Another Slow Start for the Toronto Raptors

The Toronto Raptors have started off slow again this season. The team is 4-7 and has lost seven of its last 10 games.

Toronto's last two losses came against came against the Chicago Bulls in a barely-watchable offensive game and the Portland Trailblazers in an overtime thriller that the Raps just couldn't close out.

In case you missed it, here are the highlight packs for the two games.

Raptors vs Bulls.

Raptors vs. Trailblazers

Are the Toronto Raptors Rolling?

No. No they are not.

But the Raptors absolutely destroyed the Utah Jazz. The Jazz are a horrible team. Utah is the frontrunner in the Riggin' for Wiggins Sweepstakes now that the Sixers have proven to be a half-decent basketball team... Somehow.

Philadelphia is sitting second in the East right now at 4-3. Yep, four and three. No East team has really started off hot except for Indiana at 7-0, and they look reeeeeaaaaaally good, mainly because Roy Hibbert has transformed into a defensive beast so far this season. His 4.3 blocks per game is one of the reasons the Pacers have the best defense this season, allowing a "is this number real?" low of 85.3 points per game. The Pacers are scary good this season.

As for the Raptors crushing the Jazz, here are the highlights:

Next up (TONIGHT!), the Raptors are in Houston facing the Rockets... Good luck.

Toronto Raptors are in the Playoffs!

The Toronto Raptors are off to a torrid start....at 2-1. If the season ended today, the Raps would finish in fifth place in the East.

Hansbrough has been a nice boost off the bench, Gay is playing solid, and DeRozan is averaging career-high numbers in scoring, rebounding, and assists.

It's like I've always said: "The season is usually decided within the first three games." Good news for the Raps.

Here's some highlights of the Raptors' most recent win against the Bucks from this past Saturday.

Lebron James's New Commercial

Lebron and Nike released a new commercial for the Lebron 11 this past weekend (the shoes will cost you between $200-$279 US).

Here's the new commercial. Lebron James loves cycling, swimming in the ocean, and jogging in Miami. But hey, Miami is no Cleveland. Keep your hope Cavaliers fans. James could sign with you guys next summer!

NBA Finals Returns to 2-2-1-1-1 Format

National Basketball Association owners unanimously voted to return the Finals from the 2-3-2 format to the 2-2-1-1-1 format. Read the article here.

Considering every other playoff round is the same format, it makes sense. Having a different format had the potential to change the playoffs dynamics. Blah blah blah, this doesn't really matter. What does matter is DeAndre Jordan took a slo-mo punch to the face.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wHXIgPo4u8o

Javale McGee

You woke up this morning, dreading the mundane work week ahead of you. You stared at your reflection in your bathroom mirror, half asleep, and wondered: "Why doesn't Javale McGee have a website?"

Of course you never thought that, because no one in their right mind would ever think that. But McGee has a website. And you need to see it:

http://www.javalemcgee.com/home/

Javale McGee is the running joke of the NBA. He was awarded a massive extension by the Denver Nuggets this offseason, and he described to Grantland's Zach Lowe his perceived offensive role this upcoming season. To McGee, this role includes more jump shots and isolated post ups. As someone who appreciates good basketball, I hate this. As someone who takes pleasure in the misfortune of others, I love this.

But enough with all these thoughts and words. This picture is enough motivation you to visit Javale's site.

Javale, please. Never. Stop.

Rudy Gay and his outrageous salary hurts the Toronto Raptors

I’m stating clearly, from the beginning, that Toronto Raptors forward Rudy Gay is a good NBA player. Even though he’s the antagonist in this video, I still like him. The thing I don't like about him: he's grossly overpaid. His contract is so debilitating, the Raptors are worse off with him on the team.

To begin, let’s play everyone’s favorite game and compare some player salaries from the 2012-13 year, specifically Gay’s, LeBron James‘s and Kevin Durant‘s (all figures courtesy of ShamSports.com).

Gay: $16,460,538
James: $17,545,000
Durant: $17,832,627

Only a crazy person would trash the Durant and James salaries. The Gay salary? It’s a little harder to defend.

