khandor’s sports blog

Bryan Colangelo made a serious mistake when he went public with comments which targeted the character of Chris Bosh and revealed the GM’s perception that the team’s former franchise player had allegedly “checked out” last season, sometime after returning from the mid-season all-star break … with his mind already set on not returning to Toronto, as an UFA this summer.

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Bosh says he always played hard

“I play this game as hard as I can every time I step on the court,” Bosh said. “On the back of my jersey it says ‘Bosh’ … The Boshes are hard workers. We have a lot of pride in what we do, in our jobs and in life.”

The Raptors fell from a playoff position at the All-Star break into ninth place in the Eastern Conference at the end of the season. Bosh and former Cleveland star LeBron James(notes) then joined Dwyane Wade(notes) in Miami as free agents this summer.

That ruffled feathers in Toronto and Cleveland, with Colangelo suggesting that the decision for the three stars to play together had been “brewing for a while.” He suggested the threesome started firming up their plans while representing the East at the NBA All-Star game.

Bosh claims he was still intent on getting the Raptors into the postseason.

“What’s so significant about the All-Star break? We were in the playoffs. And I wanted to play in the playoffs,” he said. “That’s all I thought about every summer.”

Bosh also clarified comments he made recently in the Miami Herald in which he called Toronto “different.” He said he didn’t mean that as an insult to the city.

“Toronto is different,” he said. “For one, it’s a different country. If you don’t know you’re in a different country when you land then something is wrong with your senses. That’s not to say that Toronto is not a great metropolitan city. It is a fantastic city.

“Different is not bad. I’m different. That doesn’t make me bad.”

Bosh also claimed his decision to leave Toronto was at the end of a long process and not something he had committed to before the offseason.

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When first asked by a visitor to this blog to provide an accurate interpretation of the comments which Chris Bosh made in his interview with the Miami Herald, about the city of Toronto being “different”, this is what was written by yours truly:

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Franchise without a face

khandor Says:
July 28th, 2010 at 3:29 pm

dg,

re: “Toronto’s a great place, a fantastic city,” Bosh told the Herald. “It’s a metropolitan area, but you could tell you’re somewhere different. You could feel it, you could look at it, you can smell it. Everything. All your senses tell you you’re somewhere different.”

Whoever perceives this quote … with which I am quite familiar … to be a slag of some kind towards the great City of Toronto, or Ontario, or Canada, in general, might just have a feeling of insecurity regarding how “they” happen to feel about each of these things themselves.

From my perspective, I have no such insecurity.

What Chris Bosh said in those words is precisely true … and a ringing endorsement for the great City of Toronto, which is indeed “different” from other places and cities in the United States of America.

The key word to understand [there] is that to people like Chris Bosh … e.g. like the Great Bill Russell and Charley Rosen and scores of other well known celebrities … “different” does not equate with/mean “inferior”.

In fact … in many cases … “different” can and does equate with/mean:

at least as good, if not straight-up better

that still takes some getting accustomed to

because it simply isn’t THE SAME as home [i.e. what you are used to, whether it's actually "inferior", or not, in comparison].

Readers here should trust that I know very well the “differences” between living and working in Canada and ‘the good ole USA’.

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Kudos to Chris Bosh …

1. For now clarifying the full meaning of his remarks to the Miami Herald, concerning the great City of Toronto;

2. For being a stand-up, straight-up person … of sound character;

and,

3. For completing the initial phase of his pro career, as the most accomplished player in the 15-year history of the Toronto Raptors franchise.

For those who still question the sincerity of Chris Bosh’s efforts, on behalf of the Raptors last season … including Kelly Dwyer, who really should know better, given the amount of basketball he’s watched, over the years … understand that this may say more about the specific way in which “you” happen to look at the world than it does about the character, values and basketball ability of the team’s former Captain. 

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PS. Going forward from here … If you were a high end player, in the NBA, and an unrestricted free agent, why on earth would you now be eager to work for a President/GM who says these types of malicious things, after-the-fact, about a player/person like Chris Bosh, once he’s decided to work for a different employer? 

PPS. If/when the Miami Heat eventually win their multiple NBA championships … with Dwyane Wade, LeBron James and Chris Bosh, as key foundation pieces … it will be yet another sad series of days for the Toronto Raptors franchise.

