Source: The Onion

Ajinca: the semi-reliable backup that isn’t being used to the best of his abilities. Welcome to the Triano System.

Alabi: remember that girl in high school that said you would turn out to be worthless and amount to something less than nothing? She used Solomon as a measuring stick.

Barbosa: if there was a player you could look to and see a difference between last night and tonight in effort, he is the one. He looked like the pre-injury Leandro and may very well have been the catalyst upon entering the game.

Bargnani: buddy was whining more than some guys I know on this site. Oddly enough the refs seemed to care about as much as I do. Almost everything was blown out of proportion in what can only be described as Andrea Plays Jose in this performance of A Team Playing Up To Its Competition. I can only imagine that Triano (or Colangelo) ripped a new hole in most of these guys after last night and Andrea played the diva card.

Bayless: as worthless as hot air being blown in the tropics.

Calderon: 2 off his 19 assist mark earlier this season in a game where he appeared to be auditioning for the NBA Lockout version of the Skills Competition.  Passes on a dime, twisting and turning around defenders, posing for cameras. Played the quarterback to perfection. Well, almost.

Davis: foul happy but hustle happy. I might be wrong about the rookie wall and he might go the other way: like a puppy in a pound being selected by a new owner. Over exertion to a fault.

DeRozan: the guy who hates props (but shot a video with a guy in a chicken suit) showed what really matters: getting to the hole and to the line. Top 3 games of the season for him and some much deserved love from the home crowd.

Dorsey: working on the chain gang.

Evans: TRADE BAIT

A. Johnson: the start of the game for him was like turning on the TV and seeing the pool scene with Denise Richards in Wild Thing. Close to orgasmic.  Ended the game with too many fouls accompanied with perfection from the floor, 4 boards and 3 blocks…one of which should be on every highlight reel tonight.

J. Johnson: gotta give Jay credit: start the new guy against his old team. The results were palpable and no doubt we probably witnessed his best game as a Raptor.

T. Johnson:  gone gone gone you been gone so long…gone gone gone so long.

Kleiza: crack.

Weems: think he wants back in the starting line up? Seemed like a mighty big Pringle he was wearing on his shoulder. Good to see, now play the game.

Wright: if he moves any further down the bench he’ll be sitting beside Hazel in Mississauga.

Driving The Bus: DeMar DeRozan

Under The Bus: Jerryd Bayless

Game Theme:

I can’t believe I predicted the Raptors covering the spread last night; I apologize.

Injury Report

Toronto
Reggie Evans – Out
Linas Kleiza – Out

Chicago
When Boozers healthy, you know the God’s are conspiring against you.

Player Report

Jose Calderon
Bayless played fairly well last night considering he couldn’t hit a field goal and turned the ball over 4 times in 21 minutes. It’s kind of maddening for your point guard to play so callously, but he made up for it by getting to the line and getting folks involved, albeit he left it till the fourth quarter when it didn’t matter. Calderon was no better. If the two of them, Calderon mostly, had trouble with Augustin in transition last night,  tonight against Rose will be much worse. Derrick is lightning fast, elite finisher at the rim, a stud in the paint with that sweet floater, shoots the ball well, athletic, sees the floor well and has that look in his eye (the exact opposite look that Bargnani has). In short, the guy is an MVP candidate; good luck.
Box: 8pts 12ast 3rebs

DeMar DeRozan
DeRozan needs to bounce back from a lame-duck performance last night against the Cats. Took him 15 shots to total 14 points, but zero trips to the line; last night he was up against elite-defenders so I’ll give him a pass, but tonight should be better. Luckily he gets Bogans again, who hasn’t had much success defending him in the past. I’d like to see 6 trips to the line tonight for DeMar; enough is enough.
Box: 18pts 4rebs 3ast

Sonny Weems
Best game of the year for Sonny last night. Dude was getting in the paint, attacking the rim, taking good jumpers, and doing a fairly good job on Wallace considering Gerald did end up with 20pts, but only pulled down 6 rebounds, that counts for something, no? I guess not.

