The Calderon Curse Continues

It was bad enough that the Raptors have failed to be able to trade Jose Calderon. But now he gets injured, in a exhibition against the United States in preparation for the World Championships that start this week. The estimated recovery time according to the story in The Toronto Star is 4 weeks, which would be right around the time the Raptors will open camp in Toronto. This will kill any hope that Bryan Colangelo can move Calderon prior to training camp. It would appear, he was not having much success at it anyway.

I will not give my whole speech on how international play is having a negative impact on the NBA for the 100th time. Clearly this is just another example that people can use as evidence to support that case. This is now the 2nd time Calderon has been injured representing Spain and not the Raptors. It just never ends and as much as the World Championships benefit from the NBA being a part of them it doesn't help the Raptors any right now. The World Championships actually could have served as a good way to showcase Calderon for trades. But forget about that now as Calderon may not even be in camp for the Raptors.

This injury to Jose's leg is also not going to help his now infamous terrible defense any. An overpaid and injured back up point guard just what ever team wants. Calderon at full health has questionable speed to begin with. Each time that leg gets injured the questions just become bigger and bigger. After all you don't get quicker by injuring your leg consistently. It is safe to call Jose injury prone now. I got slammed by some the last time I did so in the blog. I will let this latest injury be my version of I told you so.

The larger picture of this Raptor off-season just gets worse. It is becoming increasingly more likely this may actually be it. The Raptors you see now likely are the Raptors you will see open camp. If that is the case this team has some serious issues. I love the Young Guns but even if they all played out their minds, it still would not be enough. Andrea Bargnani in playing for Italy this summer is not exactly showing much improvement on the defensive end. Not that playing internationally is the same type of defense we play here anyway. A move to the 4 spot for Bargnani seems highly unlikely given the Raptors current roster. That was about the only good thing about Bosh leaving was that Bargnani could move to his natural 4 spot. But so much for that.

I hate to think a team is dead and buried before they ever play a game. That being said, if I started working on my eulogy on the Raptors season would anyone blame me? I had been working on my Jose Calderon is no longer a Raptor eulogy and sadly it has been put away once again.

Jose Calderon honestly is at the root of a lot of the problems this team has faced. Things starting falling a part, when the point guard controversy with him and T.J Ford started and from that point on the Raptors have been a mess. It was the spark that led to a long list of bad moves that have left this franchise without much hope and without a true star player. It makes you wonder if Calderon actually makes that pass to Bosh vs the Nets would the would the Raptors situation be entirely different?

We will never know but that pass getting picked off was just the start of the Curse that Calderon has become. I was talking on Friday about the lack of a rival and that is in part a lack of tradition. Well how about a curse....The Curse of Calderon.