Related:

NBA Free-Agency Breakdown

The new owner of the New Jersey Nets gives others a much needed lesson on the values associated with actual sportsmanship.

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Roundup: NBA team owner backs LeBron James’ decision

What surprises me is the amount of negative commentary directed at the three top free agents (especially LeBron James) who decided to play on the same team and to create a great franchise together. Of course, any club owner dreams of having those players, including me, but all questions of how the announcements were made aside, I respect their choice, and no one has the right to judge them.

I want to say that I support LeBron, the best athlete in the NBA. He had a truly difficult choice to make. Any move he made was sure to be viewed as wrong, and to leave many unhappy fans. Basing his decision on achieving results on the basketball court shows that the sportsman won the day, not the showman or the businessman. What is wrong with that?

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Kudos to him for acknowledging what “the game” is really all about.

When you look at the following list of players for the Heat:

PGs – Mario Chalmers/#5 and Carlos Arroyo/#9
OGs – Dwyane Wade/#1 and ________________________
SFs – LeBron James/#2, Mike MIller/#6 and James Jones/#?
PFs – Udonis Haslem/#4, Joel Anthony/#7 and Juwan Howard/#10
Cs – Chris Bosh/#3, Zydrunas Ilgauskas/#8, Jamaal Magloire/#11 and Dexter Pittman/#?

Q1. What do you see as their remaining principal area of need?

… if their prime objective, as a first-class pro sports organization, is to be able to effectively compete for the NBA championship next season, and beyond.

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House agrees to 2-year deal with Heat

His career average is 7.6 points, and he’s a 39-percent shooter from 3-point range, with a reputation for making clutch baskets.

House will be a strong contender for a reserve role as part of the Heat’s supporting cast for Dwyane Wade, LeBron James and Chris Bosh.

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Well …

Go ahead and chalk up another one for the “Gordon Gekko” of South Beach.

Yours truly would be remiss, if another day was to go by without marking the passing of former NFL defensive great Jack Tatum.

For the benefit of those who might not be old enough to know the story …

At one time, there was no better defensive safety tandem in the harsh world of pro football than what took the field each week for the Oakland Raiders of the 1970′s, in the form of Jack Tatum [SS] and George Atkinson [FS].

When the original book was written on how to most “effect” the outcome of an NFL game, from this specific vantage point on the field, the authors were none other than these two fiercesome competitors, whose everyday ‘defensive’ mantra was to:

Ask for no quarter.  

Give none, in return.

And, ultimately,

Take no prisoners.

As integral parts of ’Raiders Nation’, and indelible precursors to “the single best pro sports team rap video” of all-time:

We wear the Silver, we wear the Black, we never retreat, we always attack …

Offense doesn’t win, and neither does D,
It takes both to make me beam,
A Commitment to Excellence to make my team,
With Pride and Poise we’ve had a ball,
For three great decades we’ve won it all.

We wear the Silver, we wear the Black, we never retreat, we always attack …

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the fact is …

Ex-Raiders safety Tatum dies
Jack Tatum Remembered
Jack Tatum: ‘The Assassin’
Tatum’s legacy shouldn’t be tarnished
Ronnie Lott pays tribute to Jack Tatum
Raiders react to loss of Jack Tatum
Art Shell stands up for Jack Tatum

Jack Tatum was one of the great players in Raiders’ history …

whose legacy, as a man, would have only been enhanced, if he’d only been able to apologise to Darryl Stingley [WR, New England Patriots] …

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Tatum forever linked to Stingley

Tatum’s death summons Stingley tragedy

“I’m sorry because there was a life lost today,” said Darryl Stingley’s son, Derek, who was 7 when his father stopped walking. “Jack Tatum had a family. He was somebody’s father, somebody’s brother, somebody’s cousin or uncle. I truly am sad because of that.Darryl Stingley Youth Foundation, which his father founded. “Tatum was just giving him a hard hit. That was in the cosmos. That was in the stars that day.”Darryl Stingley said he still would welcome a visit or a call from Tatum — without a commercial agenda.

“But at the same time that life put my father in a situation that he couldn’t feed himself when he wanted to.”