For instance, Gay is a career 18 point per game (ppg) scorer, struggles shooting the three (he shot only 34 per cent behind the arc with the Raptors, just under the league average) and hasn’t shown any real statistical improvement since his second year. Basically, what Toronto received in the Jose Calderon, Ed Davis trade was a near-maximum contract guy who has likely reached his potential, will earn close to $18 million next year, and $19.3 million the year after (if Gay exercises his player option).

With a salary cap projection of $60 million for the 2013-14 season, Gay’s salary will eat up almost one third of the Raptors’ cap space.To further rag on Gay’s contract, let’s put it into some more perspective: DeMar DeRozan averaged 18 ppg last season, is only 23 years old (Gay is 27) and will make $9.5 million per year for the next four years. DeRozan is properly paid. If he continues to improve, his $9.5-million price tag will be a steal. Gay, meanwhile, is fast-approaching Joe Johnson territory–he’s becoming an overpaid player who has little chance to play up to his contract.

So, what can the Raptors do with Gay?

Unfortunately, the Raps are stuck with him. Unless whomever Masai Ujiri can swing a deal (don't rule this out, he pulled off the Bargnani deal after all), Toronto fans can only hope Gay doesn’t exercise his player option after next season (which he probably will, since I doubt any team will offer him close to $19 million in free agency). Toronto’s best case scenario would see Gay leave after next season, freeing up cap room for a loaded 2014 free agency class.

Toronto’s worst case scenario is that Gay posts two decently productive seasons with the Raps and the team signs him to a maximum contract. Let’s hope not.

Playoffs?

 That's right, playoffs? Well, not for the Toronto Raptors, but that's not surprising.

All I heard at the beginning of the season was the hype coming out of the Raptors' camp about this being the year Toronto puts it all together and makes the post season. Valanciunus was finally going to play, DeRozan could potentially make that jump to an all-star-type level of play, and Bargnani was healthy and ready to continue his solid play from last year.

This is all sounded nice, but I just couldn't convince myself this team had the talent to get make the playoffs. (surprising, considering how deluded I am when it comes to the Raps). I picked Toronto to finish in the ninth or tenth spot, which is where the team floated around nearly all year.

The Raptors not making the playoffs isn't devastating. It's been five years since Toronto made the postseason, and if the team did make the playoffs, they most likely would've sneaked in as the eight seed, meaning a first-round sweep against Miami. The Raps wouldn't have stood a chance.

So whatever, the Raptors didn't make the playoffs. What's more interesting to consider is what will happen to Bryan Colangelo and Dwayne Casey in the offseason. The owners of the Raptors, MLSE, recently hired Tim Leiweke as president and CEO, and he's publicly expressed his preference for bringing in Phil Jackson and maaaayyyyybe telling Colangelo to pack his bags.

Colangelo has had a decent tenure with the Raps. He won NBA Executive of the Year in 2007 and put together some playoff teams, but it's time for him to go. He's made some good moves (the Lowry trade being one of them) and some bad moves (the Fields offer sheet backfire). He's been a slightly-below average GM in Toronto, and a fresh face is what the team needs. Does that mean Phil Jackson? I hope so.

Now it's time for great basketball

The first round is in full swing and that means it's finally time to see some great basketball on a nightly basis, including some crazy performances. I'm not sure if you guys have heard of this Steph Curry guy but he's pretty good.

There will be more blog posts coming through out the playoffs. Until then, embrace the fact the Lakers' season is finally over and we won't have to hear anymore of the senseless drama.

Red River College Magazine Trade Fair 2013

There's a reason why I haven't been blogging as much lately, and that reason is because I've been up to my ass writing, editing, designing, and promoting a magazine with three other people.

At the beginning of this semester, our first-year Creative Communications program was assigned the task of creating a magazine. Our class was broken up into groups of four or five members and could choose any theme, granted it was targeted to a specific audience.

We chose curling.

That's right, the guy who loves basketball and who has never curled in his life was on-board for a curling magazine. And I have absolutely nothing bad to say about the experience. The people in my group are great, the magazine was fun to put together, and the promotion has been exciting.

So am I only talking about this magazine on a basketball-related blog to pat myself on the back? You got it. But I'm also blogging about the mag because we have an up-coming trade fair.

The fair is on Thursday, March 28 at Red River College's Exchange District Campus from 12 - 4.

