Bosh Bash

Poor Chris Bosh!

Been a tough season. Man oh man!

First off injuries, then de team that was supposed to be so good, according to the GM anyways, flop this season, then Shaquille O'Neal called him the Rupaul of big men in the NBA and now this! And them buss this new set of news on his birthday just to shame he lil more when he should be out feting. Cuhdear!

What news? I talking about the news that Bosh's former girlfriend/financee (yes I mispell it on purpose) suing him for child support.

Cuhdear!

And yes many of you will say NBA player being sued for child support ain't no big deal happens all the time. Which is true but Bosh has made his name in the NBA and in Toronto as being one of those guys who wouldn't be caught up in this type of drama. He's a "good guy". Nice guy image. That is the type of athlete Toronto likes and embraces even if they don't perform.

I mean irony of ironies Bosh's image here like O.D.B is all about the kids. Raptors foundation, Sick Kids, Make a wish, Literacy campaigns, Boys and Girls Club of Canada. Bosh is all over the media daily repping for one children's program or another so imagine how it look that he not taking care of his home responsibilities. Ya mean, he trying to look out for other people pickney but not his own. Mi naa buy it!

Image buss!

Truth be told I tell Bosh get ridda dat financee gal from the time she was on the sidelines heckling and riling up Lebron and mek we lost that game last season cause juss cause ya got front row seats and is a player girlfriend aint nuh right fa you to get involved in the game. Sit down, shut up and enjoy the overpriced ACC food like everybody else and leff off dat sorta thing to fellas like Mars Blackman and Col. Jessop, that's Spike and Jack Nicholson in case you didn't figure it out. If you want the spotlight I sure there is video girl work available otherwise stay outta big NBA man business that.

Still I din know that he (Bosh) had she pregnant. How he going kick she out of his house full pregnant and then refuse to support the child?

Cuhdear! Wha wid an alleged move like that I can only guess that he trying to tek heat off the other Chris (Mr Brown I talkin bout you).

Still I didn't come to beat up on Bosh yet. Like they say three sides to each story. She side is that he is a deadbeat dad. Lawless, good for nothing, igrant, ugly brute that wont look after his responsibilities. Only see the 4 month old pickney two time so far and baby mudda broke and need money to tek care of this chile.

His side? Well that came out this morning. He claim that his lawyers are the one's that started the proceedings and that he's apparently down to take care of his responsibilities and support the chile (whic he should be with all them millions he duz mek) but like de former financee she want extra and hit he wid a suit. Whax! Hmmmm.

Boshy boy ya have to be careful. I was just reading a Sport Illustrated article saying that about 60% of former NBA players duz be broke 5 years after their playing days done and saying that child support and divorce is two of the main reasons these men duz end up broke. Dont let she stick ya for all ya paper boy.

But anyways like I said three sides to each story. She side out, he side coming out and one can only hope to pick little piece of the third side, that being the truth, out of each of the other two stories.

All I know is Bosh image tek a good lik this week. Not sure if it going recover here in Toronto.

Ah what do I care I've been pushing for the GM to trade him since January anyways.

Bye Bye Garbo

I must commend Raptors General Manager Bryan Colangelo for the job he's done with the team over the past season and a bit. Via his personnel moves he has been able to get the team to some semblance of respectability and an Atlantic Division title. Good job!

A significant part of that revival has been the influx of European players onto the Raptors roster.

As an aside though when you think of the invasion of European players into the Raptor ranks you have to at least grudgingly give credit to former GM Rob Babcock for starting the trend by picking up Jose Calderone, Uros Slokar and Roko Ukic a few years back. The flood gates however didnt officially open until Colangelo arrived two summers ago and picked up number one draft pick Andrea Bargnani, free agent Jorge Garbajosa and made the trade with San Antonio for Rasho Nesterovich.

And it has not been a faulty plan. Actually to be honest it was a great move on the Raptors part. Not only because the European players are highly skilled and usually well trained but also because unlike some of their African-American counterparts they have no issue with playing in Canada.

