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.

“I don’t get it, what did we end up with?”

“Limp noodle (Andrea Bargnani), is he still on the team?”

My girl said that to me as I sunk into my seat while TSN played the Bosh presser. I seriously don’t know where to begin, except to say that there is no hard feelings towards Bosh from this corner of the internet (Arse excluded). All my anger and disgust are squarely aimed at the brass for failing this city so miserably, yet again.

Some bad PR aside, Bosh stayed true to the tenets he had maintained since his exit interview:

• Be a core piece of a championship calibre team (think Pau Gasol)
• Max contract (the Florida tax situation puts him damn close without breaking out a calculator)
• That he will resign with the Raptors IF he feels they are doing everything possible to put a quality team around him

We can do nothing but speculate about what was said between Colangelo and Bosh’s camp up until yesterday, but one thing was clear: there was not enough communication between the two groups. For that, the blame gets spread around evenly. However, you can’t take a couple tweets about the excitement of getting courted from a 26 year old guy to heart, that’s all I’m saying. While I fully believe that Colangelo was working like a mad man to get Bosh to resign, clearly not enough was done to appease him. For starters, perhaps he could’ve made the trip to Texas last week instead of sending his assistants.

By signing outright (for now, Colangelo can still negotiate a max S&T) with the Heat, Bosh has put winning a championship above everything else. For that, we should ALL have nothing but respect for the guy. Sure, the Heat only have Wade, Beasley and Chalmers under contract; they will have a tough time filling out the roster with enough talent to be a championship contender next season, but Riley has built a championship team in Miami in the past without a running mate for Wade of Bosh’s caliber. Top four team in the East as things stand? I say that’s about right.

Where did it all go wrong?

Colangelo had three summers to improve upon the surprising 47 win team that raised all of our expectations. While there were a couple smaller moves that worked out fairly well, Amir/Belinelli/Jack, the larger ones failed miserably:

1. He underestimated the value of Jorge Garbajosa after he went down with a broken leg, and literally did nothing to replace him in the lineup. While Jorge wasn’t the most talented of players, he was a glue guy for the Raptors who did a lot of the little things necessary to win games. The thinking at the time went that the team didn’t need a whole lot of tinkering, so there wasn’t any at all. Foul ball: 0-1
2. After getting thumped by Orlando in the first round of the playoffs, the Raptors had a clear need for a second “20 point scorer” who could take some of the load off of Bosh, so defences couldn’t zero in on him and grind our offense to a halt. Jermaine O’Neal was obtained to be that guy who could come in and be fill that role. Seemed like this was the start of a couple other moves (a shooting guard in the mold of Mickael Pietrus would have been a good fit), but it was the only move. JO didn’t pan out at all, and things went from bad to worse prompting the premature (but widely expected) firing of Sam Mitchell. O’Neal was promptly shipped to Miami (with a 1st rounder to boot) for the expiring contract of Shawn Marion and the crippling contract of Marcus Banks. Strike two: 0-2
3. The Raptors still needed that second option on offense, so Shawn Marion was turned into Hedo Turkoglu who, while coming off a great playoff run, couldn’t recreate the Magic (sorry) he displayed for Orlando. Hedo literally provided no relief on the offensive end of the court, and the Raptors narrowly missed the playoffs. To make matters worse, Hedo made a bigger mess with his appearance on Turkish television saying he wanted out and that the organization was unfair in their handling of his going out on the town. To top it all off, Colangelo outbid nobody and re-upped Bargnani to a 5yr/$50million contract instead of letting him prove his worth in a contract year and relying on the qualifying offer. That still could work out, but so far it hasn’t. Strike three: 0-3

If you were given the choice to play for Colangelo and Triano alongside Calderon, Turkoglu and Bargnani, or for Riley and Spoelstra alongside Wade and anyone else in the league – in Miami of all places, who would you choose? I think he made a great basketball decision. Doesn’t even matter that LeBron wont be joining them, since the pairing of Wade and Bosh rivals that of Kobe and Gasol.

Where does that leave the Raptors?

