The “return of the mack” edition.
Banks – pretty hard to get on the floor with the way Jarrett and Jose were playing tonight. Back to the cups of Gatorade and making googly-eyes at the Florida ladies, homeslice.
Bargnani – fouled out but won this game for the Raps on the way to it. His defensive effort was outstanding, his shooting was clutch and he further cemented the fact that we may have a bargain on our hands in 2-3 years. His handling of Dwight Howard one-on-one was nothing short of phenomenal.
Belinelli – rediscovered his touch from the field and continued his march to the free throw line. He even looked to pass the ball here and there. Imagine! That play at the end of the fourth was scary…he could have stepped out of bounds or, worse, had the ref not blown the whistle, that would have been a horrible heave of the ball back into the middle of the court.
Bosh – it’s obvious teams are playing him physical and making him hurt with every shot he takes. He had his clock rung by Barnes, forcing him out of the game early. Came back in to post a double-double and was a factor in getting Howard out of the game, but he played the role of second banana tonight. Again.
Calderon – back to active duty and back to leading the team in assists. Good to see the time off didn’t take away from his cocky attitude and his ability to spout off to the refs, both good things. He probably benefitted the most with Bosh going down early since it meant he had a familiar target to get the ball to right off the bat.
DeRozan – he was hitting his jumpers like Rapsfan hits YouTube looking for booty-shaking females. After being assaulted by Vince Carter in earlier meetings, he made Carter pay tonight by air assault. Good game by the rook using all of his 19minutes to the best of his ability.
Evans – last seen demanding Rasho to give up his man card.
Jack – worked well with Jose on the floor and battled hard to keep up with Jameer Nelson. You never like it when your starting PG amasses 4 turnovers against a team like the Magic, but he never seemed to check out of the game as he is wont to do.
Johnson – called into early duty when Bosh went out. Pretty inactive 10min of burn. He had as much impact in this game as Belinelli has in ordering at the bar in a reggae club in Jamaica.
Nesterovic – last name Up, first name Washed.
O’Bryant – so used to riding the pine that when the team hit the beach, he went to the far end, sat in a folding chair, and started folding towels.
Turkoglu- bit more successful this time in his return to Orlando. Couple of big 3s, could take a step back from being a primary distributor with Jose back, did a good job of running the floor without the ball, and looked like he had a permagrin on the whole time. Oh, and that Pizza Pizza commercial is an instant classic.
Weems – nobody likes Jay’s hyper rotation more than Sonny. Saw the floor for a small stretch, but left his mark by skying for a rebound and hitting both his shots.
Wright – I was impressed with him tonight. Whenever we get good minutes from him and DeRozan, we fare well. Hit a couple nice shots early, he stuck to his man most of the night and he didn’t look like a blind man at a strip club trying to find his way to the VIP. Nice effort.
Driving The Bus: Andrea Bargnani
Under The Bus: Amir Johnson
Game Theme:
153 Raps
Poor Bosh… the second he touched the ball their were, at minimum, three Orlando players converging… and like you said, they really didn’t worry about the contact.
I think he did a good job of keep all three of his defenders honest tonight. And that is worth something. While I agree, Bargs was the big man, he had a LOT of open shots because of Bosh’s constant triple team.
I guess Van Gundy doesn’t like Bosh as much as Popo does…
I still want Demar to get more than 19 mins a game. If hes playing well, Triano should reward him some minutes in the fourth. Probably coulda helped given he attacks and how the magic were forcing us to MISS jumpers.
And yet, wasn’t DeRozan only shooting jumpers the whole game? Not that he did a bad job, but just seems like he would have went back to the jumper rather than driving the ball.
Wow, you and I must have been watching a different game: Jack “worked well with Jose on the floor.”
I thought that our two pg lineup is part of what killed us. Calderon played well alone, and Jack played well on his own. When they were together, I thought we were getting scorched.
Agreed. That fourth quarter was just nasty… I thought Jack and Belli would have made a great backcourt to start the 4th… Oh well…
Screw Jack, I don’t know what people are raving over his defense. He had a couple bad turnovers and missed some key shots. Calderon played way better than he did tonight.
Jack better defender.
Jose better shooter, and passer, and takes care of the ball.
Jack did a good job containing Jameer, and Jose did a good job containing Williams. Jameer is by far the tougher cover, and I am unsure Jose would have fared well against him.
I feel like the minutes provided by Jose coming off the bench were efficient, and got the players into a groove. If he had to guard Jameer all night though, he may have given up everything he gave us. Jose, in 25 mins had 8 assists. I think he had all of those before he was put in with Jack in the fourth (I might be wrong).
Jack’s poor play came in the 4th when asked to guard Reddick/Nelson. Calderon and he kept getting confused, and weren’t running out. They were discombobulated on offense, when on the floor individually, both were doing a very good job.
The ONLY reason Triano could POSSIBLY have for putting Calderon and Jack together is to manage egos. Make sure both are in during crunch time, make sure both know they will get extended minutes. Well, guess what, it almost cost us this game.
No, you’re right. Calderon’s 8 assists came before the 4th quarter.
“No, you’re right. Calderon’s 8 assists came before the 4th quarter.”
WRONG! Calderon had at three assists in the fourth quarter. The nice pass to Bosh for the dunk and the two where he drove the ball and threw it out to Bargnani who hit the two big threes that gave the Raptors a bit of a cushion when Orlando was storming back. Calderon, by the way, was the only Raptors actually driving the ball in the fourth quarter.
I thought you might like to know the, you know, truth. Or are you the type of person who doesn’t let the facts get in the way of a good argument.
I will take better defender on a team that is ranked the worst defensive team of all time.
Worst defensive team of all time? Our Points Allowed are decreasing every night, and Golden State is ahead of us. Stop over exaggerating.
I just went and checked and we are 5th from the bottom in points allowed.
5. Toronto
PPG 102.97
OPPG 105.11
Go check if you want.
you got way tooo much time on your hands. lol
Nice comeback. Not. Gotta love people who have the time to make statements without backing them up, then when they find themselves exposed, they go to the classic “you have no life”-type argument.
You probably won’t see this since I’m posting late, but your stats don’t mean anything. Points per game don’t mean a thing because it doesn’t consider pacing of the game.
The Raptors are the worst defensive team this year based on points allowed per 100 possessions. We’re allowing 113.2 points per 100 possessions.
I agree with you Verbatim.
Enough with Jose and Jarrett together.
WhyTF is Triano STILL putting this non-working combo on the floor together?
This is what makes one nervous about Triano.
