2nd Annual DNB Draft Party at St Louis Wings

The Dino Nation Blog has been proud to build a relationship with folks at St Louis Wings. We had our first event there to (Un)Welcome Chris Bosh back to Toronto. Short of being at the ACC it was the best place to be to experience that event. Since that time we have had a number of events with the folks at St. Louis Wings and we are proud to have worked with them. Last year we had a draft party there and the place went nuts both when Tristan Thompson was picked at number 4 by the Cavs and when the Raptors selected Jonas Valinciunas with the next pick. It is always a good time going there and the staff has always treated us well. So much so we even have one of their employees as part of our staff now. There will be more details as we get closer to the event but clear your calender and make sure on June 28th at 7pm you come join us at 595 Bay St (The Atrium) location for a night of fun regardless of what the Raptors do or do not do in the NBA Draft. It is a party regardless of what happens. It is also the first event we have held since adding our staff here at the DNB. So Team DNB should be well represented at this event. Team DNB includes you too, and that doesn't require you doing  a draft work out or being selected it just requires you attendance at our party.

If you have facebook and would like to RSVP you can do so and invite your friends and make this an even bigger party. Regardless we would like to see you come out and experience the NBA Draft with us and the good folks at St Louis Wings. The best thing about St Louis Wings is they love their basketball and the sound is always on full blast for any events we do there. So you don't have to worry about basketball being treated as a second class citizen. It never is at St Louis Wings. Here is all the info on the location complete with menu, map and everything.

There may not be punch and pie...actually there likely is pie. But there is a full menu of fun and good times if you are looking for a place to watch the NBA Draft with Raptors Fans like you. This is the place to do it. So come on out June 28th it starts at 7pm but will be there most of the night as the draft never ends to well after 11pm. How excited are we? Look over on the right we have a clock counting down to our party. So make sure when that thing reaches 0:00 you are at St. Louis Wings with us.

10 Things On Last Night, Tonight and Beyond

So it is late in the season. I am tired and need to combine a re-cap and a preview into one. Thanks to folks at St Louis Wings for hosting me for the night for the game with the Thunder. I learned that the Easter Bunny is bigger than the Dino Blogger in two ways. Still, the folks at St Louis Wings have always been great to me and it is a great place to catch a game. Any restaurant/bar that puts basketball first in Canada is a rare gem to find. That said back to business, here are 10 thoughts on what we saw last night and what to expect tonight against the Pacers and beyond.

1. The Result Was Obvious- There was not a doubt in my mind last night's Raptor game would end up with the result it did. The Thunder were in bad need of a win coming in and the Raptors provided that perfect springboard to do just that. OKC had sat a top the Western Conference for the majority of this season and getting passed by the Spurs made losing to the Raptors not an option.

2. Thunder Fans- There is a lesson to be learned for Raptor fans from the people in the stands in OKC. It has become the best home court advantage in the NBA. Be it crazy fat guys with bunnies painted on them with masks or just your average OKC Fan they all get it. I am pretty confident they are never worried if they are treated to a slice of pizza. I am also confident that even when they sucked, which wasn't that long ago, they were not rooting for their team to lose (Tank). They are people that are just passionate to have the NBA in their city. That passion has died down in Toronto. While Raptor fans are a loyal group they also have become jaded and divided at times. I understand why that is, but still when you watch a game in OKC you see what being a fan by it's true definition is all about. They are more than just the example of how to build a team they are an example of how to build a fanbase. I miss the days when Raptors fans were like this.

3. Bargnani Tough?- I really am starting to have serious doubts about the future of Andrea Bargnani. Again this calf injury becomes an issue and he sits the 2nd half. No the Raptors were not tanking, as I mentioned earlier this result was an obvious one. I am left to question what kind of pain threshold Bargnani truly has. This is aside from the debate on if he has truly turned the corner as player. Even if I am to believe that, which I remain unconvinced, it becomes a moot point if he is not healthy in the long term. I don't mean to diminish a calf injury but this has become rather ridiculous on some level.

