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Friday, November 20, 2009 10:42 AM
More on Calderon's tough night
A few quick notes regarding my previous post regarding Calderon, based on some feedback via e-mail and the comments:
No, I don’t think the Raptors should necessarily be actively trying to trade him, sit him or whatever else. When healthy the guy’s track record is pretty good and for those who might argue it’s been compiled mostly as a second-unit guy I would point to the long stretches he played as a starter in 2007-08 when Ford was hurt and argue his point-guard play was very close to superb. Over time, as long as he’s healthy, I see no reason why Calderon won’t play at the level he’s shown he’s more than capable of reaching: 12-14 points and very near 50 per cent from the floor and 40 per cent from three. His assists will likely be down because Turkoglu will handle the ball more, but his efficiency will remain. Defensively he’s not going to be Gary Payton, but he needs to be the best version of himself he can be. If he does that, he’ll easily continue to be a good NBA point guard, if a notch below guys like Nash, Williams, Paul, etc.
As I think I made clear, the circumstances weren’t in his favour: Williams was rested and sharp; Calderon was playing on the second night of a back-to-back and probably additionally spent given the first night was in Denver. It’s not that Calderon is irredeemably awful, but he was that game.
And no, I wasn’t trying to pin the loss on one guy. Bargnani, Turkoglu, Jack….all not good, but again, the schedule is a major determining factor in NBA wins and losses. As I wrote when the trip started 1-3 was a likely result; finishing December within sight of a .500 record will be a significant accomplishment, and from that point they’ll have a chance, if healthy, to push themselves into the mix for a seed in the bottom half of the playoff draw.
That said, the Raptors got into a deep hole early because Deron Williams had free reign early. I cited a couple of examples – and there were more – where Williams was making plays without resistance, and Calderon was accountable, in my eyes.
Deciphering what exactly goes wrong on the defensive end of the floor is a bit of a mug’s game in the NBA, as it’s not always clear who exactly is responsible for a made basket. But defending the ball early in a possession is essential and even the smallest efforts can pay dividends: forcing an extra turn to burn up a couple of seconds of shot clock; causing the dribbler to take a slightly longer route on his way to the basket; herding the ball-handler to the left side of the floor so he has to make a cross-court pass with his weak hand or stop and put a second hand on the ball so the pass is delivered later or with more of an arc so the rotation has that much more time to respond. Those steps were not apparent on Wednesday night.
Link to this postThursday, November 19, 2009 08:39 AM
Failing grade for Calderon
Some Things V3.12:
Maybe because I was at home watching on the couch and could actually double and triple and quadruple check what had just happened instead of being at the arena and simply going: “Did that just happen?” – but that might have been the worst game I’ve ever seen Jose Calderon play.
Yes, Deron Williams is outstanding. And yes he was rested and it was obvious from the tip he had some juice in his legs. Any NBA player is dangerous when they feel fresh, just because I don’t think it happens very often. So Williams has been off for a week after leaving Utah’s road trip early because his daughter was having some health issues and he was obviously chomping at the bit.
That said, Calderon was terrible. Against Phoenix I thought he did a pretty good job containing Nash and one thing he did well was jam him early – make sure he got right on top of Nash as soon as he had the ball so the he couldn’t gather speed in the neutral zone, as it were, and hit the frontcourt with momentum. There was none of that last night.
There were too many blow-bys to count but one that stood out in the second half makes the point: Hedo Turkoglu misses the second free throw and Williams catches the outlet in stride around his own three-point line and turns on the jets. Meanwhile Calderon had been standing roughly around centre with Turkoglu on the line and his first move on the miss is to drop back. He keeps dropping back. And back. Williams is at top speed by the time Calderon tries to offer any resistance, and this is when he’s standing somewhere around the elbow. Needless to say Williams hardly notices and makes the easy layup. To me the obvious move is to cover Williams when Turkoglu is on the line. Don’t let him catch that first pass and if he does turn him early and if you do get beat you have 50 feet to recover and try and turn him again, plus your teammates can recognize you’ve been beat and can help. But standing passively 15 feet from the hoop and waiting for a world-class player to make a move when he’s got 60 feet to make up his mind is not going to work out in your favour. I honestly can’t believe it happened.
