Built Ford Tough

Great win against the Rangers and the refs tonight. Just horrible officiating, but the Leafs played well enough defensively that it didn't cost them the game after completely dominating the 1st period. It didn't hurt that Gustavsson was awesome in net, either. Absolutely loved the Phanuef hit on Sauer and then the Schenn hit on Anisimov about 30 seconds later. Two fantastic hits.

I never said it would happen. I know it won't happen. I highly doubt Carter would even be interested in coming back and even if he was, I'd be surprised if Colangelo would even want him. I can try and spin it to make it make sense, but really, it makes very little sense for Toronto and even less sense for Carter. I'm just asking if, hypothetically, he did come back, how would you react to him returning to Toronto?

So as everybody expected, the Suns will be waiving Carter to save $14M, making him a free agent. I know that he will likely latch onto a contending team such as the Miami Heat or Chicago Bulls for a small contract, but if he decided that he wanted to return to Toronto and Colangelo signed him to a cheap, 2 year deal, what would you think of it? Would you be happy to see him back in Toronto? Would you be upset to see him back in Toronto? Would you not really care? Or is it just something that should be left in the past and move on from? From a fit standpoint, it isn't exactly terrible. The Raptors could use an extra body at the 2/3 since Weems is in Lithuania for the year and Kleiza isn't expected back for another while after undergoing mircrofracture surgery. That really only leaves DeRozan, Johnson and Barbosa (stricly as a 2, though) who can play the two wing positions. He could also be a bit of a mentor of sorts for a guy like DeRozan since there are similarities between him and Carter when he first broke into the league (athleticism, lack of range, below average handles) but improved on his weaknesses to become one of the best wing players in the game during his prime, even if he didn't maximize his potential. Anyways, the chances of his happening are next to nil, but with him doing that interview on Off The Record earlier talking about his time in Toronto (and basically saying he wishes he handled things differently without actually saying those words) it does make it an interesting possibility.

CmS, there were a couple of nice reports from the UNC-UK game on Saturday. One was written from Givony of DX and the other is from a great blog called The Painted Area Both are worth checking out. Givony http://www.grantland.com/blog/the-triangle/post/_/id/11405/north-carolina-kentucky-from-a-nba-scouting-perspective-2 The Painted Area http://www.thepaintedarea.blogspot.com/ Gives two different perspectives on the top prospects playing in that game.

Just to reiterate that he won't be coming over this year: http://tsn.ca/nba/story/?id=382022 In on the court news, Valanciunas played against CSKA Moscow the other day and put up 13 points and 6 rebounds in 22 minutes. CSKA is one of the best teams in Europe so it is nice to see him producing against solid competition. Too bad his coach continues to play clearly inferior players over him. That is the only reason why part of me thinks it might be better for him to be with the Raptors this season. His coach doesn't give him nearly as many minutes as he deserves. From everything that I have read, he is the best big on the team and they play better with him on the floor but for some reason, he doesn't get more than 20-25 minutes a night despite his productivity.

They aren't interested in Chandler, I am sure of that. I know that you can't take what a GM says to heart, especially one like Colangelo, but he has gone on record numerous times in the past few months stating that he has no intentions of shelling out a major contract this offseason and is looking forward to adding another top 5 pick to the roster. If they do end up amnestying somebody, then my opinion may change because something would clearly be up, but I am positive that as of right now Colangelo has no intentions of making an offer for Chandler or Nene. If he does go after a big name free agent, it would likely be an offer sheet to DeAndre Jordan or Marc Gasol, even though both of them would be matched. Barbosa likely gets dealt before the deadline this year, in my opinion as well. It also wouldn't surprise me if he goes back to Brazil after this season.

And if the rumored trade offer that they made to the Thunder is true, I think they realize that. (The supposed offer was Rondo and Green for Westbrook and Perkins. The Thunder declined, obviously).