There is still some hope. Colangelo can still swoop in and try to make some things happen by giving Bosh a max contract, while trying to make a couple other things happen. I prematurely posted a Bucher rumour the other day that looks MIGHTY fine to me right now:

To Miami
Bosh/Calderon

To Toronto
Chalmers/Beasley and a trade exception

It is doubtful we get any draft picks back since Bosh was willing to forgo some salary to sign outright with Miami; Riley has proved to be a shark in these matters. The Heat still need a top calibre point guard, which Calderon still is. This leaves them enough space to fill out the roster by signing a few of their own free agents, while grabbing some veterans. Not a bad start for the Heat.

Where do we go from here?

The short: it leaves a squad with a lot to be desired. You can’t expect that Beasley will replace what Bosh (you also can’t expect him to even be a part of our imaginary dream either) brought to the table, you just can’t. The kid has talent, there is no denying it but the other stuff that comes with him frankly has me nauseous. A front court of Turkoglu, Beasley and Bargnani doesn’t get me excited, but it does get rounded out with Johnson, Evans, Davis and Alabi. Chalmers and Banks back up Jack, with a trio at the wing of DeRozan, Weems and Belinelli. That isn’t terrible, but there are no stars, and no one who can create their own scoring opportunities AND get to the line like Bosh did. The playoffs would be an unlikely event with this group, though.

IF Colangelo can negotiate a S&T that includes Jose AND if he gets back a large enough trade exemption that we can land a star somehow (I hear Chris Paul is available if you take Emeka Okafor’s massive contract, just putting it out there) AND if said trade exception is properly managed, things are salvageable BUT I wont hold my breath based on this teams history.

Here’s another IF: LeBron James. IF he decides to sign in Miami, expect a deal to get done that includes Beasley. The Heat still need to clear some space to bring in the second max free agent. With LeBron’s ego LeBron James holding a presser at 9pm tonight, Colangelo has a small window of opportunity to possibly take advantage of Riley since the clock is ticking to get LeBron to sign in Miami. Fortunately this ordeal will be over with quickly, then we can get to the important business of debating the crap out of our secondary tier of players and what to do with them.

I’m on Twitter.

I checked in with Surya Fernandez from Hot Hot Hoops to talk about the Heat and the newly formed commission (Bosh, Wade, LeBron and Joe Johnson). We’re still getting weak trade offers for Bosh; I guess a 24pt 11reb a night kind of guy has no value around the league. It’s actually making me question what I think I know about basketball (which granted isn’t very much since I thought the Suns were going to be thumped buy the Spurs in the 2nd round).

Without even making a reach, Riley has a lot of options to pair Wade with an elite level forward this summer (Bosh, Boozer and Stoudemire), so you can expect him to jump at the first option regardless of who he really covets. I’m going out on a limb and predicting Bosh doesn’t end up in Miami this summer, but that the Heat will be a 50 win team next season with the additions Riley makes.

Sam Holako: What do you make of this free agent commission Wade, LeBron, Bosh and Johnson have put together to discuss their fates? Seems sinister, and frankly, I’m a little disappointed about it – whatever happened to being a man?

Surya Fernandez: It’s all a matter of perception. Toronto needs to find another willing team to do a sign and trade should Bosh want to go elsewhere to get something decent in return and start a new era. The Heat have been treading water for the last couple of years and are finally free of that huge chunk of salary cap that dated back from Shaq’s last contract extension. Wade doesn’t sound like he’s leaving so there’s little doubt that he’ll try to do some recruiting at this summit. There’s nothing else for him to talk about. I don’t mind players that are friends getting together and talking about something this important in their lives and careers. Maybe they all go their separate ways and nothing much comes of it. Just imagine what owners and GMs talk about when they all get together. It must be worse than a sewing circle.

SH: With Wade staying, I look at the team, and don’t see much of anything there: Chalmers is a nice player, Beasley has talent, I’m a fan of Joel Anthony, but outside of that, what does Miami do to round out the roster? What does Miami do to become relevant again?