On another occasion in the first half there was a Toronto miss and Calderon was a bit behind the play when Williams got the ball just before half. Calderon sprinted to catch up but takes a very generous angle – that is, he barely gets into Williams’ area code. Williams is over centre and heading down the right sideline. To me the play would be to get onto Williams' hip and keep him going in that direction.
In the NBA the goal is to contain the dribbler, as opposed to stopping the dribbler. These guys can’t be stopped. How many times do you see point guards have to pick up their dribble at midcourt or have their pocket picked? Not often. But they can be directed or herded. The trick is to offer a path of least resistance – “by all means continue dribbling to the sideline and baseline, where at least your options are limited” – while doing your best to block the alternative. As an added bonus the Raptors general game plan is to herd the ball to the sideline and baseline.
In this case Calderon overruns Williams. With the Jazz point guard heading down the right-hand sideline Calderon heads to Williams' right hand. Sometimes this is a tactic – you're trying to make him turn where you know there is help or you’re baiting him into turning to his weak hand, for example, and are anticipating the move.
Calderon is anticipating nothing. He overruns Williams and isn’t even close enough to force him to break his stride on the crossover; Williams simply changes hands, jogs into the paint and drops a little bounce pass to Ronnie Brewer for the dunk. Leo gets on Bargnani for being slow to help, but I don’t think you can blame the help when the point guard is beaten so badly.
These are just two plays, but the theme was oft-repeated. Maybe he was tired and obviously Williams was dialed in, but Calderon made it an easy night for him and tough for his team.
Wednesday, November 18, 2009 11:59 AM
Carmelo's magic with the ball
Some Things v3.11
1. I’d like to think I wrote this somewhere, but I specifically remember when the Billups-Iverson trade went down that I thought it would be huge for Denver, and said so to Bryan Colangelo. I feel the need to mention this because my record for prognostication is generally pretty spotty; though those ones usually end up in print.
2. If there was a contest and you could pick any one player’s offensive game to have for a day, I would pick Carmelo Anthony’s in a very tough call over Chris Paul’s or Steve Nash’s. Let’s face it, any of them would be great. The problem in being Dwyane Wade or LeBron would be that I would never, ever pass. I would just want to dunk on people and crush them in the process. And then humiliate them. Everyone, teammates included, would hate me.
3. But being ‘Melo would be just great. There is no more dangerous player inside 18 feet than this guy. Wicked touch, great patience and pace. I love the way he just puts guys on his shoulder and carries them to the basket and yet still finishes so gently; always in balance. And now – as he showed against the Raptors – he’s passing expertly and taking shots in the flow. And every once in a while he just walks into the lane and helps himself to an offensive rebound. The best pure scorer in the NBA, in my opinion.
4. This is the issue with Pops. There is no organization more attuned to productivity and efficiency than the Houston Rockets. This is a team that can see through the fact that Chuck Hayes is tubby and short and can’t score but recognize he’s a defensive whiz and screen-setting expert. (Henry Abbot at Truehoop.com had some interesting Chuck facts.
5. And Pops, as we know, is nothing if productive in the minimal court time he does get. He averages 13.7 rebounds for 36 minutes for his career, after all. He averages 6.5 offensive rebounds per 36 minutes for his career. That is simply astounding. Reggie Evans, himself one of the best offensive rebounders in the NBA, averages only 4.5 pulls per 36 minutes. And yes, small sample size, but he always averages ridiculous offensive rebound numbers; and we’ve seen it with our own eyes.
6. So why do organizations like Dallas, Houston and San Antonio – all forward thinkers – let him go?
7. My sense is the guy can’t run through a play to completion to save his life and his awareness and knowledge of defensive schemes may be similarly limited. He’s a terrible finisher; so all those offensive rebounds often end up missed shots; and there may also have been the sense that once his contract was guaranteed last year his ferocity diminished somewhat.
8. That said his deal is non-guaranteed until mid-December and if he can change the momentum of one quarter between now and then he’s well worth the signing. The tough decision comes when Evans is finally healthy. Can a team have Reggie Evans, Amir Johnson and Pops on one roster? I say no; there’s not enough bricks to go around.
