Built Ford Tough

http://www.torontosun.com/2011/08/18/barbosa-heads-back-to-brazil He has an opt-out clause with the team if there is an NBA season this year, so he would be back with the Raptors if there is a season.

How do you think Rondo will play without the big three, whenever it is that they decide to retire or regress to the point where they are no longer starting calibre players and need to take a backseat/bench role? Does he have the ability to become the focal point of the Celtics and the player that they rebuild around, or would the Celtics need to get lucky in the draft to find a new franchise player? Basically, do you think that Rondo will be able to handle the role, pressure and expectations that come with being the Celtics franchise player? What do you expect of him when the reigns are fully handed over to him?

http://basketball.realgm.com/article/215150/The_NBAs_Underrated_Jrue_Holiday I do really like Holiday's game and think he is better than some of the more talked about point guards in the 2009 draft, such as Brandon Jennings and Ty Lawson. You really don't hear much about him despite the fact that he had a very good sophomore season last year putting up 14 ppg, 4 rpg, 6.5 apg and 1.5 spg on 44.6% shooting as most of the guard hype for that class consists around Evans, Curry, Rubio and Jennings with Lawson starting to creep into that class as well. Hell, even Darren Collison seems to get more publicity than Holiday has in their careers thus far and I think it is pretty obvious that Holiday is the better player both now and for the future. Anyways, I just thought this was a pretty good article and agreed with many of the points that were made in it. I don't think that he is quite as good as the author things, at least as of yet, but I do think he has the potential to become one of the better point guards in the NBA and that if he does manage to reach his potential that he could conciveably become the best point guard in the 2009 draft class.

I agree that he showed improvement in the 2nd half of the season. That was basically what I was refering to when I said he showed flashes. As a Sixers fan, what are you, and other fans you know, expecting out of Turner the next time he plays for the Sixers?

Number 26 is... Walt Williams http://blogs.thescore.com/raptorblog/2011/08/17/ultimate-raptors-rankings-%e2%80%94-no-26-walt-williams/#more-4638 I can't really say much about Williams' tenure with the Raptors as I was just getting into basketball around that time and even then, I was only like 5 years old or so. So yeah, I can't really post much about his time with the Raps.

http://www.usatoday.com/sports/mma/post/2011/08/ufc-fox-reportedly-sign-deal/415416/1 Earlier it sounded like it was pretty much a done deal that they would move from Spike to NBC, so this came as a bit of a surprise to me when I read it. Good for the UFC getting on an established network like Fox.

Well, supposedly the Jays offered him $2.5M and he wouldn't sign for anything less than $3.5M, so I'm not too worried about it. That $3.5M he wanted would've made him the 8th highest paid player in the first round. At least they managed to sign Norris who many people considered to be the better prospect (at least from what I have read), so at least that happened. I would've liked to see them get a deal done with Beede, but what can you do? They managed to sign 11 of their first 13 picks and 35 of 55 overall so even though they couldn't get a deal done with Beede, it was still a fairly successfull draft. Obviously it wasn't as good as a team like Tampa who signed 20 of their first 21 picks, but what can you do. The Jays decided to go for pure talent over signability and when you do that the odds of actually signing everybody that you drafted are slim.

Jays leading for almost the entire game. Alvarez gets yanked in the 5th and they bring in Litsch who goes 2 innings giving up 1 hit. Then Farrell brings in Trever Miller who proceeds to give up a game tying homerun, pulls Miller and brings in Rauch, who immediately gives up the go ahead home run to the next batter he faces and then gives up two more hits after that (although he got out of a 1st and 3rd situation). Typical Blue Jays game.

You have to love how the crowd was so amped up for the entire Punk/Cena match and went nuts when Punk wins, yet when Del Rio comes out and cashes in the MITB he gets like no reception at all, whether positive or negative. Then again, I had no idea who the hell he was either, considering I was watching UFC tonight and only watched the Cena/Punk match and then went right back to watching UFC again. Either way, that was a really disappointing end, if only because I only care about Punk and don't really care much about the rest of the WWE.

