I had a weekend of Madness and was live blogging 3 games over the weekend. I also was hanging out in the Score Live Blog with D.J Bennett making some new basketball friends. I was unable to watch the complete version of the Raptors and Clippers. However the result is not a shock. The Clippers truly suck. I mean as bad as it has been in Toronto, it is nothing in comparison to the Clippers. Raptor fans had high expectations and that may be why it hurts a little more. Clipper fans, if there truly is such a thing, have been use to failure. They might have had hope with Baron Davis and Marcus Camby. However hope in Clip Nation is like a moth to a flame it doesn't last long. The same can be said for the Raptors win on Sunday. The one thing folks may remember is a steal and a dunk but Jose Calderon. In his entire time as a Raptor I can not recall Jose throwing down a dunk. I am thinking it will be a rare event that you can tell you grand kids you saw it. Raptors will have till Wednesday to enjoy a win. Bucks will come in still very much alive in a playoff race and Charlie V will be twittering away from the ACC. The sad reality of things is the Raptors have been reduced to the roll of a spoiler. They will be playing a lot of teams fighting for the right to get demolished by the Boston Celtics.
James Harden Off My Draft Board
I kept hearing Raptor fans talking up James Harden and that he was the guy for the Raptors. After watching to less than impressive performances in the NCAA tournament from him for ASU. I am not convinced. What people do in the NCAA Tournament means a lot to me and scouts tend to look at it close as well. What do you do when the lights are the brightest? How do you perform under the glare of them? The answer for James Harden is not so hot. If the Raptors are some how lucky enough to hit the lotto and get in the top 3. The guy that I would like to see is Haseem Thabeet. The big guy from UConn is a defensive beast and has drawn comparisons to Mutumbo. Not the old Mutumbo you see now, the you finger wagging shoot blocking force. If not so lucky and Raptors slot in around where they are suppose to select which would be 7th currently I believe. The guy that I think might make sense as much as I hate the school is Gerald Henderson. The Duke product is a slashing scoring guy that sticks out in a Duke system that is not exactly designed for a player with his skill set. Yet he still funds ways to be very effective in it. Those are some early draft thoughts from me. There is lots of time before the draft to break down the entire draft class. But those are some thoughts on 3 guys that should be hearing their name called in June.
Nathan Jawai Back From His D-League Mission
I was surprised to see Nathan Jawai in a suit at the ACC on Sunday. He had a nice run in the D-League and put up a some decent numbers. What I also learn about Nate is as nice as he is the big guy has a temper on the floor. It was not an uncommon thing to see technical foul and Nathan Jawai in an NBDL boxscore. I welcome that kind of aggression and anger to this squad. Raptors need much more of it. Pops Mensah-Bonsu and Nathan Jawai are two of the bigs the Raptors should have moving forward. Both bring some defense and rebounding which have been sorely lacking on this basketball team. Jawai still has a long way to go. However he does have an impressive skill set and showed it much more in the D-League than he had with the Raptors. That was the point of his trip to Idaho in the first place. But he is heading back to Idaho and was in town for some tests and should be back with Stampede by mid-week according to Doug Smith in the Star.
He has averaged in 10 games:
12.2 points, 6.5 rebounds and 1.2 blocks in an average of 25 minutes on the floor.
It will be a key summer for Nathan to take all that he has learned this season and apply it this off-season. I have not given up on the big man and think he can come back next season and hopefully have an impact. Upon further review it seems Nathan may be sticking around as Andrea Bargnani missed yesterday with a heel injury. Jawai may stick around for the end of the season and get some time as Raps reality sets in as a playoffs math is almost done.
Sorry for the lack of production on behalf of the Dino Blogger over the weekend. I am always working hard though know that. Sometimes it takes awhile to see that as I do a lot of work behind the scenes in getting guests for the Dino Nation Blog and setting up things that hopeful will add to you enjoyment of this blog and keep you coming back for more. In what has been a very tough season I am grateful for all of you that keep coming back. It is always good motivation to keep working hard and grinding it out. Raptor fans are first rate and have a ton of passion, love and support for this team and hopefully this blog as well.