The Raptors over the past have been burned considerably by several myopic US basketball players who grudgingly came but skipped town as soon as possible, complained about playing in Toronto as if we were a third rate Mexican border town, complained about raising their family in Canada as if we were located somewhere behind the old Iron Curtain or who forced management to overpay for their services just cause they were going to be an hour outside the good ol US of A.

In light of that drama it has been a pleasure to have European professionals here who actually want to play here and help build up a good franchise in a cosmopolitan North American city like Toronto.

But if the problem with American players is their wish not to play professionally outside their home country the problem with European players is their wish to play for their home country's squad during the NBA off-season. Even at times when it may have a detrimental effect on their performance for their professional team, the one that actually pays their huge salaries.

Case in point: Raptors and Spanish forward Jorge Garbajosa.

Garbo as he is affectionately called made what can only be described as a bad call this summer. (oh and I called it twice. Here and here. See even a broken clock can be right sometimes.)

He broke his leg late in the last NBA season. Doctors at that time told him it would take approximately six months to rehab properly. Garbo four months later played for Spain in the European Championships against the advice of Raptors doctors who still thought that he needed surgery to correct parts of his damaged leg. Fast forward to yesterday and it has now been announced that Garbo will need to have surgery after all and in all likelihood will miss a significant portion if not all of this season. (Oh and I also read that he had indeed been practicing with the Spanish squad for up to 5 weeks before the actual Eurobasket tournament begun)

Now I'll admit that I'm upset with this. Been upset with it since I first heard he was playing in the FIBA Eurobasket tournament this summer instead of sitting it out to rehab for the NBA season. Look I'm not adverse to a player wishing to represent his country but Spain had already qualified for the 2008 Olympics and this Eurobasket tournament was about nothing more significant than bragging rights. To me it made sense if you were coming off an injury to play it safe and sit out the summer tournament so you could be 100% by the time NBA training camp rolled around.

Maybe Garbo had a right to be skeptical about the Raptors doctor's diagnosis and go against their advice. Professional teams do try to protect their investments and in the case of NBA teams there has been much fuss about international players who play a full NBA season then rush off to play all summer for their home countries. When do such players get a chance to rehab and relax and recharge one wonders? Still if a player thinks he can handle it and its necessary I say more power to him ......once he's are healthy.

Garbo was however by no means injury free and should have sat out this summer's tourney with a view towards being 100% in the fall. The biggest clue to the injury and how it was coming along may have been the fact that the Spanish federation and Garbo had to take out an insurance policy which cost them an exorbitant one million dollars for three months coverage this summer in order for him to play in the Eurobasket tournament. If the insurers thought he wasn't a big risk to reinjure himself or was close to full rehabilitation why was the premium so high?

It seems pretty clear that a never fully healed Garbo rushed back to play in Eurobasket 2007 and in so doing risked his rehab maybe even damaging himself further.

I honestly would like to think that he would have had some more regard for the franchise that pays him and the fans that cheer him here in Toronto and not have rushed to play this summer and then not even last a full month into the NBA season.

Like I said in my previous blog in reference to Garbo back this summer "Now you'll probably get to Raptors training camp and fall apart within a month of the season then have surgery and miss the entire season. All the while being paid by the Raptors. That's to me is like you have just dealt a b* slap to the entire Toronto fandom collective with your actions. Boy and they complain that home grown NBA players are childish, haughty and own way! I do hope you stay semi-healthy so we can trade you but alas I know that wont happen. Enjoy the season on the sidelines."

Damn I wish I had been wrong.

Guess this just goes to show that athletes can be idiots regardless of where they are from despite what some folks may think.

There are terms written into players contracts forbidding them to ski or ride motorbikes or engage in other slightly dangerous hobbies that may injure them. Maybe there needs to be terms written in forbidding injured players from playing in tournaments that can cause them to lengthen their time on the injured list. Or just clauses about using common sense to determine what events to engage in during the off-season.

