1M Olympics

First of all, lets make no mistake about it - the necessary improvement with this Raptors team needs to come on the defensive end. It’s really too bad that they could not continue playing very well together as a group, as they were before the All-Star break. On both ends the concentration and focus was there before. Now these guys are looking like complete strangers again. There is too much looking for one guy to create stops, rather than to be a part of five guys all adding to the effectiveness of the defense from the point of attack to securing the rebounds.

Yet as much as the defense is a sore spot, I still find the way they play on the offensive end to be a part of the problem. The shot selection, and the way that shots are settled for without making the opposing defenses work, leads to a whole lot of transition points going the other way. The play on the offensive end mirrors what happens on the defensive end. There’s just not a great idea of what each guy needs to be doing to add to the sum of the parts. There is a positive trend towards driving to the basket and scoring in the paint. It’s nice to see that they do not need to be defined as a jump shooting team. But there are also many negatives in that trend. There is so much rushing involved in trying to get the ball inside. The entry passes are forced and all-too-often to the other team. The drives are often forced as well, not originating from any openings, but rather just heading into multiple defenders with no sense of exploiting any options. It’s no wonder that there ends up being so many turnovers and so many less-than-optimal shots taken.

In the end, opposing defenses only require the simplest of schemes to gain momentum in games. Defend the paint. That’s it. Let the Raptors continue to try to force plays into a crowd. And let them settle for the odd outside jumper that will have a good chance of leading to a head start the other way. The Raptors lack range. They do not have anyone that wants to shoot for the big score from the outside. Bargnani has all but completely lost his touch from long-distance. Jose needs to get a boost of confidence before he is willing to unveil his antler-revue. Wright and Jack have trouble making up their minds as to whether they will be ready to shoot or drive. And so defenses just don’t have to work very hard. The Raptors still get their points, but they come from an awful lot of effort from a lot of guys that need to be putting the bulk of their efforts in on the defensive end. There is a lot of scrambling to get close to the basket without rhyme or reason. Instead of an inside-out game, there’s just a lot of looking for space inside that isn’t there. So, they start with a deficit of long-range threats, and then end-up needing to change their shots from point-blank range. Pretty much everyone has missed multiple layups in this extended stretch of ineffective play. Poor Demar doesn’t miss as much as he just gets shots blocked and his ass drilled into the floor. With defenses laying in wait, and so few openings created, there are not a lot of trips to the free throw line. The way the the Raptors are playing right now just allows for bad teams to equalize opportunities and go on runs, and good teams to dominate.

It would all be great if these guys were in training for the 1 Meter Olympiad; you know - where people of any shape, size or ability throw on the tight body suits and wait for the starter’s gun. No matter what your athletic skills overall, it’s going to be a close call at the finish. Mind you the 1M Olympics would be far more entertaining than the Raptors are right now. I could go for watching a lot of lunging on skates and skis. Swimming would consist of contests to see who makes contact with the bottom of the pool first. The 4×1M hurdle relay would be something to watch.

But back in the real world the playoffs are either approaching or falling from their grasp. Either way, they need to get Bosh and Turkoglu incorporated in an offense that brings some rhythm and flow and free throw attempts back into games, while allowing guys like Jarrett Jack, Antoine Wright, Reggie Evans, and Amir Johnson to save a lot more for defense.

Ultimately though, assuming that they are going to find the right balance again and make it into the playoffs, they are going to need to find some range. The teams at the top of the standings are going to turn games into three point contests if they can. They are going to push things out further out on the perimeter, and if Toronto goes back to forcing the ball inside they will have no hope. They are going to have to at least establish a modest threat from long-range and make defenses put in some work to take some outside options away. The more the Raptors work on their 1M competitions, the more they help opposing teams race the full distance in transition. If they are going to make the playoffs, they better at least look like they belong there, in the real deal, and not in some mock version that someone who isn’t getting out enough, like myself, might have just made up while lying on the couch.

Yet Another Corner to Get Around

It seemed like it happened already. There was Andrea Bargnani, playing some very nice help defense, blocking shots, playing with energy, bringing home a win with Bosh out of the lineup. Cue Colangelo blathering on about the man’s greatness to a couple of puckhead radio guys. Jay was doing a great job with Bargnani. Andrea was understanding what he could do out there, establishing himself in this league and becoming the player they had all imagined when he was picked at number one. He had definitely turned the corner.

