Think back 14 years ago to the re-introduction of basketball in Canada. Despite its northern roots, most Canadians had only a rudimentary understanding of the game. Then along came Leo Rautins.
That’s how this article starts off. I remember watching Leo do his Basketball U segments where he “educated” us on things like traveling, double-dribbling and shot-clock violations and thought to myself, Does this guy think we’re idiots?
I had just moved to Canada from the states back then and wondered if Canadians really were that clueless about basketball. Everyone I talked to seemed to have a generally good understanding of the game, nothing great but certainly not at a level so low that they’d try to kick the ball. I figured people in the central provinces needed to be educated on these things and went along with the little segments and when somebody told me that The New VR reached about a dozen homes in southern Ontario, I concluded that Leo was overkill. Whether he helped the basketball newbies learn the sport or just simply insult our intelligence remains a mystery to this day.
So let’s get this straight. We need a SG. Ben Gordon’s a SG. Ben Gordon’s a free agent. Everybody laughed at him when he turned down the six-year, $59 million contract last summer and I maintain that it was still a bad decision on his part. Yes, he looked unstoppable at times late in the game against the Celtics but when it was all said and done he shot 39%, that’s 5% off his career average. He increased his scoring by 4 points to 24 in the series and made some simply ridiculous shots late in games. Does this mean he’s proven to a team that he deserves the Deng-money that he’s after? That’s $80 million over 6 years averaging out to $13.3M/yr. I don’t think so. With the economy what it is I don’t see a team giving him what he wants, but then again there’s always somebody who will extrapolate his success in 5 games to 82.
Before we sign-and-trade for him by giving up Chris Bosh, as this article suggests, we need to recalibrate our view of Gordon. Playing with a drive-obsessed Derrick Rose is a large part of what makes him effective and that’s a piece we don’t have in Toronto. I can see him pairing up with Calderon – and based on Jose’s play last year – giving us an undersized backcourt that plays strictly 18 feet out. We definitely saw some brilliance from Gordon but we also saw how he was constantly exploited by bigger guards, that too in clutch situations. Ideally, we need a SG who can defend his position to a stalemate and create shots for his teammates; for the price we’ll have to pay for Ben Gordon, the ROI isn’t going to be great. We’re better off exploring cheaper options than committing that kind of money over six years.
Tim Chisholm had pointed out how the Raptors could offer Marion a long-term deal (3-4 years) with the big money being paid out in the later years thus making him a good salary fit now and potentially attractive trade bait in his final year. This strategy worked for Jermaine O’Neal and Allen Iverson but it’s very hard to say what the economic climate will bring in three years time. With teams looking to cut costs and become financially responsible, there’s a good chance that there won’t be demand for a big expiring contract later on since many teams will already be where they want to be. Still, it’s an interesting card held by Colangelo who has already structured Chris Bosh and Jose Calderon’s contract that way.
I just hope Colangelo has one thing clear and present in his mind: There’s nothing wrong with sucking ass for two or three years as long as the ass-sucking is planned. If Marion, Bosh or anyone else for that matter are holding out for unreasonable contracts, don’t give in and use the opportunity to get fresh new talent that’ll be ready to produce in primetime two or three years from now, which is the time when Bargnani will be at the peak of his powers (assuming he’s turned the corner).
Juan Carlos Navarro was named Euro League MVP yesterday. Think he’s earned himself an NBA recall at high money? In other Euro news, Panathinaikos Athens beat CSKA Moscow to win their fifth championship. Pepole big-up Ettore Messina around here but what about Zeljko Obradovic who’s won a record seven titles, how about some love for him? I can already see him sitting next to Iavaroni on the bench.
NBA Playoffs
The Heat-Hawks series had to be the most boring 7-game series of all-time. No game was decided by less than 10 points and no game kept my interest for more than 10 minutes. The Nuggets beat the Mavs and looked impressive yet again, if they had only managed a split in their season series against the Lakers I would’ve put money on them for the Western Conference title. I’m really hoping the Mavericks progress here so that Cuban feels he’s one piece away from bringing a title with that piece being Chris Bosh. I got a feeling he’d overpay in bringing the home-town boy back home.