Derek Stingley saw a report of Tatum’s death on ESPN’s news crawl and immediately called his grandmother, Hilda Stingley.

“This brings back all those memories,” Derek Stingley said. “I’ve just been almost in a daze today.”

On that fateful night in 1978, Grogan threw to Darryl Stingley on a crossing route in a meaningless game. The ball sailed incomplete. Tatum blasted him head-on anyway. Darryl Stingley didn’t get up.

The hit was considered legal at the time, the kind of vicious shot Tatum delivered on a regular basis. No flag was thrown. The NFL didn’t discipline Tatum. That Darryl Stingley suffered two broken vertebrae and was paralyzed from the chest down was considered bad luck.

“I’ve seen the hit over and over,” said Derek Stingley, president of the

What happened in the days, weeks and years after the hit was what Grogan — and much of the Patriots family — deemed unforgivable.

“I have a hard time trying to find something nice to say,” Grogan said about Tatum. “That bothers me because I’m not like that normally. You may talk to guys that played with him, and they might tell you he was greatest teammate in the world and everybody loved him.

“The circumstance that we were involved with, just the way he handled it, that will never come out of any of our mouths or minds.”

Tatum never spoke to Darryl Stingley after the injury — although he did suggest a televised reconciliation to coincide with the release of a book. Tatum wrote three of them: “They Call Me Assassin” in 1979, “They Still Call Me Assassin” in 1989 and “Final Confessions of NFL Assassin Jack Tatum” in 1996.

“When something like that happens and you can’t apologize for it, go out and write a book to make money and try to get famous off the incident, that’s just not right,” Grogan said. “I thought he handled it very poorly.”

In a 2003 Boston Globe story,

“If he called me today, I’d answer,” Darryl Stingley said. “If he came to my house, I’d open my door to him. All I ever wanted was for him to acknowledge me as a human being. I just wanted to hear from him if he felt sorry or not. It’s not like I’m unreachable. But it’s not a phone call I’ll be waiting for anymore.”

Darryl Stingley also claimed he harbored no hatred for Tatum.

“It’s hard to articulate,” Darryl Stingley said. “It was a test of my faith. The entire story. In who, and how much, do you believe, Darryl? In my heart and in my mind I forgave Jack Tatum a long time ago.”

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at some point, in the aftermath of the most unfortunate consequences imaginable, which resulted from his untimely actions, 32 years ago.

R.I.P., Mr. Tatum.

You were Oakland’s first legendary #32 … warts and all.

If you’ve taken the time to read a good portion of what’s been published on this blog to-date, then, you are already familiar with a few simple “facts” about the game of basketball:

[for example]

- it is comprised of 3 distinct main phases, i.e. Defense, Rebounding and Offense

- the 1 of these 3 phases which is the least well-understood, by “fans” and other so-called “expert observers” is Rebounding … followed by Defense … primarily, due to its “central” role and the way it influences the character of an elite level team

- basketball is, fundamentally, a “team” game … in which major success and failure [i.e. winning and losing the championship] are determined, in large part, by the highly specific strengths and weaknesses of the “individual” players and their ability to work “in concert” against a particular opponent

- while statistics, in general, are a terrific tool to help one understand how the game actually works, in isolation, they are not a wholly accurate reflection of reality and, at all times, need to be evaluated critically in the appropriate context

- an examination of highly specific anecdotal evidence is a gateway to developing an accurate understanding of the way in which a championship-winning team operates that is separate and distinct from its competition 

- putting an elite level team together properly is akin to “composing a virtuoso work of art” … moreso, than simplistically “painting by the numbers”

============================

To wit:

[this is the specific comment which was just submitted by yours truly at the Wages of Wins Journal]

Another Look at Team USA in 2010

Hmmm …

If someone could take the time to explain the reason the previous comment which I left in this thread was removed, it would be appreciated.

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In the interim, let’s try again.

It is a mistake in basketball judgment to think that keeping the 12 players with the highest WP48 numbers is necessarily the best way to construct a championship-winning basketball “team”.

