Playing Out String In Philly

Raptors road woes are well documented (6-33 on the Road) that being said this is one of the few places on the NBA map the Raptors have won. But that was early in the season (94-86 Win on Nov 17 2010), and that was a much different Sixers team. After a very slow start to the season Doug Collins has turned this thing around. Some even say he deserves to win the Coach of the Year Award. I am not one of those. But he has done a solid job turning the Sixers into a playoff team once again. Raptors have been without Andrea Bargnani 4 of the last 6 games and when he has been in there it really hasn't done anything. If it was my call I would just shut him down for rest of season. Let Ed Davis play and gobble up the extra minutes. Jose Calderon returned the last game and again I would rather see Jerryd Bayless at this point. Raptors should just play the kids and honestly should have been doing it for a long time. This team could easily make it to 60 losses on the season. They play Philly tonight, Nets on Sunday, Bucks on Monday and close it out with Heat on Wednesday. It stopped being about winning a long time ago.

The Basics: Raptors 21-57 (Lost 6 straight on Road) Philadelphia 40-39 (1/2 game behind Knicks for 6th in East)

When Last We Saw Them: The Raptors lost to the worst team in the NBA in the Cavs and trailed by as many as 22 the less we say about this game the better.

The Key Match Ups: Jrue Holiday is the key match-up for the Raptors to figure out. His improvement has been a big part of this Sixers turnaround. In a new system this season he has been able to shine. The Eddie Jordan Princeton offence was not a good fit for him or the Sixers. Be it Calderon or Bayless there needs to be an improvement on defensive end. Jodie Meeks can be a deadly 3 point shooter at times he is averaging 41% on the season. Raptors defence of the three point line has been a joke for most of the season. When ever you see Toronto vs Philly the name Andre Iguodala comes to the forefront. He still remembers Rob Babcock for passing on him in the draft and often is very motivated to come out and show Raptor fans what they missed out on.

Other Things Of Note: Your Ping Pong Ball Standings down the stretch:

• 1. Minnesota 17-62 --
• 2. Cleveland 17-61 (1/2 Game Back)
• 3.Washington/Toronto 21-57 (4 1\2 Games back)
• 5. New Jersey 24-54 ( 7 1/2 Games Back)

So with a loss the or a Nets win the Raptors would enter the Draft Lottery no worse than 4th and meaning the lowest they could pick is 7th. By winning the season series with Cleveland it would put 2nd out of reach. So really if you want to scoreboard watch you are looking for Washington wins down the stretch. Basically Raptors will enter the lottery 3rd or 4th it looks like.

Where Is It On? Sportsnet 1 (Stick around after to watch the Jays a team that is WINNING)

Raptors Hang Tough And Win

In front of a small pre-season crowd, the Raptors gave the paying customers a good show. A double overtime entertaining win over the Sixers 119-116. After a sub par effort the night before vs Chicago the Raptors bounced backed to show a lot of fight to knock off the Sixers. Jay Triano said pre-game that in these first four games of the pre-season he has just been letting the guys play and show the skills they have worked on over the summer. Hence the ever changing starting line-ups to a point. But Triano suggested that it was possible the line-up would change in terms of match-ups throughout the season. One thing the coach was not pleased with was how his team was beaten badly on the boards vs the Bulls. Likely more happy with a 55-50 advantage for the Sixers last night. Andrea Bargnani had 8 of those rebounds. He had 14 points as well to go with the 8 boards. Triano when asked about if he is concerned with the start of Bargnani, to which he predictably said no. He expecst that Bargnani will be able to get somewhere between 18-25 points per game this season. Never was asked or offered a rebound number. But did reference the need for everyone to be part of the rebounding effort even the guards.

There was a point where Andrea really did look like a superstar with them going to him 3 straight times to start the first overtime and converting. This was overall the best Bargnani has looked this pre-season. Jrue Holiday for the Sixers had a triple double with 18 points 12 assists and 11 rebounds in over 45 minutes of action. Triano despite the games close nature did not want to over play his guys as Bargnani was the top Raptor playing only 37 minutes. He said that he wanted to keep everyone healthy and used that as the reason for Jarrett Jack and not Jose in overtime. Jack lead the Raptors in scoring with 24 followed by Barbosa with 19. Both on the floor together seemed to work well and that was a lot of the talk in the locker room post game about their chemistry together on the floor.

