74 FOULS CALLED.
Welcome to Summer League.
Yes, the refs controlled last night's match between the Raptors and Kings' summer squads, a match that saw Toronto lose 86-79. Joey Graham led the way again for Toronto with 14 points but was not nearly as effective as in his previous match, including on the defensive end, where the Kings' Kevin Martin terrorized him and the rest of Toronto's defence with his lighting-quick first step. Martin ended up with 27 points but was only three of eight from the field. The rest of his scoring came from the foul line where he shot an absurd 24 free throws making 20 of them. This stat probably best summarizes the foul issues for Toronto and in fact the Raptors only got to the line 18 times compared to Sacramento's 49! Not wanting to read into things too much, it IS only summer league, but Toronto had issues with over-fouling last season and yesterday's game had better not be a sign of things to come.
ESPECIALLY for top pick Andrea Bargnani.
While Bargnani chipped in 12 points, he also chipped in 10 fouls actually fouling out...something I'm not even sure Hoffa did in Summer League play. The HQ is going to blame this however on Italy's World Cup win and hope that "Il Mago" was distracted.
Andre Barrett has his second solid game for the Raptors and looks to be playing his way "at least" into a training camp invite. His control of the game, speed and scoring have been on full display so far for Toronto.
Off the court, there's still no word on who Bryan Colangelo is zeroing in on in terms of free agents. With the first official day to sign free agents being this Wednesday, Colangelo sure is keeping a tight lip on who is being considered. We've heard the Anthony Parker and Eddie House rumours, but they've really only been rumblings up to this point.
Also off the court, all of us here at the HQ want to wish Pape "Spiderman" Sow a speedy recovery from his successful neck surgery. The concern is that Sow might miss the entire upcoming season, something that would be a huge blow to the young forward's development. We're hoping this isn't the case and that he'll be back with the team as soon as possible.
And now we'll sign off with a few random thoughts from Chapman, freshly back from his resort scouting in Cuba, and catching up on recent Raptor news...
- Why can't we watch summer league games live? Despite the fact that Swirsk
tells me if I want to watch them, I need a life, I want to watch these games!
- Bargnani's numbers looked good from his first game - Justin Gray (aka Artest Jr.) did not. 0-5 from the field? Your ticket to the Association is your shot. 7-7 from the line is good, but indicates misdirected intentions (misdirected hostilities like 311?)
- If Anthony Parker can put up Jasekevicius type numbers, I'd be down at the right price.
- Why only 14 minutes for PJ Tucker in his first game and 21 yesterday? It's the SUMMER LEAGUE!
- TJ Ford a "backup point guard?" I like the deal upon further review and John Hollinger needs to stop hanging out with Stephen A. Smith...
- Samaki Walker on our summer league team? Was Benoit Benjamin unavailable? Or for Louisville alums: Pervis Ellison? Larry O'Bannon?
- Chris Burgess on the Wizards summer league roster made me laugh out loud. Remember when he was going to be Duke's next great white hope? More like the next Greg Newton.
CHAPMAN