Tonight it’s the Magic at Celtics who are laying three and the Rockets in LA taking 8. After correctly picking the spread in the Hawks game, I’m going to take the Lakers at home. I’m staying away from the Celtics-Magic game, mainly because Ray Allen’s shooting touch is about as predictable as a woman during that time of the month.
Here’s a random NBA link: everything you wanted to know about NBA refereeing.
Here’s a picture of Chris Bosh with a pink donkey. Checking his recent tweets he’s doing some cooking, chillin’ in LA and working on his golf game.
More tomorrow.
53 Raps
That donkey is Colangelo.
GO Blue Jays
One thing that made me lose total respect for Rautins was how he terribly handled the recruitment and the Dalembert debacle (maybe Dalembert was a dick-hole that time to the team) in that hopeless World Championship in 2008. I bet Triano could of at least kept the team together, if not perfectly, and no one would of been kicked out of the team and made an assery in the headlines….
leo has more class in one of his dumps than dalembert has in his whole body.the team voted sam the “prima donna” off the team, not leo.get it right kids….leo bashing is done by morons.hes a canadian basketball icon and deserves some fucking respect….idiots.
yeah, but what’s with the gawd-awful job he does?
While it may be up for debate about his in-game commentary as a tv analyst, I completely agree about the whole Dalembert situation. I’m glad Leo had the balls to go through with the move – doesn’t matter if Team Canada sucked, Leo didn’t cozy up to Dalembert in fear of losing an NBAer on his team – especially one that thought he’s above the team and started acting like a prima donna.
Canadian icon??? Nash is an Icon… Rautins is a anoying broadcaster who had a cup of coffee in the NBA. Him being Canada’s National coach is a joke….If you can pick any coach in the country to coach your national team and you pick someone who has never coached a game in his life… I am sure Dalembert was a dick….But Leo coaching team Canada would be like letting Khandor be an NBA GM… Hump, Graham, and Moon starting…..
Icon? Icon? Icon?
I guess I am icon to beacuse I came 3476 in the 2006 World series of poker (main event)and represented Canada????
Fuck Leo….
Nash? What happened to (Sir)Bill Wellington, (my man) Jamaal Magloire and (my other man) Todd McCullough?
McCulloch is too busy tearing up the professional pinball playing circuit.
The Hawks should of ended that stupid series with Miami at 5 games, but they played real stupid and never took advantage of a Heat team that is broken.
did i hear the crew at halftime of the ATL/MIA game correctly when they said that there had been NO lead changes the entire series? how the fuck does that happen?
that series proved beyond a shadow of a doubt just how valuable moon is…once he went down, the heat were cooked. the raps should go after him, but they’ll have to offer HUGE $$$…i’m thinking a 6/$66M deal should be enough to lure him back.
I think it was that there was no lead changes after first quarters in any of the seven games. And in 7 games they still only had 15 leadchanges total in those first quarters.
No Gordon to Raptors, thank you.
I suppose that you are moon’s agent, right? right?
uh, nope…moon’s simply the best. he was just misused by the raps.
to bad moon couldn’t read or write and was as dumb as a stump.
I feel like I should have learned from Leo since I was about the right age for that and the New VR was basically right in my backyard… but honestly, I learned about a million times more from watching the NBA on NBC.
It could explain why I think Bill Walton is the greatest thing ever.
And why do people keep telling me Ben Gordon is a bad fit for the Raptors, anyway (not just you, I keep reading it in The Sun and The Star). Are we that desperate we’re going to attach ourselves to whomever the hot SG of the moment is?
he’s a bit of a chucker, is under-sized (though very strong) & is only an average defender. think high-volume shot attempts, which is kinda/sorta difficult to integrate into a PnR system that relies heavily on perimeter scoring from bigs (VL & bosh), and a non-drive-oriented PG. to keep him happy & productive, he needs to be the focal point when he’s on the floor.
now, if the raps had a more traditional big-man offense (i.e. post-oriented), and if jose’s inability to turn the corner was only due to injury, then it could work. two big ‘ifs.’
in the end, gordon merely represents the type of player the raps have sorely needed – a guy who can get his shot pretty much whenever he wants, even when he’s the focal point for defenses. given that the bulls really have no interior presence (offensively), the fact he was able to create for himself without the benefit of a dump-&-kick game (i.e. no bull requires a double in the post, so no defenders are leaving the perimeter to help down low, which means he has to work hard to get open) is pretty impressive. rose’s dribble penetration was a huge part of that for sure, but when the bulls NEED a score, they simply give him the ball on the perimeter & let him create.
with players on the floor who would actually command attention both in the paint & on the perimeter, i could see him getting open looks.
of course, that’s what krapono was supposed to benefit from as well….
bill walton is the biggest tool on the planet.this must be a joke…..and after watching ben chuck his way to a golf course,i’ll pass.
