khandor’s sports blog

In three different articles published today, Michael Grange, Dave Feschuk and Ryan Wolstat … each of whom is highly ‘respected’ by this corner of the blogosphere, specifically, for their expertise in their chosen craft … all say, basically, the same thing, concerning the outlook for the immediate future of the Toronto Raptors [11-17/.393; 2nd, Atlantic, 9th, East]:

Judgement day could be coming for Raptors
Raptors’ schedule takes pressure off
Raptors have time to turn it around | Toronto Sun

1. The schedule the team has played, thus far, has placed them squarely behind the 8-ball.  

2. The schedule of upcoming games is about to ease, and allow the team to re-establish its proper equilibrium.

3. This proper equilibrium will be achieved by the posting of a W-L record of either 8-4 or 7-5, over the course of the next 12 games, at which point the approximate half-way mark [i.e. 40 games] of the season will have been reached. 

Given the present state of the team, however …

Is this really an accurate assessment of their current situation?

For each of the last 3 seasons, one of the major areas of difficulty for the Raptors has been managing the expectations placed on the team, in a constructive way, given:

i. The history of the franchise;

ii. Where the franchise wants to go, short and long term [i.e. financially, and in terms of achieving excellence, on and off the court]; and,

iii. How exactly the franchise intends to achieve its stated objectives.

Instead of having negative directional short term goals [like Rob Babcock once had], or blatantly unrealistic short term goals [like much of the fanbase seems to hold, on occasion] … given the team’s history … or simply “swinging for the fences”, repeatedly, whether hit or miss [like Bryan Colangelo & Co. seem to have done, to this point], what the Raptors - and the associated media that follow the team - need to do much better, going forward, is paint a more ACCURATE picture of where exactly the team is, at the moment, relative to the other franchises in the Eastern Conference.

It’s by doing THIS, on a regular basis, rather than looking at the team’s predicament with tinted glasses … whether this tint is ‘positive’ or ‘negative’ … that communication is enhanced, and those whose actual support is necessary to succeed can be made to understand effectively what precisely is expected of them, in a specific situation; and, in return, know what they should then be able to expect back from the person[s] who is [are] communicating with them.

Unlike what many people may choose to think, it is never really about “a glass being either ‘half-full’ or ‘half empty’”, depending on one’s own perspective.

What it is REALLY about, however, is being ACCURATE, or not.

Those who are … over an extended period of time … are, in fact, able to earn the R.E.S.P.E.C.T. of their audience.

Once R.E.S.P.E.C.T. is earned, in this way, then, it can be reciprocated.

Once a state of mutual R.E.S.P.E.C.T. is achieved, in this way … between an audience and a ‘message-provider’ … then, great things are possible … and, indeed, are likely to occur.

However, without being accurate, in the first place, there is little possibility that a state of mutual R.E.S.P.E.C.T. can ever be achieved.

In this specific situation, whether the glass is actually perceived to be “half-empty” or “half-full” becomes completely irrelevant. 

Hopefully you, the visitor/reader, will take the time to click on each of the links you see below.

If you do … slowly but surely … a picture should begin to emerge which will help you to better understand the current, and on-going, “crisis” in Raptorville.

Like most good things in life, it really does take time … and, patience, diligence, expertise, well-honed instincts, perseverance, etc. … to build and, then, thoroughly understand something - or someone - of substance and authentic high quality.  

Here goes …

[for your added benefit, the most important/pertinent ones are marked with an asterisk/*]

1. You Make The Call [Mar 18 2008] *
2. Tic toc, tic toc, tic toc … [Apr 11 2008] *
3. Two solitudes in Raptorland [Apr 16 2008] *

4. Of scorpions, frogs, GMs & coaches [Apr 30 2008] *
5. Understanding Bryan Colangelo’s method of operation (good & bad) [Jul 02 2008] *
6. Talking the talk, already … in Raptorville [Sep 29 2008]

7. Deciphering the correct code for the Raptors [Dec 3 2008]
8. Wait a second … what’s really going on here [Dec 04 2008] *
9. What’s really going on here … Part II [Dec 05 2008] *
10. Respect for tellers of truths [Dec 8, 2009]
11. Understanding the Role of Defense in the NBA [Mar 11 2009]
12. Truth Tellers Beware - The REAL reason Sam Mitchell was fired by the Raptors [Mar 11 2009] *
13. In Raptorville, something changed last night … and it wasn’t good [Mar 12 2009] *
14. What observations like these SHOULD tell you about the quality of your player roster [Mar 13 2009] *
15. Of scorpions, frogs, GMs & faces of the franchise [Mar 25 2009]