Monday, November 16, 2009 12:43 PM
Raptors delivering some D
Not to get all too Maple Leafs, where any success suggests a parade route is in the works and any loss a moral victory, but the Raptors have to be encouraged by last night’s game, even if they continued their winless ways against Nash’s Suns.
Some Things 3.10:
1. Since the back-to-back debacles in San Antonio and Dallas when it appeared the Raptors given up even the idea of playing defence the Raptors have now played three straight games with long stretches of defensive success. Last night might have been their best defensive effort of the season. The Suns had to work for the looks they did get and apart from their opening little flurry engineered by Nash they had to work for it the entire game.
2. I’m getting the sense that the Raptors are going to make a waiver claim on Pops Mensah-Bonsu who was released last week by the Houston Rockets. With Reggie Evans still struggling to have his foot heal, the talk around the arena yesterday was of the wistful variety: wouldn’t it be nice to have an energizing; rebounding game-changer off the bench. The release of Quincy Douby opened up the roster spot; Pops deal isn’t guaranteed. Don’t be shocked if the Raptors pick him up.
3. Suns exec David Griffin had a great line about Jared Dudley, something along the lines of: “If you were just looking at the combine results; he’d be undraftable; if it was just on the Wonderlic; he’d be a lottery pick.” He’s been a great pick-up for the Suns and exactly what the Raptors really wish they had. He can guard some threes and most fours; he’s very crafty; he’ll launch his body into anybody or anything and he can pass and make shots. He’s kind of a poor man’s Shane Battier. One example: He’s checking Bargnani and gets right into his chest challenging a little jumper in the lane and then boxes out hard as Bargnani tries to go up his back on the miss and gets hit with his fifth foul. Nothing too dramatic I know, but that kind of attention to detail gets forgotten by a lot of guys; doing it just right forced a miss; retained possession and added a foul on one of the opposing team's best players. That’s winning basketball.
4. The word in Phoenix is that Stoudemire is not quite back to his athletic, freakazoid self; that the forced idleness following his series of eye surgeries for his detached retina – at one point Stoudemire checked into a hotel so he could be undisturbed as he lied face down and still for 10 days – has taken an edge off his game. As strange as it seems after he scores 30 points; you can see it. What used to be Sportcenter dunks are now just dunks; dunks are now layups and sometime he just doesn’t have to the lift to make the play. Crazy given how good he remains, but it’s more a comment on how much of a specimen he was. Hopefully he gets back to that level at some point.
5. It’s not fair to compare Calderon to Nash; one guy is a very solid NBA point guard; the other guy is, I’m convinced, a Hall-of-Famer. But what the hell, watching them side by side you get a sense for the difference between them given their overall skill sets are sort of similar. Nash is so much more aggressive; he’s always, always looking to force the action. Calderon kind of facilitates the action by making the right pass here or there. Nash keeps probing until he finds that pass. And one thing Calderon needs to do better is when he does attack the rim is to find a body to hit first. Calderon tends to extend to the rim in an effort to get there as quick as he can – as a result he needs a lot of room to take advantage of what considers a driving lane. The first thing Nash does is look for a body he can bang into and then starting thinking about how to make the shot. Sometimes he seems to be driving directly into people; pushing them along. As a result he can go to the basket in crowds.
6. If you poke around on 82Games.com you can find clutch stats where they break down NBA shooters according to how they do in the clutch: Games that are within five points with five minutes to play in the fourth quarter or overtime. Last year LeBron James was the best performer in that category, averaging 55.9 points (per 48 minutes) on 55.6 per cent shooting. On that basis you have to be happy with Turkoglu going 2-of-4 for five points in the last 90 seconds.
Friday, November 13, 2009 05:40 PM
So far, so good for Raptors
Two weeks in and 10 per cent of their schedule played, I think it’s fair to conclude that the Raptors season to this point has been a success.
This all depends on expectations going in, naturally.
But 4-4 through eight games, including a 3-1 mark at home has to be deemed encouraging given the task of integrating all the new faces. And keep in mind my pre-season prediction was, I think, 37 wins?
