Welcome Jarrett

Indiana Pacers won't match Jarrett Jack's offer to play in Toronto, which means we can officially welcome Jack as a new Raptor. It's not a huge signing, like with Hedo Turkoglu, but it's definitely great news. If you look at the previous season what happened when Jose Calderon got injured and we had no legit NBA point guard to back him up, you will see what I mean.

Wonder how much time it takes for people to start bitching about another 'point guard controversy'. We used to have 2 good point guards with TJ Ford and Jose Calderon, but it didn't make people happy at all. If you read all the rumors, you would have found out, that Jose and TJ were in a constant war about the starting job for the Raptors. Surprisingly, trading TJ to Indiana, created another 'war' between TJ and Jarrett. Even more surprisingly, that move didn't make us a better team. Wait, it didn't even keep us on the same level. Figure that.

About year ago, before we traded for Jermaine O'Neal I had a discussion with my husband about the Raptors roster. Although he is mostly a hockey fan, he's been watching sports on regular bases for longer time than me, so I felt he will be more of an expert on this subject. We still hadn't signed Jose Calderon and I was getting anxious if he was going to be a Raptor for the following season. My hubby suggested that we should sign and trade El Calderon or get rid of TJ, because you don't keep two good point guards in the same team. This statement made me completely perplexed - why do you fix something that ain't broke? I always took the 'point guard controversy' with a grain of salt and I didn't see the logic of keeping only one good point guard and filling the backup position with an unproven player. What happened later, unfortunately proved me right. Sometimes your heart gives you a better hint than 'expert advice'.

So I let myself be led by my heart in this season. I loved the Hedo deal from the beginning, and, although I was a little concerned about our bench, I believed it will somehow get sorted out. I didn't really care that much, about other blogs screaming that the signing would certainly be a doom for the Raptors. And it got sorted out.

Jarrett Jack is another signing that makes some people shake their heads looking at the price tag. I don't care. If this is the price, we had to pay, to secure him, I'm fine with it. If the news create another controversy, I won't care either. Believe me, I don't really give a fuck, if Jarrett Jack sleeps with Mrs Calderon. We have two good point guards in our roster, and what they do in their spare time is none of my business as long as it doesn't interfere with their actions on the court.

Also, I can sleep easier now, knowing that Jamario Moon will be shooting ill-advised treys for the Cavaliers, not for the Raptors. I was slightly worried about the possibility of bringing Moon back, but luckily he will be signing with Cleveland if Miami don't match the offer. Yes, he is athletic, he can dunk and rebound, but I can live easier without that goofy smile after a missed trey in the crunch time with 18 seconds on the shot clock. Good luck in Cleveland, Jamario. Let's see how much of the ball you'll get with LeBron James and Mo Williams on your team.

I'm looking forward to the next season.

The offseason blows

The off-season blows big time and it's rather difficult to open Twitter, when there is nothing even remotely connected to the basketball in the trending topics. It must be even more difficult for players like Big Baby Davis, Andre Miller and David Lee, who are looking at their phones and waiting for any call.

Celtics load their team like there was no tomorrow. Their new target is Marquis Daniels, who will come in a Sign & Trade with Scalabrine or take the biannual exception. Trail Blazers don't have that much luck. Although, they have money to spend, they continue to fail to sign any player at all. After Hedo Turkoglu made his decision in favor of snowy Toronto winters, the Blazers signed Paul Millsap for an offer sheet, only to be kicked in the nuts again, this time by Utah Jazz, who decided to match the offer.

Mark Cuban's lawsuit have been dismissed, Antoine Walker didn't have luck with gambling and Richard Jefferson left his bride at the altar. That's the kind of news we are being fed lately. It's dry bread and water for those of us, who are hungry for any NBA news. I would prefer rainbow trout and Chianti, but that will have to do, unfortunately.

Dwyane Wade jumped out on Twitter lately with a promise of some news. Of course news were crappy, he changed Converse for Nike, which doesn't make any difference, if you're not interested in yet another puppet commercial. He didn't say anything about Lamar Odom, although the rumors make us believe, that Wade is trying to convince the Heat team and Odom to remarry again.

Yao Ming bought himself a team, and it might be the only basketball related activity, that will be left for him. He just cannot catch a break with his injuries, which is such a pity, for he is one of the best centers in the game and has a heart of a warrior.

Josh Childress is going back to Greece, and there is a remote possibility that he will take Nate Robinson with him.