The guard comb. doesn’t work most of the time.
The few times it’s successful seems to fuel Triano.
Yet games like this where it didn’t work he seems
to ignore.
its like going to the casino, you can always remember when you won big or came back with only a 25 dollar chip to win back the 500 u put out.
Everyone sees that Triano isn’t the perfect coach with good rotations, but I think a lot of us is forgetting that the coaching staff came up with the strategy to beat the Magic and the Spurs. I think its a double edged sword with Triano, he has great bball IQ for pregame strategy, but fails at motivating players and making in-game decisions.
Thing is: We increased our lead in the 2nd quarter with Jose and Jack on the floor. They blew in the 4th though.
Had alot to do with Bargs being in foul trouble…he was our interior presence yesterday on both sides of the floor and we missed him in the 4th…gasp!
Your roll call for got to mention the refs. I demand extreme criticism for the injustice they paid Bargs in the fourth. HELL MUST BE RAISED!
Didn’t watch the game but from what smith and jones were saying I completely agree. Ten fouls before the raptors had one called? That’s just stupid
Jack was talking about this during the tv broadcast, too. However, he did point out that the Raps weren’t really doing anything to earn foul calls in the 4th Q. What I saw was a Raps team that spent much of the 4th Q taking contested 3s & other jumpers.
While it’s true that there were some sketchy calls made against T.O., it really wasn’t like the refs were swallowing their whistles when the Raps had the ball.
Smart players and teams seem to know when the refs are ready to give out ‘make up’ calls. This franchise never seems to take advantage of that. Triano is bitching at the refs, Calderon is, etc, and no one is willing to just pull an AI/D-Wade and just drive to get the whistle. Same old, same old, really.
I was positive Tim Donahy was out there. I am 99% sure by watching that game that something was going on. That was not fair and impartial at all. Ghost fouls called on Bargs, and absolutely no fouls on Orlando? Come one! I’ve never seen a more obvious display of point shaving in my life (including viewing the movie Blue Chips). Anyone who thinks Donahy was THE ONLY bad apple in unrealistic. He just got caught. He even tells about the jokes and games that he played with some of the current referees that are still in the league. That 4th quarter has to be the most blatant existance of referees trying to influence a game I have seen since following the NBA as a child. Do something Stern!
Do something Stern? He did! He introduced this style of refs to the league :)
The Refs may have well as just told the timekeeper to put up 10 more points for the Magic.
That was a blatant fouling out of the Raps best player to help the Magic get back in the game!
The stretch where Orlando made their comeback in the fourth, there must have been 3 or 4 straight terrible sequences in a row from Jack which got the bad guys mojo going. Plus his missed free throw at the end of the game gave the Magic a chance to get back into it. Not saying he had a bad game, but his sloppy fourth quarter could have made this one a heartbreaker.
Jose played a solid game and I hope people can see how much better the Raptors are with him than we would be with Banks playing major PG minutes.
I still hate the JJ and JC backcourt combo as well.
I don’t understand why some people are suggesting that we get rid of Jose. Isn’t it great to have 2 good play makers on the team? Their play tonight was exceptional.
In case Jose gets traded, and Jack is out injured – do you really think that Marcus can be our main guy and run the floor?
Let’s just put this PG issue to rest and enjoy the ride.
Its mostly a money issue – not a player issue. Keeping both PG is great for the team but Raps now have 2 starting PG and no starting SG (until DD grows up)
Then let’s wait until he grows up. If we trade for a 2, how in the hell is DD going to develop?
Except the trade constantly bandied about (Calderon for Farmar and an expiring) doesn’t help us at the 2, nor does the expiring bring us below the salary cap so we’d still only have the MLE to use in the off-season (if Bosh resigns with us).
The Calderon for Martin suggestions is pretty awful as well, since Martin is so one-dimensional, and his contract pretty much means no play time for DeRozan for the next 3.5 years. If we have Martin and his $12 mil salary come off the bench, it’s pretty much back to square one at the cost of our PG depth.
This isn’t a championship team — we can afford being patient with DeRozan.
You act as if Derozan is going to be the saviour of the Raptors. When he does develop into a good not great player in 3.5 years as you put it, the Raptors could be a completely different team and if Bosh leaves…they could be much worse than they are now. I also don’t understand why everybody thinks Derozan can’t play behind Martin or another top SG. Isn’t that what all rookies do went entering the league and yet they still manage to reach their potential. Having a pure scorer at SG or any postion is something the Raptors haven’t had since VC and could be what takes them to the next level.
Good win tonight against quality opponent. Orlando has been struggling lately but they kept fighting back until the last minute. You’ve got to give them credit for that. Good to be back at .500 again. We should not take Philly lightly on Friday. Very important to keep momentum going and catch up with Miami.
Jose & Jarrett don’t play together all game then at the end they were together & getting scorched. Jose played great Andrea was the difference & Jack is great and becoming a leader but their was a stretch in the 4 where Jack had 4 straigt negative plays that led to the magic making it a close game. overall great game & most importantly a good effort by all.Trianos rotations are indeed messed thou by the way
The refs tried hard to give it back to Orlando as they did to San Antonio which just gives the Raptors even more credit for holding on in both games. No question the refs fouling Bargs out of this game helped Orlando big time as Bargs defense was outstanding, and his offense was once again clutch. I hate to be negative after a win and Jack played hard, but he did almost cost us the game at the end with dumb ass passes that led to turnovers and poor decisions. They have to stop trying to force balls to Bosh when he’s well covered because they’re not only bad passes but Bosh doesn’t have great hands either.
All in all though every Raptor that played tonight played hard and pretty good.
agreed
Ya I immediately thought about a story Doug Smith told about him talking to Ray Allen during the COnference finals while he was still with Milwaukee playing against Iverson and Philidelphia. Allen commented that the NBA didn’t want small market teams to go to the Finals, and that the league would try hard to make sure Philly won. There must be some substance to this since the league obviously makes more sales and cash through its big market teams. That would be a really sad state to think the NBA tilts toward helping certain teams. Hopefully its just a conspiracy theory.
Ask Dallas if there is a conspiracy!
NBA decides who they want as stars and makes it happen (if they can).
Consider:
Kobe, Shaq years = LA vs Portland; LA vs Sacramento
MJ in Chicago years = vs everyone else
How many fouls get called against and for LeBronk
That closing lineup nearly cost us the game.
Throw Triano under the bus! Somebody let him know tha the combination of Calderon, Jack and Turkoglu does not work. I think at one point during the 4th quarter collapse all 3 were on with Antoine Wright? WTF Jay?