Deng, he’s a solid mid-ranger shooter, and his length (6″9) makes it that much harder to block his shot. If there’s a weakness, it’s shooting threes but asking the Raptors defense to play intelligently is like asking A-Dub to write a post sans the Bargnani-hate – ain’t gonna happen.
Box: 13pts 7rebs 3ast

Amir Johnson
As much as I can’t stand Boozer, I have to respect the guy. He’s been a beast since returning from injury and held the fort during Noah’s absence over the last month. He shoots the ball very well, plays big in the post, rebounds very well, and can be a nuisance on defense with those long arms and quick movements. Amir is going to have his hands full between trying to keep a body on Boozer, and having to deal with Noah on the glass.  I don’t know; this has the potential to get really messy, Amir can’t do it alone; and really needs a motivated Bargnani to battle in the paint with him.
Box: 8pts 10rebs 2blk

Andrea Bargnani
Bargnani is going to justify why I would trade him in a heartbeat for Joakim Noah. Last night against Nazr Mohammed he let the guy grab 14 rebounds. Had it not been for the 8 rebounds that Andrea pulled down (I use pulled down loosely), I might have broken my television…hate Nazr. He’s not the kind of hustle player who can outplay anyone, but did just that. Against Noah, tonight, he wont fair any better. I’m not saying Bargnani won’t hit a few shots, he’s good for at least 20 points; but he wont be able to match Noah’s energy and his overall impact on the game is likely to be minimal. Joakim is coming off a month sitting out and the little hustle/heart things that make him such a valuable player will be on display, the Raptors are hoping that he’ll be rusty and have his minutes limited. He may not be able to go 100% for 35min, but he will be a force.
Box: 21pts 2reb

Keys to the Game

Second Game of a Back-to-Back
The Raptors are on the second night of the back-to-back, thankfully it’s a home game. This season, Toronto is 4-8 on the second night of a back-to-back, with all but one of those wins (Dallas) coming against teams who are playing under .500.

Defense/Rebounding
The Bulls are a solid defensive team; 9th in points allowed and 2nd in rebounding. BARGNANI NEEDS TO GRAB SOME BOARDS. Since shutting down Rose will be next to impossible, I’m advocating the Raptors not double anyone. I don’t want to see any drives and kicks for a wide open look at the rim. Also, BARGNANI NEEDS TO BOX NOAH OUT EVERY TIME A BALL GOES UP, NO MATTER WHAT END OF THE FLOOR HE’S ON.

The Line

The Bulls are 8.5 point favourites with an over/under of 196; seems about the right; the Raptors will flap around like a fish out of water, only to piece together a solid run at the end of the game just to mess with us. This game does have potential to get out of control, though.

Alabi: he played. That alone shows no postgame is needed.

Barbosa: could have used a bit more of a game from him, given how thin we were at PG, but he still performed well. It was a lost cause anyway.

Bargnani: returned to action like he never left. Brutal defence, questionable shot selection and the drag your foot travelling call that has become his staple.

Bayless: fought through the pain and gave his team every last ounce of what he had. He was Jordan-with-the-flu like tonight.

Calderon: night off. He and Bayless are now a true tandem. One night he rests, the next night the other guy.

Davis: another night being shown what real NBA frontlines are like. He was simply outclassed and outworked.

DeRozan: solid games continue. His confidence is sky high and he needs to ride the wave. Selfishly I would love to see a Kobe rematch right now.

Dorsey: realize it was the first night of a back to back, but with Davis being eaten alive early, why not give Joey an extended look? It’s not like he hasn’t proven himself.

Dupree: thrown in as a sign of desperation, he did a fair job against Rose and company. Certainly can’t accuse him of being timid…he looked like a kid who just downed 2 Mars bars and 4 Cokes.

Evans: lifting weights and circling dates.

Johnson: still playing with intensity, just not enough of it being reflected on the scoresheet tonight. Still, he brought his hunger and passion to the hardwood and kept us in it early.

Kleiza: his shot continues to refuse to hit the bottom of the net. Wide open, hand in the face, a fan courtside telling him when to release…nothing helps.

Stojakovic: gnaw gnaw gnaw.

Weems: has to be frustrating….for his woman having him around the house 24/7.

Wright: he could have been sent in with a net and a taser and he couldn’t have stopped the onslaught tonight.

Driving The Bus: Jerryd Bayless

Under The Bus: Ed Davis

Game Theme:

Alabi: DNP-CECTL

Barbosa: a solid second half. Problem is that with the lineup we had tonight, he had to be our Rudolph. First half he played more like Prancer.

Bargnani: out of the lineup and wearing pants that looked to be from 1984.

Bayless: many seemed worried that Rose would make him look like Jim Carrey in a serious role, but JB carried his own. Granted Rose is banged up, but the kid made him work on both ends of the floor and held his own. The fact he was driving Thibodeau nuts in the first quarter that he was calling timeouts at a RapsFan pace was nice.

Calderon: you better be biting your nails, pal. That and making sure your working visa is in good standing order.

Davis: his first start and it showed. Being thrown in against the frontline of Chicago is like being tossed into a whirlpool and told to swim for the first time. Still, coming out with a garbage time assisted double double is good for the ego, but not many clips will make it to his highlight reel.

