khandor’s sports blog

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One has a slew of NBA Championships to his credit, thus far.

The other, to this point, has none.

One has been a highly-rated college player, a solid NBA role player, a lauded head coach, a reknowned motivational speaker/author and ‘Leadership Expert’, and is now a well-regarded Team President.

The other is a 2-time recipient of the NBA’s EOTY Award.

One represents an “individual” principal owner with exceptionally deep pockets who has already put together 1 world championship team and is willing to pay the asking price to become a legitimate contender, once again.

The other represents an ownership “group” that … despite a diverse set of financial holdings … has as its primary objective the making of a healthy profit for its corporate stakeholders.

One speaks definitively, peppering his everyday language with words and phrases like these:

———————————–

Riley’s master free agent plan started years ago

“I think it will be equivalent to a space shuttle launch,” Riley said back in May, shortly after the season ended and the Heat summer of 2010 began. “Everybody who’s covering the day it’s going to get launched, you never know [how] it is until they hit the button. When they hit the button, a lot of things explode down underneath to lift the rocket up.”“We have been in this for two years.”

“I know what I’m going to do.”

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The other … although equally polished, in his own way, from a media-savvy perspective … is more prone to use words and phrases like these:

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Bosh likely to leave Colangelo says

“We will get to a point where there’s a conclusion to this one way or the other. It’s the perfect storm for Chris Bosh to leave and unfortunately we’re possibly going to be on the short end of that, but we will evolve. We will have to evolve and move forward.”

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The question is …

Q1. If you were to put yourself in the shoes of a relatively youngish, talented, marquee player in the NBA, for which of these two General Managers and, therefore, their respective owners and organizations, would you choose to work during the next crucial middle – i.e. maximum performance – phase of your professional career, as a world-class athlete?

A1. If your No. 1 priority, as a professional athlete, truly is having the opportunity to win-it-all … then, it isn’t really even a contentious debate.

When the GM of your NBA team does an ‘about face’ like this …

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Sorry, Bosh is as good as gone

In this season of unreason, this silly and powerful hurricane, the safe bet remains this: Chris Bosh is leaving. Even the team thinks so.

“I think it’s likely that he will leave,” Raptors general manager Bryan Colangelo told The Fan 590’s Prime Time Sports on Monday. “It’s the perfect storm for Chris Bosh to leave.”

Other Raptor sources, contacted on Monday, believe the same thing. “My gut tells me he’s leaving,” said one.

A source close to Bosh yesterday was asked if Bosh had made a final decision on where to play next year, and the source said, “He hasn’t.” The source, however, conceded that Bosh is tired of being the centrepiece of a team that has yet to escape the first round of the playoffs during his career.

“It’s like if you went to work every day and you worked hard, and you never got a promotion,” the source said. “You want a chance to get ahead.”

———————

as the ‘witching hour’ approaches, after consistently espousing a different view for the better part of the last 12+ months, then …

what does it really say about the overall quality of the organization which he represents?

Listen to the entire radio segment for yourself …

———————

Prime Time Sports, FAN590, Mon June 28 2010

[from the start until the 18:00 mark]

———————

and then plausibly try to suggest that what was written in this space, in the aftermath of Toronto selecting Ed Davis [PF] and Solomon Alabi [C] in last week’s 2010 NBA Draft was in some way incorrect, regarding [i] the chief reason these two players were selected over others and [ii] how the Raptors now view the likelihood of Chris Bosh re-signing with them this summer.

The fact is …

What’s been written in this space … largely, in advance … about the nature of the goings-on with the Raptors franchise over the course of the last 3+ years has been highly/substantially accurate, concerning such things as:

1. The chief reason why Chris Bosh will leave this team, if he decides that he longer wishes to be an employee of the Raptors, i.e. he will have lost faith in the GM and owners’ ability to ever build a championship-winning franchise around him, based on what he has seen occur, since February 2006, a period of 4+ years;

and,

2. The actual source of THE problem which exits within the Raptors’ organization, and can be traced back up the chain-of-command from the players to the head coach and staff, the GM, the CEO/President and, ultimately, to the team’s principal owners [i.e. MLSE] … who also own the equally inept Toronto Maple Leafs [and Toronto Football Club/TFC] … and are primarily focused on achieving THE WRONG OBJECTIVE, as owners of a franchise in the NBA - i.e. making a consistent profit for its joint shareholders, as opposed to trying their very best to win the league championship – while perpetually deluding its own fanbase.