4. James Johnson Saga- I have no idea what James Johnson did. I don't care what he did to be blunt. I do support what Casey has done in sending a message. That said enough already. It was pretty hilarious watching the Raptors try and guard Kevin Durant with James Johnson on the bench. Matching the potential MVP of league on a 10 day contract player is not just punishing Johnson, it is punishing the team as a whole. Casey was quick to get him in there. Let's all move on now though and give Johnson his spot back. Credit to both Casey and Johnson, along with team for keeping whatever happened on the down low. Sure we all would like to know what happened but honestly we really don't need to know.

5. Jaamal's Impact- If I hear one more time this year about the impact of Jaamal Magloire, I swear that I am going to puke. Tell me has there ever been a player in the history of this team praised for doing so little? I mean seriously. I guess it is a situation not unlike the one with Jay Triano, in which because he is Canadian people are wanting to give him the benefit of the doubt. Here is what he has been in reality. A trash talking tough guy that still knows how to commit a foul in the NBA and can occasionally show you he use to be a good to great player 10 years ago. That is all. He likely isn't coming back and I would seriously wonder if the Raptors had not come along, if he is even in the league at all. Sadly this is the guy that will go in the history books as the first ever Canadian Raptor. It makes me sad for all the young up and coming talent we have in this country that could have been that. The only old Canadian I would want to have that honour played basketball for his country and is a two time NBA MVP.

6. Barbosa Is Back- If you are not at least a little happy for Leandro Barbosa getting a chance to play for a playoff team you may have no soul. This is a guy that game here and never once complained and went out and did his job for the past couple seasons. Given this crazy NBA Sked, I confess I have not seen much of Barbosa since leaving. But based on the boxscores and random comments I see on Twitter he is doing what he does in Indiana and I am happy for him.

7. Roy Hibbert- I have said this consistently for awhile, it pains me to watch this guy play and know he will go down as a draft pick of the Toronto Raptors. Now it should be noted if not for the trade with the Pacers he would have never been picked by the Raptors. They felt he was too slow for their up tempo style of basketball at the time. That said, I at the time thought he was a great answer for the Raptors at center. He is never going to blow you away but he does all the things that you would hope that a center would do. On top of that having met him once he is a pretty great young man. Georgetown has not produced to many stiffs at the Center position over the years. It is one of the safest bets in the NBA draft when you take a center out of Georgetown. When you look back on that trade that brought J.O to Toronto the biggest loss in it was Roy Hibbert.

8. Raptors Can Be Spoilers- When you look at the Schedule remaining the Raptors could have a impact on the playoff race. Starting tonight with Pacers two games ahead of Boston for 3rd in the East, followed with games vs Sixers, Celtics, Hawks twice, Heat and Bucks. It gives you some motivation to go out there and try and win games. It is also the reason that people hate tanking in general. Tanking has an impact on the teams that are actually in the playoff race. This is why David Stern needs to step in and do something dramatic to the NBA Lottery System. It was designed to prevent this sort of thing. Still if you look around the league it isn't working. The concept of tanking is talked about far more than it ever was back in 1985 when there was legit concern teams would tank to land Patrick Ewing one of those Georgetown centers we mentioned earlier. I say this with all due respect to Anthony Davis, if he has half the career the Patrick Ewing had, he would be a fortunate young man. However, with all the hype surrounding him you would think he was better than that and going to project to be the next superstar of the NBA. I would venture to say that is vastly optimistic. He could turn into a fine NBA player and likely should. That said is he going to be better than a hall of famer or some great recent top picks? I don't see that. Don't believe me it is ok. I will rest easy knowing that I also never was impressed with this guy named Greg Oden and said Kevin Durant would be better. I am sure that I was laughed at for that and I will use the obvious line of who is laughing now?

9. Reality Math- What we knew before this season even started is now fact. The Raptors based on their loss in OKC and some other things last night have officially been eliminated from the playoffs. Still with nine games left which for fans feel pretty pointless, it is still important for some folks on this team. No matter what happens in these final games it will not change the fact this summer is going to be a huge off-season for the Raptors. What guys do down the stretch of the season may help shape/decide if they are going to be a part of this team moving forward. If for no other reason than that, this is ultimately why the concept of tanking is stupid. Players fighting for jobs and their place in the food chain are not going out to try and lose or even think of losing. Especially when you look at guys on 10 day contracts. They are fighting for their very NBA lives every night and day they step on the floor.

