Quick Hits

The Toronto Raptors season is hanging on by a thread as they are a mere .5 game above the Bulls for the 8th and final playoff position in the Eastern Conference. The other night, All Star and the teams best player Chris Bosh suffered a broken bone in his face. Isn’t it just fitting that a shattered grill could also could shatter Toronto’s playoffs dreams. To make matters worse for the Raps’ their version of the Ottawa Senators enigma Alexi Kovalev - Hedo Turkoglu- suffered a nasal contusion in a loss to Boston the next night. The season seems to be in the balance with only a handful of games remaining and a once sure playoff birth hanging precariously in the balance.

Tiger Woods will make his long awaited return to the ranks of professional golf in this weeks Major, The Masters. The way I am looking at it the only story here is how will he manage a difficult and newly changed course layout after being away from the game for so long. What rust will he have and will he be able to "flip the switch and jump right back to being the most dominant player of all time. There is sure to be rust in terms of playing with the pressure of a tournament but the advantage to golf is that unlike other sports you play head to head vs the course and not other players. You can only affect how you play not anyone else in the field. Sure there are psychological advantages just in terms of intimidation of how good he is and the gallery that will be following him but he has put a lot of time in on the range and practice rounds so he should be ready. He always seemed pretty focused when he was living a huge lie, just imagine how much better he could be when he can actually enjoy himself. As long as his transgressions and lies aren’t the source of his focus like it was Samson’s hair he should be fine. I just hope the weekend is about the golf and not an extended version of the Insider or TMZ.

Tee Up To Tip Off

T- minus 8 hours and counting. NBA you are on the clock.

The 2009/2010 season is almost here and is set to get started. There has been a lot of off season changes throughout the league by many of the teams. It looks on the surface that the rich have gotten richer and more then likely the powerhouses that you saw last year will remain the same or may be even better. The defending champion Lakers effectively swapped forwards in bringing in defensive shut down man Ron Artest from Houston and Houston has taken Trevor Ariza, That leaves the Lakers with Kobe, Lamar, Ron-Ron and then throw in a Pau Gasol and Andrew Bynam (health permitting) plus whom ever you choose to run the point. The Spurs picked up Richard Jefferson in a solid move and the West will once again be tight and loaded with talent. The Rockets without Artest, Yao Ming and depending on how Tracy McGrady comes back could be in the worst shape.

In the East there is probably more of a gap between the top tier teams and the lower but the ones at the top should prove to be right there with some of the best from the West. Shaq has joined with Lebron in Cleveland so it will be interesting to see how that marriage works out and if Shaq can keep up with the speed of the game that the Cavs are used to playing. In a sneaky move the Celtics picked up Rasheed Wallace and that can only make the team deeper. A lot of people think that ‘Sheed is too emotional but there is no dispute that he is a winner and a talent. If Boston gets a healthy Kevin Garnett back they will be one of the favorites to come out of the conference. The Magic pick up an older Vince Carter so it will be interesting to watch what they do in Orlando. Last year they had a great run but time will tell if the chemistry has changed for the better. What will also be interesting to see, as we look close to home is how a completely revamped lineup will come together and if they can gel enough to put up some good numbers and secure a solid playoff spot. Into the mix with All Star Chris Bosh is returnee Andrea Bargnani and Jose Calderon and in his first full year Head Coach Jay Triano are newcomers Hedo Turkoglu, Demar DeRozan, Reggie Evans, Antoine Wright, Sonny Weems, Amir Johnson and Jarrett Jack.

It is going to be nice to have another pro sport up and going to complement the Baseball and World Series and NASCAR and the Chase who are in the home stretch. The NHL is a month into it’s season, and the NFL and NCAA football is in full force. Right now is not a bad time to be a sports fan. Enjoy!!

Raptors Update

Basketball Overload- And Its Only July

With the Blue Jays slipping, the Toronto Raptors are taking this time to get back into the headlines and remind people that there is a major team I may have been a little pre-mature with yesterdays blog about the Raptors.

