Warning: This is the worst thing I’ve ever written in my life. Much like Kleiza, I didn’t give it 100%.

It’s really getting hard to write these pre-games with any level of predictability. The Raptors roll-over to the Wizards, then two nights later, they fight tooth in nail against a better Hornets team. Could it be that these guys play up to their competition much like the Spurs play down to theirs? Also, we (I do anyways) keep saying that this team doesn’t have much talent, but when you just take a second look, there is a bit; it’s just that the team isn’t very well constructed. They are a bunch of athletic guys, who can ball, who’ve just been thrown together and told to play nice.

While I ate some of my words about the match-ups from the Hornets game, each of Paul, West and Okafor played crucial roles in the tight win. Okafor and West especially, who combined for 26 rebounds with both grabbing more offensive rebounds than the entire Raptors team – 16. Whatever…

I checked in with Andrew McNeill from the aptly named Spurs blog 48 Minutes of Hell about the team and the game tonight:

This Spurs are my gold-standard for how a franchise should be run. Unlike the Celtics/Lakers/Mavs, the Spurs compete while being fiscally responsible. This question is a bit lame, but what is it like to be a fan of this team?
A lot of times, you’re going through your head or discussing / arguing with someone about something in particular that you think the team should do. Whether it be trading for someone to defend the rim or play Tiago Splitter more, etc, nothing’s perfect so it’s natural to think that. But in the end, and oftentimes the discussions in the comments end this way too, you just shrug and say, “you know what, the front office knows what they’re doing.” I get that feeling that fans of a lot of other franchises don’t enjoy the same luxury.

International players sometimes take a bit longer to acclimate themselves to the NBA. After getting signed to a lot of fanfare, Splitter has seen a steady decline in minutes and production since the season started. Is this a matter of not enough minutes, others stepping up, or Tiago learning to play in Pops system?
Tiago is becoming one of my favorite things to write about, just because it’s coming kind of easy with his lack of playing time. Long story short, he played a full season last year in Spain and won the title, had a couple of weeks off and went on tour with Brazil ahead of the FIBA World Championships and then played in Turkey. He picked up an injury training for the World Championships and then another during the tournament. After a couple of weeks off he was in San Antonio for training camp and picked up yet another small injury. This one forced him to miss the vast majority of training camp and all of preseason. With so little practice time in the NBA, especially for veteran teams like the Spurs, he had very little opportunity to learn Pop’s system. And if we learned anything from Richard Jefferson last year — and, to a lesser extent, Antonio McDyess (an underrated story is how much improvement Dice has shown this season) — it’s that Pop’s system takes some time to learn. Basically, he’s a good sport and he’ll be a good rotation player, but it might not be until next season.

Career low in minutes played for Duncan, points and rebounds, yet the Spurs are the best team in the league. Do tell?
There are a number of factors for Duncan’s career lows. The Spurs always try to limit Duncan’s minutes and they’ve been able to do it this season by blowing teams out. Duncan has been able to sit out a significant chunk of the team’s fourth quarters this season while not missing a game. Offensively, the Spurs don’t run everything through Duncan in the post. The offense is predicated on ball movement and lots and lots of pick-and-rolls with Manu Ginobili and Tony Parker. But if they need to, they can still go to Duncan in the post and get a basket. Defensively, he’s still a rock. And about a slow as one when it comes to defending the pick-and-roll. But he still knows the defense and communicates with the defenders in front of him as good as any player in the league.

The Spurs have dropped a few games to the Raptors over the years, splitting the last two season series (I just wanted to throw that in). How do the Spurs match-up with the Raptors, and what will they have to do to win the game?
I’ll be completely honest and tell you that I can’t remember if I’ve caught a Raptors game at all this season. The Spurs have a habit of playing down to their opponents, but that hasn’t been as much of a problem this season… other than that Clipper game. Although, with the way the Clippers have looked lately that doesn’t seem as bad, and it was the second night of a back-to-back. Anyway, I digress. If the Spurs show up with decent energy early in the game, not the way they started against the Nuggets on Sunday, and don’t go completely cold from 3-point range, I fully expect them to beat the Raptors comfortable and give Tim Duncan another fourth quarter off.

