Built Ford Tough

Humphries with a huge game in this one. 21 points and 16 rebounds on 9/14 shooting. Something about New Jersey really brings out the best of him as he has played really well ever since going to the Nets. Much, much better than he ever was in Utah or Toronto. Deron looked like he really tried to force things on offense, though. 8/22 shooting including 4/12 from three is just brutal. However, I can understand why he looked to do so much shooting with Lopez out of the lineup and Morrow struggling so much offensively. Wall looked like he got off to a pretty shaky start, although judging from Williams' numbers, at least he played well defensively. These are all just box score observations, though.

- DeRozan with a nice 4th quarter after being completely invisible, at least from what I saw, in the first 3 quarters. He needs to be more aggressive and look for his own offense like he was in the 4th. He was way too passive for a large majority of the game but when he decided to be aggressive upon entering the game in the 4th he was getting quality looks and creating scoring chances for not only himself, but his teammates as well whether it was from 2nd chance opportunities (by drawing the defense in and creating rebuonds for Amir) or by passing out to the perimeter on his penetration. - Amir showed today just why he became one of my favourite Raptors last season. He is all heart and hustle out there. He never gives up on a play, battles with all of his energy for loose balls and on the glass. He has a great set of hands which enables him to make tough catches in traffic and also makes him a very reliable finisher around the rim. I am glad that Casey decided not to start Magloire just because he is a "true 5". Great game for him with 13 points, 13 rebounds and 3 blocks. - Calderon also looked great, which was probably the most surprising part of the game for me. He ran the offense better than he has since Bosh was around, his jumper didn't look broken like it has over the past few years and Casey even had him playing active defensively. It was just a good, solid all around game for him and his statline showed that (15 points, 11 assists and 6 rebounds). - Davis was, in my opinion, the best Raptor on the floor tonight. In just 17 minutes he put up 14 points, 7 rebounds and 2 blocks on a perfect 7-7 from the floor. He had 4 offensive boards and played very well defensively. He struggled a little bit early on in the game fighting for position defensively as he allowed Tristan Thompson to get too deep on a few occasions, but he made the necessary adjustments and kept himself in great defensive position. As the season goes on and his minutes increase I can definitely see him putting up some very impressive numbers. - After a shaky start, Bayless settled in nicely in the 2nd half. He stopped forcing things offensively, did a better job of running the offense and was a big spark in the Raptors taking control of the game and holding off the Cavs run in the early part of the 4th quarter. - To be perfectly honest, the entire team played well tonight. Everybody that played contributed in their own way and the fact that they had 7 players score in double figures and had 34 assists on 42 shots showed just how well they played collectively. As for the Cavs: - Irving really struggled in his debut. He was forcing things offensively and his shot was really off tonight. He did a decent job of creating offense for his teammates and took good care of the ball, which he is known to do. His 7 assists and only 1 turnover were nice to see, but from a scoring and defensive standpoint he looked like an overwhelmed rookie. Still, despite his struggles, you could definitely see the talent in him and I wouldn't be worried about him moving forward. I doubt he sets the league on fire this season, but he is going to have a very good career. - Thompson was very good off of the bench. He did a nice job of fighting for boards, creating energy and finishing around the rim. I liked his game tonight as he was very aggressive and didn't seem intimidated at all. Him and Davis had a very nice battle going on for most of the night and it was very enjoyable to watch. - Jamison looked like crap. He was a ball stopper and chucked some brutal shots in the game. I know his role on the team is to score and they want him to be aggressive offensively, but he went overboard tonight and it hurt his team. - Sessions played really well off of the bench. He was a nice steadying influence for the Cavs and did a really good job of running the offense and picking his spots. When he was forced to create at the end of a possession he did a good job of making something out of nothing. He also did a solid job of creating for his teammates. Him and Irving are going to be a very nice point guard duo this season if you ask me. - Gee provided some nice energy and scoring off of the bench. He didn't force things offensively like Barbosa did for the Raptors and scored the majority of his points within the flow of the offense. It was also great to see him bounce right back up after that nasty fall that he had early in the game. That looked like it could have been very dangerous and luckily he wasn't injured on the play. - Varejao was probably the best Cav on the floor tonight. He played the exact type of game that we have come to expect from him. His motor was going non stop and he never quit on a player. It was really fun to watch two of the best hustle big men going at each other tonight in Varejao and Amir. Now, despite all of the positive things I had to say about the players tonight, make no mistake about it, both of these teams are going to be in for a long season and battling for the top spot in the draft lottery this season. I did see things I liked from both teams, but both are clearly still in for a few more years in the lottery, but I do like the youth on both of these teams. Both do have a fairly bright future ahead of them, especially with the addition of their lottery picks in the 2012 draft.