We'll have some curling swag (is that a thing?) to give away along with free popcorn and some Hack Magazine t-shirts on sale. Even if curling isn't necessarily your thing, there will be a bunch of other magazines created by some very talented people to check out.

Here's a sneak peak of what you can expect at the fair.


Our magazine's cover: 

Our promotional poster:

And finally, Ace Burpee rocking one of our t-shirts:

March Madness and Miami Going for History

March Madness

The madness started up about a week and a half ago and I'm ashamed to say that I never watched one first- or second-round game. Apparently some 15 seed from Florida upset a two seed? I never watched but it's because of a tournament result like that that I'm glad I didn't put a bracket together this year.

Since grade seven I've put together a bracket and have never come close. By the end of the tournament I usually feel used, have low self-esteem, and struggle to look at myself in the mirror. Not this year. I conscientiously made the decision to refuse the evil temptress that is NCAA basketball for the sake of my emotional health. I shunned the tournament, and spread nasty rumors about it to others.

Of course none of this is true.

The only reason I didn't make a bracket this year was because I was so invested in school that I found out the tournament was starting the day it actually started. To any of my two readers who have ever questioned by basketball credibility: you win.

I've tried to watch as many games as I could. I watched a few third-round games and what I've seen so far has been pretty damn good. Games are close, the tempo is quick, and Aaron Craft is hitting game winners. I watched UNC jump out to an early lead against Kansas while I was working only to have the channel changed to a rerun of Bar Rescue. I don't know what's worse: that someone actually changed the channel from a tournament game between two big-name programs, or that I didn't object whatsoever because I can't get enough of Big Jon Taffer. My only beef with him? The success of his show spawned the unwanted bastard child Car Lot Rescue. Give your head a shake, Spike TV, Tom Stuker isn't fooling anyone with that cowboy hat.

I'm so behind this year with the tournament that I probably won't start taking it seriously until the Elite Eight. That's still a round a half away so I have some time to prep.

The Heat going for history

Miami is going absolutely nuts right now, having won 25 games in a row. They're only eight more wins away from tying the all-time record set by the 1971-72 Lakers. Can they do it? Is Lebron James the best basketball player ever? Did my response phrased as a question add any meaningful insight to this topic? Probably not, but with how well Lebron and the Heat are playing right now, my money is on that they'll at least tie the record.

If Miami beats Charlotte tonight, which they should, their only "scary" game is against the Spurs in San Antonio. I put scary it quotations because aside from maybe Denver (the Nuggets are on a crazy win streak of their own), I'm not sure any team can run with the Heat.

I want Miami to break the record only to say that I was alive when it happened and witnessed it.

Selfish? Does a duck have wings?

Let's be honest

The Raptors won't make the playoffs

We're getting close to crunch time in the NBA regular season, and the Raptors are sitting in ninth place in the East, seven and a half games behind the eighth seed.

The Raps have 16 games left to play in the season, 10 of which are against teams with winning records. And as per usual, it's looking like the eighth seed in the East will probably need a .500 or close-to .500 record just to make it into the playoffs. The Raptors record is 26-40, meaning they would have to win 14 of their next 16 sixteen games to break even for the season.

The Raptors are not making the playoffs.

This has been a yearly occurrence for the team for the last five years. And once again another year has went by where the Raptors have some promising young players (Valanciunus and Ross), a potential cornerstone of the franchise (Rudy Gay), and a complete disappointment (Bargnani).

Toronto won't be playing for anything other than pride for the rest of the season, except for Gay who'll be playing for a reported extension from the Raptors. Colangelo has a tendency to sign horrendous contracts -- Turkoglu, Bargnani, and Fields. Those sounds you'll hear in the off season when Colangelo signs Gay to a max will be my uncontrollable screams as I cry like a baby.

Speaking of crying like a baby:

A Thousand Farewells - Nahlah Ayed

No Raptors news this week. Instead, here's a book review I wrote for school.

A Thousand Farewells is a compelling book that takes readers on a decades-long journey from Winnipeg to the heart of the Middle East.

Ayed bombards the reader with details - sights, smells, noises - adding depth to the story. The description of the mourners at the overturned mass grave in Iraq collecting arbitrary bones, convinced they were the remains of loved ones was sobering. Although Ayed does a fantastic job to make the reader feel like he or she is present at the scene, I had trouble picturing the it. A mass grave is something so unfamiliar to me that the scene seemed surreal.

