Sam Mitchell blasts Bargnani, praises Calderon

[FoxMachine]

Did anyone else catch NBA GameTime last night and hear Sam Mitchell and Smitty tear up bargnani?? It was gold! I don't have a link right now but I'll look later, if anyone else has it, please post. Mitchell also had some great things to say about Jose

[Rapstor4Life]

Last time sam was on he praised Bargnani lol and brought up great points about him id love to hear it.

[Th0m79]

Just saw this on TV -great to hear someone saying what we all already know as fans here. Bargnani's time here is definitely up and he's now overstayed his welcome and has to go. I hope the media keeps slamming him as he deserves to put extra pressure on Colangelo to get his ass out of town right quick.

[stretch]

The problem with moving Bargnani is that his stock could not be any lower right now and his contract is a tough pill for another team to swallow. There is always amnesty for dumping that cap load at the end of the season.

[c_bcm]

Why are you excited about this? Do you think that all of this negative publicity will help us get value for him in a trade? This is awful! If this continues we will have to amnesty him or keep him.

[Craiger]

Why are you excited about this? Do you think that all of this negative publicity will help us get value for him in a trade? This is awful! If this continues we will have to amnesty him or keep him.

I don't think anything Sam Mitchell, Doug Smith, Charles Barkley or any other commentator has to say has any impact on Bargnani's trade value. Teams pay millions of dollars to individuals to scout, watch video, plan and make decisions etc.

It just nice to see the media giving, what to me anyways, seems like a much better picture of what Andrea does to the team rather than attempting to confuse fans with questionable rhetoric like they have been for years.

[white men can't jump]

I've heard him...well not blast, but he frequently tries to not say bad things about Bargnani. Maybe he finally gave up last night. Even as a commentator/analyst, people still have to be diplomatic unless they're Stephen A Smith, or, especially, Skip Bayless.

On Calderon. Mitchell has ALWAYS been a huge supporter of Calderon. He seems to compliment him sincerely every chance he gets. All coaches love Jose. While people hate on him trying to get a scoring or aggressive PG, he offers something you need from a great PG: he's like an extension of the coach on the floor. That doesn't just mean the coach has confidence in him, but that players do too, and in a way that they could never actually trust the coach himself. The coach always knows Jose will try to run the system as best he can, and get the most out of each player every night. Players know this too, so they know they don't have to worry about not getting the ball because of Jose going rogue or something. And I don't say that just to target Lowry, even other , better PGs are guilty of that, and it's something some will never learn. Westbrook's a good example, and it's something he's still learning. I think Rose too, although given his situation, he was better at it than Westbrook before going down. You can look at Rondo and Nash, with Paul close behind (mostly because Del Negro isn't a coach, really, so Paul is essentially always rogue by default, but he's clearly able to do it as well as anyone) as probably the best in the league.

[Craiger]

I've heard him...well not blast, but he frequently tries to not say bad things about Bargnani. Maybe he finally gave up last night. Even as a commentator/analyst, people still have to be diplomatic unless they're Stephen A Smith, or, especially, Skip Bayless.

On Calderon. Mitchell has ALWAYS been a huge supporter of Calderon. He seems to compliment him sincerely every chance he gets. All coaches love Jose. While people hate on him trying to get a scoring or aggressive PG, he offers something you need from a great PG: he's like an extension of the coach on the floor. That doesn't just mean the coach has confidence in him, but that players do too, and in a way that they could never actually trust the coach himself. The coach always knows Jose will try to run the system as best he can, and get the most out of each player every night. Players know this too, so they know they don't have to worry about not getting the ball because of Jose going rogue or something. And I don't say that just to target Lowry, even other , better PGs are guilty of that, and it's something some will never learn. Westbrook's a good example, and it's something he's still learning. I think Rose too, although given his situation, he was better at it than Westbrook before going down. You can look at Rondo and Nash, with Paul close behind (mostly because Del Negro isn't a coach, really, so Paul is essentially always rogue by default, but he's clearly able to do it as well as anyone) as probably the best in the league.

If I'm not mistaken, he just credited Jose for his COY award in 2006/07 the other day (or atleast said he would never have won it without Jose).

[DoNDaDDa]

If I'm not mistaken, he just credited Jose for his COY award in 2006/07 the other day (or atleast said he would never have won it without Jose).

yep sam did say that.. wasnt that also the year Jose set the FT% record??