That and the timeout with 8 seconds left. Bosh was about to be fouled! Why risk turnover on in-bound play.
Tha being said, that two straight victories against teams in the upper tier. We went 2 and 1 in a tough 3 game stretch. We are at 500 ball. Schedule eases(a bit). Jose will be worked in, Reggie is looming. Am starting to feel good about this team.
Nothing that a loss to the Sixers won’t fix.
I agree. That timeout at the end was ridiculous.
I completely agree. Its obviously clear that DeMar won’t be logging crunch time minutes all year. Unless Belinelli can break out and be consistent, I don’t know who else you can have out there at the two. I would love to see Belli turn into that guy that can close out the game with Caldy. His shot makes the D respect him, and he can take to the hoop to dish or finish. Just needs consistency and I think our best closing lineup is caldy, belli, turk, bosh, and bargs (potentially subbing belli for antoine or sonny to play defense).
please someone make a tape with all the bad calls against bargnani
Hell must be raised
It’s time Colangelo sends a note into the league office. It’s brutal.
Those calls against Bargnani almost cost us the game. I agree, Colangelo needs to address the officiating with the NBA league office.
You should start including Triano in the rollcall. I would have thrown him under the bus for his stupid lineup decisions alone.
I agree with you, he cost them the game!
He cost them an easy game. That’s not what coaches are supposed to do.
Are you guys idiots…How could triano cost them the game when they won the game?
Can you not distinguish between coasting to a 15 point victory and grinding out FTs in the last few seconds? There was a definite opportunity to do that, but Triano couldn’t coach his way out of a wet paper bag. I didn’t literally say they LOST the game. Jesus.
“He cost them an easy game.”
Darien…I think you need to look in the dictionary under the word “literally.”
And like a typical, whiny Raptor fan, you can’t just appreciate a win…always have to find something to complain about…how sad your life must be.
Yeah, you probably check the word out first. I’m guessing you won’t though because you seem to have an astronomically high opinion of yourself. I’ll help you out though. Literally means “actually” as in a real sense, truly, something that is, reality. Did I say they LOST the game? No, I said he cost them an easy game. This means the game was not easy because of him. Perhaps you didn’t catch that? Anyway, I’m done with you, super fly super spy.
I was being sarcastic by the way. I should put that in brackets…
And obviously, Orlando is an easy game.
Honestly, it can’t go both ways. Either the coach gets credit for the good and the bad, or the coach has no impact at all.
Orlando should’ve been easy last night. Triano made it a LOT harder than it needed to be with his lineups and time out calls. When Dwight has 5 fouls in the 3rd and Vince is bricking everything, how do you not take advantage and let them back in the game.
I still do not understand where you’re coming from with this “should have been easy” bit. Just because they had a decent lead? If this was New Jersey, I’d understand, but this only the fifth best team in the league we were playing.
Sorry, but manhandling a team for the majority of the game doesn’t mean anything? Are you telling me that somehow Orlando magically (no pun intended) played way better in the 4th? Orlando’s record says they are the 5th best team in the league, but coming off a back to back, and dropping games to teams like Indiana and Chicago? This was our game to lose, and we almost did.
Raptor fans just need something to complain about. Blaming it on Triano and the Jack/Calderon pairing is always easy even though Jack missed two wide open 3’s, the Magic had 3 offensive rebounds off misses and some suspect fouls called.
@Darien: Good teams (the magic) play better in the fourth. It is won of the things that make them one of the better teams in the league. So yes, they did and often do turn it up in the fourth. Triano may have made a couple bad calls in this game, but we did win and the fans sitting at home saying that they would have used their brilliant strategies to win by more is just stupid. when he get blown out, then criticize Triano. When we win (particularly against a team that usually destroys us) using his game plan praise him for his great B-Ball iq.
Darien – if Triano can get blame for making decisions to allow Orlando to make a last-ditch 4th quarter comeback that nearly erased a big lead, then you must also give Triano credit or making the decisions which allowed the Raptors to build that 18 point lead on the road against one of the best teams in the NBA. The Raps won the game which means, at the end of the day, that Triano deserves the credit for the win… per your logic.
Your argument is just like the one in baseball where the starting pitcher gets blamed for a loss, yet rarely gets credit for the win.
Triano coachd the team to victory last night. End of story. Great game, on to the next one.
Ok, I’ll bite. What WERE his great coaching decisions which led the raptors to victory? Letting Bargs stay in the starting lineup?
Darien,
I’m sorry, you want a list of coaching moves that we, for some reason, wrote down at the time that helped the Raptors win the game? You’ve got to be kidding.
Why do the refs hate Bargnani? Jay needs to learn how to ride the ref’s. Breaking a few more clipboards would be a good start …
would’ve loved to have seen derozen in that 4th quarter. i’m still not quite sure why jay is oh so reluctant to play him late in games. dude looked great tonight
that’s because jay is an ass
Stubborn and unwilling to change what does not work and go to what has been working! Sign of a very bad manager! (coach in this case)
Because they need defense not offense from DD. Especially in the 4th quarter. Weems, for the moment, is a better man defender (even though he blew that backcut to the basket.)
if you’re referring to wince’s late basket (that made it a 2-pt game), wright was the guilty party. he got caught ‘looking into the backfield’ (to borrow a football term), and let carter slip behind him.
I think Rasho needs to be cut some slack. When he HAS played, he has done everything asked of him. He keeps himself between the basket and his man. He boxes out. He even runs the pick and roll. He spaces the floor reasonably well, and shows great IQ. Even on the bench I feel better having him on the team. He is far and away the most intelligent big man we possess. If only for practices, I like him on this team.
I think that he deserved some burn tonight when Bargs fouled out, but maybe they didn’t want to put him in in the 4th without having played all game.
For sure. He’s awesome for chemistry and veteran presence. Apparently he’s one if not the funniest guy on the team.He’s a consumate professional who always gives you a consistant effort. He’s a great guy to fill his role of 4th or 5th big.
You took the words right out of my mouth. I was going to say this exact thing. Bargnani over the last yr & a half has been developing into the defender that Rasho already is.
I admire what Rasho brings to the team, he’s always ready and will always clean up the boards and clear the paint.
It’s something this team needs on the beench at any given moment.
Refs hate the raps period!!! ALWAYS get such unfair calls. That 4th was ridiculous!! Refs weren’t calling S***!! Not sure if Triano tried or didn’t realize it but you’d think that after Magic’s star player had 5 fouls early, you’d try to foul him out ASAP! Guess they let it just be or just didn’t care. Didn’t matter…GREAT GAME..one of the best this season!!…wish Pops was around to celebrate the win…all the best to SNAP CRACKLE POPS!!
