Starting 5- Count Down To Draft Day

I know the NBA Finals are not even done, but believe it or not the NBA Draft is a week from tomorrow. To get us prepared for the draft I will be talking with a number of folks. I started last week talking with Ed Isaacson of NBA Draft Blog.We talk about a number of topics related to this upcoming draft. From John Wall to Evan Turner. Ed has planned on going to Vegas for Summer League, if he does I am going to hook up with him again to see what he thinks of the Raptors. We discuss the Raptors draft options at number 13 as well. It is a lengthy chat that I hope you will enjoy. Later this week going to talk with both Ray Bala from CanBall Report on Raptors HQ and Jack Armstrong who is from all things Basketball and the Fan 590 and TSN. Those interviews will focus on the draft as well.



We start with Ed with just some general talk about NBA Draft and draft websites.

NBA Draft Blog (Part-1)

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In Part 2 we talk just about the Raptors with a little more info on NBA Draft Blog.

NBA Draft Blog (Part-2-Raptors)

James Borbath's Podcast

Ed can be found on Twitter as well @NBADraftBlog . Thanks to Ed for taking time to talk with us and we may hook up again as I said. But for now just 8 days to draft day. We will do are best to prepare for something that you can not really ever prepare for fully in the NBA Draft.

As Must Win As It Gets

Tonight I am going to try something a little different with the Raptors vs T-Wolves. Often if I am not working a Raptor game for The Score I can be found on Twitter during games sharing my thoughts. I often find at times between the people that I follow and those that follow me sometimes Twitter can be a pretty entertaining game companion. So I have decided to try the DNB's first ever TweetCap. It will be a re-cap that incorporates all off the stuff that is flying around on Twitter during a Raptors game. So if you have thoughts during tonight's game fire a tweet at me @dinonationblog and you may end up part of the TweetCap of the game. This is something new I am trying so will see how it turns out but it should be fun. The Raptors take on the T-Wolves who have lost 12 straight and the Raptors have won 11 straight vs T-Wolves. All signs point to a Raptors win but given the way things have been lately nothing is guarantee but what is always a guarantee is that Twitter will have entertaining things said by myself and others.

Also will be back at Brooklyn's this week for Raptors and Jazz (Wednesday), 291 Queenston Road here in Hamilton. Will have another set of tickets courtesy of Raptorman.ca and some other prizes to give away. So if you are in the Hamilton area make sure you come out and have some fun and cheer on the Raptors. It will be not easy to get a win over the Jazz but it is very easy to win something if you come out and be part of the fun. In playing the Jazz and Denver in the next 2 games that is what makes a win tonight almost a requirement. The T-Wolves have just 14 wins on the season and just 9 at home. Raptors enter tonight 4 games back of the Bucks for 5th, a game behind Miami for 6th and a half game behind the Bucks for 7th. They are still 2 and half games in front of Chuck Swirsky's Chicago Bulls.

Three of those four are in action tonight as well. Miami has guaranteed win night in New Jersey, The Bucks host the Hawks in what right now would be a first round playoff preview. While the Bulls host the Houston Rockets in Chicago. So that is your scoreboard watching menu along with the Raptors and T-Wolves.

Raptors had a 94-88 win over the T-Wolves in early December. In reading my recap of that it appears the Raptors did not exactly bring their A game on that night. In terms of tonight they better bring it. The Raptors are running out of time to not just secure a playoff spot but build any kind of hope in this fan base that they can win once they get there. T-Wolves are a young team that on a given night can be dangerous. Those nights are few and far between. Jonny Flynn should be jacked up though after watching his Orange roll through Gonzaga yesterday not to far from his hometown in Buffalo. Flynn was one of the stars of last year's March Madness and he now has the grim reality of what life in the NBA is like. When you are 14-56 and just playing out the schedule that is a little different from trying to make an exciting run to a national championship in college.

Keep in Madness mode Chris Bosh and Jarrett Jack watched their former College Paul Hewitt coach and the Yellow Jackets go down to defeat to Ohio State. G-Tech's star Derrick Favors had a very rough day and was invisible for most of the game. Chris Bosh can not have that happen for him in any of these games down the stretch for the season. I also have to say that once he got rolling Evan Turner is pretty fun to watch. He will be one of the guys you hear a lot about heading up to the draft in June if you do not follow college basketball to any degree. If you are even a casual fan you have no doubt heard of... if not seen Evan Turner do his thing. He along with John Wall from Kentucky (My Pick to win the Tournament) are considered the top 2 talents for the NCAA in the NBA Draft assuming both decide to enter it.

The great thing about March Madness is it is one and done. There are no second chances. It can lead to massive upsets like the Cornell Big Red the Ivy League Champs knocking off 2 higher seeds or Northern Iowa knocking off the Kansas Jayhawks the number 1 seed in this tournament. The Raptors need to catch a bit of that college spirit and play like they have no tomorrow. If they take the mentality into every game they hopefully can win more then they lose. Tonight losing is simply not an option.

Starting 5 with Ray Bala Talking Madness From A Canadian Perspective

This week kicks off March Madness and there is some Canadian Content in that tournament. I wanted to bring in Ray Bala from @Canballreport on Raptors HQ to talk some NCAA ball. We have a great conversation about players like Kris Joesph, Andy Rautins and some other Canadians you may not know. We also have a conversation on a great two part article written by Michael Grange in Globe and Mail recently on Canadians heading south to play ball. Next season at this time of year you will likely be hearing a lot about Tristan Thompson who is committed to Texas for next season. Texas is an 8 seed in the tourney this year after having been ranked #1 earlier in the season. We talk about some general rules to follow when filling out your brackets. Along with some tips on teams to like or not like. Along with some talk of some of the top guys for the NBA draft in June like Evan Turner and John Wall and some others. Even a little Canada Basketball talk with Canada heading to the World Championships in Turkey this summer. The Dino Nation Blog is mostly about the Raptors and the NBA but it is also about growing the game and fans of basketball in this country. Ray is one of the folks trying to help in that by doing a great job in Raptors HQ and on his Twitter account making folks aware of what Canadians are doing on the college level and elsewhere. So have a listen and take pride in the fact Canada is starting to develop some ballers.

NCAA Talk With Ray Bala

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Thanks to Ray for taking the time to talk with me. It is always nice to get to know more folks that love basketball and are passionate Canadian basketball fans. There are lots of us out there. I do the best I can with the Starting 5 to get to know more of them and allow you folks that read the DNB to get to know them as well. Follow Ray on Twitter (Link Above) and you will get to learn a lot about some of these up and coming Canadian talents that are representing Canada and the sport that a Canadian brought to the world. If I learned anything from the past Olympics in Vancouver, it is to never lose that passion for this country and for what I love in basketball. It will always be part of the mission of the Dino Nation Blog to help try to promote the sport here in Canada and help grow the sport and bring more fans to the table. Have some fun and sign up for the 2 NCAA Pools I have started with The Score and Yahoo.

Dino Nation Blog March Madness Pools

Sign up for The Score's Bracket Busters Contest then

JOIN GROUP: DINO NATION BLOG MADNESS/ PASSWORD: DNB

on Yahoo- Dino Nation Blog Madness League ID 70545 there is no password.