[white men can't jump]

yep sam did say that.. wasnt that also the year Jose set the FT% record??

Nope...08-09: he shot 0.981 %, or 151 out of 154 FTs!!

[DG88]

The problem with moving Bargnani is that his stock could not be any lower right now and his contract is a tough pill for another team to swallow. There is always amnesty for dumping that cap load at the end of the season.

Blame that on BC for over valuing Bargnani thinking he could be an All Star in this league. He tried everything to make Bargnani look good. From the outside it looks like a desperate attempt to make crap into ok crap and it was a failure. The best time to move Bargs was after Bosh bolted or after his 13 game stretch. At least then his value was at it highest and we could have gotten more for him then. But BC love affair with this flawed players didn't make him push the trade button. Bargnani is by far BC's biggest mistake that he'll never admit to.

[BasketballCrush]

[Pele]

Seeing as we're going to lose our pick, the key for Brian now is to trade Bargs for some good talent.

We need another younger core piece to go with DD, AJ, JV, TR and, possibly, KL.

We also need a good vet with a stretch 3pt presence. Like a poor man's Ray Allen.

These two players should match the 10mil we're paying Toronto.

We don't really need any more centers, with Amir, JV and AG.

LK can skip town, for all I care. Acy should get some more burn. Jose to stay....

Anyone got any ideas?

[jpisadummy]

Check out this trade i worked out

http://espn.go.com/nba/tradeMachine?tradeId=d67ph2t

it seems like everyone gets something of value, but hinges entirely on ATL self destructinf this year and j smooth wanting out..which prollt wont happen but hey...we can all dream

Money works out too for toronto. we basically reinvest the money into smith.

Id offer a 4 yr deal with last two yrs as player options: 12mil/13mil/15mil/17mil

Id resign calderon to a more team friendly deal for 3 years: 7mil/6mil/5mil and if i think hell get a bigger offer somewhere else for sure

Calderon/derozan/smith/davis/valenciunus

[RapRepRip]

The first thing the raps need to do is to show that Bargnani is happy coming off the bench. Then he can be traded as a bench player. No one is going to want to go through that effort, or it results in lesser value.

[Mediumcore]

Did he blast BC during that interview at all?

[special1]

I think its time raptor fans get real. We will not get good talent for andrea unless we give up someone like Ross or Ed Davis with him. Andrea can score but he`s a terrible help defender, rebounder and not a really a good passer.

If i was BC i would be on the phone with Minny regarding the availability of Derrick Williams. We would essentially be swapping former #1 and #2 picks. We may need to take back salary, but i think its our best chance to get back young and potential talent.

If you were a GM would you give up anything of value for Andrea? He makes 10 million for each of the next 2 years.

Get real!

[Puffer]

...If you were a GM would you give up anything of value for Andrea? He makes 10 million for each of the next 2 years.

Get real!

Always a wonder to me how Raptor fans realize Bargs is no good, but expect GM's of professional basketball teams to have not noticed. If you really want to see Bargs gone, expect to get nothing for him (which won't happen unless another teams has a ton of cap space or some other way of being financially flexible, or else be prepared to take something equally as bad back.

[JackfromNZ]

anybody have the link?

[ebrian]

Stat was on the screen:

Raps are 4-17 with Bargnani,
5-2 without him.
Opponents average 103ppg with him, 92ppg without him.

Mitchell (my summary):

"Bargnani has been handled with kid gloves. You're not supposed to criticize him, and you're not allowed to push him. And this is what you've got: after years in the league, he's a 7 foot 3point-shooting trailer. He hasn't improved defensively and he hasn't improved rebounding."

"Bargnani is the face of the franchise and he ripped them, saying his team isn't very good. And what happens when he gets injured? They win without him. How is he going to come back into that locker room after this and not look in the mirror? For a start, he needs to start doing the little things -- if he's the face of the franchise, he needs to take responsibility when his man scores, when his team loses, and for once be accountable."

On Calderon:

"Jose Calderon is a leader, and his teammates will follow him anywhere. They've been trying to get rid of him for years and focusing on what he can't do rather than what he can do. He sets up guys, takes care of the basketball and his teammates love him because he has always made them look great. If they decide to trade him now that he's in the last year of his contract, he can elevate a team to a whole new level."