SF: o question it’s a huge question mark with that many contracts clearing the books. But there is a lot of flexibility that comes with that. Udonis Haslem and Dorell Wright are solid players that can be retained or used for sign and trades to secure a point guard, the Heat’s biggest need. Chalmers and Beasley can be traded but if they stay will provide depth.

I’m not a fan of simply giving out max contracts to just anybody and I would pass on Amar’e Stoudemire, Carlos Boozer and Joe Johnson because other teams that may miss out on the bigger names will be offered a max contract by a team like the Knicks, Clippers or Nets. If you can sign James or Bosh then that’s great but the Heat could also use the rest of the $10-12 million to round out a roster with some quality big men and long range shooters. I just wrote (Affordable free agents that the Miami Heat should pursue) about nine free agents that the Heat should go after if they went this path.

Another method that isn’t discussed much is to hold on to some of the cap space to facilitate trades with other teams after the season starts leading up to the trading deadline. Riley said last month that the makeover process could take up to 18 months. Teams will want to shed contracts (like the Marcus Camby or Eric Maynor trades) and the Heat could absorb them easily (and perhaps acquire a few draft picks in the process) to get some more depth leading up to a playoff run.

SH: That’s quite the list, what stands out for me is Oberto and Foye. With the Wizard probably shopping Arenas; what would you think about engineering a trade to land Arenas and Oberto for cap space and Haslem, still having enough cap space to sign a Bosh? That would be a lethal backcourt.

SF: On paper it would be a lethal backcourt. The problem is that the Wizards on paper before the start of this season were thought of as a playoff team. First you have that huge contract that in and of itself would be drawback even if it was the Arenas of a few years ago. Then you have the health issues that he never seemed to have recovered from then the gun incident that derailed the entire franchise. I’d stay away from him.

If Miami wants to try it out with an oft-injured player past his prime I’d rather take on Elton Brand and net the second overall pick too from the Sixers. His contract is just as bad as Arenas but at least then you could rationalize it by having two players who combined make “X” amount of money because of this trade. Both could be useful immediately for the Heat if Brand is at least healthy enough to contribute like Jermaine O’Neal did this past season (putting aside the Celtics playoffs). And the Heat will have an awesome rookie talent at that pick.

SH: Philly was my next option; I really think Brand will surprise folks once he gets out of Philly. Make me an offer for Bosh in a S+T.

SF: You can have your first round pick back from the Marion-O’Neal trade plus another first rounder, Cook and Chalmers (who both need a change of scenery as well). It’s better than losing him for nothing. Offering Beasley as well would be the last resort since Bosh might be persuaded to just simply sign in Miami, not have to pay income tax and the Heat could keep those players and picks I just offered to your Raptors and send them to another team for a solid player who makes less like Rudy Gay. I like Bosh but if the Raptors want to trade him to the Lakers for oft-injured Andrew Bynum then be my guest. The Heat would then go after Stoudemire and maybe Boozer.

SH: I think it’s safe to say he wont leave $30mil guaranteed on the table, so thanks for giving us back our 1st rounder, lol. Can you talk about Riley a bit. Heard he may want to take over as coach again, dropping Erik Spoelstra like he did SVG, if the Heat land another elite player to pair with Wade. Is this just all chatter, or are there some legs to these rumours?

SF: Riley threw that out there as bait for free agents to consider should they want to directly play for him. But even though he only would consider it if he was asked to now it’s hard to not to see Spoelstra as a lame duck after saying that. Quite frankly, I think the Heat has done enough for Erik since hiring him to cut video back in 1995 so I really wouldn’t mind it if the Heat had a veteran seasoned coach going forward. If it has to be Riley so be it. People complain enough that the Heat are somewhat wasting the last couple of years of Wade’s prime and I don’t see Spoelstra as a coach to take your team deep in the playoffs. He might be good at analyzing videos and preparing his players but his in-game decisions, robotic substitution patterns and poor play-calling in late game situations have been the subject of tough criticism from diehard Heat fans.