One of the things the Dino Nation Blog can take pride in is being one of the first places outside of Australia to tell you about the story of Nathan Jawai. In the past, we have had Aaron Fearne come talk with us about Nathan and his journey. However we are now pleased to talk with Nate himself. Nathan has recently made his way to Idaho to play with the Stampede in the D-league. It has been a season that has had a lot of bumps in the road but Nathan is now getting out on the floor and seeing time with the Stampede. I started there with Nathan asking him how it felt to be getting out there and playing significant minutes for the first time in a long while.
Nathan Jawai-" Yeah, it is exciting. It is great to be back out there playing some minutes. I'm just excited after 3 months I am able to be back out on the floor and being out there is great."
Nathan had been sidelined from the start of the year with a concern about his heart that came up from testing prior to training camp. So that kept him out of action. I had been told by Aaron and others that Nate had really just been frustrated and wanted to get back on the floor. Here is what he had to say about that.
Nathan Jawai-" I was worried about the condition I had but now that I am back I don't even think about it. Basically it was nothing anyway, and I was just worried if I would be able to play again. It has been frustrating for me and it has been hard but it is all behind me now and I am just looking forward to be back on the NBA court."
The road to that will go through Idaho with the Stampede. I asked Nathan what the Raptors and he were looking for him to work on while he was down with the Stampede.
Nathan Jawai-" Basically it is getting back into basketball shape that is the biggest thing for me while I am down here. Also to work on my rebounding and my defense and getting use to the speed of the game, because back home it is totally different."
Back home for Nathan is of course Australia and I asked him how it had been for him through all of this season as far as support from back home.
Nathan Jawai-" They have been great. I have a lot of friends that support me, I have my girlfriend that supports me, I got a lot of support. They have been great for me. If I didn't have them it would have been harder for me to return to the court. Right now they have all been great for me. I keep in contact with home a couple times a month. They are all happy to hear that I am back on the court and that I am all healthy."
It is important to realize that Nathan is fairly new to the sport of basketball this time for him on the court be it in Idaho or anywhere is valuable. Nathan talks about his quick path to this point he is at.
Nathan Jawai-" Yeah, this is my 5th year. Looking back on what I have done so far it is unbelievable. When I look back 5 years ago I wouldn't think it would take me this amount of time to get to the NBA. It is unbelievable and I can't believe that I am here. But I am blessed that it only took me 5 years to get here. Now that I am here, I just want to achieve and do the best that I can to get back on court and be a force in the NBA"
In making the choice to enter the NBA draft it cost Nathan a chance to play for Australia this summer in the Olympics in Beijing. I asked Nathan for his thoughts on having to make that choice.
Nathan Jawai-" It has hard but I had 2 options to come to the draft or stay and play for the national team. The rules for the draft if I was in college I would have had another year before I would have had to enter the draft. But because I played professionally in Australia I had to go in this year. So with the Australian team I will always have a chance to go back and play for my country. So, probably in the future I will be wearing that green and gold uniform and I am looking forward to that as well."
While Nathan was unable to play for the his nation. A good friend of his was. Pat Mills made an impact for Australia and people noticed. NBA scouts and high praise from NBA stars like Chris Paul. I asked Nathan how it felt to be watching his friend do so well on that stage.
Nathan Jawai-" I mean yeah it was a big surprise. He has come a long way himself. This year he may be entering (The Draft) I don't know but I hope that he does. To see him get on the court and compete against the Americans and other countries the way he carried himself and played was really amazing because when I was at the Institute ( The Australian Institute of Sport) I saw a different Patty."
Mills took that Olympic experience and translated to his play with St. Mary's this year in the NCAA. He had been having a great season until breaking his hand in a game in conference play. I asked Nathan if he had been following how he had been doing. He said he got a chance to see him play live in San Francisco and kept close tabs on him watching on T.V and he saw the game that he was injured has hand. He says he talks with him on a regular basis about once a week. Mills if you have not seen him is an under sized guard that for me is a lot like a Jameer Nelson. They even look a like a little bit. He has amazing speed and his highly skilled. Aaron Fearne in a past interview had glowing things to say about his play, his ability and his potential. His St. Mary's squad, thanks in part to his injury and not being able to play, sit on the bubble for getting in the NCAA Tournament.
