Basketball Basics

Ball is all the rage and when people look back at this video they will think what the heck was this about. However it is all inspired by the Hedo Turkoglu post game interview about BALL!!!





I hope you enjoyed what may turn out to be the only ever episode of Basic Basketball Basics.

Raptors Make It Rain In Big Easy

Not exactly a re-cap for you. Just some sound thoughts on Raps and Hornets from Friday night. Jose Calderon has taken a lot of heat here and elsewhere but on this Friday in November Calderon looked more like the guy some see as an all-star. For whatever reason Chris Paul seems to bring out the best in Jose. The last time the Raptors had won in New Orleans Jose would shock everyone and out play Chris Paul on New Year's Eve. He was not as good on this night but miles ahead of anything we have seen from him this season. He had 16 points and 8 assists even had a steal. He would draw a charge on Paul in the 3rd quarter and was talking some smack. It was a fired up Jose Calderon on this night. You have to give credit when it is deserved and on this night it clearly was. Chris Bosh continued his amazing start to the season with a very solid 27 points to be the games high scorer along with 7 rebounds and a block. He did all that with sitting a big part of the 4th. He was not hurt or anything he just was not needed. The Raptors trailed by 2 at the half and came out of the locker room and blitzed the Hornets out scoring them 34-14 in the 3rd quarter. The defense was much better even guarding the are in which New Orleans was only 6-20. The Raptors were 14-29 from downtown and that was the big difference. The Raptors clearly can score coming into the game as 3rd best in the NBA.

If not for the fact the Raps have to play Dallas tomorrow night it is likely Andrea Bargnani would have back to back double doubles. After 12 rebounds vs the Pistons Bargnani had 9 boards to go with 14 points. HedoTurkoglu is starting to show signs of turning the corner and looking more like the guy that was advertised coming to the Raptors. It was a quiet night for Demar DeRozan with 4 points a couple boards and a block.

Jack and Belinelli lead the 30 point effort from the bench with 9 each. Wright and Johnson also looked good and it was a solid all around effort for the team as a whole. The Raptors even showed a little bit of a press look. If there was a knock on the Raps maybe the foul line where they were just 65% but it was better than New Orleans who shot below that and Raps got the line more.

Raptors would take this contest 107-90. They will now head to face Antonie Wright's former team and Chris Bosh games home. The Dallas Mavericks were sitting home and likely watching the Raptors take apart a team that they lost to in overtime. The Mavs did have a big win over the Lakers on their early season resume. The Raps head to Dallas riding a 2 game win streak.

The Raptors have been hard to figure out early on. Maybe they are final starting to come together and gel. You would like to hope so if you are trying to think positive. This is a very tough November in terms of schedule. If the Raps exit this month .500 or better there is real reason to be positive about this team moving forward. The Raps need to have effort like this on a night in and night out basis. A big help to that cause will be Reggie Evans once he returns to the fold. He seems the be getting closer and he did make the trip with the team. It probably would seem unlikely he would be ready to play on this trip. However he gets into it on the bench and when he does return he would only help things in terms of defense and rebounding. He can hold his own with even that big Italian rebounding monster we have.

A final word on Chris Bosh. It is hard not to think about the uncertain future for him and staying with the Raptors. However that will not be decided anytime soon. What is happening now is you are seeing a very motivated and determined CB4. Regardless of if it is for the final season or for many more to come Bosh is getting it done and showing you why he has become a fixture on Team U.S.A and a regular at the NBA All-Star game. Try not to let any paranoid feelings you may have about 2010 get in the way of enjoying what this guy is doing. Bosh for the second straight season has started the season with a bang. We can only hope that he remains healthy and does not have the off-court distractions he faced last season. If Bosh is able to keep at it and not have those issues, I believe you are going to see the best season of this kid's career. Well he is not a kid but he is younger than me. Here is something to think about for Bosh and all of you. When the 2 previous franchise players left looking for a fresh start they got that. However they never matched the level of success they had in Toronto in Raptors jersey. You can bet like Lebron James was likely asked tonight about N.Y.C someone will ask Bosh about a return home to the Mavs. I will say it right now Bosh is not playing for the Mavs next year. I am confident in thinking that will e the case. More wins and performances like tonight and there will not be a question of where Chris will be. The answer will be likely Toronto.