10. Time Flies Even When Your Losing- At some points this season has been very painful to endure. The losing combined with this crazy schedule can make your head spin. At least it has seemed to go by fairly quickly and the fact this NBA Season was only 66 games and not 82 games was a blessing given the state of this franchise. There has been so much blind hope for the future this year, it has bordered on the insane. While I do think the Raptors are heading in the right direction, the speed in which some think things will change is likely not going to be the reality. As bad as this season has been the Raptors ultimately did improve as hard as that is to believe at times. It speaks to how bad they were last season and how much it was needed to make a coaching change. I was one of the few that had been saying that long before it was cool. Funny how the people that weren't in favour all love Dwane Casey now and the change in direction of this franchise. I think one of the things I find most frustrating is how people change with the wind and are never truly brought to task for it. Yet when I go out of the box of and say something that ends up being right, I take abuse at the time for it and no one other than me says that I was right. Maybe people just have got use to the fact that I will tell them that I was. Whatever the case, I am proud of my track record on things and do take comfort in the fact that it must mean I know what the hell I am talking about at the end of the day. That is in many ways it's own reward.

So I decided to do this instead of a preview and it ends up being twice as long. Oh well the off-season and a bit of a break will be here soon enough. Happy Monday all and hope you had a pleasant holiday weekend.

Raptor Ramblings

So now that another season is in the books we will shift our attention back to the home team. Toronto Raptors are a team without a coach as you know. Just curious if the Miami Heat are going to part ways with Eric Spoestra if he would jump to the top of the list for Raptors coaching search. I wouldn't mind having him personally. Despite being young he does have a ton of experience. He does have a defensive mindset even if he couldn't stop Dirk for most of the finals. While he might not be able to coach the three super egos in Miami he is a solid coach overall in my view. You look at the job he did the season prior with very little beyond D-Wade as evidence of that. But all that being said the Heat at least for the moment have given no indication that they are not going to bring him back next year. The Raptors appear to be looking at Dwane Casey an assistant coach for the Champion Mavericks but are not alone as so are the Detroit Pistons according to Slam. Also on both the Pistons and Raptors lists include Lawrence Frank the one time Nets head coach that beat the Raptors in the post season under Sam Mitchell. Given the narrow perspective Colangelo has given in terms of what he is looking for there can't be to many coaches that fit that bill.

Draft workouts are set to resume in Toronto on Wednesday. I will be in town to check them out. No list as come out as of yet but I have a hunch we might see some local talent in the mix. Raptors already worked out Brandon Knight and Kemba Walker who if they were to go point guard would be at the top of the list of player that could be available for them. Colangelo has been in Europe checking out his options over there. He also and stated publicly he is the market for a 2nd first round pick in the top 10. If that was to land a Tristan Thompson with it I would be all for it. If not I really can't see much point to it. If the Raptors bailed out of this draft altogether it would not make me sad in the least. Other than the fact we are having a draft party and would have no draft pick to celebrate. But basketball wise this is a weak draft class. I would venture to say even weaker than the class that landed us Andrea Bargnani at number one.

In other off-season news in terms of the Raptors it would seem Leandro Barbosa is leaning toward declining his option for 7.2 million for next season. I am not sure if this makes much sense for him. But in terms of the Raptors it would make them a team with a lot more cash to play with under a what is expected to be more restrictive CBA. Colangelo's old Suns ties were able to have him work out a sign and trade that landed as it turned out a championship ring for Shawn Marion. It also helped Colangelo pull off the move to land Hedo. While that was a complete failure the fact that Colangelo was able to work with Marion was not. Now Barbosa is looking to turn down an option but Colangelo has stated he would be interested in signing him long term. It seems Colangelo might just have been able to work with a former Sun once again to get himself some much needed cap space.

I briefly mentioned our draft party which will be going down at St Louis Wings at the Bay St location just up from the ACC. On Friday I will be giving away one VIP guest pass for our party. That just like with our Bosh Bash will give you a night out on the good folks at St Louis Wings. Food and drinks for free and a chance to party with everyone else that shows up. Also for everyone will be having X-Box 360 with some NBA 2k11 to keep you entertained in between picks. That and I am sure some other fun and surprises will be on the agenda for a fun night for all. I hope to see many of you decide to come out and spend draft night with me and folks at St Louis Wings. So Friday in the blog will have some way for you to have a chance to win. Also check on Twitter as I will post something there to make you aware of the contest.