Just because Gerald Wallace’s WP48 number … which [in fact] “fails to reflect a picture of reality” [according to a respected commentor [sic] on this site like Tom Mandel] … is substantially higher than Rudy Gay’s does not mean that simply “replacing Gay with Wallace” is the better way to go, in this case, i.e. with this specific group of players, their expected opposition, and the relatively large group of [at least, somewhat redundant] PG’s still on the active roster [i.e. Curry, Billups, Rondo, Rose and Westbrook], when compared with the sheer number of wing players [i.e. combo OG/SF/PF] with good size, strength, relative quickness – at their respective positions – and the ability to: i. defend, ii. rebound, iii. shoot the ball efficiently from distance, and iv. be high volume scorers, e.g. like Iguodala, Gay and Durant].

When you dissect how a championship-winning team is actually put together, what you will find is that rarely – if ever – is it simply a conglomeration of the 12 players with the highest available WP48 numbers [e.g. Was Charles Barkley a member of the 1984 team? or, Was Isiah Thomas a member of the original Dream Team?] And, the exact reasons for this are rarely – if ever – rooted in the way these specific players performed in lead-up public scrimmage situations.

Unfortunately, numeric-based analysis of basketball which reads like this is what can create a poor image overall for “stats” gurus, in the eyes of elite level coaches the world over.

[Hopefully this comment meets with your approval.]

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Enjoy!

Going forward from this point …

Which player[s] should become the new face[s] of the Raptors franchise?

If the primary long term objective is to win as many NBA championships as possible then the correct answer is quite simple.

PART I

Basketball is a game with 3 distinct phases.

i. Defense – i.e. When your opponent has possession of the ball.

ii. Rebounding – i.e. When neither team has possession of the ball.

iii. Offense – i.e. When your team has possession of the ball.

In the grand history of the NBA, the best teams in the league have consistently been built with multi-dimensional players, as the key foundation pieces.

PART II

Which player[s] on the Raptors’ current roster:

is someone who displays a high degree of proficiency in at least 2 of the 3 main phases of the game, without also being abysmal in the 3rd component?

Answer this exact question properly … and, it will tell you who, if anyone, on the Raptors SHOULD become the new face[s] of the franchise.

[NOTE: 1. R - Rookie. 2. The above classifications are based on accumulated Basketball Acumen. For the benefit of those who need to rely on game stats to make an accurate assesment of these things, feel free to peruse the available information at Hoopdata which pertains to these players. ]

Unfortunately, you might not end up liking what you will find.

And, so, it begins …

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Bryan bashes Bosh

Colangelo intoned that Bosh took a long time to return from injury even though he had been medically cleared and that he started thinking ahead to his future to the detriment of the Raptors.

“Despite limited swelling and any excessive damage on an MRI, he felt like he needed to sit for six more games … I’m not even questioning Chris’ injury. I’m telling you he was cleared to play subject to tolerance on his part, and the tolerance just apparently wasn’t there and he chose not to play,” Colangelo said.

“The fact that our season was spiralling downward and we were hoping he’d come back sooner and we were also dealing with a few other things at that point … we were really struggling there.”

Colangelo went on to elaborate:

“Whether he was mentally checked out or just wasn’t quite into it down the stretch, he wasn’t the same guy. I think everybody saw that, but no one wanted to acknowledge it.”

“At the same time, I never felt we were quite in the game (in terms of signing Bosh to a new contract). There was too much out there, too much built up for him to take an easy out here, and he decided to do that.”

Colangelo also said Bosh was hard to build around.

“We tried in vain to put pieces around Chris. Different pieces, different styles. It didn’t work out.”

“No matter what type of player we brought in, it didn’t seem to have the right mix with him as that centrepiece.”

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When Cavaliers owner, Daniel Gilbert, published his now infamous open letter to the team’s fans, in which he took parting shots at the player his organization had reportedly been trying to sign to a maximum contract extension just hours before … what it did was seal the team’s fate in the eyes of other free agents across the NBA, as a poor excuse of the franchise that does not have the level of class required to become a champion in the no-too-distant future.

Despite winning the hearts of a certain segment of the team’s fanbase … i.e. Cavs fans back owner on LeBron letter … future high profile free agents will not be signing on with the franchise in Cleveland, as long as Daniel Gilbert is the owner.

Period.

Well …

Based on the immature way in which Bryan Colangelo has now gone about attacking the character and ability of Chris Bosh, i.e. the best player the Raptors have had since the days of Vince Carter, you can now put the Dinos in a similar category, as long as he is the GM of their team.

