Captain Cupcake Leads Nets To Victory

So here we go, on the night before the trade deadline. All is quiet for the Raptors and it is likely to stay that way given the goals of this franchise at the moment. So, we can focus on if this team can actually win two games in a row. Deron Williams is out for the Nets and so is Calderon for the Raptors. I would consider that advantage Toronto. Is that enough to get them a win? Time to find out.

Sloppy start by both sides as the teams trade turnovers. Raptors got the first two baskets of this game to get the jump on the Nets. Kris Humphries was all over the place in both good and bad ways. He made a jumper and that was followed by a Raptor turnover leading to easy two in transition and this puppy was tied at 6. More Hump with the two handed jam and Nets had their first lead on the night at 12-10. Hump had a career high 31 point and 18 rebounds on Monday, so far in this one he has 8 points and 3 rebounds. Raptors went on a 8-3 run capped with a DeRozan slam in transition on the nice hook up from Bayless. Barbosa would make that 10-3 as he was playing and showing why he might be the most attractive trade piece in a Raptor uniform. In what was a very sloppy quarter for both the Raptors and Nets the Dinos had a 22-19 lead.

Anthony Morrow opens the scoring and makes it a one point lacking excitement contest. Nets get the lead back for first time since 12-10 with back to back hoops to open the 2nd. Barbosa audition continues with steal followed by a drive and behind the back pass to Linas for the easy 2. For a game tied at 25 this had all the excitement of watching paint dry for the most part. Gaines the Raptor for a couple 10 day contracts last year gave the Nets the lead 27-25. A quiet night for Bargnani so far as he makes his 2nd shot on the night to tie the game at 27. The Barbosa audition was the only true excitement as he adds a jumper made as he is fouled. Missed the and one but the Raptors had a 32-29 lead. Bragnani makes up for a turnover with a nice drive and finish and the Raptors lead was 5 with a time out on the floor. James Johnson kept the Raptors roll going on a 9-0 run now but the Nets finally had an answer and it was back to a 5 point game at 36-31. But the Raptors keep rolling make it a 13-2 run for Toronto and a 40-31 lead. Raptors get a bucket from Bayless he had 8 dimes doing his best Jose Calderon impression only he was playing defense too. Raptors had slippage near the end of the half and were trying to hang on to the lead. But they did manage to hold on with a 46-41 halftime lead.

Raptors continue to build your expectation levels for Jonas coming. I think it is pretty irresponsible to hype this kid to the moon all to serve as a distraction to the fact this season has been terrible. If he is not as good as advertised I urge you not to blame the kid and blame the people responsible for building your expectations to high. Anyway, back to the guys actually playing here that are up 5 on the Nets. New Jersey opens the half with a 3 pointer to cut the lead to just two. The one thing Bargnani has stuggled with since his return ironically is hit 3 point shot. he had a wide open transition three that he missed. Nets would tie the game up on the next possession at 46. Nets would eventually nose ahead with a 52-50 lead. Kris Humphries takes an ill advised jumper, gets his own rebound and kicks the ball out and possession ends with a Hump dunk. That sums up the good and bad of Kris Humphries in one possession. Bottom line it worked out and the Nets had a 4 point lead. Nets had a chance to make that an eight point lead but Hump threw the ball away. Demar Derozan took a knock to his face. He made the basket and the free throw than took a seat to get checked out. Nets were starting to pull away with this one. Jerryd Bayless after a solid first half with 8 assist had 0 in this 3rd quarter and was making some turnovers. Raptors limped to the end of the 3rd and the Nets had a 12 point turnaround in that quarter to lead 66-59 after 3.

Ed Davis angry he gets no halftime features makes a basket to start the 4th. Raptors were making just some awful and unforced turnovers and the Nets were happy to take the gifts being thrown their way. Nets had methodically built an eleven point lead. Bayless scored on a transition layup and Avery Johnson was quick to call a time out. There was roughly 7:40 left to play and out of time out Hump knocks down a jumper to restore the double digit lead. DeRozan than tries to put Hump on a poster but has to settle for two free throws. He missed both and the Raptors trialled 80-69. Nets would push that lead to as high as 14. Raptors would roll off 6 straight points and get it to an eight point advantage with 4:30ish left to go. Gerald Green who is most famous for blowing out a candle on a cupcake was blowing out the Raptors with 21 points. His latest two made the lead climb back to 10. After a dump tech by Anthony Morrow and the Raps hitting that Green again with an insane jumper to make the lead 10. Raptors needed a huge change in momentum as James Johnson scored to cut the lead to 8 points but their was just 2:20 left to play. Raptors go zone after the time out and Gaines makes them pay with a three point dagger giving the Nets an 11 point lead. Nets would take this one 98-84 and clobber the Raptors in the 2nd half.