Injuries

Toronto
Reggie Evans – Angry Birds Steez: Finished each level with 3-stars
Leandro Barbosa – She’s keeping him company while he gets better
Peja Stojakovic – Favourite Drink: Lady Saffron from Black Hoof cafe
Sonny Weems – Most expensive tweet c/o EverythingBlaxx
Linas Kleiza – Hope he’s ok, but glad Wright’s getting his minutes

San Antonio
Matt Bonner – Day to day

Match-ups

Point Guard
For Jose, this is the week from hell; Chris Paul, Tony Parker and Nelson/Arenas in the span of five days. Each is a totally different kind of player that poses his own set of problems. Against Paul, Calderon turned in a pretty gutsy performance if you ask me. Keeping Chris to 6 points is an achievement onto it’s own; doing that while dropping 13 dimes and keeping the game within reach is damn good. What really hurt Jose was 7 turnovers on 13 assists; especially when you consider Paul had 0tos  on 11ast.

Parker is also a devastating player off the dribble. Containing him off the hi-screen may prove to be impossible since he’s such a triple-threat (shoot, pass and drive) once he turns that corner. Expect the Raptors to get pick-n-rolled to death, and Triano to call a zone every so often to counter. Maybe he wont, maybe he will jedi mind trick them into thinking a zone is coming, when it doesn’t, forcing them to execute some weird variation of their offense that sputters and fails. Maybe it wont matter.

Jose has proven that he can run with the elite point guards in the league, the question has always been how hard is he going to make them work on both ends of the floor. I don’t mind Parker doing 20pts 11ast if Jose produces his share on offense and contests on defense.
Edge: Spurs

Shooting Guard
Again, another solid kool-aid outing for DeRozan who seems to have reduced the number of bad games between the good ones. Consistency is the key with the young one, and he’s held up his end of the bargain for the most part. Listen, I like the kid, but it just feel that his game is a little too one-dimensional at the moment; a luxury we cant afford him considering Bargnani should be the only person on the Raptors with that that role.

Much like Parker, Ginobili is also a triple threat on offense, but is truly unlike anyone DeRozan’s played all season. He is a very crafty, unorthodox offensive player that attacks from every spot on the floor. Defensively, he is all over the place and will make DeRozan work on both ends of the floor. Would be nice if DeMar can return that favour.
Edge: Spurs

Small Forward
I held onto Richard Jefferson for far too long in my fantasy draft. It’s definitely cost me some points in my match-ups. With Kleiza out (or he could return as mysteriously as he got injured), Wright will get the chance to shine from the tip; hopefully. You never know with Triano, really, you don’t. With Julian on the prowl, we can rest assured that Jefferson wont be sticking any wide open shats from behind the arc, he’s going to have to work for his baskets. Neither will be breaking out to lead their team to a win, but both will provide key moments.
Edge: Even

Front Court
I’m lumping PF/C together because of all the cross-pollination of potential match-ups. The Spurs will field a rotation of Tim Duncan, Antonio McDyess, Matt Bonner, Dajuan Blair and Tiago Splitter. There is a little bit of absolutely everything you could want in a front court that is the 3rd best in the league after Boston and LA, IMHO of course.

The Raptors will need an encore from the performance Ed Davis and Amir Johnson had against the Hornets, but I think they deliver the goods. They both hit the ground running and are becoming quite a formidable duo. The two accounted for almost half the Raptors rebounding, and all the heart in the paint. Seriously, had they not pulled more than their weight, the game wouldn’t have been close.

After a very solid stretch, Bargnani was pretty brutal. How bad? Calderon out-rebounded the guy. For the Raptors to have any chance at winning tonight, he has to put up at least 24, and get the Spurs bigs in foul trouble; at least enough to make them think twice about defending a penetrating DeRozan/Calderon aggressively.
Edge: Even

Keys to the Game

Seriously, I don’t know where to start; the Spurs are 5th in the league in points scored, 7th in rebounding, 5th in assists and 12th in defense.  I guess the key will be to defend hard, crash the boards, challenge passing lanes and hit every single shot you take.

The Line

The gamblers have the Spurs comfortably taking this by 11, with an over/under of 203.5. Thankfully, it’s Wednesday, so you can flip back and forth between the game and Dragons Den to keep occupied.

Through the 90s, the Knicks were my favourite team, and if you liked a tough, bruising team oozing with heart, then they were the team for you. When the Raptors and Knicks were battling in the playoffs, I was never more torn; ultimately I cheered the Raptors, but had the Knicks got through….

While they don’t have great talent to surround LeBron and Bosh (for sake of argument), the team does provide the lure of being a God in New York if someone can deliver a championship. For the record, regardless of what they offer, I’m against any deal with the Knicks since they are a division rival. The last time we did that, we got BURNED in the playoffs; not looking for a repeat.