Magic spoiled Marcin Gortat's hopes to be a starting center for the Mavericks. Marcin wasn't happy at all, especially when the Magic signed also Brandon Bass, pushing the Polish Hammer even further on the bench.

The OK City Thunder waived guard Earl Watson, who might be joining the Pacers, hence giving us the hope, that Jarrett Jack will wear Raptors uniform next season. There is no logical reason for Pacers to pay 20 mln just to get another point guard. They have time till Tuesday to make their decision. Hope we won't get the treatment Blazers are getting. Although we have Douby to backup both guard position and he had a major impact in the Summer League games, I still don't feel him as a first guard from the bench. He hogs the ball way to much, and while it may work in the Summer League games, where all the players try to steal the show, it won't be working in the team concept. Roko didn't improve and Marcus Banks... You just hope that he can somehow disappear and take his contract with him. There is no reason for him to be in the NBA.

Ugly Boys Raptors?

Yesterday night, on Twitter, Sarah [ticktock6] from Hornets Hype raised a valid point - trading Arron Afflalo from Detroit to Denver seriously shakes the hotness spread over the NBA. Pistons are definitely falling out from the top 10, first losing Allen Iverson to free agency, then trading cute Arron.

This made me think - where are the Raptors in the rankings? And it is not very optimistic. We've been known for losing lots of hot players in last years: Mo Pete, Vince Carter, TJ Ford, even coach Sam Mitchell's classy suits. The last loss of Anthony Parker only adds to our misery.


The core of Bosh, Bargnani and Calderon remains the same. Not stunningly hot, are they? Well, Jose can look rather cuddly on some photos, but he ain't no All Star in Hottie Contest.


With the new additions to our roster, you can make a case for Jarrett Jack's sweet smile [please, Pacers, don't match the offer!!!] and DeMar DeRozan's physique, but it really gets thin after that.


Our hope lays in signing Carlos Delfino which is still remotely possible.


So, is the era of Ugly Boys Raptors coming? I guess so. Hope they will be known for their good play, not for the looks.

About the Summer League and Toronto Point Guards

Yet again, I decided to put my family life on the edge for basketball, like it was before with the March Madness and playoffs. I got myself enough beers, take-out phone numbers handy, paid the $15 ransom to the NBA and started getting excited.

Although strangely familiar to the game I love to love, it's difficult to call them basketball games. It's a rookie watch. I don't really care who wins and by how many points, I'm more interested in personal performances, to see what we're getting for the next season.

First game for the Raptors was against Lakers, second against Pistons.

In the first game Smush Parker looked better as our point guard then Ukic or Douby, although he screwed it up in the second game. Ukic is not an NBA point guard. Neither is Douby. Roko simply sucks and Douby hogs the ball as a wannabe Allen Iverson. He scored 21 points in the second game, but didn't bother very much with dishing the assists.

Brent Petway was channeling Pops Mensah-Bonsu in game 1, trying to prove us that D-League plays better ball than Raptors second unit. Like we didn't know it before. He didn't have very much impact in the second game, which had most of the offense going through the guards.

DeMar DeRozan looked rather good in game 1, his jumper not bad, some high-flying. Had some problems with ball in the traffic, but nothing to raise serious doubts. He really warmed up in the game 2, though, 20 points, 4 rebounds. I didn't see him as a game starter after first game, but in the second game, he got his rhythm going and might be as good as advertised. I have to see more games, to know him better.

Patrick O'Bryant is a misunderstanding. Luckily, he comes cheap. He is soft as a kitten, soft enough to make other Raptors players look like hockey thugs.

Other notable rookies:

- Detroit seems to hit a jackpot with their rookies: both Austin Daye and DeJuan Summers are simply killing it.

- Stephon Curry is a definition of a volume shooter. As Golden State Warriors seem to have more shoots available than your standard NBA team, he seems to be a good fit there.

- Tyreke Evans lives at the free throw line. He drives, drives and drives. And his impressive wingspan seems to extend from one end of the court to another.

- Brandon Jennings sucks.

- After watching (or half-watching) 8 summer league games, my huge book about C++ starts looking tempting. Basically the games are not really exciting.

After 2 games it was easy to notice, that our backup point guard position screams for an NBA worthy player. If Marcus Banks was watching these games in TV, he must have been thinking that his year was coming and he'd get some playing time. How wrong he was. Raptors offered 4 year 20 mln sheet to Jarrett Jack. Jack is a solid backup combo guard. Maybe the money is too big, but on the other hand it can put us on the safe side, if Pacers want to match the offer. They may not be able to offer him this kind of money.