3. The Raptors being little more than a ‘Treadmill Team’ … i.e. continually spinning their wheels, and making no serious headway up the Eastern Conference Standings … and effectively wasting the plethora of resources which have been at their disposal for the last several seasons [in fact, going all the way back to 1997-1998 when Glen Grunwald was first elevated to the position of GM and the team was brought under the full control of MLSE].

Yesterday, it was suggested by Henry Abbott that THE MOST IMPORTANT element in play when determining which free agents actually sign with which organizations in the NBA is, in fact, the perceived strength and competency of the respective owners within the league.

The question which was then asked here was:

“Where do you suppose Maple Leaf Sports and Entertainment Limited [MLSE] is ranked [amongst the list of 30 principal owners in the NBA], according to TrueHoop?“

[actually, this question was also asked here ... albeit, in a slightly different form, i.e. Worst Owner in major North American pro sport ... more than 1 year ago, as well]

Unfortunately, until the owners of this team are perceived to be fully committed to the notion of building an authentic championship-winning organization in Toronto … which encompasses a number of different areas within the pro game, including [but not limited to] the following:

* Acquiring the best management team possible with championship-winning experience and a sound Basketball Philosophy

* Acquiring the best coaching staff possible with championship-winning experience and a sound Basketball Philosophy

* Acquiring the best collection of players possible with elite level basketball ability, including the right mix of [i] star players [plural], [ii] support players [plentiful], and [iii] highly effective role players throughout the roster

* Committing the financial resources required to get the job done right, by building gradually over an extended number of years within the framework of an integrated and comprehensive Plan of Attack

there will be no REAL substantive improvement … at least, over the long haul … in the fortunes of the Raptors franchise, relative to the other elite level outfits in the NBA.

A perfect storm?

When you wasted huge chunks of time … e.g. like the last 12 months … building the foundation of your house, essentially, on quick-sand, i.e. Could a Bargnani trade benefit the Raptors?, then …

You bet, it most definitely is. 

———-

Related:

Raptors boss: Chris Bosh ‘likely’ to leave Toronto

When you get right down to brass tacks …

For any NBA team:

1. The players are an extension of the head coach.

2. The head coach is an extension of the General Manager.

3. The General Manager is an extension of the CEO/President.

4. The CEO/President is an extension of the Owner.

5. The Owner is … precisely where ‘The Buck [starts and] Stops‘.

———————

The owners: a free agency scorecard

… perhaps the most important person in a free agent supertar’s future is their next owner. Coaches have an average tenure of a few years. Teammates change year in and year out.

But if you’re LeBron James, Dwyane Wade, Chris Bosh or another top free agent, whoever owns your next team is going to make hundreds of decisions, year after year, with the potential to affect whether or not you win a title.

Hiring a coach, getting a new point guard, changing the defense … almost everything on an NBA team is malleable. But when under contract, even the most powerful superstars in the league have little-to-no influence over ownership. Which means as they shop for new teams, at the top of the list is finding the right owner.

Based on conversations with people familiar with the thinking of top free agents, including team personnel, agents, and insiders, here’s a list of owners who are best positioned to appeal to free agent superstars:

1. Dr. Jerry Buss
2. Mark Cuban
3. Mikhail Prokhorov
4. Micky Arison
5. Wyc Grousbeck
6. etc.

———————

Where do you suppose Maple Leaf Sports and Entertainment Limited [MLSE] is ranked, according to TrueHoop?

The NBA’s annual free agent signing period begins on July 1st.