Jack is gone. I'm sure you know that, but with the way you worded the post, it seemed like for a minute you seemed like he was still on the team. Anyways, I wasn't trying to imply that Calderon would take shots away from DeRozan or anything like that, because he won't be. Even when he was putting up near 50/40/90 seasons, he still didn't shoot the ball nearly enough. Now that his shot has seemingly abandoned him, he looks scared to shoot the ball. I can understand what you are saying, though. I think we both are sort of saying the same thing in a sense. DeRozan needs Calderon at this point of his career, but Calderon isn't really reliable for whatever reasons (injuries, poor defense, inconsistent play, etc...). As far as using the amnesty cut on him, I completely disagree with that. There really is no point in cutting Calderon considering the makeup of their team. He also only has 2 years left on his deal and since the Raptors aren't going to be players in FA this year anyways, I don't really see the point in cutting him. If they had somebody who could actually replace him, I'd be for it, but they really don't. I'm hoping something goes off in Bayless' head and he plays up to his potential, because he is talented and has all the tools to be a very good player. I'm not really coutning on it, though. There also aren't really many free agents that would replace him, either. I don't disagree with the idea of getting rid of the two of them, but I'd only do it via trade. Neither are worth using the amnesty cut on, at least at this point in time.

Calderon isn't really much of a problem for his production. He pounds the ball too often and doesn't take many risks, but he is still a decent playmaker and with DeRozan's inability to really create his own offense on a consistent basis (assuming he didn't improve in this area), Calderon can still help him. I can agree with Bargnani, though. Even if I am slightly (and I mean slightly) intrigued by how he plays under Casey, I do agree that he will inevitably take shots/touches from DeRozan. On the other hand, he did average 19.9 a game after the all-star break, like I said in my first post, and that was with Bargnani in the lineup. He actually averaged more ppg (although it was just 0.1 more) and both took around 16 shots a game. Who knows, having Bargnani may not prevent him from really breaking out. (Keep in mind, these numbers are a bit skewed since Bargnani only played in 16 games post all-star break, as he was in and out of the lineup with injuries).

Problem is the only one who makes even a lick of sense is Andris Biedrins, and even that is a long shot since they have Dorell Wright at the 3, who is cheaper and probably better than Jefferson at this point in his career. The Clippers aren't going to deal Kaman and his expiring so that they can vastly overpay for Jefferson, especially when you have small forward free agents like Tayshaun Prince, Caron Butler and Josh Howard have all shown interset in the Clipps (and vice versa). Even if they miss out on one of the bigger names, there are still guys like Mike Dunleavy, Andrei Kirilenko (if they can pry him out of Russia), Al Thornton, etc.. who would be better options, given the price tag. Atlanta simply isn't trading Josh Smith for anything the Spurs can (perhaps will is more appropriate) offer. Even if they were looking to trade him, you know for a fact some other team would be able to beat out the Spurs offer, since the market for him would be high, especially with the more leniant trade rules in the new CBA. Utah is shopping Millsap and Jefferson, but again, I'd be shocked if somebody else didn't make a better offer than the Spurs. I also see no reason why the Jazz would be interested in Jefferson considering his age, contract and production given their rebuilding situation. I just don't see a situation in which a team willingly trades for Jefferson and his $39M/4 yr contract unless the Spurs are taking an equally awful contract back, or are adding a lot to the offer.

It depends on his jumper. If it has improved as much as people say and he does in fact have a reliable 3 point shot in his repertoire, I see no reason why he can't average around 22 ppg, considering he averaged a shade under 20 ppg (19.9 to be exact) post all-star break last season. He did this by hitting just 3 three pointers. Lets say he hits 1 three a game instead of the 0.1 he hit last season. That would give him an extra 2.7 points per game. Add that onto his last seasons average, and that bumps him up from 17.8 to 20.5. Add that onto his post all-star break averaged and it bumps him up from 19.9 to 22.6. That isn't taking other improvements in his game such as being more capable of creating his own shot, getting to the line a few more times a game or any other thing that you would expect a 22 year old to improve on. Also, keep in mind that the Raptors likely aren't going to be adding anybody of significance to their team this year and they lost Sonny Weems 10 or so points a game. That should mean more touches for DeRozan as him, Bargnani, Bayless and Barbosa (who could be dealt before the deadline to a contender) as the only real scoring threats on the team. What I want to see most from him has nothing to do with his scoring, though. I want to see how he plays defensively under Casey. He has the tools to be a solid defender, but with Triano's system, he was never really pushed to be as good as he can be defensively. I'm not expecting him to suddenly become an elite defender, but I do think he can be an above average wing defender. The other area is his playmaking. What seperates him from potentially being a great scorer and a great player will be his ability to create plays for the rest of the team. The Raptors sorely lack somebody who can do this it would make him a much more dangerous offensive player. As far as a statline goes, I'd say: High end: 23 ppg/5 rpg/3.5 apg Low end: 18 ppg/3 rpg/1 apg Most likely: 20 ppg/4 rpg/2 apg

Agreed. However, they do play the Sabres 6 more times and they have historically wiped the floor with the Leafs as well.

