alone, just as an ideas guy, would be huge. And you’d think Canada Basketball can bring something other than money to the proceedings. Exactly what, that’s probably for Canada Basketball to figure out. But both Bryan Colangelo, the Raptors GM, and Wayne Parrish, the Canada Basketball CEO, acknowledged that the partnership between the organizations hasn’t been fully explored or exploited. “I don’t think either side has been optimizing the opportunities that perhaps are there,” is how Colangelo put it.

The nature of developmental systems is that they’re investments in passion. The Raptors spent part of their training camp on the Benetton Treviso campus, which wouldn’t exist if the Benettons, a family of billionaires, didn’t love basketball and if they didn’t want to see the game prosper in their hometown. In other words, it’s more than likely that the existence of a D-League team in Canada will hinge on whether Maple Leaf Sports and Entertainment would run a money-losing club or – the more likely option, since we know Scrooges – whether there are basketball-loving investors willing to spend some money on this thing, and lose some. That said, after MLSE screwed over Newfoundland a few years back (reneging on a promise to return to the Rock after a Cavs-Raptors preseason game in St. John’s had to be cancelled due to moisture on the court), and after the Raptors have subjected Canada’s enthusiasts to something like a decade of mostly abysmal basketball, you’d like to think the billion-dollar empire might find a moment to do something charitable and productive for their home country’s basketball scene.

How much money? The league is committed to keeping its operation low on overhead. Payroll is a few hundred thousand bucks a season for the whole roster. Travel costs aren’t first-class. There are no rooms at the Ritz, a la the NBA.

The NBDL is hardly the perfect developmental model as it exists today. Right now teams can only send their first and second year NBA players to the NBDL, and other big leagues, like the NHL and Major League Baseball, obviously have better systems. But the Lakers and Spurs, while they clearly hope the league will evolve to be more advantageous, also see it as a training ground for players who aren’t under contract who might eventually turn into Lakers and Spurs, even for 10-day contracts. Bryan Colangelo likened it to “a season-long free-agent camp.” And you know what came out of the Raptors’ last summertime free-agent camp: A starting forward named Jamario Moon.

R.C. Buford, the San Antonio general manager, said the Spurs bought the Austin Toros, their D-League team, for a number of reasons. First, as he said in the piece, it’s an investment in research and development. And by that, he’s not simply talking about prospective players. The Spurs hope to use the Toros as a training ground for all aspects of their organization, from their coaching staff (Quin Snyder is their head guy) to the training staff, from the marketing department to the ticket office. Also, they’re hoping it will help expand their fan base in Austin, which is an hour down the interstate and home to a relatively wealthy and educated population.

The Lakers bought the L.A. D-Fenders in part so they could teach potential midseason call-ups the triangle offence, which is a little difficult for just-arrived players to learn in the span of a 10-day contract. The team has been playing games in the late afternoon, a few hours before the Lakers take the floor.

It’s hard to say where a prospective Canadian NBDL team might play. Oshawa has a nice arena, and it’s managed by Maple Leaf Sports and Entertainment, which owns the Raptors, so that might make sense. London, Ont., pops to mind, as does the Niagara Region and Kitchener-Waterloo. Hamilton’s had minor-league basketball before. So who knows?

Dave Feschuk

More deep (three) thoughts

A few more thoughts on today’s piece on the ever-increasing importance of the three-point shot …

In the memoirs of Johnny Most, the late Boston Celtics broadcaster, there's an entertaining passage that details how Bob Cousy, the hall of fame point guard of the Celtics' championship juggernaut of the 1950s and '60s, would get worked into a tizzy watching Danny Ainge fire up three-pointers on 4-on-3 fast breaks.

Ainge, the Celtics' shooting guard during their run to three championships in the 1980s, knew a thing or two about what he was doing, even if it went against the orthodoxy of earlier eras. "Figure out the math, Johnny," Ainge was quoted as saying to Most. "My three-point percentage (and Ainge was shooting better than 40% from behind the arc at the time), is really better than a guy who's shooting 60% with two-point shots … I don’t think (Cousy's) 38% lifetime shooting percentage gives him ammunition to knock my three-point accuracy."

You hear a lot of Cousy-ish purists still saying the same thing. But Ainge, of course, was on to something. Off the fast break, in the half-court game -- if the numbers tell you anything this season, it’s that a lot of teams see the three-pointer as a shot for all occasions. As I mentioned in the piece, 12 teams are shooting 20 or more three-pointers a game this year when you round to the nearest attempt. Last year six teams could say the same thing. The year before that, only four teams took that many per game. It's still early in the season, of course, so it’ll be interesting to see if the pace keeps up – or if it increases.

My bet is the three-pointers will be hoisted in even greater numbers. It’s hard to find the team that has reached the law of diminishing returns on its three-point gunning. And it’s interesting that even though the number of attempts per game has gone up around the league almost every year in recent memory, the league-wide three-point percentage has stabilized at around 35% every season.