I spoke to Dan L. from The Knicks Fan Blog about the state of the Knicks, and got some interesting tidbits from him:

Sam Holako: There isn’t much to talk about the Knicks during the regular season since the last couple years has all been about making a run at two max free-agents this summer. Where do you realistically put the Knicks chances of landing LeBron this summer? A sign and trade with the Cavs will prove difficult (what kind of deal do you put together for the MVP?). Also talk about the LeBrostimistic graph you have on your site, I love that thing.

Dan L.: I think it’s impossible to say what the Knicks’ chances are to get LeBron without being part of the “inner circle”. But I think the Knicks have a couple of things working in their favor. One is obviously that the Cavs got spanked so hard by the Celtics. They clearly aren’t a championship caliber team and they’re also ham-strung by salary commitments with the likes of Jamison, Gibson, Varejao, and Mo Williams. They won’t be signing any meaningful free agents.

It is hard to see the Knicks and Cavs pulling off a sign and trade, but it could happen if LeBron told them he’s going to the Knicks anyway and unless they deal they won’t get anything in return. For example the Knicks can offer the Cavs a massive salary cap exception and future picks for LeBron. With that exception the Cavs could hypothetically trade for Elton Brand and the second pick (Evan Turner). Maybe they could even convince the Knicks to part with Wilson Chandler. Mo Williams, Turner, Chandler, Jamison, Brand. I could think of worse teams.

Ha. The LeBroptimism meter right now is at 0 because honestly, I just don’t have any kind of bearing of what LeBron is going to do. He and his team have done a masterful job of keeping everyone in the dark, and there are a lot of teams that have positioned themselves to get LeBron. I think the only realistic options for LeBron if he leaves are the Knicks and Bulls because I’d be shocked if he went somewhere that didn’t have a major media presence. I’d add the Nets to the mix but I think their young talent is vastly overstated. The Knicks’ young talent was better than 12 wins. Also LeBron won’t want to play in Newark, I don’t think.

If I was being completely honest with my own gut, I’d put that LeBroptimism meter somewhat higher than 0.

SH: That would be Step 1; Step 2 would be find a running mate for him. Chris Bosh recently put the Knicks on his wishlist. Make me an offer for him.

DL: he only offer really is David Lee. Not sure what Raptors fans think about Lee but you could do much worse. He’s a terrific rebounder (though he doesn’t get the tough ones) and due to his terrific work ethic he transformed himself into one of the best shooting bigs in the league. He’s also an elite finisher. He can get his shot off in the paint and make it with such frequency that it never ceases to amaze me. You’ll be losing out by trading Bosh but maybe not by as much as you’d think.

The downside for the Raptors is that their biggest weakness is also Lee’s, in that he couldn’t guard a lamp post. A lot of that has to do with the fact that he’s a PF and the Knicks had him at center all year. Still, I’d think that the Raptors want to address their D this summer, and Lee isn’t going to do that.

Financially, Lee is going to make less than Bosh because under the collective bargaining agreement, his max is about $13.5 million. The Raptors would therefore get a trade exception in the deal of about $4 million.

Another option the Raptors could consider is adding Calderon or Turk to the mix and taking back Eddy Curry. This would get the Raptors out from under the cap predicament they put themselves in by next year.

It’s all dependent on what Lee wants though. If he just wants money and the Raptors offer him his max I think he would agree to go to Toronto because he would get bigger raises in a sign and trade. If other factors are more important to him, like staying in the New York area, and the money is similar, I could see him signing with the Nets.

SH: Not sure how Raptor fans would feel about paying Lee $13.5; even though double-double machines are hard to come by, I was thinking a 5yr/$50mill deal. A front court of Bargnani and Lee would be the worse defensive unit in the league, potentially, but Lee is one of the better players we could hope for in a sign-and-trade.

Interesting you bring up a Calderon/Turkoglu swap for Curry. What is Curry’s status? Can he be looked too to play 20minutes a night? He’s still pretty young, and has great size/athleticism (well he did). I’m assuming with the financial problems he’s said to be having, that he will at least be motivated to play harder for the next contract.

DL: I’d think that Lee is going to get more than $10 million on the market this summer. But I guess that remains to be seen.

You’re right about the raptors defense. They’d have to slide Bargs over to the 3 and find a way to get a defensive 5.