Jarrett Jack as a Raptor puts Marcus Banks on the top of the LVP (Least Valuable Player) run this season. Oh, wait, wasn't he already there? Jack is also Bosh's buddy from Georgia Tech. Another move to seduce Chris in staying in Toronto?

The Cavaliers might be interested in getting Joey Graham. Seriously, is this a move to keep LeBron in Ohio? Or maybe they want to replace Bron with Joey, when he heads to New York?

Paul Millsap signed an offer sheet with Portland. If Utah Jazz doesn't match, we will have helluva of a Trail Blazers team next season.

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.

We will miss you, Anthony

It seems that Anthony Parker is moving to Cleveland. Although not a super star, he will be sorely missed in Toronto. I met him once in person - he was a very nice and classy person, with the sweetest smile. I get he will be teaching LeBron now how to behave. Some lessons on modesty and classiness can also go to Mo Williams.


If Andy Varejao got a dollar for every flop, how much would he earn? The answer is here. 50 mln for Hedo or Bargnani doesn't sound that crazy anymore? Right.

S&T Marion with Dallas is on its way. We still need another team to complete our threesome and let us grab some dollars for adding players to our bench, which will definitely not include Pops nor Delfino, as we renounced the rights to them. If we have luck, it might also be our chance to get rid off Kris Humphries or Marcus Banks.

Zaza Pachulia goes back to the Hawks, Spurs sign Haislip and McDyess, Jennero Pargo heads to Chicago, Dahntay Jones to Indiana.

More signings here. And here.

The Rockets get exception for injured Yao Ming. Hey, what about Tracy McGrady? Every team that ever had him on a roster or even thinks about trading for him should get exception, too. Just like that.

I might have forgot: Free Jordan Crawford! #freejordancrawford

It's nice to cash your check...

... especially in these hard times for the economy.

As we all expected, the salary cap fell down, luckily only about 2 mln, but is expected to get a full hit for next season. Yeah, THAT season, when the Free Agent Bonanza of 2010 hits the market.

First news, we hear after that is our GM offering the extension to Andrea Bargnani, worth roughly 50 mln for 5 years. Yes, 50 mln, Andrea, good job, you can close your mouth now.


This is definitely a bold move and yet another cocky reassurance, that Raptors mean their business. It brings a sense of security over our frontcourt, securing the Center and Small Forward position for next 5 years. And if the economy was thriving, nobody would question any of these contracts. In reality we're wondering if it's not too much money.

So, the ball is on your court, Andrea, and all our eyes are on you. Are you gonna be our doom? Or you will become such a superstar that you'll have Man In Black following you around, deleting the memories of you being dunked on and stealing the video footage?

The interesting fact, I noticed previous season, our Magician seemed to play better, while unshaven. Hope he won't celebrate his contract extension by buying new razors.


Other news:

Ron-Ron becomes an official entertainer for Lakers' fans. The contract is signed, sealed and put into fire-proof safe-box. Shannon Brown also stays in LA.

Birdman will be still in Denver, the place, where his tattoos are the most appreciated.

San Antonio Spurs are flirting with Antonio McDyess. Seems that Big Baby Davis is still the wallflower. Don't worry, your time will come, Cinderella.

The Hedo-gate in T Dot & LeBron's big mouth

The Hedo-gate is reaching dangerous levels in Toronto. Soon Bryan Colangelo will have to make his decision about renouncing (or not) the rights to the free agents: Shawn Marion, Carlos Delfino and Anthony Parker. Soon we will learn.

Are we gonna have Hedo and none of 3 above? Are we gonna sign & trade any of them? Are we gonna send an apologize card to Hassan Adams begging him to come back?

There is an interesting rumor about sign & trade Shawn Marion with the Mavericks, which will give us Jerry Stackhouse and our MLE back (or not). Yeah, don't ask me. 'The CBA is really fucking complicated', by the words of @scottcarefoot. I completely agree. As soon as I understand it, the new, more complicated CBA will come. It's like deja vu allover again. If I was capable of catching up with CBA on the first read, I'd apply for a job of a first female GM in NBA.


Hence, I hope our man Bryan Colangelo gets what it needs to be a good GM, understands the rules and has a huge ace to pull out of his sleeve. He looks clever, no?



While BC is tactfully silent and let our minds wonder, LeBron just wouldn't shut the fuck up. About year ago, he told to the media, that he will be playing in New York. Now, he tries to lure Trevor Ariza to Cleveland, promising him, that he's an Ohio man through an through. Surprisingly, when asked, the King calls Ariza a liar. How will he shake Trevor's hand after this? Oh, I forgot. He's a witness. I mean a winner. Winners don't shake hands.