Props to G-to-the-E for pointing out to me that there would need to be more dominos to fall for the Raps to get into a position to pull everything off and get all that they need to do done. I bow to his capology in regards to the NBA and the Raps

Apparently Bryan Colangelo had some other cards up his sleeve and the deal proposed with the Mavs was only part of the story. It now looks like there is a complicated 4 team deal that will free up even more money for the Raps and the Magic and move around even more players.
As it stands now Shawn Marion and Kris Humphries will be sent to Dallas in return for Devean George and shooting guard Antoine Wright from the Mavericks as well as small forward Hedo Turkoglu from the Magic. Dallas would then move Jerry Stackhouse to the Memphis Grizzlies with at least $2mil to allow for a buyout of his contract, who will also receive Raptors combo guard Quincy Douby, and the Grizzlies would send shooting guard Greg Buckner to the Mavericks.

Once this happens it will allow the Raps to go out and get a mid-level free agent or resign either Carlos Delfino or Anthony Parker. This makes for an even better deal then just getting Hedo Turkoglu and possibly Stackhouse. It is one of the first times that people not only in the NBA but the media that covers it that Toronto is being acknowledged as having a successful off season... now all they need to do is actually have a successful season and long playoff run.

MLSE must be pretty pleased on how their sports interests are actually making an effort to making the teams on the court and the ice worth watching again. Maybe some late spring games will be in their future soon. Imagine what can happen when you have a competent front office and don’t meddle in the Basketball and Hockey operations. You had to figure that they would see the light eventually.

Revamping The Franchise

Apparently Free Agent Frenzy isn’t limited to the NHL. The NBA has gone above and beyond and possibly surpassed that of the hockey world. There were some huge moves that has made a few teams much better and have reshaped other teams into contenders. They even managed to mix in a few trades just to fill in some of the gaps. Shaq to the Cav’s may or may not be a good move, it will be interesting to see how he can go with LeBron. Richard Jefferson to the Spurs makes them much more dangerous.Rasheed Wallace to Boston, especially with the unknown health of Kevin Garnett is a big pick up. Trevor Ariza to Houston is interesting and connected to that Ron Artest basically trading spots with him and going to play with Kobe and the Lakers.

A little more close to home the Toronto Raptors seem to be doing their best to make their team a little better right now to show pending free agent Chris Bosh that they are serious about building a playoff team that is looking to contend. They apparently just locked up former 1st overall pic Andrea Bargnani for their big man, they have apparently have a deal ready to go for former Orlando Magic star Hedo Turkoglu to complement Chrs Bosh. They currently have Shawn Marion but are in talks with the Mavericks on a potential sign-and-trade deal that would see a Jerry Stackhouse to TO. Now if Jose Calderon can play at his near All Star level that he was 2 years ago and Anthony Parker and Joey Graham can contribute they may actually be able to field a very competitive team in an increasingly more difficult Eastern Conference.

The Raps may be a little weak on the bench, especially in the back-up point guard position so we will see if that gets addressed or if they see who on the current roster wants to step up and perform in that roll. For the first time in a few years it looks like they are actually ready to take a run and go a little deeper into the playoffs.

Like I said earlier, this could go a long way to convincing Bosh that he should stay past next year and not get mesmerized by big lights, by a big stage and a truckload of money.

NBA Draft Lottery, Interesting Not Earth Shattering

The NBA held it’s draft lottery before the Lakers-Nuggets game and as with any lottery anything can happen, anyone can win. Just ask the good people at Proline (which is actually barely factual if any are familiar with my history playing Proline and my 1 victory). It was not much of a spectacle as one may have hoped. The Deputy Commissioner has all the razzle dazzle of an accountant so that didn’t help the pageantry at all.

Here is a list of the possibility of the teams in the running to get the number 1 pick and where they will actually pick:

Movement
+2 Los Angeles Clippers 17.7% (1)
+4 Memphis Grizzlies 7.5% (2)
+1 Oklahoma City Thunder 11.9% (3)
-3 Sacramento Kings 25% (4)
-3 Washington Wizards 17.8% (5)
-1 Minnesota Timberwolves 7.6% (6)
0 Golden State Warriors 4.3% (7)
0 New York Knicks 2.8% (8)
0 Toronto Raptors 1.7% (9)

There was little movement at the back but there was a little shuffling at the top.
3 teams moved up 3 moved down. The largest gainer was the Memphis Grizzlies (+4) and the Clippers who took over the #1 slot, it is just too bad that there is no clear cut Lebron James caliber player in this draft. This is not good for a clippers team that has such a rep for being a basketball talent wasteland. Last time they had the number 1 pick they took Michael Olowokandi and that worked out real nice.

The Raptors go 9th and hopefully can get a player that can help them soon and not have to get a player to replace a Chris Bosh, should he be on the move a year from now as a free agent.