16. State of the Raptors Address by Bryan Colangelo [Apr 20 2009] *
- this has Six [6] Parts to it and you need to watch each one
17. Assessing Bryan Colangelo’s Press Conference [Apr 21, 2009] *
18. Worst Owner in major North American pro sport? … You Make The Call [May 14 2009] 
19. Raptors might be Lottery bound, once again, after the 2009-2010 season [May 20 2009]
20. Five off-season moves for the Raptors which would have helped to address their Treadmill status [May 29, 2009]
21. Lack of Quality Depth is a major problem for the Raptors [May 29 2009]
22. Original Sin, in Raptorville [Jun 02 2009]
23. Knowing who the Raptors’ FOUNDATION player is [Jun 04, 2009] *
24. Local media for the Raptors is beginning to lay blame in the right place, at last [Jun 04 2009] *
25. Where will Andrea Bargnani rank in the Eastern Conference next year, as a Center? … You Make The Call [Jun 05 2009] *
26. Where for art thou, Saviour, in Raptorville? [Jun 06 2009] *
27. Could a Bargnani trade benefit the Raptors? [Jun 11 2009] *
28. Raptors fans: What would happen, if … [Jun 17 2009]
29. In the NBA Eastern Conference … It’s not hard to tell which one is which? [Jun 25 2009] *
30. 2009 NBA Draft Trackers for the Raptors [Jun 26 2009]
31. Raptors’ best possible line-up, as of June 30 2009 [Jun 30 2009]
32. Which franchise made out best from 4 team trade? [Jul 10 2009]
33. What the 4-team trade was REALLY about from the Raptors’ perspective [Jul 11 2009]
34. When three birds of a different feather flock together, it’s a poor omen for the Raptors [Jul 14 2009] *
35. Early look at NBA rosters: Eastern Conference [Aug 17 2009] *
36. Interesting [accurate?] POV on the Raptors, under Bryan Colangelo [Aug 24. 2009]
37. Initial thoughts on the Raptors talent base compared with the previous 3 seasons [Aug 24 2009] *
38. Strength of the Eastern Conference compared to 2006-2007 [Aug 25 2009]
39. Raptors Bench Strength: In eye of beholder [Aug 28 2009] *
40. YOU MAKE THE CALL: Best possible group of wing players for the 2009-2010 Raptors? [Aug 31 2009]
41. YOU MAKE THE CALL: Available Roster Options for the Raptors, 2009-2010 [Sep 02 2009]
42. How the Eastern Conference looks for ‘09-10, based on individual player ratings, by position [Sep 08 2009] *
43. Raptors improvement relative to other teams in division & conference [Sep 14 2009] *
44. Thumb-down 35 special … for the Raptors [Sep 18 2009] *
45. How the Raptors could be improved with Player X replacing Bargnani [Sep 18 2009] *
46. Uh-Oh, here he goes again [Sep 28, 2009] *
47. All the problems have been fixed with a Radical Roster Make-over? [Sep 29. 2009] *
48. Toronto Raptors Season Preview: Games 1-20 [Oct 20 2009]

49. Raptors half-way through their first 20 games [Nov 16 2009]
50. Raptors’ crunch time starts today vs Magic [Nov 22 2009]
51. Raptors punked by Celtics, according to Wright [Nov 28 2009] *
52. Ominous words … in Raptorville [Nov 29 2009] *
53. Source of Raptors’ on-going defensive problems [Dec 01 2009]
54. What the Raptors SHOULD do right NOW to improve their performance against High End opponents [Dec 02 2009] *
55. Raptors at the 20 game mark, exactly where an astute observer SHOULD have expected them to be [Dec 03 2009] *

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

When yours truly has occasion to read an article in which the Raptors’ GM is quoted as saying: 

Colangelo doesn’t pass the buck

- “At the end of the day, there’s a lot of talk about this being about coaching and systems and things like that,” said Colangelo, who was en route yesterday to meet his team in Washington for tonight’s game against the Wizards. “But at the end of the day if you’re looking for someone to blame, you can point to me because I’m ultimately the one responsible for putting this group together.”

- “The poor performance defensively has disrupted the other, more positive things we’ve been doing and the team is in a funk,” Colangelo said. “It happens in the course of an NBA season, and it’s up to us to get them out of it.”

- “This team has far too much talent to cast off or give up on. I have no doubt these guys can play, but talk is cheap.”

- “We can change the system and tweak it all we want, but it still comes down to execution and effort by the players,” Colangelo said. “It’s been very disappointing.”

and, then,

read a column by Dave Feschuk, in which he has revealing quotes from the team’s former head coach that read like this:

Mitchell has advice for Triano

- “At some point you hope the owners start realizing that you just can’t coach in this league without having coached,” Mitchell was saying the other night. “People sit there and think they can do it. … If you could just do the Xs and Os, yeah, you might figure that out. But it’s, how do you deal with people? How do you deal with your team when you’re down 20 at halftime? You have to know when to kick ‘em in the ass, and you have to know when to go in there and put your arms around ‘em and love ‘em? … I had to learn that.”