Other news:

The ugliest tattoo of NBA stays in Hotlanta.



Avery Johnson decided he doesn't want to take part in the Motown Experiment, without job security. Pistons will hire John Kuester as a coach. Kuester was an assistant coach in Cleveland. Cavaliers had an assistant coach? How many coaches do you exactly need to call one play: 'give the ball to LeBron 35 feet away from the basket and get the hell out of the way'?

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.

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?

Free Agency Day 1 - The Motown Experiment

Remember Deeetroit Basketball? The solid team that used to go to conference finals every year and won one championship in that stretch? What have happened to them?

It seems that they after they lost Ben Wallace, the team was still really good, but they couldn't make it to the 'ship. So, the Pistons GM decided to make an experiment - he swapped Chauncey Billups for Allen Iverson. My first thought was - Pistons will really rock now. Man, how wrong I was. We all know, how it worked. Pistons turned into below .500 team and exited the playoffs in the first round, not winning a single game. Who was punished for that? The head coach Michael Curry paid for his inability to fit in the square peg of AI into round hole of Detroit Pistons. He just got fired.



They failure of a bad answer to Detroit question didn't discourage Dumars from making yet another bold moves. Iverson is not coming back, Rasheed Wallace neither. Instead of this, Pistons on the first day of the free agency offered 5-year long contracts to Charlie Villanueva (40 mln) and Ben Gordon (58 mln). Does Ben Gordon really fit into the concept of Deeetroit Basketball? I don't think so. But maybe a huge change is coming. Or yet another coach will be fired.

Asides from Motown, not much going on in the Free Agency Day 1. Quentin Richardson had to change his jersey yet again in the span of few days, being sent to LA Clippers in exchange with Zach Randolph.
Raptors still didn't get anything going yet, although they are trying to do the shopping. The names include: Hedo Turkoglu, David Lee and Linas Kleiza. Turk & Kleiza are small forwards, which is what we need, but why are putting yet another big man (Lee) in that equation? Only time will tell, how it ends.

I wonder

1. Why Raps made a qualifying offer to Pops Mensah-Bonsu. We're securing another big man in the rotation. We already traded Jason Kapono for Reggie Evans, we also have Bosh, Bargnani, O'Bryant, Hump. And the hole in the wings is growing bigger and bigger. We drafted DeRozan, but who else is gonna be there? Are we gonna teach Bargnani how to dribble? Or can we somehow trade O'Bryant and Hump for a SG/SF.

2. When O'Bryant is going to change his avatar. Man, Celtics don't love you anymore. Deal with it.

3. Why everybody is so concerned about Brandon Jennings trash-talking. NBA players get to earn millions when they are young and stupid, they trash-talk, they have huge egos... That's why we love them.

4. What could have happened if BC traded up in the draft to get Ricky 'Franchise' Rubio to play in Toronto.


Would his Mama become another Vince's Mama for us?


5. When Yao Ming is gonna catch a break. The big man suffered enough injuries for at least 3 players. He's broken his foot now, which can spell the end to his season, before it even started.

6. What's gonna happen to Charlie V. Something sad about the fact, that the Bucks wouldn't extend the qualifying offer to him. The biggest heart on the team, he tried to carry this bunch of losers on his back to get to the playoffs while Michael Redd ended his season; and he nearly made it. I'd say - Raps, go for him, but we cannot have a roster containing only big men [nearly].

7. Is the Thunder really going after Ben Gordon, and where the logic is in that plan. There's only one rock to play with and only certain amount of available shots.

8. Why on Earth Mehmet Okur wants to opt out of his contract in Utah. Is he scared of Mormons? Or is he another player that wants 10 mln? everybody seems to want to get 10 mln now.

9. How to survive the off-season. Plans include:
- reading all these books I gathered in last few months. The pile is at least NBA-player high.
- watching all the basketball movies ever made.
- finally unpack after the moving.

Championship or cash?

I believe every Raps fan has at least one team they secretly (or not secretly) root for asides Raptors, preferably in Western Conference. We need somebody to cheer longer than to the first round of playoffs. Providing Raptors even make the playoffs at all. Most of Raptors fans, I hear, have been cheering for the Suns, because of Canadian accent in Steve Nash and the high-speed offense, which is always so much fun to watch.

