It was announced this past Monday that Jay Triano will head up, pardon me co heading up, the Team USA Men's Select team this summer.

Huh, USA Basketball has faith in Jay Triano.

Check that. USA Basketball has had lots of confidence in Triano's coaching acumen. He's been a coach of the Selects in 2007 and 2008 while also being a member of the USA Basketball's coaching staffs that include the 2010 FIBA World Championships.

So what does mean for Canada Basketball?

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Ok Raptors' fans, get your voting shoes ready.

As we've been doing in this "who'd you rather be" series, after we give our take and the opposing team blog gives theirs, it's your shot to let us know how you feel. So far, we've only had one clear-cut win for the Raptors, and that was over the Orlando Magic. Over 70 per cent voted in favour of the Dinos but in the bulk of the other head-to-heads, the opposite has more often been true.

This one though is interesting as it pits certainty versus hope. Sure, the Knicks might not (or never, we're talking about the reign of Dolan here) have the talent to win a title, but their market ensures they'll always attract top free agents and be a relevant NBA team to some degree

Toronto on the other hand is currently selling hope, and while that hope and financial flexibility might be greater than what the Knicks have to offer, does it give them the edge?

Give us your take, Knicks or Raps.

This morning, Scott broke down Raptors vs Knicks in terms of which club is in a superior situation at present.

As we've been doing in our series, we now turn it over to the opposing team for their take, and for this, we bring you some thoughts from SB Nation's fantastic Knicks' blog, Posting and Toasting.

Take it away Seth!

Well, I must admit that I have a weird affinity for middling, small market teams. I love a team with lesser-known players and youngsters getting big minutes (which, incidentally, was something the Knicks recently were despite being wealthy). I'm also very excited about Jonas Valanciunas, who seems like both a hilarious bro and a genuinely talented individual. The Raptors are pretty cool, and they've got a zany cast of characters with some room to grow. If they get good, which seems possible, it'll be with a lot of talent that they found themselves. That's fun.

That said, the Knicks do appear to be closer to contending, they've got some young talent of their own, and they play in one of the most bountiful basketball markets in the world. New York shows up for the Knicks no matter what (which, to some extent, is true for the Raptors as well, isn't it?). Madison Square Garden is hard to beat, though I say that having never seen a game in Toronto.

I think I'll take the Knicks, but the margin isn't as wide (in my head) as you might imagine. One potential mitigating factor is where Jeremy Lin ends up.

Come back, Jeremy.

The NBA Draft Combine in Chicago will take place June 6-8 this year and as expected the list of players invited for the event has been posted early.

If you take a look at the list you'll notice that there are two Canadians that made the cut: Syracuse's Kris Joseph and St. Bonaventure's Andrew Nicholson.

Both Canadians had storied careers at their respective schools and as four year seniors, this marks the culmination of their journey through school and graduating to what could be NBA careers. They had both been projected by many mock Drafts since the 2011-12 season began and they are still projecting their now - Nicholson in the late first round and Joseph in the mid to late second.

If both players choose to attend the Windy City combine next month, we will find out some interesting things about them. Since the combine measures all the things we love to see as fans on their bio pages like true heights and weights as well as wingspan and standing reaches but it will also pit them against some of the better Draft eligible prospects around.

This will be the true measurement I think. Being in an environment where you're being pushed continually day in and day out either on the floor, in the measuring rooms or with media and GMs, how they perform here will be very important.

For Nicholson this will be his first such combine as he was not invited to the Portsmouth Invitational Tournament for college seniors a couple of months ago. I don't think he'll have any issues with any of the physical testing that happens and the drills and scrimmages that will surely happen. My interest will be in his one on one situations with executive types. Nicholson has always been a very quite and not so boisterous kind of guy and how he handles himself here will be important. To tell you the truth, he doesn't say a whole lot to begin with so this will actually be interesting to see just how much he does say when interviewed.

