3 In the Key – Toronto Raptors Game Day Preview vs. Milwaukee

Unrelated to tonights game, if the Raptors do end up in the lottery (a small if) and they happen to win, should they use the first overall pick to actually draft someone or use it to try and get someone to take Kapono's and Banks' contracts off our hands (i.e. trade down in exchange for taking the bad contracts) or even just trade outright without getting a lesser pick so someone will take those contracts off our hands?

If they get the first pick I guess that would mean Griffith. That would mean the 99% story would become a 100% one and I guess whomever gets Bosh will get also one of our bad contracts

Okay maybe I've developed Brolove for Cole Aldrige of the Kansas Jayhawks. I'm not 100% what he'd be in the NBA. He doesn't have the upside potential, but I think he'd be a solid NBAer. We'll have to see if he comes out.

Hasheem Thabeet stock has risen during the Madness, and was my early selection for the Raps early in the season. Game reminds me of another former UConn Marcus Camby, big blocks but a developing offensive game.. Runs the floor well for 7'3, and would fit the current rap system and be an impact player off the bench behind Bargs.

Fanchise: NIT?? Aww man, that's sad! :)

Yep...NIT has actually produced some solid games. About four or five clubs (most that are still playing) probably should have been in the big tourney so some interesting talent.

Camby though played for UMass not UConn and my worry about Thabeet is that for a team that's so porous on the perimeter in terms of defense, the last thing I want is a 7-2 project at center that EVERYONE is going to try to dunk on.

I like Thabeet, but he's got a ways to go and I'd rather see the Raps address some perimeter concerns first.

McGateway - Totally agree with your take. Even if the Raps grab the second or third via the lottery, I'd like to see them use a similar strategy and package the pick for one or two later ones while moving Kapono or Banks.

Finally, mini rant here. If I see Voskuhl getting more minutes than O'Bryant tonight I'll be livid. In fact, why didn't he start on Sunday? We know what Voskuhl can do. He's shown/hasn't shown that over the course of his NBA career. O'Bryant has spend most of his time on a bench. If you make a trade like that for a prospect, I don't get why he doesn't get some major non-garbage-time minutes. I mean, they were playing the Clippers!

As for Douby...this gets me going as well. I liked him as a second-round pick out of college but it's not like he's in O'Bryant's shoes. He got a ton of opportunity on a mediocre to terrible Kings team and yet couldn't stick. Again, I'd much prefer to see BC grab some recent non-draftee in the D League like Jawad Williams or Derrick Byars...

Obviously we should reserve judgement until the facts come out, and even then, it is not our place to judge.

However, the court of public opinion will judge, and the verdict will be that she is gold digging, or that he is a deadbeat. Given the claims on the court documents indicating that they have been unable to come to a healthy agreement with the best interest of the child in mind, these seem like the most likely judgements to be cast.

Personally, I do not think that CB is a deadbeat. He just seems like a good person. And I mean that in the sense of who is naturally is - not the appearance of his public persona, which I find quite unpolished.

Kobe had a great public persona, very respected and polished, but I never got the sense he was a great human being. When his stuff went down, I was like "no kidding". This Bosh stuff, I was pretty shocked.

At very least, Bosh has to recognize that he was better off settling this thing quietly, out of court. It was better for his reputation, and may even prove to have been more profitable form a purely financial perspective.

Given the strong incentives he faced to strike a reasonable deal, it leads me to believe that perhaps she is being unreasonable.

With regards to "Bosh not supporting them": It is entirely possible that he had been offering support in denominations which she deemed underwhelming.

If I offer my wife 50 dollars in support, and she wants 3,000, she can sue me saying I am not supporting them. The same is true if I offer a thousand, and she wants fifteen hundred, of if I offer a million and she wants two. I suspect that "Bosh not supporting them" is more akin to a monetary disagreement, than him being a complete deadbeat. Like I said, regardless of whether he was willing to do the basic decent thing, which is raise the child like any man ought, the cynics in us can at least recognize that he would be dumb to not pay her to shut up.

