Calderon had a good workout on Sunday, but was limited to some conditioning on Monday when his left foot didn’t bounce back from the Sunday workout the way he had wanted.
Calderon said he’ll wait until Wednesday when Derrick Rose and the Bulls visit the Air Canada Centre to give his sore left foot its first real test.
Calderon’s ability to run the offence and protect the basketball was sorely missed Friday night in a loss to Denver and again in the first half against Detroit when the Raps turned the ball over 14 times alone in the first half.
“It was good on Sunday, but a little bit worse today,” Calderon explained.
What Calderon can’t explain is how he injured the foot in the first place.
“I have no idea at all,” Calderon said.
“It was good after the game (vs. New York on Wednesday) and then I woke up in the morning and I see it’s a little sore. But I don’t know what I did.”
Calderon is just glad it’s nothing long term.
“It’s nothing major. It’s day to day so hopefully in a couple of days the swelling has gone down and I can get back out there.”
It’s not quite going home, but returning to North Carolina is something sweet nonetheless for Ed Davis.
The rookie power forward is expecting 13 or 14 family and friends for Wednesday’s game in Charlotte and potentially one more, although Davis won’t be responsible for getting him a ticket.
University of North Carolina head coach Roy Williams told Davis a couple of weeks ago that he was probably going to be at the game.
“I think they’re honouring (Michael) Jordan (another UNC alum and the owner of the Charlotte Bobcats) at halftime so he said he had to be there,” Davis said.
For Davis though, the personal cheering section won’t change anything.
“No pressure at all,” Davis said. “You always want to play good, especially in front of friends and family, but that’s not pressure. You just want to go out there and get the win. That’s it.”
Wright is the Raptors’ return on the Marco Belinelli trade with New Orleans this year. Belinelli came to the Raptors in exchange for Devean George who was part of the Shawn Marion trade that also brought Hedo Turkoglu and Antoine Wright to Toronto.
So the actual investment the Raptors have in Julian Wright isn’t huge.
Not surprisingly, Wright has played in 13 of the 24 Raptors games and watched 11 others.
“I was going to say it’s unfortunate, but this is how it’s been for me my whole career so far,” Wright said. “I’ve been playing behind guys that I have no control over so it’s nothing for me to be jealous of players. It’s business management and I know it’s a business. The only thing I can do is be professional and be ready because you never know. It’s a long season and that’s what I keep telling myself … it’s a long season.”
This isn’t Wright’s first rodeo when it comes to waiting his turn either.
“I’ve been here before,” he said. “In Kansas as a freshman I didn’t start playing until the end of the season. In New Orleans in my rookie year I didn’t start playing until the end of the season and then helped in the playoff run.”
Wright sees a good possibility here, but so far has had to be patient.
“I would say the style of play is definitely suitable (to me),” he said. “But so far I’ve actually played fewer games here than I did in New Orleans.”
Bayless will make his third start against the Bobcats on Tuesday with Leandro Barbosa once again backing him up. While coach Jay Triano likes having Bayless and Barbosa on the floor at the same time, the coach isn’t going to have that luxury against Charlotte.
“I don’t think we can do it for long,” said Triano. “There’s obviously going to be times when they have to replace each other and give each other a rest. I won’t be able to have them play consistently like that.”
The Charlotte roster won’t allow Triano to use much of his two-guard look, either. Stephen Jackson is among the biggest, most physical shooting guards around and would present a difficult matchup for Barbosa if he were out there with Bayless.
That would mean DeMar DeRozan and Sonny Weems, covering small forward Gerald Henderson, are going to get the big defensive assignments.
“Those guys (DeRozan and Weems) have to be very aware and very good defensively in a game like this,” said the coach. “Both of those players find different ways to score. Gerald gets to the free throw line. He runs the floor. Stephen’s going to shoot threes. He plays the mid-range game.
Triano says DeRozan and Weems can learn a lot from playing against Jackson and Henderson: “It’s a good matchup for those guys.”
Wright considers himself a defensive specialist (and lists singing and bowling among his other talents). While many teams keep one defensive hound on their roster, head coach Jay Triano said dryly: “It’s rare for us to have a guy like that.”
That’s what Wright figured, too, as he watched his teammates from the sidelines – and tried to impress upon his coaches during practice. “We have guys who can score … but who can go out there and get stops two, three times in a row? That’s something I try to hold onto to get minutes,” the 6-foot-8, forth-year forward.
Wright also knows that the Raptors are a young team in transition, and unlike other more established squads, rotations aren’t necessarily carved in stone. “It’s not like we’re the Lakers where the rotations are pretty much set and there’s nine guys that are going to play. I think this team, we have a lot of guys that have had bright spots, and not so bright spots,” he said.
Observations
The Raptors are coming off the biggest comeback victory in franchise history, rallying from 25 down to win at Detroit on Saturday night.
The Bobcats beat the Raptors 101-95 in their only meeting this season and if either is going to make the playoffs, they need to win these games against each other.
When the Bobcats won in Toronto in November, they had six players score in double figures, including a 10-point performance from Gerald Henderson.
Tap-ins
It shouldn’t be hard for the Bobcats to improve on their shooting after making just one of 11 3-pointers and 13 of 23 free throws in the wipeout loss to Boston Saturday.
Since coming to Toronto from New Orleans, guard Bayless is averaging 21 minutes and 12.3 points per game, nearly tripling his scoring and doubling his playing time.
This is the first of three games in four days for the Bobcats, who will play at Memphis on Wednesday and in Atlanta on Friday.