Personally I think Garbo owes us Raptors fans an apology. Maybe he owes the franchise some money too but for sure he owes us an apology for risking his ability to play for the Raptors leaving us a weaker team in his absence.

ps: In terms of responsibility why isn't Garbo getting more heat on this? Vince went to his University graduation the morning of a playoff game but returned to play in that game and was widely pilloried as letting down the team. Garbo plays all summer on a bad leg and then comes to the season injured. He has let down his team too. Actually in my opinion more than Vince did. Shouldn't he be hearing it from the fans for letting us down?

NBA preview

Yes its back, finally! The NBA regular season starts on Tuesday night. Its been a long time well at least in my opinion

Ok as I usually do every year I'll make some not so great predictions based on my feel for the game at the moment. They all make sense to me at this point in time but usually 4 months down the line in hindsight a few are slighty questionable ie dead wrong! But me neva claim fi name Miss Cleo or fi ave crystal ball so without further ado here are my predictions:

- The East will be a better league than the West in this coming season. Yes the elite teams in the West; Dallas, San Antonio, Phoenix are miles ahead of the Eastern teams but after this summer's comings and goings the West now has more scrub teams than the East. Shall I name the West's scrub teams? LA Clippers (Without Brand they are weak), Minnesota, Seattle, Portland, Sacramento, and if Kobe gets traded add the Lakers to that list.

- Don't count out New Jersey as Sports Illustrated seemingly has by predicting they wont even make the playoffs. Ridiculous. New Jersey is Boston without Garnett but with better supporting players and a team that has experience in playing together.

-Houston's biggest opponent is themselves. If Mcgrady and Yao remain injury free this team joins the West Elite. Houston is a force this year. Actually addendum to this I can see Dallas dropping out of the West Elite.

-GAP (Garnett, Allen, Pierce) is overrated and expensive. Hmmm sort of like the other Gap, who knew.

-Isiah doesn't last the season as coach cause again his team has too many players who need the ball to be effective. A glut of star players or used to be star players does not a champion make. Go ask the 2000 Trailblazers.

-The Raptors will make playoffs but wont win their division. Well actually I hope they do but gut feeling says they wont win the division. The Raptors win or lose on the strength of their point guard play this season.

-Chris Bosh will be spending at least two weeks on the injury list. Garbajosa's leg doesnt hold up to December.

-Miami will not make the playoffs. Shaq is no longer Diesel more like Diesel fumes and the supporting cast is terrible. Without an effective Shaq, Wade just becomes a poor man's Kobe.

- Atlanta will still suck! Memo to GM: Trade some of the young talent for a few veterans.

-Charlotte will still suck just less than they did last year.

- Dont expect consistency from rookie Kevin Durant.

- Jermaine O'Neal is the big trade in February.

-Kobe will not last the season in LA. Actually Kobe might not even begin the season in LA. Phil just dissed him. He's alienated his teammates more than usual with his off-season mouthings. I think he's gone. Possible destination Chi-Town but only if they can get away without giving away Deng for him. I'd pitch a Gordon, Thomas, other scrubs deal if I was the Chicago GM.

-Orlando and Milwaukee are the dark horses in the East. Watch them carefully.

- Cleveland struggles this year. They might not even make the playoffs if they cant re-sign the flopper and that other guy. Last playoff spot in the East comes down to Washington and Cleveland if my above mentioned dark horses get going.

-San Antonio are odds on favorites to repeat but they seem to have a tendency to let down the year after a championship. As much as I would like to see them repeat I don't see it happening. I'm predicting a Chicago vs Phoenix finals with Phoenix winning it all so that they can finally disband the damn Suns squad.

All predictions can be upset by injury to critical players but thats my story and I'm sticking to it.

The trash heap has spoken Nyeah!

Coming of age

Chris Bosh and the Raptors came of age tonight with the game 2 win over New Jersey. They really had to grind out this game. Welcome to real playoff basketball guys.

I get the feeling Sam Mitchell's been reading my blog cause the team seemed to address most of the concerns I addressed in my last post. Mo Pete got some playing time instead of Joey Graham, TJ played at the death and we took better care of the ball and stayed within striking range all game.

Oh and big up to Sam Mitchell for winning NBA coach of the year. Last year the guy was voted the coach most players didn't want to play for in an unscientific poll done by Sports Illustrated so what a difference a year makes. Mind you I still think he has a ways to go to match up to the elite coaches in the league but his team did win20 more games than last year.