Well, around every corner is another corner. Andrea has shown what he can do. Now he needs to do it with some consistency. Against sub-par teams, and in home games, it’s hard not to be happy with his game. Against stiffer competition, particularly while on the road, the drop-off is dramatic. There is no reason for this team to lose three games in a row, with or without Bosh. But if Bargnani fails to bring any energy to games, then the losing streak could seem endless. He becomes a 7-foot barrier to success. Colangelo goes in hiding. Jay Triano looks like the main character in a Lost spinoff series.

Nobody knows this better than my pal Mochi, the recently neutered wonder-poodle. He pays close attention to all of my bellowing as he follows the squeaky-shoe-goings-on. For some time he looked to be convinced that the name of the guy wearing number 7 was Fuck-Yes. He sees the number 7 and hears “FUCK YES!” again and again. Mochi starts to really like this Fuck-Yes guy. It’s all high-fives and hugs, and when Devlin does his Snickers promo, and I direct my own “get some nuts” at the wonder-poodle himself, it’s like I’m laughing with him, and not at him.

But then confusion starts to settle in for poor Mochi. Is this a different number 7? An imposter? Because now his name seems to be Killme, and this Killme guy brings an entirely different vibe. “Get some nuts” sounds so dark and sinister as to provoke a little bit of nervous retching and a barf stain of the carpet.

There are 82 games in the schedule. Can we please just get the same guy wearing number 7 in each of them? Is that too much to ask? Can they do it for Mochi?

Last night in OKC, the guy was floating through half of the third quarter before he had registered a single rebound for the entire game. I was waiting for Devlin to tell a story about how Marco chose the number zero, because that is how many rebounds he expected his compatriot to register on most nights. And then he finally grabs one, although grab is not the right word. Rebound number one comes when he makes no effort to box out Nick Collison, but the ball comes off long, over Collison’s outstretched hands, and bounces on the floor before Bargnani decides he might as well reach out and get it. KILL ME!

Now some will be disappointed that he didn’t get a lot of shots. But let’s be clear here - the team should not be required to make something happen for Andrea Bargnani. Il Mago should be making something happen for the team, and the team can take it from there. If he decides to be part of this team then good things will happen for him. The touches and shots and scoring will come when he brings some energy and impacts the game by being an active seven-footer instead of a seven-foot pile of sludge that sees Jeff Green driving in from the perimeter, but manages to do nothing but stand to one side and wave his arm in Green’s direction. Green comes in from the right means waving the right arm. Green coming in from the left means waving the left arm. And if a step or two is taken to help out, then forget about rotating back to your man Andrea, just wave one arm and then another. Presto! You’re a magician right? Why do you have that look on your face that seems to want to be able to just make the whole state of Oklahoma disappear? Wave an arm and make it happen, or bring a wand next time.

Now I’m completely with my pal Mochi in wanting the real magic to return. Bring back the high fives. It’s time to see some of that much ballyhooed accountability in action. If it looks like Andrea is going to play a solid five minutes and not a second more, then sit him down. I’m all for him playing through some mistakes, but only if those mistakes require a pulse. Make him pay the price for not bringing a consistent effort, instead of making the team, me, and Mochi pay the price. Force him to turn that final corner and make the magic real and reliable.

When your seven-footer looks like he’s waving a white flag early on, it’s hard to miss. There are 82 games, and there are none left in this schedule that can allow for anymore of that. It’s time for the big man to turn that final corner - making something positive happen anytime he’s on the floor - before this team can head down the stretch into the playoffs, and feel like they can compete anytime against anybody.

Confidence

If you’ve seen the greatest of all Elvis movies, and surely you have, then you’ll know of the song Confidence. It comes in the pivotal moment of Clambake where Elvis needs to sing a song, and some ugly kid needs help in being convinced to slide down a slide in the playgorund. So Elvis sings:

with a C and an O and an N and a F and an I and a D and an “ents” - put ‘em all together and you’ve got confidence!

The song owes much to Sinatra’s High Hopes as imagined by a von Trapps tribute act, with instrumental interludes of children’s songs as though interpreted by Aaron Copeland, thrown in for good measure. It’s truly beautiful. To top everything off, Elvis takes a basketball with rainbow-colored panels, and sinks a one-handed shot like he was a pre-gun-toting Agent Zero. The video should be played in the Raptors locker room before every game. Just for the heck of it.