Maurizio Gher ardini, the Raptors assistant general manager, had some interesting thoughts on the three-ball that I couldn't jam into the petroleum-based story.

"(For) the young generations, the players growing up, the three-point shot has become a very common weapon, just like a bounce pass or a hook shot or any fundamental. Anybody can do that," said Gherardini. "If you remember at the beginning, there were only the three-point specialists. Only a very few players even thought and tried to take a three-pointer in the game. Now anybody can take a three-pointer. It's something that's become part of every player’s routine, including the big men when they practice."

Gherardini said that, obviously, the three-pointer is even more integral in the European game. That's got a lot to do with the FIBA three-point line, which is a mere 20 feet, 6 inches from the target (compared to the NBA line, which is 23 feet, 9 inches around its arc and 22 feet in the corners). Gherardini, who made his name as an executive in Italy before coming to Toronto before last season, said there is plenty of discussion about moving the FIBA line back a step or so.

The essence of the shot, he said, has changed.

"It used to be extraordinary. Now it's not extraordinary anymore," said Gherardini. "It's almost time to make a four-point shot."

Actually, someone's already done that. The American Basketball Association, the reincarnated minor league that takes its name from the NBA rival that popularized the three-pointer in the 1970s, has a four-point shot. Anything taken from behind the centre line is a quadruple.

Last week the idea of a four-point NBA shot was posited to Donyell Marshall, the Cleveland Cavaliers shooting specialist who did some good gunning for the Raptors a few years ago.

"A four-point shot, that's some made-for-TV stuff – that’s not the game of basketball," said Marshall.

Doesn't that sound like something Cousy might have said about trigger-happy Ainge in the 1980s?

Dave Feschuk

Joey Graham: Will he or won't he?

Dave Feschuk is in Treviso covering the Toronto Raptors at training camp.

 

TREVISO, Italy – It was the dunk of the preseason: Joey Graham zoomed down the lane and cocked back a beauty of a one-handed power jam. And all that muscle rushing to the rim rendered the guy trying to defend Graham, an NBA all-star named Chris Bosh, powerless to keep his feet in the wake of the hip-to-head contact.

“All-world,” is how Bryan Colangelo, the excitable general manager, described Graham’s flush. Said Sam Mitchell, the Raptors coach: “I went down and I handed (Bosh) a towel because I told him he had just got (dumped) on and did he want to wipe his (derriere).”

Graham backed up the highlight-reel play with a series of other solid moments in Wednesday night’s intrasquad scrimmage at the Palaverde, the home of Italian-league stalwarts Benetton Treviso. So cue the Joey-is-ready-to-explode storylines if you like, but take a moment for a quick reality check. The guy lighting up what amounted to a meaningless workout among teammates is the same guy, when last we were watching Toronto basketball that mattered, who had to be yanked from the postseason starting lineup for underperforming.

Highlight-reel dunks have always been in his arsenal. Long-term reliability, especially as a defender, has always been the thing that gets him benched. So it was no coincidence that Graham lined up with the black team, the second-unit squad that lost to the first-stringers 105-96 here tonight. And excuse Mitchell if he is restraining himself from thrusting Graham back into the first five.

“There are just things he can do physically that not a lot of people in the NBA can do,” said Mitchell. “And hopefully, being his third year, that light (comes) on. We’re hoping.”

Graham’s physical gifts are obvious. But playing time will not be a given for the third-year forward. He has established himself as such a mercurial player that it’s conceivable that he could either work his way back into the starting lineup or find himself out of the rotation at various times this season.

The Raptors brought in a couple of players who could potentially scoop much of his run. Jason Kapono, who started at small forward for the first-stringers last night, is a far better shooter who may or may not be a liability on defence. Carlos Delfino, another swingman, will also make a bid. And then there’s Jorge Garbajosa, who could conceivably see much of his time at the small forward spot this season, especially if Andrea Bargnani cements himself as the starting centre.

Bargnani, playing in front of his countrymen, looked agile and strong on Wednesday night. Both sides moved the ball quickly and generously. Juan Dixon, an exception to that observation, seemed to shoot the ball every time he touched it, which means the folks in Italy might be seeing more of him soon. And Graham led all scorers with 25 points.

“This is my year,” said Graham, and stop him if you’ve heard that line before. “This is my come-out party. So I’ve got to do it. … Usually it takes guys two or three years and that’s the duration of the contract. By that time, if they haven’t established themselves by that moment, they move on. So this is my year where I’m going to determine whether I have longevity or whatever.”

Dave Feschuk

Pain for Canada

Doug Smith is following Canada at the FIBA Americas Olympic qualifying tournament.

The sense of dread Leo Rautins had to feel when he saw his son writhing in pain on the Thomas and Mack Center court the other night is almost incomprehensible; the feeling he must have had when word came back on the seriousness of the knee injury had to be even worse.