That is a wrap for today. I will be in Toronto tomorrow so may not hear from me. Ryan should have his weekly DNB Top 10 for your enjoyment though. I will have some stuff from the workouts on Thursday. Raptors will be having workouts on that day as well but I am only heading down for the Wednesday workouts as of right now.

Like A Bosh- The Re-Mix

Unless you have been living under a rock you have all seen the this classic Basketball Jones Video from earlier this season. But in case you do in fact live under that rock or just want to see the original again here it is:

Like any great song bands will do covers and people will do remixes and that is what we did. Thanks to the skills of Andy AKA (@GameEnt15) on Twitter with very little help from me. The debut of Like a Bosh- the Remix

Make sure you come out to our (Un) Welcome Bosh Bash at St Louis Wings 595 Bay St (The Atrium) location. We are going to have prizes, I will be live blogging for The Score from the party and we are going to have a Ustream set up here on the DNB for a Speakers Corner for folks at the Party to sound off during the game. I have worked my butt of to make sure this is going be worth people coming out for. So if you come I promise you my best effort to make this a fun night. If you have tickets to the game come by Pre Or Post Game will be there. The Prize List is taking shape and let me tell you I am impressed. We already have prizes from folks at Molson's/MGD and even got something from the TBJ guys from The Score and a lot more. This is the event of the Raptor Season and if you can't be at the game this is THE NEXT BEST THING.

Come Party With Us At St Louis Wings

A week today Chris Bosh returns to Toronto. The game is expected to be a sellout but don't be left out of all the fun. Come join The Dino Nation Blog and St. Louis Wings for our (Un)Welcome Back Bosh Bash at 595 Bay St (Atrium location). I will be on location live blogging the game and being your host for the evening. At 6pm tonight you can have your chance to be our VIP Guest in which St. Louis Wings is going to pick up your tab (and a guest) for the night. The 4th person to answer the Trivia question I will be posting on Twitter @Dinonationblog will be our winner. There will also be fun and giveaways the night of the event and a great environment to watch the Heat and Raptors. This is probably the biggest game of the season and you don't want to just sit at home and watch it on your couch. They are going to have full sound in the bar and the game on all the screens in the place so you will not miss a minute of the action. Also will likely be filming some stuff for the Dino Nation Blog that night as well. This is likely the closest thing will have to a playoff type environment for the Raptors this season so make sure you come out and have some fun. It is always great for me to get to meet you folks that support the Dino Nation Blog and I am always trying to create fun events like this to do just that. So if you are coming from outside of Toronto here is a map on how to get there. I went down last Friday and the folks at St Louis Wings are just as excited as me to be hosting this event, so make your plans and come be a part of the fun, and bring this along with you as well to get 1/2 pound of wings from free. For more details on the event follow me on Twitter @Dinonationblog or follow our hosts @StLouisWings and you will get the scoop on things. 7 Days until Chris Bosh comes back to Toronto and we are having a party to (Un) Welcome him back.

Jack Armstrong Checks Into Starting 5 From Indy

Not snow, ice, wind or freezing rain can keep Jack Armstrong out of the Starting 5. Our interview scheduled for today was suppose to take place with Jack in Atlanta where the Raptors will play tomorrow. But the Raptors got stuck in Indy and are trying to make their way to Atlanta. But through all the delays we were still able to hook up with Jack. That photo is from when Jack met up with our MGD Contest winners earlier in the season. Those were happier times but clearly with the Raptors now losers of a dozen straight these are not. So we have a good conversation with Jack about some of the issues facing the Raptors as well as the few positives we could find. Talk about Andrea Bargnani and his lack of defence, Demar DeRozan and his continued development despite the losing, the warrior like effort of Amir Johnson and a lot more. It is always a pleasure talking with Jack and for the first time we did it on Jack's blackberry phone. Yes it is true our Jack Armstrong is jumping into the 21st century just like I have. Some fun about that at the end of the interview.





