The Team That We Use To Laugh About.

It is a depressing and sobering thought that this Memphis Grizzlies franchise was once the Vancouver Grizzlies. Not the fact that they left Vancouver which in its own right is depressing and sad. The fact that this franchise has been around for the same amount of time as the Raptors and look at them now. Yet look at where they are currently and look at where we find ourselves. Like I said it is depressing and sobering and perhaps even a source of anger. While the Raptors have been in a free fall to the bottom of the Eastern Conference the Grizzlies have been on the rise in the West.  

Memphis: 
2009-10: 40-42 (Fourth In Southwest- Missed Playoffs) 
2010-11 46-36 (Fourth In Southwest- Lost in Second Round to OKC) 
2011-12 41-25 (Second In Southwest- Lost in First Round to Clippers) 

Toronto: 
2009-10 40-42 (Second in Atlantic- Missed the Playoffs) 
2010-11 22-60 (Last in Atlantic- Missed the Playoffs) 
2011-12 23-43 (Fourth in Atlantic- Missed the Payoffs)

Speed ahead to tonight and the Raptors are 3-12 while the Grizzlies come in 10-2 and one of the best teams in the league so far this season. We use to laugh at this franchise while in Vancouver as the Raptors seemed miles ahead of them. Now the shoe is clearly on the other foot. Rudy Gay may in fact get talked about more by Raptors fans than the folks in Memphis. A lot of fans clamoured for Bryan Colangelo to pull of a deal to land Gay in Toronto. No doubt he is talented but he comes with an over priced contract. Still he produces and maybe no more so than against the Raptors. He averaged 24.5 points in the two meetings last year.

The Raptors actually split the series between the two teams hanging on to win in OT 114-110 in the building the play tonight the Fed-Ex Forum. They played another close contest earlier in the year up in Toronto in which Memphis got revenge 102-99. That is the good news. Here is the bad that win by the Raptors win snapped a 6 game losing streak to Memphis which speaks to that change in fortunes displayed above. More bad news when you look at career performance against this club.

No one particular does well against them. Andrea Bargnani is the best scoring wise at 15.3 a game well off his career average. This is another former club of Kyle Lowry as well. Last night against the Rockets he didn’t set the world on fire.

Unlucky loss number 13 would seem almost a sure thing for this one.

 If you missed it earlier in the day had the interview with DeMar DeRozan we teased on this week in Raptorland up this morning if you want to go check it out.

UPDATE 6:55 PM: You wanted No Andrea Bargnani....YOU GOT IT....No not traded out with a bump ankle....Klezia is going to start rumour has it. Oh yeah this is going be interesting. 

Starting 5: In The Locker Room with DeMar DeRozan

Had a chance to catch up with DeMar DeRozan. We chat on a number of subjects from his new contract to how he is dealing with this tough start to the season. Stephen Brotherston who writes for Hoopsworld joins the conversation as well with a few of his own questions. The fourth one (Audio is low) he asks is about how Raptors have yet to have a night with both DeMar, Kyle and Andrea on clicking scoring wise. In total it is a good five minutes talking with DeMar on how things have been going. Not much has changed unfortunately from when this interview was conducted prior to the San Antonio game on Sunday. DeRozan had a team high 29 in double OT. In Houston last night just 12 points for him.



DeMar DeRozan has been good more nights than he has been bad this season their are few guys on this roster that can say that. Even when we are in the Locker Room Starting 5 is brought to you by the folks at St. Louis Wings. Congrats to our latest contest winners on This Week In Raptorland. We are giving away Chicken Wings in exchange for your topics for our Fan Five Frenzy. Fire us a question on Twitter with #TWIR5 by Sunday at 7pm and if you have the best question or topic of the week that we use than you get yourself a free pound of Chicken Wings from St Louis Wings at their 3 locations that sponsor us (595 Bay St, 528 Young St and Fairview Mall location) Thanks to DeMar for taking the time to talk with us in the Dino Nation Blog.

Lin and Harden Team Up To Take Down Toronto

Patience is wearing thin for everyone in Raptorland. If it is not someone that wants Bargnani traded or maybe even deported it is a person that wants Bryan Colangelo to walk the plank. After a double OT loss to San Antonio what would the Raptors have two days later in Houston? The answer would be not much.