Despite this, Ayed's details were integral is describing the many different stops in her journey. She made the cities feel tangible. Instead of Cairo described as a crowded city, it's described as a "monstrous, polluted metropolis." Amman was described as a refugee camp teeming with garbage, where sewage runs in the streets. A place where nothing is private, and a place where cockroaches inhabit the bathrooms.

Yet, as these details work to strengthen her story, they also work to complicate it. I was overwhelmed with names, and while her detailed descriptions of cities and settings were rich, at times I had trouble following her writing as she constantly traveled the Middle East, aside from her prolonged stay in Lebanon.

Still, even with some of these convoluted portions of the book, A Thousand Farewells succeeds in explaining the volatility of the Middle East and how historical events have shaped the region into what it is today.

And although the book is comprehensive in its reporting of the people of the region, I would've liked to see a more detailed analysis of the Arab Spring. The movement was so revolutionary for a historically oppressed people that I feel Ayed should've emphasized that portion of her journey more. I'm more interested in conflict and found myself more captivated when Ayed was writing about car bombings, large protests, or her brush with a violent mob.

One book that covers the balance between conflict and human interest well is War by Sebastian Unger. Unger was embedded with a U.S. Army platoon as they were stationed in one of the most violent regions of Afghanistan. While Unger's book focuses more around the fighting and violence experienced in the region, Ayed's book emphasizes what she considers the most critical element of any story: the human element.

If journalists are to learn anything from A Thousand Farewells it's that people are the story. The stories people share about a conflict, help put that conflict in the proper perspective. A recurring theme in Ayed's book was Middle Easterner's desire for a stable peace, something that would permit them to return home or live their lives safely. These people weren't die-hard Islamic zealots hellbent on the destruction of the West but were citizens seeking safety and opportunity.

A Thousand Farewells had a significant effect on me. While I found Ayed's descriptions of Winnipeg familiar, her insight into the Middle East and the compelling stories she relayed to her readers were profound. Her book gave me hope for a region that seems largely misunderstood by the West. A region that is viewed as nothing but a threat, even when it's seeking democracy and independence from tyrants. Reading Ayed's book made me understand that Middle Easterner's aren't unlike us. Most citizens of the region don't want destruction and death, they want freedom.

Gay has me unsure

"Breaking news: the Raptors have traded for Rudy Gay!"

Is what I would've said last week if I would've been blogging about the Raptors, like usual. Instead, here I am a week late. Enjoy!

As you all know, Jose Calderon and Ed Davis were traded for Rudy Gay last week. Gay is now the best player on the Raptors. I just don't think he's worth what he's getting paid. Over the next two seasons (not including this season), Gay will make $36 million. He's averaged around 20 points per game each season and saw his role diminished on a good Memphis team this year.

There's a reason Memphis dealt him. Gay's toxic contract kills cap space. The Raps are still under the $70-million tax level this year with a total salary around $66 million. For the 2013-14 season, assuming Kleiza and Gray exercise their player options, Toronto will have around $74 million in salary, placing them over the tax level. After next year, the only significant free agent the Raptors should consider resigning is Kyle Lowry. His cap hit is pretty small right now as he's making around $6 million per season for the next two years. Unless his production drops substantially, he can expect a raise.

Then again, Colangelo has shown that he doesn't manage the Raps using common sense, so expect Colangelo to offer Lowry a huge contract regardless.

Despite Gay's huge cap hit, the Raptors needed a shakeup. Unless they have a miraculous second half of the season, Toronto is already out of playoff contention anyway. Solid building blocks are in place though. Amir Johnson is playing well and Valanciunus has the potential to be a solid centre. DeRozan has shown improvement and Lowry is an above-average point guard. One thing is clear: Bargnani needs to go.

He's looked timid in games he has played this year, he'll be making more than $30 million over the next three years, and he hasn't developed into the dominant player that Colangelo was hoping for. Let's hope he can put together a string of good games and boost his trade value.

Waiting for The Waiting Room

NOTE: This week's blog post is not about the Raptors or the NBA

Over this past weekend I went and saw the documentary The Waiting Room. The documentary films a day in the emergency waiting room of the Highland Hospital, a publicly funded facility "committed to maintaining and improving the health of all County residents, regardless of ability to pay," according to the hospital's mission statement.

