Black Clouds

I’m not sure what the extended forecast is for the next few days, but some of the black clouds that have descended need to show their silver linings.

Last season we saw the same sort of clouds forming over Jermaine O’Neal. Jay Triano has said that he knew the season was going be very difficult when he saw JO lobbying to change schemes to better suit him, three games into a three win season. I remember O’Neal talking at length about how he studied the tapes all night to see where he can get his game off more. When you witness hints of self-interest in veteran players that have their hearts in past glories, you can sense the storms brewing. This season we’re seeing something similar happening with Hedo Turkoglu. He wants to be in Orlando. He won in Orlando. He was close to being an All Star in Orlando, and when things mattered the most, he was the first option. Who wouldn’t want that? But he is not in Orlando, and he seems to have consoled himself by looking to increase his his personal status in this league, when he should be happy to …

Slapping and Chopping, Chopping and Slapping

.500. I called it. Ho hum. Now do we minimize the feat and point to it as the greatest sign of mediocrity? Or do we see a clean slate for real now? I see a team that is better than their record yet, and feel confident that it will continue to rise and emerge above even stevens.

I loved to see the team beating Orlando with Bosh putting in an average game. And I enjoyed seeing Bosh not try to force his game too much. I particularly liked seeing the whole team trust in their halfcourt abilities when so much defensive effort was going into stopping Bosh again. Bosh’s numbers might go down if opposing teams play the same way, but to me he looks like more of a leader, and part of a legitimate team under these circumstances. He looks like a better player when the team plays well as a whole, and scraps the need for early offense as a gimmicky means of getting the ball in everyone’s hands enough. Again - unlike with Boston - there were plenty of good shots, and this time - unlike with San Antonio - a good …

What Was Working on the Weekend?

Quite a weekend. It looked like the Raptors had made no real progress over the course of the season when they failed to take advantage of Boston’s injury problems. Had the five game winning streak just been illusory good fortune? Was there just no improvement to be had from this team?

Here’s the thing - the grounds for building upon improved defense have been there from the start of the season. Nothing has hurt this team quite as badly as transition points going the other way. They account for many a night where the opposing points in the paint advantage was obscenely large, since fast breaks almost always finish at the rim. Giving up too many points off turnovers and bad shots that lead to breaks going the other way has left this team with no chance to show where or how they can improve on defense on too many nights, leaving them unable to chart any real progress at all. And that was supposed to change in Boston. But it was a similar story yet again. Boston doesn’t need talent to lead you into the paint and then knock the ball loose and go …

A Clean Slate for the New Year

If the Raptors can beat a banged-up team in Boston, they will be at .500. OK good. In my head, as a fan, I’ll think of it as a whole new beginning. What I see from them right now is what I expected to see coming out of the gates. Unfortunately, they were that horse that put up a big fuss getting into their designated stall, and coming out of the gates was less than clean, with too much bucking and stuttering that might have come close to throwing the jockey altogether.

But the NBA is not a horse race. Of course the preferred metaphor is a marathon. And in a marathon there is a sense of getting a do-over if the energy can be mustered. They’ve already passed a few pretenders that got off to a much easier start, such as Milwaukee and Chicago, and put some distance between those seeds on the bubble. Now the Raptors have as many wins as the Heat, with Wade looking a little lost and a little chubby as Miami heads into a two-month uphill climb of their own. It should just be a matter of time, on …

How Many Licks?

I grew up with the Tootsy Pop and the classic Tootsy Pop commercials.

Boy: Mr. Turtle, how many licks does it take to get to the Tootsie Roll center of a Tootsie Pop?
Mr. Turtle: I’ve never even made it without biting. Ask Mr. Owl.
Boy: Mr. Owl, how many licks does it take to get to the Tootsie Roll center of a Tootsie Pop?
Mr. Owl: Let’s find out. A One… A.two-HOO…A three..
(crunch sound effect)
Mr. Owl: A Three!
Narrator: How many licks does it take to get to the Tootsie Roll center of a Tootsie Pop?
(crunch sound effect)
Narrator: The world may never know.

Now I don’t know if getting to a tootsie roll center is really worth much, but I do know that the Toronto Raptors need to stop counting the lickings and take a big bite out of a schedule that has finally given them a chance to perform as close to their best as can be possible for a team that still needs to figure out some things. They can have enough breathing space to figure some things out now, with a little more room for error, and time to recuperate and practice between games.