As for Nathan what are his plans for the off-season to come. What will he be doing this summer?
Nathan Jawai-" Basically what I am down here for. To get in shape and get use to the speed of the game. Working on my shot and my skills. Try to get better so I can secure a long NBA contract after my season next year. That is what I am looking out for. So my summer will be a pretty hard one this year. I am looking forward to that and trying to get back to where I left off."
What has Nathan learned about the NBA game?
Nathan Jawai-" How to defend in the post is different from back home. Basically it is the speed for me that is what it is. It is basically the same but the tempo and the speed is a lot faster. The thing is the guys playing at this level everyone is good. There is no one on a team that is a bad player. That is why it's hard. You always have to be ready that is what I have learned from practicing and sitting on the sidelines."
Given the season that the Raptors have had some have lost patience with everything. However from all the basketball people I have talked with they all see great potential in Nathan and what he can become. Nathan I had been told by everyone that he is a great person and has a great attitude. The folks with the Stampede have been impressed with him and see that potential. It has been hard for Raptor fans to see that in the limited time they have got to see Nathan but if you get the chance fire up your computer and check out the Stampede and watch him and I think you will be impressed. I watched him play in the Las Vegas Summer league and he had an impressive game against Golden State. He has flashes of great plays and you can see why people were impressed by him. It was unfortunate, that his progression was halted for 3 months and there is work for him to do just to get back to the point he was at heading into his first NBA season. However, he is more than willing to put in that work. He also has come so far so fast it would be foolish to bet against him at this point. I know here at the Dino Nation Blog we are not going to do that. In fact we do the opposite and wish Nathan nothing but success in his future heading forward. I want to thank Nathan and also thank the Idaho Stampede Organization for helping set up this interview, and all the interviews we have been doing with the recently. They have been very willing to work with the Dino Nation Blog and that is a great thing.
Brent Petway was a star with the Michigan Wolverines and he can flat of sky. It was a great thrill as a fan of the Michigan Wolverines to get a chance to talk basketball and dunking with him. The Dino Blogger can only dream of what it is like to dunk a basketball. This guy does it very well. He also is trying make his way to the NBA with D-League Idaho Stampede. He is in his second year in Idaho and he talks with us about a number of things from dunking, his thoughts on how his old school is doing and thoughts on newest team mate Nathan Jawai. One of the things we talk about is a YouTube Video in which he throws down a challenge to "Superman" Dwight Howard. Check it out.
So what ever happened with that challenge? Did Dwight ever answer it?
Brent Petway-" Nah he never did. But I think next year we are going to actually be able to do that, the winner of the D-League contest against the winner of the NBA contest I think, I am not sure. But next year it might actually materialize."
If it did that could mean that Brent could end of facing Lebron James. James of course made it known that he plans on entering the contest next year in Dallas in front of what could be over 100,000 people according to what Mark Cuban the Mavs owner is said to be hoping for. I asked Brent about the chance of a James vs Petway dunk off.
Brent Petway-" Yeah, that would be really fun. Any of those guys really. It would be a good little show off."
Brent was in the Finals and lost in this year's D-League dunk off. He was the defending champion of the event. He had a chance to check out the NBA version and I asked him for his thoughts on that.
Brent Petway-" It was actually pretty good. We had are D-League dunk contest the night before and that was great. I watched the NBA one and Dwight came with some stuff and Nate Robinson I liked the nice little kryptonite thing he had. It was a nice little contest they had. It was fun to see Nate get up and jumper over Dwight that was a good little dunk right there."