DeRozan: in all fairness, we were outplayed and outclassed tonight, so I can’t really tear DD a new one. But, seriously, as one of the poster boys for this team, when you know your guys are in need of a spark, you have to produce something better than a 4/12 and a pisspoor defensive effort.

Dorsey: Superboy brought his A game tonight knowing he’d have extended minutes. An impressive 12/13 in 27, Joey always seems to raise his game against bigger men. His hustle seemed to be infectious in the second half. Good stuff

Evans: with a tie like that, it’s a good thing he doesn’t walk the streets of Spain.

Johnson: back to his quick 2 foul routine, and it messed with his rhythm. (haha..like he has some). Insert the usual “he can only benefit us when…” line here. Frustrating especially when you factor in the abuse he is giving our salary figure.

Kleiza: outside of being on the receiving end of an impressive Sonny fastbreak, Kleiza contributed as much as a nun at an adultery convention.

Stojakovic: who will be back banging bodies first: Peja or Larry King?

Weems: as mentioned, a sweet fastbreak leading to a nice dish to Linas for an easy 2 when we were “coming back”. Then he followed that with two boneheaded offensive plays. He’s just an immature player that doesn’t deserve as many minutes as he is getting. Truth.

Wright: Jay was forced to use him and Julian stepped up. A nice effort and another contributor versus the Bulls bench in the second half to make it a game. Show him around a bit and he could be a nice trade chip with Peja.

Driving The Bus: Leandro Barbosa

Under The Bus: Amir Johnson

Game Theme:

I can’t believe I predicted a 30/10 game for Bargnani against a half-assed front court of Nazr Mohammed and Kwame Brown, who both came out looking like all-stars. I was fully expecting another roll-call laden with profanity…whatever, the Raptors are on the second night of a back-to-back against the Bulls, and it’s going to get ugly (my enthusiasm has been tempered quite a bit).

Injury Report

Toronto
Reggie Evans – Out
Jose Calderon – Out
Peja Stojakovic – Out

Chicago
Joakim Noah – Sprained thumb, should play
Derrick Rose – Sprained hand, should play
Carlos Boozer – Healthy, but could randomly keel over at any moment

Match-ups

Point Guards
Bayless has been filling in for the injured Calderon nicely. If there was any knock on him, it’s his ball control; the guy dropped 9 dimes last night, but picked up 4 turnovers. I’m sure that will improve with time, so I’m not too worried. He did much better against Augustin then I thought he would, and took the match-up. Tonight against Rose will be a different story. Derrick is lightning fast, elite finisher at the rim, a stud in the paint with that sweet floater, shoots the ball well, athletic, sees the floor well and has that look in his eye (the exact opposite look that Bargnani has). So lets not talk about how to stop him, cause he can only stop himself. Bayless can make him work on defense…and that’s about it. Will be a great learning experience for the kid, playing major minutes against an elite point guard. I like Barbosa
Edge: Chicago

Shooting Guard
I’m pretty sure my expectations for DeRozan are too high. He’s a 15pt 5reb type of player, and I’m good with that. His jumper needs work, like 500 shots a day-everday, but he needs to drive every time he touches the ball. That dunk he put down last night was sick; dunk of the year material for sure. Tonight against Bogans, more aggressiveness will be the recipe to success. Bogans is a solid defender who likes to spot up in the corner for threes. Although he doesn’t convert at a high clip, there are only so many open looks you can give a guy until he starts to hurt you. With Rose’s ability to get to any spot on the floor he wants too, DeMar will have to be careful on leaving Bogans on help defense. On the flip side, Bogans doesn’t get to the rack much, and isn’t a great finisher, so playing up on him and forcing him to put the ball on the ground into some traffic should shut him down. It’s easy to forget about Korver coming off the bench, dude can hit threes.
Edge: Even

Small Forward
I’ve lost all faith in Weems and Kleiza. I’m very open to a trade for Igoudala at this point to improve this team. Not saying AI9 is the answer the Raptors are looking for, but the guy plays hard and is better than both Weems and Kleiza combined. I’m sure I’ll get an earful, but the Raptors need a small forward who can create for himself, play defense and be intense on a consistent basis.

Back to Deng, he’s a solid mid-ranger shooter, and his length (6″9) makes it that much harder to both his shot. If there’s a weakness, it’s shooting threes, but he converts at a 40% clip, which is pretty good. He’s a solid defender and rebounder, which only makes the problem with Weems/Kleiza that much more serious. I’m not saying that Sonny and Linas wont have a good game; just that it doesn’t matter because they need to have a series of good games to become a dependable part of the roation. As it stands now, neither of them should be playing more than 12-14 minutes a game.