When you think about money and years Von Wafer > Ben Gordon. The guy is bigger, can shoot and drive a bit and has played defence (albeit for half a season with Houston). Would he even eat up half the MLE?
wafer will get some serious interest in the summer. i had a few 3-team deals involving the raps/blazers/rockets earlier in the year that saw wafer end up in TO. doesn’t look like that’ll happen now…
higher than the MLE interest? What kind of deal do you think he gets offered? I know to beware of the contract year player but from what I’ve seen Wafer seems worth a certain amount of risk.
von wafer ftw.
I’d rather avoid the crop of undersized SG’s alltogether and go with a combo of 2 decent ball handling guards like Delfino and one of Marquis Daniels or Von Wafer (both with possible attitude concerns). Bring Parker back to the bench if he bites on a low-ball and draft a SG that fits the potential future all-star label. And if any of these dont work out pull a “Fred Jones” on them by trade deadline for a shorter contract. Speaking of Fred Jones – he’s available!
As a Bulls fan, I would say “Thank you so much” if your team could sign Ben Gordon away from the Bulls. Here is BG’s FG% in his “great” playoff performance: 35%, 58%, 38%, 45%, 28.5%, 28.5%, 30%; that’s 5 games below 40% and is the worst among all SGs (who played major min in the playoff) in terms of consistency and FG%. Remember the Bulls coach had run most offense sets for him, his teammates had set tons of screens for him, he hurt the team on defense a lot and put all his effort/focus on shooting the ball (which disrupted the team offense along the way). Bosh complained M James for hogging the ball; just wait when BG being on your team (he is 10X worse than M James). It’s nice you could upgrade your SG position. But A Parker makes more impacts than BG for team winning and is more valuable as a team player.
Wow…didn’t expect to hear that from a Bulls fan.
He does have some Mikes James in him and I think teams will reflect that in the contract offers he receives. The Bulls right now have two starting SFs with Salmons and Deng, I don’t see Deng coming off the bench which means Salmons will probably have to. I don’t know if the Bulls see that as depth at SF or possible trade bait in filling out their SG need. I’m sure they’ll approach Colangelo with a package for Bosh involving something like Salmons and S&T Gordon. Personally, if Bosh has to be moved, he needs to go out West. Last thing we want is another VC situation (aka burning us 3-4 times a year).
“ater” isn’t a real Bulls fan. He’s a poser. If he was a Bulls fan he would mention that Gordon played most of the series on a really bum leg. So much so that he required shots before and during games to ease the pain. Most real Bulls fans want to see him re-signed for a nice chunk of change- not crazy $, but not low-ball either. And if “ater” was one of those Bulls fans that want to see Gordon go, why would he come on your website and tell you Gordon’s bad, don’t touch him? Doesn’t make sense either way you slice it.
By the way, Bosh is NOT going to re-sign with Toronto (I’m stating the obvious here), so would you rather have a package of: 1) Tyrus Thomas 2) 2 first round draft picks (2009) 3) Hinrich or Salmons for him now, OR do you want us to first trade for Stoudemire this summer, then trade Stoudemire + extras for Bosh at next year’s trade deadline?
i wish you were realbullsgm.
The raptors will not trade bosh east they will ship out west (maybe G state).
Ben Gordon is no Mike James, c’mon now. I agree, he’s streaky while collectively sub-par stat wise, but some of those games from this series don’t happen without his IT factor. AP does not do that for you nor does Mike James.
Also, sharing the ball with Thomas or Noah is not the same as sharing it with Bosh, while that PiP are telling of something, no?
I’d like to see Gordon here.
I don’t want to give him 13.3m a year though (obviously); that would be a bad idea.
But I think he’d be a good fit for Toronto.
He is confident and tough (from what I’ve seen) and we need that.