I had my 2 cents on the dunk contest this year and I was not as big a fan of it. However Brent knowing what it takes to do all those things likely has a much different prospective. Speaking of which I asked him about who some of his idols were as far as dunking goes. Growing up in Georgia he was a big fan as a kid of the "Human Hi-Light Reel" Dominique Wilkins and remembers his battles with Michael Jordan. Brent earned his own nick name of "Air Georgia" and he was also a fan of "Air Canada" Vince Carter as one of the guys he liked to watch. He credits Carter with putting the dunk contest back on the map. Which as much as Raptors fans may hate Vince now is 100% correct. Vince Carter really brought life back to the dunk contest after it had been gone for a few years and gave it a new life for guys like Dwight Howard, Josh Smith and guys like Brent.
I mentioned that Brent is a former member of the Michigan Wolverines here is a little visual reminder of him and his skills as a dunker back then.
Michigan is a huge sports school and part of the Big Ten of course. They have the crazy fans and basketball has always been a big deal at the U of M going back to Glen Rice and a National Title to the Fab Five era. So I wondered what the differences were from life as a Wolverine to life as a member of the Stampede. Here is what Brent had to say about that.
Brent Petway-" The Major difference is probably the fans definitely, because in college the fans are much more hardcore when it comes the fans. Alumni and students when you walk around the campus everyone pretty much knows you. As opposed to in the D-League people might not even know who you are unless you have a Stampede shirt on or something. Unless they were season ticket holders or something like that."
So which is better being known or having ability to go around with out getting noticed?
Brent Petway- "I don't know it goes both ways. When your known you have to sign a whole bunch of autographs and stuff when I was in the city when I was at Michigan. So sometimes when you are out you just want have fun and chill. Then there are other time when you are doing community relations and things where you are expecting to do those things. So it can go both ways."
One of the things that we in Canada do not have is the pride people have for the schools they attend. A lot of times here in Canada many of us will graduate from a college or university and may never set foot on campus again or follow the sports teams and programs. In United States it is a totally different story. If you are a Wolverine, Longhorn, Tarheel or whoever it is a lifetime thing. So I was pretty sure Brent would still be keeping tabs on the U of M. I asked him if had been following the Wolverines this year and what his thoughts were on how the program was doing and where it was heading.
Brent Petway-" It has been fun to watch. I have been keeping up with them as much as I can. On Sportscenter, catching there games when they come on and I still have a couple people in Detroit that I talk to now and then that are keeping me updated. They are fun to watch and they were ranked for a bit. Now they are on the bubble and hopefully they can get off that bubble and get in."
Toronto has a player on that U of M squad Jevohn Sheppard, and I asked Brent about how he got along with him?
Brent Petaway-" Yeah, Jevohn is a good guy I was there with him for 2 years. He has a little sky to his game as well, he can get up a little bit. He is a good guy to be around and he is having a good year as well"
Brent I am sure was happy to learn that the Wolverines were winners today on the road at Minnesota.Holding on for a hard fought come from behind victory 67-64. Still a week till we find out if it is the Tournament or the NIT for the Wolverines but this are going the right way. So, I think Brent would be cool with me saying Go Blue.
We have spent a lot of time talking about dunking which Brent is one of the best you will find at any level of basketball. However what else is he working on to take his game to that next level to get to the NBA?
Brent Petway- " I have just been working on what I can to get up there where big Nate(Jawai) is. Trying to be not just a dunker and I am trying to work on my outside game. There is a lot of stuff I am working on. Hoping that I get up there(To NBA ) and be one of those rotation players hopefully."
I asked Brent what his thoughts were about his new team mate from Australia in Nathan Jawai.
Brent Petway-" He is a good player. He came down here and he wanted play right away. He is a joy to be around and he always has a smile on his face. He loves to play the game, he likes to pass the ball, so he is always tell us to cut when he gets the ball. So I think he is going to be a great fit"
One of the things in the various things we having being doing about the D-League that I personally come back to is the challenge it must be for everyone to adapt to the ever changing rosters. There is constant player movement. I asked Brent about the challenge of that as a player.
