Built Ford Tough

From his agent's Twitter account: The interest is probably just a training camp invite or something like that, or this is just posturing by his agent. I don't see why the Raptors would be interested in him, though. He is talented, there is no doubt about that, but he has a terrible attitude and can be a huge chucker on offense. Plus, the Raptors already have Jack, Calderon, Banks, Weems, Barbosa and DeRozan in the backcourt so there really isn't any room for him on the roster.

With the recent comments from Peddie basically saying that Colangelo isn't going anywhere and will get an extension as long as he wants one, do you think that means Triano is possibly on a relatively short leash this season? I think it is obvious that the Raptors are going to get off to a pretty slow start (if I recall correctly, they have a pretty tough start to their season) and will presumably be pretty bad all season long. Normally when teams are struggling the coach will get the axe in order to show to the casual fan that they are trying to turn things around or something of that nature. Will Triano fall victim to a similar circumstance or are the expectations so low that his head won't be on the chopping block regardless?

Looks like this is exactly what they will do. Belfort is no longer fighting Okami and will isntead get the next shot at Silva. Nate Marquardt will replace Vitor and fight Okami.

Would you mind posting a recap if you get time? I can't watch it on TV and I haven't been able to find a working link online. I'm more interested in how Kadri, D'Amigo, Rynass and Gustavsson do. I'm really interested in seeing if Kadri is going to be able to get a roster spot with the big club this year. Also, it sounds like Marc Savard might miss the entire season with Post-Concussion Syndrome. Does this open up a top 6 role for Tyler Seguin?

I'm watching it right now, but I've got a project due for class tomorrow so I haven't been paying a lot of attention, so I have absolutely no idea what is going on right now. I'll probably give it another watch sometime later because I'm completely lost right now. It seems like an interesting show, though.

Was just about to post that. He has a scope job done on his knee and won't be able to do any basketball related activities for at least six weeks, according to Raptors officials. When I first heard about the injury I thought it was nothing to worry about, but once a couple of days passed and there was no update on him, I had a gut feeling that he was going to miss a decent amount of time. This is some pretty crappy news, though. I wasn't expecting much from him this season, but I was hoping that he could stay healthy and play 25 minutes or so a night. With him missing training camp and the first couple of weeks of the season, he is going to be horribly out of shape, especially considering he was in pretty average shape to begin with, after missing most of his sophomore season at UNC with the broken wrist. It will probably be around December before he is finally back to 100% and in game shape. Oh well, hopefully this just means more ping pong balls for Toronto, haha.

So despite everything we heard about how one of the point guards will be moved this summer, it looks like it is basically a 100% guarantee that the Raptors will start the season with both of these two on the roster. I know that both players have said all the right things this offseason, just like they did during the year last year, but do you think that the battle for the Raptors starting point guard spot could become a problem? It would be one thing if the team was expected to win and make the players, but with the Raptors looking like they will be headed to the lottery this season, will that possibly magnify the situation? This is the 2nd year that these two will be together and if you recall, it was the 2nd season back when the point guard controversy developed between Ford and Calderon. Jack has a better attitude than Ford did, but he isn't shy about letting his feelings known and will definitely speak his mind if he doesn't like the way things are. Do you think that this could potentially be a problem for the Raptors this upcoming season?

Jesus, now they are putting ads about knee replacement operations. I think I'll just leave this thread before I have a heart attack, haha.

Yeah, that is why I was a bit worried when seeing hearing about this a couple of days ago. From everything that I've read on the situation, it sounds like it is nothing more than a tweak or something else that is minor and just needs rest to heal, but in the back of your mind you can't help but think the worst when it comes to young bigs and their knees. The ads at the bottom of the page about knee surgy and ACL rehabilitiation don't exactly help either. Do you have an article or a quote or something about him having this problem in college? I never heard anything about that. The only injury I was aware of was his broken wrist last season. Not saying that I don't believe you or anything, I just never really heard of this before.

http://tsn.ca/nba/story/?id=334124 Can this team ever head into a training camp at full strength? Last season Bosh missed part of camp because of a hamstring (I think) and Turkoglu missed part of it because of an inflamed vagina. This season it looks like Davis will miss at least part of camp and who knows if Calderon will be at 100% either. Hopefully this injury doesn't progress into anything serious, though. I know it is probably nothing, but you really hate to hear that a young big man has a knee injury.