That’s not Eddy Curry, even if healthy. The potential Curry deal would be solely a salary dump for the Raptors. Knicks fans have been waiting for the old Curry to come back for over 2 years. The fact is that he’s played only a handful of games in each of the last two seasons and just doesn’t seem interested in playing basketball.

You’re right that Curry SHOULD be motivated in a contract year. But I’d be shocked if he had the desire to. And even if he did, I’d be doubly shocked if he stayed healthy.

SH: I want to examine something you said about Calderon or Turkoglu for Curry. Even if the Knicks somehow manage to get LeBron and Bosh, they would still need to have people around them to you know, play basketball at an NBA level. In the worse case scenario that they don’t land anyone in the summer to line up beside those two, what will this team look like?

DL: Honestly I think that’s an issue that the national media has drummed up in their echo chamber because they are biased against New York (true New York perspective here, huh?).

The team WILL have players on it. Obviously Turkoglu or Calderon could be one of those other players. If not, the Knicks should try to move Curry for another team’s expensive mistake, like Ben Gordon, Rip Hamilton or Corey Maggette.

But let’s look at who is on the team right now. Danilo Gallinari played essentially his rookie year last year since he missed most of his first season with a back injury. He only finished second in the NBA in three pointers made. Folks in the national media have called him a “one-trick pony” but those of us who watch the Knicks every game know that he’s much more than that. Even the most negative tabloid beat writers like the New York Post’s Marc Berman jumped on the Gallinari bandwagon by the end of the year. He’s a terrific passer, and has a great basketball IQ, and most surprisingly, was probably the Knicks best defender last year other than Jarred Jeffries, both on the ball and in help.

Wilson Chandler is another player that most people who don’t follow the Knicks tend to ignore. It’s because he’s very quiet and unassuming. My opinion is that he doesn’t have star potential like Gallinari does, but there are observers who disagree. At the very least though he plays D, has a great mid-range game, and is a superb finisher.

Toney Douglas inexplicably failed to get off of Mike D’Antoni’s bench for most of the year but when D’Antoni finally let him play the Knicks what I like to say resembled a young Gary Payton. Douglas is very disruptive on the defensive end, is a very good shooter from distance, and LOVES the ball at the end of games. He’s very clutch.

These were 3 very young and/or inexperienced players but all of them have a world of potential. Importantly, they’re all very good fits with LeBron. Gallinari will can countless open jumpers off LeBron drives, and Wilson will get plenty of open looks slashing off of those same drives. Douglas will also knock down open shots and defend the perimeter, but more importantly, both he and Gallinari will take the pressure off LeBron at the end of games, which seems to be an issue for the King. It’s a good starting 5.

Aside from those 3 the Knicks have Bill Walker, who, after the trade deadline really came into his own for the Knicks. He has great range and shoots a high percentage. He’s also extremely athletic and can jump out of the gym. Finally, where Chandler doesn’t really read the defense, instead focusing on just making one on one moves to get open, Walker knows where to be on the court to space the floor and get open looks for himself both inside and out.

The Knicks also have 2 second round draft picks.

Finally, if the Knicks are able to land the big stars, look for some veteran players to sign on for cheap for a chance at the title. For example, PJ Brown signed with Boston for the minimum to win a ring. Same with Michael Finley.

I expect the Knicks to be able to round out their roster in a similar way.

SH: I’m actually pretty high on Chandler. I’ve seen quite a few Knicks games, and the kid is nice (Gallinari too). If LeBosh doesn’t pan out for the Knicks, would a Joe Johnson/Boozer/Stoudemire combination satisfy Knicks fans? The team obviously wouldn’t be a championship contender (the best they could hope for is the Hawks), but they would be in the high 40s in terms of wins and MAYBE a second round appearance.

DL: hose guys obviously represent the second tier of free agents. They’d improve the Knicks vastly but I wouldn’t be too thrilled about it. That’s particularly true because I assume those guys would be getting the max (or something close) and I don’t think they’re worth it.

It’s not the first choice and there are some fans who go by the mantra “LeBron or bust”. Not me though. I think Donnie Walsh had to take his best shot at building a dynasty. It might not work out that way but the idea was the right idea. Either way the Knicks will be much improved, even if they don’t get LeBron.

Since I have nothing better to do than think up scenarios, I’ve previously written that there are other options available besides just free agents. The Knicks could look at Tony Parker, for example. A trade of Chandler, Curry and Douglas for Parker, RJ and McDyess would make some sense if the Knicks also landed Amare. Parker, RJ (who plays better in an open system), Gallinari, McDyess, Amare, with enough flexibility to sign Melo in ’11.