- “People don’t understand how relentless I was on Jose and Chris. I cut ‘em no slack,” said Mitchell. “Andrea, it was different. I cut Andrea a lot of slack.“

- “You pick your spots,” Mitchell said. “Sometimes you just have to walk away and say, `Don’t say (anything). It’s a bad night. Don’t compound it.’ … And sometimes you really get on their ass after you win. … You pick your spots.”

and, then,

read a blog entry by Chris Black, in which he begins to put the pieces of the puzzle together, one by one … 

Dissecting a Disaster
READING BETWEEN THE LINES
Mr. Feschuk is an intelligent writer. He knows there are certain things he can and cannot write in the paper. Jarrett Jack and Antoine Wright are both intelligent (if not exactly in-shape) basketball players. They know they can’t call out specific players in the papers.
However, if you read between the lines of Mr. Feschuk’s columns over the last two days, I think you’ll see that he’s saying the Raptors are growing frustrated about how Andrea Bargnani is treated by this organization.
You even get the sense from the Mitchell quote that he didn’t even want to cut Bargnani that much slack, that it was almost an organizational mandate to do so.
MY OWN OBSERVATION
As I mentioned earlier this week, I was at the Suns game on Sunday. On two separate occasions, Bargnani just totally forgot to rotate on defence (I’m sure he forgot to rotate many more times than that, but I’m just pointing these two out for a specific reason). After his gaffe led to dunks for the Suns, a visibly frustrated Hedo Turkoglu threw his hands in the air and said/yelled something in the direction of Bargnani. The Italian was naturally oblivious to Turkoglu’s criticism, and merely continued up the court, happily mouth-breathing away.

… what, then, becomes clear is:

I. Just how much on target the views expressed in this space have actually been for the last 2+ years, concerning the goings-on with the Toronto Raptors;

II. Just how much of a negative and divisive force Andrea Bargnani’s poor Defense and Rebounding have actually been within the Raptors’ team for the last several seasons; and,

III. Just how off-base is the Basketball Philosophy [and overall Basketball Acumen] of the Raptors’ Management Team, in terms of placing the correct value on:

A. Team [and Individual] Defense

B. Rebounding, and

C. Shared Team Offense,

when assessing the REAL ability of their players, compared to the other High End teams in the NBA.

Since the Boston Celtics of Red Auerbach, Bill Russell, Bob Cousy, and John Havlicek, etc., first established their pro hoops dynasty, more than 40 years ago, High End performers across the league have learned to value and identify the individual players, and coaches, and GMs, etc., with the personal attributes it takes to be able to WIN BIG, i.e. given their commitment to: i. Defense, ii. Rebounding, iii. Sharing The Ball, and, iv. Physical, Mental and Emotional Toughness.

When a franchise, at its core, has a Basketball Philosophy that DOES NOT reflect these basic, fundamental values … which dwells at the heart of the game and a successful team … it has very little hope of ever developing into a championship calibre organization in the NBA.

There are NO successful short-cuts in THIS game.   

Although Dave Feschuk usually does a solid job of pointing out which things are working well in Raptorville, at any given point in time, and which things are in need of improvement, on occasion, even he can “swing and miss”, when it comes to solving the riddle that has now become,

“What is really at the heart of the Raptors defensive woes, when it comes to relentlessly conceding dribble penetration to opponent ball-handlers using a Pick from a Big?”

Feschuk: Solution to Raptors’ weak defence? Start Jack
[1] So much for this corner’s pre-season thinking the Raptors are offensively gifted enough to stay in any given game so long as they’re shooting the ball well.

“(Giving up) dribble penetration was our biggest problem (on Sunday),” said Jay Triano, the Raptors coach. “We have to get better (at stopping it) as a team.”

[2]The problem is widespread, of course, and every regular could be singled out for some blame. But let’s be honest: [3] The problem of allowing opposing players into the paint starts at point guard. The past two losses have seen opposing No. 1s – Memphis’ middle-of-the-road Mike Conley and Orlando’s all-star Jameer Nelson – zip past Jose Calderon with too much ease. It’s a familiar plotline for Raptor fans, who watched Calderon cede similar ground last season, when a six-centimetre tear in his hamstring limited his mobility.

The Spaniard claims to be back to full health now, which could be worrisome, or perhaps an off-season of rest is the easy explanation for his early-going rust. Maybe he’ll be back in form in no time, as early as Wednesday’s home game against the Detroit Pistons.

[4] Don’t get it wrong: It’s not all Calderon’s fault. Defence, at the NBA level, is a team scheme. But there are degrees of getting beat.

“It’s tough for anybody to do something perfect all the time,” said Jarrett Jack, the Raptors’ backup point guard. “You might not get beat to where they lay it in the basket. You might just get beat to where the guy gets past you for a dribble until somebody can step up and we force them to swing it to the weak side.”