The don’t hate the Raps. The Raps just don’t have Kobe, Dwayne, or LeB1tc4, + we don’t play in a “big” market US team.
We have Bosh though, and Bosh gets the benefit of a LOT of calls by the refs when he is charging to the basket. Tonight he didn’t do that – he had a poor game overall, although his boarding was necessary, and he did a good job of getting boards while Bargnani boxed out.
The issue were the calls we were getting called against us – on offence, outside of maybe one or two plays, we didn’t do anything to deserve drawing a foul.
This is by far my favorite Roll Call. Though I have a permagrin in like Hedo from beating Vince and the Magic (and a little BC bud). Was on the ground laughing at the thaught of Marco trying to order a drink at a Jamaican bar. Roared at the comparison of Antoine’s previous play to that of a blind man wandering around looking for VIP at the strip club. ANd that pizza commercial is awesome, I bet its not far from Turk’s regular nite off HAHA.
On a serious note…We are back at .500 with a gaming coming up against a very beatable 76ers team. I really think Jose’s play showed we need him around and he compliments Jack well. I really think the initial start of the game the defense gets established better with Jack starting. AND I think a fresh Jose is best to finish the game against the other team’s tired starting PG.
Havent seen Jose with so much pep in his step when he first came on. His defense was really improved. And Jay was up and striding the sideline all game…havent noticed too much of that before.
The whole team seemed to exude a different vibe…like they expected to win…evryone seemed engaged. Go Raps.
These role calls are getting stale, Banks had no shot at seeing the floor and neither did O’bryant or Evans and Rasho. Find something constructive to say in a good team effort leading to a nice win!
We’d all probably get stunned in the morning if that ever happened :)
I actually enjoy the attempt @ humor, and would probably be shocked if all I read was positives.
Crazy. I thought that POB comment was hilarious.
It was a great win. I do think there was an opportunity to get Banks in – with 8 seconds left in the first half and bargnani at the line I thought Banks should have been brought in to defend the last play – of course Nelson beat Jose coast-to-coast and laid it in at the buzzer.
One huge play in the 4Q was when Johnson came in after Bargnani’s 5th foul – the Raps were up 13, Howard missed the second free throw however Johnson didn’t secure the rebound it went to an open Lewis who hit a three to make it a 10 point game. If that sequence hadn’t happened the game might not have ended up being so close.
If The Raps keep playing with the intensity they have shown the last 2 games this season will be a great success in my opinion.
A very poor fourth quarter all around.Is it me or are our inbound plays terrible? Other than the obvious, this is why calling a timeout with 8 seconds left and the ball in CB4’s hands was just plain whack.
I’ve noticed him calling a lot of weird timeouts toward the end of games that appear to be going against a potential opporunity (ie.setting up a tough inbounds when you already had the ball in your superstars hands). I think it’s his edfense mechanism when he nervous and is flustered towards the end of games. Head coaching in the NBA has to blow his past duties out of the water. Sometimes I have to be reminded its his first experience closing out winning games too. Let’s hope he’s a quick learner.
Maybe Triano is trying to save the rookie from hitting the rookie wall. Some/most rooks play so much it wears on them, and they run out of steam halfway through the year. Maybe he is saving him for playoffs?
Either way, I think I would rather have DeRozan (or even Wright, or Weems, or Belinelli) than Jack at that 2-spot along with Calderon. I hope time proves me wrong about the two pgs because Triano will continue to go to them it seems (see above for explanation why, re: ego management).
There’s no way I would rather have DeRozan than Jack at that 2-spot along with Calderon. Though it isn’t ideal w both PGs on the court at the same time, using Beli or Wright or Weems or DD just seems like recipe for disaster. I’d much rather have one of the two PGs taking a shot at crunch time.
And they will only get better with more time playing together.
Can we agree that Belli would be the ideal choice for 4th quarter SG (w/ Jack at PG) if his shot were more reliable?
I don’t know if it’s the fact that the Raps are perceived as a weak team, or because Triano is an inexperienced NBA coach, or we’re a small market team, but we have always gotten the short end of the stick from the refs, but the 4th Q of that game solidified in my mind that 1. the officials have been instructed to influence the game vs the Raps, or 2. they simply decide to do it for their own reasons (bets, jokes, entertainment, etc). If major workd leaders can secretly attend Bilderberg meetings to discuss global agenda, than I’m pretty sure the NBA can manipulate things. Pretty interesting to see the Raptors schedule was so difficult to start the year since many said the play of the Raps up to the trade deadline would be the deciding factor is Bosh staying or going.
Quick question: How many Bosh Jerseys would sell next year if he stayed in Toronto? HOw many bosh knicks jerseys would sell if he signed in NY? Exactly. Up yours Stern, we’re at .500 and moving up!
Toronto isn’t a small market team it is the 5th or 4th largest in the NBA.
FYI, population (which is where you get your 4th/5th figure) doesn’t determine the team’s market size, unless every city follows basketball at the same rate. It should be obvious that in Toronto, hockey is still the #1 sport.
There are two better indicators of the team’s “market size”. The first is attendance, and in that regard we’ve been anywhere between 8th (our good seasons) and 17th (our bad seasons) in the last 8 seasons, which means we’re probably somewhere in the low teens. The second (useful to determine how much we should be spending) is owner net worth, and in that regard, we’re in the bottom half of the league.
Just a quick point…. Pheonix is a smaller market and yesterday they drew only 15,500 fans for a good game vs. Houston…. And if you look at their jersey sales for a Canadian (Nash), they are very good. So the question is why and the answer is simple? They are an exciting, winning team.
When the Raptors win, they will be the exact same, an attractive team, with fans following them.
Look at Houston and their following in China and the fact McGrady is still near the top of the All-Star voting.
Why not check the interest in Toronto in Europe.
“Why not check the interest in Toronto in Europe.” — anyone have numbers for Euro jersey sales for Bargs, Belli, Turk, JC, err, Rasho? It would be interesting to see.