Raptors understand it seems that they are now a team that has a very small margin for error and if they do not have 100% effort, they are going to be hard pressed to win basketball games. Sixers are a lot like the Raptors in that sense, after this loss they sit at 1-4 and you have to wonder if Doug Collins is going to miss working for TNT by about December or January. Raptors move to 2-2 and will be in action next on Friday.

As I was taking the train home last night after this one. I couldn't help but think there might be a lot of nights like this for the Raptors. Where they will have to fight and claw to get a win. It would have been easy for this team to say the heck with it. After all it was the pre-season and as Jarret Jack explained post game today is basically the first day the Raptors will have off since things got started for them in training camp. The Raptors earned the day off last night. A hard fought win against a team that when it matters will be one of the teams they have to beat in order to be successful.

Had a chance to catch up with Reggie Evans and Demar DeRozan pre-game so look for those mini interviews in the next few days.

Coaching Merry-Go-Round Filling Up

Bryan Colangelo said early the Raptors would not be seeking a new head coach. They did add an assistant in P.J Carlesmio. But those empty coaching positions are starting to fill up. Avery Johnson will need to work on his Russian as he is expected to take the job as coach of the Nets. Johnson is a former coach of the year and has been working with ESPN, now is getting back behind the bench. I have to admit I am a bit surprised. Nets owner Mikhail Prokhorov had tried to get Coach K from Duke. He also wants to be in the hunt for Lebron James. So you thought he might make an offer Phil Jackson could not refuse given his deep pockets. It is not that Avery Johnson is not a good coach, he won coach of the year in Dallas. Still, you just expected a much bigger splash from the Russian billionaire.

That being said Johnson is a solid hire and will be a major upgrade for the Nets. It is an exciting organization to be with given the new ownership. Johnson apparently was on the Hawks wish list as well but they will now have to look elsewhere. I had said earlier in the blog another former coach of the year seems a good fit in Atlanta. Sam Mitchell the former Raptors coach and ATL resident seems like the guy to me.

The other news buzzing is what the Cavs might do with there open coaching spot. The word is Tom Izzo the Michigan State coach is the guy they want. What this means for the Lebron chances of re-signing is anybodies guess. Izzo has had a tremendous track record at Michigan State. He has coached a number of players that have been successful on the next level. A few that haven't as well. I remember when Morris Peterson was with the Raptors he would talk with great regard for Izzo.

It seems like something that doesn't make a ton of sense for Izzo. If James leaves that is. I see it as similar to coming in after a legendary coach. A real no win situation. According to the Associated Press he is working on finalizing a deal that would pay him 6 million per-season for 5 years. Izzo has had other chances to make this jump before. In fact according to an article by Andy Katz's on ESPN the Raptors were one of the teams he considered once upon a time.

Izzo has really done it all in the NCAA winning a championship with that group "The FLINTstones" that included longtime Raptor Morris Peterson. He also recently took Michigan State all the way to the Final in Detroit when the city hosted the Final Four.

New Orleans recently filled there vacant coaching position with Monty Williams. This is his first job as a head coach in the NBA after being an assistant with Portland under Nate McMillan. Chicago of course still has there open coaching position after firing Vinny Del Negro. We already mentioned Atlanta with a open coaching position as well. We may have to wait till July 1st for the player free agency to get rolling. But the coaching free agent season is in high gear.

Phil Jackson is expected to take some kind of pay cut if he wants to remain in L.A. Most feel a return to Chicago is not in the cards as his departure from the Bulls was not pleasant. However if the Lakers win or lose a title, it would seem the Bulls are at least waiting to talk with Phil. They may even be waiting to talk to Doc Rivers? Who there was talk he might step away from the Celtics and take some time away from coaching. Doc Rivers just happens to be from Chicago right? So is D-Wade and Obama for those keeping track. Doug Collins started the ball rolling in leaving the TNT broadcast booth to join the Sixers. He was once rumored as a candidate before the Bulls ended up picking Del Negro. Jeff Van Gundy has said he will do at least 1 more year of broadcasting with ESPN/ABC. Which is great, now if some team would just hire Mark Jackson to coach and get him out of the booth that would be great too.

The Atlantic is Changing A Lot.

The Division the Raptors call home is getting a serious makeover. The biggest part of that change is the ownership of the New Jersey Nets. If you have not heard of Russian billionaire Mikhail Prokhorov you haven't been paying attention lately. He has big money and big plans for the NBA's laughing stock the New Jersey Nets. He wants to not just make the Nets an NBA success but a global success. Both Knicks and Raptors should take note as their new rival has some serious plans. This includes a move to Brooklyn by 2013.