http://www.tsn.ca/mma/story/?id=334451 If he did in fact fail a test for PED's, it looks like his rematch with Silva will definitely be off. I still haven't gotten around to watching their frist fight, so I can't comment on anything in regards to that, but this is definitely a pretty big blow to the UFC's 185 pound division. Silva was the UFC's worst draw when it comes to their champions, and with all of the trash talking that Sonnen did prior to the fight, and his performance in the fight itself, there was a pretty big buzz around their scheduled rematch in Feburary. Now that looks like it won't be happening. I wonder what the Dana White and Joe Silva are going to do if Sonnen does get suspended. Will they scrap the Belfort-Okami fight and just give Belfort the next shot at Silva? Will they keep that fight and give the winner the next crack at Silva? Or will they use Silva at 205 or something and simply wait until Sonnen is eligible to fight again? Personally, I think Belfort should get the next shot at Silva. He kind of got shafted after the Franklin fight as Silva was injured and their title fight was put off, and then when Silva finally recovered, Belfort suffered an injury and his shot was given to Damian Maia instead. I'd love to see that fight go down.

http://www.thestar.com/sports/basketball/article/861862--feschuk-won-t-take-much-for-raptors-to-keep-colangelo I didn't expect Colangelo to go anywhere, assuming he wanted to stay in Toronto, and this pretty much confirms my initial expectations in regards to Colangelo's contract situation. Unless the Raptors start the season going 0-13 or 2-20 or something terrible like that, I can't imagine MLSE letting Colangelo go. My favourite part of the article was this little section: I thought it was interesting to see just how well Colangelo is able to manipulate others to buying into his way of thinking. While I do agree that you can't blame him for Charlotte backing out of a trade at the last minute, but you can certainly place some of the blame on him when talking about Bosh's departure (although to be 100% honest, I think Bosh was gone regardless, unless the Raptors won the NBA Championship or something last season) and a lot of the blame on the Turkoglu situation on him. You can't blame him for Turk's god awful play last season, but you can blame him for not realizing that he was a terrible fit in the first place and handing out a brutal deal, which could be considered part of the reason for Turkoglu's poor season. Anyways, in regards to the original topic, it doesn't surprise me at all that it sounds like Colangelo will be staying. I can't really say I'm thrilled by the news or that I'm upset. I am completely impartial to whether or not Colangelo stays. The Raptors probably wouldn't be able to get anybody better (at least in terms of credibility around the league) but I don't exactly have a lot of faith in him to right the ship either. Who knows though, maybe with Bosh gone he can focus on building a team instead of trying to appease Bosh?

For those of you who watched this game, could anybody give me a breakdown of how Linas Kleiza played? I know he struggled (1-11 shooting and something like 5 turnovers), but he seemed to be playing really well prior to this game. Did the Americans make it a focal point to shut him down, or was it really just Iguodala (I'm guessing he was guarding him?) locking him up on his own? Did Kleiza miss a lot of makeable shots or was he forced into poor shots/decisions all game long? Would also appreciate if somebody could just give me a general breakdown of how he has played all tournament long. Thanks for whoever answers these questions. I haven't had the chance to watch any of the games so I would really appreciate this.

Bogut is the best player on the team, there is no doubt about that, but I think you could make the argument that Jennings is the leader of the team, or at least will be this upcoming season. The leader of a team isn't always the best player on that team. Take the Raptors for example, Bargnani is going to be the best player on the team next season, but I don't think there are any questions that Jarrett Jack is going to be the leader of the team next year. I think that you could argue the Bucks will be like that this year as well.

It can work against him, that is true, but it certainly makes it easier than having to battle 2 other big men and sometimes the opposing small forward for an offensive board, like Bosh literally was doing last season with Bargnani and Turkoglu floating around the perimeter all of the time. I don't really see how that is much of a debate, really. Gasol probably does have the advantage when it comes to the offensive glass though, I'm not sure if I mentioned that last night. Bosh is a better defensive rebounder though, and that is basically why they are equal with me giving Bosh a slight edge. As far as the second point, that is debatable. It isn't exactly what you are talking about because of the difference in teammates, but their head-to-head rebounding numbers in the 6 games they have played against each other since 2007 (that was when Bosh became an elite PF in my mind, so that is why I used from then on) are: Bosh: 10.3 Gasol: 9.3 (I excluded one game because Bosh only played 11 minutes) I can understand if somebody wants to say that Gasol has a slight edge in rebounding. That is an opinion I can understand (although don't agree with), but to say that Gasol is a much better rebounder than Bosh? That is a joke as far as I am concerned.