Confidence is what has been on display as of late, more than just high hopes, and it’s getting the job done. It is one of the key elements of team play that has been lacking over the last couple of seasons. It’s the sort of thing that made it particularly hard for Chris Bosh to carry the team very far. At the same time it might have taken his dedication to improving his strength, as much as the overhaul of the roster, to make all those letters fit together. When he got more immense, the team found more con-fi-dence. That means getting stops when absolutely necessary, and making clutch shots to get the job done at the end. When it comes to owning fourth quarters this team is doing it on both ends of the court. Jack and Wright are nailing threes, Bosh and Hedo are getting to the line, offensive boards are there to be grabbed, and Bargnani is providing weak side help and swatting the shots of opponents. In the last 25 games, they have only been outscored 5 times, and have allowed more than 25 points in fourth quarters only seven times. None of that stuff is cheesy enough to be in Clambake, but it’s pretty good all the same.

Where does it come from? Having some legs to finish games. Where they ran into trouble in the past, they often ran up a pretty good score for themselves early on, but didn’t always have enough eft to run back so well, then found themselves unable to get back in transition at all in second halves, and just had no way to respond on either end in fourth quarters. Now they are running much more sensibly. No more running down the court in unison just to hurry up and run a half-court offense. Instead they have one guy leaking out at the right times, a rebounder getting the outlet pass off in a hurry, and a fairly effort-free fast break with actual scoring involved. When the leakouts aren’t there to be exploited and they decide to run off a rebound or turnover, they run with the clear intent of scoring on the break, whether they have numbers or not. No more running like mad just to pull up behind the arc and assess what kind of coverage the opposing team managed to put together, and then rushing plays to take advantage of the slightest mismatch. A break on it’s own puts the defender on their heels and provides enough of a mismatch to at least try to exploit. They do still need to get better at finishing in those instances, since missed layups in those cases almost always lead to easy transition points the other way. But I’d say the overall effectiveness with less energy expended, is better than when they would pull up on breaks and rush passes that would lead to turnovers. And the overall effect is fresher legs to defend in the fourth quarter, even in back-to-back games.

Teams that sense they can get stops tend to be better at making big shots in the clutch. There’s less choking, because there is a fallback position in working to get a stop on the other end. D’Antoni’s teams in Phoenix maybe didn’t need that fallback position to have some success, but it was still something they could have used in the playoffs over the years, when some uncharacteristic choking on shots could be seen on display. Colangelo’s early support of Triano seemed to be based on the idea of bringing D’Antoni’s don’t-worry-be-happy environment into play here. Thankfully he has stepped back from that and now credits the coaches taking a position of “being there for the players” while also “getting on them” and holding them accountable, as a big part of the turnaround. I would say that the stubborn position taken by Triano with regards to any changes early on, fell by the wayside at the same time. Stuff that wasn’t working simply wasn’t working - accountability went both ways.

I like to think that Alvin Williams provides much of the accountability that flows in both directions. His words at the fateful meeting of December 4 have been noted by Antoine Wright. Alvin’s career began for real when Lenny Wilkens showed confidence in the tough-minded point guard, and that confidence was properly built upon. Maybe he was the perfect guy to have in the room to bridge multiple gaps and give everyone a sense of what was needed to create a team that gives itself a chance to win with what looks like confidence - that thing that had been missing for too long.

Now there are false hopes that lead olympians to cry when they fail to make medals materialize, and there is false confidence that leads a team to fail to take care of all of the details now and again. That false confidence is part of what happened against Memphis. Everything was going to script, but they had relied too heavily on Bosh’s scoring throughout, and then thought that they had done enough to win down the stretch when 34 seconds were still there to tick off on the clock. That game needs to stay in the heads of the players and the coaches, because taking care of all the details is going to be a necessary friend of confidence as the schedule gets a little tougher right about now. They have responded well to the Memphis loss, and found that confidence, and staying in games mentally right to the end, can carry them even without Chris Bosh. Now they need to put everything together to win at a good clip over the final stretch, and try to secure home court for the playoffs.