Further, I found her behaviour very odd at the game in which she was chirping LeBron. I just got a weird vibe from her personality, as to why anyone would be behaving like that. (Further, there is the story that she made out with Damien Wilkens in high school, and was a cook for the dallas cowboys > all of which would be congruent with the hypothesis that she had an eye out for professional and likely to be professional athletes.)

Further, Bosh’s euphoric tweet about seeing the light, apparently after seeing his daughter, does not jive with the notion of him being a dead beat.

So while we must reserve ultimate judgement, my sense from the early returns is that Bosh may have gotten played. Just given my sense of his personality (I posted yesterday that I doubt Bosh was much of a Mack growing up), my initial impression of her personality, and the fact that it makes no sense for anyone, regardless of how much of a slimy douche bag they may be, to desire such a law suit be brought against them, when they can easily afford to avoid it.

If those notions are true, that really sucks for Bosh.. As incentives change, behaviour changes: one of the most valuable lessons form my studies of psychology and economics.

Everyone is responding to incentives. If she did have a few dollar signs in her eyes when she met bosh, then the incentives really do change once she was pregnant. Much like a guy who only wants a hook up: after having sex, you tend to act much less charming, and just about the entire effort or social façade you were representing is completely out the window.

I dunno, maybe I’ve just had my heart broken too many times (> from girls, and my sports teams: Leafs, Raps, Jays, Liverpool FC, Bills…).

I think if BC has a chance to get Rubio, he will. Anything after that, the pick is likely in play for the right deal.

That is just my suspicion.

Looking forward to the game tonight. Not sure why, but I still enjoy watching this team play. But I have to negotiate time to watch it now, as a lottery bound team is not justification enough to watch straight up. Rather I will go to the gym, do some cardio and watch the game there.

Franchise: Right.. Camby.. UMass..

Heard from a decent source, O'Bryant has really bad practices, attitude and performance. He's supposedly not fitting in well at all, didn't see him at the Bosh bash, admittedly I wouldn't know who I was looking for except a 7 footer.

Bosh personal stuff, non story. Just a media thing. If this was a story, we'd say a daily thing on the NFL and the rest of the NBA. Allen Iverson alone would have a paper devoted to his news. The only significance to the story would be: Bosh having personal issues that may have affected his game. The end.

Ustation, while I agree it is likely a non-issue, the potential story does have significance to the Raps. If Bosh was found to be a deadbeat father, BC would likely ship him out - as he did with Kidd for domestic problems.

looking forward to the douby-sessions matchup. better yet, if douby is still around next season then we should acquire sessions so that we can have a douby-sessions backcourt! it'll be chill times...

TJ, I don't think BC has ever made a player transaction based on their personal issue. The Kidd trade was an even more problmatic Stephon Marbury.

Plus he's signed a player like Smush Parker (he's even worse.. he beats up females), and selected Amare with his checkered past.

Don't get me wrong, he's never built a team close to the JailBlazers, but I think it'd be hard to find many professional athletes (esp. the NBA/NFL) without parental payment issues.

I am not sure what all the doom and gloom about next season (as far as drawing free agents are concerned) as there are only 2 teams in the NBA (According to Hoops-Hype salary structure) that will have more money than the Raptors. Here is a list.
1. Memphis - 34.2
2. OKC - 41.7
3. Toronto - 45.7
4. NJ - 50.3
5. Port - 50.5
6. Minny - 50.7
7. Sactown - 51.9
The rest of the league are already over the projected cap (I believe people are saying 57 Mil) or just under it. On the list above, only Portland (good team) and OKC (solid fan base and tons of young talent) could be argured as better draws for a free agent (NJ/Memphis and Sac cant draw fans and Minny is one of the smallest places to play). If the Raps can dump one(or both) of Kapanks, they could get some nice players to complement the team as is.

