Linkage – July 12
Yesterday, Colangelo signed forward/centre Nathan Jawai to a two-year contract. The Raptors acquired the draft rights to Jawai from the Indiana Pacers. He was the 41st overall selection in this year’s draft.
Colangelo also expanded the coaching staff, hiring Canadian born Gordon Herbert as an assistant in charge of player development.
Herbert, a native of Penticton, B.C., is a former Canadian national team player, who represented Canada at the 1984 Summer Olympics, where the team finished fourth.
After playing at the University of Idaho and pro in Finland for 12 years, Herbert began a long and impressive coaching career in Europe, including stints with the Frankfurt Skyliners, where he won the German League title in 2006.
He also had stints in Paris and Pau Orthezm, whichwon the French Cup in the 2006-07 season. Last season, he coached the Greek team, Aris BC.
Colangelo said the Raptors have been thinking about expanding the coaching staff for a while and Herbert is a good fit with so many international players on the roster, including Andrea Bargnani, Jose Calderon, Jawai and, soon, Roko Ukic.
“He brings us a lot of international experience, and as the game evolves, with more international players, the more expertise we have in that regard is a plus,” Colangelo said. “I’ve been considering doing something with Gordie for a number of years, and this year the timing is right.”
After the Summer League, Jawai will remain in Vegas and attend the Tim Grgurich Big Man’s camp, along with Bargnani.
“He’s a big, strong, raw player right now, but he’ll surprise you with his athleticism,” Colangelo said of Jawai. “He has tremendous upside. He’s a 22-year-old who has shown the ability to score in a variety of ways and he has great quickness and good footwork around the basket.”
Spanish forward Jorge Garbajosa has acknowldeged that both the Los Angeles Lakers and San Antonio Spurs have called to ask about his health and availability.
The 31-year-old Garbajosa, who spent just over a season with the Toroto Raptors, played 67 games in the 2006-07 season, averaging 8.5 points and 4.9 rebounds before suffering a grisly leg and ankle injury that ultimately ended his NBA career.
“I know that they have asked about my situation”, Garbjosa told Spanish media. “I feel very proud of the interest shown in me after sitting around for so long”, admitted Garbajosa.
Garbajosa, quickly became a fan favourite in Toronto for his work ethic and leadership abilities. He will play for Spain at the Beijing Olympics Spain and is expected to play tune-up matches against Croatia, Portugal and Argentina in the next few weeks, and will face Russia on July 20.
A Spanish Television report on his recovery efforts is shown below:
Garbajosa, who says he is sound again, could replace Ronny Turiaf next season. Turiaf signed a four-season, $17-million offer sheet with the Golden State Warriors, and it’s possible the Lakers will not match the offer and retain the restricted free agent.
Garbajosa, 30, could serve as a backup to countryman Pau Gasol, who will shift from center to power forward with the return of center Andrew Bynum from a season-ending left kneecap injury. He averaged 8.5 points and 4.9 rebounds in 67 games with Toronto in 2006-07 after signing with the Raptors as a free agent.
It being mid-summer, with the Leafs giving their fans a Finger, the Raptors signing yet another star player to improve their fortunes and the Blue Jays already talking about next season, here is a question: Why are Toronto professional sports teams so consistently mediocre?
Is it the fluoride in the water? Is it management, the media, the fans? What is it about Toronto and its North American sports teams?
The numbers tell the story, and they invite the question.
Since 1990, the Toronto Maple Leafs have won 631 games and lost 551 for a .534 winning percentage, in one of the hottest and biggest hockey markets in the world.
Since 1990, the Toronto Blue Jays have won 1,445 games and lost 1,405, for a winning share barely over .500. Remove those two glorious World Series of 1992 and 1993 – yes, Toronto teams can win championships, they just don’t do it very often – and the Jays would be way under .500.
Since entering the National Basketball Association, the Toronto Raptors have won 421 games and lost 605. Take away the first three dismal seasons for the expansion Raptors, and the team’s record is still a losing one: 354 victories, 426 defeats.
The city’s teams have therefore been average to mediocre across the three sports for the better part of two decades. They haven’t won a championship in 15 years, and none is close to winning one soon. The Leafs and Blue Jays have been getting worse, at least in the short term.
What’s going on?
Who knows, but maybe it’s because Toronto is so rich that the franchises can make money no matter how mediocre the product. If Leaf fans had actually stayed away from Maple Leaf Gardens or the Air Canada Centre, maybe, just maybe, alarm bells would have rung in the executive suites.
Maybe Toronto’s problem is not a lack of money, but a surfeit of it.
Toronto fans are so, well, forgiving. A team such as the Leafs or Blue Jays would be hooted out of their arenas night after night in, say, Philadelphia or Boston or New York. Those fans are tough, rude and very, very demanding. Toronto fans, by contrast, are very, very nice, at least to their mediocre teams. To paraphrase Leo Durocher, maybe teams of nice fans finish last.
Toronto sports executives sometimes bemoan what they claim to be a tough news media environment. Yes, there are lots of media outlets in Toronto. A few occasionally can be tough, although they have a full-time Leafs cheerleader on the public broadcaster’s Coach’s Corner. But you want tough? Read the Philly or Boston sports pages. Or New York tabs.
Teams such as the Leafs or Raptors, owned largely by a pension plan, hardly offer a recipe for inspired leadership. As long as the profits flow, who at the top really cares?