The Toronto Raptors are one of the most appealing NBA teams outside US. Which gives access to a huge market. We tend to be too US-centric in our perception. Anyway, here’s the top 15 selling NBA jerseys in EU in 2009:
1. Kobe Bryant, Los Angeles Lakers; 2. Kevin Garnett, Boston Celtics; 3. Pau Gasol, Los Angeles Lakers; 4. LeBron James, Cleveland Cavaliers; 5. Dwyane Wade, Miami Heat; 6. Tony Parker, San Antonio Spurs; 7. Dwight Howard, Orlando Magic; 8. Andrea Bargnani, Toronto Raptors; 9. Jose Calderon, Toronto Raptors; 10. Paul Pierce, Boston Celtics; 11. Dirk Nowitzki, Dallas Mavericks; 12. Rudy Fernandez, Portland Trailblazers; 13. Marco Belinelli, Golden State Warriors; 14. Joakim Noah, Chicago Bulls; 15. Gilbert Arenas, Washington Wizards.
Andrea (3rd Euro overall) beats Dirk, funny.
“8. Andrea Bargnani, Toronto Raptors; 9. Jose Calderon, Toronto Raptors; 13. Marco Belinelli, Golden State Warriors;”
Oh wow, cool! Thanks.
Since I’ve already done the work on this, I’ll just point you to here…
http://www.wearingfilm.com/picketfence/2009/07/is-toronto-a-small-market-team/
The “I’m-too-lazy-to-go-to-your-stupid-site” version:
“As for the population base, Toronto is technically the fourth largest market, but that’s only when the actual city population is looked at. When looking at the metropolitan population, Toronto suddenly drops to 7th, behind Dallas, Philadelphia and Houston, and just ahead of Miami, Atlanta and Washington.”
“The problem here, however, is that the [...] very narrow American view of things. The Raptors and Chris Bosh are not popular in the US, so they are not popular. Many Americans might be surprised that an entire world goes on outside of the US. Colangelo, despite being an American, has figured this out. He’s figured out that Americans, in general, don’t particularly like anything that’s not American, and have trouble seeing outside of their borders, so he has taken a global view. Will it make the Raptors more popular in the US? No. And no one should really care. When the Raptors make the playoffs this year, as they will hopefully and should do, it’s a good bet the Raptors popularity in Europe will skyrocket. Already, Bargnani jerseys are apparently the 10th best selling jersey in Europe. The Raptors are currently `Canada’s team’, and are soon to be `Europe’s team’, too. I wouldn’t particularly call that small market.”
“Canada’s team’, and are soon to be `Europe’s team’, too. I wouldn’t particularly call that small market.”
Nice. Now if they could only sign some decent Asian players (maybe within the next decade?) Yao is still the only “good” player to come out of there (no offense to Yi-fans).
Maybe Korea or Japan could be the next?
A EurAsian-Canadian to would be cool AND it would sort of showcase the Canadian melting pot as well.
Ooops, I mean’t
“A EurAsian-Canadian TEAM would be cool AND it would sort of showcase the Canadian melting pot as well”
Yi not a good NBA player? What? But he came in third in All-Star voting for forwards in the East two years ago. Are you saying that the All-Star voting has about as much meaning as the People’s Choice Awards? Next you’ll be telling me that Allen Iverson and Tracy McGrady don’t deserve to start at Guard in this years game.
That’s exactly the point. Funny as many Canadians tend to have a US vision of things b-ball, probably caused by the NBA media overexposure.
By the way, if we take a look at the chart about EU jerseys I posted up here, the Raps have 3 players in the top 15, something unique. If you consider that the potential EU market is made of a population of about 495 million people, we start to see thing in their true dimension.
glad to see everyone saying exactly what i was going to say…
1. terrible officiating all around (the magic picked up a few ghost fouls in the 3rd…still NOTHING like we got in the 4th)
2. the jack/calderon 4th quarter combo is janky at best…but i was impressed with jose throughout…still prefer jack as the starter.
3. triano should be caught under the bus for his terrible rotations and his inability to coach on the fly.
with that being said…we’re looking good.
To all of you who somehow think Calderon had a good game, did you not see how much Jameer torched him every time Calderon tried to guard him? The dribble-drive late in the second? Jameer going coast to coast for the layup with like 5 seconds to go, at the end of the second? The Jameer dribble penetration aid dish leading to a Dwight dunk in the third?
Are you guys not worried that people penetrate so easily against Calderon? Jameer didn’t even break a sweat. (And please do not bring up how well he “defended” Jason Williams, an old vet who has been out of the league for 2 years, on the second night of a back-to-back. If that is the only type of player Calderon can guard, we are hosed.)
Anyway, I don’t mind Calderon getting lots of playing time now, so long as it leads to him being traded soon. Turk is our best point guard, and all we need from the 1 spot is a guy who can hit corner threes, drive a bit, and play solid defense on who he is guarding.
Can you suggest a trade then?
Best I’ve seen so far is the Lakers trade. Then we can have Jack start, while having Farmer/Banks man the remaining 12 minutes or so. This gives us a good amount of time to evaluate Farmar. If we like him, we can extend the QO, if not we can let him expire.
Also, we clear Calderon’s remaining 3 years @ 9 million/year from our books, giving further flexibility for the future.
Who knows if they’d be down with it, though. In particular, I doubt they give pure expirings (Farmar+Ammo), but they instead fob off Sasha onto us (Farmer+Sasha).
I’d rather get herpes than Sasha. Our two point guards compliment each other well and can great when used properly. If you really need to see a trade eventhough we are in the midst of a hot streak then I suggest trying to move a weems, johnson, evan, or wright, or some combination of the group, to get a high level 2. I’d love to see a guy like Rip Hamilton start at the 2 for us and bring in DeMar to dunk on the 2nd unit of teams. But that’s just a though, I’m actually happy with the roster right now and would like to see where it takes us, rather than disrupt the chemistry we’ve built.
Getting rid of Calderon shouldn’t hurt chemistry. I agree Sasha’s contract sucks, but he expires next year, so not that bad. If you can find a better trade, feel free to suggest it. But it is a waste of resources to pay 9 million a year for a backup PG, so we really should try to ship him out.
I sure can! lol…
Jose + Evans for Hinrich + Tyrus.
they do that, and i move back to TO and buy season tickets :P
Wow, what a terrible trade. For us.
Nope, not worried at all, and FYI, in Calderon’s 22 starts, the opposing PG scored above their average 10 times; in Jack’s 14 starts, the opposing PG scored above their average 10 times.
Points aren’t the whole story. A more nuanced way to examine things is PER.
Calderon this year, 18.3 PER. Opposing PG, 23.7 PER. Net is -5.4.
Simply put, Calderon gets his teeth kicked in every night at PG. He turns your average NBA starting PG into Steve Nash. And I don’t think this particular statistic reflects just how poor Calderon’s defense is; he gets beat so easily that it leads to negative externalities for our bigs. By the way, you can look up pretty much any other statistic you want (e.g., adjusted +/- numbers), and they’ll tell you the same thing.