The hospital has been in operation since 1927 and has around 73,000 visitors to its emergency room annually, which equates to about 200 visitors per day.

Often heavily congested and seemingly understaffed, the waiting room is filled with patients who have no health insurance and are either unemployed or underemployed.

The documentary followed multiple patients as they waited for care, revealing their various health afflictions while they did so. I found it remarkable how the filmmaker was able to translate to the viewer the mundane, painfully boring feeling of sitting in a waiting room all day with an annoying injury because that's what I felt in the 80 minutes watching The Waiting Room. I was waiting for the documentary to get interesting, only that it never did.
 
I felt like I was watching a story that's been told before. Michael Moore has documented the broken U.S. health care system in his documentary Sicko. It's a struggle for unemployed, uninsured citizens to receive health care in the U.S. and The Waiting Room only reiterated that fact. Financially, the subjects in the movie have no other choice but to use the Highland Hospital emergency room. Those subjects don't have family doctors they can afford, so long wait times mount. Patients featured in the doc were often showed frustrated by the wait times. Is this supposed to be compelling to the viewer, especially to a Canadian viewer?

To most Canadians, seeing an emergency waiting room filled with people is a common sight. Unless a patient has an immediately life-threatening affliction, the person will be sent through a triage process then placed on the waiting list. I've had to wait in an emergency waiting room three times. Once when I needed stitches to seal a cut I received during a basketball game - the wait time was around six hours. The second time was when I needed stitches to seal a cut on my chin - I was told I would be awaiting at least five hours so I left instead. The third time was when a friend suffered a concussion after a fight outside of a social. My friend was given attention promptly by an ER doctor, but still had to wait four hours before receiving a cat scan to ensure there was no brain hemorrhaging.

 Lengthy emergency room wait times are a problem in Canadian, where health care is publicly funded. So much so that the Ontario government and Winnipeg Regional Health Authority have announced plans to shorten wait times because they're too long.

Meanwhile, the U.S. is able to expedite care if a person can afford a family doctor or health insurance. The system favours those who have money and shuns those who don't. The U.S. system is such a contentious issue that it has divided the country in two politically, with the Democrats supporting and the Republicans opposing the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act, also known as Obamacare. The act aims to make health insurance more affordable through means of subsidies, mandates, and tax credits.


Although I found that The Waiting Room was unoriginal and boring at times, I could somewhat sympathize with the people of the documentary. Patients have no other alternative and the doctors are faced with a seemingly insurmountable daily work load.

While The Waiting Room didn't explicitly criticize U.S. health care, the stories weren't meant to support the system. The documentary tried to put a face to the millions of Americans without health coverage. It did so, but not in a way that compelled the viewer.

Your 2012-13 Los Angeles Lakers!

The Lakers will not make the playoffs

Expectations were high at the beginning of the season once the Lakers landed Dwight Howard. And for good reason: Howard was easily the best center in the NBA, even if having him on your team could mean having a disgruntled superstar constantly clamouring for a trade. The Lakers already had an immature center with promise in Andrew Bynum, but the return on swapping Bynum for Howard seemed obvious, especially considering Bynum hasn't played in a single game this season due to injury.

Bynum had already dealt with a string of injuries over his career, was prone to act out during games (see here, when he almost killed J.J. Barea), and had at times voiced his displeasure about playing with Kobe Bryant. Oh yeah, I almost forgot, he also has a ridiculous/awesome haircut that no one can explain.

From businessinsider.com:

 

 

Howard meanwhile, was coming off a season where he was constantly in the media, flip-flopping on whether he wanted to leave or to stay in Orlando, and injured his back severely enough that he required back surgery to repair a herniated disc during the offseason.

For Howard, his rehabbed back is the reason why he's underperformed thus far. He doesn't look nearly as explosive as he has in recent years. He doesn't play so far above the rim that it appears no one can jump with him anymore, and I can't tell whether his slow defensive rotations are a function of his laziness or his inability to shuffle quickly enough to stay with guards.