Brent Petway-" Yeah it is really tough. Cause you have guys from the NBA coming down here. You'll have teammates leave and go overseas. So it is real tough just trying to keep the team chemistry. That is a big thing for the program to have a chemistry with your teammates. But it is just being a professional and you have to keep playing ball and let the chips fall where the may."
The Stampede are currently in a dog fight leading their Division and have Utah who they will play again on Monday and Bakersfield close to them in the standings. I asked Brent for his thoughts on what lies ahead for the Stampede?
Brent Petway-" It has been going well. I think we have like 14 games to go. We got a team right on our heels in Utah. They are playing good ball and we have them a couple more times. So hopefully we can keep doing what we have been doing and stay in first place and have some momentum heading into the playoffs."
Brent was really great to talk with. He also said that Pops Mensah-Bonsu is a good player and should help up here in Toronto. He is a guy who Bent said is very athletic. He knows a bit about him even back from his college days at George Washington. Brent had a friend from back home in Georgia who was his teammate on that squad at GW. Pops was pretty nice in his debut last night against the Heat. As for Brent he continues to work hard with the Stampede and is hopefully of making it to the NBA. He is also hopefully of doing what former Raptor Jamario Moon did and get a chance to shine on All Star Saturday night. He said to me he thinks if he ever gets that chance he will definitely try to turn some heads. Here is more evidence to why he could be right.
All the best to Brent with the rest of his season. Here is hoping he can make his way to the NBA. It was a great deal of fun to have him as a guest and I would welcome him back any time.
The Dino Nation Blog has been hard at work and touching based with our friends in Idaho. Today we had a chance to talk with Joel Abelson assistant coach of Idaho Stampede. He has worked with such NBA stars as Jermaine O'Neal, Baron Davis, Paul Pierce, Al Harrington, and Chauncey Billups, in working with Joe Abunassar with Impact Basketball in Vegas. He has also worked with the Charlotte Bobcats as well. He is now working with Toronto second round pick Nathan Jawai who joined the Stampede last week. He also chips in with a scouting report on Pops Mensah-Bonsu. We also talk about the current and future of NBDL league and prospects for the defending champion Stampede.
That is the kick off to our Stampede weekend. By time Sunday rolls a round you will also hear from Brent Petway who is a member of the Stampede in his second year with the club and a former Michigan Wolverine. He is a guy that is one of the best dunkers you are going to find. He once challenged Dwight Howard to a D-League vs NBA dunk off. We talk about Wolverine, Dunking and his career. We also ask him about his new team member Nathan Jawai. That will be the cap off for Stampede weekend as the Dino Nation Blog talks with Nathan Jawai. Both guys were on cell phones and quality was a little bit off. So these will be it written form. Hopefully you will enjoy it all. The Stampede organization has been really great to work with and the Dino Nation Blog has been happy to form a relationship with the Raptors affiliate in the D-League. Stampede will not be in action till Monday night and will have an update on how the make out but the Raptors will be hosting that Heat and Jazz before that. Stampede are fighting for first place and are looking to defend their D-League title. That is a lot more exciting than waiting for the draft lottery.
Well I attempted to live blog it, but that didn't work out so well. Nathan Jawai got his first D-League start, wearing 00 like Robert Parish did back in the day. He would see 31 minutes of action, shot 2-7 but 8-11 from the the line and end up with 12 points, 5 rebounds, 3 blocks and 2 steals. Former Raptor Luke Jackson would lead the Stampede with 24 points as they got revenge on division rival Utah. Idaho would get the 104-96 win and go back to first in the Division. Jim Kelly was interviewed at halftime and had some things to say about Jawai. He revealed that Nathan is going to be monitored monthly in regard to his heart condition. He did not feel it was a major concern. He said that the Raptors have no specific plan for Nathan and that how he played would dictate if he remained in Idaho. Not from a numbers point of view but from just getting into game shape. He brought up the fact the Nathan is still very raw and new to the sport of basketball. It seemed that the Raptors would be content to have him be there for the near future at least. Kelly expressed confidence in Bryan Gates who is a former D-League coach of the year. The plan is for Nate to remain and have someone from the Raptors check in on him in about 3 weeks was the time line suggested. It seems clear that Nathan's defense is ahead of his offense at this point and after fouling out in his debut he only had 3 fouls on this night. Below is a complete Boxscore.