For Joseph, he choose not to attend the New Jersey combine held this past weekend so there will be a little more scrutinizing eyes on him. He, like Nicholson, had not attended Portsmouth but declining the combine may raise a few GM's eyebrows. I know that it may have been a strategic decision on the part of him and his agent to not shift his potential Draft status so him being in attendance at this event will be paramount I think. I can't imagine his being drafted will hinge on his performances here during testing or drills but one can never know. He'll be best seen during the team workouts that will happen in June before the Draft so this will probably be a formality thing for Joseph but he'll definitely need to show up regardless.

All in all, there was not surprise to see these two players on the list. This was a preliminary list I imagine and I can see players dropping out as the days go by. But whatever happens, we'll need to see both of them at the combine for sure seeing how this is on of their potential employer's first interviews.

In today's editions of the HQ's running series "Who'd You Rather Be?" Scott Campsall takes a look at how the New York Knicks and Toronto Raptors stack up against each other.

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If you haven't heard by now, the childhood home of the greatest Canadian ever to us basketball loving people, Dr. James Naismith, is now up for sale.

Now if you take a look at the pictures that accompany the listing of this incredible piece of history, you'll notice that the home is not anything like you or I would have maybe expected the home of a family that lived in the mid 1850s to look like. Sure the outside is made of stone and the other structures and landscaping may have the bare foundations of what the property may have looked like then, this home is definitely far from a throwback inside.

I'll be honest, I was expecting to see a lot of period furniture and a lack of modern indoor plumbing but the home is nothing short of a country palace. It looks like you would think a person who is asking $1,195,000 would have their house look - pretty damn good!

Though the house is the childhood home of Naismith it doesn't have any of the charm that I would have thought it would have. The stainless steel appliances in the kitchen completely throw you off and as a home that was actually lived in by an obviously well to do family, it has really taken away the mystique of the listing.

Would young Naismith have been running around these grounds? Really? I can't imagine it at all.

Now I'm as big a fan of sports memorabilia as the next collector, maybe even more, but I'd have to say that I'd this has turned into nothing more than something that a person would simply by to have as a novelty. Other than that, unless you have a legitimate reason to use the 45 acres and three barns in beautiful farm country in rural Ontario or that you truly like living in a peaceful and serene place like Almonte, you'd just be showing off with your money.

And in my opinion, whoever listed the home at almost two million dollars is clearly using the aura of James Naismith in I'd call a cash grab.

And all I can do is shake my head.

Stadiumjourney.com is a site dedicated to sports venues of all shapes and sizes, and in particular, reviews of said venues.

They recently sent us a note here at the HQ, as the home of our beloved Raptors, the Air Canada Centre, was one of their more recently reviewed stadiums.

How did the ACC fare, not so bad actually.

A 3.7 out of 5 score was given based on various attributes like food and beverage, atmosphere, neighborhood and fans. "Food" and "neighborhood" in fact scored top marks, and perhaps to no surprise, categories like "return on investment" and "fans" dragged down the overall mark.

Personally, I'd give the venue a 3 out of 5 because it lacks a certain nostalgic element that many other venues possess. Sure, the fact the Raptors have been around for less than two decades doesn't help, but neither does the amount of Leafs paraphernalia compared to that of the Dinos, something Stadiumjourney.com does call out.

Their final thoughts on the venue?

The Raptors are at a crossroads in their existence. The inferiority complex felt by fans has led to some serious apathy, and that is a bit scary for the basketball scene in Canada. Many believe that the answer is waiting in free-agent to be, Kid Canada, Steve Nash. However, it is clear that the Raptors need some sort of drawing card to bring the fans back to The Hangar.

No pressure if you come here Steve, no pressure.

After a long weekend that left him tired and in need of rest before the start of a likely long work day what does Can Ball Ray do? He spends an hour on Ebay of course. And in the wee hours of the morning he comes across two interesting jersey from a gold medal team from the 90s. Check them out right here ...

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