So Game 3 on Friday. What's the advice? Well Sam in case you're reading here goes.

- Keep on doing what you're doing but lets get Bosh to take it inside more.
- Lets get back to Raptors basketball with more passing.
- Don't give up on Graham just yet. His confidence seems to go in streaks. If he can get going again he's definitely an asset.
- Bargnani is a bit out of it bring him along slowly. Tell him he needs to up his intensity too.

Raptors Nets game 1

As a follow up to the last post I'll give you my thoughts on game 1.

The Raptors lost and deserved to lose. They just didn't play well enough. They do have the talent to compete I believe but they just messed up on this one.

Where did they go wrong? Let us count the ways:

- No one could stop Richard Jefferson. So much was focused on stopping Vince and Jason Kidd that somehow Jefferson was able to get easy baskets early in the game on his way to a 28 point night.

- Chris Bosh got early fouls and we lost him for much of the first half. Also Bosh settled for jumpers for much of the game. Bosh needs to go inside a lot more. Lets face it he still had 22 points but if he was going inside getting to the foul line more he would have had a greater impact on the game.

- The Raptors shot free throws atrociously. OK maybe not atrociously but 7 missed free throws in a game that you lose by 5 has got to hurt.

- Sam Mitchell as I sort of suspected didn't have a good coaching game. Biggest mistake of the night, in my opinion, was leaving TJ Ford on the bench in the dying minutes of the game. Yes I know that Calderone was playing quite well at the time but at the death without question TJ has to be the man on the floor. TJ had already imposed his will on the game and kept us in it almost sinlge handedly in the first half so sitting him at the death was a big mistake.

- Joey Graham was a bit overawed in his first playoff game. Don't get me wrong Graham is possibly my favorite Raptor right now but given that he has just started getting constant minutes when Bargnani and Garbajosa went down about 10 games back it was a bit too much to ask for him to be consistent today. First quarter he seemed to play pretty well but then in the second half he started making mistakes and I think he dwelt on them a bit and they started to escalate. How deep is Mo Pete in Mitchell's doghouse that he only got 7 minutes the entire game? I think at some point Graham should have been benched fora few minutes and Mo played a bit more. I expect Joey to improve as the series goes on but today his minutes needed to be cut down.

- Turnovers hurt us. 14 turnovers is not typical of the Raptors. They are usually good at taking care of the ball. Again could be playoff jitters.

- The Nets bench outplayed ours. The Toronto bench has been one of its strengths this season but with Garbajosa out through injury and Bargnani still rusty after being out some time our bench didn't contribute the way it usually does. Humpries brought his energy and was probably the biggest positive for me in this game but besides him our bench wasn't up to par. On the other hand the Nets bench played quite well.

- The Raptors dug themselves into a hole or many holes throughout the game. In the playoffs where every possession counts 10 point leads are usually hard to overcome. It may work in the regular season where you can put together big runs but against a veteran team like New Jersey the best bet is to stay close and not continually have to be pulling oneself out of a hole.

- We need to play tighter defense and get more rebounding. Probably the main reason we wont go far this playoff season. Both Phoenix and Dallas learned about the necessity of defense in past seasons so maybe we'll learn this year.

Vinsanity

I needed to get my thoughts down on paper for this one.

In a few hours the Toronto Raptors play the New Jersey Nets in the first round of the NBA playoffs. First playoff run for the Raptors since 2002 I believe, and joy of joy we have home court advantage this round.

Should be an interesting match up as the Raptors can claim the better all around team but new Jersey can claim a heap more playoff experience. I've been thought that playoff experience counts for quite a bit in this game so although I'm a Raptors fan I'm a bit pessimistic about their chances of getting out of the first round.

Would have been more optimistic if they had ended up playing Washington. Even before Agent Zero and Caron Butler went down I fancied our chances against those guys but alas it wasn't meant to be as the Wizards (always resisting the urge to call them the Bullets) slipped down the stretch to drop from third spot all the way to 7th.