Calderon, to this eye, has been getting beat for lay-ins too often, although he says his defence has been “better than (his) offence” this season, which gives you an idea of what he thinks about his shooting stroke.

So what are the Raptors to do? Junking it up might be an option. Jack Armstrong, the high-energy broadcaster, was on the radio show he co-hosts with Eric Smith on The Fan 590 on Monday making an argument for Toronto’s occasional playing of multi-look zone defence. If you’ve got a glaring weakness, it makes some sense to be at least a little bit deceptive about where it is. But don’t expect changes. The Raptors coaching staff, particularly Jay Triano and lead assistant Marc Iavaroni, has invested a lot of time and effort into developing its current system.

“I don’t want to abandon what we’re doing,” said Triano. “In years past we’ve had a defensive philosophy and we’d go, `Oh, this is hurting us. Let’s abandon it and do something different.’ We’re not going to do that.”

[5] The truth is Calderon’s best defence is balancing out the ledger with his shooting stroke and minimal turnover rate. [6] But if his play doesn’t improve Triano might be forced to make a change. It’s just an idea, but Jack, as poorly as he has played adjusting to his role in Toronto, might eventually make more sense as a starting point guard. Jack is more defensively minded, physically stronger, a little bit quicker. And Hedo Turkoglu is just as capable at running the top-of-the-key pick and roll with Chris Bosh or Andrea Bargnani.

——————————————–

1. Teams that win big in the NBA habitually rank at the head of the class when it comes to 5 specific aspects of the game:

* Points Allowed per game

* Defensive FG%

* Points Scored Differential [For minus Against]

* Rebounding Differential

* Pick and Roll/Pop Defensive Efficiency

The truth of the matter is that the NBA game is predicated to large extent upon how well an individual team is able to stop its opponents from scoring the ball during crucial segments of a specific contest … given the fact that it is RELATIVELY EASY for each and every team in the league to score the ball with a fair degree of regularity - i.e. in general, scores range from 80-120 points per game - since the rules of play actually legislate a distinct advantage to the offensive players [e.g. an offensive player who is fouled in the act of attempting to score a field goal is awarded with the immediate opportunity to shoot two free throws; while a defensive player who is fouled in the act of attempting to stop a field goal from being scored is not duely rewarded with a similar opportunity to score immediately from the free throw line].

2. Every On-ball Defender, Picker’s Defender, Designated Help Defender, and Designated Help-the-Helper Defender must be held accountable for his performance in this specific aspect of the game … not just Jose Calderon.

3. Given the actual size of the “Bigs” who are used to set these Picks, in the NBA game, effective Pick & Roll/Pop Defense does, in fact, NOT start with the Point Guard, himself.

4. In the NBA game, effective Pick and Roll/Pop Defense proceeds in the following order:

PART I. The specific technique which a coaching staff decides to use vs a specific action by the opponent’s offense and the highly specific parameters under which it is supposed to be applied by the players, e.g. Fight [which includes different types of Hedges and Recovers], Switch or Trap.

PART II. The specific response and technique used by the Picker’s Defender to initiate the proper Team Response.

PART III. The specific response and technique used by the Picker’s Defender to maintain control of the ball-handler.

PART IV. The specific response and technique used by the On-ball Defender to maintain control of the ball-handler.

PART V. The specific response and technique of the Desiginated Help Defender, to maintain control of the ball-handler.

PART VI. The specific response and technique of the Designated Help-the-Helper Defender, to maintain control of the other 3 offensive players not directly involved in the Pick and Roll/Pop action.

5. This is an absolutely correct observation about Jose Calderon’s individual game, as a very good PG, in the NBA, whose strength exists on Offense.

6. A starting 5-man unit which looks like this:

Jack + DeRozan + Turkoglu + Bosh + Bargnani

will NOT be substantially better at preventing dribble penetration when a Pick is set by an opponent’s Big on a perimeter ball-handler … since it does ABSOLUTELY NOTHING to effectively address PART I, PART II, PART III, PART V and PART VI of a team’s Pick and Roll/Pop Defense, as outlined above.

In general, opposition ball-handlers have not been able to dribble penetrate relentlessly against the Raptors so far this season with the benefit of a Pick from a Big because …

* Jose Calderon is not “defensive minded” enough; or,

* Jose Calderon is not “physically strong” enough; or,

* Jose Calderon is not “physically quick” enough …

to get the job done, in comparison with Jarret Jack.

They’ve been able to do just that because the various Raptors assigned with the individual responsibility of executing PART I, PART II, PART III, PART V and PART VI, respectively, versus any specific “Big Pick-on-Little” action, have been unable to do their jobs properly on a consistent basis.

——————————

Those who actually understand how the “Big Pick-on-Little” action really works, in the NBA game, from a defensive perspective, can ascertain fairly quickly which specific player[s] on the Raptors’ squad this season have been consistently deficient in terms of executing their individual responsibilities within the team’s various defensive schemes.