Getting ready to do my own evaluation of BC. Here is the history of his Raptor's moves:

Players Waived:
Antonio Davis
Alvin Williams
Robert Whaley
Jorge Garbojosa
PJ Tucker

Series of 10 Day Contracts:
Andre Barrett
James Lang
Lavelle Blanchard & Cezary Tribanski
Luke Jackson
Linton Johnson
Jamal Sampson
Quincy Douby

Signed Contract (Greater than 10 days):
Jorge Garbojosa
Anthony Parker
Maceo Baston
Hassan Adams
Fred Jones
Wil Solomon
Jason Kapono
Jamario Moon

Re-Signed or Extensions:
Chris Bosh
TJ Ford
Kris Humphries
Joey Graham
Jamario Moon
Darrick Martin
Rasho Nestrovic
Andrea Bargnani
Jose Calderon

Drafts:
Andrea Bargnani
PJ Tucker
Edin Bavcic
Roy Hibbert (to Pacers)

Trades:
Rafel Araujo for Kris Humphries & Robert Whaley
Edin Bavcic to 76ers for cash
Matt Bonner & Eric Williams for 2009 2nd Round & Rasho Nesterovic
Charlie Villnueva for TJ Ford & Cash
Fred Jones for Juan Dixon
2008 2nd Round for rights to Giorgos Printezis
Juan Dixon for Primoz Brezec
TJ Ford, Maceo Baston, Rasho Nestrovic, Roy Hibbert for Jermaine O’Neal, Nathan Jawai
Jermaine O’Neal, Jamario Moon for Future 1st Round & Shawn Marion, Marcus Banks & Cash
Will Solomon for Patrick O’Bryant

Front Office Moves:
Maurizio Gherardini – Assitant GM and VP
Sam Mitchell – Extension, Head Coach - Firing
Masai Ujiri – Director of Global Scouting
Eric Hughes – Assistant Coach
Wayne Embry – Extension, Advisor
John Lucas – Development Advisor
Jay Triano – named interim Head Coach

Ahhh... the tale of the tape.

It seems like yesterday that we 'had' to trade away CV31 as the imminent signing of Garbajosa meant we had an 'overcrowded' front court.

Nice list Ustation.
Small Correction: I think we gave away a 2009 2nd Rounder WITH Bonner for Rasho.

You have us receiving a pick. Sorry if I am wrong...

Jenge: Oooppps typo on my part. Yes we gave away a 2009 2nd Rounder for the Bonner/Williams trade.

That list of yours has me thinking.

I liked
1. ARujo trade for Hump;
2. the Garbo and Parker signing;
3. Drafting Andrea;
4. Bringin in Gherardini
5. Signing Pops;
6. Drafting Jawai - historic for indigenous australians. Respek'

The rest sucks balls.
Where are our future draft picks at? I feel like we have been Vampired... perhaps its the weather...

At least next trade deadline, we can argue that Bank$-ono have 'a year' till their contracts expire - so they are potenially semi-movable.

I posted a while back abt Ramon Sessions being a potential member of the Raptors next year. Pay close attention to his style, leadership and maturity. This kid is a sleeper and I'd love to see him in Toronto next yr.

so did I miss something? why hasnt pops seen any action tongiht? Why do we keep seeing healthy doses of voshkul at this point? and good thing we sign a guy to a ten day contract and not even see if he can play...I am posting this at the end of the 3rd quarter so heres to hoping they get tons of time in garbage minutes. (whats the point at that stage?)

Pops is hurt

New nick name for Chris Bosh - DB4.

Usation, I don't think BC gave Rasho an extension. His contract was what it was when we received him in the trade.
I never liked the Bonner trade as even though we got rid of Eric Williams we also lost Bonner who was a fan favourite, a hard worker who played decent d and could hit the 3. Look how he is playing now and tell me who wouldn't be a better option than a lot of the stiffs we have playing.