These are tough times in Raptorland. But in good times or bad times Jack always makes time for us in the Dino Nation Blog and it is much appreciated. Also because our interviews with Jack always draw us some attention wanted to take advantage of that to promote our (Un) Welcome Back Bosh Event on Feb 16th at St.Louis Wings. Obviously Jack Armstrong won't be there as he will be down the street at the ACC. But if you can't snag tickets come up the street and join us for a party at 595 Bay St. Details on this can be found here in Dino Nation Blog and we also have a facebook event page set up where you can RSVP and invite your friends to come. Jack likes a good party and so do we at the Dino Nation Blog. So come join us and hopefully by that time the Raptors are playing a lot better than they are currently. Once again thanks to Jack for always being a good friend to us at the Dino Nation Blog and he may never get on Twitter, but it will not stop us from having a ton of respect and love for him.

Pacers Starting Fresh With The Raptors

The Indiana Pacers decided they had enough of their coach Jim O'Brien. It would appear the choice to send him packing was made by ownership according to the Indy Star. O'Brien was fired Sunday after posting a 121-169 in his 3 years plus. He has been around close to the same amount of time as Jay Triano so let's compare shall we? We Shall, Triano is 78-117 in his 3 years with the Raptors. O'Brien had a .417 winning percentage while Triano's works out to be .400 winning percentage. People make the excuse that Triano has not had a lot of talent to work with. Well did Jim O'Brien have a ton of talent? The Pacers best player was who Danny Granger? I know he is not "Mr Popular" these days but Chris Bosh was more talented than him. You can make the argument that the situations are fairly similar. Pacers have had there share of injuries over the last 3 years. Frank Vogel Pacers assistant becomes there interim coach. P.J has more head coaching experience than him. Just stating the facts. Raptors will try not to see there losing streak climb to a dozen. While the new era for the Pacers begins.

The Basics: Toronto 13-35 (4-11 on Road vs East) Pacers 17-27 (Lost 7 of 8)

When Last We Saw Them: The Raptors were in Minny and got utterly embarrassed by the T-Wolves. The less we say about this game the better so we will say no more other than it was the Raptors 11th straight loss. But you already knew that.

Key Match-Ups: Well it will be interesting to see what Frank Vogel does in his debut. One of the reasons for O'Brein's demise was said to be how he handled young players and specifically Roy Hibbert. Our former Raptor for a few weeks. Also on a couple of my fantasy teams not that anyone cares about that. Andrea Bargnani will have his hands full with Roy in the paint. It would not seem likely that the Pacers would play Hibbert on Bargnani on defence. Darren Collison has not exactly taken the Pacers by storm as many felt he might. He has 13.7 points a slight improvement on his numbers with the Hornets but his assists have dipped from 5.4 to 4.8 assists through 41 games played for the Pacers. You also have T.J Ford who is always motivated to play against Jose Calderon, and sometimes that is good news for the Raptors, and other times it is good news for T.J. Calderon and Bayless will need to be better than Collison and Ford for the Raptors to have a chance to win. But the biggest issue will be on the glass once again where the Pacers should have an advantage. They average 43.2 rebounds per game to the Raptors 40.7.

Other Things Of Note: The Pacers demolished the Raptors in their only meeting this season that was also in Indy winning the game going away 124-100, and it is on a growing list of games where the Raptors were embarrassed badly. In case you missed it, I wrote a piece yesterday taking a look at where this is all going for the Raptors in terms of the future. But nothing that I wrote can top what Kevin Durant had to say about our good old buddy Chris Bosh. Seems a good time to mention our event coming up in Toronto for the Bosh return on Feb 16th.

The (Un) Welcome Back Bosh Party @ St.Louis Wings

• Location: 595 Bay St (North of Dundas)
• When: Feb 16th 2011
• Time: Come early if you like. But will have game on with Heat and Raptors that tips @ 7PM
• Details: Were working on them but you can expect a good time, some giveaways and the best place to watch the game outside of the ACC itself. We are even going to try to set up a speakers corner where you can share your thoughts on Chris Bosh and his return. It is going to be a great time so if you can't get tickets for this game this is going to be the next best thing.

The guys at St. Louis Wings had been asking me to come and be a part of a Raptor game for awhile and I said if we are going to do this let's do it big. Looking forward to hosting this event and hope to see many DNB readers come out to have some fun. It is always a treat for me to meet the people that read the blog and Raptor fans in general so I am looking forward to this.

Where Is It On? Sportsnet ( The Rumours they tried to cancel covering this game for a Post All-Star Game Breakdown show are 100% false....Honest...No Really)