Look What Raptors Stuff I Found On Ebay
Can Ball Ray, the finder of the strange and unusual on Ebay, has found an oddball of an autograph for you Raptors fans. The player who's autograph it is is a memorable Raptor shooter during that string of three consecutive Play Off runs but the item signed is a little unusual. Find out who it is and what he signed here ...
Lunchbox Links - Batum, Raptors Free Agent Options, NBA Playoffs and More!
While there's not a ton going on in Raptorland right now in terms of news, there is lots of NBA ongoings worth noting so figured we'd roll out an edition of LBL.
First off, regarding the Raptors, a look at some positional needs. RaptorsRepublic wonders if Toronto should draft a point guard, while TSN.ca's Tim Chisholm looks at some possible small forward options for the Dinos via free agency.
One option that's been bandied about is restricted free agent Nicolas Batum, a player Blazers Edge gives the full 411 on.
And speaking of free agents, Tom Ziller of SB Nation presents the NBA Free Agent Head Coach Power Rankings...which for some reason don't include either Jay Triano or Sam Mitchell...
Moving on to the NBA playoffs, it's become pretty obvious that as much as we like to joke about Chris Bosh's inclusion in the Big 3, the Heat need him to win a title. The National Post's Eric Koreen discusses this as well, especially in the context of LeBron James and Dwyane Wade's other options "sans-Bosh."
In the West, the Lakers have their hands full with the Thunder in a series where Kobe has been fairly "un-clutch" and the San Antonio Spurs look to have a stranglehold on their series already. Yahoo! Sports' Dan Devine takes a look at how impressive SA has been over the last 15 games, while the Toronto Sun's Ryan Wolstat says "don't call Tim Duncan old!"
Finally today, we end things on a humourous note with a look at the Memphis Grizzlies as Mario Kart players, and yes, a Spurs fan actually is risking a school suspension over this haircut...
An A and B Team for the Senior Women Is Not a Bad Thing
With the Senior Women's National Team beginning their road to the Olympic Qualifying Tournament last night, Can Ball Ray weighs in on the idea of a Senior Women's "B" Team and what that would mean for the women's player pool ...
RaptorsHQ TV - Steve Nash and the Toronto Raptors
If you missed the news from just over a week ago, you're probably not someone who follows basketball.
At all.
Steve Nash of course was named General Manager of Canada's basketball program, a huge move that has huge implications for the game in this country, not only from a national team perspective, but potentially regarding the country's lone professional squad as well.
For years fans have pined for Steven Nash to suit up for the Toronto Raptors but until this recent move made by Canada Basketball, it seemed like a pipe dream at best.
But in the wake of this move, many have argued that Nash in the Dinos' back-court is no longer such a stretch, and that Raptors' GM Bryan Colangelo, whom Nash already has a storied history with, will do everything in his power to bring Steve to TO next year.
We've yet to discuss the topic in much detail, but we kick said conversation off this morning with thoughts from both myself and our Canadian Basketball correspondent, Ray Bala, in our latest edition of RaptorsHQ TV:
Poll - Raptors vs Magic - Which Team Currently Would You Rather Be?
So far in our "Who'd You Rather Be" series, the vote has been in favour of the opposition.
Both the Dallas Mavericks and Utah Jazz were voted, both by readers, writers and opposing team bloggers, as being in preferable overall positions to the Toronto Raptors as of now. The reasons varied, from current talent to management and ownership and it's obvious that the Raps are going to be in tough in future "match-ups" for many of these same reasons.
However this one I expect to be quite close.
The Orlando Magic got the EVER so slight edge in my take on their current situation versus that of the Dinos, and even SB Nation's own Magic blogger, Evan Dunlap, noted that the compare was a lot closer than he had anticipated.
So to settle this, we of course want to hear from you.
Magic or Raptors, which team would you rather be presently?
Raptors vs Magic - Orlando Pinstriped Post Weighs In on "Who They'd Rather Be"
We gave you our thoughts on which team we'd rather be earlier today, the Magic or Raps, but what did the opposing team's blogger think?
Check after the jump for Evan Dunlap of Orlando Pinstriped Post's take on the situation...
Can Ball Ray Talks Steve Nash As the New GM of the Senior Men
It was announced last week that Steve Nash was announced as the new general manager of the Canadian Senior Men's National Team and it's about time that Can Ball Ray put a video up of the whole thing.
He has written about three big areas where Mr. Nash could be seen to immediately the Senior Men's program, and Canada Basketball as a whole, and you can find those posts here in Part 1, Part 2 and Part 3 where I discuss them in greater detail.
Basically, I'm harping on Nash as the best thing to happen to the National Program in a long time and all this means to infuse some much needed optimism for the future. It may only be a matter of time when we, as a collective basketball loving people, will be looking upon the next few editions of the Senior Men as Canada's Nash-onal Team in the most figurative and literal forms on the floor.
So who's on the bandwagon early?
CanBall Report: Steve Nash Becomes National Team GM (via raptorshqsbn)
Who'd You Rather Be? Raptors vs Magic
In their continuing look at how the Raps stack up against this year's playoff clubs, the HQ turns its attention to the Orlando Magic...


