The Lakers' problems are more pervasive that just Howard's diminished play. They're weak defensively, having allowed 101.5 points per game so far - good for 26th in the NBA; their bench contribution is almost non-existent - Earl Clark and Jordan Hill are "key" bench players; and Mike D'antoni seems bent on implementing a run'n'gun offence on one of the slowest, oldest teams in the league - the Lakers are the fourth-oldest team behind only, the Knicks, Heat, and Clippers.

I'm not sure why the Lakers decided to hire Mike D'antoni instead of proven ego handler Phil Jackson, but the move hasn't paid off. L.A. sits at 17-25 on the season, good for 12th in the Western Conference. They're only four games back from the Rockets for eighth place, but the team doesn't seem to be improving upon their chemistry. Over their last 10 game, L.A. is 2-8.

One of the few bright spots for the Lakers is Kobe Bryant. The man is 34 years old and averaging 29.2 points per game, good for a second place tie in league scoring. Even Kobe playing stellar offensive ball can't will this team to win.

The Lakers have no chemistry, don't play defence, and trade rumors involving Howard and Gasol are already swirling. Gasol always says the right things during interviews, supporting his team and acting like the negative criticism doesn't affect him, but he's demonstrated before that he takes criticism to heart, playing in slumps at times. With a team as overly scrutinized like the Lakers, I don't see his play changing any time soon.

Overall, this season is turning out to be a blemish on the entire Lakers organization. A starting lineup loaded with veteran superstars, anchored by one of the best centers in the league yet struggling to contend for a playoff spot even after a new coach was brought in after five games to salvage the season is embarassing. I'm not a fan of the Lakers to begin with and would usually take pleasure in seeing this over-hyped team flounder, but at this point, the story is becoming old and drawn out.

It's time to accept that the Lakers aren't a good team.

All-Star Predictions

Let's take a break from talking about the Raptors (mainly because talking about the team week by week has taken me from emotional highs to emotional lows - mostly emotional lows) and focus on something that's always hyped up yet very seldom delivers: The All-Star Game!

The all-stars won't be announced until Thursday night on TNT, but I'm going to spoil my one or two readers and provide a list of the players who should be all-stars starters - you know, if the league didn't leave voting for starters up to fans, making the All-Star Game nothing more than a popularity contest.

"But aren't you just a fan, Matt? What gives you the credibility to name who the starters should be?" is what you're saying.

My answer: nothing. Let's get started!

East All-Stars Starters

C - Chris Bosh
Bosh will start only because there are no other quality centers in the East with the exception of Tyson Chandler. I expect Chandler to be selected to the East reserves.

PF - Carmelo Anthony
Anthony, averaging 29.3 ppg and 6.2 rpg, deserves this starting spot. He has been the offensive center piece for a Knicks squad that sits only half a game back for best record in the East. Even if it is the East, that's still an impressive accomplishment for a team that hasn't done anything meaningful in the playoffs since the 1999-2000 season, where they made it to the Eastern Conference Finals.

SF - Lebron James
Best player in the world. I think that's enough.

SG - Dwyane Wade
In the meager East, Wade is the best shooting guard. His only competition? Joe Johnson. Exactly. 

PG - Kyrie Irving
Irving is playing out of his mind so far this season. Unfortunately, there's no way the fans will vote him in ahead of Rondo.

West All-Star Starters

C - Marc Gasol
It's either Marc Gasol or Tim Duncan who's going to win the starting position. Duncan is a more recognizable name but Gasol is playing better. Timmy-D is almost 40 years old and his decline has been blatant. He's still a solid center but it's time to give it up to someone else.

PF - Blake Griffin
Blake Griffin is a freak of nature and legitimately terrifies me with some of his dunks. Most of my picks are based on merit or a dearth of talent (thanks Eastern conference). This pick is based solely on the spectacle that is Blake Griffin. He needs to be a starter just so he can dunk on the other nine players on the court and run back with a look on his face that says, "Yeah, I don't give a shit."

SF - Kevin Durant
The second best player in the world. I think that's enough.

SG - James Harden
Harden has shown he can consistently be the go-to option on a team, slashing and getting to the rim on what seems like every offensive possession. He won't win the starting position though. The ageless wonder, Kobe Bryant, will start.

