Built Ford Tough

http://realgm.com/src_wiretap_archives/69847/20101030/heat_may_try_to_trade_for_pg/#ixzz13sm7Aztn Gibson would be a nice fit considering he is so much more effective as a spot up shooter and not having to create off of the bounce for himself. He can be a bit inconsistent with his shot, but when he is on, he has shown the ability to have big games from deep. With him, House, Jones and Miller, when he returns, I would expect that at least one of them would be able to knock down open looks night in and night out. As for Jack, I understand the interest, but if they are primarily looking for a point who is a spot up shooter, I don't know if he would be the best option considering he isn't exactly the most reliable spot up shooter. He is capable of filling that role, as he showed last season, but it isn't a role that he is best suited for like Gibson. Also, I can't see the Raptors being too interested in a Jack for Chalmers and cash trade, considering they have no need for cash with MLSE being so wealthy. I doubt they are too interested in Chalmers either, at least judging from the whole Bosh S&T situation in the summer. I don't see how a trade gets done, though, considering the Heat have no cap space, no prospects, not draft picks and basically nothing of value to offer any of these teams. I also can't see Toronto and Cleveland chomping at the bits to make the Heat an even better team after this past summer.

Considering he would be getting a max deal, or damn near close to one, if he hit the market, I'd say that $12.5M isn't all that bad considering he is still relatively young and won't be a worn out vet by the time the deal is over. He will be 33 by the time that this contract is finished and while he probably won't be as effective as he is now due to his game being so dependent on speed and quickness, I still think he will be capable of giving you around 16-6, maybe more points depending on what the Spurs roster looks like in a few years. I just love the fact that a semi-star player is signing with a small market team. After all of these players signing with big market teams or in Melo's case trying to force his way to a big market, it is encouraging to see a player like Parker stay loyal to the franchise that had so much faith in him. He could've easily waited until his deal was up and then signed with the Knicks or something, so it is nice to see loyalty on his part.

- The Raptors crushed the Cavs spirit in that third quarter, particularly Kleiza who was awesome. He was just abusing Jamario Moon in the post and torched him for 13 points and I think something like 8 straight in the post. He can really take advantage of the smaller 3's down low as he was just bullying Moon around. - DeRozan had a very good 3rd quarter. He was really doing a nice job of breaking the defense down and creating opportunities for himself and his teammates. His numbers won't blow you away (14 points and like 3 assists) but I thought that he played a very good game tonight, excluding that 10 minute stretch where he was practically invisible. He was great in the 3rd. - Evans is hilarious to watch. He just runs around full speed banging into everybody and going after every loose ball. He is awful on offense and average at best on defense, but he is such an awesome rebounder. He has 30 rebounds in the Raptors first two games. - Even though he couldn't knock down anything, I thought that Calderon played pretty well in the 3rd quarter. He was doing a nice job of running the offense and getting his teammates some easy looks down low. It helped that the Cavs were playing so pretty awful defense and presented him with some very easy passes, but he was solid. - The bench was pretty solid tonight. Weems was chucking a bit, but he played much better in 2nd half than he did the 1st, but I still wasn't too impressed with his play. Andersen is very good at hitting that 15 foot corner jumper off of pick and pops, but it is pretty comical watching him try and do anything else. Barbosa was pretty solid tonight getting to the basket and using his speed to put pressure on the Cavs defense. Johnson was solid as well. He can be such a nice spark off of the bench when he actually stays out of foul trouble. I already mentioned Calderon above. I know I said that I was going to try and make some comments about the Cavs, but to be honest, I can sum up my entire thoughts on them tonight in one word: awful