Bayless doing a great job of commanding the tank after Jose left the game. Hope he keeps it up. On a more serious note, Bargnani played well in the first half. He had a couple of nice defensive plays (mainly hedging on screens) but had a few glaring blunders by being completely unaware of where his man was on the floor. Offensively he took some good shots and with his ability, he usually knocks them down. I've got family over so I haven't been able to pay a lot of attention to the game, so I can't really comment on much more than that.

Hope this is nothing serious and it won't have any long-term effects on him both professionally and personally.

Big game for Tank Nation. I also really want to see Irving light up the Raps, which should be a given considering he will be going up against Bayderon, the worst defensive point guard duo in the league. http://i750.photobucket.com/albums/xx144/lillehammer/RasualSmall.jpg Tank commander Rasual Butler is checking in for duty and will be starting tonight in order to lead his troops to victory (failure).

LeBron Wade Bargnani Howard Bryant

Opening game (Canada vs. Finland) starts in about 40 or so minutes. So excited for perhaps my favourite sporting event of the year. Should be a good, wide open tournament. I can see anyone of Sweden, Canada, Russian or the USA winning this year as it really is wide open.

Agreed.

Glad that the Jays didn't make a move for him. He is a good pitcher, but is definitely not worth the demand for him. Him picthing is perhaps the most pitcher friendly stadium in the league made him look better than he actually is. He is a good pitcher, but I don't see him being more than a good/average number 2 or great number 3.

I'd be willing to move them. Honestly, I think it would be best if you created them all like you have over the past two seasons, assuming it isn't too much trouble for you. I am sure that we will get at least 1 post in each game thread and even if we don't, it is easy to post a quick recap from something like ESPN, CBS, NBA etc... that will ensure that it isn't lost once the thread is moved. Having members make them on the day could get a bit messy and unorganized. It also create a much higher chance of games getting no threads at all. At least, that is my thoughts on the matter.

Bye-bye Dwight is obvious. Does this hurt the Nets chances of retaining Deron, as well? I would think it may as if they are a crappy team, which is likely to happen without Lopez, they may realize that they have next to no chance of being able to retain Williams and deal him before the deadline. I doubt it actually happens since they seem sure that they will be able to make the necessary moves to appease him and get him to committ long-term in the summer.

Heinsohn is such a homer. Calderon throws a lob to DeRozan and Marquis Daniels undercuts him while he is in the air. The refs obviously call the foul, but Heinsohn goes on a tirade about how that was a terrible call, how Daniels played fantastic defense and the refs are trying to keep the Raptors in the game. Even though he is a giant tool, he is somewhat entertaining to listen to.

Alabi picks up 2 fouls in less than 20 seconds and gives up 5 points to Garnett in less than a minute. Yeah, safe to say he sucks and shouldn't be in the league.

Raptors with more turnovers than field goals at the moment. Heinsohn is absolutely giving it to Bargnani as well. He made a pump fake, drive and dunk play on Bass and Heinsohn was going off about how it only worked because Bass was so shocked that Bargnani did something other than shoot a 3.

No, they are actual pictures, at least I think. They were from ESPN. http://espn.go.com/espn/page2/index?id=7375527 Also, I was wrong in my previous post. They will wear them on the Canadian Armed Forces night (March 21st), but they will also wear them 3 more times during the course of the season. So it isn't just a one time thing.

Man, listening to Heinsohn is going to be absolute torture. If anybody wants to watch, here is a stream. http://www.firstrowsports.tv/watch/99230/1/watch-boston-celtics-vs-toronto-raptors.html

Those, my friend, are the representation of a team who is all in and fully committed to go 0-66 this season. Seriously, though, I think they are going to be a one time use for the Canadian Armed Forces night. The Raps play that night (I think against the Bulls) and will likely only wear them the one time.

And they got a new look to represent it: http://a.espncdn.com/photo/2011/1221/pg2_toronto_d1_576.jpg http://a.espncdn.com/photo/2011/1221/pg2_raptors_camo_200.jpg The only thing missing is to replace the Canadian Flag with an actual tank.