This is what each team’s current roster looks like in the Eastern Conference:

In the aftermath of selecting Ed Davis [PF] and Solomon Alabi [C] in Thursday night’s NBA Draft, and prior to the start of this summer’s highly volatile unrestricted/restricted free agency signing period:

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TORONTO RAPTORS HYPOTHETICAL/PROJECTED ROSTER, 2010-2011

Point Guard
#1. Mo Williams [trade, replacing Calderon?]
#2. Jarrett Jack
#3. Marcus Banks

Off Guard
#4. DeMar DeRozan
#5. Sonny Weems
#6. Marco Belinelli

Small Forward
#7. Andres Nocioni [trade, replacing Turkoglu?]
#8. Wilson Chandler [S & T, replacing Bosh]

Power Forward
#9. David Lee [S& T, replacing Bosh?]
#10. Amir Johnson [re-signed]
#11. Ed Davis [1st Rd Pick/2010 NBA Draft]
#12. Reggie Evans
#13. Joey Dorsey

Center
#14. Andrea Bargnani
#15. Solomon Alabi [2nd Rd Pick/2010 NBA Draft]

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FWIW … according to this corner, this specific collection of players should be expected to win something less than 38 games. :-(

Initial Thoughts on last night’s NBA Draft concerning the Toronto Raptors

#1. In all likelihood, Ed Davis [PF, North Carolina] …

is going to become a very solid NBA player, sometime down-the-road.

#2. When it comes to properly evaluating which specific player was THE BEST available when the Raptors made the No. 13 [overall] Selection of the 2010 NBA Draft, last night …

———————-

Ed Davis will help possibly Bosh-less Raptors

Maybe the best thing about the pick is this: Davis wasn’t simply selected because he plays Bosh’s position. He was selected because he was, in the minds of the brain trust, the best player on the board when the Raptors used their 13th-overall pick. Taking the best-available talent is always a savvy strategy, which is to say it hasn’t always been the Raptors’ strategy. (See Araujo, Rafael.)

———————-

those who would try to tell you that Toronto’s basketball brain-trust did, in fact, choose THE correct player will eventually be shown to have made a serious mistake in judgment.

Tracking the development of how exactly a team that makes its 1st Round Draft choice, on the basis of a positional need and then tells its fanbase that it did the exact opposite thing

The first 5 selections went pretty much as planned:

1 Washington Wizards – John Wall, PG
2 Philadelphia 76ers – Evan Turner, G/F
3 New Jersey Nets … in need of dynamic Wing or a conventional Power Forward – Derrick Favors, PF
4 Minnesota Timberwolves … in need of a dynamic Wing or a conventional Big Man – Wesley Johnson, F
5 Sacramento Kings … in need of a Big Man – DeMarcus Cousins, C

Then, the Golden State Warriors became the first team to by-pass the opportunity to add a highly-rated PF from a reknowned Atlantic Coast Conference [ACC] program who has been properly identified, to this point, as a very good rebounder and shot-blocker with good length, overall athleticism, and a solid hoops IQ.

6 Golden State Warriors … in need of a Big Man – Ekpe Udoh, PF

Then, the Detroit Pistons proceeded to do the exact same thing.

7 Detroit Pistons … in need of a Big Man – Greg Monroe, PF/C

Then, the LA Clippers did precisely what the LA Clippers were expected to do.

8 Los Angeles Clippers – Al-Farouq Aminu, SF

Then the ‘fun’ began.

9 Utaj Jazz … in need of a Big Man – Gordon Hayward, SF

Raptors fans might want to ask themselves this question:

“How come Kevin O’Connor decided to go in this direction when the chances are pretty good that Carlos Boozer [PF/C] will NOT be returning to Salt Lake City in the fall? … when different “stat-based basketball gurus” have suggested that Gordon Hayward – as a relatively unathletic Small Forward – will be a bust?”

[PLEASE NOTE: This is the same GM who selected Deron Williams over Chris Paul a few seasons back; and, whose franchise has missed the playoffs, oh, about 1 time in the last 100 years, or so; and, played its way into the NBA Finals, during the 1990's; and, consistently been a top 6 team in the Western Conference for the last decade ... while operating under the same Hall Of Fame head coach, i.e. Jerry Sloan.] 

Then, Larry Legend went to work, and dipping into his ‘infamous bag of tricks’ …

10 Indiana Pacers … in need of a Point Guard – Paul George, SF

selected a college sophmore who was deemed to be not ‘good enough’ to have earned a place on the WAC all-conference team this season … but, who was also perceived by most NBA teams – not expressly looking for a big man – to be, perhaps, THE Guard/Forward with the HIGHEST UPSIDE in the entire 2010 Draft, having rocketed up to a potential ‘Lottery Pick’ over the course of just the last 3 months.