Toronto is giving Michael Liambis a tryout. Of course Burke would be the one to give him a chance. I do think his suspension was a bit harsh (although understandable considering the severity of the injury that resulted from the hit), and it is great to see him get a chance to live his dream. Other than the speed he came in with, the hit wasn't that bad, at least from what I remember. Also, I found it pretty funny that Kyle Wellwood was given a tryout at Phoenix's rookie camp. It really is a shame at how much of a waste of talent he is.

Gasol isn't a better rebounder than Bosh is. At the very least, they are equal. Gasol has averaged double digit rebounds once in his 9 year career and has a career average of 9 boards a game. Chris Bosh has averaged double digit rebounds 3 times in his 7 year career and if you take away his rookie season when he was 19 years old and 200 pounds soaking wet, he has a career average of 9.7 boards a game. Gasol gets more offensive boards than Bosh does by a considerable margin since joining the Lakers, but it is easier to grab offensive boards when opposing defense have another 7 footer and another double digit per game rebounder on the roster. Teams have to be aware of Bynum and Odom as well as Gasol when shots go up, but over the last 5 years, teams have only had to worry about Bosh on the offensive boards considering he has played with Rasho Nesterovic and Andrea Bargnani as his big man partner, two players who spend more time outside of the paint than inside of it. Bosh has had an equal or higher TRB% than Gasol ever year since 05/06. Bosh is also the more gifted scorer than Gasol is. Gasol is clearly more talented in the post, but when push comes to shove, Bosh is the better scorer. Their TS% this past season was basically the exact same as well and there isn't much of a difference in their career averages as well. Gasol gets a lot more easy looks than Bosh does (this will probably change this upcoming season though as Bosh plays with Wade and LeBron) as well, so it is pretty impressive that their TS% are so similar. I agree that Gasol is better than Bosh is, but to say that Gasol is "much better" than Bosh in basically every single aspect of basketball is just not giving Bosh the credit that he deserves. The only areas that Gasol is "much better" than Bosh is passing and back to the basket offense (I'll with hold judgement on defense for obvious reasons).

He is a better scorer and ball handler, but Moon, at least in his first year, was better in pretty much every other area. He was a better rebounder, defender, distance shooter and even chipped in with a block or two and a steal or two every game as well. Weems last season was better than Moon in any of his other seasons aside from the first one though. I'm just more concerned with him trying to do too much to prove last season wasn't a fluke and to earn a new contract, similar to what Moon did (at least the fluke thing). Also, in response to him having somebody push him, I'm assuming that person is DeRozan and maybe Amir Johnson as well. While I don't disagree with this, Moon had a much more hardass of a coach in Mitchell than Triano is. Mitchell wouldn't put up with any BS while Triano is a bit of a pushover, at least in comparision to how Smitch was. Just something to think about. Just to clarify, I don't think that Weems will follow in the foot steps of Moon. He is more talented, is younger and he doesn't seem to be content just to "make it" like Moon was. I just figured I'd try to get discussion going.

Rewind a couple of years ago when a relative unknown named Jamario Moon played his way onto the Raptors roster through a free agent camp and then through training camp. He wasn't expected to do much of anything for the team other than sit at the end of the bench for the Raps. I don't remember exactly what happened that gave him his break, but he was given a break and he ran with it. He played his way into the Raptors rotation and was a fixture there for the rest of the season. Then the next season, he started trying to do things that he wasn't capable of. His defense took a significant step back as he tried to block everything in sight, he started chucking up jumper after jumper on offense and made questionable decision after questionable decision. He eventually fell out of favour with the team, saw his minutes decrease and then he was shipped off to Miami. If you look at Sonny Weems' first season with the team, it is very comparable to Moon's. He was an after thought on the roster, eventually got a break due to the poor play of the other wings on the team and then ran with it. Now, he is probably going to be taking a larger role on the team and that, combined with him being in a contract year, may result in him trying to do too much and over compensate. So the question is, do you think Weems could possibly become the next Jamario Moon?