Anyway, the statistics and our observations agree: Calderon at PG is folly for the 2009-2010 Raptors squad (Btw, you can check 2008-2009 and see he played much better that year than this one, despite supposedly being hurt last year and healthy now…)
Let’s take a look at Jarrett Jack. Jack when playing PG posts a PER of 16.1. Whoever he is guarding has a PER of 16.2. So a net loss of -0.1. Might seem crappy, but this is almost the definition of an “average” starting PG. Moreover, Jack is only being paid 5 mil a year, and plays well with Hedo, so I’m very happy to have him at this price.
FWIW, Jack at SG is also a horrible idea: he puts up 11.4 PER, and his opponent has 22.4 PER. You can examine 82games.com more deeply and learn that most of our SG options (Jack, Weems, Bellinelli, Derozan, and Wright) are all fairly crappy. But Jack is by the worst option at SG. Obviously, this 48 minute average stuff doesn’t say anything about fourth quarter or clutch performance.
Who knows, maybe there is some data suggesting that Jack is our best option at SG during those time periods. Perhaps someone else should investigate…
Reference:
http://www.82games.com/0910/0910TOR.HTM
The statistics here are all true, but in this case they’re also somewhat misleading — the raptors were playing way worse in the first part of the year when Calderon got most of his minutes. That team defensive suckiness made everyone but Bosh look bad. When Calderon was injured, Jack actually looked worse than him on 82 games.com, because Jack’s offense was so bad and his defense was much worse than it looks now.
Calderon has been out for the period where the team has played much better against worse opponents, which makes everyone’s numbers looks better. Jack is a beneficiary of that.
Look, either Calderon is a way worse player than he was last year, or his stats have been slanted by the poor play of the team. I think the second is more likely, all things considered.
Were you watching the same game???? Jack was torched numerous times by Nelson (including being handed his jock in one move the second quarter). Jack also had as previously noted 4 straight negative plays in the fourth that almost killed the raps. Add to that losing defensive assignments a few times.
Not a great game by him. Not terrible either….
Ripp, was this the first basketball game you’ve ever watched or do just hate Calderon. Jack got scorched as well by Nelson. That is what PG’s do. Every game, PG’s blow by each other, no matter how good you are.
“That is what PG’s do. Every game, PG’s blow by each other, no matter how good you are” –wisest sentence about PG defense I’ve seen in awhile.
On that note, CAN ANYONE name who they believe are the TOP FIVE LOCK DOWN DEFENSIVE PG’s in the league?
I’ll take a swipe:
1. Rondo
2. CP3
3. Deron
4. Billups
5. Andre Miller
Honourable mention: Kirk Hinrich (and one of my favourite players :P)
Of course, it’s not a rule, but for the most part people do NOT blow by any of these point guards… Hinrich (who has earned All-NBA defense nods in the past) would be higher if not for him having to play behind Rose… I still think Kirk is a starting PG and probably a top five defensive guard (point or shooting).
I think it was a trick question…. the concept of ‘lock down’ defender at PG doesn’t exist in the NBA with the (relatively) recent changes. Now there are better defensive PGs then others out there…. Rondo, CP3 and Hinrich are definetely up there. Deron Williams is not…. not at all.
I like Lowry in Houston as well.
Kidd used to be on that list. Don’t know if he’s there anymore though.
Rondo is definitely tops.
Calderon played defense, for the most part, the way he was supposed to. The dribble drive of Jameer you mentioned was not his fault, it was Bosh’s. Calderon’s job was to funnel him, which he did, but there was no one behind him. But the problem is that you’re looking for negatives, which you will always find if you look closely enough. Jack got burned just as much as Calderon, as PG’s are apt to do.
The defense ran much better when Calderon had the ball in his hands. While Turk is invaluable at creating, he’s not good enough to be the full time playmaker.
Surely you see that funneling Jameer to the big guarding Dwight is unwise.
Bosh wasn’t guarding Howard. Bargnani was. And Bosh was simply out of position at the time. I have often defended Bosh’s defense, but in this case, he was in the wrong.
How can you defend Bosh’s defense. He is a terrible defender. The only thing he can do is rebound. His interior defense is worse than Bargnani. Bass had fun with Bosh in the post.
Bosh is a slightly above average defender this season. And Bosh is certainly a better interior defender than Bargnani. Bass played well on a couple of possessions against Bosh. I wouldn’t say he dominated when he goes 2 of 5 and grabs 4 rebounds. Exaggerate much?
Also, regarding refs:
1) we have Dwight Howard and Bargs. Bargs is widely seen throughout the league as bad defender (though I now believe this to be false), so Dwight is likely to get the benefit of any 50/50 call.
2) All we did was shoot jumpshots, so pretty hard to go to the line that way.
3) We were on the road.
Yes the refs sucked, but this is the way it always is. The larger issue is Triano struggling to pull out wins when ahead by 20 points, lack of sensible rotations, and constantly being outcoached.
Also, Also, regarding the refs. Someone shove a humungous dildo up each of their rears while watching tape of Bargnani being called for fake fouls. I’m hoping it will be like Clockwork Orange and the refs will be terrified their asses will be ripped apart if they call a foul on Bargnani. A little classical conditioning for those of you who know Pavlov.
I really don’t think its Triano’s fault for blowing the lead. Sure JJ and JC is a bit crappy but really it was the excessive fouls that cost the lead. The Magic had 10 free throws which 1.stops the clock so its the best way for a them to get back into a game when they are down by a large amount. 2.puts other players in foul trouble so they defend a bit more gingerly (Andrea didn’t so good on him!) 3. Is the only aspect of the game you can’t change. When the refs are so one sided its inevitable that the Raps lose the lead. SO really its the douche bag refs’ fault who must of had some money on the game.
Our ~20 point lead started dying once Triano subbed in Wright to guard Shard. This is just a horrible matchup for us. Shard scored on two possessions in a row, iirc. Then whoever was guarding Reddick (Calderon, iirc) let him get open for a 2. Then Bass pulls down an offensive rebound over Bosh for another 2.
First of all, Shard versus Wright is an idiotic matchup. Shard is too big, too strong and too skilled for Wright to guard without substantial help. May as well put Calderon on Kobe by himself…
Then, why wait until he scores twice before you do something? Why is Calderon guarding Reddick? Why let them ring off 8-10 in a row before calling a timeout?
