Lessons from Spain

I was in Spain before Thanksgiving and did see a couple of Gasol posters and Calderon Raptor jersey. Can't wait for the season to begin.

I here a lot of talk about how Toronto lacks toughness especially since they're such bad rebounders. What ever happened to Uros Slokar and Pape Sow? While they didn't light up the scoreboards they weren't afraid to mix it up on the boards. Where are they now?

Broadcasting:

Chuck is annoying. Every game there are fewer and fewer people who disagree with that statement. If it wasn’t for that annoying 2 seconds delay, it would be far more enjoyable listening to the radio broadcast while watching the game.

What happened to hoops talk on the fan? Now I haven’t hunted this down, but I have tuned in from time to time only to find dead air (or baseball as some like to call it.) What’s going on with Toronto’s hockey… I mean sports station? Could it be any more obvious that they are not committed to the Raptors?

I’ve commented before about McCowen’s neglect for the sport. Now hoops talk isn’t on and if I’m not mistaken, I don’t think they’ve broadcast any of the pre-season games either. Would anyone be surprised if they give up the Raptor broadcast next time the contract comes up?

PG:

I didn’t watch last nights game, but from the stats it appears that TJ had one heck of a game while Calderon was average at best. Why is it anytime Calderon has somewhat of an above average game, there are calls for a changing of the guard, literally. But when the result are the other way, no one mentions anything. Does TJ not have a fan club? Do the loud minority not watch these games? Or maybe most of us realize that Sam knows what he is doing and in Sam we trust?

Excellent report franchise, glad to hear you enjoyed the basketball atmosphere we currently have in Spain (just 3 years ago it was a whole different story), just imagine how crazy it was in the Eurobasket and how badly people wanted Garbo to play.

Just one clarification on the cheerleaders: the spanish girls joining the Dance
Pak in Madrid were actually models who are taking part in a reality show for the spanish TV: "Supermodelo 2007", kind of "Canadian Idol" but for
top-models instead of singers. Joining the Dance Pak was in fact a
task/audition to be later rated by the judges. Really weird stuff anyway...

And let me finish by saying that we've always perceived the FIBA (national basketball programs) board to be a bunch of slow-moving bureaucrats, fortunately Euroleague (which is an association of purely professional clubs, more like the NBA) is a lot more dynamic and is probably responsible for much of the boom european basketball has seen in recent years. We'll see how the whole thing plays out...

Now, I'll admit as well, that I didn't watch the game against Zalgiris Kaunas, but I did check the stats, and you know what I saw? Bargnani with 8 boards in 19 minutes. Sure, he also had 4 fouls, but still: 8 boards in 19 minutes = not too shabby for our soft centre-of-the-future.

Maybe I'm wrong though. Could someone who watched the game let me know if Bargs actually worked for those 8 rebounds? Or if a bunch of them were just tips to himself? Or something of the like.

Erezona: It's funny you should mention McCown. I interviewed him for my day job last week and as a Raps fan I mentioned that.

He was pretty frank. The guy isn't even that big of a hockey fan, but it's a numbers game. Way more people in Canada (it's a national program) want hockey (obviously). If he had his way, they wouldn't do so much on the sport.

Wow. Okay that was an obvious and boring thing to say. Just after meeting him and his producers I felt like I should stick up for them.

Erezona: Two more things. The pre-season games are actually broadcast, but just on NBA.com. I think they are trying to boost their League Pass membership.

As for the TJ fanclub. Here is a great article written by someone who obviously understands the game, and what TJ does.

http://www.psamagazine.com/issue2/tj/tj1.html

Enjoy.

Glad someone brought up the Chuck stuff...yep, count me in as being already annoyed. It's one thing for him to use his "Chuckisms" with Jack and Leo, but to hear him talking to himself during "Game in an Hour" and using them is ridiculous.

And the Raptors aren't helping by using him in these new TV spots...

All of this of course has me VERY worried in terms of what this year's intro and warm-up song will be...

Thanks for the insight about their popularity in their home countries - very good read. Hope you make some coin with your new credentials, because word is out - this is a fantastic forum.
Frank- Barghani was impressive last night although not quite sure what the level of competition was compared to an NBA team. With Bosh out of the mix, he was used more as an inside presence. THe kid seems to listen to people who want him to grow. Humphries and Rasho looked good as well. Don't think were as weak inside as our critics seem to think.
Hope Delfino doesn't get in Sams doghouse - he has an intelligence for the game and can help this team.
Agree about Chuck - at least he wasn't responding to emails while broadcasting!
Am gonna try to get to the game tomorrow - will try and pick up a whistle.