Andrea Bargnani did show up in the first quarter and first half. Not so much in the third and beyond. This game had the doors blown open by Houston in the third out scoring the Raptors 38-28 adding to the lead they had built in the first half.

The Raptors offense was clicking decently all night but a lack of defense and turnovers would overshadow that. God bless Raptor fans as they can try and pull a positive from almost anything. Terrence Ross got to play a lot and took advantage with 19 points off the bench. He shot 9-17 in this one and added to his fairly empty to this point NBA highlight reel with some nice dunks.

While I would be excited to see a DeMar DeRozan vs. Terrence Ross Dunk off this does not instantly make me think Terrence has suddenly arrived. The cold reality is he did a chunk of this work with Houston holding a fairly significant lead and having the game well in hand. Is this good for him and help his confidence and ego that has likely taken a hit. Sure it is, but does that mean I think he should start in Memphis tomorrow? Not particularly.

Eventually, can and should Ross earn some minutes? Sure he can, but understand what Terrence Ross playing is likely going to represent. It will likely be a sign the Raptors goal of the playoffs has had the white flag raised on it. If not for injures were not even having this conversation.

All 5 Houston starters were in double figures. Raptors not so much as Bargnani had his 21, Val and DeMar each had 12. While Dominic McGuire had big donuts zero in the scoring column.  While Kyle Lowry in his return to Houston was so-so at best with 7 points, 8 rebounds and 5 assists. He shot on the night just 3-10 and 0-3 from distance. Both backcourts were sloppy with 7 turnovers for Lowry/Derozan and Lin/Harden. But Harden did pour in 24 and had 12 assists while Jeremy Lin had 16 points and 10 dimes.

Raptors keep losing dropping another one 117-101 at the Toyota Center. It is one to face one of the hottest teams out of the gate this NBA season the former Vancouver now Memphis Grizzlies. That likely looks like another L. Lot of those piling up and nobody is happy about that.

To all that wished me congratulations on 5 years of the DNB yesterday thanks to all of you. 

Jack Armstrong Helps Us Celberate 5 Years Of The DNB

Today marks officially five years of doing the Dino Nation Blog. I have in that time accomplished a lot of things. One of the things that I am most proud of is earning the respect of our guest today Jack Armstrong. I may have told this story before but I will repeat it in case you have not read it or heard it before. I started doing work covering basketball back in college on a radio sports show. I was able to get Chuck Swirsky and Eric Smith to come on as guests on occasion.  I felt lucky enough with being able to do that. Still, I really wanted to have this other guy named Jack Armstrong as a guest. I admired his no nonsense tell it like it is approach. I just didn't have the courage to say hey Chuck or hey Eric it is great having you on the show but I really would also like to have Jack Armstrong could you help me out? At the time I thought it might have insulted them. When I started the DNB I realized that was silly and asked Eric if it would be possible to pass along that I would like to talk with Jack and Eric's broadcast partner Paul Jones.

He would and both have ended up being guests here on the Starting 5. Both have also behind the scenes so to speak given me great encouragement and advice. It started out just in written form and now has advanced into audio form for years. We now have two podcasts and Eric was a guest on This Week In Raptorland talking about his charity mission this season to help hurricane victims in New York and New Jersey. I get into that with Jack today at the end of our interview. Jack is a Brooklyn native and has had many people both  in his family and friends directly impacted by this. So who better to make a sales pitch on behalf of Eric.

Don't worry we talk a ton of basketball before that including Andrea Bargnani, DeMar DeRozan, Raptors not getting calls and a lot more. The support and encouragement of Jack Armstrong since Eric got us together has been tremendous. I can not tell you how much it means to me. I have never told Jack this but he honestly reminds me in many ways of my own father who I lost at the age of 13. There is nobody that I know from my work in the Dino Nation Blog that I would do more for or defend to the end of the earth than Jack Armstrong. He has NEVER once turned me down to do an interview. He is a joy to work with and it is truly one of the best experiences I have had in 5 years of doing this.

So with that said please have a listen to yet another great conversation with myself and Jack Armstrong:


In five years of covering this team I have had a lot of ups and some downs but it has been a fun ride. Do I wish the Raptors had performed better over that time? Of course I do, but that never impacts on how hard I work at what I am doing. The list of people I could thank would be a long one. I will just say for all the people that have over the years come to this thing I created be they as guests or as readers and listeners of what I do...Thank You.

