Raptors At The Games

Seems like there's a different coach for spain these days, wasn't it some wild hair guy? Maybe this is the problem with jose. From my small amount of watching, jose and everyone just seems constantly out of position and plays are just shut down before they start and they end up doing a lot of one on one/five. Maybe also jose is being asked to score based on his raps scoring this year, and his scoring is not the flow of the game as they say. Sergi?

Hey fellow Rap fans. I am still waiting for someone to respond to my question from the last post. Where can we watch the basketball games over here? Is anyone going to show the Greece vs. Argentina game following the US game? Please help!!!!

For those interested, I have shared some info on Printezis in the last post.

It looks like Ricky Rubio even got the start over vs. Croatia.

Nice to see JC's shooting improve though.

I didn't get to see Prientzis play so thanks to all for there updates.

I'm starting to feel a little better about Ukic and I get the feeling that he might be a steal for the $ he's getting.

However, my biggest disappointment has been watching Garbo. While his stats haven't blown me away, the deflected passes, assists from the top of the key and his ability to defend multiple positions has me questioning the decision to cut him loose. We definitely could have used this guy this year.

Still dont know why Jawai wasn't on the lackluster Assie team.

Sorry Asst. GM. I'm hit and miss with getting these games.

Let's hope that Jose's groin injury is not serious and will be fully recovered by the time the Raptors training camp starts.
Judging by the comments below, it does not appear to be too worrisome.
Worryingly for Spain, Jose Manuel Calderon had to leave the game in the fourth quarter with a groin injury.

"He felt a pain," Garcia Reneses said to FIBA.com. "We don’t know his condition, but we hope to have him available for the semi-finals."

Calderon said he stopped as a precaution but would have tests on the groin.

He finished with 10 points, making both of his three-pointers

I realise this is a little bit off topic but something has been bothering me about Canada's International Basketball Program. Namely, I look at the standings on the Women's side and notice powerhouses like New Zealand (made up of like 4 million people and 40 million sheep) and Mali (really, Mali) both making the Olympics but our women's program couldn't make it? This is less prevelant on the men's side obviously as the competition is so much stronger in Men's competition then in the Women's. The fact that neither team made the olympics (especially the women's) should be a major concern. I mean are Canadian Women so weak that they can't earn a spot against powerhouses such as South Korea, Mali and New Zealand? Doesn't every Canadian University of note have a Women's basketball team and is there not a few canadian women in the US College ranks as well. Shouldn't Canada be able to cobble together a team to compete at an international level? I am really getting frustrated with Basketball Canada as they seem unable to move the program forward in any semblance. In fact, it seems that we have moved backwards as if you think about it, Canada's only success internationally was due to a single player (Steve Nash). The worst part is, as an observer we are all completely helpless as this idiocy continues unabated. It's not like we can elect a new head of Basketball Canada (wouldn't that be nice). If you doubt that the program is moving backward all you have to do is look at the coaching. Triano may not have been the best coach in the world but if you are going to fire him shouldn't you replace him with someone with actual coaching experience? Rautins may one day be the greatest coach in history but currently he has 0 head coaching experience and almost 0 asst coaching experience. The irony was that Triano was getting coaching experience with the Raptors and that was used as one of the reasons for firing him (he couldn't commit to the team full time). Having a full time coach hasn't helped our program in any way shape or form. In fact, as stated earlier, it has regressed. At least Triano could get Nash to play for him, Rautins has failed to get a single player of substance to stick with the program. It is all well to play like a team and all that BS that Rautins has spun to mask the fact our team sux but there is talent there for the men's program and if you can't find a way to kiss a little ass in order to make the program work then what use are you? It's not like Dalembert was the only player who disappeared from the program at a time when we needed them most.
Ok, I realise that I meandered a little through that but my overall point is that there is a failure from top to bottom to improve the Basketball program internationally and it start's at the top. I don't know who is in charge of Basketball in Canada but they should be fired immediately and replaced with someone who knows what they are doing (if I recall there are a few people who are currently without GM jobs in the NBA who could be wooed for a couple of million per, hell why not hire Babcock).