Didn't want to make a new thread, but he played against Spain today and did alright. Put up 10 points and 3 boards in 11 minutes against a frontcourt that consisted fo Pau and Marc Gasol as well as Serge Ibaka. From what I heard he played poorly in the beginning but he played very well in the 4th and did very well against Ibaka. Of course it is an exhibition game, but it is still worth noting how he did going up against legit NBA talent. EDIT: Now I am reading that he had 12/4 with 3 blocks, so I'm not 100% sure what his exact numbers were.

http://twitter.com/#!/WojYahooNBA/status/101668767372820480 I liked the hiring for the Sonics when they hired him to be their head coach. I liked the hiring when the Raptors added him as an assistaint to Triano last season. Both of these proved to be bad judgement on my part as Carlesimo's tenure with both of these franchies were very underwhelming and very short lived, so I don't expect great things or anything like that if the Nets do bring him in as an assistaint to Johnson. One thing that I will say is that him and Johnson do seem like they would mesh well together. Both are no nonsense kind of guys and have similar philosophies when it comes to coaching. I still wouldn't get anymore than marginally intrigued if he does end up with New Jersey, though.

Obviously if the entire season is lost it will hurt the Celtics given their age and the fact that guys like Pierce, Garnett and Allen clearly aren't getting any younger. However, if a similar scenario to what happened in 1998 happens and the NBA and NBAPA come to an agreement and we get a shortened season (whether 50 games or 60 games or whatever) does that work to Boston's advantage or do you think it hurts them?

What are your expectations for Evan Turner when the NBA resumes play again, whenever that may be? He definitely didn't meet expectations during his rookie season as many people, myself included, thought he was quite possibly the most NBA ready prospect to come out of the 2010 draft. He didn't have a terrible rookie season as he showed glimpses here and there, but not what you would expect from a 2nd overall pick and projected All-Star. He finished the season with averages of 7.2 ppg, 3.9 rpg and 2 apg on 42.5% shooting in 23 minutes per game. His career high in points was 23, rebounds was 12 and assists was 7 (twice). So what do you expect from Turner's sophomore season? Are you still a believer that he has All-Star talent, or did his underwhelming rookie season make you question how good he will actually be?

Fairly old news as it was originally reported at the beginning of the month, so if any Knick fans have heard anything more recent, I apologize for posting this. Anyways... Woodson absolutely sucks at anything related to the offensive end of the floor, as we all saw during his time in Atlanta where the only offense he ever ran was isolating Joe Johnson or Jamal Crawford, but he certainly had that team playing very good defense especially considering he had guys like Mike Bibby and Jamal Crawford, who are anything but defensive specialists, playing major roles. With him focusing entirely on defensive principles and sets and D'Antoni managing the offense, I think it could work. Obviously there will be an adjustment process (assuming he is hired) and a D'Antoni led team will likely never be anything special defensively considering the liberties that they take in order to create offense, but I do think it could work. Of course, I can also see this pairing failing miserably as well. It is about 50/50 for me.

Number 27 is... Rafer Alston http://blogs.thescore.com/raptorblog/2011/08/10/ultimate-raptors-rankings-%e2%80%94-no-27-rafer-alston/#more-4615 Honestly, there aren't a lot of players that I can legitimately say that I hated when they played for the Raptors. Even guys like Jose Calderon or Andrea Bargnani, who I bash constantly and would love if they were moved for next to nothing, I wouldn't say that I hate them. Rafer Alston, though? I hated him. I hated him from the minute that the Raptors signed him to that ridiculous contract. I hated watching him play. I hated his self-entitled attitude. I hated pretty much everything about the guy. The only thing I didn't hate was when he was traded to Houston.

At least it is in the contributor catagory, which is where he should go in the HOF under. I know I have been vocal against the idea of Yao as a HOF'er under the player catagory, but I am fine with him getting in as a contributor, since it is obvious that he will be going in eventually. I still stand by what I have said in the past about his playing career not worthy of the Hall though, even if you factor in his time in China.