Dino Nation Blog will continue to keep tabs on Nate while he is in the D-League and keep working with the good folks in Idaho at bringing you some information on both Nathan and the Stampede. Idaho has a break and will not be playing for awhile so Nathan should have a chance to learn things and get to know his team better. They will be playing Utah once again on the road this time.
Wow was that something. I mean as a basketball fan I feel good for Shaq, as a Raptor fan I just am left feeling empty. It gets no easier as the Raptors get set to head to Texas for a double dip with the Mavericks and Rockets. I could not help but think if the Raptors could not have an answer for Shaq it would seem logically they will have no answer for Yao as well. Not to say beating the Mavericks will be an easy task. That will be tough as well. Bosh will at least have some support in the home town in Dallas and likely in Houston as well. He sure has not had a lot of it from Toronto of late. The whole issue with Bosh is making me sick. Fans are not helping matters in thinking he is as good as gone. Toronto and Raptor fans need to wake up to the fact that we need to start supporting our guys. If we continue to live in the past it will only help serve to watch it repeat itself. You might say well who cares what I do is not going to change anything. I can not argue or dispute that. However if you turn your back on someone before he has on you that is not helping things at the very least. Just because times are tough is not reason to turn your back on Chris Bosh. He has had a great career with the Raptors. It has not turned into playoff success but he has done more than his part for a long time. He is not Vince Carter or T-Mac or Damon. However the more fans turn their backs on him the more he is likely to head down that path.
Bryan Colangelo no doubt has to do his part and make this team better. However fans need to do your part as well. I think when Jameer Nelson earlier this year commented on the booing of Bosh that should have been a wake up call. If other NBA players notice this how likely are they going to be willing to come here. Toronto has a tough enough time as it is to attract players having a fan base that shows no loyalty to it's star player is not exactly a selling point for free agents to come here. There is already enough stuff you need to fight through to convince folks to come here. Let's not be part of the problem in people wanting to be here. It may be a small thing and I have no idea if it truly matters. I can just say as a person I would not want to come to a place where I didn't feel fans would show me loyalty and have my back. People will point out cities like New York and Philadelphia as examples of fan bases that are extremely tough on it's stars. That is fact no doubt. However it is also fact those cities do not face the challenges of being the only franchise in a different country. New York and Philadelphia are no doubt unique cities but they are part of America.
At some point this needs to end. I mean this is becoming a growing thing to me that I personally find annoying. How many players is it going to take to get driven out of town before people wake up and get it. I find it is unfair to compare Bosh to Vince Carter. Chris has given his all and is always a guy that when he is out does all her can to get back in the line-up. I am just tired of watch fans turn on guy after guy. If some walks away after that point I get it. However while they are still part of this team it makes no sense at all. It would make me laugh how some people were talking about picking O'Neal over Bosh. I mean what the hell is that. J.O was a Raptor for a few months and played no where close to an All Star at any point. Yet some people out there were embracing him and turning their back on Bosh. Insane is the only thing I can say about that.
Here is the bottom line of all of this. Maybe we forget that the fact we even have a team is something to be thankful for. Ask people in Vancouver and Seattle if the would take this team warts and all. I am thinking they would in a heartbeat. I know that in writing all of this I am not likely going to change most peoples minds. But seriously how good do you think this team can be without Chris Bosh? The same people that want to seem him gone will be the ones that will be moaning when the Raptors can not attract someone better and they truly suck. Give you head a shake and realize that CB4 has done nothing to disrespect you or me. He goes out and plays at a level that is of an All Star on more nights than he doesn't. I will go down with the ship if need be. I watched my favourite player get railroaded out of Toronto and yes he was part of it. However so were all of the people that blow with the wind and the trend. Here is my best advice for all of you out there. Just stay true to yourself and do not allow a bunch of angry people or bad history impact on your judgement. I respect Chris Bosh regardless of what lies ahead. I am also confident that his behaviour will be nothing like that of Vince Carter or Tracey McGrady. Listen to broadcasts of other teams and how they talk about Bosh. It seems he gets a lot more respect outside of Toronto than in it. That script is backwards.