Looking ahead, even the most optimistic projection would be to see the Raptors go 4-7 in their next 11. That means 1-3 on this trip with the most likely win coming tonight against the Clips – though I see the potential for a motivated Baron Davis shredding these guys. I’ll be at the Suns game Sunday night and the Raptors have never beaten Nash in the desert and given they’re playing the same style but just not quite as well, I’m not sure it’s going to happen now. The Nuggets? Not likely, not in the thin air and Kenyon matches up pretty well with Bosh. And while I think Utah is vulnerable, not so on the second night of a back-to-back at the end of a week-long trip.
Can Toronto get two of their next three at home? They’d have to get Indiana and then one each from either Miami or Orlando. Let’s say they get Indiana and Miami – I can’t see the Heat front court managing both Bosh and Bargnani. That’s three wins. Then they get Charlotte, which they would need to take before going to Boston and hosting the Suns.
Does 8-11 by December 1st sound about right?
Amazingly the worst part of their schedule is over by then. They only have one long west coast trip left and it’s not until March, by which time Sacramento and Golden State may have folded.
It creates a scenario where the Raptors can build some momentum.
They’ll need to improve defensively to do it. I’ve been bouncing around doing some other things lately, but a couple of moments from the debacle in San Antonio stick out.
One play late in the first half Matt Bonner set a simple little cross-screen for Richard Jefferson who set Antoine Wright up nicely and bounced across the lane wide open for a jumper, leaving Wright and Bargnani to simply look at each other. Next play, same play, only this time Bonner pops out to the elbow and drains a wide-open jumper. Again, Wright and Bargnani: clueless.
This is not a coaching issue or a talent issue. A simple screen away for a cutter to the ball is about as basic as it gets at any level of basketball. And if two veterans – one who is in his fourth season here and another (Wright) who is supposed to be your top defensive player – can’t sort that out on consecutive possessions, you’ve got guys who – to quote Jay Triano –“aren’t actively engaged.”
Obviously they showed against Chicago that they can engage on the defensive end for stretches at least. That’s all they need. Presuming their offence continues to hum – they’re the most efficient offensive team in the NBA right now at 113.3 points per 100 possessions – they don’t have to become a crew of stoppers, they just have to get better than the 113.6 points per 100 their allowing right now, which is 29th in the NBA.
Does it seem reasonable Toronto can become a better defensive club than Minnesota (109.4/5/100)? Golden State (108.1/100) or the Knicks 107.5/100)?
I think so, and getting better than those horrible teams – their combined record is 4-21 – while maintaining something close to their current efficiency on the other end could yield some encouraging results.
The Suns are 8-2 and their offensive-defensive numbers look like this: 110.8/100 on offence while allowing 107.0 on defence. The differential is pretty modest, but it’s enough to win games and something the Raptors need to shoot for even as they shoot the lights out.
On LeBron and MJ
I kind of give it to LeBron for his whole ditch No. 23 campaign. Rare are current players that properly respect their elders and acknowledge that the NBA they know and enjoy didn’t roll out, ready made, just for them. So yes, honour MJ. It’s a great gesture.
There only two problems: You can’t stop at MJ. He grew the NBA and showed the way for LeBron to become a gajjillionaire, for sure. But by the same logic, does Jordan become Jordan without Bird and Magic? In Jackie MacMullan’s book “When the game was ours” about the Magic-Bird rivalry, she tells the story about how Nike was emboldened to make Jordan their signature guy only after they saw the way Magic and Bird’s Converse Weapons commercial moved the needle for sneaker sales in a significant way.
How does LeBron honour Jordan without honouring Oscar Robertson, who not only revolutionized the game, but gave teeth to the modern NBA Players Association and very well may have been blackballed in his post-playing career for just that?
Obviously I could go on. The point is not that Jordan doesn’t deserve the honour and that it’s a welcome gesture, it’s just that it doesn’t go far enough.
And another thing: Fine, put aside No.23, but wear No. 6? LeBron knows that was Julius Erving’s number which is why he wears it for Team USA. But if the topic is players of the past who lifted the NBA to present heights, Julius Erving did as much as Jordan ever did.
The NBA was thriving when Jordan came along; he merely made it bigger and better than it already was, thanks in no small measure to Nike and ESPN.
