Its hard being rational in the summertime when there’s absolutely nothing going on and the only thing one can do is speculate on free agent acquisitions, hypothetical trades, possible draft choices and when the barrel will hit $250. Its like a disease that starts around May and ends around October, call it Raptorulosis Fasciitis. Its like walking through a vast desert with thousands of mirages but only a few wells. Its like getting through Lord of the Rings, except that its five months long. Its like scratching your nails on miles and miles of blackboard. It’s like….what I’m trying to say is that its a tough time which calls for perseverance, sanity and most of all a cool, calculated mind that can reject rumours for what they are and accept realities as they stare you in the face.
The man from Raptors Den looks at the possibilities of trading TJ Ford for players like Corey Maggette, Ron Artest, the #2 pick amongst others. Its a nice enough article but I can’t help but think this is one of those situations where the cool, calculated mind should kick in. It’s the opinion of this observer that the chance of us landing a player of Ron Artest’s caliber while only giving up TJ Ford is downright impossible, unless of course the other GM’s mind is mush. TJ may be a nice little talent but his stock is low because of injury and recent play. I would even consider giving him the starting role, hoping he plays well and then shipping him off at the trading deadline when teams get a little desperate for help and might be willing to give up more. Just a summertime thought, that’s all.
There’s word out of Miami that if Beasley is available at #2, the Heat will snag him and look to trade Udonis Haslem who “could be swapped for a point guard, with Kirk Hinrich, T.J. Ford and Mo Williams in play”. Such a trade does sound more reasonable than acquiring Artest or Maggette since the players involved are in similar tiers and there is a real supply/demand issue at hand. Haslem’s a very good rebounder that can knock down the mid-range jumper and plays hard, we can’t ask for anything more.
On a side note, DJ Augustin is dazzling teams with his workouts. If I’m the Clippers or Portland, I’d look at him first before even thinking about making a trade for Ford, Hinrich or Williams. There’s too much quickness, youth and skill here to pass up.
How do we fix the Lakers? That is the burning question in LA and two of the answers include acquiring a perimeter touch and getting some depth in the backcourt (getting killed by Rajan Rondo does that to you). Look no further Mitch Kupchak, we’d be glad to provide you with Jason Kapono and TJ Ford except that we have no idea who we’d want from your roster. We know you’re not willing to part with Andrew Bynum, Pau Gasol or Kobe Bryant and we certainly don’t want anything to do with Vujacic, Radmanovic, Ariza or Walton so why not give us Ronny Turiaf? Naah, you’re probably not going to do that either, are you? Huh? Please?
Interesting quote from Joe Luis Saez, the president of the Spanish federation:
“Jorge is perfectly recovered from his injury and this for us is the best news. To be able to have Jorge with us is gratifying because he is a player that has given everything to the national team and he wants to continue to give it.”
My first reaction is that he’s a lying bastard. The second one is that he might be telling the truth which leads me to contemplate that if Garbajosa is in fact healthy, why we didn’t ship him off and use his expiring salary as an asset? It’s almost like he was given the choice to play for the Raptors or to play for Spain in Beijing and he chose the latter. Remember that the Raptors did not want him to play in the summer games and the only way he could’ve done so was if he was no longer under contract with us. Colangelo was fairly desperate to get his mess resolved and even flew to Spain to put this shit to bed, unfortunately for us we couldn’t get anything in return for him.
Speaking of the Olympics, Mark Cuban has something to say about them, its all coming because of his ungodly fear of losing Dirk Nowitizki and Jason Kidd to injury while they’re not in a Dallas Maverick uniform, the gazillionaire says:
“It’s not that I don’t like the idea of them representing their countries. If the Olympics were truly a nationalistic endeavor built on sport and part of the public domain, I would be willing to take risk and support their playing. What I don’t like is that we lie to ourselves and pretend that the Olympians represent our country. They don’t. They have taken relatively low paying jobs working for the Olympics, who in turn sell the broadcast and marketing rights for billions of dollars in profits, all the while creating enormous risk for those of us who pay them for their day jobs that support their families. It’s amazing how players who are free agents won’t participate, but those with guaranteed contracts will. “
So its not about the money to him, its about the hypocrisy. What a load of crap!
Let’s go Blue Jays…..