Free Agency Day 5 - I believe we'll be fine

So Sheed is going to dress green next season. And the Celtics are reaching the All Star starting 5, while trying to put themselves into a winning position not only for the next championship, but also for breaking the record of technical fouls per one team. Doc Rivers is also talking to Grant Hill.

Mark Cuban broke the piggy bank to seduce Jason Kidd with 25 mln 3 year contract (WOOT!). Guess is he doesn't want to admit the mistake he made by trading Devin Harris for Kidd. Or he's simply afraid, that JK will drink from a Fountain of Youth as soon as he kicks into New York.

So the big market teams are spending. The small market teams are trembling.

Which one of them are we? I know, Raptors, being the only Canadian team don't get the serious attention from American media. But does it make us a small market team? Can you seriously call the only basketball Canada can cheer for a small market team? Yeah, there are most people obsessed with hockey here, but the young basketball fan base is big and growing. Check here.

So maybe it's time to stop wailing that we're spending too much on Hedo.
- We have a thin bench? We do, but we didn't even have legit starting 5 previous season.
- You're afraid it's going to hurt us in 2/3 years? I think it will hurt us more when Bosh shows us his middle finger next off-season, because we didn't give him any supporting cast.
- He's going to be overpaid underachiever. He's no Stephon Marbury. Also, he wanted to come here. Yes, he chose Toronto as his next home over Portland. The fact, that we offered him 3 mln more? It's 3 mln over 5 years with higher taxes, I don't think this changes his quality of life that significantly.
- You think that he's another 'soft Euro'. Rewind your memory to last year playoffs, when we met with Orlando Magic. Remember this ugly white dude who threw your franchise player into the second row of fans watching the game? Here's the 'soft Euro' for you.


I'm not a huge expert on salary cap, but if you see, how much so called serious teams spend on their players, you have to believe that there are enough exceptions to work out some plan to get at least one reasonable backup wing man. Not a superstar, not Hassan Adams, but a decent shooter/defender.

So, Toronto, enjoy. You have a first star player in your team history that comes here willingly. A player who played in NBA Finals recently. Didn't sit on bench, played as a starter. Shot several clutch shots, dished more than a few sweet assists. If this doesn't convince you, check Cuzoogle. End of rant.

I am anxious

And this is understatement. I'm positively going bananas, thinking what our GM has in store for us:

Draft picks swap?



Draft day blockbuster trade?



A winner?



A loser?




2 days left, no games to kill the time, and that's all I can think about.

What'ya gonna do?

It was rather a calm evening, after eventful day. I wasn't even supposed to be around, we were moving to a new place without internet and cable, at least for a few days. Then @RapsFan announced that he got an anonymous email offering Andris Biedrinds and Monta Ellis from Golden State Warriors for our Chris Bosh. No, bloggers cannot trade players in the real NBA, but it made me think - should we:
a) keep Bosh, surround him with a better cast
b) trade him at the draft night, and for whom
c) keep him till the trade deadline

Fortunately I am not the GM, because I have no answers. We need Chris to stay here, but he didn't sign the extension, and what if he walks? Surprisingly Toronto fans base seems to be optimistic about Bosh staying here:
@altraps believes we can keep him if BC provides a solid piece.
@RapsFan holds the hope Bosh will resign.
@_Chaun thinks we just need to make some noise and he's ours.
@Raps_fan says it's all up to BC and his willingness to add some decent players to the roster.

Or maybe I just follow the optimistic people, because how can you still believe after the last season? And having the memories of all these players, that either walked, demanded trade or just simply declined coming to Toronto?

@docksquad33 offers Tyrus Thomas, Kirk Hinrich and 2 1-st rounders from Chicago, @altraps thinks that BC would rather have Ben Gordon included in this trade. Just think about the defensive power in our backcourt with Jose & Ben(!!!)

@thattalldude sees Bosh in San Antonio in 2010. Spurs are my second favorite team and Duncan/Bosh duo sounds powerful, but I am not willing to condemn Raptors to league basement just to watch Spurs get another 'chip.

Last but not least @NBAguy shares his knowledge about basketball players that will never play for Toronto, because it's too cold here. Providing the fact, that most of basketball players sleep in cardboard boxes and have to wait on bus stops, temperature is definitely the huge factor!

So what'ya gonna do BC? Will you give us a winning season, make Bosh happy to stay in Toronto? Will you put us through rebuilding all over again? What do you have for us?

My RSS reader is pretty silent today. Well, they say no news is better than bad news!

Gimme back my Raptors

Yeah I want them back. The Raptors who gave us all these memorable moments:

1. November 21. Carter's alley-oop to win the the game for New Jersey in overtime. Another early lead blown. Vince first sends it to overtime, than kills us with his alley-oop. There's even a nice poster from Slam with this dunk, and Raptors standing around, staring with awe.

2. November 12. Calderon's hammy. When he went down, you never expected he'd struggle all season long, playing on one leg or not playing at all. How did it feel not having a legit backup point-guard.

3. December 2. Denver blows us up by 39 points. Embarrassing to watch.

4. December 3. Change of a head coach. If you thought Sam wasn't the man, why the hell didn't you fire him in the off-season? And why replace him with an inexperienced Canadian coach? Just to make a feel-good Canadian love story? FAIL.

5. December 19. Loss to Oklahoma City Thunder. You were so happy they were playing the worst team in the league, so you can watch them finally winning. Well, they didn't win.

6. January 11-21. 7 game losing streak. Very depressive period. You just wanted to start drinking really hard just to forget.

7. July 9. We traded for Jermaine O'Neal. Getting JO was supposed to take us to the second round of playoffs. February 14. We traded Jermaine O'Neal for Shawn Marion. Getting rid of JO was a desperation move just to make the playoffs at all.

8. April 5th. Knicks kick us out of playoffs. Like we didn't know that before.

9. Staring at the 33-49 record in disbelief.

10. Bosh's struggles with a joy of becoming a daddy throughout the whole season. Chants in ACC changing from 'MVP!' to 'Booo! trade Bosh!'

11. TSN2 fiasco. The everlasting history of cash-grabbing. MLSE, TSN and Rogers fighting for dollars in complete disregard of customers. Depriving us from 20+ Raptors games, Rookie-Sophomore game, some playoff games, because TSN had to show exciting sports like curling, Poker or darts, so the less important basketball had to be pushed on TSN2.

12. FedEx and 'Crosby doesn't stop' commercials.


There is hardly a possibility the next year will be worst. Expectation are not that high, as they were, which leaves less space for disappointment. Let's hope that:

- BC will fill in the holes in 2 & 3 positions. By trade, draft, whatever. Just put someone there. No more Parker/Moon/Graham/Kapono in these positions. None of them is an NBA starter.

- We'll get a backup point-guard or Roko magically improves in the off-season. El Calderon promised already that he wouldn't play for Spain, so his hammy has time enough to heal, but better to be on a safe side. Also we need a PG who can play ANY defense at all.

- Bosh won't have any babies. Without high-forehead moms to distract him, he should play his butt off. Especially that he wants to raise his value for the 2010 free agency, not to be a laughing stock behind Wade, LeBron, etc.

- BC won't get a player from Lichtenstein/Monaco/Azerbaijan (put your own obscure country here).

- No more nights when Joey Graham is your best player on the floor. It sounds beyond pathetic.

- No more hockey franchises in Ontario. We don't want Raptors to be pushed to TSN3 and us to be a witness to another game of thrones between rich people.

We hope. We read the news, chase for the trade rumors, analyze mock drafts. And we wait. Don't screw it up, BC.