Julian Wright would be ideal in this match-up. He is long and can affect Deng’s shot off the dribble; too bad Triano doesn’t know who the guy is.
Edge: Chicago

Power Forward
As much as I can’t stand Boozer, I have to respect the guy. When he’s healthy, he’s a beast. The shoots the ball very well, plays big in the post, rebounds very well, and can be a nuisance on defense with those long arms and quick movements. Amir is going to have his hands full between trying to keep a body on Boozer, and having to deal with Noah on the glass. It doesn’t get any easier when Taj Gibson plays off the bench; the kid’s been a star filling in for the injured Boozer to start the season. I don’t know, this has the potential to get really messy, Amir can’t do it alone; Ed Davis is still too raw to really go at a polished big like Boozer, and….
Edge: Chicago

Center
…Bargnani is going to justify why I would trade him in a heartbeat for Joakim Noah. Last night against Nazr Mohammed and Kwame Brown, Andrea was somewhere else. Those two are not the kind of hustle players who can outplay anyone, but did just that. Imagine what the hustle, tenacity and competitive ferociousness that Noah plays with will do? I’m getting nervous thinking about all the loose balls, offensive rebounds-put backs, blocked shots, etc that Noah is going to inflict on Bargnani. I’m not saying Bargnani wont hit a few shots, and he might just score 20; but he wont be able to match Noah’s energy, and wont be able to battle him in the paint. Noah can keep up with Andrea on the perimeter, in the post, and off the dribble. ..I can breathe now.
Edge: Chicago

Keys to the Game

Fleeting Line About Pride
After that second half sh*t-show, something needs to give…Bayless, Barbosa and Johnson can’t be the only ones who consistently show up and give a full serving of effort when they hit the floor.

Clichéd Line About the Second Game of a Back-to-Back
The Raptors are on the second night of the back-to-back, thankfully it’s at home game. This season, Toronto is 2-3 (I thought it was worse for some reason) on the second night of a back-to-back, with both wins coming against teams who are playing under .400 ball; Philly and Detroit.

Standard Line About Defense/Rebounding
The Bulls are a solid defensive team; 9th in points allowed and 2nd in rebounding. BARGNANI NEEDS TO GRAB SOME BOARDS. Since shutting down Rose will be next to impossible, I’m advocating the Raptors not double anyone. I don’t want to see any drives and kicks for a wide open look at the rim. Also, BARGNANI NEEDS TO BOX NOAH OUT EVERY TIME A BALL GOES UP, NO MATTER WHAT END OF THE FLOOR HE’S ON.

Desperate Line About Calling Timeouts in a Timely/Effective/Efficient Manner in the Hopes of Actually Coaching and Instructing This Team on Some In-Game Strategy
The 3rd quarter last night saw the Raptors extend their lead by 2, then go down 1 in a two-and-a-half minute run where the Bobcats scored 9 straight points. Not once did it occur to Triano to call a freaking timeout and correct the players, nothing. YOU ARE NOT PHIL JACKSON, AND THE RAPTORS AREN’T THE LAKERS, THEY CAN’T PLAY THROUGH 9-0 RUNS. Not once have I seen this happen this season, not once. So bloody frustrating.

The Line

The Bulls are 5.5 point favourites with an over/under of 202, seems about the right; the Raptors will flap around like a fish out of water, only to piece together a solid run at the end of the game to give people false hopes about how good this team is.

Q. How did the Knicks do this off-season? Talk about drafts, trades and free agent signings as well as ownership/management changes.

Kevin McElroy: The answer to this question is necessarily relative to expectations. By any normal measure, this was the Knicks best summer since the mid-90’s. Their failed pursuit for LeWyane Bosh aside, the Knicks brought in Amare Stoudemire, a five-time all-star with three top-ten scoring seasons who also happens to be the active career leader in true shooting percentage. While concerns about the riskiness of the acquisition (especially those relating to Stoudemire’s injury history) are understandable, the rarity with which players of Stoudemire’s caliber can be had without forfeiting any tradeable assets makes the signing a worthwhile gamble. The David Lee trade — in which the Knicks gave up a player that they had already made redundant and received two valuable role players and a freakish athlete with world-class upside in return — was the best player for player(s) swap the Knicks have made since they brought in Latrell Sprewell and Marcus Camby; if Anthony Randolph develops, it will go down as even better than those trades.

I worry about Raymond Felton eating up valuable cap space, but I get the feeling that his signing was about keeping Amare happy enough to keep telling his buddies how great things were in New York — Felton’s contract should be moveable if he becomes the final obstacle to bringing in another star. I hated the Knicks’ play-it-safe strategy on draft night, but based upon the summers that Landry Fields and Lance Stephenson have had, my opinion on the matter has softened. Fields will hang around for 10 years and be a useful role player for the Knicks in the near term.

