If Bryan Colangelo had his wish Chris Bosh and Jermaine O’Neal would have close to 20/10 nights every night. Well, last night he got his wish although the Clippers missing Baron Davis and Marcus Camby might’ve taken some of the ecstasy out of it. I didn’t watch the game, couldn’t find it on TV so can’t really comment much but looking at the box-score it was a good night for the Raptors. Roko Ukic got to play 15 minutes (and Will Solomon only 9, I like where this is going) and Joey Graham took a step back from his Minnesota performance. I highly doubt we’ll see an article in every paper about him today, as it should be.
The win combined with the Lakers victory over Barcelona means that we get to play in the “finals” of the LA Shootout. This might be the only finals appearance of any kind the club makes this decade so lets enjoy it while we can. The only thing to note from this game is that Bargnani didn’t play because of a bruised right leg. It’s funny how the Raptors were flown all over from the East coast for this game just because they have two significant foreign players – got to love the NBA, they look for ways to generate fan interest in any which way.
So Mitchell was asked why the Raptors were able to pull off a road win and The Wise Man of the North responded:
“Inside presence, think about it. I told our guys, when’s the last time we shot 38 per cent (and won)? … Not very often. So you can win games shooting 38 per cent if you play D and get to the foul line (and rebound).”
Just thought about it and he’s right. Playing defense, getting rebounds and shooting more FTs will win you a lot of games but let’s not go nuts. We won by four points against a team who was missing their two best players. Just like you brush off the Minnesota loss you should brush of the Clippers win, that’s how the preseason works.
Somebody remind me again how great Hassan Adams is and how NJ was ruing letting him go and how we’re so lucky to have this talent that slipped through the cracks and fell on our laps. Hot garbage! He’s the new Maceo Baston, nothing more. He’s been entirely unimpressive thus far and this night was no different, his fat-ass went 0-2 with 2 turnovers and 0 assists in 5 minutes. Put a fork in him, he’s done. One more note on this game, ex-Raptor and brand new NBA employee Haywoode Workman was a referee for this game. I like this move by the NBA, more players should become referees. Tops on my list: Charles Barkley, Charles Oakley, Keith van Horn, Allen Iverson and Rasheed Wallace. Just picture Vince Carter arguing a foul call with Charles Oakley and instead of Oakley explaining his call he just bitch-slaps Vince across the face. You’d have people come to the games just to watch the officials!
Raptors Talk has an article about Bryan Colangelo letting players with good value walk. The author seems very down about this, in fact I think he wrote it just before he wrote a brief but thoroughly spell-checked suicide note and overdosed on pain-killers. He’s got a point, Bryan Colangelo seems to do nothing with marginal free agents who could have potential. I doubt we needed to buyout Garbajosa’s contract, there was interest from the Lakers and you’d think we could’ve offloaded him for a second-rounder somewhere. He did have the grit factor going for him despite his injury. Letting Mike James walk didn’t make much sense either, I’m positive he wasn’t the Colangelo mold of player so why he didn’t trade him at the deadline when he was having a good season didn’t click. Maybe Colangelo was in two minds about Mike James and couldn’t make a decision until after the season and if that’s true its a horrible trait to have in a general manager. I don’t now about Primoz…that might be a reach.
Andrew Bynum. I remember during the 2005 draft I said to myself, “Self, we should take a chance on Andrew Bynum. Chris Paul and Deron Williams are already gone and its a crapshoot from here on out. Why not reach on this raw talent?” But Babcock selected Charlie Villanueva and everybody got their panties tied up in a knot and it turned out to be a decent pick and the rest his history except that Andrew Bynum is on his way to becoming a perennial All-Star. Why am I mentioning him? Because he’s now asking for an 85 million dollar contract and despite the Lakers trying to play tough they’re bound to give it to him.
The Knicks are so down on Eddy “I just ate a bowl of” Curry, they don’t even make a secret of not liking him or wanting to trade him. The Magic also have a decision to make at backup PG and its come down to JJ Redick vs. Keith Bogans. You remember Keith Bogans right? He’s the guy we insisted on leaving open in the playoffs last year. Gerald Green dropped a spectacular 29, I still remember that little twat’s breakaway dunk against us in Boston at the end of a blowout. We’ll make him pay for it….just you wait.
That’s all I got. Have a lazy Sunday.