It might be a bit simplistic, and you raise a good point about his ability to shoot based on rose’s ability to drive.
ultimately, it depends on the draft and whether we need a two or a three.
i think we should be very happy if we end up with calderon, gordon, [sf ie. earl clark, maybe there are better options], bosh, and bargnani.
if we could sign him and keep the bench people we want ie. delfino, parker, pops (?), etc. it might make sense.
so many people look at just scoring and think… hey he would be a great asset. Simple fact is, with Ben Gordon being shot happy, inconsistent and undersized he will not be more than a team killer. Those 3 things are the first items that come to mind in a sg I would NOT want. Yes he can be pretty clutch and he can score in ridiculous amounts at times but he can also completely kill a team (33 pts in game 7 and yet 2 horrible shots… both with plenty of time on the clock…in the last minute of the game that eliminated the Bulls) He has some great attributes but his desire to constinetly shoot will always end up hurting his team.
Please no Ben Gordons or Allen Iversons. What have undersized shot happy 2 guards EVER accomlished in this league outside of their own stats?
Last time I checked PRIOR to last season Allen Iverson took a bunch of Eric Snows to an NBA final and is a sure fire Hall of famer who has some me issues BUT would make us legit if we had a defencive PG it would be a no brainer.
However if we had a player like Hinrich at the PG (Bulls would part with him as he makes 9 millionish and they have Rose.
For example Trade Bosh/Kapono for Deng/Hinrich/Noah or T Thomas.
Trade Jose for Kaman.
Draft best available…Sign Iverson.
Hinich/Stephen Curry
Iverson/Delfino or Parker
Deng/kapono
Andrea/Hump
Kaman/Noah or T Thomas
Never happen but my point is Iverson here would NOT be a bad idea IF Jose was traded.
OR
We trade Jose/Kapono to Detriot for Iverson in a sign and trade????
Draft a PG…
Lawson/Flynn/Curry/Jennings/Rubio (if we move up)
Ty Lawson
Iverson
Marion
Bosh
Ab7
would be fun to watch…
Allen Iverson is not a sure fire hall of famer yet. Especially after this mess of a season he’s got some work to do.
Ben Gordon is worth 6-7M per year, to be a BENCH scorer. His defensive and rebounding deficiencies, mostly due to his small size and questionable focus when the ball is not in his hands, are far too great for him to be an effective starting 2. Anyone wondering why Ray Allen is suddenly looking 5 years younger? Guess who was “guarding” him…
A GB4 for BG sign and trade absolutely cannot happen.
I think Wafer fits into a similar mold; he’s best in the role the rockets are using him now – he comes in for 15-22 mins a night and has free rein to fire away. Any more PT than that and he starts killing the team.
As for Parker, I really hope we resign him and relegate him to a full time backup. He’s tough, can shoot, can defend, and can handle the ball, but he’s just not talented enough to be an elite 2. Off then bench, he’s very solid.
We need a big, athletic 2. Given the assets that we currently have, there’s no way we can get this sort of player in any way OTHER than through the draft. First choice is Harden, but more realistically, I say we take Tyreke Evans or DeRozan, in that order.
Btw, when are we going to see a full-blown draft preview here? Or are we waiting for workouts to get underway? It’s really so hard to tell until you put these guys on the same floor…
what is jason terrys contract like??? or manus?? those are great players that come off the bench probably for big money. if those contracts are comparable to ben gordans than why cant we set something like that set up for the raps?? and have a solid 2 like delfino start and use parker as a backup point.
do those teams just spend more than we do??
dont know the facts just asking..
I would drool if Manu ever even considered coming to Toronto (even with his injury) as he’s one of my fav.players in the league and is just amazing, but I don’t see him leaving the Spurs.
JT made 9M this year, incrementally moving up to a max of 11.5M per over the next 3. Manu made 10M this year, a little more next year.
BG is certainly not in Manu’s class. He’s not as good as JT either, since JT can play PG as well and is not the same defensive liability. Hence my estimate… which is probably a little on the low end, but my point is that I’d be happy if the raps got him at that price.
As for later picks, does anyone have any opinion on Terrance Williams? I love his all-around game and think he could ultimately be a better pro than any of the guys I named on my earlier list. Clearly, he’s a bit more of a risk/reward proposition, and likely could be had with a lower pick. Anyone have any thoughts?