When a team’s GM makes utterly ridiculous public statements of this nature, after-the-fact, about a player like Chris Bosh, it sets the franchise back immeasureably, in the eyes of the other first-class players and coaches in the NBA.

The fact is …

Bryan Colangelo is the one who – is taking the easy way out, in this instance, and – has failed to do ‘his job’ properly, since being put in full control of the Toronto Raptors 4.5 seasons ago, and blaming anyone else for the decidedly mediocre results which the team has put forth over this span of time is tangible proof that he should not be considered as one of the best General Managers in the NBA.

None of the best GM’s in the history of this league would have made the P.R. mistake of issuing statements of this type concerning the character and ability of a player who his team was attempting to sign to a maximum contract extension.

Not a single one.

In sharp contrast, what a superior “master craftsman” actually does … in a position of Organizational Leadership … is simply get the job done right with the tools at his disposal.

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PS. As was first said in this space many moons ago … whoever has been “advising” Bryan Colangelo to act the way he has – in terms of his public relations skills - during the course of his tenure in Toronto, should be fired.

Related:

Raptors GM Bryan Colangelo slams Chris Bosh

Approximately 13 months ago, the following question was asked in this space, in a poll:

Where will Andrea Bargnani rank in the Eastern Conference next season, as a Center? … You Make The Call

pertaining to the 2009-2010 season.

As the Raptors complete their seemingly annual summer make-over, under the watch of Bryan Colangelo/GM, in preparation for the 2010-2011 campaign, it is interesting to see how the landscape is shaping up in the Eastern Conference, when evaluating the individual players who might be expected to start at the Center position for their respective teams:

PART 1 – Based On Basketball Acumen

PART 2 - Painting By the Numbers [from hoopdata for the 2009-2010]

From Toronto’s perspective …

The more some things change, the more other things simply stay the same.

A terrific story that’s continuing to unfold in the world of hoops …

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Jeremy Lin makes good

Kevin Arnovitz: Let’s talk about summer league last week. The John Wall game … which suddenly became The Jeremy Lin Game. All business stopped in that gym during the fourth quarter. Everyone was gripped by what was going on down on the floor.

Jeremy Lin: Roddy [Beaubois] was hurt so I got a chance to get a little more playing time in the first half, which helped a lot because I got a chance to get comfortable. Going into the fourth quarter, we were down. I wanted something to happen. I was just, like, playing. It just felt like it was college again. I was just, like, out there. It felt very, very comfortable and very relaxed. It was such a natural feeling. It wasn’t like that with most of the other games. In those other games, it was more like, “Wow, this is a job interview. I have to perform well.” I had that kind of pressure. But in the Washington game, going against John Wall in the fourth quarter, trying to come back, I was just playing off instincts. It was the best quarter I had in summer league at the best possible time. If the Dallas Mavericks weren’t scheduled to play the Washington Wizards, I might not be in the NBA.

Kevin Arnovitz: So your feeling is that the Wall matchup was the decisive factor for your getting that contract from the Golden State?

Jeremy Lin: That was the biggest thing by far. Like you said, business stopped and that’s what everyone was watching. Because it was John Wall. Nobody was really paying attention to me before that. But after that, people started talking about me.

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Three quick points to make, however:

i. The transferrability of Jeremy Lin’s skill-set to the NBA game should not have come as a surprise to any authentic hoops junkie …

NBA GM’s included;

ii. According to the following highlight package …

Most of J-Lin’s damage in the 4th quarter of this summer league match-up was NOT actually done vs John Wall; and,

iii. He is going to have to improve his left-hand handle, appreciably, before he can be classified as a solid PG, with good size and relative quickness, at the highest level of competition.

Kudos, nonetheless, to the first player in Ivy League history to record 1,450 points, 450 rebounds, 400 assists and 200 steals … for:

As presently constituted …

* There is no Low-Post scoring Big Man on the roster.

* There is no Low-Post scoring Forward or Guard on the roster.

* Without a Low-Post scoring Big Man on the roster, there will be far less room for perimeter-based shooters to find uncontested shots, in half-court offensive situations.