But when Erving joined the NBA after the NBA-ABA merger, the league was a disaster. Too black and drug addled; it was a prisoner of its image. Erving might have saved it.
Dr. J was electrifying on the floor – and there’s a whole debate to be had about what his impact might have been had he been able to play his prime years in the NBA instead of the ABA – and absolutely first-class off it (for public consumption, at least). He was the ambassador the league needed desperately at the time.
So again; honour MJ, absolutely. But the problem is where do you stop?
I don’t think it stops at No.6.
Thursday, November 5, 2009 10:56 AM
Raps win in front of Oak
Did not get to see last night’s game as I’m on the road on another assignment, but as wins go I guess you could call it necessary, right?
You’re playing a team missing two starters and playing the second night of a back-to-back and you don’t win and you have some serious issues. That they allowed Detroit to come back in the fourth quarter and pull within a point has to be a concern, as the fact that they’ve allowed an average of 107.5 points a games and rank 29th in defensive efficiency. On a positive note the Raptors are now third in the NBA in offensive efficiency, so take the wins where you can.
Anyway, I also missed the Oak love-in. I’m all for celebrating 15 years of Raptors history, but it’s kind of slim pickings, isn’t it? As quotable as Oak was, his grumpiness was misplaced, given that the worst three full seasons of his career were in a Raptors uniform. In his last season he shot 39.9 per cent from the floor, yet he had bamboozled the Raptors into paying him $21-million over his three years in Toronto beginning at age 35. And people think Colangelo might have overpaid for Jarrett Jack? I always thought Oak should have been laughing all the way to the bank. Maybe he was.
Anyway, I got a call yesterday from Oak’s business manager Billy Diamond who wanted to tell me a pretty funny story about how Oak almost didn’t become a Raptor.
Seems Oak wasn’t very happy about coming to Canada. The Raptors were the NBA’s version of Siberia and coming off that epic 16-66 season, he was probably right. As the exiled toast of New York, Oak was sincerely grumpy when he pulled up to the border crossing on his way to training camp, driving up from his home in Cleveland. He’s rolling in a black BMW with tinted windows, stuffed to the gills with whatever belongings he might need to make the Royal York Hotel feel like home away from home.
The border guards are curious maybe even suspicious and Oak gets questioned. He tells them he’s on his way to play for the Raptors, but that doesn’t quite cut it. They want to see his work papers and documentation etc., but Oak doesn’t have it. They search the BMW. Tens of thousands of dollars of suits only Oak and the Ohio Players could wear are being rifled through, and who knows what else.
He’s mad. He calls his agent. “This is bull***, call (then Raptors GM) Glen Grunwald, F*** this! I’m not coming up there, I’m turning around right now.”
Diamond calls Grunwald, who in turn gets pumping on trying to find out how to get a very angry, very big, power forward admitted to Canada. On a Sunday.
Diamond calls Oak and asks him to sit tight, be patient, it will get sorted out in an hour or so.
Oak: “F*** that, I’m going back to Cleveland.”
Diamond convinces Oak to sit tight, but Oak decides he wants to use the time wisely. He wants to work out.
“He says find me a gym, otherwise I’m turning around and going back to Cleveland.”
Diamond remembers he knows a college player at the University of Buffalo and calls him up on a Sunday afternoon. “Can you find a place for Charles Oakley to work out?”
“Serious?
“Yeah.”
The kid gets the key to the gym and the University of Buffalo and off Oak goes.
Two hours past, no word from Oak, meanwhile Grunwald has sorted out the issue at the border.
Where’s Oak?
“Long story short,” says Diamond. “Oak lifted for an hour, shot for an hour and then took the kid, Rassan Young, out to eat, He finally calls back, he’s all happy [for Oak] and everything is good to go.
"Typical Charles.”
International incident averted, Oak heads to Toronto, and a unique era in Canadian basketball history begins.
Monday, November 2, 2009 08:55 AM
Some thoughts on the Raps' start
One game, some things, v3.3:
If there is a theme I’ve picked up in three games it’s this: As the other team goes, so go the Raptors. Against Cleveland, I thought Toronto played well, but my overall impression was the Cavaliers were awful. Memphis? I thought they played great, and Orlando was unbelievable. The flip side is one of the objects in sports is to make the other team struggle. I’m not sure the Raptors made the other team do much of anything.