Q. Who came out the bigger winner AND loser in the Atlantic Division?

KM: I’ll exclude the Knicks from the conversation here since I’ve already discussed their offseason. I think the Celtics are the winners by default, mostly because they were the only Atlantic Division team good enough to focus their off-season on filling their remaining needs rather than blindly overhauling the team and hoping it would work out. I’m not crazy about their Shaquisition for the same reason I wasn’t crazy about it when he was Shaquired by Phoenix or Cleveland, but at the veteran minimum it’s a low risk move and they can always tell him to go away if he becomes a problem.

As for the biggest losers, the Nets’ mind-bendingly bizarre assortment of free agent signings gets the nod even in a division where Toronto lost their franchise leader in scoring and rebounding just as he was entering his prime. Better build that arena, Brooklyn, or Johan Petro will be plying his trade elsewhere!

Q. Last season we saw a dog fight from 5-9 in the East for a playoff appearance (the Raptors dropped from 5th to 9th rapidly at the tail-end of the season). What are your predictions for this upcoming season? Who are your dark horses to watch out for?

KM: Obviously the Heat jump out of that dog fight and into the top 3, arguably the top 1. I think this will be another season in which the Eastern Conference can be separated into pretty well-defined tiers. The Tier 1 teams — Miami, Orlando, Boston — seem fairly insurmountable at the top of the pyramid, although if the Celtics all get old at the same time, they could feasibly drop into Tier 2. For now, Tier 2 is Atlanta, Chicago, and probably Milwaukee, all of whom should qualify for the postseason comfortably and will be primarily concerned with finishing 5th or better and thus avoiding the Tier 1 teams in the first round. Tier 3 is where it gets a bit hairy: Charlotte has to be viewed as the 7th best team going into the year, but New York has much greater upside and is the only team outside of Tiers 1 and 2 with a chance to vault into the top 6 if everything goes right.

If things implode for the Knicks — and, let’s face it, why shouldn’t they — The Pacers, Sixers, and Cavs are all in the picture for one of the last two playoff spots. One more quick point that nobody is talking about: I will not be surprised if strength of schedule becomes a decisive factor in the Eastern Conference this year. The Bobcats have to play a whopping 15 games against the Heat, Magic, and Hawks, while the Knicks and Sixers will play each other five times and have 10 games each against the Nets and Raps. Could be enough to bump the Bobcats down to ninth in a tight East.

Q. Is what happened in Miami bad for the league? On the one hand, players are taking control of their own futures (as best as possible); but on the other, the rich just seem to get richer.

KM: I swore a lifelong oath of hatred against the Miami Heat the day that Pat Riley hopped the fence back in 1995, but the answer to this question is still “no.” In the long-term, this has to be viewed as good for the league, and not just because it will allow us to see something we’ve never seen before (which it will) and give other fan bases a unifying enemy (which it also will). The reason I’m glad it happened, and happened when it did, is that it has placed everything from cap rules to player tampering to the merits of “Superteams” at the forefront of the conversation, just before a watershed CBA renegotiation. This is the best way for basketball fans and writers to have any kind of a voice about the future of the league. Maybe I’m dreaming on that but, at a time when the NBA seems desperate to drum up demand for its product, it will have an unprecedented opportunity to gauge public opinion on nearly every issue that is likely to come up this summer. We may all be thanking LeWyane Bosh before this is over.

(Was that convincing? No? Darn it. I really hate the Heat.)

Q. Do you share the view that playing in Toronto is similar to playing in Europe, and not very appealing to American born players? What’s your take on the Raptors and Toronto as a destination for the NBA elite?

KM: I think there are five or six “destination cities” in the League right now — LA, Miami, New York, Chicago, maybe one or two of the Texas cities — and I don’t think Toronto is one of them. But I think it’s still a long way up from playing in Europe and doubt the Canadian border has much of a practical effect on players’ decisions. Most NBA cities become appealing destinations if and only if their resident teams employ players and executives that are appealing to NBA free agents, which the post-Bosh Raptors probably don’t. The problem is that Toronto’s previous attempts at building around a franchise player were based upon guys whose personalities were not conducive to being the first major building block on a team in a non-destination city. It only takes one super-talented, super-loyal star — think Tim Duncan, Kevin Durant, Dwight Howard — to attract top players to a place that once seemed to be on the NBA periphery. The problem, of course, is finding that guy. Clearly, Vince Carter and Chris Bosh didn’t fit the description.

Q. What’s your take on Bryan Colangelo and the job he’s done for the Raptors? Could he have held on to Bosh had he made other choices? Did he make a huge mistake by not trading him earlier? What about the type of team he is trying to build in Toronto?