Gerald Green had 26 points and former Raptor Kris Humphries had 16 points and 21 rebounds. It was yet another case of the Raptors not playing a full 48 minutes and paying for it in the end. They only shot 38.3% on the night. It was ugly even when the Raptors were winning. It got uglier when they started losing. Trade Deadline tomorrow if the Raptors do anything will be on top of it. That said if you plan on holding your breath for that...Don't.

Good Bye Gaines, Hello Johnson

As Doug Smith had suggested has become the reality of things Gains has been released in order for the Raptors to sign Trey Johnson. Calderon's health seemed to be the reason Gaines was able to pick up another 10 day contract. But with Calderon expected to play that gave the green light to send Gaines packing in favour of Johnson. Here is all the details from the Raptors Press Release:

The Toronto Raptors announced Wednesday they have signed guard Trey Johnson to a 10-day contract. He is the sixth GATORADE Call-Up of the 2010-11 NBA Development League season. To make room on the roster the Raptors released Sundiata Gaines early from his 10-day contract. Johnson, 6-foot-5, 215 pounds is the leading scorer in the D-League this season averaging 25.8 points for the Bakersfield Jam. He has scored in double-digits in each of his 26 games, posting 20 or more points on 22 occasions and 30 or more in five games and a season-best 43 on December 15 at Austin. Johnson is also averaging 4.3 rebounds and 4.3 assists while shooting .510 percent from the field. Johnson is in his fourth season with the Jam. He owns career D-League averages of 20.2 points, 3.8 rebounds and 4.7 assists in 36.2 minutes. His head coach during the 2007-08 season was current Raptors assistant coach Scott Roth. A product of Jackson State in Mississippi, Johnson played four games with the Cleveland Cavaliers in the 2008-09 campaign totaling four points and one rebound. In October he went to training camp with the Los Angeles Lakers.Gaines was signed to a second 10-day contract Monday. He appeared in six contests with the Raptors averaging 5.8 points, 1.8 assists and 15.0 minutes.Toronto’s roster stands at 15 players.

So Johnson becomes the 21st new names to be added to the list. The last season anything like this one was 97/98 where Raptors had 24 different faces in their line up. That gem came to me from Zack Cooper via twitter @ZCooperstown. Our DNB Guest always lending me a helping hand. Speaking of Gems here is a recent post game interview with Johnson talking about ironically the chance of being called up to the NBA. Interview was post game after a D-League game about a week ago.



So welcome to the latest Raptor will see if he sticks around. Raptors take on the Sixers tonight and I will still be doing it for The Score.com and ScoreMobile.

Update On Gaines and Alexis Ajinca

Never assume I guess. It looked like Sundiata Gaines was a goner but he does in fact get a second 10 day contract with the Raptors. Here is the press release just issued by the Raptors:

The Toronto Raptors announced Monday they have signed guard Sundiata Gaines to a second 10-day contract. Gaines was signed to his original 10-day contract on January 13. He appeared in five games with Toronto averaging 5.8 points, 2.0 assists and 14.6 minutes. He had a high of 10 points in back-to-back games January 19 at San Antonio and January 21 at Orlando.Gaines, 6-foot-1,195 pounds has appeared in 45 regular season games with Minnesota, Utah and Toronto averaging 3.5 points, 1.2 assists and 7.9 minutes. He was signed by Minnesota on November 12 and saw action in eight games totaling 21 points, six assists and 65 minutes. He was released by the Timberwolves on January 4. Gaines played in 32 games with Utah in the 2009-10 season. He signed two 10-day contracts with the Jazz in January before being inked for the remainder of the season on January 25. He averaged 3.3 points, 1.2 assists and 6.8 minutes. He appeared in five postseason games where he totaled 11 points (5-for-6 FG) in seven minutes.Gaines also played in the NBDL last season with the Idaho Stampede. He averaged 23.9 points with 4.7 rebounds and 6.9 assists in 14 games. A 2008 product of the University of Georgia, Gaines began his professional career with NGC Cantu in the Italian League in the 2008-09 season. He averaged 13.1 points, 3.4 rebounds and 2.5 assists in 30 outings. Toronto’s roster now stands at 15 players.