In the meantime if you haven’t seen Clambake, check out the Confidence song here -
watch?v=F3fpmxQHKhk

Post-Valentine Heart

At the time of writing this, I’m getting anticipatory feelings about real basketball action resuming, and thinking about what the Raptors need to finish the season strong. And I think it’s going to come down to heart. As simple as that. Well, actually finding a consistent three-point threat woudn’t hurt. But heart is going to be a big part of the equation.

What does that entail exactly? It’s hard to say. Those damn Yankees needed miles and miles and miles of it. What kind of tremendous poetic imagery is that? They don’t write songs like that anymore. It makes me think of a terrible mess of roadkill though, so I guess it’s a good thing they don’t. But what better way to describe the impact of heart? It’s a tough one, and although I’m tempted to drink some Sprite in order to come up with flourishes that would make a Jack Kerouac sit in the center of his own universe and cry at the beauty of it all, I suspect the Sprite trick works about as well as the dunk contest ended up.

We know it when we see it. It was mostly heart that allowed us to think that the Houston Rockets could take down the Lakers and anybody else, as if they still had the same not-to-be-underestimated hearts of the champion Rockets of the previous decade. It was heart that allowed Paul Pierce to win the three-point shooting contest, and it was heart that couldn’t keep him from proclaiming to be one of the best shooters in history (or maybe the Sprite worked for him). It was heart that had Reggie Evans working all winter in the pool with his mammoth water-wings. And now it is the stuff that this team needs to make their current hot streak something more.

Some heart was gained when Chris Bosh recognized that he is not allowed to have any off-games, or the excuses that trail behind every one of those. That was a big part of what took him to another level - heart and some extra pounds of muscle - and now there are signs that the team is following along the same lines. Some heart was gained when Jarrett Jack moved into the starting lineup and found a role where he could mesh and lead on both ends of the court. Some heart was gained when Antoine Wright didn’t push for minutes when he wasn’t healthy enough to be effective, and then worked hard to get his shot working once he could be effective (and those threes are going to be as big as the injection of heart). Some heart was gained when Andrea Bargnani pumped his fist and celebrated with a team that no longer stood a little bit apart from him. You can feel it in the air. There is a living, breathing heart to this team.

Teams without heart do not win games before and after Christmas, or before and after the All-Star break. This team needs to beat Memphis to take care of all of those situations and demonstrate to themselves that there are absolutely no games that they will let slip away. Before now, it was a case of not being able to afford to lose such games. Now they are six games above the .500 mark that they worked to reach for so long. There could be a sense of satisfaction and a sense of some leeway gained. But they need to show the heart that they have gained instead.

Then they need to look at the teams ahead of them, and like Houston last season, simply not allow themselves to think they will lose against the elite. If Hedo’s heart is in it like it seldom has so far, and a few other role players evolve into consistently effective pieces, then they will have every right to put their accumulated heart on display. And going into the playoffs in such a state will mean everything to what is finally decided between Bosh and Colangelo, whether they win or lose. The proper display of heart will mean everything this time around. Fine-tuning it into the heart of a champion would be the next task at hand. Are you ready to supply a little oxygen?

Boshtown

Chris Bosh makes it a homecoming while enjoying the All-Star weekend in Dallas. But with what he’s been saying of late, it seems that his heart lies back here in Toronto. He’s been talking about recruiting other players, and letting them know what the city has to offer, and he doesn’t appear to see that as a major challenge. Of course winning would help that whole process along nicely. So let’s hope that continues to happen, and the current culture around the whole team takes root enough to lure in some more talent into Bosh’s long, welcoming arms.

But how does Bosh get past the perceived notion that he’s in the Great White North where all that really matters is hockey and curling? How does he get over not being in the USA himself? Hears how he puts things in a pretty nice perspective -

“It is a hockey town, but they know what basketball is. They cheer when the ball goes in, and when we win they cheer even more. It’s a pretty simple game. People follow basketball all over the world. So for people who say its a hockey town, its getting a little old.”

What really screams out at me in those words, is his expressing a basketball connection to the rest of the world. He’s travelled all over the world as a basketball player over the last few years. There’s been a training camp in Italy and Spain, Team USA commitments in China, Japan, a trip to Jose Calderon’s camp in Spain. He’s seen the world, and maybe feels that much more connected to the world while in Toronto, even while being a little less connected to the US.