Another example is a trade of Curry for Biedrins or Maggette and Anthony Randolph, while re-signing Lee and signing Joe Johnson. You’d have Tony Douglas, Johnson, Gallinari, Lee and Randolph/Biedrins. Not too shabby in my opinion, and a team that can grow better over the next few years. Not a title contender though, and you’d lose your ’11 flexibility, which I’d like to see the Knicks keep if they lose out on the big names.

The Spurs are 2-3 so far this season, with both wins coming at home to lesser teams: New Orleans and Sacramento. The story tonight is that Tony Parker will be out with a sprained ankle. He is only expected to miss a week, but he is the cog that powers the Spurs engine. We talked about it in the podcast that should be going up at some point today, but looking at the next four games (Spurs, Bulls, Clippers and Suns) we could go 3-1. I realize this is seriously optimistic, but the one thing the Raptors have done very well this season is take advantage when their opponents have shown any weakness.

Match-ups

The Point: With Calderon returning, albeit slowly, to form the last two games, and Jack leading the 2nd unit, we look good in this match-up. The combination of Roger Mason Jr. and George Hill doesn’t really strick fear into my heart. Mason has carved out a nice niche for himself, but he’s a spot up shooter, who doesn’t have the ability to break down defenses off the dribble. Don’t know much about Hill, but I am guessing there isn’t much there, not saying he sucks, but that Jack should be able to handle him.
The Edge: Raptors

The Skill: DeRozan is coming off his worst game as a Raptor, so is Belinelli. Big time gut check for our rook, as he comes face-to-face with one of the best in the game: Ginobili. For the last couple seasons, Manu has come off the bench, but plays starter minutes. Wright should split time at 2 and 3, helping on the defensive end, but since he wont be playing the whole game, Ginobili is primed to go off.
The Edge: Spurs

The Swingman: Turkoglu is also coming off his worst showing of the season, and should be good to make up for it. The pick-n-roll with Bosh will be crucial, as the Spurs always fight through them, and rarely switch, giving Hedo a bit of space to operate. This is where things start to get interesting. The Spurs went out and got Jefferson for close to nothing. Jefferson, as we all know, is a Raptor killer. Every-time he has played us over the last few years, he has come up big when it mattered. He has started the season slow, but dropped 19 in a losing effort to the Blazers on Friday, in fact, he had the most impact during the game (check the player impact chart).
The Edge: Even

The Big: This is where match-ups become interesting. The Spurs are rotating Duncan/Bonner/McDyess/Blair in at the 4/5. For the most part, Bonner is getting the nod at 4, which means Bosh is licking his chops. I like Bonner, always have, but he has a long night in store. Between covering Bosh in the paint, and Bargnani on the perimeter, my guess is that his minutes will be limited. If McDyess isn’t injured, he will be getting the bulk of the minutes at the other forward position. If he is, Bonner and Blair will be splitting time. Regardless, I like Chris in this match-up. Our boy is putting up MVP calibre numbers to start the year, with most of his damage coming in the paint.
The Edge: Raptors

The Strong: Bargnani is the reason that Duncan will not be covering Bosh, IMHO. Bonner/McDyess/Blair can’t be on the perimeter  chasing VL around. I mean, Bonner could, but he wont do a good job; McDyess plays better post defense; and Blair is a rookie who will make rookie mistakes. Bargnani hasn’t really played poorly so far this season. Our boy needs touches, and in an effort to keep Duncan on his heels, will have plenty this game. Duncan needs to be attacked from the opening tip, which is easier said then done.
The Edge: Raptors (sorry, I had put Spurs, but meant to put Raptors here)

Keys to Winning

• Attack Duncan off the dribble. His knee is suspect
• Calderon/Jack need to push the ball at all times, the Spurs point situation is more suspect then Duncan’s knees
• Don’t be afraid to play Wright more at the 2 if DeRozan is getting lit up by Manu
• Rebound the hell out of the ball. Portland grabbed 48 to the Spurs 37 on Friday, they are vulnerable here

Injury Report

Raptors
Reggie Evans
Spurs
Tony Parker
Antonio McDyess (playing hurt)

The Line

The Spurs are -6.5 favourites with an over/under of 202.5

Prediction

The Raptors need to take advantage of Parker’s injury, but it wont be easy. This is a veteran, battle tested team that wont let up. I said in the podcast that this is the type of game the Raptors can win, and they could easily be 3-1 this week, but I don’t think it will happen: Spurs by 8 (I’m 2-2 with predictions so far).

