We heard lots of talk about Moon, mostly positive except for his long-range shooting, and some discussion of Bargnani. The Bargs talk wasn't so positive however as Charles Barkley discussed how he wasn't a fan of Il Mago's game as a "7 foot jump shooter."
The criticism might be a bit rough considering Bargnani attacked the rim a lot more than Daniel Gibson (more on that in a second), and he's still learning the center position, but it's true that he's not there yet from a "post-game" perspective. What I don't get though is Barkley's infatuation with Yi, someone who looks a lot more timid to me than Andrea.
In terms of Raptors' stats, Jamario Moon put down some nice jams and finished with 13 points, Bargs had eight on four of nine shooting, but neither stood out in this sloppy affair and at one point, Mr. Moon passed the ball to the wrong team.
Yes, this was the NBA's annual rookie-sophomore game.
For a while, this one looked like it was going to be closer than years past because of a number of defense-first players like Sean Williams and Luis Scola. But by the end of things, it was a 136 to 109 rout for the sophs.
The MVP was Daniel Gibson, although I really didn't agree with his win. Yeah he hit 11 3's but shouldn't the MVP do more than just sit around and jack up long bombs? Jamario Moon could be heard joking around with Gibson saying he "owed him" for the lax D on his record-breaking seventh 3. A few other players like Al Horford, Rudy Gay and Brandon Roy just seemed more worthy in my books.
So from this we move on to the big events tomorrow with more Raptors participation. We'll be chatting live on Jamario Moon HQ during the events so feel free to chime in with your thoughts.
FRANCHISE