They still have next to no financial flexibility, no true 2nd star and not much in the form of trade assets to make a roster shake up if they need to. A few years ago people said the same thing about the Magic. They had Rashard Lewis at 28 years old, Hedo Turkoglu at 28 years old and a 25 year old Jameer Nelson who were all either entering or in the early years of their primes. That is certainly comparable to a 30 year old Boozer, 26 year old Deng and 26 year old Noah. It isn't an exact comparision, but its not like the Magic had a bunch of over the hill vets. Their core were all under 30, just like the Bulls current team (minus Boozer being exactly 30). I also don't see Deng or Noah really developing much more. Both have, at least in my opinion, pretty much peaked in their development and what you see is basically what you will get out of them for the forseeable future. I could be wrong, but I really don't see either one of them growing much at all. The team is good, but I do have questions as to whether they are good enough to beat the Heat in a 7 game series, which they will have to do if they ever want to win an NBA Championship. I know you said this in your post, but people said literally the exact same thing about LeBron in Cleveland. He wanted to be there long-term, he wanted to win a ring for his hometown team, etc... I'm not saying that he will leave or anything like that, but at the end of the day, I'm not going to rave about Rose or Durant's loyalty because they signed an extension after their rookie contract. What they do with their 3rd contract is a much truer indicatior or their personality than their 2nd contract. It wouldn't have actually made any difference in terms of dollar figures because of the new "Derrick Rose Rule" in the CBA. Because he won the MVP last season he was eligible for 30% of the cap starting his 5th season in the league, or, in other words, after his rookie season. The amount of money he can make was equivalent to what players with 7 years in the league. Basically, he was eligible for the exact same extension that James, Wade and Bosh were eligible for in the summer of 2010 so signing a shorter deal wouldn't actually put him in a positiont o make more money. You do have a valid point about options, though.

To be fair, Rose wasn't going anywhere. Howard, Paul, James, Williams, Anthony, Bosh, Stoudamire and pretty much every star coming off of their rookie contract is going to sign an extension because they are going to want to get as much financial stability as possible. Also, they don't really have a choice considering they are RFA's anyways. It is the 2nd contract after the rookie one where we will find out just how loyal guys like Rose, Durant, Griffin etc... are. That is the time when players will seriously contemplate leaving their original team because they will be much more set financially and will have much more freedom to be able to move to another team. That isn't to say that Rose will leave or anything like that as who really knows what will happen.

Not a bad signing for the Clipps. Evans is one of the most prolific rebounders in the league and pairing him and Griffin will give the Clipps by far the most formidable rebounding power forward duo in the league. Of course, Evans is pretty much the definition of awful in pretty much every other facet of the game other than passing where he is actually pretty good, but you never want the ball in his hands offensively anyways, so that talent pretty much goes to waste anyways. I do like the signing, though. He is a nice 4th or 5th big off of the bench and as long as you are able to just give him short 4-5 minute bursts, he can be a great lift off of the bench.

And I was right. 4 games and Armstrong is back on the IR with a concussion. The screwed up part is that he tried to hide it and didn't tell anybody. After all of the serious concussions we have seen in the past few years, Colby really should've known better than to try and play through this. I realize that he is a very proud guy and is not happy with sitting on the sidelines with yet another injury, but if he would've went out there he could've seriously hurt himself and put his career in jeopordy, especially with his crash and bang style of play.

http://basketball.realgm.com/wiretap/217701/Humphries_To_Sign_One_Year_Deal_With_Nets#ixzz1h89sogcH I still can't believe that Humphries thought he was worth $10M a season, especially $10M a season on a long-term deal. I do like the signing for the Nets, though. They needed to bring in a power forward and Humphries played really well for them last season and he compliments Lopez fairly well. With it being just a one year contract it doesn't hurt any sort of future flexibility and you know that Humphries is going to go out and play hard to earn another contract after this season.

http://www.chicagotribune.com/sports/basketball/bulls/chi-rose-agrees-to-fiveyear-contract-extension-with-bulls-20111220,0,3389249.story Not that this should really surprise anybody as it was obvious that he was going to sign an extension with the Bulls. Bulls are pretty much locked into their core now, though. Noah, Rose, Deng and Boozer are all signed to big money, long term deals and it is going to be difficult for them to make any real major changes to the roster, should they have to. This situation could easily end up similar to the one that Howard found himself in Orlando. A good, but debatable as to whether or not it is a championship calibre, core locked into long term deals that limit any sort of roster flexibility.

This one is better: http://i40.tinypic.com/258msuq.jpg I seriously think that Halladay is part machine.