Van Gundy was squeezed out because Shaq did not want to be coached by him anymore after the Pistons series in ’05. That’s what can happen when teams employ superstars and GMs and owners have to choose whether to listen to them or not. I’m not defending Riley (and I’m positive he smelled a golden opportunity to collect another coaching ring) but sometimes it’s not as simple an issue as it may seem from outsiders looking in. The end result back then was a ring, let’s see what happens this time around.

SH: From the outside looking in, it seemed as though Riley created the atmosphere for SVG to ultimately get canned. Regardless, he was the right man for the job. Could we interest you in Turkoglu?

SF: Agreed but SVG really did muck things up a bit at the end of the Pistons series though. It sure looked like a slimy move on Riley’s part but it sure worked out. Not surprising Riley might consider jumping back in if the roster starts looking like championship material this year.

The Heat only should take Hedo if they can get Marcus Banks back!

SH: So the Heat tried to trade Beasley for Dooling, and were denied (they say he plays a very similar game to Yi); why is Beasley’s value so low?

SF: There is no accuracy to that report. It came out of a podcast with nobody to corroborate it. Ira Winderman of the Sun-Sentinel has already confirmed that the Heat never made such an offer.

There’s no comparison between Beasley and Yi. It’s almost laughable. If you’re referring to Sebastian Pruiti’s comparison to them on Nets Are Scorching all I can tell you is that stats don’t tell the whole story. Stats don’t speak about how his unexperienced coach has never put Beasley in a situation to succeed on the court, how Beasley has never had a consistent role in this team or how he’s never had a chance to play with a decent playmaking point guard since he arrived in the NBA only two years ago.

Quite frankly I’m glad his value is perceived to be low so maybe he’ll stick around. Maybe it’s his personality or maybe it’s the off-court issues. I don’t know how many players in the 4-5 million dollar range could put up 15 points and 6 and a half rebounds in less than 30 minutes while playing in an offense that is solely geared towards Dwyane Wade. Power forward should not be a position of concern for the Heat with so many holes to plug so I can’t really justify carving out such a huge slice of the cap space for Bosh or Boozer.

Yes, of course he needs to work on his game and his defense (as should all young NBA players strive to do this summer). But give him a better coach, more minutes without fear of immediately being pulled off the court because of an error, and a true point guard who can run plays for him that can give him some easier looks closer to the basket. Then we can talk about whether he’s a bust or not. I don’t know how much more value the Heat could get out of that position.

“If he were in high school in the U.S., he’d be the No. 1 prospect in the country.”

Chew on that McDonalds All-Americans.

Let’s turn our attention back to fantasy trades because lets face it, they are what keep the summer chugging along and without them we’re struggling like fish out of water. Here’s the proposition: trade #17 + TJ Ford + expiring for Dwayne Wade. Let that thought sink in. Sinking…sinking….sunk. His stock isn’t high right now and we’d be taking a gamble because of his injuries but what do we have to lose? TJ Ford and a pick? We’ll get a legitimate scorer (possible #1 on the team) and become the second best backcourt in the East behind Boston. It sends Chris Bosh a clear message that the franchise is doing what it can to win now and pumps the team up for next season.

Assuming we get some rebounding help through the draft and Bargnani returns to his rookie form, we’ll be alright. Am I losing my mind? I don’t think so. Wade can deny all the trade rumours he wants but he needs a change of scenery more than anyone in the league and I don’t care what Miami does this summer, they’re too tied down to Shawn Marion’s salary and a plethora of crappy players to be competitive next year. I’m looking at this through Danny Ainge glasses here so forgive me for being too bold. Once we have him in the bag, let’s try to land Richard Jefferson by dangling some expiring contracts and maybe a future first rounder. Kiki’s team is moving to Brooklyn and you know they’ll be wanting to make a run at Deron Williams or Chris Paul to lead them there – he’ll gladly tank a year as long as it means saving some dough. Now, we have RJ, Wade and Bosh – our own “Big 3″! So there! I’m not saying Miami would bite on this but its a path worth exploring.