I’m tired of Triano blaming the refs for his poor decision making. In the playoffs, the refs will screw us over too. Will you use that as an excuse to blow ~20 point leads? Just unacceptable.
Finally, compare how SVG attacking Bargs, with how we tried. When Dwight guarded Bosh, Orlando immediately sent a double. Bosh kicks it out, we brick a 3. So bad shot, and no foul trouble for Dwight.
Otoh, SVG attacks Bargs with smalls. Why didn’t we do something similar? E.g., Hedo/Bosh pick and roll? We either get a Bosh dunk, or Hedo against Dwight on the perimeter.
The thing is Howard actually picked up like 7 fouls. The refs decided not to call them. I was re-watching the game and saw the most blatant illegal screen howard set on Belinelli in the 4th. Right in front of the ref, the ref proceeded to turn his head and let the Magic score with the clock stopped, and dared not even think about calling a foul against the magic. Just a filthy dirty move by the refs. I guess since Stern is so busy with Arenas, its like a day at the office without the boss. The way the refs called that game was comparable to microsoft workers xeroxing and emailing pitures of their balls to everyone because Bill Gates is out of the office. We’re watching you dirtball refs
That’s what was so aggrevating. The refs allowed them back in the game on purpose with foul calls. Free throws are free points and by having 10-0 fouls, the Magic were able to constantly put points up on the board with the clock being stopped. It was so frustrating to see their point total continue to build and no time coming off the clock. I bet the refs get a cut out of any fines that are issued out as a result of coaches or players complaining. Isn’t there a set rules book for the NBA? Or do they say these rules apply to Bargnaniy and these rules apply to Howard? Seems like theyre working with deifferent sets of rules when calling the plays last night.
While I do agree that the two fouls on Bargnani were phantom fouls, can anyone tell me exactly what the Raptors did during the fourth quarter to draw fouls, themselves? If the refs were calling the game as tight as they appeared, the Raptors completely missed the boat. They stood around at the three point line where they had no chance of drawing fouls.
There was one main reason for the foul discrepancy, and that was the Raptors lack of aggressiveness, as I pretty much said here…
http://www.wearingfilm.com/picketfence/2010/01/five-hundred-five-hundred/
I agree with Tim W.
Bosh hardly went inside. Is he not suppose to be your inside option. With 5 fouls on Howard, why was Bosh scared to go inside?
Well, that’s actually not what I said. I said that while Bosh should have been more aggressive, the whole team is to blame. It wasn’t Bosh parked outside of the three point line. The biggest culprits were Bargnani and Jack. Bosh, at least, has the excuse of facing double and triple teams the moment he touched the ball, which made driving very difficult, if not impossible. The problem was that when he threw the ball back outside, it stayed there because all the of the other four Raptor players were setting up camp there.
So when Orlando made its big run in the 4th and Bargnani was mostly on the bench, it was his fault for not being aggressive. What was he doing? Wearing Orlando Blue colours.
Bargnani fouled out of the game with 1:16 left. And I’m talking about the entire fourth quarter, of which Bargnani played most of.
Try to keep up.
I am not sure why everyone is complaining about the decisions by the referees. It did not go against our franchise player. Most of the people on the site constantly complain about Bargnani’s defense. With him out, should we not be a better defensive team with Chris Bosh. Did it not look that way at the end of the match?
I agree with Tim W. (excellent knowledge about basketball), sleepz (excellent feedback about Bargnani’s shortcomings) and many others that Bargnani needs to be traded. He is an awful defender. Just look at all the articles written in the Canadian Press about this match. There is hardly any mention about him and his contribution to the the match.
I am sure both Tim W. and sleepz will agree that it was Bosh’s defense that helped Toronto win this match.
I’ve strongly disliked Bargnani at Center. But lately, I’ve started to warm up to him.
Nobody reasonable can say he did not give an outstanding effort tonight. If he plays defense like this every night (and doesn’t let scrubs like Perk destroy him), then I’m happy to have him as our center.
Bargnani’s only weaknesses are:
1) Doesn’t rebound enough.
2) Inconsistent man defense.
3) Poor help defense.
(1) and (2) are coming around. (3) can be masked by having a lockdown guy at the 1 spot who can hit corner threes. The Bruce Bowen of PGs, so to speak (basically, the opposite of Jose.)
I’ve seen him play amazing defense against both Tim Duncan and Dwight. At the same time, he knocks down the open 3 at a high rate, and gives tremendous amounts of space for Bosh to work one-on-one. Bosh+Bargs is an amazing combination, and something I think we need to spend the next 5 years building around.
Before trading Bargs, I’d rather fire Triano, get a real coach (Jeff Van Gundy, for example), and acquire a starting shooting guard who plays defense and can knock down open threes. If DDR does not turn into that or better in the next 2 years, then flip him for someone who can.
3-4 years from now we might have the best starting PF/C rotation in the league. Let’s not break it up prematurely.
you bargs haters have gotten old and real dumb. give it up losers.
i’ve given it up 10 games ago, and will no longer call him a wet noodle + i’ve thought his contract was a steal from the start of the season.
And Gortat get’s $7,000,000/season, and was benched behind Bass yesterday. Orlando has $20,000,000+ tied up in that position. Look at other center contracts and as of now, Barg’s is a steal…..
Give it time – at some point he will have an off game and the hysteria will resurface.
Bargnani this season in the best Raptors player in terms of +/-.
What does it mean plus/minus stats:
(From NBA.com): The AutoTrader.com +/- stat shows the power of teamwork. It’s a way of showing the best-engineered/best combination of players on the court. The +/- stat is a statistic that looks at the point differential when players are both in and out of the game, to see how the team performs with various combinations. The +/- stat can look at a variety of combinations including the best two player, three player and even five player combinations for each game.
