Built Ford Tough

That is why it is most likely just an attempt to increase his value. People know that there is a pretty good fit stylistically with them, so they throw his name out there to create more of a market. I'm sure if Colangelo could get him on a reasonable 3 year contract he would do it, but since Chandler will be looking for a long term, big money deal, it won't happen. I'm not sure where he will end up, but I'd be shocked it it was in Toronto.

Casey absolutely loves him and they want to see Bargnani paired up with a legitimate center. Also, Valanciunas is going to be coming over next year, but I highly doubt he will be very productive immediately, unless he really bulks up next summer. He has shown plenty of good things this past summer and with Rytas so far, but he isn't NBA ready. If they sign Chandler it would help insulate Valnciunas and ease some of the pressure. It would also be nice for his development to play behind a player who he is regularly compared to. Those would be the two big reasons why I can see them going after him. I highly doubt that they go after him, though. Colangelo has said not to expect any major moves and seems fairly content to go into the season with pretty much the roster he had at the end of the year. He will sign a few free agents to round out the roster, but I doubt it is anything other than end of the bench guys. Colangelo knows that the 2012 draft is critical to the future of this team and I don't see him doing anything stupid to jeoprdize their probably top 5 pick. I imagine people put those two factors I mentioned above together, and threw Toronto's name into the mix in an attempt to make it appear like another suitor is involved to increase the market for him.

Nice drive from Barnes. He saw his team was struggling offensively, so he demanded the ball and basically told everybody to get the hell out of his way. He put his head down and just muscled his way into the paint. He needs to do more of that. I realize that he is just trying to play within the confines of the offense, but there comes a point in time where you just need to get the ball and make something happen. He is too content with just getting his within the flow of the offense. This is a good thing and a bad thing at the same time. UNC up 25-24 at the end of the 1st. They really haven't played well thus far. They aren't playing their game and seem to be content with giving into the Badgers' desire for a slow paced, drag it out game. Considering how they played against UNLV and how uninspired they have looked in this game, Williams can't be happy with how his team has played. If they continue to play like this, Kentucky is going to wipe the floor with them on Saturday.

He will sign with whoever offers him the biggest contract. It doesn't matter if it is a contender like Dallas or a lottery team like Toronto. Taking into consideration he just won a ring last year, is approaching 30 and has had a long injury history, you just know that he is looking for a big pay day. His value will never be higher given how well he played in the playoffs last season and the lack of true centers on the free agent market.

Very nice up and under move from Henson. He is much more confident in the post this year as opposed to last. Barnes looks pretty shaky to start. Has already had a poor turnover and forced a bad jumper. UNC's defensive rebounding has been bad to start, as well. With a Zeller, Henson and Barnes frontcourt, there is no reason why the Badgers should already have about 3 or 4 offensive rebounds in the first 5 minutes. The battle at the point between Taylor and Marshall is going to be a fun one to watch tonight, though. Definitely interested ins eeing how that matchup goes, especially with how contrasting the styles of these two teams are.

No room for him with Westbrook/Maynor/Jackson at the point and Harden/Sefolosha at the 2. They probably want to free up a roster spot to sign an insurance big man or something.

http://latimesblogs.latimes.com/sports_blog/2011/11/clippers-reach-out-free-agent-tayshaun-prince.html They definitely need to find a small forward since neither Gomes or Aminu are capable of being starters on a playoff team, which is undoubtedly what the Clippers are hoping to be this year. Who do you think would be the better fit for the Clippers between Prince or Butler? Who do you think would be more likely to end up in a Clipper uniform?

Keep in mind, this is a buyout, not an amnesty cut. It won't be any noticable loss for the Thunder. Correct me if I am wrong, but Robinson was pretty much glued to the bench after the deadline deal, wasn't he?

Also, just thought I'd mention this for any fellow Canadians, this game will be on The Score, followed by the Gonzaga game, if anybody wants to check out some Canadian talent in Kevin Pangos and Rob Sacre. Not that anybody will likely care, since we seem to be down to about 3 Canadians on here.

http://blogs.canoe.ca/courtside/ I'm not sure what the Cavs plan on doing with their TPE, but I know that Colangelo has gone on record saying that it is unlike the Raptors will use the remaining $9M left on their TPE. Anybody see possibilities in which these exceptions are used?

https://twitter.com/#!/JohnBorukCSN/status/142036800834244608 https://twitter.com/#!/JohnBorukCSN/status/142036800834244608 The Ducks play tonight in just over 2 hours, so it will be interesting to see if Ryan is in the lineup.

Time: 9:30 EST TV: ESPN http://www.cbssports.com/collegebasketball/gametracker/preview/NCAAB_20111130_WI@NC For anybody wondering, Barnes will be in the Carolina lineup. Looking forward to seeing how UNC bounces back from a tough loss to UNLV.

Man, OSU is making Duke look like a D-2 team right now. They are getting whatever they want, whenever they want it offensively and defensively, they have Duke playing scared. Just an absolutely dominating performance from OSU. I said earlier in a different Duke game thread (might have actually been the Maui thread) that Duke, despite their top 5 ranking, doesn't really impress me all that much, and this game is showing why. They are way too soft on defense, they are easily outmuscled inside, their offense is heavily reliant on the three as Rivers is the only creator, and he is too selfish to be an ideal playmaker and they have little interior offense. The Plumlee's are nothing more than energy/hustle players as they are limited offensively and Kelly isn't anything special. They almost fell apart against Michigan State when the Spartans started to get physical, they nearly lost to Kansas and they are getting completely outclassed against OSU. They are a good team, but in my opinion they aren't on the level of OSU, Kentucky, UNC or Syracuse.