- Loved the way that DeRozan came out. He was really aggressive on offense, but he was pretty invisible for the rest of the half as I barely even noticed him out there aside from a nice drive and dish to Kleiza, although Kleiza never finished. He has shown glimpses in the first game and a half that he has played, but he also has those stretches where he is a ghost out there. It should be interesting to see his progression thoughout the year. - The Raptors really went to Bargs a lot in the 1st half. He has played pretty well, although I would definitely like to see him getting inside more and not just staying on the perimeter. He was awesome in the 1st half against New York because he kept the defense on their toes by mixing it up offensively. Hopefully he doesn't continue to settle all night long, but I guess if he is making his shots you can't complain too much. - I liked Kleiza's play in the 1st half. He wasn't spectacular at all, but he did a nice job of stretching the defense by hitting those two early threes and he has done a nice job on the glass with around 4 I think so far. He is never going to wow you with his play, but I think he can become a very solid player for this team. I like his game from what I have seen so far. - Jose Calderon, oh my. What happened to him? He can't do anything on the floor anymore. His jumper is just awful now and he clanks everything. His shots aren't even close to going in either. Jack has been pretty average as well. He is really forcing it and making some questionable decisions with the ball. He is trying to get too fancy instead of making the simple play which has resulted in some turnovers. - Amir Johnson didn't pick up one foul in the 1st half. Wow! - Sonny Weems needs to stop shooting threes. I don't care if he worked on it during the offseason, it is clear that he is not a deep threat and he continues to take them. His mid range game is very good, so stick with that. I like the guy and all, but man is he a gunner. - All in all, a pretty sloppy 1st half. I'd like to think that the Raptors defense is the main reason why the Cavs are shooting so poorly, but to be honest, I don't think that is the case. The Cavs have been getting some pretty decent looks but they just aren't knocking them down. The Raptors have been solid defensively, but not enough to cause this low of a shooting percentage. Will post some more after the game. I'll try to get some Cavs thoughts into my next post and not make it 100% Raptor oriented.

Just got home from work and started watching it now. I'll post my thoughts at half time and after the game, even though I know the game has already finished. Sorry if I repeat anything that has already been said as I'm not going to read any of the comments made in this thread to avoid knowing how the game goes, the final score, etc...

Looking at the Raptors schedule, if they don't win this game I could easily see them only winning about 3 games before Decemeber considering they head out West for a 4 game road trip, come home and play Golden State and Charlotte, head to Miami, Orlando, Washington and Philly for a 4 game trip (2 back to backs with 2 days rest in between), come home to face Houston, Boston and Philly and then finish the month off with games @ Boston and vs. Atlanta. Obviously they can pull of an upset or two, but it wouldn't be a shock to me at all if they have less than 4 or 5 wins when December rolls around. As for this game, I work until 11PM so I'll miss the entire game, at least while it is live. I'll probably come home and hopefully find somewhere to watch it online (not sure if I'll be able to watch it on LP considering Raptor games have been blacked out for me in the past even though I live closer to teams like Portland and Seattle [when they were around] than I do Toronto)

Love the end: "I ain't gonna mess with this guy, he look too dangerous"

Not much to talk about with the Raptors, so I thought I'd post some of the more interesting parts of the live chat that Doug Smith had about an hour and a half ago. Those were really the things that stood out to me, particularly the third quote that I posted. It sounds like the team is actually committed to a rebuild at this point in time. EDIT: I think it is also worth mentioning that Doug Smith probably isn't as "in the loop" as he likes to believe so it wouldn't surprise me at all if Colangelo did make a move with the TPE to acquire some vet that would handicap the Raptors financially just so that they would win a handful more games.

http://basketball.realgm.com/src_wiretap_archives/69815/20101029/stuckey_wont_sign_extension/# It is pretty interesting that it is Stuckey who is unwilling to sign an extension with Detroit and not the other way around, at least in my opinion. I'm sure that Detroit will probably match any reasonable offer for him when he becomes a restricted free agent, so I doubt he goes anywhere. On a somewhat related note, is this the least amount of extensions ever given out to a single draft class? From the 07 draft, I think only Durant and Noah are going to sign extensions and not make it to free agency. Horford, Oden, Brooks, Green, Stuckey and Conley (just some of the bigger names off of the top of my head) are all going to be restricted free agents by the looks of things.

http://www.hoopsworld.com/Story.asp?story_id=17747#ixzz13ifAkkWr I know that Hoopsworld isn't exactly the most reliable site, but Bill Ingram has broke a couple of stories before. Also, it makes sense that Houston would want Dampier and Dampier would want to go to Houston with the whole Yao situation opening up playing time for him while still beeing on a probably playoff team.