Found this pictures over at RealGM. It looks like Bosh put on some weight over the summer. http://i.imgur.com/pdtn0.jpg http://blogs.sun-sentinel.com/sports_basketball_heat/files/2011/12/Chris-Bosh-blog-1.jpg He isn't a tank or anything like that, but in comparision to last year, he is noticeably bigger. Supposedly he has put on 10-15 pounds. This is great news for Miami fans. I'm not sure if anybody, aside from Raptor fans, remembered 2 seasons ago when Bosh added around 15-20 pounds in the offseason. He came out of the gates absolutely dominant and was arguably a top 5 player in the league and a legit MVP candidate for about 60% of the season. He averaged around 26 ppg/12 rpg/3 apg/1 bpg on 52 FG% from October to February. However, he wore down during the course of the season and ended up losing much of the weight that he added and his numbers dipped in the final months of the season before he Jamison broke his face. Obviously his numbers won't be as high as they were in Toronto given the talent around him, but if he is able to be the same kind of player during that 5 month stretech for the Raptors, the Heat are going to be a very, very scary team. The question is whether he will be able to keep on the extra bulk after going through the grind of an NBA season, especially one that will feature so many back-to-backs and 4 games in 5 nights.

He isn't coming over, or at, at least, I'd be very schoekd if he did. Rytas (his Lithuanian team) already said that they won't allow him out of his contract to join the team this year. He will finish the year in Lithuania and then join the Raptors next season, like reported after the draft. What makes it tricky is that, as far as I know, there is no set buyout amount between Valanciunas and Rytas for this season. They have an agreement for him to coming over in 2012/2013, but iff Rytas wants to keep him this year, which from what I have read they do, all they have to do is throw out a nuge number that Valanciunas couldn't possibly afford, since the Raptors can only contribute $500,000 (unless the new CBA changes that) towards the buyout. In all honesty, I don't even know if I would want him to come over this year anyways. This year is going to be an absolute cluster[expletive] of a season with the shortened training camp, shortened preseason schedule, 4 games in 5 nights, back-to-back-to-back games and limited practice time for Casey and his staff to really work with him. Saving another year on his rookie contract is just another bonus considering how terrible the Raptors will be this season. It really isn't a good situation to introduce a raw center prospect who will need to adjust to the NBA game. If he comes over I wouldn't be complaining, but it makes sense for him to stay with Rytas for the rest of the season.

Well, that is great and all, but there is literally a 0% chance of them actually getting Oden, and I am not exageratting to make a point, either. There is literally a 0% chance they get him. Portland matches any offer under $10M, let alone an offer for the MLE.

Reimer gets the start tonight and the honors of being shelled by Boston. Gus had his turn, Scrivens had next and now Reimer gets his chance. I wonder if he can keep the Bruins under 6 tonight?

Meh, I'd stay away from him. He is pretty damn bad. I was actually somewhat excited when the Raptors traded for him last season, but the minute I saw him play, all excitement faded. He is big and has nice length, but he doesn't use it defensively, and it is even worse offensively where he fades further and further away from the basket to the point where he stands outside the three point line. Maybe Popovich would be able to get more out of him than Triano did (god knows, he couldn't get any less) as he does have nice size and length, but he just isn't very good. As for Toronto's free agent targets, there really aren't any big mones. They have 10 players under contract so they will need to sign around 4 players. They are going to need a small forward since Kleiza is out until Feburary (I think) and Weems is in Lithuania for the season, which only leaves James Johnson. They will likely sign a cheap 5th big man, which may be filled by re-signing Reggie Evans. Probably a 3rd point guard to play behind Calderon and Bayless. Lastly, maybe they take a chance on somebody over in Europe. As far as specific names, your guess is as good as mine.

Florida doing a really poor job of attacking Syracuse's zone. They are just swinging the ball from side to side as opposed to trying to get into the heart of the zone, which leads to poor three point jumpers. Walker has no consience, though. He has taken some long, long 3's in this game. He has attempted about 3 30 foot jumpers and made 2 of them. I haven't noticed Beal yet, though. He has only taken one shot, but he has done a decent job on the glass with 3 boards so far. For Cuse, Kirs Joseph has been doing a nice job of making plays with his activity. He has kept some balls alive on the offensive glass, ran the floor well and hit a transition 3. He is doing a nice job of deflecting passes on defense as well.