PG - Chris Paul
Paul has lead the Clippers to the second best record in the NBA this season. His numbers are nearly the same as last year, with the exception of a slight dip in scoring. Paul usually doesn't have to score for the Clippers to win but will if he has to. His game against the Lakers earlier this year is enough evidence to warrant this selection.

Like most All-Star Games, this year's will probably be underwhelming. Combine that with the over-hyped dunk contest and it should amount to a disappointing weekend. Having said that, I can't wait!

 

 

 

Crashing back to reality

Another letdown

Just when I became optimistic about the Raptors turning around they're season, they go and lose to the Kings to bring my world crashing down. The Raptors are now on a two-game losing streak, having lost to both Sacramento 105-96 and Oklahoma City 104-92.

Yes, Toronto wasn't expected to beat OKC, but their loss to Sacramento was a little hard to take. The Raps squandered a second-quarter lead, thanks to their cold shooting (38 per cent).  Demarcus Cousins destroyed the Raps, dropping 31 points and grabbing 20 rebounds. Yep, that Demarcus Cousins: the player who was suspended a few games earlier for conduct detrimental to his team, the Cousins who has been named in trade rumors, and the Cousins deemed by some as still too immature to succeed in the league.

I'll be honest, I'm still bitter about the loss (if you couldn't already tell). Cousins has the potential to be a franchise player and he showed that potential when the Kings beat the Raptors. When Cousins puts together a strong game like the 31 and 20 he had against the Raps, I see the parallels between him and Zach Randolph. Like Randolph, Cousins has all the potential to be an all-star player. Unfortunately, also like Randolph, Cousins is struggling with immaturity through the early years of his career. 

Randolph always put up good numbers regardless of which team he played with, but problems always seemed to follow him. He was nearly charged criminally for misleading police during a shooting while with the Portland Trailblazers and struggled to get playing time with the New York Knicks, despite the terrifying potential combination of him and a blimp-sized version of Eddie Curry dominating the paint.

It wasn't until Z-Bo landed in Memphis after eight NBA seasons that he finally pieced things together. He lead the Grizzlies on an impressive playoff run, where the Griz upset the top-seeded San Antonio Spurs in the first round of the 2011 playoffs before eventually losing to the Thunder the next round.

Cousins meanwhile is in his third year, is currently averaging 17 points and 10 rebounds per game on the season, and is producing 21.6 points and 13.8 rebounds per game - similar to Randolph's career numbers (not including the last two seasons) - over his last five games. He hasn't had serious accusations brought against him like Randolph has, but Cousins has been criticized a number of times for immature conduct, which is only hurting his team.

Cousins in only 22 years old. Randolph was 29 when he joined the Grizzlies and stopped being a headcase. I'm rooting for Cousins because he's a dynamic, dominant player when he's mentally focused. I just hope it doesn't take him seven more years to reach that level of play on a consistent basis.

Something serious

Usually I refuse to propagate the tragedy porn that is prevalent in the media these days but I would be doing an injustice if I didn't post this.

Here, poor Jimmer Fredette is suffering a seizure. I know I can say all of you are with me in offering condolences and hoping he's all right.

Get well soon, Jimmer!

Raptors on a roll

Yes, you're looking at that right. The Toronto Raptors have won eight of their last nine games. Sure, they're still in last place in the Atlantic division, but the Raps are finally doing the things winning teams do on a consistent basis - namely, play defence.

Over their last nine games, the Raps are holding teams to 90.4 ppg, nearly nine points lower than their points allowed season average of 99.2 ppg. I'm not sure what has inspired the Raptors to hunker down on the defensive end, but it's exciting to watch.

Last night's game against Portland was basically a blow out after the second quarter. As a Raptors fan, I expected the Raptors to do Raptors-like things to make this game more competitive - you know, stop playing defence, start taking too many threes, and start giving up offensive rebounds. However, the Raptors seemed to get stronger as the game progressed. Players were sprinting out to their defensive rotations, the Raps had decent ball movement, and Amir Johnson was even making plays like this.

Toronto's schedule will continue to be kind to them. The team has five games remaining on their six-game home stand, most against mediocre teams, with the exception of the Thunder. If the Raps can win their other home games, they'll have a record of 16-21. Still nothing impressive, but a stark improvement from their 4-19 start.

This next video has nothing to do with the NBA, but it's absolutely ridiculous. I have to post it.