A few quick late lunchbox links for this Thursday afternoon.
At the top, EuroBasket 2011 has concluded of course with Spain beating France to repeat as European Champion. The Raptors' Jose Calderon bounced back nicely from what at one point looked like a major injury, dropping 17 points on France in the win.
While Calderon wasn't Spain's go-to guy, he performed better than Ricky Rubio, whose stock seems to be falling by the day. Calderon's tourney averages of 5.9 points, 3.2 rebounds and 2.7 assists don't leap off the page, but he was an integral part of Spain's win and averaged those numbers in under 20 minutes of playing time a game.
TSN.ca's Tim Chisholm notes that the Rubio situation should be a cautionary tale for Raptors fans, as he urges them to be patient with Valanciunas.
Speaking of Big Val, he got lots of pub via Eurobasket as he threw down some ‘oops and is already seen as living up to the hype.
Oh, and he made SB Nation's Top 45 NBA Players Of 2015 list.
Aside from international news, there's not a lot Raptors-related going on right now, although I neglected to link to a recent discussion on ESPN about the team - Toronto Raptors offseason questions.
And finally, how to end a lock-out that looks at least to be resulting in a shortened season?