* To a large extent, 4th quarter scoring in the NBA is driven by the main offensive players on a team who are capable of commanding a double-team from the defense. The Raptors have no such player[s] on their roster.

* To a large extent, consistent 4th quarter scoring in the NBA is reliant upon a team’s ability to generate easy points [i.e. high efficiency scoring opportunities] from the Foul Line. The Raptors have no players on their roster with the ability to generate large numbers of Free Throw Attempts in the 4th quarter.

* In half-court offensive situations there are few-to-no players with the ability to “break down” their individual defender off the dribble – without the benefit of a pick - in order to penetrate the perimeter of the defense and create easy scoring opportunities for their teammates.

* There are too many players with negative career Assist-to-Turnover Ratios who will need to play major minutes.

* The Raptors were a poor Points Allowed team last season and have added no experienced players this off season who should be capable of scoring more points themselves than the number of points which they will be responsible for allowing to their opponent, while still being adequate performers at the offensive end of the floor.

* The Raptors were a mediocre-to-poor rebounding team last season and have added no experienced players this off season who should be capable of securing more rebounds themselves than the number of rebounds which they will be responsible for allowing to their opponent, while still being adequate performers at the offensive end of the floor.

* While the Raptors have lost their best player from last year [i.e. Chris Bosh/C-PF], many of their opponents in the Eastern Conference have not and, in fact, have added other quality players to their roster this off season:

MIAMI HEAT, 5th place
Noteworthy:
Retain – Wade/D
Add - James/L, Bosh/C, Miller/M, Ilgauskas/Z and Howard/J
Lose - O’Neal/J, Richardson/Q, Wright/D and Beasley/M

ORLANDO MAGIC, 2nd place
Noteworthy:
Add - Duhon/C and Richardson/Q
Lose – Williams/J and Barnes/M

ATLANTA HAWKS, 3rd place
Noteworthy:
Retain – Johnson/J
Add – Larry Drew and Powell/J [?]
Lose – Mike Woodson

BOSTON CELTICS, 4th place
Noteworthy:
Retain – Pierce/P, Allen/R and Robinson/N
Add – O’Neal/J
Lose – Thom Thibodeau, Wallace/R and Allen/T

MILWAUKEE BUCKS, 6th place
Noteworthy:
Retain: Salmons/J
Add – Maggette/C, Douglas-Roberts/C, Gooden/D and Brockman/J
Lose – Ridnour/L, Bell/C, Gadzuric/D and Jackson/D

CHARLOTTE BOBCATS, 7th place
Noteworthy:
Retain: Thomas/T
Add – Dampier/E, Najera/E and Carroll/M
Lose – Felton/R and Chandler/T

CHICAGO BULLS, 8th place
Noteworthy:
Add – Thom Thibodeau, Boozer/C, Korver/K and Watson/CJ
Lose – Vinny Del Negro, Hinrich/K and Miller/B

INDIANA PACERS, 9th place
Noteworthy:
Add – George/P and Stephenson/L
Lose – None

NEW YORK KNICKS, 10th place
Noteworthy:
Add – Stoudemire/A, Randolph/A, Turiaf/R, Fields/L and Jordan/J
Lose – Lee/D, Harrington/A and Duhon/C

DETROIT PISTONS, 11th place
Noteworthy:
Add – Monroe/G
Lose - Brown/K 

PHILADELPHIA 76ERS, 12th place
Noteworthy:
Add – Doug Collins, Nocioni/A, Hawes/S, Battie/T [?] and Turner/E
Lose – Dalembert/S

NEW JERSEY NETS, 15th place
Noteworthy:
Add – Avery Johnson, Outlaw/T, Farmar/J, Morrow/A and Favors/D
Lose – Kiki Vandeweghe, Douglas-Roberts/C, Boone/J and Jianlian/Y

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PLEASE NOTE:

Although the Raptors just finished the Las Vegas Summer League with a 5-0 record, this performance was achieved without Andrea Bargnani [C] playing a single minute beside some combination of DeMar DeRozan, Sonny Weems, Ed Davis and Solomon Alabi … which is a fact the team’s basketball brain-trust WOULD DO WELL TO KEEP IN MIND, as the 2010-2011 season unfolds.

Related:

The Architecture of the Raptors

Can Toronto Overcome the Loss of Chris Bosh