The cold, harsh reality is that … the biggest culprets overall happen NOT to be named Jose Calderon.

Although this story first appeared last weekend, it deserves a special place [and a page of its own] in the “Site Map” of this blog.

The Leafs Abomination
“Maple Leaf Sports and Entertainment has massive resources, which is a good thing. I’ve seen a real lack of foresight in the use of those resources to really gain a competitive advantage. Personnel, scouting procedures, processes, development, all those things,” Button says. “I couldn’t fathom how pennywise and pound-foolish they were. I mean, if development and recruiting are going to be key parts of your operation – and they need to be – well, I’ll tell you what, you blanket the earth. You use your resources. If you can’t spend some of your resources on player acquisition (because of the salary cap), you spend it on developing players. You make sure you’re as sharp as anything. In my time there, I thought that was severely lacking.”

———————————–

Kudos galore to Dave Feschuk and Michael Grange, two of the best journalists who happen to patrol a sports beat in the Greater Toronto Area.

Mandatory reading for Maple Leafs and Raptors and TFC fans everywhere!

Related:

Winning Isn’t Everything

You’ve come a long way, son … back from the brink of the abyss.

———-

LAKERS WIN SERIES 4-1
Sweet 15 for the Lakers

Bryant casts off Shaq-les of past, scores 30 points to lead L.A. to another NBA championship

Jun 15, 2009

Kobe Bryant won his first NBA title without the assistance of Shaquille O’Neal, his former partner in locker-room bickering. And Phil Jackson, the L.A. coach, finally broke his tie with the late Red Auebach to stand alone as the first coach to win 10 NBA championships.

“It’s been a long time since he had a champagne bath,” Bryant said of Jackson. “He took his glasses off, threw his head back and soaked it all in, because this is a special time. For us to be the team that got him that historic 10th championship is special for us.”

For Bryant, who led the Lakers with 30 points, 6 rebounds, 5 assists and 4 blocked shots last night and earned his first nod as most valuable player of the final, it was the culmination of a circuitous journey. A linchpin of the Lakers team that won three straight championships to open this decade – three straight championships in which O’Neal was named MVP of the final – the intervening seven years weren’t always kind. Bryant was labeled “uncoachable” by Jackson in a 2004 memoir.

He was complicit in the feud with O’Neal that led to O’Neal’s shipment to a championship team in Miami. And maybe until last night, he carried on his back what he called “a big old monkey” – specifically the notion that he couldn’t win without the Big Aristotle.

“I just don’t have to hear that criticism, that idiotic criticism anymore,” said Bryant. “It was annoying. It was like Chinese water torture … From the standpoint of responding to the challenge, from people saying I couldn’t do it without (O’Neal), that feels good, because you prove people wrong.”

Jackson, who won six championships with the Michael Jordan-led Bulls and coached the Shaq-and-Kobe Lakers until 2004 before taking a season-long hiatus from the game, said last night that when he returned to the bench in 2005, he didn’t expect the team to win a championship this soon. But the Lakers improved quickly, especially with last season’s addition of Spanish 7-footer Pau Gasol. And after losing the final in six games to a veteran Celtics club one year ago, the Lakers won 65 regular-season games en route to the title.

“We’re going to go crazy a little bit, and we’re looking forward to that,” said Gasol, who had 14 points and 15 rebounds last night. “But it’s just been so much work that we put into this to make this happen today, and we love each other. We’re a great group, a great team, and this is amazing.”

Added Lamar Odom, a product of the O’Neal deal who supplied 17 points and 10 rebounds off the bench in the decisive victory: “I’ve known what I wanted to do since I was 10-years-old, 9-years-old, and to finally get here and accomplish it is a dream come true … We set a goal early in the training camp and that was to win the NBA championship. Every time we came in as a group, we left that group by saying, ‘One, two, three, ring.’ We set a goal and we attained it.”

The Magic, who had a marvelous run en route to upsetting LeBron James and the Cleveland Cavaliers for the Eastern championship, were no pushovers. They could have won Game 2 and Game 4 with shots at the regulation buzzer (they ended up losing both games in overtime). But last night, perhaps glimpsing the historic truth that none of the 29 previous teams that had faced a 3-1 deficit in the NBA final had rebounded to win it, they looked spent.

“They made a run, and instead of being the team that played like we did all season, we kind of started to hold our heads down,” said Howard, “and they went on from there … They played like a team that was hungry for a championship. Tonight we didn’t have the same effort and same fight that we had during the whole playoffs, and they did.”

Howard, the towering centre who came within a blocked shot of a triple-double in Game 4, didn’t approach that level of domination in the decider, finishing with 11 points and 10 rebounds. While the Magic led by as many as nine points in the early going, the Lakers jumped out to a 56-46 halftime lead and weren’t really challenged after that.