Anybody else see Deron absolutely tearing Hawyard to shreds before the commercial break? That was absolutely awesome. EDIT: Nevermind, they just showed a replay of it so I'm guessing everybody saw it.

http://www.sherdog.com/news/news/UFC-WEC-to-Merge-in-2011-27812 I'm so stoked about this. Not only does the UFC now have amazing fighters like Jose Aldo, Uriajh Faber, Dominick Cruz, Miguel Torres, Mike Brown etc..., but they are adding two new weight classes which means that basically every single (pay-per-view) event the UFC holds will feature a championship match. On top of two entirely new divisions being added to the UFC, the 155 pound division, which was already fairly deep in the first place, is now going to have 3 more very dangerous fighters added to its ranks with Ben Henderson, Donald Cerrone and Jamie Varner (maybe even with with Anthony Pettis). Best of all? We may see some of the great 145 and 135 pound fighters over in Japan make their way to the UFC now that they would be able to stay at their natural weight class. This is just fantasitc news all around.

Anybody see/hear the post game comments from Calderon? Some reporter asked him a question about Chris Bosh and Calderon's response was: "Who?" and that was it. I found it pretty funny. I'm sure that the Raptor players are certainly sick of hearing about Bosh and his absence. Also, Amare Stoudemire apperantly said that the Raptors are a much tougher and grittier team without Bosh and that Reggie Evans is a much better defender and rebounder than Bosh has ever been. Bosh is really getting ripped into lately with these comments, his poor play to start the season and the whole "it's all about being on TV" comments. EDIT: Here is the video of Calderon's comments. I just love his facial expression when he hears the question. http://www.nba.com/raptors/video/jose-calderon-october-27-2010 (last question of the interview)

Dave Feschuk, a writier for the Toronto Star, kind of ripped into Bosh for these comments. Here is just some of what he wrote: http://www.thestar.com/sports/basketball/nba/raptors/article/882160--feschuk-in-world-according-to-bosh-raptors-opener-never-happened

Like everybody else has already said, chemistry is obvioulsy the major reason for his turnover woes so far this season, but I also think that he is really forcing the issue and pressing on the floor. After all of the scrutiny he was under this offseason after leaving Cleveland and all of the criticism he received, I think he wanted to come out and start the season off with a huge bang, and as a result, he is forcing his game too much (same with Wade, and, to a lesser extent, Bosh). Once he and the rest of the team get more comfortable playing with each, understand each others tendancies, get a regular rotation set, establish an appropriate pace etc... I'm sure we will see James' turnovers go down and we will see guys like Bosh and Wade playing better as well.

http://basketball.realgm.com/src_wiretap_archives/69802/20101028/melo_its_a_time_for_change/#ixzz13foeRXr9 How soon will he be moved? Deadline or before?

Kaman has had a lot of good looks tonight, but it seems like he is rushing everything due to Camby's presence out there. He has missed some real point blank looks because he didn't gather himself, go up strong etc... Camby has played very well tonight, though. Double double for him and he has had a noticable impact on the defensive end of the floor. This game has been all about pace. Whenever the Clippers have been able to get out in transition and get the pace of the game up, they have went on a run but whenever the Blazers have been able to slow it down and play at their usual McMillian snails pace, the Clippers haven't been able to get much in the half court.

I love this Clippers team. I've always been a quasi-Clippers fan, but this season I think I might make an effort to watch as many games of theirs as I can, rather than just watching them whenever they are on TV. They are just so damn exciting to watch and I love the youth on this team. Gordon and Griffin are two phenomenal building blocks for this team. I think that these two are going to be quite the one-two punch in a few years. Gordon looks absolutely awesome out there right now.