MazelTov, Mazel Tov on digging out that link. That was a great read/watch! For anyone who still has doubts about the starting PG, follow the link and you’ll see why BC decided to get this guy and Sam decided to start him. Although BC deciding should be enough.

I seem to be the dissenting view on several issues, but here goes. When you remove the passion and the home team blinders, it makes no sense for us to go to next off season with Calderon in the fold. We risk losing him for nothing as we did with Marshall. There will be plenty of teams to throw stupid money at him and it’s unrealistic to think we could match for a backup point guard.

There have been discussions in the past about playing the two together. That just doesn’t make sense. They are both PGs. You only need one to run the show. Therefore, the other would be there for his shooting and we all know that we have better options for scoring. That is not their strength. Not saying anything about the size issue at the 2 spot.

Of course BC knows all this which is why TJ is the starter and why I think he’s thinking of Roko as the potential backup PG of the future.

One other point about Bargnani. Last year, and I posted about it at the time, there were many instances where Bargnani would work hard for positioning deep under the basket only to be denied by the PG on the court. it was almost as if he was frozen out in favour of others, usually Bosh. I think Bargnani is ready to take that next step and if the PGs find him when they should, we will see much more from Bargnani this year.

Can’t wait for the games to start so we can start talking about real action!

Franchise & Howland. I just wanted to say congrats on getting Press Pass access. I remember when we first launched fan.ca (where raptorshq.com got its start) in 1999 - Sports Teams literally laughed at us when we mentioned we were sports fans with internet sites and wanted media access. Site like yours go a long in proving that fans can contribute insightful coverage.

You should ask the players and legomaster if they ever read your blog.

Did you ever think you would be in a press conference asking David Stern questions!!

Congrats and keep up the awesome site.

Zona,
I did watch the game and yes T.J. was very impressive. However, so was Jose. He had 3 "and 1" drives that looked great.
I am not knocking T.J. at all, but your second post made me think about last year.
One other point about Bargnani. Last year, and I posted about it at the time, there were many instances where Bargnani would work hard for positioning deep under the basket only to be denied by the PG on the court.
I saw this as well and I would say that Jose is more of a distributer to anyone that is open, rather than TJ. TJ is more discerning with where he wants the ball to be. Usually either with Bosh or himself. While I agree that you want the ball in your best players hands, the Raps style seems to fit Jose's game a little better. Obviously that is only my opinion, and the cantankerous responses can begin shortly.
As far as the game the other night, the only players that underwhelmed me where Garbo and Dixon. Garbo had a few bad turn-overs on errant passes (very un-Garbo like).
And Dixon seems intent on shooting himself into the line-up. I just didn't feel that he was talking the shots that the defense was allowing the Raps to take. Other than that, they really didn't look that bad.

PS. Bargnani's attempted dunk in the 1st quarter made me come out of my seat. Nce to see that quickness.

Be kind.

I noticed there was no posting from Keon Clark and here is why http://sportsillustrated.cnn.com/2007/basketball/nba/10/18/bc.bkn.clark.arrest.ap/index.html).
The whole TJ vs JC debate is an interesting one. I really don't think most people in the JC camp believe he has a greater upside than Ford does, only that his style is a better fit for the Raptors. There is no doubt in my mind that based on last years performance this very true. JC prefers to distribute and his penetration technique is much more effective than Fords is most of the time. My biggest knock on TJ is that he sometimes forgets there are other players on the floor other than Bosh and himself and he has only one speed. I will admit it must be difficult to chase him around all night but if he would start varying his speeds when he attacks that hoop instead of trying to win a gold medal in the 100 meter sprint, the debate would be over. I really believe that is what he needs to take the next step. He is too often out of control when he goes to the hoop and it hurts his court vision and decision making with the ball. He varies his speeds he would be harder to defend and he would see the whole court a lot better.
The big plus side for Ford is that most PGs don't really develope until their mid to late 20's so he still has time to do so.

Posting from: San Jacinto County Jail

Erezona,

Great post, totally agree with you on Chuck. I remember the good old days, when Chuck would actually CALL THE GAME! His broadcasts have degenerated into incessant gimmicky, shtick. This was highlighted in Wednesday’s Game in an Hour where Chuck was alone without a colour commentator (Jack/Leo) to balance the broadcast. Chuck used to be a good commentator. He focussed on the game, called the plays/action and left the insight to the colour commentator. Chuck if you’re reading this, please just call the game.