That meant as third seed we got New Jersey. Its being hyped up as the match up of Vince Carter vs Toronto. Now lets be honest I'm not a big Vince Carter fan. I respect the skill when he's actually focused but in the pantheon of NBA stars who have pissed off Toronto and Raptors fans Vince reigns supreme. And by the way in case you're wondering who else is part of that group it includes Tracy Mcgrady, Damon Stoudamire, Alonzo Mourning, Antonio Davis and Kenny Anderson, and in case you forgot Kenny Anderson refused to report here from Portland after being traded for Damon somewhere back in 97 or 98.

However I think way too much is being made of Vince's return to play us here where it all started for him as 'Air Canada'.

The cover of one of our local newspapers yesterday actually featured him portrayed as a big baby.

Why I ask why must we continue to give this cat fuel to actually show up for a game? Why must we continue to hype this Vince vs Toronto feud? Yea Vince let us down when he phoned in his performances during his last years here as he attempted to orchestrate his own trade and yes Vince has always been seen around these parts as a whiny superstar, lacking in heart and unable to embrace his leadership role with the Raptors club but stop giving the man fuel to come back and prove something to us.

Yes I know its hard to forget and forgive but I'm not asking that. I'm just saying, the booing at the ACC and the media articles are just not needed now. Just keep your disdain on the low. He knows you don't like him just ignore him and see how he plays. Hyping him up for this match up can only prove detrimental to our cause as the cat can heat up and drop 40 on us in an effort to silence the criticisms.

Oh well! With regards to the actual match up as it stands I think ignoring playoff experience we stack up pretty well against the Nets. We definitely have the deeper bench and our front court is stronger but I cant count out the influence the trio of Carter, Kidd and Jefferson will have on the game. The key is going to be to contain those guys.

Also should be noted that Jersey played some of its better games down the stretch while the Raptors kind of faded as they tried to adjust to quite a few injuries. That being said guys like Kris Humphries and Joey Graham really stepped up their game in the absence of Jorge Garbajosa and Andrea Bargnani.

It should also be interesting to see what coach Sam Mitchell has up his sleeve. Adjustments become quite important after game 1 and I'm still wondering what Sam can pull out to keep the guys in a position to win this series.

Game one will be important. My keys to winning this series are

• Adjusting to playoff basketball
  
• Containing the New Jersey trio
• Rebounding
• Coaching adjustments
• The return of Bargnani
• The play of Kris Humphries

Not going to stick my neck out on a Raptors win but I'll be in front of my tv supporting them. That means no interruptions hint hint. Go Raptors!

On another note, oh happy day, the dark lord Sauron is dead! A new but not necessarily immediately better day is dawning.

Raptors win Raptors win

Raptors win!

Who would have thought that after a 2-8 start to the season the Toronto Raptors would win the NBA's Atlantic division? Way to go Raptors! Congratulations! Big up! Respect!

What can I say! I doubted that the Raptors would be any good this season. Yea they made moves in the off-season but I thought way too many moves. I mean how does a team with 9 new players, including a bunch who had never played NBA ball, coming in win? Guys have to become comfortable with their roles, they have to learn to trust each other, they have to bond as a team so I figured any improvement this year would just be a step towards actually competing next year.

I thought yea that Bargnani draft pick is a definite bust and why trade Charlie Villenueva for TJ Ford. Well what do you know Coangelo's moves seemed to have worked well for us this year. Actually only bad move he has made so far seems to be picking up Fred Jones in the off-season and he managed to trade him away for Juan Dixon who has fit in quite nicely with the team in the second half.

So yea we did compete this year. Who would have thought?

Ok well yea the Atlantic division is bar none the worse division in professional basketball and there were a couple of nights where we actually led the division while still having a record that was under .500. But still look at us now 44 wins and 33 loses (including tonight's victory over the Bulls), 10 games over 500, a guaranteed playoff spot and right now the fourth best record in the Leastern ummm Eastern conference.

Pretty nice turn around for a team that only won 27 games last season.

Still I cant say I'm an ultra fan like Chuck and Leo who bring the play by play or like a few of my friends are. I like the team, even though I'll admit that they've screwed up my love of the NBA since I seem to watch very few non-Raptor games these days.