Hoopsworld which is making a real habit of pulling stuff out of their arses is saying TJ Ford for Corey Maggette is one of the most likely trades this summer. You know its slow when blogs are reporting trade rumours started by other blogs. Jamal Crawford would be a nice addition but something tells me his 40% FG isn’t going to sit right with Colangelo, at least not right enough to give up TJ Ford for him. On the flip side, the Knicks have little motivation to trade one of the few players who produces well and plays hard for them.

The folks at Raptor Talk (not to be confused with Raptors Talk) inform us that raptors.com has completely deleted the Chuck Checks In archives from their website. They’ve also got a nice picture of Hazel Mae who always struck me as being in the GFFFFG category. Swirsky has resumed his blogging on the Bulls site.

CDR impressed the Nets in his workout but they’re not ballsy enough to take him at #10 and he’s not going to be there at #21. Its a dilemma. If Rush isn’t there, we should pounce on him.

The Chicago and Phoenix job openings have made us recall names that were seemingly gone from memory: Jeff Hornacek, Chuck “The Rifleman” Person, Vinny del Negro, Tyrone Corbin…I almost expected Joe Wolf’s name to pop up. Jerry Reinsdorf’s taking a lot of heat for not grabbing Doug Collins but I’m with him on that. Collins is a great analyst but not a good coach – at least not for this era. His demeanor is too hard-nosed and he doesn’t relate to NBA players as he should, his dismissals from Detroit and Washington were because of the same reason: a little too intense for the modern NBA player.

And that’s your Raptors blog for this morning. I leave you with the Steven Seagal emotion chart.

Now if you were paying close attention to the Raptors during the season you would’ve noticed that Pat Riley is totally in love with Jose Calderon. Riley being a Calderon fan is hardly something unique in the NBA but would he trade the second pick just to get his hands on the Spaniard? Would he pass up a chance at Michael Beasley or Derrick Rose for a 26 year old point guard that has trouble guarding his own shadow and was basically the second best player on a bad NBA team? I doubt it but maybe Riley’s getting soft in the skull as he grows older.

The Knicks could have the top 3 picks in the draft and they’d still fuck things up, so I don’t know why they’re treating that 6th pick like its a chance to draft Michael Jordan. Believe it or not the best thing they could do is trade that pick to a team for expiring contracts as long as they’d take Eddy ‘This vehicle makes wide right turns’ Curry and Zack ‘I swear I have a neck’ Randolph with them.

Pop Quiz: The Raptors have picked at #17 once before, who did they pick? Tick tock tick tock tick tock…Ha! It was Michael Bradley! Another interesting totally unrelated tidbit: Jason Maxiell was picked 26th the same year we picked Joey Graham. Last year’s #17 pick? Sean Williams. The year before that? Shawne Williams. That’s scary!

Here’s a thought: if the Detroit Pistons lose this series they’ll be inclined to blow things up because it’ll be the third straight year they’d lose in the conference finals. Serious GMs don’t stand for that shit and given the emergence of Rodney Stuckey and Arron Afflalo, there might be a SG sale in Detroit and picks would do the trick. The first two to go might be Chauncey Billups and Richard Hamilton and the Raptors would be wise to inquire about Hamilton who at 30 still has 3-4 excellent years left in him. Hamilton would finally give us a legitimate scorer at the guard position since Vince Carter and if one of Ron Artest or Corey Maggette could be added to the roster via trade, it would make us an instant force. I know, I’m dreaming and should probably end this paragraph but not before giving a link to some Richard Hamilton/Ray Allen history.

Here’s something that’s been on my mind a lot – flopping. The reason there’s so much of it in the league isn’t because of Euros or players diving or any of that cuntiness, its because of the NBA rules and the officiating that backs it up. The officials are so quick to call a charge that they ignore when the defender got their ‘position’ and are inclined to forgive any lateral movement that the defensive player was making while the offensive player was in the air or after he had ‘gathered’ the ball. About 50% of the charges called in the NBA right now are either no-calls or defensive fouls. Its become quite aggravating seeing players credited as being good defenders just because they weaseled out of making a play and chose to twist themselves hoping to get some contact.