Bryant, once frequently derided for his wont to win games as a solo artist, saw four teammates score in double figures last night, when Jackson, in the booze-soaked afterglow, recalled a long-ago game in Toronto when Bryant engaged in a one-on-one battle with Vince Carter. Bryant won the t ête-a-t ête, scoring 40 points to Carter’s 31 in a Laker victory. But as Jackson pointed out, Bryant’s dramatics took the Lakers “out of their team play.”

Recalled Jackson: “I talked to him a bit about leadership and the quality and his ability to be a leader, and (Bryant) said, ‘I’m ready to be a captain right now.’ And I said, ‘But no one is ready to follow you.’ He was 22 at the time. He was a young guy.”

That surely wasn’t the case last night, when the Lakers ran off a 16-0 second-quarter run in which the 30-year-old Bryant, who scored just two points in the stretch, was, in Jackson’s words, “the thrust that created shots for (other) guys.” Not that he has softened.

As Gasol said last night, thinking back to Bryant’s role in the U.S. win over Spain for the gold medal at the Beijing Olympics: “Kobe doesn’t have any friends on the floor when he’s playing against somebody else. That’s just the way it is … It would be the same if it was his brother. He would still try to destroy him, really. He wants to win that bad.”

Still, when the buzzer sounded last night – after O’Neal had already chimed in via Twitter: “Congratulations Kobe, (you) deserve it” – Bryant joined his peers in a hooting, hopping group hug before finding Jackson for a long embrace.

Said the coach of his star: “He’s learned how to become a leader in a way in which people want to follow him … He’s become a giver rather than just a guy that’s a demanding leader, and that’s been great for him and great to watch.”

———-

Kudos to you, as well as those who’ve worked with you to make this transition … and, ultimately, growth in your character … possible.

According to these eyes …

The best player, on the best basketball team, in the world today, is none other than Kobe Bean Bryant … a joy to behold, playing this game.

FINAL SCORE: ROCKETS 95, Lakers 80
Complete Game Info

———-

From The Lakers Perspective

1. Phil Jackson, with 9 NBA Championships to his credit already, is a terrific head coach … but he was out-coached last night by Rick Adelman.

2. Anytime Andrew Bynum was not on the floor, the Lakers’ interior defense [read as Pau Gasol] could not cope with Luis Scola, or Aaron Brooks, or Carl Landry.

3. There was no legitimate reason for Andrew Bynum [-1] to have only played 19:03 last night when Pau Gasol [-15/43:03] was repeatedly being abused by the Rockets on the defensive end of the floor. 

4. Given how the Rockets have used Luis Scola, Chuck Hayes and Carl Landry at the C and PF positions, since the injury to Yao Ming, it is simply criminal that Josh Powell [DNP-Coaches Decision] has been chained to the Lakers’ bench … considering that he is the single best match-up on the Lakers’ team vs an under-sized post player.

5. Derek Fisher is a physically sturdy PG … who is simply not quick enough to cope with a player like Aaron Brooks and does not possess the type of low-post game it takes to punish the Rockets’ diminuitive PG at the offensive end of the floor.

6. Given how well Jordan Farmar [21:00] and Shannon Brown [09:12] have played in this series Derek Fisher [1-7, FGM-FGA] should not be getting 21:24 of floor time.

7. Sasha Vujacic [06:34] and Luke Walton [15:50] are two highly serviceable players who were not used effectively last night vs the Rockets’ [i] small back-court combo of Brooks & Lowry and their [ii] physical forward combo of Artest & Battier, respectively.

If the Lakers are going to advance to the Western Conference Finals and then have success against the Denver Nuggets … and eventually the Celtics, Magic or Cavaliers … Phil Jackson will need to re-think how he is using his player personnel. If he fails to do this … and, instead, stubbornly sticks with the same old same old … the Lakers will not win this year’s NBA Championship.

From The Rockets Perspective

1. At this point, Houston is playing with house money.

2. Basketball is fundamentally a game of quickness, relative to the oppenent, at the position played, and as long as the Rockets can accentuate their advantage in this aspect of the game there is every reason to believe that this team can succeed, if they make their fair share of open and contested shots.

3. Going at the Lakers last night with an interior attack focused on the Scola vs Gasol match-up was a stroke of genius by Rick Adelman. See the seminal article by Malcolm Gladwell on the way in which David must attack Goliath if he hopes to succeed, i.e. through the use of unconventional/unexpected strategies & tactics.

4. Winning Game 7, on the road, will still be a mighty chore.

5. It’s a treat to watch this collection of NBA players & coaches give their all in the face of such adversity.

6. The NBA game is based upon individual and team match-ups … and, the outcome of Game 7 in this series will depend on the answers to these two straight-forward questions:

I. Can Rick Adelman continue to out-fox the ZenMaster?

II. Which team is going to make more shots than the other?

———-

Far too frequently too many so-called “NBA experts/observers” try to make the game much more complicated than it actually is. 