If they can …

Predetermined

We don’t have a coach of this team. We have a robot. A coach allows for players to compete for minutes and places in the rotation. Here we had the rookie inserted into the starting lineup, immediately after he was drafted, for his predetermined 8-10 minutes at the start of each half. A coach decides who will play the bulk of the minutes at a position, and who will be there in crunchtime. Here, playing the two point guards together in the backcourt was predetermined the second that Jarrett Jack was signed to an offer sheet, and both guys would be there to finish games. This team was going to play at a quick pace looking for early offense, while aiming to be one of the top tier teams on defense (two things which are a bit contradictory if we look at the history of the game). It wasn’t going to matter if it turned out that the players were better suited for a slower paced affair on both ends of the court. A coach would see those sorts of things and make decisions based on that. And we get a predetermined mess.

Did it …

On Bringing It

It’s all about the effort right? Teams win when they play hard. That’s an easy cliche to go with. I still think that teams can play hard and lose badly, or more commonly, have the bulk of their players playing all out, but get held back by the mistakes of a few guys. Effort without a sense of purpose on behalf of one or two starters is going to be hard to overcome, and yet it’s still effort.

Let’s look at two starters like Jose and Hedo. One guy needs the ball in his hands a lot, in order to get into a rhythm and get good shots for other guys on the floor. The other guy needs the ball in his hands a lot to get into a rhythm and get good shots for other guys on the floor. How are they going to compliment each other while also making sure that Bosh is not forgotten for long stretches? Marion did not present such a problem, and an overall balance on the floor actually started to develop nicely as last season came to an end. Now we’ve got to see Turkoglu provide what Marion …

Gaw-awwww-leeeeee

Well surprise, surprise, surprise! Before we get to the history of television sit-com catch phrases, let me just say that this team should never look like they might have the worst defense in the history of the NBA, should never lose more than three games in a row, and should never drop below the playoff seedings in the standings again. That being said, they still have not shown their true identity just yet. They looked good in winning back-to-back games on the road by simply working hard for it. If you’re going to figure out your identity as a team, then that might be the best way to do so. But the question remains whether they prefer to win by playing hard for an entire game rather than wear themselves out for a full week by playing at a mad pace on both ends for a couple of quarters. This is a team that likes to put the throttle down, but they have to make their offense the easy part of their game. They have the talent and depth there to be leisurely about scoring. The running game should only come into play as …

Dithering

So last night, as the game begins against that Washington team, the punditry back in DC is getting all geared up as yet another example of the limits of power within the lovely white buildings built by slaves, is about to pass before the eyes of the citizenry. The forms of modern warfare, namely guerilla and nuclear, have turned upon those that could always turn to military pursuits to prove their pre-eminence. Guerilla tactics helped to bring the nation independence. Nuclear weapons allowed it to become a superpower. But it’s abundantly clear now that such forms of combat bring no winners. The pundits are simply bewildered. Victory has become an elusive word. Even Mission Accomplished has become forever tarnished. The way forward does not appear to be pre-ordained.

Which brings us back to the Raptors. This team keeps finding ways to lose right now. They need to find ways to win. Somehow. Anyhow. I liked the pace last night. It didn’t look like they were going to wear themselves out early and struggle for the rest of the week. They didn’t give up a ton of points in transition. Again - the pace helped with …

Groundhog Basketball

I’m frustrated. Seriously. I find it really tough to watch an entire Raptors game now because it feels like I am watching the same game every game. The Raptors come out and compete for the first half, then tank the third, forget how to play defense and before you know it, the game is out of reach and there are more wild shots being taken than at a stagette.
The Raptors right now remind me of a girl you date for a while, then get tired of, so you move on. Then you see them a year later and they look amazing, totally revamped, so you try to work it again. Then you realize that even though she looks better, she still does all the stuff you used to hate and you’re just frustrated again. Hello Raptors. Same old problems. Can’t play D, don’t really like to rebound, can’t put together 4 consistent quarters, take a lot of questionable shots. The players may have changed, but the results are the same.
I don’t think Raptor fans can possibly discuss what to do with the team anymore. I mean, we have talked about …