And he’s reached a stage where he’s confident enough that he can look past any sense of being a little isolated from regular US media attention. He wants a team built around him, and not to have to defer to someone else when it comes to making players better. He can do that here while putting out his DVDs, and with some more winning, getting plenty of attention south of the border.

But winning is going to be the most important part of the puzzle. He can’t just be Chris Bosh and make everything golden. He needs to be Chris Bosh of a Toronto Raptor team that accomplishes something, and looks to continue to cash in on a promising future right here. Jay Triano needs to demonstrate that his relationship with Bosh is important enough to making that happen, to the point where Bosh feels that not only can he make him a better player, but that he can make it possible to make everyone around him progressively better, while real stability over the next four years provides consistent gains year after year. Bosh has seen how hard sudden change can be for any free agent, and he has seen how teams like Atlanta, Orlando, Denver and Utah have grown in a fairly stable environment over time.

A deal still has to be done, along with the winning, so I don’t want to get ahead of myself as a fan, or have Chris Bosh get ahead of himself as a player. It’s just that this is the first time in 15 years where I have felt some degree of confidence that this team can reach a level where winning gets a little easier and the hard work can be applied to some really lofty goals. And if Bosh feels anything like that, then maybe he realizes what kind of a chance he has to help build something that lasts, and to stand as a pillar of a successful NBA team. I like how grounded he has been, and how able to weather all the ups and downs he has become. For him to go somewhere else and defer to a Wade or a Lebron or whoever, would just be a shame. It feels like his time is coming while the US media has suggested for so long that he’s in danger of wasting time on a bad team, or as a franchise player that can’t quite fill such a role. If he keeps on working he can show the US media that this game belongs to the whole world, and that he can define his role in that world quite aptly.

The Message

Mr. Colangelo put together a little message that was sent out to all the major media outlets last week. He said something a little different from “it’s like a jungle sometimes, it makes me wonder how I keep from going under”, although he did point out that he was close to going there early in the season when the schedule was tough. But pointing at the tough schedule “wasn’t an excuse, it was a reality” Keepin’ it real Bryan. Keepin’ it real fo sho. And what a great way to make excuses without making excuses.

The biggest part of his message had to be this line: “I’m talking about not only a tweak, but in a big deal, we’re going to be a buyer, not a seller.”

My question is - who is this message directed at? Is it a message meant be heard loud and clear by all the pushers and pimps, those being the sad GM’s of teams in financial hardship? Is he meaning to make them very aware that the Raptors are ready to look at offers even if Bosh is off the table? Or is the message meant mainly for Chris Bosh himself? Is this supposed to keep him feeling a sense of affirmation in the process of a team being built here, no matter what Colangelo is able to get done in the upcoming few days? Is it actually just all about putting a spin on any moves that might get made, so the hardcore fans can feel less of a shock when a favorite player heads the other way in a big deal? Is he just making sure there is no panic over interpretations regarding whether he’s given up on signing Bosh or adding to the core any further when a significant piece or pieces leave town? And then looking at how he brings it all into a context that equates with what Brian Burke did with the Leafs, is his main purpose to let the hockey fans of this town know that their team has been attended to and will not be asked to suffer while the basketball side of operations makes their gains?

All of the above? Probably. It’s reminiscent of how Shakespeare threw in the odd lewd joke, a little action, a few hints at what the Queen might have liked to think served her political agenda, all wrapped up in poetics and a greater awareness of the human condition. So there’s a little something for everyone. All he needs is a video with the Furious Five and he’s really got something there. Maybe that comes when something actually happens. And that’s the final question. Does anything actually happen? Or do we get told about realities again?

It’s kinda put me on edge. Bryan’s put some nice thoughts out there that sound like a vague promise, and he’s covered all the bases in terms of how the actions that are to follow get perceived. So what happens? Will he be solving the riddle of two point guards playing 25 minutes each a night? Will he be sending Turkoglu to a welcoming Adelman who lacks playmakers aside from the speedy Brooks, or to an Eddie Jordan that might like the chance to use Hedo in a Princeton offense that he has been forced to abandon? Was the fresh display of energy in Madison Square Garden the result of Hedo auditioning for someone he would rather play for, with a role big enough to suit his ego? Will the smallish expiring contracts bring anything back this way?