Jose should shut it down: a minor groin injury will easily become a major one if the player puts more stress on the muscle. As much as I like Jose if he continues playing I will lose all my respect for him.

mcgateway, I'll toss something in - I think the worst part is the lack of bball breeding grounds. There just aren't enough kids playing at a young age, not enough secondary schools emphasizing it, and finally our university level programs lag behind in funding and fan support. I'd like to see our university/college teams join the NCAA and have the schools go after fans like minor hockey teams do in this country. The situation is not going to improve while there's tumbleweeds blowing through the stand at every game.

I'm no rautins fan, but who is else is out there? Mike Smrek? Well maybe that's a thought.

Watch online:

http://www.mundocramex.blogspot.com/

Axl, answering your question, yeah the coaching change has a lot to do with it. The new coach has some wild ideas about rotations so Jose (and many others) plays just for little stints of 5-6 minutes where the coach demands high defensive intensity and then gets benched for a rest. I think it is this unusual distribution of minutes, plus the emergence of Ricky Rubio, which is limiting Jose's game and confidence. Some players like Pau, Rudy or Ricky have adapted fine while others (like Navarro and maybe Jose too) are having a harder time with it. On one side it is a good thing for the Raps that he is not lodging too many minutes (20mpg), but his confidence is still not quite the same, and some in the spanish press are calling for coach Aito to limit Ricky's minutes and just give the lion's share to Calderon. As for starting or not, this is no big deal with this coach, it is quite usual that some players from the starting lineup end up playing less minutes than some players coming from the bench.

As for his injury, I can only add that he will reportedly pass a medical exam tonight but the player said he doesn't think it will be that serious as to prevent him from playing in the semifinal.

interesting, thanks sergi

Assistant GM - Thanks for the Printezis info. Was at work early this morning so not sure what they did schedule wise about the Greece vs. Argentina game.

Here are the two schedules I've been using though for the games:

http://www.cbc.ca/olympics/schedule/daily/2008/08/15/basketball/

http://www.tsn.ca/olympics/feature/?fid=10580

There are plenty of coaches out there you might convince to coach the Canadian National Program (assuming you are willing to spend the money). I threw out Popovich and Sloan earlier this summer (they would be expensive) but I was using them as examples of the kind of coaches we should be targeting. There are a ton of College coaches who might be willing to take on a national program assuming their season's wouldn't be disrupted. But if Coach K can coach the US national program why can't we get someone of at least that calibre to coach Canada? If Rautins or Triano acted as an assistant, they would get the needed experience behind a name coach they need. Where does it say that we have to have a Canadian born coach to coach the team? Other teams use foreign coaches and the Canadian soccer program has used European coaches before (and I think they still do).

this is completely unrelated but Donyell Marshall was released today from oklohoma city....do the raps have any spots left for him?

Good to see others as concerned about the Canadian National program as the Raps. Frankly, I'm not sure how to fix the obvious problem. Maybe the new board (which includes BC) is a step towards adding some stability and long-term thinking but who knows at this point.

On Printezis, does anyone know how long he's under contract to Olympiacos and what his buyout is? He's a 2nd round pick so he's not subject to the rookie cap which means to come over here he will need a salary that permits him to earn on top of whatever his buyout is. Or he can just wait until his contract is up and decide whether its worthwhile to come to the NBA.

I believe Printezis has two more years left on his contract with Olympiakos.

http://sportsillustrated.cnn.com/2008/writers/ian_thomsen/08/19/jermaine0825/index.html

Promising article about Jermaine O'neal

This is from Doug Smith's blog. Great news, as we will not have a repeat of what Garbo did to the Raps! At least Jose knows where his bread is buttered.

Speaking of Jose, he’s to have an MRI late today here (or just a while ago depending on when I get this blog posted) and I’m told by Someone Who’d Know that he won’t step on the court for Friday’s semifinal against Argentina unless he’s 100 per cent. He’s given his word to the Raptor bosses and there’s no reason to think he’d go back on it.

Spain fyi is playing Lithuania per schedule.

Calderon has played 3 good games and 3 not so good. I think it has a lot to do with the new coach, starting and not starting. Vs Greece 5/8-13 pts,vs Germany 5/8-15pts, vs Croatia 4/5-10 pts.
Vs US,China,Angola 2/19-6 pts combined. Looks like he played better vs the EU teams.

In the end Calderon did not play because of his injury in Spain's hard-fought win over Lithuania in the first semifinal.