But he also is serious about trying to be a player for Lebron James. There have been comparisons to Mark Cuban but at least to start they don't seem valid. Prokhorov has been very tight lipped about his plans to attract the Cavs superstar. Careful not to violate NBA rules in terms of tampering. Cuban has had more NBA fines than the Celtics have titles. Prokohorov's plans seem to be clear in terms of the Nets. He wants to build them as not just a North American sports franchise, but a global sports franchise. You don't get to be a billionaire by being the same as everyone else. He has already let his G.M go and has a open spot at both coach and G.M to fill. James has been rumoured to be tied to Kentucky Coach John Calipari. Now Calipari recently claims in an ESPN article he will be back at Kentucky. You tend to take that with a grain of salt given his history. Calipari is actually a former Nets coach and did not exactly have success in his first go around in the NBA.

Regardless of if James were to seriously consider the Nets who still have Jay-Z as a minority owner is not the point. The point is from this point moving forward the Nets are going to be a major player in Free Agency and have money to burn. For teams with corporate ownership like the Knicks and Raptors this could be their worst nightmare. It will force them to spend to compete and it is clear that the bottom line for the Nets is that old business model of you have to spend money to make money. Also if successful, a move to Brooklyn may be much like if a second NHL team set up shop in Toronto area. The Knicks like the Leafs have a long history and a passionate fan base that includes celebrities like Spike Lee. What happens if the Nets come to Brooklyn and become a success? What would be the impact on the Knicks? Like the Leafs (1967) the last title for New York was a long time ago back in the 70's. Could it impact on the foothold they have on the city? Well when you look at the Rangers who took 54 years between winning Stanley Cups (1940 to 1994) it didn't hurt them. The Islanders and the Devils moved into the New York area and both had success but it did not impact on the Rangers. The Knicks who have been a franchise in the NBA from day 1 when the played the Toronto Huskies may not need to worry. Especially if they are the one that lands Lebron James. But many feel the Knicks are a long shot in the race, not as much as the Nets would be.

While in Philadelphia the Sixers had lottery luck and moved up to the second spot. That means Evan Turner will be a Sixer that is good news. But not so fast. There seems to be some suggestion that Sixers are strongly considering drafting DeMarcus Cousins behind his teammate John Wall. I love Cousins and honestly think he might deserve to be the second pick. However the majority, if not all of the draft experts disagree. Many of those being in Chicago as the combine kicked off there yesterday. Still if the Sixers were to do this, that would shake up the draft and leave Turner for the division rival Nets to select. Or perhaps move the pick and create a market for the 3rd pick. I find it hard to believe the Sixers go through with drafting Cousins, at least at number 2. This all could be just the Sixers blowing smoke to see what happens.

What is fact and not fiction in terms of the Sixers is that Doug Collins will be the coach of the Sixers. I find this move odd as well. Now Collins was a player for the Sixers and may have some love for the franchise based on that. However if it was true, that he had been offered the Chicago job not this time, but the last time the Bulls were coach shopping and turned it down. Why would you take the Sixers job now? Clearly the Bulls of a few years ago were in a better spot than the Sixers are now despite their lottery fortune. It seems pretty odd and the most painful thing of all is, does this mean more Reggie Miller on TNT? NOOOO!!!!!!

The Boston Celtics have yet to worry about all of these things and why should they as they are 6 wins away from getting another NBA Title. But after they have succeed or failed at that. The division they have owned pretty much since the big 3 came to Boston has become a much more competitive place. Clearly the Nets and Knicks are set up to improve moving forward. Much like in baseball and football the basketball version of the battle might become interesting between NYC and Boston. Even if the Knicks don't get the King they have a ton of dough to land some major players. While the Nets are starting a plan of global domination forget about the Atlantic Division.

When you turn this back to the Raptors this is cause to be afraid, when you are looking squarely in the face at saying so long to the best player you have. Not afraid? In the immortal words of Yoda..."You Will Be....You Will Be". The first impact of Mikhail Prokhorov will be felt in the Atlantic Division. He scares me more than Ivan Drago and I am not even kidding. He will break you or break his bank trying. Which is a pretty big bank to break. Lebron James wants to be a billionaire athlete. Mikhail Prokhorov doesn't have to want to be a billionaire he already is.