After Dave Feschuk broke this story yesterday …

Bosh a deadbeat dad, lawsuit says

which is no mean feat in today’s dog-eat-dog world of conventional and unconventional media,

Michael Grange has now moved it along further …

Bosh made first move in court, lawyer says
Toronto Raptors star Chris Bosh began legal proceedings in October to support his then-unborn daughter, according to a Dallas lawyer.

On Oct. 3, 2008, six weeks after he split with the baby’s mother, Allison Mathis, Bosh filed a petition in a Dallas court to begin arranging custody and financial support of the child. In the event Bosh and Mathis could not come to a written agreement, the petition asked the court “to make orders for support of the child” and “provide for appropriate access to the child for both parties.”

When subsequent testing confirmed his paternity, Bosh filed an amendment to his original petition on Jan. 30, again requesting an order to cover off care, custody and support for their daughter in the absence of a mutual agreement.

By then, Trinity Myers Bosh had been born.

According to Bosh’s lawyer, Larry Hance, the filings demonstrate the four-time NBA all-star had no intention of acting like a deadbeat dad, as he’s been portrayed by various media outlets since a Toronto newspaper first reported Tuesday that Mathis had filed suit against him in a Maryland court.

Rather, he has attempted to establish his parental rights and responsibilities, not run from them.

“The dispute is about what amount of money should that support be,” Hance said. “Should it be some amount that meets the needs of the child or should it be something more?

“I can say, from his position, he has been willing to pay a reasonable and generous amount to more than cover the needs of the child.”

“I just wanted to get everything sorted out, that’s all I can say,” Bosh said last night after the Raptors’ 115-106 win over the Milwaukee Bucks. “I took the initiative because I know how things are. I didn’t want any complications.”

——————————————————

In the eyes of this corner, each remains a respected writer who just happens to cover the daily goings-on associated with the Toronto Raptors, while sharing his unique perspective with the readers of his column and/or blog.

From this vantage point, it’s important to acknowledge that there is more than one way to consume a specific meal and any number of different ways in which said meal can be prepared, in the first place.

What’s most important, perhaps, is that … at the end of the day … we’ve consumed a healthy balance of each of the different “food groups”, provided ourselves with the “nourishment” we need to see our way clear to another day, in this topsy-turvy world we all live in for a too short span of time, and learned the lessons of how exactly to … Live and Let Die.  

Image means great deal to GM Colangelo
There’ve been rumblings all season that Bosh wants out. It’s not hard to fathom that, come the off-season, the Raptors will want Bosh out.

That’s not to say a trade’s afoot. But Colangelo has been a GM in a situation that wasn’t completely dissimilar a while back. In 2001 Jason Kidd, the Phoenix Suns’ best player, was arrested for assaulting his wife, which is not to compare the egregiousness of alleged domestic transgressions, only to suggest that a negative headline is a negative headline.

When Kidd was traded by Colangelo in the following off-season, he acknowledged that the arrest could have been a factor in the trade, and certainly it wouldn’t have been the only factor. But perhaps it wasn’t a coincidence that another Sun who brought the franchise into disrepute that year, Cliff Robinson, who was charged with marijuana possession and driving under the influence, was also shipped out in the off-season.

——————————————————–

This entry is what appeared in this corner of the blogosphere on Wed, April 30, 2008:

Of scorpions, frogs, GMs & coaches

It’s suggested here & now that you take the time to read it again carefully and click on each of the separate links contained therein.

The FACT IS … Sam Mitchell was eventually relieved of his duties, as head coach for the Toronto Raptors, on Dec 3, 2009, 17 games into the current season, the first day that the team’s W-L record slipped below the .500 mark [8-9]. 

As Jeff Van Gundy stated succinctly, on Sunday, April 27, 2008, and yours truly happens to believe whole-heartedly, in this world,

“You are who you are.”

… something which is illustrated precisely in the ancient parable of The Scorpion and The Frog, in conjunction, perhaps, with the well-known idiom that states, “The Apple doesn’t fall far from the tree.”

—————-

As Mr. Feschuk’s article concludes, neither of the following two eventualities should now come as a surprise to astute observers of both the NBA and human nature.

“Trading all-stars for value is tricky, mind you (see: Carter, Vince). [OUTCOME #1] Surely this eventually blows over and Bosh makes it right. And maybe next season brings a fresh start with some new teammates, a new first-round draft pick, a clean slate. Or maybe [OUTCOME #2] Colangelo, surveying his club’s prospects and the way it’s perceived, recognizes it’s high time for somebody else to make an image-conscious exit, and pronto.”

Related:

Just when you thought this season couldn’t possibly get any worse, as a Raptors fan

Time to Rise and Shine

Suns’ Robinson arrested on DUI charge

Kidd pleads guilty to spousal abuse

History of the Phoenix Suns

Raptor Bosh a deadbeat dad, lawsuit says
Chris Bosh, the face of Toronto’s struggling NBA franchise, is being cast in U.S. court documents as a deadbeat father who broke up with his girlfriend when she was seven months pregnant, leaving her destitute and without medical care even as she fell ill.