[PLEASE NOTE: This is the same GM who decided not to re-sign Jarrett Jack, PG last summer, as a restricted free agent, on a reasonable contract; once coached his team to the NBA Finals; and, has recently gone about the task of gradually re-building the Indiana Pacers into a legitimate franchise again, in the unseemly aftermath of The Brawl At The Palace ... since taking over from Donnie Walsh, on a full-time basis ... as one of the all-time great players in the history of the game.]

Then, Jeff Bower … who has blown both hot and cold during his tenure, as GM for New Orleans … made a serious mistake.

11 New Orleans Hornets [picking for the Oklahoma City Thunder] … in need of a Big Man – Cole Aldrich, C

Then, Chris Wallace … who has blown mostly cold during his tenure, as GM for Memphis … made a moderate mistake.

12 Memphis Grizzlies – Xavier Henry, SF

Then the Toronto Raptors had the chance to select THE BEST available basketball player still on the Draft Board … regardless of their positional need … and, proceeded to whiff, albeit by just a few inches.

[PLEASE NOTE: Luke Babbitt will play next season for the Portland Trail Blazers, and was selected in last night's Draft by their out-going GM, Kevin Pritchard, who is generally considered to have done a fabulous job during his tenure with their team, successfully overseeing the transformation of the once reknowned "Jailblazers" to one of the best still-youngish teams in the NBA, with legitimate title-winning aspirations down-the-road.]

It says in this corner that players like:

1 John Wall

2 Evan Turner

3 Al-Farouq Aminu

4 Gordon Hayward

5 Paul George

and

6 Luke Babbitt

simply do not come along every year in the NBA Draft, and when a franchise that really does know what it’s doing has a chance to grab one of them it does NOT willing choose to pass THAT by, in favour of a ‘solid pro prospect’ without ‘star’ upside.

Which is precisely what Toronto did, yet again, last night.

#3. The Raptors did not make this pick last night because Ed Davis was the best player still available.

The Raptors made this, specific, pick because they are now thinking that Chris Bosh will not be re-signing with their team after July 1 and they desperately needed to add a capable Power Forward to their line-up with solid long term potential, as an above average rebounder and shot-blocker, to play beside Andrea Bargnani [C] – who is horribly deficient in both of these areas – in the front-court for the foreseeable future … given the fact that each of the other Big Men candidates who they had originally targeted had already been selected by the teams slotted ahead of them in this year’s Draft.

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PS. FWIW, know that choosing to go with a capable player like Solomon Alabi [C] over an exceptional ‘NBA talent’ like Hassan Whiteside [C], as an additional pick scooped up from the 2nd Round, in return for cash considerations, actually fits into the exact same category, i.e. as yet another opportunity lost. 

According to the following report published about an hour ago on Yahoo! Sports, the Indiana Pacers might be interested in trading out of the No. 10 [overall] position in this evening’s Draft Lottery, in their on-going search for a top tier Point Guard with long term upside. 

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Would Pacers pass on Hayward?

The Indiana Pacers have hometown hero Gordon Hayward rated as one of the best players on their draft board, sources say, but are torn because they desperately need to find a point guard or a center in the draft. They don’t need Hayward that badly with franchise star Danny Granger on the roster.

Nevertheless, the Pacers are sensitive that Hayward could drop to them at No. 10 and could be ultimately vilified should they pass and he becomes a good player elsewhere. For all the reasons the Pacers want to trade out of the 10th spot, the specter of Hayward coming back to haunt the organization isn’t far down on the list, sources say.

Indiana is engaging numerous teams to trade for a point guard and picks further down in the draft. The Oklahoma City Thunder have been trying to move up in the draft, and some league executives believe they’re targeting Hayward.

– Adrian Wojnarowski, 3:50 p.m. ET, June 24

————————

As a long time fan of Larry Legend, this corner sincerely hopes that he is wise enough to do no such thing …

and, instead, uses his No. 13 [overall] Draft Pick to select THE player who is quite capable of being the Pacers’ de facto Point Guard for the next decade plus,

It says here that Gordon Hayward is a special talent, who is going to be an exceptional player in the NBA, if he’s afforded the opportunity to play the game the way he knows how, as a Big Guard [quasi-Point Forward] who combines the best attributes of Magic Johnson, Larry Bird, Rick Barry and his boyhood idol, Steve Nash.