I had mentioned a feature we were going to be doing for the Dino Nation Blog. It was and is a feature series on the Idaho Stampede. It is said in life you have to be good to be lucky and lucky to be good. I say this because on the day of the first interview that is part of this feature, Nathan Jawai was assigned the Stampede about an hour prior to the interview I had scheduled to start this feature series. So it took the scheduled conversation with Steve Brandes the President of the Idaho Stampede to a few different places than I had planned. But it makes the conversation all the more interesting for you. We talk about Nathan as well as getting to know the Idaho Stampede, which no doubt many Raptor fans will be doing to follow Nathan's progress. His first game should be on Friday. Jim Kelly of the Raptors scouting staff will be in Idaho to help the Stampede be aware of what the Raptors are looking for Nate to work on in his time with them. There is also talk of the D-League as a whole, that actually just announced they will be expanding to Portland,Maine. It was a very interesting conversation that I hope you will enjoy.
Thanks to Jinny Giery the Head of Public Relations and Game Operations for helping put all of this together. Dino Nation Blog is going to continue on as planned with the feature on the Stampede and as we do keep taps on Big Nate and his progress. Nathan has also been special to this blog as I did a lot of work in the summer getting to learn his story and have had Aaron Fearne his coach and mentor as a guest several times. It should be fun and the Dino Nation Blog looks forward helping you get to know our D-League cousins so to speak. In the interview it was mentioned about how you can watch D-League games online. Some thing Raptors Fans have become experts at. So I will provide a link tomorrow so if you care to watch Nate play you can. You can find the links for D-League games on the their website
You can expect more on the Stampede in future editions of the blog. They are leading their division and the defending champions. Given the Raptors season and how it has gone I can only say...Go Stampede. Go Idaho and Go Big Nate. Obvious, I still love the Raptors as well but it has been a hard season to love them for Raptors fans.
Last week the Raptors acquired Patrick O'Bryant as part of a minor move at the Trade Deadline. O'Bryant was a draft choice of Golden State and spent some time with the Bakersfield Jam who are the affiliate of the Warriors as well as the Orlando Magic. Head Coach of the Jam is Scott Roth and I had a chance to talk about O'Bryant and also got into some things about the D-League itself.
Some interesting stuff on not only O'Bryant, but the D-League as a whole. Thanks to the folks with the Jam for helping set this interview up. The Raptors, if you didn't know, are now affiliated with the Idaho Stampede. In the future I will attempt to talk with them as well. Nathan Jawai who I mentioned in the blog earlier today may wind up there playing for them. Time will tell on that. O'Bryant seems like a guy that could offer some upside if he can figure things out. Raptors will hope he does and not become a guy stuck on potential like a Jerome Mosio anyone remember him? If you don't it is not a sin. But he was a guy that you would hear a lot about his upside and potential and it never worked out for him. Here is hoping things work out better for Mr. O'Bryant. Thanks to Coach Roth for his insight on Patrick and the league he coaches in. The D-League is something that has opened up doors for a lot of guys, and I would say has been something that has been successful to this point for the NBA. The Raptors have talked about having a team closer to home that they could run in perhaps Hamilton or Buffalo someday. It would be cool for me if it was here in Hamilton. Several teams in the D-League have went that route. Running their own exclusive NBDL franchises. L.A Lakers,San Antonio and Oklahoma City all have their own teams with a single affiliation. It is something the folks at MLSE have looked at doing in the future, at least there has been talk that they have.
If you ever have a question or concern or request. You can always contact the Dino Nation Blog @t Dinoblogger@gmail.com
I am always willing to talk with folks for interviews etc. I currently am doing 2 regular radio appearances weekly. But I am always willing to do more stuff large or small. Whatever it is you would like to discuss I will be happy to reply.
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