The court documents, filed in Maryland on behalf of Bosh’s former live-in girlfriend, Allison Mathis, who is seeking child support and sole custody, allege that in early 2008 Mathis and Bosh planned to get married. According to the filings, whose allegations have been denied by Bosh, they made a consensual decision to have a child together and Bosh, who is earning a salary of $14.4 million (U.S.) this season, paid for a fertility drug to hasten the process.

————————————————————

Nuff, said.

The following has got to be one of the most humourous headlines, in the 14-yr history of Raptorville, courtesy of Frank Zicarelli [long-time scribe for the Toronto Sun]:

Raptors defence looks terrific … in practice
Every defensive breakdown was broken down, regardless of who was getting exposed.

Whether it was off the dribble, in transition or off the ball, no player and no scenario was overlooked when the Raptors gathered yesterday in the wake of Wednesday’s capitulation in Philadelphia.

It seems as if every day the Raptors are being asked why defensive assignments aren’t getting executed and why players aren’t communicating.

It has become a daily ritual, a season-long deficiency that was punctuated in Toronto’s 115-106 loss to the host Sixers, a team that entered the evening with its own issues, but still managed to shoot 56% from the field, a number that hovered around 60% until it emptied its bench.

No one associated with the Raptors has any answers.

The unspoken words are that this group is simply too soft mentally and too thin on basketball IQ to defend any opponent for a 48-minute game.

It has never been corrected and, with time running out, it likely will linger into an off-season that promises to be one of profound change.

“I can deliver a positive message every day, but until we see we’re doing it, it’s an entirely different story,” said Chris Bosh ahead of tonight’s tip against the Detroit Pistons at the Air Canada Centre.

Interim head coach Jay Triano has made it a point to refrain from addressing the team following a loss. In his mind, he wants all emotions detached from the moment. And besides, the eye in the sky doesn’t lie.

But Triano and his staff broke down every defensive possession from Wednesday and shared the horrifying video evidence with their players yesterday.

Bosh, however, sees his teammates defend hard in practice and watches as each shot is contested.

“Sometimes you can’t even get your shot off,” Bosh said. “I just don’t [know] why it doesn’t transfer into games. We’re always talking about it. We can talk all we want, but it’s all about action.”

—————————————

What it also is, however, is a concise delineation of one of the MAJOR on-court problems with this year’s Raptors team; namely, the overall lack of Quality Depth on their roster, which was identified specifically, in advance, in this space,

Talking the talk, already … in Raptorville [Sep 29 2008],

during the pre-season.

When your team plays “well” in practices and competes “hard”, by all accounts … especially on the defensive end of the floor … but, then,  CONSISTENTLY SHOWS ITS DEFICIENCIES IN THIS SAME ASPECT OF THE GAME WHEN THE BRIGHT LIGHTS COME ONE … what it means is that:

The individuals who your players are competing against in those practices are, in fact, INFERIOR to those who they MUST compete against in their real-life games … by a wide margin.

Whether you’re team is prepared to acknowledge this, or not, is irrelevant.

When Sam Mitchell [former Head Coach] made observations like these:

Fore-warned is fore-armed [Wed Oct 29 2008]

during the pre-season,

… and, then, 5 months [and 42 losses!] later, your interim [former assistant] head coach makes the following observations:

Jay Triano’s post-practice interview [Thu Mar 12, 2009]:

it should tell you everything that you need to know about the quality of the player roster assembled by the Raptors this season, and that very little has actually changed with this team since the pre-season, re: the ability of its players to compete effectively on the defensive end of the floor, on a nightly basis in this league, relative to the best players in the world … who have both NBA Calibre Athleticism and NBA Calibre Hoop Smarts, in abundance.

You can slice an apple any way you’d like … but, in the end, it simply does NOT change what you’ll find at its Core.

When a team’s Won-Lost Record stands at 23-42/.354, in a season which began with the President/GM making a public statement that:

“This is the best team we’ve had, on paper.”

and, includes the dismissal of its head coach, only 17 games into the campaign, with an 8-9 mark …

the COLD, HARSH REALITY is that the MAIN on-court problem with this team, this season, is the Lack of Quality Depth on the roster, from Player #1-15 … which consistently plays itself out each day in practice, and in EVERY game, with the way they compete against One Another but, then, fall short against their Real-life Opponents.

———————————–

17 games left to go.

The Raptors’ President/GM was WRONG.

The 2009 NBA Draft Lottery awaits.

It’s a d*mn shame, too … considering what could have been heading into this season, i.e. Understanding Bryan Colangelo’s Method of Operation, re: Option 1 or Option 2.