All games 2009/10
1 Player + – +/- Min +/-/Min
A. Bargnani 2,575 -2,548 27 1186:23 .022
H. Turkoglu 2,461 -2,449 12 1128:46 .010
M. Belinelli 1,451 -1,448 3 661:07 .004
J. Jack 2,218 -2,221 -3 1014:24 -.002
C. Bosh 2,740 -2,745 -5 1264:25 -.003
2 Players
Player 1 Player 2 + – +/- Min +/-/Min
Bargnani Belinelli 799 -731 68 343:48 .197
Turkoglu Belinelli 672 -612 60 288:15 .208
Bosh Belinelli 820 -766 54 359:08 .150
Bosh Bargnani 1,881 -1,836 45 857:30 .052
Jack Belinelli 839 -801 38 361:45 .105
3 Players
Player1 Player2 Player3 + – +/- Min +/-/Min
Bosh/Bargnani/Belinelli 362 -287 75 143:18 .523 Turkoglu/Bosh/Belinelli 449 -382 67 186:12 .359
Jack/Bargnani/Belinelli 482 -425 57 201:00 .283
Turkoglu/Jack/Belinelli 356 -305 51 143:32 .355 Turk/Bargnani/Belinelli 393 -350 43 161:43 .265
4 Players + – +/- Min +/-/Min
Turk/Bosh/Bargs/Beli 189 -145 44 69:08 .636
Bosh/Calder/Bargs/Beli 156 -115 41 61:01 .671
Turk/Bosh/Jack/Beli 233 -195 38 90:18 .420
Bosh/Wright/Bargs/Beli 103 -67 36 39:34 .909
Turk/Jack/Bargs/Beli 195 -159 36 75:11 .478
5 Players + – +/- Min +/-/Min
Turk/Bosh/Cald/Bargs/Beli 93 -67 26 34:27 .754
Bosh/Wrig/Cald/Bargs/Beli 37 -13 24 11:50 2.027
Turk/Bosh/Jack/Bargs/Beli 78 -57 21 26:13 .800
Jack/Johns/Bargs/Weems/DD 39 -19 20 14:35 1.370
Jack/Johns/Barg/Beli/Weem 64 -49 15 24:25 .614
And what about Belinelli?
Cheers from Italy.
Best stats reading here:
http://www.nba.com/statistics/plusminus/plusminus_sort.jsp?pcomb=1&season=22009&split=9&team=Raptors
http://www.nba.com/statistics/plusminus/plusminus_sort.jsp?pcomb=2&season=22009&split=9&team=Raptors
http://www.nba.com/statistics/plusminus/plusminus_sort.jsp?pcomb=3&season=22009&split=9&team=Raptors
http://www.nba.com/statistics/plusminus/plusminus_sort.jsp?pcomb=4&season=22009&split=9&team=Raptors
http://www.nba.com/statistics/plusminus/plusminus_sort.jsp?pcomb=5&season=22009&split=9&team=Raptors
Like Bargnani, but +/- means very little for single player comparison, especially when the difference is so small that one game could completely reverse the order. Much more useful in analyzing 5-player combinations, but even there, the sample size is too small in the list you provide.
For 2 players combinations : Of the top 50 combinations showing on NBA.com , the first one is Bargnani/Beli at +68 , the 50th one is Banks/POP at -13 .
The combinations Bosh/Jack , Bosh/Caldy or Jack/Caldy are not shown . You have to assume that they are worse than -13 .
I found that very interesting.
You’re kidding, right? You absolutely have to be. There isn’t a team out there who wouldn’t drool all over themselves – or worse – to have a shot at getting Bargnani. He’s so obviously only now coming into his own, which is to a point where he’ll be tearing up the league on a regular basis … and I can only imagine how the idiots here who have followed each other around, repeating each other’s opinions back and forth to each other about how Bargs should be traded, would moan and bitch about it in a year or so if he was tearing the league up for another team. But … you are kidding. Right? (I really really hope so.)
Ok. I reread your post and … you are kidding. I knew that.
Who are you?lol
I thought it was a good team win last night but for some reason you thought to bring up my name. Not sure why.
The only thing I ‘constantly’ complain about is non-sensical bloggers who have nothing better than to do than try and spar but lack knowledge and objectivity. You seem to fit that description regularly.
I don’t hate or even dislike any one player on this team,, unlike yourself, but maybe one day you’ll realize how much of a typing contradiction you really are.
In other news……500. is substantially better than many thought possible before the midway mark. It feels a lot better to be looking up at who we can catch then looking down at who we have to hold off. The Heat have about 2-3 weeks before we pass them.
In response of course to raptorfanforlife, or whatever you changed your name to today.
ideally im comfortable in that 5 spot. I don’t really think we have a shot at the 2nd round but I can forsee a hard fought 7 game series against ATL which I’m sure would give Chris enough evidence.
So if Bosh has a bad game, you say it is a good team win. If Bosh has a good game, Bosh led Toronto to victory. You will never acknowledge anyone not named Bosh for helping the team win.
Very hypocritical.
N.B.
Gary Payton rates Bosh as the most over rated player in the NBA. Google to see video.
Any win to me is a good team win. You’ve never heard me say when they win it’s simply attributed to Bosh. It’s a team game fella. You’re letting your personal hatred interfere with logic and reasoning.
A team win would naturally insinuate that there was more than one player helping them win as this is ball not tennis.
As for Payton, do you really want to spend so much time relying on his opinion to seemingly support yours?
You might have some deep personal issues you need to work out man. I hope you get well soon.
Love the similes!
Wh got a big win. For all the complaining, me included, we pulled it out and are at .500. We’ve battled through injuries, haven’t had Reggie touch the floor, and have battled through the hardest part of our schedule. That being said, things are looking up in Raptorland. Thanks for the great conversation on this board. Cheers all.
For anyone who wants to look into things further with the officials, they were Derrick Collins, Scott Wall, Scott Foster. Tell me this group of goofballls weren’t dying to get back to their shared hotelroom for filthy gay sex. That is if they were capable to removing the huge donger of SVG from eachothers rears after calling a game like that! They should be ashamed of themselves,and I for one will be keeping on eye on the clowns when they work games. I’ve never seen a more clean block in my life than Bargs on Dwight. They call that phantom foul, but let peirce attemp to injure Bosh, knee him in the groin. Way to be on top of things!
+ 1 … and good info.
There are few, it seems, who are willing to begin and follow up on the process of chasing referees around, tracking just what their respective agendas might really be.
I suspect that for some, it’s just too scary to seriously look into how certain referees are manipulating (the more important) end results in the NBA; for others, the prospect of consuming one’s time and energy is (understandably) too daunting; and for the rest who should be leading the way, namely, the ‘legitimate press’, who, some years ago, may have taken on such a task, but who now (these days) are under the constraints of their bosses (who are under the constraints of their bosses … all the way to the office of the NBA), are discouraged from doing so.
It might have to left to a blogger somewhere who cares-not how the NBA league officials inevitably brand him or her, to pry open the lid on ‘the story’ enough for the major news companies to take enough notice (because their customers demand it) to undertake and finish the job, properly.
If we (NBA fans) make ENOUGH noise about it for long enough, perhaps … something will commence that will result in those changes that are crying out to be made. ‘Cause really, enough is enough.