We kick off this edition of Lunch Box Links with a some previews of tonight's Toronto-Miami match-up.
First, from "The Peninsula is Mightier," the Heat side of the TO-Miami affair, and then from the Toronto side we have a view via Sportsnet.ca.
The Miami Herald notes that the Heat's priority should be resting its key guys in preparation for the upcoming playoffs, and indeed, Chris Bosh, Dwyane Wade and Ronny Turiaf will all sit tonight for Miami.
That's not great news for Raptors' fans looking for losses. The team is still tied for the league's sixth-worst record, but Golden State continues to charge hard, getting crushed on Monday night by San Antonio.
Golden State in fact suffers the wrath of Jay Caspian Kang for their historical tanking performance, a topic he addresses in his recent Grantland post. The Raps actually get some favourable reviews in terms of the club's future but the description of DeMar DeRozan, "seems to be teetering on the edge of the useless netherworld of Jordan Crawford," is hardly flattering.
Keeping on the tanking topic, Waiting For Next Year does a great job laying out the issues regarding the subject, and gives his take as a long-time Cavs fan.
And the National Post's Eric Koreen touches on the same topic as my "BC-Casey" phone tap article yesterday; the unfortunate comedy involved in Toronto's late-season wins.
Another prevalent topic of late in the media is the job Dwane Casey has been doing with this moribund group. Raptorblog's Joseph Casciaro touches on the overall improvement fans have seen from this club under Casey, while Eric Koreen provides some really interesting info on Casey and his use of zone defensive schemes.
In other Raptors' news, Hoopsaddict.com, and RaptorsHQ sideline correspondent Ryan McNeill makes his debut with Sportnet.ca, and talks about Ed Davis' upcoming summer, while the Toronto Sun's Frank Zicarelli looks at the future of Jose Calderon with the Raps.
And finally, a new advanced stat to quantify Nick Young.
Let's hope DeMar's recent play continues to exclude him from inclusion in this discussion.