The new CBA by Tigercub

So, DeMar DeRozan signed his name under his first NBA contract and we have our Pizza-man in T-Dot, also. We knew that already, but how we got Hedo is another thing. Bryan Colangelo with help of other executives created rather complicated deal. Like 'I didn't sleep 5 nights in a row, to figure it out' complicated deal. It includes 4 teams and basically looks like that:

Raptors get Hedo Turkoglu, Antoine Wright, Devean George and bunch of salary cap exceptions.

Mavericks get Kris Humphries, Shawn Marion and Nathan Jawai.

Grizzlies get our second round pick, dollars and Jerry Stackhouse.

Magic get dollars and trade exception.

Why make it so complicated, when BC could have offered Hedo a contract, saving himself some sleepless nights? I'll give you the clue: it's not because we wanted Wright and George so hard. The answer lies in the magical word 'exception'. Yeah, this is what we were losing by just signing Hedo Turkoglu. But the CBA is obviously written by somebody who loves the word 'loopholes'. Before you understand it, the new CBA comes and it starts allover again. We're waiting for another ankle breaking set of rules in 2011. Why not make it simple and honor the players of 2000's in the same time, by this understandable and straight-forward set of exceptions:

The Anderson Varejao exception. Salary: the yearly income of an average wig producer.

The Eddy Curry exception. Salary: the yearly income of your local McDonalds restaurant.

The Allen Iverson exception. Salary: yearly number of sold benches.

The Ron Artest exception. Salary: the number of sold out rap albums by a player in discussion.

The Kevin Garnet exception. Salary: yearly income of an ear-plug store.

The Glen Davis exception. Salary: number of yearly sold Pampers packs.

The Baron Davis exception. Salary: money made by the movie '300' in the first month.

The LeBron James exception. Salary: yearly income of a local video store.

The Nuggets exception. Salary: the average price of tattooing a whole basketball team (coaches, trainers, execs included).

The list can go on and on. It doesn't use the complicated language of lawyers. But it still lets you spend more than you're allowed. Like when you're a girl using your husbands Master Card.

Free Agency Day 3 - Hedo looking for a better pizza

Earlier today ESPN informed us that Hedo Turkoglu reached an agreement with Portland Trail Blazers and Shawn Marion was negotiating his contract with Toronto Raptors. Raptors offered him something north of 30 mln for 4 years, but Marion tried to get 5 year 50 mln. While whole Toronto fan base kept their breath wondering who's gonna win these negotiations, another news broke: Turkoglu rejected offer from Portland and decided to go with Toronto. Raptors offered him 56 mln for 6 years, which is basically 6 mln more than Blazers.

Was the 6 mln the reason for Michael Jordan of Turkey to come to Toronto? Or the fact that his wife loved the city? Or maybe our pizza is better?


And how is it gonna affect us? We're simply losing the MLE and staying with a bench thinner than Christian Bale in 'The Machinist'.



We also can say bye-bye to Anthony Parker, Carlos Delfino and Shawn Marion.

I like the idea of having Hedo Turkoglu on our team much more than having Marion, but it would definitely get sweeter if we could also get Linas Kleiza to come of the bench.


Another news today:

Pistons are interested in signing Avery Johnson as a head coach.

Phil Jackson will definitely come back to coach Lakers. He seems to be the right man to handle Ron Artest.


Boston Celtics are interested in getting Rasheed Wallace.

Free Agency Day 2 - Disappointed Raptors Fan

Yeah, I feel really disappointed. It feels like all the teams are trying to do something and we're just sitting and waiting for something magic to happen.

Trevor Ariza agreed to sign with Huston Rockets a multiyear MLE deal, which made about everybody in Toronto asking: WHY? Why didn't Bryan Colangelo try to sign him? NBA.com tells us, that Raptors actually offered bigger dollars to Ariza, but he signed with the Rockets 'out of respect'. (???)

Ron Artest reached the agreement with Lakers. Now, he will be able to manhandle Kobe on trainings.

Boston Celtics trying to make a run for Rasheed Wallace. Mavericks and Knicks speaking with Jason Kidd. Marcin Gortat is on his way to Dallas.

So, where are you, Raptors? Are you gonna try to resign Shawn Marion? Add Linas Kleiza? Is that all we can expect?

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.

NBA Free Agency for Dummies

Here's the list of some NBA free agents 2009, described in short Twitter-like fashion and non-scientific language. The order is random.

Marcin Gortat - Polish Hammer, he can block the King in the name of Polish Democracy.

Glen Davis - known for crying, and killing little boys after shooting a winning shot.

Anderson Varejao - man, he flops.

Chris Andersen - his blocks are as colorful as his tats.

Linas Kleiza - having him won't hurt you when Melo is hurt.

Wally Szczerbiak - his abilities of playing ball are only a little better than your abilities to spell his name.

Eddie House - he'll defend you so much that you'll want to slap him.

Nate Robinson - don't be cheated by his size, he can dunk.

David Lee - Mr Double-Double, he makes sure to follow every shot he misses.

Grant Hill - aging like a good wine, still capable of giving you a kick on some nights.

Mike Bibby - his 3pointer looks way better than his tats.

Trevor Ariza - Mr Hustle, he follows every loose ball and steals inbound passes.

Allen Iverson - best crossover in the league, but is he the answer?

Shawn Marion - as ugly as his shot looks, it usually goes in.

Jason Kidd - triple-double for me please.

Hedo Turkoglu - he can both dribble and shoot really well.

Rasheed Wallace - big mouth and big shot.

Ron Artest - fantastic defender and entertainer, he's been in the stands before.

Lamar Odom - good force on the team providing he gets his candies.

Ben Gordon - you will love and hate him multiple times on each possession.

Carlos Boozer - power forward with a power.