KM: I think Bosh was always leaving — he’s a very good second option alongside an elite scoring wing with good court vision; now he gets to play with two of them. It’s interesting to think about how things would have played out for Toronto if Bosh and T-Mac had come along at about the same time — they would have complemented each other brilliantly, maybe well enough that they both would have wanted to stay. As for Colangelo, I think he was probably doomed from the start. His mandate was to focus singularly on the retention of a player who was 1) probably always going to leave and 2) probably not good enough to be the best player on a great team anyway. To the extent that this strategy has failed (in the departure of Bosh) or set the franchise back (due to the shortsightedness of some of Toronto’s acquisitions), that failure is more associated with the flaws of the mandate (which fall at the feet of ownership) than with any flaws in execution (which would fall at the feet of Colangelo). That said, Toronto clearly needs to dive head-first into overhaul mode and that necessarily involves a conversation regarding whether Colangelo remains the right man for what is now a very different job.

Late last week, Chris Bosh’s camp released a wish list of teams he would play for, and the Bulls happen to be one of them (shocking all the teams are linked to either LeBron or Wade or Kobe). The Bulls will be frustrating to deal with (if we in fact do a deal with them) since the guys we would want (Noah, Rose) wont be the guys we would probably get (Gibson, Deng, Hinrich). Not to say those guys wouldn’t provide the Raptors any value, but you know, you trade Bosh, you expect a Noah back while not handing the Bulls a championship lineup since you know, we should be the one building a championship team.

I check with Matt McHale from the ESPN TrueHoop blog By The Horns, to get his take on the Bosh rumours, as well as the situation with Vinny Del Negro:

Sam Holako: Vinny Del Negro got the axe, and probably would have got it earlier in the season if the team didn’t pull together and play so well down the stretch. Looking in from the outside, it seems that he was dealt a bum hand by Paxson, who let Ben Gordon walk, traded John Salmons for rags and didn’t give a good enough team to a rookie head-coach to win with. If you ask me, Paxson should be the next change Reinsdorf makes to this team. What are your thoughts on this whole situation?

Matt McHale: Well, I do feel like Vinny was hired to be fired. Chicago’s front office had a plan that was two years in the making: Hire a “placeholder” coach, cut salary, and then try to go all in during the free agent bonanza this summer. All I can do is speculate, but Bulls management never showed strong support for Vinny nor did they ever do anything to indicate that he was part of their plans past this season. And yet all Vinny did — for all his faults as a relatively inexperienced head coach — was get the team to overachieve based on their talent and how they were constructed.

Speaking of which…who put this team together? John Paxson. And his management of the team hasn’t been stellar. His biggest mistakes — among many — include breaking the bank for Ben Wallace (who worked out so poorly he had to be traded for Larry Hughes!), trading LaMarcus Aldridge for Tyrus Thomas (who worked out so poorly he had to be traded for a couple expiring contracts) and vastly overpaying for Kirk Hinrich and Luol Deng. The only thing that has prevented his stewardship of the Bulls from being a complete and utter disaster was the team lucking into the number one overall draft pick they used to get Derrick Rose. Just think of where this team would be without that kid. Yikes.

And yet during the 2008-09 season, after calling the team a “disaster” and “embarrassing,” team owner Jerry Reinsdorf said: “When you have a team that’s not performing it’s an organization failure. You win and you lose as an organization. But if there’s one person that is not responsible for what’s going on right now, it’s John Paxson. I have tremendous confidence in John Paxson. He’s really one of the best people that I know. He’s a great general manager and a great judge of talent.”

What can you do about a guy in that tight with the man who’s funding the team?

And although I would like to see Pax given his walking papers, this is a huge summer in terms of looking for a new head coach and trying to lure a big time free agent or two to the Windy City. Firing the team’s executive vice president would make the team seem in even more disarray…which could be costly.

SH: Wow, talk about a ringing endorsement; guess clutch 3-point shooting in the 90s pays off beyond a couple championship runs. So what’s the plan now? There has been very intense rumours about LeBron joining the Bulls this year. If he can handle playing in Jordan’s shadow, it seems to be the best fit for LBJ on any team in the league, and propel the Bulls back into championship contention. It would also redeem some of those poor personell moves Paxson has made over the years (lucking into the #1 pick shouldn’t have saved his job IMHO).

MM: Well, it goes without saying that the Bulls — and every other team — would love to have LeBron James suiting up for them. And I’m sure Chicago’s front office will reach out to him. But the larger plan is to land somebody big: LeBron, Dwyane Wade, Chris Bosh, Carlos Boozer, Amar’e Stoudemore…a superstar or borderline superstar who can address some of the team’s glaring needs (scoring first and foremost, and an inside game if possible). That’s priority one in terms of player personnel. Then the Bulls will need to bring in a couple crack three-point shooters to help with spacing. But right now, every iota of energy that isn’t expended searching for a coach will be used to land one of the “White Whales.”