I am a little different with my 'fancies'. My second favorite team is the Spurs. I've never hidden the fact, that I have a weak spot in my heart for Tim Duncan. I also consider Popovitch as one of the most clever coaches in the league, and the French Flash has that killer instinct Raptors have been cruelly deprived of for years.

Look what the Spurs and the Suns have been doing lately. While Suns were great to watch, they couldn't get the championship trophy. And instead of trying to retool to grab that golden prize, something wrong happened. The Suns started the garage sale. Kerr showed the world, how much of a cheap bastard he is, selling the draft picks and getting rid of the best players. They didn't even make it to the playoffs this year. Now they dumped Shaq to Cavaliers, and rumors make us believe, that the first choice was trading the Big Cactus for expiring contract of Raef LaFrentz, only the big man disagreed. They've been also trying to shop Amar'e, and nobody believes that Steve Nash stays in this pathetically depleted team.




Meanwhile, the Spurs grabbed 4 championships, until finally the age factor hit them. Last playoffs were helluva of a disappointment, with Manu Ginobili injured and 'the old dudes slowin down'. And how did the Spurs react? They started full-speed retooling. They found another cheap team thinking dollars and grabbed Richard Jefferson, shedding some of their elderly citizens. No mistake here, Bruce Bowen used to be very valuable piece on defensive end, but these legs are not young enough to chase Kobe or LeBron on the court. The next step was drafting DeJuan Blair, who magically fell to the second round. Why he fell so low, stays a mystery for me. There's some talking about his bad knees, but there was also something similar about Danny Granger, and look how we feel right now, drafting Joey Graham ahead of him. Next Spurs move might be going after Rasheed Wallace. And we'll see them running deep in the playoffs again if not winning their next 'ship.
Unfortunately, BC seems to still think along the lines 'Suns East'. First, trying to implement the run-n-gun offense with a player like Jose Calderon spells FIASCO. Second, getting Shawn Marion might of been OK if he was 5 years younger. We ended the season as 'Clippers East'. Now, the money issues. Jay Triano as a head coach is one that comes cheaper than hiring a really good and experienced coach. Also, how many times have we heard: 'cap space', 'financial flexibility', 'salary dump', etc. compared to 'we want to win this year'? I know, that BC is on a short leash of MLSE, which mostly belongs to unionized retired teachers [*union - terrorist organization, known for regular riots in demand of more money/holidays/benefits for less work]. But it cannot go forever. I don't have to be a hockey fan to know what kind of product they've been selling under the name of Maple Leafs. The point is that Canada breaths hockey, it needs at least one more generation for people to realize what they're paying for. Not the same with basketball, the market being younger, and actually waiting to see any results. One day the greediness of the MLSE might make them decide to sell the Raptors for yet another sucking hockey team. I hope it's not the case. And I hope we'll hear from BC: 'We're doing our best', without adding: 'to have a financial flexibility'.

Post draft thoughts

Moving to a new place is always a pain in the ass. If you add the fact, that our movers didn't come when they were supposed to come and we had to do it on our own. New building didn't let us transfer our Rogers account, and Look TV (which they recommended) didn't take new customers. We finally ordered internet from Bell (no TV, because we have no balcony) and the appointment was yesterday morning, so I felt myself lucky enough to not miss the draft and draft discussion on Twitter. The technician came early in the morning, but then we found out that our building management has some bitch-slap war with Bell also, so the technician left us without internet. What was our surprise another technician came in the evening and made it work. Thirty minutes before draft I finally connected!

Draft night wasn't half as eventful. Not much trades, some pick swaps. And not much to talk about Raptors selection. We got (Vince Carter) Demar DeRozan, as we expected. We didn't buy a pick. We didn't do a blockbuster trade. My favorites were Tyreke Evans, Jonny Flynn, Demar DeRozan, as I stated before. Both Evans and Flynn went earlier (BC didn't even bother his head with Evans, but I hoped we could somehow trade for Flynn). DeRozan was an obvious choice. And his reaction was cute.

Other thoughts:

- Number 1 pick wasn't a surprise. Blake Griffin was supposed to go to the Clippers and here he goes.

- Lots of people expect Hasheem Thabeet to be a bust (#2 to Memphis).

- Ricky Rubio, who was projected to go at number 2, but slipped to number 5. We're all kinda not that trusting the European players. And after being drafted his agent said he'd play in Europe for next 2 years. I know, Minnesota sucks, but where is this "I'll play for free, just to be in NBA" attitude?

- Tyreke went to Sacramento with #4, Jonny to Minnesota with #6.