As much as Bargnani didn’t score in the first half, I thought he played pretty well; in particular he defended Howard reasonably well and most importantly didn’t foul. Very early in the game Howard took him to the left block, got the ball, pitched out, re-posted and then powered hard to the middle of the lane. Bargnani was pretty much overmatched, but he stayed with the play as best he could and at the point he realized he’d been beaten he didn’t foul. Bargnani’s tendency to foul early was a big hurdle in his development and more and more he’s learning to use his fouls wisely and keep himself on the floor.
Someone should roll out the Vlade Divac tapes for Bargnani though. He’s been pretty game in matching up with Shaq, a surprisingly effective – and huge – Marc Gasol and then Howard, but he’s still a couple of seasons of lifting away from really keeping those guys out of the deep post, if it ever happens. It might be time to flop.
So into the Magic dressing room before the game and there’s a very sleepy Dwight Howard holding court. He’s not doing interviews; he’s just bored and looking to chat with the three or four reporters lingering around. First it’s about MMA, of which he’s apparently a big fan. Then it’s mentioned that Ron Artest apparently wants to box professionally when he retires from basketball. Then the question becomes how much money would it take to step in a ring against Ron-Ron. Tough question, as I point out that a clean shot by Ron-Ron might break my face and kill me. Howard says if I trained I could make sure Ron-Ron doesn’t get a clean shot. I’m thinking a lot of professional boxers train their whole lives and give up clean shots all the time. I figure $5-million might be enough.
Then Howard comes up with this one: Would you stand in a ring with a gorilla for one minute for $5-billion? The last time I seriously contemplated this was fourth grade, I think. It’s pointed out to Howard that, pound-for-pound, a gorilla might be the fiercest beast on earth. The possibility is that the gorilla rips you limb from limb before the minute is up. At that point who gets the $5-billion?
Then Howard and Ryan Anderson got into a pretty detailed chat about their pre-game, um, rituals, toilet wise. We’ll just leave it at that.
Then Vince Carter walks in. Somehow the conversation has shifted to Master P; Carter tells a funny story about being Master P’s teammate for a memorable (though before my time) pre-season game during the Butch Carter era. The rap mogul stripped a Vancouver Griz hopeful at midcourt, went the other way and pulled up and made a 1-0 three-pointer. The offending Vancouver player, says Carter, got cut the very next day. Playing with Master P, said Carter, was great: “We had the best music.”
In the midst of this, a little guy is labouring over the Magic’s white board, delineating the Raptors sets; drawing up Orlando’s game notes. “I saw Master P playing for the Fort Wayne Fury in the CBA during the lockout,” he says to no one in particular. “He was awful. Couldn’t play at all.”
The voice, I realize, belongs to Stan Van Gundy who has coached a team to the NBA Finals but still won’t let an assistant do his white board, possibly because he couldn’t possibly find someone to make it neater. It’s a beautiful piece of work.
By the way, a few minutes later Van Gundy told us that Vince would not be playing because of his sprained ankle. “It’s absolutely killing him not to play,” he said, noting that his lateral movement was the problem.
Um, no it wasn’t ,Stan; it was not killing Vince not to play. Carter seemed absolutely jovial in the dressing room in between his Master P stories, and even did some running on the spot, announcing that he could “run the Boston Marathon right here in Toronto.” The marathon as we know, doesn’t require defensive slides.
Funny line about Turkoglu by Van Gundy: “Hedo’s biggest thing is, I don’t know what time they practise here, but 10 a.m. is not his best time of the day. Sometimes he needed a little prodding and sometimes a lot more than a little to get him going in practice, but that’s just him, he’s not really a morning guy. We had some troubles there.
Thursday, October 29, 2009 03:52 PM
Raptors hanging on to Belinelli
Jay Triano said he could envision Marco Belinelli could emerge as a fan favourite in Toronto when were talking after practice today. Well, he’ll have a chance to makes himself familiar. The Raptors picked up his option yesterday and he’ll be under contract through 2011.