I’m just trying not to lose my head over it all, and hoping above all, that if something gets done, it serves defensive priorities above all else. But he didn’t exactly offer any hints in that direction. If that’s not to be the case, then I’m personally fine with standing pat right now.

Palindrome: the day before the day after

So I wake up and see that it’s 0102 2010. Same backwards and forwards. All those twenties and tens are nice to look at huh? I vaguely recall something about 2010 that had everyone’s interest for so long, but it’s not quite taking shape. Oh it’s there in my memory bank, but it’s not taking shape in reality as so many suggested for so long. 2010 is all about the twenties and the tens and little else, with 10 wins being the nicest of them all to look at.

With this palindrome day being followed up with Groundhog Day, I just have to applaud the backwards and forwards consistency of Chris Bosh. When Tim Duncan retires, I hope that Charles Barkley will be able to continue using the term to describe CB4. And I hope that he can still call him a Toronto Raptor, and that 10 win months keep piling up. This Groundhog Day is one that can be repeated over and over, gladly, from my vantage point. As long as he leads this team to the strong showing that seems all but apparent before the break, and continues to help the team improve right into the playoffs, then I think Chris Bosh and the Toronto Raptors have a good starting point to make the backwards/forwards equation of BC+CB equal continued success.

Meet the new Bosh - not the same as the old Bosh, even though the numbers, all those twenties and tens, are pretty similar. The added strength we’ve seen this season allows him to make better use of both hands while finishing at the rim, provide a sturdier inside presence on defense (that was him, on a so-so night, making a big impact with Kobe and maybe hurting him enough to impact that last shot), and stay in control without expending a ton of extra energy. He has more than one or two gears now. It’s not all about working his ass off just to get knocked to the ground. It’s not about making a million moves before losing his balance or letting the ball slip away. That improved center of gravity means everything, and it has become most noticeable in how deftly he controls rebounds with either hand. On offensive boards that usually means two points, and maybe a freethrow as well. On the defensive end, it means quick outlets to start the break and convert on stops. He is effecting the flow of games positively this season and it all starts with his steady base, where before he was all too often sprawled out in a heap.

And it looks like he is going to be able to maintain that strength through the season and beyond, and then hopefully add to it a bit again in the offseason. He has not been going to the line as much lately, but the whistles have not been blowing all that much in general in recent games either. Instead of the freethrows, we are seeing the assists go up. So those touches that once brought foul calls, are getting more touches and scoring chances for his teammates. And that goes hand in hand with what looks like an improved understanding of what it takes to win. It’s become quite evident that he needs to make the players around him better just as consistently as he can get his own numbers. That’s where his value lies, and if he continues to get the results here, then it has to look good for the results to continue on past 2010. He’s seen how difficult it can be to adjust to new surroundings. He need look no further than the guy across the locker room muttering BALL. The stability that his new strength has brought to his game can be turned into some stability right here, where a true team can be allowed to flourish. There are still guys here, including himself, with room to grow further, and so far the new winning environment is making that happen. If that continues to develop, and MLSE spends enough of the MLE, then whereas he might not attain the overall greatness of Duncan’s groundhog day resume, let’s at least call him “the day after” and head into the spring on good terms year after year.

Making Waves

Are we actually lucky to be Raptor fans?

Remember how awful and unfortunate it was to get the number one pick a year before the number one pick was going to be Greg Oden? I mean people were happy enough, but hoping Colangelo could trade down all the same, while ultimately envying the number one pick that was still a year away from eligibility. Maybe we all should have just been very happy and left it at that, because as things turn out, our guy has turned out pretty good, while the other guy that was supposed to set the world on fire has turned fewer heads then that crazy old man singing Pants on the Ground on American Idol. Oh - and there he is missing another season with his own pants on the ground, and surely happy now that Apple has come out with a tablet, because the Oden Penis app just wasn’t going to be properly handled by your regular iPhone.

And not only is our pick turning into a unique, consistent performer on both ends of the court, but he’s doing it with a pretty good team around him. Some young players make a name for themselves with a bunch of chuckers and fillers around them, and they often look out for themselves to the point where any promising talent that emerges on their team withers away. Bargnani gets better as the team around him gets better. We all wanted him to give the team that boost that would make the difference in the win column. But he simply needs to find his way through games as the talent around him allows.

