Change...When Will It Come To The Raptors?

The big news yesterday was that Pat Riley did not deny that he did in fact request health info on Jermaine O'Neal. This got a wildfire of speculation that the much talked about Shawn Marion and Jermaine O'Neal trade could go down very soon. Until it happens this can not be helping build chemistry on this team. That being said the chemistry has not been good anyway with the team on a 7-game losing streak. So it will be a wait and see approach if J.O is actually going to be in the line-up. However you can bet the next time he is a scratch the rumours will go through the roof if he is not there in the line-up. Jose Calderon is likely not going any where though. However he may be returning to the line-up tonight. He did practice with the team yesterday in Chicago. Calderon suggested it will be a mental hurdle he must get over to trust that his hamstring will not give out on him again. This is the second time this season Calderon will be returning from this injury. It is the 3rd injury total he has picked since the summer time. He was of course injured in Olympics. It makes you wonder if Calderon can in fact be durable playing starter minutes to level he forced to on this roster. One of the big reasons he was selected over T.J Ford to move forward with was his health in comparison to Ford. Both point guards have had their share of injuries this year.

A New Candidate For Raptors Coaching Job?

You may have missed this with all the all the trade rumour talk. But the Memphis Grizzlies said good bye to their head coach Mark Iavaroni yesterday.If you remember there was a lot of talk that Bryan Colangelo was very interested in bringing in Iavaroni to replace Sam Mitchell. However Mitchell would go on to win coach of the year and re-sign in Toronto. Colangelo may still consider him a candidate if he looks to hire a coach in the off-season. Given the lack of success it is hard to think he will not be. However there is a lot of candidates out there to choose from for Colangelo. But it should be noted that Iavaroni was of course an assistant with the Suns and Colangelo knows him very well. Colangelo has stated, he has no plans to address the coaching situation till the off-season. Given all the change that has gone on with this team and how they have responded to that it seems unlike a move will be made till then. But it is worth noting that another candidate could be on the list. If Iavaroni can not find a head coaching job you would think the New York Knicks would be interested in having him as an assistant under Mike D'Antoni.

All Star Starters Announced

Western Conference
Tim Duncan
Amare Stoudemire
Yao Ming
Kobe Bryant
Chris Paul

Eastern Conference
Kevin Garnett
LeBron James
Dwight Howard
Allen Iverson
Dwyane Wade

Dwight Howard was the player that got the most votes from fans. He was the only player to top 3 million in votes with a total of 3,150,181 votes. Other things of note Chris Paul was able to get in as a late push got him past Tracy McGrady to get in the starting line-up for the West. If T-Mac got in over Paul it would have been a joke. But not as big a joke as if Yi Jian Lian got in over Lebron James or Kevin Garnett. He did beat Raptors Chris Bosh by over 700,000 votes and Paul Pierce by just under 600,000 votes. It is just sad and it is a problem. I also question if Allen Iverson is an all-star as well. But it is what it is. It will be interesting to see if Chris Bosh is added to the roster when the reserves are announced. If it were up to one of the ex-coaches, that gets a lot of talk about being someone fans would like to see in Toronto, he would not be going. Jeff Van Gundy has went on the record and said that he thinks no player on a below .500 team deserves to be on the All-Star team. It may be tough to get a team for the East under that Van Gundy system.

Does it Stop At 7?

I am hopeful it will but not that optimistic. Derrick Rose going against a Jose Calderon that admits he is not fully confident in his hamstring mentally. Rose should be able to take advantage. Not to mention the mood around this team that is obviously waiting to see Jermaine O'Neal be shown the door. It just all says to me that the Raptors will not win. If they do not win the next game after that I will seriously question if I should keep writing game re-caps the rest of the year. That game is against the Sacremento Kings and they may be one of a short list of teams that are in worse shape. But as for tonight, I give the Bulls the edge in this game. I don't want to do it but it just seems very unlikely the Raptors can pull together to get a win. That being said whenever I think the Raptors will lay an egg they usually come out and surprise me over the years. Let's hope that is the case with this one. Why? BECAUSE LOSING SUCKS!!!

Matrix Not Yet Loaded

Well if you have not heard about the rumoured trade between Miami and Toronto. Where have you been? But this morning Pat Riley has poured some water on to the fire that a deal may happen right away. What was true is that both Jermaine O'Neal and Shawn Marion both did not play yesterday. In a strange touch of Irony the Raptors and Heat were part of the only 2 games on Sunday in the NBA. Still this article in the Miami Herald suggests we are all putting the cart before the horse according to Riley. Here is a link for you to check it out.

Miami Herald on J.O/Marion Trade Rumours

But in that article there is no denial of the deal happening down the line. If you noticed yesterday Bryan Colangelo in his normal (little bunker as I like to call it) place was working his blackberry. That may not mean much. The fact he declined to talk on CBC about the issue may have meant just a bit more.

But the sober reality trade or not is the road to a playoff spot keeps getting longer and longer for the Raptors. As we sit here today the Raptors would need to go 25-15 just to finish with a .500 record. That is one thing the other is how many teams are in front of the Raptors. No matter what the Raptors do they will need help from a lot of teams not doing as well as they do to move up the ladder.

Atlanta Is No Joke

I was one of the people that did not believe in the Hawks this year. But it looks like taking the Celtics to 7 games in last year's playoffs has been a building point for the Hawks. No Josh Childress was not a big deal as they let him walk to earn some bigger bucks in Europe. Joe Johnson has really grown into a star in his own right since leaving the Suns. He is the major scoring force that drives this team. The Hawks have taken a lot of heat for passing on point guards like Deron Williams and Chris Paul. Those were still terrible moves but a trade to bring in Mike Bibby has proved to be a success for the Hawks.

They sit with the 4th best record in the Eastern Conference. They are 23-16 far behind the Top 3 teams in the East. They have a number of teams looking at them as the only shot they would have to get home court advantage for the Playoffs.

Raptors have split to match-ups with the Hawks back in November. The most recent was a 93-88 win on November 28th. However it was the Hawks that handed the Raptors the first of what would be many losses this year. They beat down the Raptors 110-92 in Atlanta on November 7th.

Boxscores- Nov 7 th- Hawks and Raptors
Nov 28th- Hawks and Raptors

So that is a quick set up for today's game. It is going to be a good week here at Dino Nation Blog as we have some guests scheduled to come visit. So it should be a good week. Will we have a trade to talk about? That is a good question that still does not have an answer yet.