The Dino Nation Blog can at times be rough around the edges. I do my best to balance keeping going after my dreams and looking after my family concerns. I think one of my favourite memories of both involves Jack Armstrong too. I had an interview with Jack and it fell on my mom's birthday. I asked him if he would sing White Christmas for my mom because she loves snow and Happy Birthday seemed to cliched. Jack was happy to comply. He has sung here, talked a ton of basketball, even some out of the box stuff like breaking down the basketball skills of Barrack Obama.

No matter what has been thrown Jack's way here in the DNB he has always come through for us and I am always thankful to see him or talk with him. I met players and do many things but to say that Jack Armstrong knows me and respects me ranks at the top of my list of things I have accomplished because I respect him so much.

This Week In Raptorland: 8 Is Not Enough

Here we go with another week of Raptors talk and reviewing and looking ahead on all that is going on with your Toronto Raptors. It is as always myself with Josh Lewenberg Raptors Beat Reporter for TSN 1050. In addition this episode I talk with Canadian point guard for the Spurs Cory Joseph. He recently was called up from the D-League and is back on the Spurs Roster. We talk about his second return to Toronto a much more low key affair. In addition his thoughts on Canada Basketball. We also give you a preview of my chat with DeMar DeRozan that will be up in the blog this week. Also Raptors radio broadcaster Eric Smith pops by for a quick visit to talk about his latest charity venture for the holidays. We also talk briefly on his thoughts on the Raptors slow start to the season. This and your question in the Fan Five Frenzy. Where we give away another 3 pounds of chicken wings to 3 lucky listeners of the podcast who contributed their topics or questions. You can do this too just use the Hashtag #TWIR5 on Twitter and will take five of the best and put them in mix to get some free chicken wings. All this and our usually features and a new one that Allan Iverson would not approve of but hopefully you will.

Thanks to Cory Joseph, DeMar DeRozan, Eric Smith and our great sponsors at St Louis Wings for feeding all of you in our fan frenzy. As well as my co-host Josh Lewenberg who has been just awesome to work with. TOMMORROW...JACK ARMSTRONG AND DEMAR DEROZAN Interviews in the DNB.

Casey Wants Us To Join Him On A Ride To Hell With Andrea Bargnani

The Raptors, in a game that had many positive aspects found a way to lose again in double overtime to a more talented San Antonio Spurs team at the ACC.  I can accept that and honestly you should too. Here is what isn’t acceptable. You have Andrea Bargnani just playing as terrible as he possibly could on offense.  On the other hand you have Ed Davis having a career night his best as a Raptor. I am even willing to concede riding Bargnani till the end of regulation. However in overtime to not play Ed Davis and tell Andrea Bargnani it is not your night take a seat is 100% unacceptable.

One of the things I have many times praised Dwane Casey for in this blog is bringing back some sense of accountability to this team. It was something that under Jay Triano quite frankly that was non-existent. Today after the game when Casey was asked about Andrea and why he continued to play in overtime his response was this.

“Andrea is our guy come hell or high water.”

Well 3-11 might not exactly be hell but it damn sure isn’t paradise either.  If you are going to tell this team to Pound the Rock and keeping fighting hard you can’t allow Andrea Bargnani to have some kind of immunity from that.  The one sequence that just complete was a green light to give Bargnani the hook was when he drove had his shot blocked and than kept possession and went to the corner passed to Jose and got a quick return pass to brick a three. That was it right there.

I think why I am so upset is so many guys did have great efforts in this game. Jose Calderon was not one of them and the fact that is the only mention of that you will read from me likely illustrates my anger. Ed Davis had a career night as Raptor his best by far as member of this franchise. What is the message to him? What is the message to Kyle Lowry that came back early from a bone bruise to try and help this team? What is the message to DeMar DeRozan who after a bad night for him in Detroit came back to lead the team with 29 points.

Andrea Bargnani just gives off the impression on and off the floor that he could careless. I honestly think I could count on two hands the amount of times I have felt Andrea cared in now 7 years here and have fingers left over.

One of the oldest basketball expressions or even a sport expression I can recall is your best player needs to be your hardest worker. That guy Casey is going to hell with and taking all of us with him is not that guy. It is guys like DeMar DeRozan and Kyle Lowry. It could even be said of others. However the one thing that is crystal clear as we sit with coach number three is that is NOT ANDREA BARGNANI.