So, I’m starting to understand what he means by just needing his minutes. It’s not the usual demand for more me time. It’s just what he needs to patiently pick and choose his spots and take advantage of different aspects that he brings to the game. He’s riding the waves, and he needs to be able to catch the right swells during high tides to make the most impact.

And the team is providing some pretty good waves right now. Andrea’s arrival as the number one pick did not bring the kind of immediate dividends as a Duncan provided to the Spurs, but he’s got his own twin tower that is quite a lot younger than the Admiral, and hopefully around for some time yet. And Bosh is sacrificing his own minutes and numbers in respect for Bargnani, as the two of them now basically share the role of being the primary option on offense. They are more and more in sync, and getting results that promise to someday get near what the Spurs’ big men could do together. And the sacrifices continue on down the roster, with Jack and Calderon splitting minutes, bench players accepting their roles, and with Hedo maybe even getting over not being in Orlando. The whole culture of the team is starting to head in a very good, Spurs-like direction, wherin a guy like Duncan could thrive. Hell we might even be taking that next step in the process, with the other guy from Italy bringing some of the promise of a young Ginobili.

Maybe they don’t win that trophy right now. Maybe they don’t ever. But if they can keep improving internally, and building, and then competing for the same length of time as the team of the decade, I have to consider myself lucky as a fan. No more waiting for that one magical player picked in the lottery that is going to turn garbage into gold. No more lottery. Just a serious team in every sense of the word, able to play as a team year after year, and give themselves a chance to taste greatness together. That’s a fun thing to see. I really hope I’m seeing some of that now.

Dog Days

These are the dog days of the NBA. Legs getting heavy. Effort needed as much as sheer talent. And leadership comes into play. If the Raptors can summon up the determination they showed here against the Bucks, then they should be able to take advantage of their schedule right up to the break. And they really need to if they want to hit the final stretch well-positioned. Teams like Charlotte and Chicago are playing well, and the Heat might get on a roll with the addition of Rafer. Hopefully the dog days will not be as kind to those guys as they can be for our guys.

The big dog that the team needs to get into the hunt, is obviously Hedo. Is he missing the incessant barking and howling of Stan Van? Now there’s a voice that auto-tune cannot fix! But maybe it’s the voice that keeps on calling Hedo. Ever since sitting to end the game in Cleveland, he looks a little more ready to just fight through a sustained stretch and worry a little less about his role. Jarrett Jack went through such a spell himself, although without quite the threat of being embarrassed as a professional, and now that he’s found the dog within himself again, he’s just the right guy to help Hedo through this. You can see him being supportive, and it doesn’t just begin and end with his relationship with Hedo, or his former college roommate. A team is coming together, and he’s doing a lot of the lifting when it comes to getting the foundation in place.

I love how Jack is always ready to lead through his own example. Demar runs into a brick wall named Shaq, and Jack is there to pick him off the ground and get on him to do it again. Then Jack does it himself and the rookie comes over with a worried look. That’s when you can read Jack’s lips as he says, “kinda hurts, doesn’t it?”

Jack makes everything work for his coach as well. It looks like the two have formed a bond of sorts. That allows Triano to actually think on the fly a little bit, and really show his pedigree as a basketball mind, because he knows he not only has a guy that will implement and execute, but a guy that will lead the whole pack and be the coach on the floor. If belief reinforces belief among pg and coach, that can make up for what either of them might be lacking as individuals.The results are typically better at home than on the road, with Jack’s grittiness and Triano’s feel coming more to the fore, but with loads of home games in this stretch of dog days, there lies yet another advantage.

And then it’s going to be all about that final stretch. Hopefully the little bit of grittiness that has come along the way will get them rolling when they’ll be needing to the most. Will they have any changes to the cast as the trade deadline looms? Is Bosh going to maintain the added weight and strength? Will Bargnani continue to grow as a player? Will Triano continue to grow as a coach? And what will Turkoglu bring to the equation? Will the break and the lighter schedule be all he needs, or is he going to need a full off-season? Or is it all mental? Does he just need to work through the shock of being lowballed by the Magic last summer and move on?

There are plenty of questions in these dog days, and those surrounding Hedo are the most troublesome, while pointing toward some hopeful musings if they can be answered in a positive manner. RF’s own Clingrap put it all in a good perspective with these comments - I’m still concerned about his shot and lift. he’s got nothing right now. he’s backrimming so many shots because his legs aren’t in the shot. i love the effort. i love the hustle. but i think that’s the extra, not the norm in a more suitable situation. he’s here to score and playmake and make shots.
he’s not an energy guy. he’s brought in to be a game changer and if we’re going to rely on his hustle to change games then we’re in trouble.