I found this on RealGM and it is very interesting at not only how much better Bayless was as a starter compared to in a backup role, but how much more productive he was when starting compared to Jose Calderon when he started. http://www.hoopsinstitute.ca/bayless_start.pdf I think most Raptor fans realized that Bayless played much better as a starter, but I didn't think that he outplayed Calderon this much. Unfortunately it looks like Calderon is going to be the starting point guard again next season as Casey has already mentioned it, but I guess I can hold out hope that maybe Bayless will impress enough in the early parts of the season to possibly win the starting spot because as these numbers suggest, and by simply watching him play, you can see that he plays a lot better when he is in the starting lineup.

I think the Bulls did well for themselves with that trade. Obviously it sucks that you won't see any dividends from the deal for 4 years, but Mirotic was, at one point in time, considered to be a lottery pick and around February (I think) Givony from DX said he could see Mirotic sneak into the top 10. A lot of scouts seemed to really like him as he absolutely rocketed up the draft boards, but once the considerable buyout was known and it became clear that he wouldn't be coming over for a long time, he started falling again. For a team like the Bulls, though, they can afford to just stash him overseas for the next 3 or 4 years because they don't need him. I think he will become a very nice role player when he comes over.

My bad. I didn't think he was with Philly anymore, but the picture on RealGM had him in a Philly jersey so I thought maybe I was wrong.

Oh yeah, forgot to mention that he also had 11 rebounds (some sites say 9 or 10 but from what I read it was 11) and 1 block on 9/10 shooting and 8/8 from the free throw line. So he didn't just score as he did some nice things on the glass and was absurdly efficient as well.

Here are the highlights of Valanciunas' Lithational National Team debut against the Czech Republic http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-GsmvHygGw4&feature=player_embedded It was only an Exhibition game, but it is still impressive to see him play this well considering there was speculation that he may not be able to make the team and if he does he will be hard pressed to crack the rotation. If he continues to put up these kinds of performances, I think it is safe to say that he will not only be making the team, but he will be an integral part of the rotation. I love how effective he is in pick and roll situations. Even when the lane appears to be completely clogged up he still finds a way to not only catch the pass in heavy traffic, but finish as well. I knew he was good in this situaations from all of the stuff I read about him prior to the draft, but seeing him play in the U-19's and now this video exceeded my expectations when it came to pick and roll scenarios. I don't want to get my hopes/expectations too high because I realize he is unlikely to put up these kinds of performances when he comes to the NBA, but I would be lying if his play this summer hasn't gotten me very excited for his Raptor debut, even if it is a year away.

It is hard to believe he is only 29 years old. I realize he was drafted straight out of high school, but it seems like it was so long ago since he was in the league and even longer when he was drafted. I don't know why but I thought he was older than just 29.

http://basketball.realgm.com/wiretap/215043/Jason_Smiths_Father_Dies_In_Car_Accident#ixzz1UHbtRsyN Unfortunate news.

http://www.latimes.com/sports/sns-tsn-acn-loung-column-tor-20110804,0,1769606.story There are definitely some valid points about how a Pritchard/Colangelo partnership would work as I thought of some similar things when I first heard that the Rapators were considering Pritchard for their GM job. Both him and Colangelo are very controlling people and even though Colangelo is looking to step aside as the GM and just focus on being the president, I think we all know that Colangelo is still going to have his hands on the majority of moves that the Raptors make. I don't see him simply stepping aside and giving his predecesssor free reign. I could definitely see Colangelo and Pritchard clashing on multiple occasions should the Raptors hire him. However, even with that said, Pritchard definitely has a proven track record as a GM and I'd definitely rather have him over Bower or Stefanski. The Spurs connection with Lindsey makes him a very viable candidate in my mind, but I can't overlook what Pritchard did with that Blazers team. I'd be happy with either one of them, but Pritchard is much more proven than Lindsey is and I would be more comfortable with him as the Raptors Gm because of his proven track record. That isn't to say that I don't have faith that Lindsey could do a good job.

And it is by a large margin... http://www.in-the-game.org/?p=14861 Top 5 in the list is: 1. Jonas Valanciunas (2010/2011) 2. Nikola Mirotic (2010/2011) 3. Danilo Gallinari (2007/2008) 4. Ricky Rubio (2009/2010) 5. Marko Popovic (2004/2005