If the Pacers were to actually make this pick, this evening and, then, start next season with a core group of players that looks something like this:

PG: Brendan Hayward, Earl Watson and AJ Price

OG: Mike Dunleavy Jr. and Brandon Rush

SF: Danny Granger and Dahntay Jones

PF: Troy Murphy and Tyler Hansbrough

C: Roy Hibbert and Jeff Foster

[plus the asset they would get back in a possible trade of TJ Ford]

they will make the playoffs and re-invigorate their franchise.

———————————–

PS. It will take a special judge of NBA talent to be able to see this possibility for the Pacers and Gordon Hayward. Hopefully, Larry Legend is up to the challenge.

Question

If your name is Chris Bosh and you are preparing for the next phase of your still young life … this time, as a full-fledged adult … in the very surreal world of professional basketball, what exactly would you choose to do first?

Answer

———-

Good on you, mate!

It really is the dawn of a brand new day in your life.

It really is amazing just how serious the ramifications can be when an organization falls in ‘puppy love‘ with an ‘ineffectual’ player and then ‘ties its can to him’, come h*ll or high water.

Far too many times, this type of nonsensical decision results in years of under-achieving flatline performance for an outfit that could otherwise have gradually risen to eventually become one of the best in the league, if it would have been aware of this player’s actual deficiencies, in the first place, and removed him from their roster at the earliest possible point in time.

When this corner has to read the following example of a grossly incorrect statement/observation … from a Basketball Acumen perspective … from a significant segment of the Raptors still rabid fanbase:

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A Road Map For The Raptors 2010 Draft

If George is off the board, a distinct possibility, if I’m BC, I draft Cole Aldrich (assuming he’s still on the board at 13 as well of course.)  No, he’s not the biggest upside guy in the world, but I truly believe he can become a shot-blocking, solid rebounding big man at the next level akin to Joel Przybilla.  This would allow Toronto to then move Andrea to the 4, a position he’s more suited to play and one I feel that will minimize his weaknesses.

————————

it is extremely disappointing.

The fact is …

After watching him play in the NBA for the last 4 seasons, Andrea Bargnani’s best position is, undoubtably, Center [not Power Forward].

How come, you ask?

Primarily, because this is the ONLY position on the floor where he has a hope in h*ll of not committing 6 fouls in 20 minutes of game action and/or costing his team an unholy number of points allowed on the defensive end of the floor by his inability:

i. To DEFEND adequately [A] in Transition, or against any type of [B] “Switch” situation, or against any type of [C] Pick and Roll/Pop action, or [D] in any scenario where he is required to give “off-the-ball help to a teammate” after dribble penetration has occurred;

and;

ii. To REBOUND adequately versus any type of under-sized mismatched opponent … with a superior level of quickness … at the PF position.

i.e. NBA Secret Scout nails description of Bargnani [Oct 22 2009]

As Andrea Bargnani’s PT has gradually increased over the last 3 seasons, the Raptors’ W-L record has [coincidently? or correlatively?], either, gone in the opposite direction or, at-best, flatlined:

2006-2007, 47-35, made the playoffs, 1st Rd loss to the Nets
2007-2008, 41-41, made the playoffs, 1st Rd loss to the Magic [-]
2008-2009, 33-49, failed to make the playoffs [-]
2009-2010, 40-42, failed to make the playoffs [0]

The chief reason Toronto has had to play Bargnani for increasing numbers of minutes at the Center position these last 3 seasons is NOT because the team has “wanted” to use him in this way, or because he is particularly effective at this spot but, rather, because he is actually the LEAST DESTRUCTIVE to his own team’s chances for success when he’s working at this specific position … primarily against a power-based opponent.

Secondly, if the Raptors make the decision to select Cole Aldrich [C] with the No. 13 [overall] Pick in this evening’s NBA Draft, it will do absolutely nothing to eleviate their current problem with Bargnani …

* i.e. NBA: Potential Draft Busts

* If Chris Bosh happens not to re-sign with their team, as an UFA after July 1;

AND,

* If Toronto then makes the decision to trade Hedo Turkoglu [PF] and Jose Calderon [PG], in return for other players who are of equal or less ability.