Dwane Casey, Bryan Colangelo or God coming down on this earth could not convince me otherwise.

The Raptors are playing a serious game of chicken with their passionate hardcore fan base. They are fed up with Andrea Bargnani for the most part and these people have been through a lot. Today was a sellout at the ACC. If the Raptors hope to have these in the future they need to address this Andrea Bargnani situation once and for all.

It is not the way Dwane Casey suggests that we all go on ride to hell with a guy that doesn’t particularly care. If Casey keeps on this path will Andrea remain and will move on to coach number 4?  People hated how Sam Mitchell treated Andrea Bargnani but in some ways maybe Sam saw what we all see even now. A guy that just is what he is and is not going to bust his ass or even lift a finger to change.

This has to become DeMar DeRozan and Kyle Lowry’s team and it needs to happen sooner rather than later. The Raptors will not only miss the playoffs they will likely lose a lot more in terms of their hardcore base support which has been angry in the past but not to this level. People are fed up with false hope and false expectations and they need someone to blame. Andrea Bargnani by his lack of effort sets himself up to be the poster boy for that displeasure.

Josh and I will have more on the week that was in Raptorland on TWIR tomorrow. Also have interviews with DeMar DeRozan, Cory Joesph and Eric Smith on the program. The game? Spurs won it 111-106 in double OT. 4 straight loss for the Dinos as things have got pretty bleak with no end in sight.

Joy and Pain: No Sunshine Just Rain For Raptors

Let me start with the happy part of last night. It was great to share my birthday and celebrate 5 years of the Dino Nation Blog which technically happens this Tuesday. We have lined up our favourite and most popular guest to join us Jack Armstrong for that. Obviously, he was not at our party last night he was calling the game in Detroit. It was a great time though with lots of people I knew and met a few new ones to add to a growing list in the last 5 years.

When I came up with this whole idea of doing a blog on the Toronto Raptors I am not sure I fully understood what it would mean for my life personally.I never started doing this to add friends into my life. I did it because I love basketball and have a media background and thought I could produce something interesting and different from what was out there.

Always keeping the fans opinions and thoughts at the front of the conversation I would be creating in what I write. So it likely should have made sense these people who hopefully were going to read this would get to know me and I would get to know them. It just never was something I thought about.

I am not sure when exactly I decided this but I said you know what I want to meet all these people that follow me in the blog and on twitter. I want to talk with them get to know them and turn the DNB into a family type of environment.


Last night was an example of that change in mindset in action. St Louis Wings was on of those people that found me on Twitter and they encouraged me to try doing these parties and come out and be a host for them. I was hesitant at first because I was still working for The Score at the time and it would lead to conflicts with my work schedule. I decided if we are going to try this let’s do it on a night that was a can’t miss. That night was the return of Chris Bosh to Toronto. The place was packed and it was a great success. The blog that night which I did live from the party was likely less successful.

The thing is I truly care when I do these events and I feel it is my duty to give all I can to get people to come out and support Manu and the folks at St Louis Wings. They have trusted me and I have always been treated so well by them. So these build ups to the parties I may drive you all insane in the promotion of them. That is the reason why though because I truly care.

Last night the place was packed and I felt great about that. These parties are a great way for me to relax and get to know people and just watch a game like a fan which has been a rare event in these last almost 5 years of doing this job. So thanks to everyone and all you folks that missed this one I hope to see you at the next one which we have yet to figure out a date for. Likely in 2013, but who knows if it is sooner safe to say you will be well informed about it.

On to the pain part and that would be the Toronto Raptors who I did manage to notice in between drinks, food and acting as a good host lost to the Detroit Pistons. Ironically on a night Andrea Bargnani decided to show up a lot of others didn’t as much. At the top of that list was DeMar DeRozan who had his worst game of the season to this point. Timing could not be worse for me putting this article out in Bleacher Report on how he is finally producing.

The fact this team is 3-10 and after a point in their schedule where they should have picked up some wins they have not. Concern is growing after a lot of folks had some lofty and somewhat unrealistic expectations for this team. I had said prior to the season this team was not going make the playoffs. However I expected them to be close. At this point they are no where near close.

The games ahead vs. San Antonio, which I will be covering, and Houston and Memphis on the road do not offer much hope of victory. It likely gets worse before it gets better for Toronto Raptors. Hence why having all those friends I have made make life a little easier to take another season where the Raptors have underachieved as a group.