SH: Who’s the front runner for the coaching gig? Calipari’s name seems to be coming up left and right.

MM: Honestly, I have no idea. Cal has been very firm about the fact that he has no plans to leave Kentucky. And anyway, Chicago’s front office has stated that they want a coach with extensive regular season and playoff experience. Calipari compiled a .391 winning percentage over 184 games with the New Jersey Nets, and his only playoff experience was presiding over a three-game sweep of his team in the first round of the 1998 NBA playoffs. That doesn’t exactly fit the bill.

Bulls management is being very careful about this coaching search. Read that: slow.

And in all honestly, they could be waiting for a better idea of who they might be able to land in fre agency. After all, it could have a serious effect on the kind of coach they would want for the team, in terms of offensive/defensive philosophies.

SH: Speaking of free agency, there has been talk of LeBron, Bosh, Wade as possible targets, but each is a very different kind of player. What kind of player do you prefer the Bulls land?

MM: Well, let’s face it: If you can get LeBron James, you get LeBron James. I think the same thing could probably be said about Dwyane Wade. If you can get a bonafide superduperstar, you do it and then rebuild (even if only partially) around them.

But assuming those two are out of reach, the Bulls need — and have needed for years and years — a frontcourt scorer to complement Derrick Rose. Someone who can score from the low post and run the pick and roll successfully. From that standpoint, I think the Bulls should target Chris Bosh, Carlos Boozer and/or Amar’e Stoudemire.

SH: What do you make of the phone call between LeBron and Rose?

MM: I think LeBron is, as Mr. Spock said in the latest Star Trek reboot, “cultivating multiple options.” It’s entirely possible he also called Chris Bosh and Dwyane Wade, too. To me, it seems like LeBron is feeling things out, getting a sense of what’s available out there, whom he might want to play with, and who might want to play with him. It seems to suggest that LeBron is at least considering Chicago as a potential destination…but that’s about it.

Of course, maybe LeBron is just buttering Rose up to get him to join the U.S. national team. Remember, back in December, this was what James said when asked if he’d like to team up with Rose: “Yeah, especially on an Olympic team. He did a great job this past summer holding it down for some of the older guys, giving them some rest. He’s a great point guard. He’s a great player. I love watching Derrick play, man, he’s unbelievable. All he’s going to do is continue to get better — with every game, with every practice. Hopefully in the 2012 Olympics, he can be a part of that team and have some fun.”

SH: Make me an offer for Chris Bosh in a sign-n-trade situation.

MM: Here’s my suggestion: Taj Gibson (and solid, up-and-coming PF) to replace Bosh and Kirk Hinrich. No, wait, here me out. I checked 82games.com and noticed that opposing PGs averaged 21+ PPG with an eFG of 52% and a PER of 20.1 against the Raptors this season. That’s like facing an All-Star PG every night. You don’t necessarily have to start Kirk, but you could bring him in as a defensive stopper off the bench against opposing PGs and SGs (whom I see average 22 points with a PER of 17 against the Raps). Hey, you guys need defense, and Kirk can bring that. So can Taj, actually. He was second on the Bulls in DRating this season as a rookie and will probably improve with experience.

I’m sure we can throw in some other filler to make the salaries work…

True to Boston form, the Celtics shafted the Raptors yet again; this time by losing to the Bulls after taking a 1 point lead into the 4th. It’s literally come down to the last game of the year for the Raptors, sort of:

• If the Raptors win, and the Bulls lose, Toronto’s in
• If the Raptors win, and the Bulls win, Toronto’s out
• If the Raptors lose, and the Bulls lose, Toronto’s out
• If the Raptors lose, and the Bulls win, Toronto’s out

You look back over the course of the season, and start to cringe at some of the losses the Raptors had that weren’t taken seriously at the time: Washington, Indiana (twice), Philadelphia, Sacramento, and Golden State (twice). You win any of those 7 games, and this thing is over. So when we were crying bloody murder after these losses, there was a method to the madness (and not just our pride being hurt).

The fact of the matter is the Raptors don’t deserve to make the playoffs. When you look back on the season, they always came short when the pressure was on, and only got to 5th in the east by taking advantage of a weak schedule. When the chips were stacked against them, they rarely stepped up. And even after dogging so much of the season, they are literally one game from making the playoffs. It’s amazing and upsetting at the same time.

