Linkage - January 25
Calderon? Not so much. Which is pathetic. He’s barely being mentioned as a replacement for the All-Star bench, either. Peter May called him "a long shot" in this column today dedicated to Ray Allen’s hope for the All-Star team. Ray Allen?
Calderon’s been hurt by Kidd’s rebounding ability, and propensity to make the ESPN highlights with "another triple-double!" Of course, those 12-point, 11-assist, 10-rebound games (on 4-11 shooting, with four turnovers) tend to pale in comparison to Jose’s 14-point, 10-assist, 3-rebound games with two turnovers and 50 percent shooting to these eyes, eyes that tend to go into these sorts of things objectively.
I mean, what’s the point of Kidd’s rebounds if he’s starting a fast break that’s going to end with him making a turnover (remember, Kidd turns it over almost two and a half times more than Calderon per game, in six less minutes), or clanging a jumper?
And don’t act as if the aging Kidd has more than a negligible advantage over Calderon defensively, it’s a rough way to articulate what I’ve seen and scouted, but I’ll use the stat anyway: point guards facing Kidd average a 16.2 PER, point guards facing Calderon average a 17.8.
"Any time you have a situation like that, I just want to take advantage," Bosh said. "Every night’s not going to be like that. Some nights, I’m going to be beat up toward the end and I’m going to have to depend on my teammates a lot more."
Bosh was asked whether he could remember a game in which his team shot that well.
"A couple of games, not that many," he said. "Most games, if you shoot like that, you would win by 20 or 30 points. Last night, turnovers and [Boston's] offensive rebounds and the second-chance points kind of kept them in the game."
But Bosh liked the way the Raptors stayed in the game, too.
"Throughout the whole game, we never let it get too far away," he said. "We didn’t let them build up the lead too much."
Yesterday coach Sam Mitchell immediately started to guard against his team’s rising confidence after a victory over the Celtics. "It was a good win against the best team in basketball, but you can’t hang your season on that," Mitchell said. " We have to remember they drilled us three times before that."
Insiders swear that Bargnani can, in fact, deliver a jump hook, and we know he has a step-back jumper from the post reminiscent of the great Jack Sikma. But as the league scouted him into irrelevance, Bargnani couldn’t even do what we know he can do. How could he try to do something else?
"Last year Andrea basically floated around outside and shot jump shots," Mitchell said. "And we did that just to get him to the point where we can get his confidence up, get something out of him. But now the NBA, a year later, [figured it out]."
Now Bargnani has to figure it out. He is 22 years old, starting from somewhere near scratch. But it says here that he is going to be a very good player in this NBA. He is going to be a 20-point-per-game scorer in this league. And the Raptors, so uninspiring this season, will get better with him.
"We were still able to win games in spite of him," Mitchell said. "[If he comes around], then think about how good we could be. We could be scary. Him and Chris Bosh are still getting better, and in a year or two, if Andrea becomes what we think he can become, how good do you think we could be?"
"I feel like we have the confidence (to go on a streak) and I know we’re going to play hard and compete," Mitchell said.
"(But) the key is getting enough of our guys consistent. If we can get six, seven guys playing consistent basketball, then you can win six, seven, eight (in a row), because that’s what it takes.
"Two guys playing great is not going to do it. You need that fourth of fifth guy, whether they’re in your starting lineup, or coming off the bench."
Los Angeles-based radio commentator Jim Rome angered Raptors fans last week when he asked Chris Bosh why the fifth-year Raptor didn’t sign with a team in a "major market" last year when he had the chance, suggesting that Toronto was a backwater or something.
"That’s (a perception) we’re always going to have to deal with," Mitchell said. "And so, what you do is, you play. You don’t worry about what they say, you don’t worry about perceptions. And if you win, and keep winning, and you win long enough, you’ll finally get your due. We just won for the first time last year, so we’ve got to keep being consistent and winning games. And when we do that, the recognition will come."
"I don’t get involved in that," Mitchell said. "One, you can’t vote for your own player, and two, what is it about making the all-star team? I know it’s a good individual honour. Do I think Jose would be disappointed? I don’t even think Jose thinks about it. He’s important to us. Jose understands that."