Wow. Thought I would see more Leo hate here.
A few things I dislike about Leo. He’s a condescending a-hole. Extremely exaggerates his professional career to have you believe he was a star NBAer who played with Dr.J and others. Disrespected Chuck almost every broadcast. Has been on repeat for the last 3 years. Is boring. Is bias. Not very informative. Only explains easy public school drills. Can not explain the triangle offense. Has a fake tan and annoys me.
I think there are still alot of Leo haters….. I for one just don’t pay attention to him anymore.
Anyone else having trouble working the “new” ESPN trade machine? I can’t get it to select any players. Is this a Mac VS PC thing? ’cause I’m a Mac guy living in a PC world.
Also, I vote NO to BG in a raps uni.
I hate Leo. He is an arrogant son of a bitch. He talks down to the fans. He regularly insulted Chuck Swirsky when he was here. I truly think he was a main reason why Chuck left. Now that we got the “Snoredevil” Devlin to sit next next to him I watch the games with the sound on mute and just put on a good album. Ever watch that old cartoon Devlin. It’s more exciting than listening to Matt Devlin and they just recycle the old Speed Buggy/Scooby Doo plot every week. Leo please just go be a bad coach somewhere full time and let’s trade Matt Devlin back to Charlotte for who ever they got now to replace him. Maybe his butt Buddy JK can be part of the package, overpriced 3 point champ son or a bitch!
I hope Colangelo is watching tonight’s games. The guy really has no clue on how to assemble a team, a team that can win.
Fucking Houston is terrific to watch. They all play defense, they can shoot, they can hang with the best of them. Denver and Orlando the same thing. These teams genuinely like eachother it seems and have great chemistry.
Then you take a look at Calderon and Anthony Parker, Kapono that is the Toronto Raptors LOL.
I just cannot watch the team again next season after seeing teams like Denver, Houston, Chicago fight for their lives.
By the way I said it months ago the Lakers have no killer instinct and the chemistry/friendship seems manufactured a bit.
Lebron Will not loose in his homecourt and let his family/friends down.
He is not a choker and he just won the MVP and will not settle for anything other then the LOB trophy.
Lakers have too much talent for the Cavs…
I love LBJ and the team has better chemistry but Kobe, Odom, Gason and Bynum is just too much taklent for the Cavs to overcome… Will be a short finals due to the 2-3-2 format and Lakers having the 3 in the middle they win Game 1,3,4,5 good close games but not the 7 game classic some people think.
Lakers will crush….
Call your local bookie and or online account.
man you said all this even after they dropped the first game to houston at home.
take off your purple and gold tinted glasses man.
Saying T
*Saying the Lakers have no killer instint is by far the most stupidest thing typed on this blog. Kobe is easily the most clutch player in the NBA.
The lakers are match-up nightmare for the Cavs. Lamar Odom off the bench for lakers cannot be stopped by any body off the Cavs bench. IMO the Lakers would win in 6 games (maybe 7 because of homecourt advantage).
GORDON = TJ FORD with more talent, marginally better shot selection, slightly better shooting percentage but minus the attitude and minus a bit of ball handling skills.
i tink “the most stupidest” is the stupidest thing ever typed on this blog
BG is almost totally but not completely unlike TJ – is this what you ment to say?
I might rather have Hinrich, two years left for 16 million. He can play either guard, he’s a good defender, and he isn’t as much as a windmill as Gordon.
He took some awful shots and made some awful decisions in the playoffs, despite his high scoring. Some of those shots were just prayers that went in. He’s good, but I don’t trust him to be the scoring leader of a team. He doesn’t play smart a lot of the time.
I just watched a video of JO getting ready for this season. Listening to what he says and the fact that right now, there are 10 guys from heat team who are working out together and are in gym, made me think about Banks, POB, and Roko.
1) Does anyone know where Banks is and what he is up to? Are our coaching staff talking to him to see what his mind set is and … We are paying this guy 5 mill a year so I think we should try to excite him about the season or ….
Can anyone from here, Do an interview with him and ask him about the upcoming season and his goals and…
2) POB!!! Same questions about coaching staff!!! Is anyone working out with this kid? Do we have any trainers from Raptor organizations who are working on building this guy’s body up and …
I don’t know, to me, it seems like we are quite weak on developing our talents in the off season