I'm sure, knowing Leo, the pain he felt in his heart was as a dad was far, far greater than his feeling as a coach and no one should have to go through that.

Andy Rautins tore the anterior cruciate and medial collateral ligaments in his knee in the first half of the first game in the Olympic qualification tournament.

His loss is substantial to Canada's team - he was one of the top three-point shooters on the team - and his next season at Syracuse is probably over now, too.

It sucks when guys get hurt doing nothing more than playing hard; can you imagine watching something like that happen to your son?

Brutal.

AMERICAN SIGH: Anyone else getting entirely bored of watching the Americans in Olympic qualification tournaments?

I've been watching them since the original Dream Team in 1992 (in person most years, from the comfort of home this time around) and they have yet to lose a game in one of these.

It's different at the Olympics and world championships, of course; the Americans haven't won anything of significance since Sydney 2000. But these games? Bor-r-r-r-r-ing.

The biggest question we used to ask ourselves – aside from when China would find a point guard – was how long teams would make the Americans really try before the game got out of hand. It's about four minutes so far in Vegas and it won't be much longer until the semifinal, when I think they’ll be stretched into the second half.

Big whoop!

But next year in Beijing, when those good European teams get them, it'll be a different story and something worth watching.

CANADA'S CLIMB: Can't understate how big that Canadian win over Venezuela was.

If they had lost that game, and had to beat Virgin Islands today to have any chance of even moving onto the second round, the collars would have been soooooo tight, it would have been wild.

Sam Dalembert's big night, and smart enough guard play and coaching to get him involved early and often, relieved all the pressure in the world.

Sure, Canada isn't through yet – if they beat Virgin Islands they will be; if they lose, they have to hope V.I. beats Venezuela; if Venezuela wins that game and the three teams all have a win and a loss in games among themselves, it's points differential and that's a scary proposition.

UPS AND DOWNS: Okay, so Carlos Arroyo is horrific in Game 1 for Puerto Rico, missing all 10 shots he took. He bounced back with 16 points and eight assists on Thursday. Just the kind of consistent performance you want out of a point guard.

Doug Smith

Low point for Canada

Doug Smith is following Canada at the FIBA Americas Olympic qualifying tournament.

ISAAC BREKKEN/AP

Brazil point guard Leandro Barbosa gets a pretty good look over Canada's Jermaine Anderson. Bit of a mismatch there.

We used to sit around at various Olympics, world championships and qualification tournaments and joke that we couldn’t believe that China – China! A country with a billion people – couldn't find a single point guard to help out some pretty good big men.

Well, what have we got? Thirty-five million people and all we can find is one. And Steve Nash is not in Las Vegas.

It became apparent watching Leandro Barbosa scorch Canada last night that Leo Rautins' biggest fear – the lack of a capable point guard – was coming true.

No disrespect to Jermaine Anderson but his game is not at the level of the top international teams. Isn't. And won't be.

THE BRIGHT SIDE: All in all, though, an eight-point loss to Brazil can't be considered too bad. Canada got close, didn't get blown out and should carry some good momentum into the two most crucial games of the tournament.

They need to beat one of Venezuela or Virgin Islands to advance to the next round and that's who they get today and tomorrow.

The loss of Andy Rautins will be critical – he's an excellent shooter and Canada was a dreadful 4-for-18 from behind the arc against Brazil – but someone is going to have to step up and make jumpers.

Sure, it's nice to have Sam Dalembert around but international basketball is up and down and transition and Canada’s got to be better.

AWW SHOOT: Oh, and one other thing: There's no way Canada can be in the top five at the end of this thing shooting 58 per cent from the free throw line. Juan Mendez may be a gifted scorer but if he’s going to be a free throw liability, I'm not sure Leo can put him on the floor late in a close game.

WOULD HAVE BEEN A BIG HELP: Samuel Dalembert is built for the international game, much moreso than Jamaal Magloire; just as Tiago Splitter is much more suited for this style of play than Nene is.

That being said, if Magloire was there to come off the bench when Dalembert got two quick fouls Wednesday night against Brazil, Canada may not have found itself down double-digits early in the second quarter.

But don’t worry, if Canada miraculously qualifies for Beijing, Jamaal says he'll be there.

BAD DAY: Get a load of this line from Carlos Arroyo: 10 field goal attempts, 10 misses; five turnovers, four points.

Ugly? Worst of the day, by far.

CHATTER BOX: Rick Kamla's a good guy, we've worked together a few times and he knows his stuff but if I hear the NBA-TV play-by-play guy say Alex English when he means Carl English one more time, I may throw something at the TV. Oh, and if there were eight seconds of silence at any time during the Canada-Brazil game Wednesday, I missed them, Rick and Alaa Abdelnaby sure know how to fill that air time, don't they?

Doug Smith