Here’s some details from the Raptors release:
The Toronto Raptors announced Thursday they have exercised the fourth-year team option on the Rookie Scale Contract of guard Marco Belinelli. Belinelli is now guaranteed through the 2010-11season. In accordance with the league’s collective bargaining agreement, the Raptors had until October 31 to exercise their option on Belinelli. Per team policy, financial terms of the deal was not disclosed.
Belinelli had 10 points in 19 minutes in Wednesday’s season-opening win versus Cleveland.
The 18th overall pick in the 2007 NBA draft, Belinelli averaged 8.9 points, 2.1 assists, 1.7 rebounds and 21.0 minutes in 42 games last season with Golden State. He registered four 20-point games during the 2008-09 campaign, including a career-high 27 points December 12, 2008 at Atlanta.
Through 76 career games Belinelli owns a .397 mark from three-point range (69-for-174). As a rookie he appeared in 33 games, averaging 2.9 points in 7.3 minutes.
Prior to joining the Warriors, the 23 year-old, 6-foot-5 guard from Bologna, Italy, played professionally in Italy for five seasons. In 33 games during the 2006-07 season with Fortitudo Bologna in Serie A, Belinelli averaged 16.4 points, while shooting .544 (99-for-182) from the field. In 13 Euroleague contests, he averaged 12.9 points on .438 (32-for-73) from the field.
Thursday, October 29, 2009 10:51 AM
A modest man's thoughts on opening night
Modesty prevents me from taking credit for last night’s show, but given my pre-season pessimism and dour predictions, you knew a blowout win over a supposed Eastern Conference powerhouse was a near mortal lock. Thank me later.
Anyway:
1. One of the biggest ovations last night was provided for Alvin Williams as an assistant coach, which I thought was great. Toronto fans take a beating for various things, but one of them is embracing the wrong guys a lot of the time – Tie Domi comes to mind and for different reasons Jerome Williams, whose likeability was offset – for me at least – by his flair for self-promotion. But with Alvin Williams they’ve got it just right. In my experience Alvin Williams has never begged for attention and he certainly wasn’t the kind of player, in terms of flash, that commanded it. He was simply a pro’s pro with a burning passion for his work. That Raptors fans recognize that and made the special effort to acknowledge it last night reflected well on them.
2. I have to say the opening night was pretty good. They had a full orchestra and choir on the floor and maybe the most amazing thing, with all the noise, was that about halfway through I realized that the music accompanying the whole deal – one of those 19th-century pieces with minor key vocals and big percussion – was live. My only regret was that they didn’t tone Herbie down a bit so that they could be heard. Overall a very impressive show though.
3. It was kind of amusing though, that in the pre-game montage, when they were showing all the guys doing dunks or dribbling tricks they showed Rasho kind of leaning on an imaginary defender and slowly backing him down. That’s about right, I guess.
4. And the designated hugger is……Marcus Banks! Well done Marcus, but obviously he had the advantage of Sonny Weems being in street clothes. Antoine Wright, I saw worked to get some hugs in, too. But Banks staked out his territory by the scorer’s table early, held on to it despite some challenges and is clearly the Raptors designated pre-game hugger until something changes.
5. Was it just me or was Calderon being a bit braver with some of his passes? You don’t lead the league in assist-to-turnover ratio without being a bit cautious. But there was Calderon throwing a little running alley-oop to Andrea for a layup and a gutsy bounce pass on the run in traffic that got Bargnani fouled. That will be an interesting trend to follow.
6. To me the most impressive aspects of last night’s game was when the Cavaliers went small in the first half and put James on Bargnani, his response was to head for the block, demand the ball and then convert twice in the post. That is a huge development and something that was hinted at last year but it clearly going to be more of a fixture this year. I’ve written this many times: if Bargnani plays with authority in the post, particularly against smaller players, and the Raptors can exploit it, he becomes close to unguardable.
7. Credit to DeRozan: on his first touch as an official NBA player the ball was swung to him and he wasted no time in attacking the rim and picking up the foul. On a couple of other occasions he hit those mid-corner jumpers that are going to be there all season, too. He got lost defensively a couple of times, but otherwise an encouraging debut.