Time: 7:00PM EST TV: ESPN Looking forward to seeing Bradley Beal. I caught a bit of him in the OSU game, but this will be the first time I really watch him. Game just got underway now.

So after it was announced that the Raptors would play the Celtics for their two preseason games, they went to the NBA and tried to make it so that their home game would be free for the fans because of the lockout. They did this in 1999 after the lockout wiped away nearly half of the season as a nice gesture to the fans for sticking with them through the lockout, and the NBA allowed it. However, this year the NBA denied their request and told them that they will not be allowed to allow fans into the game for free. The only way that they would allow the Raptors to allow their fans in the door for free would be if they purchase all of the tickets themselves for the normal price, and then give them to their fans as they come into the ACC. I really don't see what the big deal is. It is an exhibition game that will be played with just 9 days of practice for teams after a 6 month layoff for the Raptors. It is hardly going to be an intense, rivoting game. If the Raptors want to make the game free for their fans as a thank you gesture, I don't see why they shouldn't be allowed to, especially since they were allowed to back in '99.

I get that Hayes played center, but he is not a true center. The Raptors want to pair Bargnani up with a legitimate center, not an undersized one. If they wanted an undersized center, they would just play Amir Johnson there, since they are basically the same size. Hayes is listed at 6'6 and around 235-240 pounds while Amir is listed as 6'9 and 210-215 pounds, but, according to him and Raptor reporters/analysts/beat writers he has gained around 15 pounds, so that puts him at around 225-230. It makes no sense at all for the Raptors to go and spend the amount of money that it is speculated Hayes will be getting when they have guys like Johnson and Davis who do pretty much the same thing. If he comes on a cheap, short term contract, by all means sign him, but that doesn't seem to be the case. That isn't to say that Hayes isn't a good role player or defender, because he is, but he doesn't make sense for the Raptors given their current roster. He makes much more sense for a team like OKC or Boston (assuming Davis is on the outs, which I seem to recall reading). If they really want to sign somebody to be a veteran leader and what not, they will just bring Reggie Evans back for cheaper than what it would cost to sign Hayes. He already has the respect of the young players on the team and does similar things on the floor as Hayes, although he isn't nearly as good of a defender (but a much, much better rebounder). As for whole Valanciunas mentor thing, I don't believe I said that I think they should bring one in (I may be wrong, though). I was just saying that as a potential justification for going out and overpaying for a guy like Chandler. It wouldn't hurt, but I wouldn't be signing a player for that specific role, especially since Casey is very good at working with defensive big men himself. I just think that all of these agents are throwing out the Raptors names for nothing more than to try and create a market for their clients. They know they have money to spend (should they choose to) and it is no secret that they want to try Bargnani at the 4. It doesn't mean I really buy it, though. Colangelo seems pretty set on the plan to go forward this season with pretty much the same roster as last year and add another piece through the draft. He basically confirmed that again earlier today.

It has nothing to do with what contracts they were on. Do you really think Kobe Bryant, at any stage of his career, would've left LA to pair up with LeBron James? I sure don't. He would want to beat LeBron head-to-head, because of how competitive he is and LeBron being his biggest rival. It is just the type of mindset between the "old school" and the "new school" players. I'm not even saying that there is anything wrong with the mindset of the current era superstars. Do I like it? Not really. Do I have a problem with it? Not really. They are free to do whatever they want once they become a free agent. The only thing I don't like is them dictating terms while they are still under contract. If Paul wants to pair up with Melo and Amar'e in New York, go right ahead. Just play out your contract first and then sign with them as a free agent. If the team chooses to trade you before your contract is up, great. Just don't try and force your way to another team while you are still under contract with another team.

It seems like every basket Davis has scored in this game has been either an offensive rebounds and put back or an ally-oop. St. John's doesn't even bother trying to prevent it anymore since they know they can do nothing about it.

I love how Toronto's name is thrown around in connection to pretty much any free agent. Why on earth would Toronto, who already have Ed Davis, Amir Johnson, Andrea Bargnani, James Johnson and Linas Kleiza who can all play the power forward spot? Not to mention having Valanciunas coming over next season (since Hayes would want more than a 1 year deal). At least with the Gasol, Chandler and Nene rumors, it makes some sense from a fit standpoint. This one just makes absolutely no sense.

Pretty weak technical foul call there. Jones completely overreacted there and it did not look bad to me at all. Hardly worth a T. Then again, I only saw it out of the corner of my eye since they cut to the bench at that moment. I may have missed something.