I’ll be watching with my trusty pup Mochi at my side. He’s wearing a cone right now after having his nuts removed. They never descended, and the vet had to search right up to the area around his kidneys to find the damn things. I try to console him, playing the Jarrett to his Hedo, explaining how I had the big V performed upon my own precious parts. “There may not be much sack on the dog”, I tell him, “but there’s still plenty of dog in the sack”. Yeah. Mochi doesn’t get it either.

Winning Big

Remember before Bosh was selected in ‘03, how badly the Toronto Raptors needed some credible, functional, viable size? Things might have even bottomed out completely in Bosh’s first season, when he played C with a banged up knee and a skinny frame, and there was no other real size to be had outside of the “Banger Brothers”. After that we saw the arrival of the Haffanator, who seemed like an evolutionary twist on the Huffman-Huffamazing. Actually the whole collection of bigs throughout the first half of the decade could all be lined up on a chart not unlike the one showing the link from ape to neanderthal to human, with the more human calibre of NBA talent appearing so rarely as to suggest a process as slow as evolution.

Finally we have found the missing link, or links actually. Bosh, Bargnani, Amir “Dirty Baby” Johnson, Rasho, and the pre-season wonder - Reggie Evans. Add to that the size of Hedo, and it is clear that this team can finally play big. But can they win big? Or is it simply a horrible irony that what teams need to win in the NBA today, is speed and playmaking on the perimeter? It was the small ball that hurt this team last week in Indy, and it will be small ball that gives them fits in games yet to come. But they also have bigs with enough mobility to withstand most of the attempts to make speed count for more than size, and as long as they continue to improve their half-court game, getting the most out of shots while not allowing for a ton of transition points the other way, this team is going to be able to gain an identity through it’s big men.

I fell in love with Andrea Bargnani last week. That is the guy I imagined when he was picked #1. Earlier this season I said that he needs to bring the kind of energy that Marion supplied last season, and that if he could muster that it would make this season a success. Energy. Not shots, not rebounds per se, just the energy - and then the rest would come for himself - and more importantly, for his team. And the energy is there. He is hunting down loose balls, he is battling inside and out, guarding Howard and Rondo effectively, and this team is winning easy and winning ugly, winning through offense and winning on defense. He’s talking, he’s bouncing around and skipping like a little girl when he gets the job done. He’s getting teched up when things don’t go his way. He’s arrived, with a boost of energy.

He made a couple of moves in the post against a smaller Knicks squad, that looked a little bit like Duncan. The ease of motion was there - the fundamental soundness. And the way he is not only grabbing boards with two hands (two hands!!!), but having the awareness to create space for himself afterwards, must be making Moses Malone proud to have worked with him over the summer. I always felt that Andrea would and should be defined in terms of his completeness as a player. He is not Dirk. The overall flair is not there. He is a different animal. He has his own branch on the evolutionary tree. OK - maybe it’s just a twig, but it is unique in how it takes some of the same sap that feeds the likes of a Marion, a Duncan, a Dirk and a Malone. That’s pretty complete, and he deserves a ton of credit for not focusing on being more like any of those guys, nor being content to be able to hit some three pointers and block some shots as he’s always done. Because it’s his ability to do a bit of everything that makes him so valuable.

Now add a more sizable Bosh than before, a physical workman like Amir, and eventually the threatening presence of Reggie Evans, and it’s going to take some extremely hot shooting for this team to get beat on most nights. Right now I’m liking the idea of a matchup against just about anybody but Boston. If this team continues to gel around the play of its bigs, then they are going to be a tough to handle. If Bosh and Hedo can continue to sacrifice individual numbers alongside Bargnani, then they’ve got an extremely big, and well-balanced front court, to complete a transformation from the first half of the season to the last half of the season that is going to leave little to complain about, for myself anyways.

Remember when the games were coming fast and furious, and you were almost happy to have forgotten some parts of that schedule? Now do you feel like the days inbetween games are going too slow and you’re checking the schedule over and over again? That’s the deal for me, and it is a big, and welcome change.