I wont pretend like I think they have more than a passing shot of making it past round one of the playoffs either unless they somehow end up playing a hobbling Washington Wizards team cause I just see too many deficiencies despite their record and improvement this year. I still say they are still too green for the playoffs and their lack of a consistent inside game and rebounding will hurt when the rough and tumble playoffs start. But who knows, I've been wrong before maybe they'll surprise me again.

All I can say now though is they've done the city proud even if when they won the division they were still only the second biggest sports story here, the biggest being the Maple Leafs having to play the Habs to keep their NHL playoff hopes alive. Got to love this city its definitely a hockey town. But hockey town or not got to give props to the Raps. Good looking out guys. Bosh, Ford,Parker, Graham and the boys thanks for making us proud of Toronto basketball once more.

March Madness

What can I say this March is a great month for sports.

Not that March isn't usually a great month for sports but this March is made even better by the Cricket World Cup. Look! West Indies won yesterday over Pakistan so forgive me for being slightly happy for a moment. Tomorrow I can get back to cussing the islands for wasting money on this event and robbing patrons with outrageous prices at the concession stands but today........

Well today I'm trying to follow Australia vs Scotland and Kenya vs Canada. Yea not the stuff of sporting legends but every game counts towards the big picture. Thank God for the Internet which makes it possible for me to get ball by ball scores and even radio coverage and sometimes video feeds of the matches. I still remember back in the days, before the Internet, having to call home or use that Toronto Star phone service (Can't remember the name. Was it Star Phone?) which gave you match updates all at its own pace just to find out how my team was doing.

Anyway besides cricket the other great thing about every March is the NCAA March Madness tournament. To paraphrase Dick Vitale or in the immortal words of Austin Powers. Yeaaaaa baby!

You don't understand my love of March Madness do you? How often to you get to watch 32 basketball games in two days or any sporting event where in every game played each team is literally playing for their tournament life? Its win or get the bleep outta Dodge. Yea the NBA is cool especially a nice game 7 of a playoff series but March Madness that starts off with like 32 game 7's in 2 days. Now that's fantastic!

I usually take the first two days of March madness off. Why? Well its just an exceptional time of year and a great time to veg out. You don't understand my fanaticism do you? Why I'm still trying to plan how I'm going to get a decent lunch tomorrow and not miss any games from my couch.

I mean March Madness just sucks me in. This is the time of the year where I just tell people I'm ignoring them; family, friends, children it don't matter. Don't mess with my March Madness focus.

From the time the brackets are announced I'm on it. Scouring the Internet for info, entering as many free pools as I can find (the days of putting money on this thing are long gone with my College days), chatting with anyone who may have actually watched more of the season unfold than the annual Duke, UNC game and thereby is ahead of me in terms of actual knowledge of what to except from the selected teams.

Trying to answer questions like whats the record of the top ranked teams? Who are the Cinderella teams? How many number 5s will be beaten by number 12s this year? Should I choose Number 9s over Number 8s? Which lower seeded player has the most NBA ready player? Where are those cursed Duke blue bas...... ummmm I mean devils ranked? Who or where exactly are Gongaza, Creighton, Holy Cross, Xavier, Old Dominion and George Washington?

And yes it is imperative that I watch as much of the games as possible. Its intense, its dramatic, its heartbreaking, its exhilarating, its big man crying over sports whether they win or lose, its 40 minutes of pure action down to the last second.

Plus how else can I, a few months hence, objectively sit and cuss NBA teams and GM's on draft day as they overlook proven College stars for long shots and European nobodies. How else would I have known that Dwayne Wade should have gone higher in the draft or that the Raptors should have held onto Kareem Rush instead of trading him for Chris Jefferies a few years back. With any luck I'll see the NBA stars of the future and make my predictions on not just the hyped ones like Kevin Durant and Greg Oden but some more obscure small forward or super quick point guard leading a mid major with grit and determination through the first round.

It gets no better than this folks.

Now to get back to my biggest dilemma. How do I follow cricket scores when the computer is upstairs but the TV and couch are downstairs.