- Minnesota Timberwolves drafted a bunch of guards - Ricky Rubio with #5, Jonny Flynn with #6, Ty Lawson with #18 (traded to Denver), Wayne Ellington at #28. 4 first round picks = 4 guards.

- Golden State Warriors pissed off NY Knicks fans grabbing Stephen Curry at #7.

- New Jersey Nets drafted Terrence Williams at #11. Wait, it only gets cuter. They traded Vince Carter and Ryan Anderson to Magic for Courtney Lee, Rafer Alston and Tony Battie. Backcourt with Devin Harris and Courtney Lee? It rarely gets more entertaining (and HOT!!!). I already feel bad having a crash on division rivals.



- Brandon Jennings drafted at #10 by Milwaukee Bucks looks like Jamario Moon.

- Indiana Pacers went Caucasian, drafting Tyler Hansbrough at #13. Jared (Both Teams Played Hard) wasn't happy at all.

- DeJuan Blair slipped to second round. Suspicions were getting really thick (he raped somebody before draft, knocked out all the GM's daughters, brought a bag of cocaine and a hooker to the practice). There is no way, his knees are that bad! Finally Spurs took him at #37, making Spurs fans happy (me too), and giving another reason for conspiracy theories about SAS. I, myself, feel, that he'll become a huge piece of another championship team.

- Suns got Ben Wallace, Sasha Pavlovic, second-rounder and dollars from Cleveland for Shaq, who will have the opportunity to play with yet another great player in LeBron. That's a life story (he played with Penny, Kobe & Wade already).

- Warriors got Acie Law and Speedy Claxton from Hotlanta for Jamal Crawford.

- A part of Portland's Spanish Armada, Sergio Rodriguez is moving to Sacramento.

- Bucks get Bruce Bowen, Kurt Thomas and Amir Johnson, Pistons get Fabricio Oberto, Spurs got Richard Jefferson. I rambled a little about that trade here, but check Project Spurs here.


Raptors Republic got it together pretty nice, telling us about winners and losers in the draft.


Update: I don't believe I forgot about the biggest trade! Darko got traded! For Q-Rich!

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.

Day of Love

Toronto Raptors have extended a qualifying offer to restricted free agent Carlos Delfino, adding so much needed good-looks and sweetness to the roster.



The Star tells us that Reggie Evans likes it tough. Chris Kaman would certainly agree.


Demar DeRozan finally agreed for the workouts in Toronto, which will certainly heal so many broken hearts.

Kevin Love is sad to see coach McHale go.

And I'm gonna watch 'Love & Basketball' tonight, as a cure for the NBA Withdrawal.

Jonny Flynn wants to play in Toronto

Watching the interviews after pre-draft workouts I was nicely surprised to hear that one of the most likable and arguable pretty good players Jonny Flynn wants to play in Toronto. He's from Niagara Falls, likes it here and feels that he's gonna be a good fit for the Raptors. HOW OFTEN DO WE HEAR THAT?
(Obviously he never lived in my area. In 4km radius there's like 100 places with hamburgers ad 0 [ZERO] places you can get Sports Illustrated or Hoop. Add the fact that now when we're moving out the landlord tries to charge us 1000 [thousand] bucks for cleaning the floors and windows. Wonder who're they hiring for this cleaning that takes 1000 bucks for a day of work - TTC driver?)
Anyways, if Jonny comes here, I'll be happy. I might like Tyreke Evans even more, but I seriously doubt he'll be available at #9. Any of them I believe can provide some heart to our team. We just traded for some balls (Reggie Evans) and maybe this transplants make the next season better and more fun to watch.
Meanwhile, just not to get crazy facing another basketball-less night (2 nights ago dreaming bout playing one-on-one ball with Vince and witnessing KG cut Truth's throat proved me I'm not sane) I'm:
- reading some blogs. Nice piece about Jonny Flynn.
- listening to some music. Lil Wayne rapping about Kobe is officially more annoying for a random NBA fan than 'Amazing' by Kanye West.
- wondering if Magic can win the Finals. I might post my thoughts about it later.

Bye bye Jason

Miracle happened! We managed to unload Jason Kapono's contract. As Star tells us.
Jason Kapono was traded to Philadelphia Sixers for Reggie Evans. This trade makes sense or both teams. Sixers sucked from a 3-point line. Now with their athletic and aggressive wings can open the lane for a sharp-shooter in the corner.
Raptors need anybody to rebound. Anybody not being soft as cotton. And Reggie Evans, a 6-8, 245 pound forward is a physical player.
Let's hope he won't turn into another jump-shooter in a few months.