Before getting into it (not much to get into really…sadly…), my disgust for this TSN2 situation came full circle tonight. I live up in North York, no Philthy’s in site, and after stumbling from bar to bar with nothing but the leafs playing, I find a joint that has the Raptors playing nestled between two TV’s blasting the Leafs game. Not a great environment to watch a Raptor game, but on a plus side, the wings were great. Something needs to be done ASAP, I can’t go on like this, if a mediator is needed to get TSN2 on Rogers, I volunteer my services, I’ll get it done.

…these post-game’s are getting infinitely harder to write. Seriously, just pick a random post-game from before, and do the following:

• replace the team name with Detroit Pistons
• replace the Raptor killer of the night with Tayshaun Prince
• replace the bench spark with Jason Maxieill

No seriously, it will be about the same…

As per usual, the Raptors got out to an early lead off the back of some good work on the boards by Bosh. He grabbed 3 rebounds early in the 1st, all three were offensive rebounds that translated into 4 points. The best part; he opened things up with a drive and not a jumper, 13 seconds into the game. I can’t even remember the last time his first shot wasn’t a jumper. With the Raptors up 10-2, the Pistons took a full time-out, and brought in Maxiell, who got dunk after dunk (4 in the first quarter – 4 monstrous ones, I actually lost a wing cause I reacted to one, pissed me off).

For the second time this season,  O’Neal has come off the bench, and he looked none-too pleased. Sure he was smiling early in the game, but you could just see in his face that he and his agent were going to work the phones aggressively later to talk Riley into pulling the trigger – might as well be warm right? The Pistons have a plethora of forwards who are pretty much interchangeable. They are all high-energy, move well and make you pay for your mistakes. Not exactly the type of the team you can effectively gauge O’Neal’s effectiveness against a the second unit. I thought he did a good job of getting to the line, that’s about it, his touch around the rim was rusty again, he air-balled a turn around jumper from the left block, he doesn’t lean into his shots and sadly, he had 1 rebound in 20 minutes of play…ONE REBOUND.

Speaking of rebounds, the Raptors as a team had 28, lol. 12 of which came in the first quarter. The Raptors got 16 rebounds the rest of the game. To put this in perspective, Maxieill got 11 rebounds in about 25 minutes, 5 of which were offensive (compared to 8 total for the game for the Raps); and McDyess, off the bench, grabbed more rebounds then any Raptor player AND out-rebounded the entire Raptor bench single-handedly. So much for improved rebounding huh BC?

The game was effectively over at the 7min mark of the second, with Prince giving the Pistons the go ahead popping a J and giving the them their first lead of the game. Once they sink their teeth in, and taste some blood, they are relentless.

That’s his natural position and he’s just a really good player, said Toronto’s Chris Bosh, who scored 19 points. It’s always tough to match up with him whether he’s at (small forward) or (power forward) because he’s so versatile.

He plays great defense, and he was knocking down his jumper today. He did a fantastic job.

If only Bosh would have encouraged Moon in such a manner, he might have been motivated to you know, play harder. I dunno, just putting it out there. Kapono should never, never ever-ever!, cover anyone who is good. His wing defense has regressed as much as his wife’s love for him has. The guy has no lateral quickness; he doesn’t force his check into a waiting defender; he doesn’t rebound well; and lately, even if he doesn’t travel, he can’t hit a jumper. I know BC is talking him up, but this may be too tall an order. Who the hell is going to give up anything but crap for Kap?

There are a couple positives though, mostly individual play, but at this point, I’m grasping at anything that will deter me from heading down to the ACC and making the front page of The Star:

Anthony Parker
In the mold of Ron Harper, Parker is reinventing himself as a point guard in the NBA, and a capable one at that. He’s not flashy, and he doesn’t have that break-down speed to get in the lane, but what he does do is run the offense: make sound plays; shoot over his check and play solid defense at the 1. He haven’t missed Calderon all that much, although I welcome his return eagerly.

Andrea Bargnani
I will continue calling him VL for one reason: since we started calling that, he has gone off, and I don’t want him to let up if we retire the moniker.  Not the greatest game offensively, but he did a bang up job on Wallace, keeping Sheed out of the game, and off the boxscore. A small win, but a win none-the-less.

Err…that’s about it, two good things. They lost again, next up is Chicago on Friday in Chi-Town…not much hope there. Frankly, at this point, tank…get us a young player and do something with the O’Neal contract.