Hope Lost, On A Thursday In July

Alright this blog is brought to you by the folks on Twitter. Some good news off the top for a DNB guest. Justin Walsh was a guest on the Hardcore Hoops Show on The Score Satellite Radio. Some of the stuff was straight from his Interview here a couple days ago. So you guys that read the DNB heard it first. But Justin did a super job and congrats to him on that.

That last part is probably the last positive thing you will hear in this blog. The entire NBA was stunned to learn that Ron Artest is coming to L.A to join Kobe and the Lakers. Artest is the ultimate wild card and I would suggest the Lakers have to pray that Phil Jackson returns for this to truly work. Jackson did a great job with an unpredictable fellow by the name of Dennis Rodman. Now for the kids Rodman actually played basketball before becoming a reality show reject. He was good at it too. Only 2 coaches had ever been able to control him though.The late Chuck Daly and Phil.

From the Raptor angle of things when news broke that Yao Ming would likely miss the entire season and his career was in doubt, Ron Artest was packing and getting the heck out of Houston. I have always toyed with the idea of Artest as a Raptor. Bosh with his new C.D deal could have had Artest rap on it. Might be the only way Artest ever gets on an album rapping again. Was I over optimistic to think Ron Artest could end up in Toronto? Likely but hey sometimes you have to dream big and live with it if it doesn't work.

Besides this left the door wide open for Trevor Ariza to come to Toronto and save us all from overpaying for Hedo Turkoglu. But perhaps in an even more shocking and more Bizarre move, Ariza signs with the Rockets? Huh? You could have went to Portland who honestly talent wise is more attractive than Toronto but instead Ariza is signing in Houston?

Where is B.C in all of this. Like he was the guy that was finally going to give us respect and allow us to be able to sign players. What happened to that?

Here is my theory and I have no reason to believe it is wrong. I also have no reason to believe it will ever be confirmed. But when Bryan Colangelo came here he understood the challenge it was to build a team here in Canada. Some, not all players do not see living in Canada as viable option for them. B.C being the smart guy that he is decided to cash in on the appeal of Toronto for players from other countries. The idea to build his own little U.N of basketball here. The early results were solid but as of late not so much.

Hedo and Klezia would follow along that B.C plan. But the plan is doomed to fail. Can a team of basically euro talents beat a team of American talent? Yes they can in a game or a tournament. However over the long grind of an NBA season there is no way.

Some think that B.C might be sitting back and letting all of this pass him by. However maybe he knows he had no shot. Now Shawn Marion is not from Europe but he does have a past relationship with Colangelo. So that seems the lone exception to the buy Euro plan. Be it Shawn Marion, Jake Voskhul, Marcus Banks we have seen a number of former Suns hit the scene. Well except for the one Sun that most would like to see. He is not from Europe as well. But he does like soccer. But even still I like him anyway.

The bottom line is does a guy from Texas really want to play around a bunch of Euros with the odd exception to the rule. For that matter will a kid from Compton California if he becomes the next one. I started this mad as hell, but I now find myself in a depression not a rage. I think I get what Colangelo is doing and what he has been doing from the very start. The one step away from that direction was the trade for J.O and that was a car accident of a basketball trade.

Thank god for Demar DeRozan and here is hoping that he is as good as everyone seems to think he will be. I have a horrible feeling that unless a dramatic shift in the direction we are heading happens, Chris Bosh will be as good as gone and I would not be able to blame him one bit.

No Ariza and No Artest and Hope just took a big hit. If Shawn Marion were to return that would be something. I like Shawn but you have to figure if the Raps and him were close this would have got wrapped up quickly would it not have? So we are left with the pizza guy who was visiting another city not called Toronto today.

Yeah this off season is going REALLY WELL..NOT. If things do not change fast this is going to be on heck of a bummer anniversary season. 15 years and looking no closer to a title then when Mighty Mouse hit the floor at the Sky Dome. YEAH I SAID SKY DOME and If Rogers doesn't like that to bad!!! I am not in the mood. Off to play a Video Game that involves hurting something.