Joakim Noah got caught carrying a spliff after he was picked up for drinking in public. How dumb can you get? This also forever bans him from the list of “character guys” GMs such as Bryan Colangelo would ever bring on their team regardless of talent. On an entirely different note, did you know Joakim Noah’s mom was some sort of supermodel?

I don’t know if you necessarily need to be deranged to write for The Bleacher Report but you certainly have to be a daft cunt. In today’s excrement of an article, the writer proposes that it would be beneficial for the Raptors to trade T.J. Ford, Rasho Nesterovic, Maceo Baston, and Joey Graham for Allen Iverson. How pointless for all parties involved. Consider subscribing to their RSS feed for gems such as these and other unintended humor.

That’s Charles Barkley’s take on the Heat. It’s also what’s keeping Riley from jumping off the nearest bridge. In all the years of watching Riley coach, this is the first one where he seems calm and serene even when his team’s getting pounded to the tune of 40 points. Maybe it’s old age. Maybe he’s just resigned to the inevitability of watching his squad embarrass themselves on a nightly basis and willing to live with the legitimate excuse of injury. Either way, Pat Riley seems like he just doesn’t care anymore. From his point of view, signing Shaq to a ridiculous deal which has put a financial straight-jacket on club already paid off with a ring and that excuses the team to stink it up for the next three years. I’d take the deal if it was presented to me, let the Raptors win a championship this year and miss the playoffs for the next three years? I’d do it in a heartbeat.

Anyway, getting to the Raps. We could do no wrong, you can try hard and even then you won’t find a negative thing to say. The game was practically over with the Raptors up 30-8 which meant that TJ Ford could make his return pressure-free. TJ looked good out there, he was quick, showed great vision by laying a nice pass off to Kapono for a layup and then almost taking Humphries’ head of with a bullet pass that was right on the money. Any questions about his explosiveness were answered when he drove baseline and threw it down with authority. Apparently the man to thank for TJ being in-shape and in good spirits is ex-Cavalier coach John Lucas, who has been closely working with TJ for six hours a day. A side-note on John Lucas is that he’s a great communicator and relates to NBA players very well. Another side-note which allegedly got him fired from Cleveland was that the reason he was so well-liked was because he shares crack stories. Either way, I’m glad to have him working with the Raptors because whatever he’s doing with TJ is working. Forderon is back and no matter how some people spin it, that’s a great thing.

Going back to Pat Riley, he hates to even think that his team might’ve quit on him:

”I hate to even think those thoughts, I’ve been around 40 years, I’m proud of the road I’ve taken, and I don’t have any of that in me. I don’t care what anybody thinks. I’ve been good at making sure there isn’t any of that in my teams, either. We have to do some evaluation here.”

What’d you think of the first quarter Riles?

“Too quick, too efficient, too ready, too good. That was Toronto in the first quarter. An absolute clinic.”

Thanks, I agree. Duane Wade, any thoughts?

‘We [stunk] more the past couple of games than we have all season. Bad basketball. Terrible basketball. Maybe the season is getting away. I’m trying. I’ve said all I can say, doing all I can do. I’ve talked to guys. I don’t have the answers. I don’t know the formula.”

Sam Mitchell can’t believe his eyes:

“It would be hard for us to play much better”

We’ve seen the Raptors blow leads very often but after going up by 20 early there wasn’t even a remote chance that Miami could make a comeback. They just didnt’ have the personnel. We never let the intensity down on defense even when we were up by 30, call it lessons learned from past experiences. This is the closest thing to a perfect game that the Raptors have played this season. Our starters shot 69% with Chris Bosh, Andrea Bargnani and Anthony Parker having solid and effortless offensive performances. Chris Bosh’s facials on Alexander Johnson and Dorell Wright punctuated the dominance of the night and another smooth and unforced performance by Andrea Bargnani gave more weight to the argument that he’s out of his mid-season slide. Bargnani once again was one of the two top-scorers on the team, something we all expected to happen from the beginning of the year. Better late than never.