Tonight we get the Knicks, a team that the Raptors have owned over the last three seasons, going 8-3 over that span. At the best of times, the Knicks are a shell of a team, on this last game of the season though, I’m expecting a bit more. Al Harrington and Tracy McGrady (questionable) will probably miss the game, meaning the Knicks should be better off – no one to take ill-advised 3′s while the offense is setting up.

David Lee has been a Raptor killer with Bosh in the lineup, averaging 25.7pts and 16.7rebs. Without Bosh, it will be a task by committee. Turkoglu has stepped up his rebounding as of late, and I fully expect Amir to return to his rebounding ways now that Detroit has been dispatched; which only leaves Bargnani.

If he drops 30, I don’t think I will care how many boards he grabs, but he needs to drop 30, end of discussion. If not, the Knicks have this guy called Earl Barron, who seems to be grabbing a great deal of rebounds (11.7) since joining the team, and who could sway things to the Knicks favour if he goes unnoticed and unchecked. That’s about all there is to be worried about, they have a couple youngin’s who can ball, but Duhon is leading the charge, forgive me if I’m not worried.

On the Bulls side of things, they’re in Charlotte to face a Bobcats team that is 31-9 at home. Larry Brown said that they owe it to basketball to compete hard and not roll over for the Bulls. How long that lasts remains to be seen considering the Bobcats have nothing to gain or lose with this game in terms of playoff position (it’s always better to win than lose in the grand scheme of things though). You have to figure D’Antoni is in the same boat as Brown.

Really, that’s all there is to it. The Raptors have to win this game, and they need to get dirty to do it, since the Knicks have nothing else going on but to c*ck-block us from getting into the playoffs.

What a difference a day and some shame makes. It was the Raptors/Bulls game all over again, except the Raptors did the exact opposite of what they did against Chicago; aka, they played well. The day started with a guarantee for a win by Charlie Villanueva, and boy did he hear it from the pre-game tip. Matt, Jack, Rod and Leo all had a chance to rip into him for what I can only imagine was payback for Charlie banging all their wives or daughters or something equally bad.

So just to recap (cause I wasn’t clear yesterday), if:

• the Bulls lose both the next two games, Raptors are in
• the Bulls split the next two games, the Raptors need to beat the Knicks to get in
• the Bulls win both the next two games, the Raptors are in the lottery

Regardless of what the Bulls do, the Raptors have to beat the Knicks tomorrow. You want to be going into the playoffs on a mini two-game winning streak, not fall ass backwards into the post-season. It wont really matter in the grand scheme of things since the Cavs will roll over the Raptors something fierce, but you want your ducks in a row.

This game was over in the 2nd quarter, so I’ll save you the play-by-play, but a few things happened that really makes me hopeful while frustrating me at the same time, namely Bargnani. No one disputes his talent. No one disputes his abilities. We’re ok with his sub-par rebounding given his offensive talents; but when you only do one thing well (score the ball), you need to do that every single game. Guys like Jamal Crawford and Ben Gordon have made careers ($$$) doing nothing but scoring.

You know when Bargnani is going to have a good game. He takes his shots in rhythm; he keeps those lame shot fakes to a minimum; he scores from the post and drives the ball. His scoring fuels his defense (and rebounding), and when he’s doing more than just popping J’s, he’s a pretty good all around player.

Amir came through with a career scoring night; 26pts on 10-12 from the field and 6-7 from the line. Where was the rebounding though? I know I know, I can’t be happy with a win, and always need to pick at things….but Amir’s job is to rebound and bang in the blocks. He took good shots and made them, but only grabbed 2 rebounds? Detroit missed 42 shots, and grabbed only 11 offensive boards, that’s a lot of rebounds that Amir could have grabbed, but he didn’t. Just don’t want him to get used to scoring at the expense of his rebounding, scorers the Raptors have enough of.

The Pistons protected the ball better, grabbed more offensive boards and got to the line more (hitting more free throws than the Raptors actually attempted), but the Raptors shot the crap out of the ball. Wasn’t even a matter of being on, it was all about ball movement and playmaking. Calderon and Jack dished out 23 dimes with only 4 turnovers between the two. That’s an almost 6:1 ratio, ridiculous.

Playing Weems 40 minutes in a blowout was about the only thing Triano did that pissed me off (other than the post-game, those interviews insult and anger me). Hopefully the injury isn’t too serious, I didn’t catch any news yet.

At the end of it all, does it really matter if this team makes the playoffs or not? You make the playoffs and get swept by the Cavs, are you better for it? You go to the draft, and take someone at 14, does that make you better? I’m of the belief that going to the playoffs is always better, but only if the future of this team includes Bosh.

At the least, we can all enjoy a win over the Pistons.