Its because he has absolutely no lift. He has to use fakes to try and get the opposing big men in the air, or he has to go into their body because he would get his shot blocked if he just went straight up. He has mediocore athleticism and he has average length, which makes it difficult for him to just catch the ball and immediately go up in traffic. It is the major reason why I'm not much of a fan of his as a pro prospect. He can get away with it in college, but he is going to struggle mightily in the pros when he can't just out muscle his defender.

Rivers doing a nice job running the point. Found Mason and Miles Plumlee for two easy baskets off of his penetration. Sparked a nice little 6-0 run, although it is still a 17 point lead. Not to mention a wicked step back move he made, although he couldn't stick the open jumper. I wasn't impressed with him the last time I watched Duke, but man, he has looked filthy with the ball tonight. His major flaws (lack of a jumper, poor decision making and selfishness) are still evident, but he has done a lot of good things on offense tonight.

Latest update is that he is expected to play tomorrow against Wisconsin in the Big 10/ACC challenge. Earlier this morning there was a rumor going around that he wouldn't play, but during the Duke/OSU game they said that he is expected to play.

I actually thought his first one, followed by the pro hop, was more impressive. He just couldn't finish it off. The explosiveness of the crossover, followed the seamless transition into the pro hop to avoid the help looked so damn smooth. But yeah, he definitely has flaws in his game, particularly his decision making. He is very talented as a scorer, but his overall game needs a lot of work. As for Sullinger, he has had a very good game on the scoresheet, but he hasn't really impressed me much more and looks like the same player he was last year. Granted, he hasn't exactly had a lot of opportunities to showcase much since Duke is immediately sending a 2nd or 3rd defender his way when he catches the ball and he hasn't needed to dominate since the rest of the team is shooting the ball really well, especially Buford. Nothing I have seen from him this season (Florida game and 1st half of this game) has made me change my opinion of him as a pro prospect. A solid, but unspectacular post up 4.

Just to clear up any potential confusion, this doesn't mean that they can have any written or oral agreements with free agents. No deals can be official until December 9th, but negotiations can take place starting tomorrow.

Rivers is absolutely filthy. He is just abusing OSU's perimeter defense and getting to the rim at will. This game would be very ugly if it wasn't for him. Duke needs to give him the ball and get the hell out of his way right now. Duke's defense is playing really soft. They aren't fighting through screens, aren't battling down low and are allowing way too many easy looks from 5-12 feet. They really need to be more physical and show a higher compete level defensively or else this game is going to be a blowout, regardless of how well Rivers is playing on the other end of the floor.

Tough call on Mason Plumlee. He did a great job of fighting for position against Sullinger, resulting in him catching the ball about 5 feet further out than he would've liked. Then he did an excellent job of using his length to keep Sullinger in front of him. I thought he played that about as well as you can, but I guess the refs didn't think he went straight up and called the foul on him. I thought it was great defense. To add insult to injury, OSU went on a nice little run after that play to stretch their lead to 8 or so. ABL, I agree about Rivers' having a lethal crossover. It is very quick and explosive, which allows him to get by almost anybody. If only he could finish better in traffic. He has had 2 great drives that resulted in nothing as a result of his inability to finish in traffic. His handle is very impressive, though.

Nice drive from Rivers. Showed a great first step to get by the initial defender, then had a nice crossover on the help. He also did a solid job of absorbing the contact and finishing the basket. Earlier in the game he had a similar situation where he blew by the defense, but he blew the layup. Duke has done a nice job of staying composed and fighting back into the game after the opening flurry from the Buckeyes. You knew that they would come out absolutely jacked up, and got out to an early 9-0 lead. Since then, Duke has played under control and just ran their offense, which has enabled them to get back into the game.

There are as many as 27 NBA scouts attending this game. Game just getting underway with OSU jumping out to a 9-0 lead.

Another excellent read from my favourite Raptors blog, RaptorsHQ. They explain concepts of the new CBA and tie into how it will affect the Raptors. Some more at the link: http://www.raptorshq.com/2011/11/29/2595673/the-proposed-nba-cba-and-its-impact-on-the-toronto-raptors

From Broussard: Is this another one of the annual Rondo trade threads that seem to appear every summer (this one is just later due to the lockout), or do you think there is actually some validity to this rumor?

He did play well during stretches, though. The entire month of November he looked like he had a solid future, especially since many considered him to be a project not capable of contributing right off the bat. I'm not saying that he is going to be a star or anything, but to write off a 21 year old point guard as a nothing player, who was considered a project to begin with, because of an up and down rookie season seems a bit rash. His last two relatively healthy seasons (55+ games) he averaged: 16/13/3 on 54 TS% in 2007-2008 19/9/1 on 53 TS% in 2009-2010 So one could argue that 09-10 wasn't an anomaly, he just managed to stay healthy. When he has been healthy, he has performed well over the past 4 seasons. Injuries have held him back from consistently producing. That is a valid concern, but I don't think that anybody should be concerned that a healthy Chris Kaman is only a 12/7 on sub 50% TS player. The thing is, there are only about 3 other teams that Paul would even entertain going to. The Knicks, who have really nothing to offer after the Melo trade. The Lakers, who have Bynum and that is it. The Magic, who would only be interested in him if they re-sign Dwight and even then, have literally nothing of interest. That leaves the Clippers with what seemingly looks like the best offer (maybe he's willing to go to the Thunder for Westbrook or something), depending on your opinion of Bynum. Personally, I'd take the Wolves unprotected 1st over him since I think very, very highly of this draft. It isn't about what a team like, say, the Warriors can offer because Paul has to be willing to actually sign an extension with the team and he seems to be set on a small number of teams.