Given the following developments in the Eastern Conference this summer:

1 Cleveland, re-signs LeBron James + adds Byron Scott?
2 Orlando, ?
3 Atlanta, re-signs Joe Johnson + promotes Larry Drew
4 Boston, retains Ray Allen + Doc Rivers
5 Miami, re-signs D-Wade + adds at least 1 [and, possibly, 2] new UFA
6 Milwaukee, returns Andrew Bogut from injury + adds Corey Maggette & CDR
7 Charlotte, ?
8 Chicago, adds at least 1 [or, possibly, 2] new UFA + Thom Thibodeau
——————————————-
9 Toronto, adds the No. 13 [overall] Pick/2010 NBA Draft
——————————————-
10 Indiana, adds the No. 10 [overall] Pick/2010 NBA Draft
11 New York, adds at least 1 [and, possibly, 2] new UFA
12 Detroit, adds the No. 7 [overall] Pick/2010 NBA Draft
13 Philadelphia, adds the No. 2 [overall] Pick/2010 NBA Draft + Doug Collins
14 Washington, adds the No. 1 [overall] Pick/2010 NBA Draft
15 New Jersey, adds the No. 3 [overall] Pick/2010 NBA Draft + Avery Johnson

and a possible 2010-2011 roster for Toronto which looks like this:

HOLDOVERS

PG: Jarret Jack/#1 and Marcus Banks/#2
OG: DeMar DeRozan/#3, Sonny Weems/#4 and Marco Belinelli/#5
SF: ?
PF: Andrea Bargnani/#6, Reggie Evans/#7 and Joey Dorsey/#8
C: Amir Johnson/#9

NEWCOMERS

* Cole Aldrich/#10
* Player 1/#11 [in return for Chris Bosh, e.g. David Lee]
* Player 2/#12 [in return for Chris Bosh, e.g. Wilson Chandler]
* Player 3/#13 [in return for Hedo Turkoglu, e.g. Andres Nocioni]
* Player 4/#14 [in return for Jose Calderon, e.g. Mo Williams]
* Player 5/#15 [2nd Pick, 2010 NBA Draft, e.g. Devin Ebanks]

in all likelihood, it would mean the Raptors will finish with less than 38 wins, again, and fail to make the playoffs for a 3rd consecutive season.

Instead of continuing to believe that Andrea Bargnani was in some way the RIGHT PLAYER for their franchise to select with the No. 1 [overall] Pick in the 2006 NBA Draft, and then still being determined to build around him going forward 5 years later … even though it will have cost them the services of Chris Bosh, in the end … what the Raptors need to do is finally bite the bullet on the entire Il Mago experiment and completely remove him from their roster.

Only then will this franchise begin to turn itself around … by recalibrating its over-riding Basketball Philosophy with a new focus on a more balanced approach to Team Offense, Team Defense and – most importantly! – Team Rebounding.

Now is the time to … quite literally … throw the baby out with the bath water!

———————————–

PS. The player who Toronto SHOULD be selecting this evening with the No. 13 [overall] Selection in the 2010 NBA Draft is one of: Al-Farouq Aminu [SF], Paul George [SF], Gordon Hayward [SF], Luke Babbitt [SF] or Hassan Whiteside [C].

59-59 … in the 5th and final set, at Wimbledon!

When two competitors absolutely refuse to quit …

there is nothing else to be said, but to echo the words and sentiments of an all-time great tennis champion watching in utter amazement:

————————

Longest match in history suspended

“I have almost no words anymore watching this,” defending champion Roger Federer said. “It’s beyond anything I’ve ever seen and could imagine. I don’t know how their bodies must feel the next day, the next week, the next month. This is incredible tennis. For them to serve the aces they served and stay there mentally is a heroic effort.

“As we know, we have no draws in tennis, so there will be a loser. But I guess in this match, both will be winners because this is just absolutely amazing,” he said.

————————

In fact …

The earthquake which registered 5.0 on the Richter Scale and just rumbled through Central Ontario and Quebec, for one of the few times in the last 100 years … without any major damage being done to speak of, at least, according to what’s been reported, so far … simply pales in comparison.

———-

PS. Although the sight of the walls shaking around me and the floor moving [physically] beneath my feet, for a span of about 10-15 seconds, was a most unusual event to be sure.