Also Mark Cuban is always right. Or at least he was on the Peja signing and trade for Alexis Ajinca trade to Toronto. Here is the press release on that:

The Toronto Raptors announced Monday they have acquired centre Alexis Ajinca (ah-lek-SEE ah-JIN-sa), a future second-round draft pick and cash considerations from the Dallas Mavericks in exchange for the draft rights to forward Giorgos Printezis. In the transaction the Raptors reacquired the second-round selection they sent to Dallas in June for the draft rights to Solomon Alabi. The 22-year-old Ajinca averaged 2.9 points, 1.7 rebounds and 7.5 minutes in 10 games with the Mavericks. He was acquired from Charlotte on July 13, 2010. Ajinca has appeared in 47 regular season games (six starts) with Charlotte and Dallas averaging 2.3 points, 1.1 rebounds and 6.1 minutes. He recorded career highs of 12 points at New Orleans on December 10, 2008 and six rebounds versus Golden State on December 7, 2010. Ajinca, 7-foot-2, 250 pounds, was a first-round draft choice (20^th overall) by Charlotte in 2008. HiHes draft stock rose following an impressive showing at the 2008 Nike Hoop Summit. He had 13 points, nine rebounds and three blocks against Team USA. Ajinca has also played in the NBDL with Sioux Falls and Maine. He averaged 13.7 points, 7.3 rebounds, 3.1 blocks and 24.9 minutes in 33 outings. He appeared in the 2010 NBDL All-Star Game. A native of Saint Etienne, France, Ajinca played two seasons in his homeland before joining Charlotte. He was a member of Pau Orthez in 2006-07 and Hyeres-Toulon in 2007-08. He helped lead the French National Team to the Under 16 (2004) and Under 16 (2006) European Championships. The Raptors acquired the rights to Printezis (selected 58th overall) in the 2007 NBA Draft from San Antonio for a future second-round pick.

So who remembered Giorgos Printezis? Anyone. But that ends your Raptor news for now. They still play the Grizzlies to the best of our knowledge at 7pm.

Gaines Out, Johnson In , Ajinca ???

Raptors may be lacking wins this year but not roster moves. It would appear that the Raptors have decided to not renew Gaines to another 10-day contract and have decided to go with another option from the D-League. Trey Johnson is the latest to become a Raptor it would appear. Scott Carefoot of The Score had a link to this article on Fanhouse with info on the latest Raptor. Johnson as you will read he is a combo guard and in effect could play both positions where Gaines likely could not. That would be my guess as to why we see Johnson in and Gaines out. Still no official word from Raptors on Gaines being gone other then we know his 10-day contract ended on Saturday. Also no confirmation on the Johnson signing so if he is in the house for the Raptors game tonight at the ACC vs Memphis is up in the air at this point.

I have to say that with all these guys getting signed to 10 day contracts it gives the Raptors the feel of an expansion team. But we are in year 16 now. Obviously injuries have been a major factor in this as well. Mark Cuban meantime says he is confident the signing of Peja will go through and a move that would see Alexis Ajinca come to the Raptors in a deal. Cuban in the article suggested it could all be done as early as today. But again the Raptors have been silent on this issue as well.

All this news a side I still have groceries to shop for so if any of this gets confirmed check for something from me via Twitter @Dinonationblog. Will have a re-cap of the Raptors and Grizzlies regardless of who happens to be in uniform or not by 7pm.

Raptors are 15 once more.

The Toronto Raptors have signed guard Sundiata Gaines to a 10-day contract who was playing in the NBDL with the Raptors former affiliate the Idaho Stampede. Here is a the Official Press Release from the Raptors on the signing:

Gaines, 6-foot-1, 195 pounds has appeared in 40 regular season games with Minnesota and Utah averaging 3.2 points, 1.1 assists and 7.0 minutes. He was signed by Minnesota on November 12 and saw action in eight games totaling 21 points, six assists and 65 minutes. He was released by the Timberwolves on January 4. Gaines played in 32 games with Utah in the 2009-10 season. He signed two 10-day contracts with the Jazz in January before being inked for the remainder of the season on January 25. He averaged 3.3 points, 1.2 assists and 6.8 minutes in 32 contests. He appeared in five postseason games where he totaled 11 points (5-for-6 FG) in seven minutes.Gaines also played in the NBDL last season with the Idaho Stampede. He averaged 23.9 points with 4.7 rebounds and 6.9 assists in 14 games. A 2008 product of the University of Georgia, Gaines began his professional career with NGC Cantu in the Italian League in the 2008-09 season. He averaged 13.1 points, 3.4 rebounds and 2.5 assists in 30 outings. Toronto’s roster now stands at 15 players.Gaines is scheduled to participate in today’s practice and be available to the team for Friday’s game when the Raptors play host to the Detroit Pistons at Air Canada Centre. Game time is 7 p.m. (TSN/FAN 590).

The thought had been the Raptors were hunting for a 3rd point guard to add as some insurance with both Bayless and Calderon having their injury issues of late. It would appear they have done so. After the 10 day contract is done the Raptors would be able to sign Gaines to two more 10 day contracts before ultimately having to decide on him long term

Thanks to the folks on Twitter here is something from You Tube on your Newest Raptor: