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Raptors Road Diary: A month-long conversation with Steve from PUP

A watching-the-Raptors-on-the-road diary from PUP's Steve Sladkowski.

PUP in Antwerp. Photo by Dave March.

Steve Sladkowski (@sladkow) is the guitarist for the Toronto-based punk band PUP. They are awesome, and Steve is among the best guitarists in the world. He’s also among the biggest Toronto Raptors fans, to the extent that PUP’s touring schedule finds Steve watching Raptors games at all hours of the night, in whatever venue will have him (or give him Wifi). With PUP on the road for an entire month – a pivotal month in the Raptors’ chase for the Eastern Conference’s No. 1 seed – Steve has decided to kind-of journal his trip and his attempts to keep up with the Raptors from Europe.

To facilitate, we’re exchanging emails with him throughout his travels and publishing them here, unedited except in the case of the F word or egregious typos, which the 3am timestamp on some of these emails have opened the window for. There are swear words and talk of drugs and alcohol. There is also a lot of JV love. You’ve been warned.

Steve Sladkowski (Jan. 26, 3:19 a.m.)

Missed the first half because Pearson is a damn timewarp. Seems like Jonas got involved and they were able to hold Mitchell in check. New court looks amazing even on a tiny iPhone screen…As Woodley said, it would look even better with stadium lighting…Wonder if this design would work for other colour schemes…Still not entirely convinced with these jerseys. I want purple god damnit.fu

Q3 was ugly. Offense looked really tentative, kinda like the Miami game without Kyle

Ordered a double manhattan at Pearson. F*** it. I was in pretty rough shape this morning after our five-pint extravaganza last night. Speaking of airports, why is it that people in airports immediately lose all awareness of their surroundings & all semblance of human decency? Sidenote: people who fly with small children are masochists.

I have an irrational hatred of Joe Ingles. F*** that guy.

I feel like Donovan Mitchell is gonna get screwed in Rookie of the Year voting in favour of Ben “Rookie Year Red Jersey” Simmons and I dunno how I feel about it. That weird exception rule feels like a ripoff.

Jack > Leo forever. When Poeltl can finish in the lane while absorbing contact, he’s going to be a monster. His hands are still a bit oven mitt-y but man, I hope he figures it out. FVV & Delon are playing with some serious swagger this year. There’s an attitude there that wasn’t present last year. The bench really is amazing eh? Still need to read Koreen’s piece about Delon’s travel. You made it seem like he’s similar to the way I travel (read: so so boring), so I am very into it.

Long Hair Rubio is a bad bad look. Speaking of hair: if Jerebko and Hayward essentially have the same haircut, has anything really changed for either Utah or Boston???

Lithuanian Lightning Jonas is the man. This is the best basketball he’s playing in a Raptors uniform and I am all about it.

Lowry has to leave Rubio open on that last 3PT, right? 29% from 3…DeMar ripped his jersey after missing that fadeaway. Do those final few possessions bother you, given what you’ve written about crunchtime?

Final thought: Who are the Raptors’ conditioning coaches? The team was busting their asses up and down the court in 4Q. Eye test suggests that, even given the outcome, Raps are in amazing shape as a team? They seem to run harder than a lot of other teams.

OK! Those are my thoughts for now. Plane’s taking off in 15 minutes. I land at 10 AM local — 5 AM Toronto — so the next time we chat, I’ll be in Ireland and extremely jetlagged. Talk soon buddy!

Blake Murphy

I actually asked about the stadium lighting when I was reporting out on this initially. That lighting was brought in special for All-Star and is pretty expensive to install. Which would be fine, but the team actually got mixed feedback on it. That’s crazy to me, but I guess some people aren’t fans of art.

I’m with you on Ingles. He is on the Gerald Henderson All-Stars of guys who are irrationally good against Toronto. Mitchell was more understandable at least, because that kid’s a star, and he’s clearly absorbing Joe Johnson’s Raptor-killer instincts.

I do not agree on Rubio, though. With leaving him open a bit, yes (I personally would have had OG in to guard Mitchell so they could send less help, I think). I really dig the “Minnesota didn’t want me and Utah is gonna move me to the bench eventually, so I’m leaning in to a heel turn early” look. But hitting a game-winning three, get out of here, man.

I’ll focus on the final few possessions from the Raptors side. They do frustrate me, not in the “it’s just one game and they missed decent looks” sense, but because it’s the same stuff that’s been happening all year as their elite offense craters in tough situations. Let me bang my head against the wall if I want to, and all of that. At some point, they need to pivot and at least see whether the New System TM can work in those situations. I’d rather they fail a new way than the same way.

Man, I don’t envy the jetlag. I’ll ask the Raps conditioning staff if they have any tips for us. You, out of necessity ahead of a one-month tour, and me because those five post-basketball beers also made me sluggish for like half a morning. At least it was a proper warm up for you ahead of Ireland and Scotland. What’s first up in the on-stage jersey rotation? Fly safe, man.

Belfast. Photo by Steve Sladkowski.

Steve Sladkowski (Jan. 28, 4:50 p.m.)

Hello from Dublin! Somehow managed to not fall asleep standing up yesterday — and slept for eleven hours last night — so I sort of feel like a real human. Might even try to watch the game in real time tonight because we’ll be done in time (9 PM set, 11 PM tipoff) and the venue has reliable wifi (a true miracle).

I’ll be wearing my Andrew Wiggins 2016-17 Adidas tee jersey for this tour…As much as I hated the t-shirt jerseys on the players, they’re absolutely wonderful for a gig.

I read your piece regarding the Raps’ clutch performance and, because I am still remaining optimistic that The New System TM will be a success, I like the point you made about shoring up the D. Raps have looked transcendent this year when they create off of solid D and I think they can continue that trend once that sample size becomes a little more worthy of investigation; or maybe they just torch everyone from hereon out. I’d be cool with either. In all honesty, I think one thing that will have to happen is essentially a mirror to what was happening at the beginning of this year: it took about a month and change for Kyle & DeMar to really trust the rest of the roster in a way that became rhythmic and unthinking, if that makes sense? That trust has yet to fully manifest in these crunchtime scenarios but I do think that’ll come. We’ve seen it — I think of that open look from three that Norm had (and bricked) late in the Miami game a few weeks back — but it still feels like K&D are forcing it a little more than they truly need to. It feels like the equivalent of a good starting pitcher who is holding the ball a little too tight with runners on in the 7th in a 1-0 game…Just need to take a breath and trust what works.

As for tonight, I think they’ll take care of business. It’s the Lakers, and DeMar is coming off a game where he was clearly frustrated, so I have a good feeling about that. Interested to see who guards Kuzma. And No Lonzo, right? Plus Jonas is rolling (I am part of the JV Hive btw but a very silent observer).

Getting a bit of a Stephen King/Stuart O’Nan BoSox ‘04 from this correspondence. Maybe we can ignite a little championship magic like those two did, hah! More to come after the game, pal.

“The worst basketball jersey on earth.” Photo by Steve Sladkowski.
A $12 find. Photo by Steve Sladkowski.

Blake Murphy

Eleven hours is not a number of hours of sleep I thought was possible. Good for you, man. That should make a live viewing doable. Or at least the first half, after which hopefully you’ll be able to turn it off and get some sleep, anyway. The Lakers have won 8 of 10, but it feels like the Raptors already need another blowout, palate-cleansing kind of victory after Friday’s terrible ending. I do think it’s a big Valanciunas night. He and Brook Lopez are always a good matchup, and the Lakers use Larry Nance and Julius Randle as their backup centers, where Valanciunas can feast on the glass. OG probably gets the Kuzma assignment, though he’s slowed down some of late, anyway.

Then again, maybe it’d be best to let the game stay close so they can close one out? The Norm three you mention isn’t the only small positive harbinger. There was a big VanVleet three off of a DeRozan pass sometime in late November that basically won them the game, too. And it’s not like what they’ve been running hasn’t produced options – DeRozan’s first miss in the clutch against Utah the other night was deemed an incorrect non-call on Rubio, and the final miss had Ibaka wide open in the far corner, an impossible pass but a clear lane to a tip-in if the ball had bounced differently. They absolutely have it within them to win close games, which is a big part of why I’ve grown frustrated at times.

A nice call on the Wiggins tee. He’s averaging 25 over the last five and has gone 20+ in four of those. What, no, don’t look at the shooting percentages the last two games, or his plus-minus. Just dream on him doing a 720 in the dunk contest and rock that tee with pride.

Let me know how the live-view attempt works out. Please also keep us posted on the alcohol consumption, notable site-seeing, and how good The Menzingers are. Talk to you post-Lakers.

Steve Sladkowski (Jan. 28, 1:33 a.m.)

Q1: Missed tip ‘cause a lovely dude from Scotland named Craig, who is a huge Blue Jays fan, bought me three consecutive shots of Sambucca and a Guinness. Apparently Sambucca is the shot of choice here… the place where Jameson was invented! (A whiskey I admittedly don’t like.)

Raps bringing it from 10 minutes on tho. Jonas is outta his mind — and that turnover where he found an open Ibaka down low? Wowee! Speaking of harbingers…That’s a good one. Also, DeMar passing regularly to Jonas in P&R is something that the Raptors need in a big way — the lack of passes in DD/JV P&R is something I noticed on a very regular occurrence, for essentially the last four years, so it’s really great to see that coming to life — could be a panacea to the Raps’ crunchtime struggles thus far if Casey has a favourable JV-closing matchup.

Also lol @ Lopez/Randle used as 5/4: like a shitty shitty bizarro JV/Serge. Also goddamn Delon Wright is a f***in’ gem. How does he find a lane and/or the reverse layup so easy and so often??

Q2: The booze has kicked in a little. All that to say: My JV Hive-ness says Jonas Valanciunas would erase Julius Randle one-on-one in a fight. How you gonna try and bully a guy with a tattoo necklace? Same point differential as the Utah game but it feels better.

PS: The Guinness tastes better over here.

Q3: In the van on the way back to the hotel after sneaking another quick Guinness — it’s truly better and a friend told me it has a lot of Vitamin C in it so Sláinte (“to your health”) seems to be a literal pronouncement — Menzingers were great tonight, as always, and it’s so much easier to be far away from home and the people you love when you can be away from home with others you love.

Q4: Still in the van but Jonas is jussssst too much eh? My best good friend Stefan Babcock is driving a Ford van on the wrong side of the road and he is absolutely crushing it. On an unrelated matter, Ireland is a thoroughly Catholic country: Essentially everything other than pubs, coffee shops, and a handful of clubs/venues were closed today. No food for drunk boys. And no competitive basketball either! It’s a blowout. They took care of business just as we thought they would. It’s what they needed. And big up to FVV for a new career-high in points. What a f***ing joy he’s going to be in crunchtime minutes moving forward eh???

Saw a weird church today and visited a great arcade (that’s what they call the outdoor markets over here) with awesome book and record stores. Book and Record Stores in new cities we tour in are my absolute weakness.

Just got the Bleacher Report alert that Coach Casey will call the shots for Team LBJ at the ASG. How lucky are we to have such a progressive, tenacious, and stylish coach? Important to take a moment to appreciate this organization every once in a while, eh? Torontonians have such bad PTSD from the Maple Leafs (and I guess the Blue Jays to a lesser extent) that it’s sometimes difficult to really enjoy a great team in the moment. Let’s at least agree to not fall into that trap!

Until next time.

Karl, the venue dog in Frankfurt. A good boy. Photo by Steve Sladkowski.

Blake Murphy

Woah, we’ve got a full break down! Apologies for the delay here, had Royal Rumble post-Raps, then Raptors practice today, then shit hit the fan with STEVE – BLAKE GRIFFIN IS A PISTON. What is a Woj bomb like overseas? Did it wake you up? Did you look at your phone and think you were just really drunk still?

Regarding the Lakers game, I’m with you on the DeRozan-Valanciunas chemistry, which was basically non-existent for years and is now flourishing It’s really, really important to the offense in general, to keeping Valanciunas engaged, and potentially to keeping Valanciunas on the floor late in games (where you almost have to use him in some way or another).

The tattooed necklace…where are we at on that? It always reminds me of Rey Mysterio, who has tattoos all over up to basically a deep-V collar, so when he’s not wearing a shirt it looks like he has a shirt. I guess it lets you wear your piece while playing. Preemptively mad that Casey is going to bench him in the fourth quarter of the All-Star Game, though. (By the way, Lowry and DeRozan already trash-talking Casey AND the prize for the winning players being upped from $50K to $100K. I’m going to be legitimately interested in the All-Star Game!)

That was a nice sentiment about The Menzingers and life on the road in general. Can’t wait for the last installment of these when you hate Stefan and you hate The Menzingers and you’ve heard Lookers for the 30th time in 30 nights and the Craigs of the world keep buying you shots and your liver hurts. Until then, though, where to next? Scotland? Fun one coming for you Sunday with what I think is a 5 p.m. tip on your end.

Blake Griffin is a Piston! Outta nowhere. I’m spinning.

Steve Sladkowski (Jan. 30, 12 p.m.)

WOJ BOMBS MORE THAN A WEEK IN ADVANCE? WHAT WORLD IS THIS?!

I saw it drop just as I was going to bed last night in Belfast (check your text messages). It was a tame one last night, consumption-wise, as we were outta the venue by 10 PM in favour of an 18+ student club night. That was a scene to be reckoned with. We were up very early today — 5:30 AM — for a quick flight from Belfast to Bristol — so don’t let anyone fool you into thinking tour is 100% fun and party and late nights. Our next four shows are in the UK before we hit the European mainland for the rest of the tour. But I digress.

WOJ BOMBS!

I’m surprised to say the least, as I’m sure we all are, that Blake is on the move. I feel bad for Clippers fans but it really is the pragmatic decision, right? I mean, no disrespect to LouWill because I adore that man… but if he is your leading scorer, you’re in trouble. I get that he’s having a career season but it just doesn’t feel sustainable, y’know? I like the return for the Clippers if only because Tobias Harris has been one of my most consistent fantasy performers this year – I really hope he continues that way – and Avery Bradley is a great get for the Clippers, down season be damned. Plus Marjanovic PLUS picks? It’s a no-brainer if you’re Doc Rivers.

As for the Pistons, who really knows right? If Drummond and Blake find quick chemistry they probably slide into the 7th seed at the highest? But Blake could play eight games and be done for a month just as easily and then the Pistons will really be f***ed. I mean, the man got concussed driving to the basket against the Warriors like three weeks ago! I think they’re still thin at PG no matter how often Ish Smith looks like low-rent Steph whenever he plays the Raptors. Interested to see more minutes out of Luke Kennard. I’m just skeptical that the Pistons really figure it out in time. Also, I’m still not convinced by Andre Drummond. This is a statistical outlier of a season until we get a larger sample size.

RE: JV tattoo necklace — I think he’s finally earning it this year. It was confusing and mildly douchey in years past but now that he’s playing the angriest basketball of his life, it suddenly fits?

RE: ASG — I like that essentially the only trash talk the Raptors backcourt has done this year is to: the refs, Ben Simmons, and their own coach during what is otherwise a great career milestone. Feel like it speaks volumes to how focused they are on getting shit done. I definitely like the format of this ASG and feel like it might actually be a fun game? I mean, I still expect no D and an astronomical score. But here’s the real question: will one of Team Steph or LeBron hang more points on the other than OKC hung on the Cavs a few weeks back???

Do we know if The Nemesis (J. Butler) plays tonight against the Raps? I’d love some revenge for that Target Centre game. But Wiggins always seems to go off when he’s at home eh? We have two nights in the same hotel in Bristol starting tonight, so I’m gonna do my best to stay up for as much of the game as I can. More to come!

Steve Sladkowski (Jan. 30, 12:05 p.m.)

Wanted to send you these yesterday. Saw the Peace Wall & International Wall in Belfast yesterday — I think you saw my one post on Instagram — wanted to send you a few others over email but the photos crashed my email app because my iPhone is trash, hah. The Troubles in Belfast & the horrible sectarian segregation enforced by the wall (erected by the British Army) really put things into perspective; then and now, there are people our age who grow up under constant threat of violence. We’re lucky to be able to do what we do simply by virtue of where we were born and the inherent privilege that that birthright affords.

Belfast. Photo by Steve Sladkowski.
Belfast. Photo by Steve Sladkowski.

Steve Sladkowski (Jan. 30, 3:36 p.m.)

And now John Wall’s out for two months! Between that, Griffin to DET, and a looming Cavs trade — does Masai make a move? Has the urgency/need changed at all?

Blake Murphy

I’m with you on a lot of the Pistons-Clippers fallout. I think it’s fine for the Clippers, if an unfortunate end to a fun career for him there, and I think they should probably continue tearing down. Lou Williams landing on the Celtics would terrify me, by the way. I’m not sweating the Pistons, though, even though I might be the biggest remaining Griffin fan (shouts to the Free Darko print above my work station). They’re thin at guard, thin on the wings, thin on defenders who could conceivably check Lowry and DeRozan (no disrespect to Reggie Bullock, a fine 3-and-D find)…they’re a more dangerous team overall, but I’m not even sure they can get back into the playoffs this year.

The Wall injury might be an even greater window for them. It sucks as a basketball fan, and they now become a team to watch at the deadline. Quietly, it’s felt like they were looking for a move to make, and I wonder now if they either try to shore up in the interim or make a move with eyes toward maximizing 2018-19. Otto Porter, anyone? (Porter is great; the team’s treatment of him is weird.) I don’t think any of this has an impact on Ujiri, though – the Raptors are light on the type of salaries that make notable trades realistic under the cap rules, and while I think they’d love to add a shooter who can slide in to a few spots, I’m not sure they’re willing to go beyond “Bebe and a 2nd” as a cost. If that gets you Tyreke Evans? Giddy up. If it gets you Joe Harris? I’m less eager.

As for tonight, Butler isn’t on the injury report, but it may not be updated yet since they’re on the second night of a back-to-back and didn’t have a shootaround. Like Thibodeau would even care – sure, Butler, Teague, Wiggins, Towns, and Gibson all played 32-38 minutes last night in a loss to Atlanta, but those guys all rank in the top-70 in minutes (and Teague missed serious time!), four are in the top-15, and they’re all in the top-40 on a per-game basis. There is no such thing as fatigue. So naturally, Butler is going to drop 30 in the second half while running on fumes.

Brave call staying up for this one. Don’t forget, you’ve got a back-to-back Fri-Sat to stay up for, too. What’s the jersey plan right now? Dare you wear that J-Kidd or KG jersey you found? Sticking with Wiggins even on a Raptors-Wolves night?

Steve Sladkowski (Jan. 31, 7:45 p.m.)

The brave call for staying up failed due in large part to A) beer and B) Bristol Travelodge offering 30 minutes of complimentary wifi every 24 hours. I got Q1 in, though, and had this to say:

  • Raps still looked a bit tentative to start the game. That turnover after the first T-Wolves basket was gross. Lends credence to the point Coach Casey made about the way you start a game.
  • TSN broadcast was talking about the need for Norm to get it going. It was nice to see Lowry find him for a 3 a bit later in Q1
  • Speaking of TV, there was an amazingly audible “what the f***!!?” from Kyle after a no-call on a layup he made. The arena was so quiet to start the game you could hear almost everything on the court — Serge was barking on D and it seemed to stabilize things a bit when the T-Wolves went on the run to end Q1. Very strange given how rowdy it’s felt this year.
  • CJ missed his eighth(?) game. Are we worried about anything here?
  • I feel like I’m saying this a bunch but GOD DAMN Jonas is running his ass up and down the court. Feels unprecedented and I love it

One major question that my inebriated self had that still seems relevant from a sober state today: Are the Raps struggles from 3 on open looks a product of streakiness or are we really lacking enough real shooting? Like…do we really miss CJ this much??

I had a good feeling when I went to bed and it was rewarded. I’ll take any vanquishing of Jimmy Butler I can take to be honest. Glad to see DeRozan bounced back, to a degree, and kept it together in crunch time. It was a real nice win. And then waking up this morning to see Kevin Love broke his hand!?! Dude, the Eastern Conference is madness right now. What the hell is going on?

There was no gig last night, so no jersey conflicts were had. Although somehow, after two shows, my Wiggins jersey already smells horrible. I’m gonna try it again tonight but who knows what’ll happen. Scotland tomorrow. Scotch will happen. Scotch is good. Scotland is good.

https://twitter.com/Leerkat/status/959903028248764420

Steve Sladkowski (Jan. 31, 9:54 p.m.)

Also, I haven’t smoked weed since last Thursday so my dreams haven’t been suppressed. Last night I dreamt I was hanging out with Kyle Kuzma & Corey Joseph at a garden party and for some reason I fouled Corey Joseph into a table à la Quincy Acy/Joe Harris on Kyle Lowry when he bruised his tailbone earlier this month, so… there’s that…

Steve Sladkowski (Feb. 1, 2:25 p.m.)

Also also: you were on TV! Was that your first time on the tube? Congrats my dude!!

Blake Murphy

Man, I forgot to respond in a timely manner. Sorry about that! The TV spot was fun. It was not my first time, no – have done The Hangout a couple times now and some playoff CTV/CP24 appearances the last few years. Nothing major, just for reps.

Rewinding to Tuesday, I’m sorry to hear you didn’t make it through the game, because it was a pretty fun ending. They actually passed and ran plays to close out! Miracles. And obviously a big Norm game, which, while the bar is low now, was really encouraging.

I’m not too worried about Miles. He missed two games for the birth of his child, three for an infection after a dental procedure, and one for a shoulder issue. Now some knee soreness. It’s all pretty random and unrelated, and the shoulder and knee were both a case of “if this guy is even 98%, let’s sit him down just in case.” I like that approach, as it gets more opportunity for guys like Norm and helps keep the focus on the playoffs. As for the shooting – they definitely miss CJ that much. When I crunched the numbers a while back, the Raptors were doing a better-than-average job at creating quality 3-point looks, they were just hitting them at a below-average rate. That’s a lot to do with personnel – Lowry, Miles, and VanVleet are the only players I’m comfortable saying are above average shooters, while Ibaka is average-ish, and we still don’t know if this is DeRozan, Wright, or Anunoby (super streaky so far) yet. Come playoff time, the rotation is going to be trimmed a bit, and it’s almost definitely a non-shooter coming out.

Not surprised to hear the Wiggins jersey is in disarray so soon. Even the early parts of a tour sound grueling, and I’d imagine your terrific guitar work produces some sweat and odor. There are always the terrible quality jersey options you’ve been stumbling across.

How’s Scotland so far? Apparently, the scotch is hallucinogenic? Why would you do Cory Joseph like that? Once I dreamed that Luis Scola told me he was traded, and I woke up at 4am and began writing the post. I was like 400 words in before I realized it was a dream. I very nearly posted a fake trade because I had a vivid dream it happened…this is why I don’t trust sleep. No violence on my part, though.

Sorry again about the delayed turn-around. Back-to-back now!

Blake Murphy

130-105 against Portland. Hanging those #s on a good defense and dropping them from 6th to 9th in D-Rating, hitting 19 threes, Alfonzo McKinnie getting in on the act with a three…that game was perfect. How’s life on the road?

Thom Denson gets an OG jersey. Photo by Steve Sladkowski.

Steve Sladkowski (Feb. 6, 11:09 a.m.)

Dude! Sorry for the radio silence. It’s been a whirlwind of a few days since we last spoke. The tour has been great but is getting into its grueling stage, which partially explains my lack of contact; today is day two of seven straight gigs spanning Belgium, Germany, Switzerland, Italy, and Austria. Since we last spoke while I was in Glasgow, we’ve played two of our largest shows in Europe ever: 1050 in Manchester on Friday and almost 2000 people in London on Saturday. Truly a surreal experience and a serious drain on my energy, so apologies again for momentarily dropping off the map. There’s something about being so far away from home and having people sing your lyrics back in your face that is somehow hard to describe? That night in London was one of the greatest moments I’ve had onstage with the band and I’m still processing it…

PUP in London. Photo by Lucas McLaughlin.

But you know whose energy isn’t drained? The goddamn Toronto Raptors. What a week!

It was distressing to see them blow it against Washington — without John Wall! Again! — but I think you chalk that up to a few missed free throws and some spotty 3PT shooting. DeMar facilitated well, Norm played well, and Jonas continues his march toward Undisputed 7’+ Champion of 3PT%. I’m interested to see more minutes for the Wright—FVV/Brown—Norm—Siakam—Bebe lineup. DeMar struggled a bit after being named Player of the Month because of course. But sidenote: when I noted that in Q3 of Washington game, he was at 7/5/6. Imagine being upset with a DeMar line like that in his first couple of years? Jeez, we’re lucky to have this guy.

They bounced back against Portland and that was probably the most encouraging sign of the Washington loss. What a complete game. Took some serious guts to pull that one out and I wish I could have seen it. But again… Manchester… I ended up celebrating our first good Manchester show (in the past, something always seemed to go wrong) at a half-trash, half-amazing goth club called Satans Hollow which played everything from Dr. Dre to Slayer to System of a Down… buddy, it was 2002 all over again but with £3 pints of beer. A dangerous, dangerous place. But clearly the Raps didn’t need my fandom too badly as they took care of business.

Speaking of Raptors fandom, you’ll be happy to know that I’ve been spreading the gospel overseas to anyone who will listen. Our lovely publicist, Thom Denson, has, in the past three years, turned into one of the biggest hoops heads I know — and specifically a Raps head — and I feel like a proud dad. He even bought an OG jersey!


I caught the second half of the Memphis game and wow. What a great show of confidence by Coach Casey to let the bench figure it out. It is really unprecedented in this organization’s history to feel this comfortable, even in close games and losses, knowing that the team has a chance to win every single game they play. I’d imagine you see a lot of the fanbase’s neuroses on Twitter after a game like Washington but every team is gonna lose, right? This week just felt like a really good display of the culture change actually manifesting in a sustained and organization-wide way. I’m here for it and ready to believe that this team is f***ing good. The Raps can hang with the rest of the Association, my dude. Bring on the f***ing Celtics. Bring on the Cavs. Bring on the Warriors. Bring on the Rockets.

Trade deadline week is upon us. How are you feeling? I liked Bruce Arthur’s thoughts about working the buyout market. Where are you at with this? Who’s getting traded? Who’s standing pat? How is LIFE?

Blake Murphy

Sounds like you’ve had a hell of a week. That’s so awesome about the Manchester and London shows. Playing in Oasis’ old barn!

It’s been a good week here on the Raptors front, for sure. The Wizards loss is what it is, and they followed it up with two pretty emphatic wins, one shooting the lights out and one dominant despite not shooting well at all. I think the latter is probably what will color their deadline thinking – if they can wrangle a shooter for the back end of the rotation for something to the tune of “Bebe and a 2nd” they’ll do it, and otherwise, they’ll kick the buyout market or trust the guys they have.

It’s always tough to get a feel for the buyout market until after the deadline – the deadline being moved early gives us nearly an entire month of “buyout season” since guys don’t have to be waive until March 1 to be playoff eligible – but I think the Raptors will inquire on anyone who doesn’t violate their No Assholes policy. I know people wan’t a splashier move, but they’re built financially such that splashy moves were penciled for 2018-19, and there’s not a lot you can do about a hard cap.

Boston should be a lot of fun tonight. I figure I’ll publish Part One of this thing today, as we’re running a bit long. Any plans for viewing tonight?

Steve Sladkowski (Feb. 6, 3:19 p.m.)

I think No Assholes is definitely the most important thing to consider in this whole deadline/buyout addition thing. The chemistry is so good you get the sense that even tough losses are just rolling off the team’s back. As for splashy moves? I’ll take any move that actually improves the team. Anything that can shore up the #benchmob #proveem is more than enough for me, ya know? Masai Ujiri & co. have taken us this far.

Tonight’s big. It’s a 1:30 AM tip in Frankfurt tonight but I’m gonna try and watch all of it. We have a short drive to the medieval city of Karlsruhe tomorrow and we’re sleeping at the venue — Europe is the best and treats musicians/artists like valuable human beings who contribute to society — so I’ma stay up late with the hopes that the Raps can exact some revenge for that November nailbiter.

Steve will be back again early next week. We’ll try to keep the next few exchanges a little more brief.

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