O’Neal’s addition should instantly bolster team-defence and aid in the development of Andrea Bargnani.
Again, barring any injury concerns, this move could pay huge dividends for Toronto and instantly makes them a legit threat in the East.
The other big move for Toronto was the re-signing of point-guard, Jose Calderon to a reported five-year deal, somewhere in the ballpark of $40 million. While my stance remains consistent that T.J. Ford is the better point guard, I have faith in Calderon as a starter and feel he could be an All-Star as early as the upcoming season or next. Speaking for everyone though, I would like to see Jose improve his defensive skills.
The big factor of this decision (to pick one point guard over the other) will be evident in the locker room as well as on the court. With the distraction of the point-guard controversy now behind them, the team can focus solely on the task at hand. As well, there should be no more reports of bad chemistry due to any sort of controversy. That is something we can all rejoice in, no matter who we preferred at the point.
One thing I will say, however, on the topic of Jose and T.J. is that the majority of fans in Toronto never realized how good they had it. Two point guards on the same team who could probably average double-double statistics, given starter’s numbers.
(audio) Hassan Adams Interview
There are two primary new-age shooting metrics worth noting. The first is Effective Field-Goal Percentage [eFG%= (FGM + .5*3FGM)/FGA]. This is sometimes also referred to as Adjusted Field Goal Percentage. This measures shooting efficiency by accounting for the number of points a player produces per field goal attempt. Its basic intention is to adjust the standard Field Goal Percentage measure to consider the importance and difficulty of three-point shooting. In laymen terms, it makes Jason Kapono’s threes more valuable than Dwight Howard’s dunks.
The second, and in my opinion more important, APBRmetric to consider True Shooting Percentage (TSP= PTS/[2*(FGA + [.44*FTA]). This statistic calculates a player’s shooting percentage as a single measure, accounting not just for field goals and three-pointers but free throws as well. This measure takes the principle behind Effective Field-Goal Percentage one step further by factoring in free throws. This is critical given how important free throws become late in games and the relative inability of most players to hit from the line consistently. It attempts to assess a player’s overall shooting valuation, since it considers all facets of their shooting ability.
So, which teams make the grade given these new measures? And how different does the list of top shooting teams look compared to when using standard Field Goal Percentage? Below are lists of the Top Eight Teams based on Field Goal Percentage, Effective Field Goal Percentage and True Shooting Percentage.
Toronto Raptors vs the Sacramento Kings
Joey Graham and Josh Lucas the III will find themselves on the same court again today since leaving Oklahoma State. They will be apart of a Raptors team that includes former Memphis guard Sean Banks, Rod Benson and Joel Bosh brother of Raptors start Chris Bosh. The Kings have several names on the roster that people might recognize. Quincy Douby should be one of the best players in the back court for the KIngs. The team has an slew of big men that came work the paint in Sheldon Williams, Spencer Hawes, Jason Thompson and Lawerence Roberts. Patrick Ewing Jr, the Kings second round pick, is also on the roster.
(video) 1-on-1 With Jose Calderon part 1 part 2
Jose, I’m gonna be honest. When you’ve been on the floor the last few years, the thought “I’m watching a starting NBA point guard” just hasn’t occurred to me. But that’s ok, I’d love to be wrong.
Garbo… just damn. Still hurts.
- More Complicated Than A Wheelbarrow
(video) Chris Bosh on Jermaine O’Neal
The Georgia Ice won the 12-and-under AAU Girls’ Basketball National Championship this afternoon in Rochester. It was a special moment for one of its coaches — former NBA player Antonio Davis, who never won a ring as a player.
The same goes for former pro Dee Brown, who coaches the Orlando Edge. The two are former teammates in the NBA, and share something else in common — they both coach their daughters.
Dee Brown played 12 seasons in the league. Antonio Davis sported an NBA jersey for 13 years. The two were teammates for a season in 1999 with the Toronto Raptors.
“We had crazy coaches, we played with Vince Carter and Tracy McGrady at the same time so we just talked about all the things that we learned and after all that, here we are, coaching 12-year-old girls,” Davis says.
A few years after their retirements, both Brown and Davis are now coaching their daughters’ AAU teams, for different reasons.
“Teach things that I’ve learned over the last 25 years from all the great players I’ve played against, or coaches that I’ve played for, just trying to take some of that stuff that I got and give these girls that opportunity at an early age so they’ll be prepared for high school and college,” Brown says.
“Learning how to be a better coach, a better dad, a better parent. Just being able to be with my daughter — which is something that I missed out on for 12, 13 years — really allows me to get back into their lives and keep forming that bond,” says Davis.
Davis says the adjustment from the NBA to AAU is a little difficult.
“You have to always keep in mind that they are 12- and 13-year-old little girls and you can’t be so abrasive sometimes, you have to be a little bit more supporting and understanding and making sure that you’re patient with them,” Davis says.
Brown says the hardest part is defining that line between coach and parent.
“You don’t want to be a dad in the middle of a game, with three minutes left and you’re down two, you have to be a coach. But you don’t want to be that mean coach and everybody’s looking at you going, ‘oh, he’s mean to his daughter, he doesn’t even care’,” says Brown.
Brown coached the WNBA team in Orlando and says he’d consider becoming a coach in the NBA down the road. Davis says the travel of the NBA schedule deters him from coaching in the pros. He says he’ll more likely coach at a local high school.
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