Mitchell believes in … let’s call it all-star que sera. The problem for Calderon is that his inclusion would do nothing for U.S. television ratings. Neither of Calderon’s hometowns, Villanueva de la Serena (Spain), or Toronto (Canada) has an affiliate, so his presence would not boost any ad revenues.
"If he makes it, I’ll be happy, but I don’t even think about that kind of stuff," Mitchell said. "To me, it’s important if your team wins. How does it feel to be an all-star and your team loses? What satisfaction is that? `Well, I got mine. People recognize me. Look at me. I’m doing what I’m supposed to do.’ Team sports is supposed to be about the team winning – together."
If Carlos Delfino can avoid things like two scoreless games that preceded Wednesday’s 15-point outburst in Boston; if Andrea Bargnani can parlay Wednesday’s excellent game into a series of them; and if Chris Bosh, Jose Calderon and Anthony Parker can continue their play of late, those good individual streaks could turn into some extended win streak for the team.
Jan 25th, 2008 at 5:05 pm
First Kelly Dwyer sends me to a site which reportedly had him rolling on the floor laughing, and it turned out to be one of the most un-funny attempts at humor since that white trash guy held up a sign reading “GET A BRAIN MORANS” at a pro-war rally, launching a thousand memes. Now this. The Bill Simmons-lite routine is wearing thin — remarkably, in about two months he’s gone from a must-read for me to a never-read. He’s funny, but there are writers that are funnier. And he points to interesting stats, but there are statheads that point to more interesting ones. It’s gotten old.
Kidd gets a lot of attention because he REBOUNDS? Yeah, that’s what it is: NBA people are just enamored by the process of picking the ball up off the floor. It’s the NBA’s obsession with rebounding that’s killing the sport! No, I’d say Kidd gets the attention because he’s one of about five players that you can drop on any team and see a net improvement (no pun intended). In any situation.
To compare the effect of Kidd and Calderon on the court is just plain wrong. You’re comparing Calderon to one of the top 3 PGs in the game, someone that’s made pretty average players millions and millions of dollars by making them look better than they are, the single most difficult player to coach against other than Kobe Bryant.
Throw out the contracts, and bet everything on a single 7 game series — no past and no future. Which would you rather have? I expect there may be one contrarian or two but perhaps we can wait to see some sustained action before proclaiming someone a 2 month all-star?
Unfortunately, to even respond to Dwyer’s argument almost forces you to belittle Calderon. I’m glad to see my Spanish homie do well, and I hope he does even better. I’d rather have him running my team than Hinrich for sure.
Jan 25th, 2008 at 6:40 pm
so, do you think Kidd has “quit” on the Nets? They are on a serious losing streak with Kidd in the lineup.
Jan 26th, 2008 at 3:44 am
Dave D’Allesandro, who wrote that other story about Kidd in the Star-Ledger, get huge respect from me so I have no reason to doubt him. “Quit” is too strong a word, though, and he tiptoes around that, so the quotation marks are appropriate. In the 94/95 season, I remember Steve Kerr saying the same thing, prior to Jordan sending his fax and leaving baseball behind. Almost the exact same words, too. “This is who we are. We’re mediocre. That’s what being .500 means.”
As painful as being 8-33 must be to Dwyane Wade, think about Kidd’s situation: his team hasn’t been a legit contender in years, probably won’t be until he’s too old to play 35 minutes if everyone stays healthy for once and all of the troubled draftees stay out of jail, but every year he’s expected to robotically act like they’re just a lot of sweat and a lucky bounce away from a championship. They’ve wasted quite a few years of his prime with a basically .500 team (probably .400 or worse with any other PG). It might actually be argued that acquiring Carter was a bad move as it retarded the rebuilding plan that should have been underway. That thar was fool’s gold. And if acquiring him for those various bits of junk wasn’t a bad move, turning him around via trade probably would have been wiser than holding on to and then extending him.
The post-Kidd era would really have me shaking if I was a Net fan. Look at their recent draft picks. Thorn is playing with fire in betting that a veteran lockerroom will mellow them out.