So Derrick Rose isn't a viable crunch time option because he isn't a top 5 scorer in the NBA and is a point guard is basically what you are saying? Who the hell cares? The guy averaged nearly 21 points a game on 49% shooting this past season. Those are impressive numbers for anybody, "true scorer" or not. It really doesn't matter that Rose is a point guard or not because he is a scorer by nature. He was the highest scoring point guard in the league last season, had the 5th highest shooting percentage and took the most shots per game of any point guard (by 1.4 a game). It isn't in Derrick Rose's nature to not look to score the basketball, point guard or not. If his regular season numbers aren't enough, what about the fact that he was 15th in the leauge in clutch time scoring last season? Of the 14 players ahead of him, only 8 shot a better percentage from the floor than he did. Some of the players who he shot a better percentage than were Kevin Durant (by 9.8%), Kobe Bryant (by 0.9%), Dirk Nowitzki (by 0.4%) and Carmelo Anthony (by 2.6%). These players are 4 of the top scorers in the NBA and Rose wasn't too far off from their clutch time scoring last season and in some cases, was significantly more efficient. Rose also average 8.3 assists during this time, which is something to note. As far as I am concerned, you don't have to be the one that is doing the scoring to be clutch. If you are directly responsible for a teammate getting a wide open look, it means just as much as scoring the ball yourself. If you are a threat to pass the ball during crunch time, tt adds another element to what the defense have to be aware of. The only players in the top 15 of clutch scoring who averaged more assists than Rose did were Steve Nash and Chris Paul (LeBron averaged an identical 8.3). This had to be taken into consideration as well when determining if a player is a viable option down the stretch. There is also his play down the stretch when the Bulls were fighting for the last playoff spot. He guaranteed that they would make the playoffs and after that guarantee (I'm not 100% sure when he said it, so I'll use the final 10 games as a reference point) he averaged 24.7 ppg on 52.4 FG% including a 39 point on 68% shooting performance against the Celtics in what was basically the game that stamped the Bulls ticket into the playoffs. Last thing I'll touch upon in regards to him being a threat is his numbers in the playoffs against one of the best defensive teams in the league. He averaged 27 points a game on 45.6% against the Cavs. Granted it was a small sample size (only 5 games) but considering his performance the previous year against the Celtics, I don't think think you can write it off as a fluke. When the pressure increases and the games get bigger, Rose brings his game to the next level. It is as simple as that. He also did all of this during his second season where he was 21 years old. It is only logical to assume that he will be able to improve on these numbers considering he still has plenty of things that he can add to his game. But if you think he isn't a viable option because he doesn't average 25 points per game or he is a point guard, well, good for you.

I just edited something like that in my post. Looks like you beat me to it though.

Found this on RealGM. If this is true, I don't even know what to say. They should probably no longer allow the term "gunner" to be used as a term to describe players as well. Shooting should no longer be allowed to be used either. That could offend people. Ahh, that damn Gilbert Arenas, haha.

A nice read on RaptorsHQ. Not going to post the entire thing, but I hope you will take the time to click on the link and read it all. http://www.raptorshq.com/2010/8/30/1656488/has-the-raptors-defence-improved Again, I hope you will take the time to read through the entire blog, as I thought it was a nice read. RaptorsHQ is probably the best Raptor blog site that I have stumbled across and their blogs are generally very good reads. I definitely think that you can make the case the Raptors improved defensively over the summer. Losing Bosh sucks for the team as he did so much for them, but that was more so on the glass and offensively. Johnson was actually the Raptors best interior defender last season, certainly better than Bosh, so if he is the one who gets most of the minutes that Bosh would've played, it would make sense to think that the Raptors will be better off defensively when it comes to the power forward position. Of course, to counter this you can argue that Johnson is still unproven, last season could've been a fluke year and that he will need to keep his fouls down or else he won't even be on the floor enough to have a noticable impact on the teams defense, all of which would be legitimate counter-arguments. Anyways, what do you think on the subject? Has Toronto's defense improved, stayed the same or gotten worse over the summer?

We all know that the Knicks are very interested in acquiring Fernandez, but they don't have what it seems to take in order to acquire him, which is a 1st round pick. They have dangled Wilson Chandler but the Blazers supposedly aren't interested in him. They aren't willing to move Anthony Randolph in a trade for him (and good for them) but if the rumours of them shopping Chandler for Rudy are true, what would you think of Toronto getting involved in a three team trade? Toronto would supply the 1st round pick (Miami's 1st, not their own) that Portland would want, the Knicks would get the man they want in Fernandez and the Raptors would walk away with Wilson Chandler. Does this sound remotely possible to anybody? Would Portland want a pick that looks to be around the last two selections or do they want a mid first? Would you want Chandler in Toronto? I know this will probably never happen and no indications have even remotely pointed to it, but I figured what the hell, it is not like there is anything else for us to discuss about the Raptors. So, how would you feel from a Raptors perspective if this went down?

Not sure if you guys know or not, but Kimbo finally pulled the plug on his MMA career (about time) and is now going to try his hand as a professional boxer. I don't know much details, but I think he has already started training and is supposedly supposed to have his first fight sometime in the late fall. How do you think he will do in pro boxing?