There’s a few obvious things that he’s doing that are helping his game and even though all the readers know this, it’s worth repeating:

• He’s taking his time after catching the ball at the arc. There’s no immediate and rushed offensive move being made, he’s analyzing who’s playing him, how he’s being guarded and then making a decision.
• When he catches the ball in a position of advantage, he immediately goes to work. That baseline reverse dunk was a prime example of that. Two weeks ago he would’ve caught that ball, allowed the defense to get set, and then jab-stepped a shot that was too hard.
• He’s playing loosely. There’s not a tightness in his game, he appears more relaxed when receiving the ball after setting a screen and evaluates what the defense has put at his disposal. One might say he even looks athletic. As Jack Armstrong alluded to about fifteen times, he’s reduced his speed and his playing at a controlled pace.
• He’s looking to setup his teammates. When a player is in a funk he generally focuses on just getting himself off. Bargnani’s court-awareness over the last few games has been exceptional, whether it be making an extra pass on the perimeter to zipping one in to the low-post, he’s looking to pass when there’s an advantage to be gained.
• He’s hitting the mid-range jumper. More than the three, it’s the 18 footer that makes him dangerous. Threes are easy to defend because the defense can just crowd you, but once you put the doubt of the drive in the defender and hit the mid-range jumper then the defense is in a catch-22. I can’t explain how and why, but Bargnani’s starting to make that jumper, we’ll attribute it to confidence.

Feel free to add your own.

Let’s put things in perspective though, we’re not as good as we looked today and we’re not as bad as were against the Lakers. Somewhere in there is a middle ground which the Raptors need to find. We’re not going to shoot as well as we did today but we can play with the same amount of defensive intensity which will give us a chance against the better teams and more importantly, in the playoffs. Our rebounding problems were overcome by our hot shooting but it should be noted that Miami, the league’s worst rebounding team, outmanned us 37-31.

There’s no point celebrating a win over a depleted and sun-tanned Miami team too much. Let’s leave it at this: The Raptors didn’t play down to the level of their opposition, played with a high level of enthusiasm and intensity and never allowed Miami to gain any momentum. Offensively, we were brilliant, we moved the ball end-to-end, when they played zone, we broke it in half by driving the ball after quick passes and never game Miami a chance.

You’ve heard of a quarterback controversy, well now we have a PG “controversy”. Sorry to sound like a drama queen but Sam Mitchell will have a little trouble telling Jose Calderon that he’s coming off the bench again. Jose won’t mind and he’ll be a total professional but Sam will know that the “benching” is undeserved. Jose’s been awesome for us while TJ’s been out, he’s been hitting his jumper with machine-like accuracy and his jumper coming off a high-screen opens up many offensive options for us. I think there’ll be a transition period where you’ll see the Raptors struggle a little once TJ returns to the lineup, we just need to be patient during that time and allow TJ to learn the reigns once more. After all, a QB doesn’t lose his job to injury and neither does a PG.

We don’t play till Friday so there’s plenty of time to feel good about this one.

Liners:

* If I’m a Heat fan watching this game on Leage Pass, I’m thinking the Toronto announcers are a bunch of assholes by the way they were gloating about and bringing out all kinds of Italian dishes and sausages. Pretty classless I would think.

* How many time did Chuck say “It’s all good” today? 15? 20?

* Ricky Davis is so NOT a Riley-player. I was surprised when Riley acquired him and am even more shocked that he’s still in Miami.

* I’m not sure that even with Mourning, Shaq and Haslem healthy, the Heat are anymore than a 7th seed heading for a first-round exit. Wade is wasting some of the best years of his career, it’s a shame.

* Jamario Moon resisted the chance to shoot the ball which is always a good option. He’s best when he’s keyed in on defense and not even thinking about his offense. The ball he snatched away from Ricky Davis’ attempted pass was classic Moon.

* The way we beat the zone today was great to watch. Riley didn’t dare try it again.

* Parker and Bosh making fun of Delfino’s arm movement after he hits a three was hilarious.

* Ford’s return hopefully means that this is the last we see of Darrick Murray Martin.

* Anthony Parker is the Top Rap.

Till tomorrow.