8. The Cavaliers looked like a very unhappy team. James looked frustrated; Shaq looked fat – check that – I saw him tugging on his jersey and he is definitely carrying some extra weight and his lack of lift was alarming. He’s obviously in his “use the first-half of the season to get in shape phase” and I’m not sure that’s going to fly on a team that won 66 games and last year and is trying to get better.
9. Got a good look at Bosh’s tattoo last night. There’s a big tree growing out of the base of his spine and spreading up and over his shoulders with a big tiger attacking it. Apparently he’s only done five hours of the estimated 40 hours of work it’s going to require. There you have it.
10. Here’s an interesting take by Cleveland Plain Dealer beat writer Brian Windhorst:
“Bargnani, perhaps showing why the Raptors saw fit to give him a $50-million extension in the off-season, was masterful moving in and out. The Cavs' big men could not stay with the former No. 1 overall pick when he was outside. When the Cavs tried James on him for a stretch, Bargnani took him into the post and scored down there. He finished with 28 points on a slick 11-of-15 shooting, which including two three-pointers.
"Then there was Bosh, who was his normal prolific self with 21 points and 16 rebounds. There were times when the Cavs guarded him effectively with either Anderson Varejao or James, but there were very few times when the Cavs could guard both Bosh and Bargnani at the same time.
"Add in Hedo Turkoglu and Jose Calderon creating offense by spinning off pick-and-rolls with Bosh and Bargnani, and the Raptors looked formidable.”
Wednesday, October 28, 2009 03:23 PM
DeRozan raring to go
It’s about that time. It was kind of interesting talking to DeMar DeRozan this morning on the eve of his first NBA game. His parents are here. He’s excited. He’s finally at the place he’s worked most of the past 10 years to get to and he’ll walk out on the same floor with Shaquille O’Neal who he watched growing up in Los Angeles, and LeBron James, who rivals DeRozan’s mentor Kobe – he worked at the Lakers star’s summer camps – as the best player on the planet. Not bad. He says he’s not too nervous, but that his mother Dianne is, particularly after seeing Shaq lay out Kevin Garnett last night.
To me DeRozan is one of the real keys for the Raptors this season. I watched the Cavs-Celtics last night and thought AP was pretty underwhelming – some shaky turnovers, a little hesitation in his game – which is understandable given it’s his first game with his new club and he’s a slow starter anyway. I hope he can find his feet sooner than later but what’s interesting is that Raptors were perceived to be deficient at the two spot last season when Parker was holding it down.
Now? There is no way DeRozan is an upgrade, not yet. One of Sam Mitchell’s Samisms was that the ball will always find the guy in the place where he’s least likely to do some good with it. “It’s amazing the way that ball finds you,” he said.
DeRozan shot 16.7 per cent from the college three-point line at USC last year. He’s shooting 27.3 per cent from the NBA line through eight exhibition games, and 41 per cent over all.
My guess is that opposing defences are going to run away from him and force him to be the guy shooting late in clocks. If I were him I’d be nervous about that.
Not a big prediction guy but here are mine that I submitted to Eric Smith of The Fan590.
Rookie of the Year: Blake Griffin
2. Most Improved Player: Greg Oden
3. MVP: LeBron James
4. Sixth Man: Manu Ginobili
5. Coach of the Year: Flip Saunders
6. Defensive Player of the Year: Dwight Howard
7. Eastern Final: Magic-Cavs
8. Western Final: Lakers-Spurs
9. NBA Championship: Lakers over Cavs
10. Raptors record: 38-44, 10th
As you can see, I’m not real bullish on the Raptors right now. The good news for Raptors fans is I’ve been wrong every year. But the main reasons why I’m not on the post-season bandwagon is that given the exhibition season the team has had and the schedule they face, I think a quick start is hard to imagine. And I think that they’re still a weak rebounding team and are going to be giving up too much at the two-guard spot and they lack depth at three. Those are key positions to be deficient at.
If you want more, give a listen to the podcast I did with Darren Yourk of globeandmail.com.
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Michael Grange
Michael Grange brings unique news, commentary and analysis from around the basketball world