Linkage - Feb 24
"Do I think it can continue to work? Yes I do," said Ford this week, when asked about sharing duties with Calderon. "I think we both continue to make each other better. We set high expectations for one another (and) I think we do a good job supporting one another and I think our relationship is great."
Calderon is a restricted free agent at season’s end and GM Bryan Colangelo has made it known he will match all offers. But the question remains: Will Calderon be content to come off the bench once Ford is healthy? Or, for that matter, will Ford be happy coming off the bench?
Calderon has been asked those questions and his answer has always been that, no matter what, he wants to stay with the Raptors and play alongside Ford.
"The great thing (about Jose and I) is, no one feels threatened,” Ford said. "Nobody feels like somebody is trying to out-do them to take his job or be an a–hole or has ego problems.
"Everybody’s been able to maintain their egos, and I think that’s what kept us afloat."
"We would all like for everyone to come back (next season)," Ford said.
"We’re a close team. But we understand that this is a business and it may or may not be possible.
"From a financial standpoint, they may try to get better in a certain area. I’m not a GM, I haven’t gotten that far yet. But it’s going to be interesting (this summer).
"(As for Calderon), the city of Toronto would love to have him back," Ford said.
"I think he’s been playing tremendous. He’s definitely one of the top point guards in the NBA."
The club’s all-star power forward did say that the loss to New York mainly was the result of his team’s lack of mental toughness. Toronto is a team that has beaten two of the best teams in the NBA (San Antonio and Boston) on their home courts, but then lost games to inadequate squads such as the Knicks and Philadelphia. Bosh said mental toughness is a byproduct of experience.
"I think that mental toughness (when we get it) will put us over the top and help us win games," Bosh said yesterday, following practice. "And that comes with time and experience. We’re just now getting to where we’re playing well at home again. Now we have to play well on the road. And if we just don’t have it some night, we just have to find a way to win."
Raptors GM Bryan Colangelo confirmed yesterday that the club is not interested in picking up Toronto native Jamaal Magloire, who was waived by the New Jersey Nets on Friday.
Head coach Sam Mitchell said there is a chance that centre Primoz Brezec, whom the Raptors acquired in a trade for Juan Dixon on Thursday, will dress and perhaps even play tonight against New York.
So as they gathered to work out yesterday, with Crawford’s 43-point Friday night fresh in their minds and with the same guy coming into the Air Canada Centre tonight, there was a whole lot of remedial defensive work to be done.
"That’s the good thing," said the ever-optimistic Chris Bosh. "We can pinpoint what we have to improve on. Aggressive guys who are trying to put the ball in the hole, I think we have to do a lot better."
As coach Sam Mitchell has said before: "Duh!"
The commonly held opinion would be that a second defender rushing to cover a red-hot shooter would be the way to go. Trouble with that, both Bosh and Mitchell said, is that it leaves the Raptors far too vulnerable in other areas.
While the playoffs are not a certainty, they certainly look good and as long as they figure something out over the course of the next 29 games – and come as close to perfection doing whatever it is they decide to do – they’ll be okay once the post-season rolls around.
It might cost them a game or two between now and then, but as long as they’re getting better, they can live with it.
"For the playoff stretch (drive), we’ve got to be healthy and we have to start being able, when a guy’s going off on us, to make an adjustment on the fly," said Mitchell.
"(Friday) night, the guy started scoring and we were afraid to do what we were taught to do.
"We’re going to keep working on it. It’s something we worked on (yesterday)."
Mitchell, it should be noted, is doing quite well financially coaching the Toronto Raptors, so to be included as a player in a nudge-nudge, wink-wink trade his coaching contract must be terminated and his playing comeback deemed genuine.
So what is Colangelo thinking? Is he thinking Brezec is better than Hump (who already doesn’t get enough minutes) or Rasho? Is he thinking T.J. is so healthy that between him and Darrick Martin why bother keeping the only other guy who can sort of play point? In my mind while this trade was mostly useless, Detroit just upgraded Flip Murray (17 minutes a game) and we just downgraded our backup point guard. Can’t understand this move in the least. If we play the Pistons in the post season it gets even more annoying.
Maybe that explains why they were trying to run Delfino at point guard against the Magic for a bit. Wow, was that ever a disaster! While he didn’t do all that much wrong on the stat sheet, if you watched the game, Delfino is not a point guard. He just doesn’t have the handle or the ability to handle pressure with a quick, smart decision. Repeat: Carlos Delfino plays the point like I play the fiddle. So in summary our backup point guard situation actually managed to just get worse.
My favourite Knicks player to watch was #4. He was only 5ft 9, but he was a feisty little bugger, very nimble, it was like watching a jack Russell terrier taking on a bunch of Great Danes. Since the game started at 7.30pm I was hoping to be out by 9.30pm since D and I had tickets to see Eddie Izzard at the Union Square theater at 10.30pm, but no such luck. It’s amazing how a game that takes only an hour can drag on for 2.5hours. Start, stop, start, stop. Are all those time outs completely necessary? I don’t bloody think so. GET ON WITH IT!!!!!! They waste so much time in these games, if they’re not starting and stopping they’re having marriage proposals at half time. There were two such proposals last night. The first couple were quite glamorous. They were both dressed to the nines and clearly on a special night out in a…um…sweaty sports stadium. Not my idea of a romantic night out, but to each her own, perhaps she’s a big sports fan. She seemed quite taken aback when the camera approached and her boyfriend got down on one knee and proffered her the ring. She nodded and then grabbed him for a full on Hollywood style snog as everyone around them stood and cheered.
The second proposal couldn’t have been more different. The ‘Will You Marry Me’ message appeared briefly on the scoreboard and then cut to an awkward looking guy clumsily thrusting a ring box towards his girlfriend who, looking stunned and embarrassed by the whole thing, grabbed the ring and shoved it on her finger without so much as a glance in the direction of her boyfriend.
Dear Jamario Moon,
You’re a 27 year old rookie in the NBA. After last night, it is crystal clear why. Here’s a bit of free advice: If you want to stay in the NBA, take it to the rack. Let me say it again: TAKE. IT. TO. THE. RACK.
Not once, not twice, but maybe three times a game. Remember, your athleticism is what landed you here in the first place. Because no matter how many jumpers you hit, you are not a shooter. That is not your skill set; more importantly, that is not why you were hired. I’m a fan of yours, really, but games like this make it tough to defend you. Don’t question this. Just do it if you enjoy per diems and TV interviews.
If you won’t listen to Sam, maybe you’ll listen to me. I know it’s a long shot, but to be totally frank, we’ve run out of options. Congrats on your 16 points. I’m so unimpressed.
Signed,
Someone Who Cares
All in all two things are certain about how this Raps season will wind up: 1) the Raps are a lock for the play-offs as either a 4th or 5th seed, where their getting to the second round to meet their fate at the hands of Boston, Detroit or Cleveland depends largely on getting through Orlando (their likely opponent); 2) the Raps were an also-ran team from day one with nothing more than a fluke chance to contend (ie injuries to opposing teams key players, you know guys like Lebron and KG). This is the result of a sub-par core anchored by an inadequate franchise player who would be the second option on a quality team. My frustration with the latter state of affairs can be said to be the source of all my bitterness with Colangelo as he has done nothing to address this issue since taking over, directing instead all his attention to upgrading the supporting cast (with an undeniable eye for chemistry but a mixed record in results – Anthony Parker? Moon? Inspired. Kapono? Rasho? Um, not so much).
Feb 25th, 2008 at 2:20 am
What a quick revenge!!!
http://mundoalbiceleste.blogspot.com/2008/02/elsewhere-around-globe.html