Lunchbox Links: Cool As Ice Edition

by RaptorsHQ - Defensive Stance on Jan 13, 2010 12:00 PM EST in Daily Links

When you're playing the worst team in the NBA, you need to provide fans with additional incentives to purchase seats. You need someone who can light up a stage and wax a chump like a candle. You need the star of the critically acclaimed motion picture Cool As Ice. You need Robert Van WInkle aka Vanilla Ice, who will be performing at halftime of the Raptors-Nets game on February 3rd. And that's a straight up fact!

Jim Carrey gets credit for the best Vanilla Ice impersonation ever.

Are the Raptors monitoring the Kevin Martin situation in Sacramento?

The latest edition of SB Nation's NBA Power Rankings have the Raptors mired in mediocrity.

Basketball Prospectus' Kevin Pelton projects the trade deadline.

The Raptors are 34 points better than the league average with a lineup of Andrea Bargnani, Chris Bosh, Hedo Turkoglu, Marco Belinelli and Jose Calderon. And here I was thinking that Calderon-Jarrett Jack backcourt pairing was part of their best lineup!

Raptors Republic confirms that the Calderon-Jack-Turkoglu should never see the light of day.

The Toronto Star's Doug Smith thinks it's time to put Calderon back in the Raptors starting lineup.

Dave Feschuk thinks Turkoglu is limited by his defeatist attitude.

The Toronto Sun's Frank Zicarelli thinks that if Bryan Colangelo can somehow get his hands on a shooting guard who can break defences down and defend, the Raptors will get out of the first round.

The Raptors got a well-deserved day off yesterday after blowing a 23-point lead in Indianapolis. Personally, I would've gone with the two-hour practice and run them into the ground. But that's just me (and probably Pat Riley).

Sam Smith is the latest writer to question whether increased airport security will have an impact on Bosh's free agency.

The Dream Shake speculates about a Bosh trade to Houston.

Could Rasho Nesterovic be headed to Real Madrid?

An interesting take on the Gilbert Arenas situation.

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ugh

please don’t take the Toronto Sun seriously. Their a joke for a newspaper. The only good thing about it, is the Sun Girl.

by zAIN J on Jan 13, 2010 5:59 PM EST reply actions

Yeah, that Sun link really called for a sarcastic comment following the link. I missed the boat on that one. Haha.

by RaptorsHQ - Defensive Stance on Jan 13, 2010 6:19 PM EST up reply actions

kevin martin

i wouldnt want kevin martin becuse one hes injruy prone and we would have to give up way to much for him

by raptors_run_the_show on Jan 13, 2010 10:21 PM EST reply actions

Well, Feschuk is an expert on defeatist attitudes…

by axl t on Jan 13, 2010 10:58 PM EST reply actions

Zing!

by RaptorsHQ - Defensive Stance on Jan 14, 2010 10:00 AM EST up reply actions

I agree with the article about Arenas and how the NBA (and other blow hards) is blowing the situation out of proportion as an excuse to both crack down on a player who is seen as a malcontent and as an excuse to ban gambling among the players. All the rhetoric that Arenas should be banned for life is BS. How can you ban a player (for life)for a minor transgression while only suspending a player 7 games for shooting a gun off outside a night club? Or doing nothing to a player who admitted (for settlement reasons) that he raped a woman? Hell even Spreewell only missed half a season for strangling his coach. Stern’s hypocrisy here is obvious. I do not condone what Arenas did but this is nothing more than posturing by the league as they head into the next collective bargaining agreement. If the league was serious about gun issues they would have banned Critterton as well who allegedly chambered a round into a gun during the incident in question. I think it is telling that the NBA waited until after Arenas made light of the situation during a team huddle rather than immediately after the alleged incident took place.

by McGateway on Jan 14, 2010 7:27 AM EST reply actions

Not that I completely agree with the suspension, but there are a few things to point out:

while only suspending a player 7 games for shooting a gun off outside a night club

The big difference here is that the incident you mention occurred off of NBA property. We don’t know exactly how many games Arenas will get.

If the league was serious about gun issues they would have banned Critterton

True, and they still might. but Crittendon has done that Arenas did not do: keep quiet and not show up the league. I think it was pretty clear that Stern was waiting for the police and courts to deal with the two players before acting. However, Arenas twittered and then did the pretend shooting (no one on that team thought to say “Um Gil, this may not be the best idea”!?) and Stern came down heavy on him to get his attention. It seems to have worked because there hasn’t been much from Arenas since.

My guess is Stern is waiting for the police and DA to decide on whether they are going to press charges. Based on that and what comes out of the investigation, Stern will then announce the true length of the suspension.

The moral of the story is that the worst crime you can commit in the NBA is to show up the league and/or Stern. Yeah, that may not be fair but it’s life. For example, say you take a “sick” day to stay home. Your boss somehow finds out and gives you a mild warning. You then loudly announce to the office that you took a sick day even though you weren’t sick. While your boss may not have been happy with you taking the day off, he or she will be a lot less happy with you announcing it loudly.

by siggian on Jan 14, 2010 10:09 AM EST up reply actions