As for TJ Ford, he has been far and away the best Raptor so far in camp. Bargs has shown that he has worked on his game, Rasho has been solid, but TJ looks in mid-season form. He’s averaging 13.5 PPG and 7.3 APG in 25 MPG!! He has been under-control and using a change of pace speed as apposed to full out sprinting, allowing him to dissect the apposing defence and get wherever he wants on the court. Also, has anyone noticed that he’s making his jumpers? He’s shooting 62.5% from three, albeit on limited attempts… but the ones he takes he has been making.

Jose has been solid, but the discussion of who should start at the PG position for this team is over as far as I’m concerned. Jose is definitely the best back-up pg in the league, but I would start TJ ahead of him any day. As for the comments about TJ being selective on who he gets the ball to… Bull. He has to pick the best match-ups in order to give the team the best chance to score. If you asked 100 NBA experts who you should give the ball to last year in the post Bosh or Bargs 100 would have said Bosh. If you watched the preseason games he has given the ball to whoever had the best opportunity to score or whoever the play was called for. To indicate that TJ was freezing out Bargs in the post (when he looked inept in the post all year long last year) is ridiculous.

Dwight Howard looks hugh this year and is ready for breakout year.Could He be better than Garnet? Will He get the ball? Answer YES and YES lookout east.

Keon,

Just for the record, I wasn’t indicating that "TJ was freezing out Bargs in the post". First I said the "PG" because I truly noticed it with both TJ and Calderon and second, I didn’t mean to insinuate a premeditated decision to not include Bargnani in the offence, only that they didn’t look to him as much as they should have. I’m not speaking of the preseason as I haven’t seen any of the games. But last year, there were many instances where Bargnani would work himself deep in the post only to see the pass go to Bosh 20 feet out. I just think that as a point guard you automatically would look for Bosh if you want to get some assists on your stat line, but they need to make a conscious effort this year to find Bargnani, especially after working hard to get into position.

I have a recurring nightmare and TJ is in it. In my dream, I'm watching the first round of last year's playoffs, and TJ's size-challenged defense is broadcast by megaphone to the entire NBA every time Kidd posts him up. Again and again... and again. It's game 4 and he is *still* doing it, while announcers are dissecting Kidd's near triple-20(!) in game 3.

I believe TJ has it in him to become a truly great floor general on offense. But (and this is not a rhetorical question) is there really anything he can do about his defensive liabilities?

The dream ends when Smitch *finally* in game 5 starts doing what a coach is paid to do: he makes adjustments and benches Ford. Calderon D's it up on Kidd, then goes off for 25 points and 8 assists in 38 minutes and the Raptors win.

Let's assume Calderon will re-sign with us for a discout of 5 mil a year. That's 14 mil a year dedicated to the point guard position. That's a max deal and there are many max contract PGs out there. The question is: is Smitch capable of thinking outside the starter-backup box? This unique situation absolutely demands it.

TJ shows hustle on D - actually might of been on of our best. Matching up with JKidd is not an easy task for anyone - he's always a triple double threat no matter who guards.
If we can keep TJ and Jose for a combined 14m its money well spent. Both are big parts of this team and think BC will do all in his power to keep both.

But Calderon will not come cheap. I don't care what he says, especially if he continues to improve and teams are still looking for his skill set (i.e. Boston, Miami, Cleveland). Team loyalty only goes so far.

Don't you think teams like Atlanta may offer at least $5.1M? The reality is they will go much higher and I don't blame Jose, but he will accept the higher money.

Just looking at the stats Martin outplayed Delfino. Not a good situation for Delfino if He expects to play. What about Moon is He a keeper? Judging of the play by play on internet I say Yes all I heard was His name. AB impressive outing again. Luke Jackson goodbye! Dixon made a case for playing time but may get traded. Delfino shape up or be traded. JG bad stats All three did not impress.
The way Parker has been playing He should of got more burn.
Kapono would like to see Him play more also.

Agree Jackson appears to be one of the odd men out. Wish Martin would retire and come on as an assistant coach - I do appreciate how he helps this team but on the floor he's a chucker. A better player than him will be let go.
If Moon continues to play like last night against the Bulls the decision is made - he stays.
Barghani sure looked good last night shooting the ball, still needs work on his drives - but no worries, this kid is gonna have a great season.
Noah was hilarious last night!