I love the makeup of this Clipper team. They are going to be really good in a couple of years, assuming Davis stays in shape and motivated. Griffin is just amazing to watch. I expected him to be extremely energetic and all over the place considering that is how he has always played the game, but I didn't expect this much from him. He is just amazing to watch and such a beast on the boards. Once he refines his skills, he is going to be a top player in the league, I have no doubt about it. That DeAndre Jordan block was absolutely nasty as well.

Come on now... He would average 2. Seriously though, I can see Evans averaging close to 11 boards a night if he continues to get 30 minutes, the majority of them alongside Bargnani. He just doesn't quit on any play and goes after every loose ball. He won't contribute much in other areas, but he will definitely make an impact on the glass.

The problem is that the Raptors can't give Johnson any sort of extended minutes because he is always in foul trouble. He picked up 3 fouls in the first 7 minutes of action that he saw and finished the game with 4 fouls in 12 minutes. As much as I would like to see him start and get extended minutes of action, at this point in time he simply isn't capable of seeing more than 15-18 minutes a night because of his constant fouling. Honestly, if Evans is playing like he did tonight, I have no problems with him getting more minutes than Johnson either. I know this is basically the exact opposite of what I said before the preseason, but he is really impressing me with his play lately. I honestly think that he may be playing his way off of the team in a good way. If he plays like this for an extended period of time I can definitely see a team in need of big man depth looking to acquire him. Definitely agree with DeRozan needing more time. I commented on it to my dad while we were watching the game. 26 minutes a night isn't enough for him at this point in time. Bringing him along slowly was fine and dandy last year, but this year it is time to throw him into the fire and see what he can do with not only extended minutes, but an extended role. He is still fairly passive, but he has started to show signs of being more aggressive and hopefully that will continue as the season goes along. I thought he played pretty well tonight, although his numbers don't exactly reflect that. The Jack, Barbosa, Calderon lineup was only on the floor during the final possession because they needed a three and DeRozan isn't a threat from deep, which would've allowed the Knicks to leave him open and double somebody else. I don't have a problem with having Calderon on the floor in that situation, but if I ever see those three on the floor together for any sort of extended length of time, I'll definitely be disaponited.

In Mozgov's defense, he was stuck with a pretty difficult matchup. Bargnani was really on his game during the first half and Mozgov simply doesn't have what it takes to defend a player with Bargnani's skill set. He was completely out of his element whenever he had to step outside of the paint to defend Bargs. Add in the inevitable first NBA game nerves and it makes sense why he struggled so much. Isn't he also more of a project as well? Chandler was really impressive tonight for the Knicks. He really kept them in the game while Amare was struggling and Gallo couldn't hit anything. He completely dominated the Raptors whenever he had a mismatch, which was often as Triano seemed reluctant to make any changes (finally put Weems on him and a big on Gallo, but at that point it was too late). Amare did a nice job of taking over down the stretch. Like the Chandler situation, I was pretty disapointed that the Raptors continued to have Evans guard him straight up even though it was clear that he couldn't contain him, especially considering how good of a job Bargnani did on him all night long. Other than the last 5 minutes or so of the 4th, I thought that Stoudemire was pretty awful all night long. He was forcing his game offensively and wasn't doing much defensively despite the fact that he was basically free to roam wherever he wanted considering he was guarding Evans. He made up for it late, though.

Pretty poor play out of the timeout. Why run the play for Barbosa, who is like 5-17 tonight when you have guys like Jack, Bargnani and Kleiza who have been shooting the ball pretty well all night long? Oh well, Raptors are well on their way to the 1st overall pick. :glasses:

That was definitely off of Stoudemire. I honestly don't see why they even need to review this considering the ref was standing right in front of the play while it was clear as day during live play that it went off of Amare's foot. That was a nasty crossover by Jack.

Raptors need to go to Bargnani more. They've completely ignored him in the 2nd half after he got off to such a great start. It makes even more sense to go to him since the Knicks have been going small for the majority of the 2nd half. The Knicks have done a great job of exploiting the mismatches that Chandler had, but the Raptors completely ignored the mismatch that they had offensively.