Multiple league sources said last night the Raptor president and general manager tried to pry 32-year-old Joe Smith from the Chicago Bulls before today’s 3 p.m. trade deadline.
It’s unclear what the Raptors offered for the 6-foot-10 Smith, who’s averaging 11 points and five rebounds a game. However, the fact the offer was made suggests Colangelo is aggressively seeking some experience to help Toronto through the final 30 games of the regular season and into the playoffs.
His early third-quarter triple was his 10th consecutive basket without a miss, a streak that stretched back to the opening minutes of the first quarter. He had 35 points by the end of the third, at which point the Raptors were leading 102-82, putting the game essentially out of reach.
"There’s not one thing they did that we could guard," Magic coach Stan Van Gundy said. "Chris Bosh, we could not guard. We did not have anyone that could guard him."
Van Gundy’s frustration was music to Bosh’s ears as he readies himself to put his team on his back for the long march to the playoffs, just 30 games away.
"I want to hear that every day from every coach," he said. "We just have to continue to play off each other. With Jose, he’s going to move the ball, put the ball in the right spots and if you sag off him he’s going to make shots."
The win improved the Raptors’ record to 29-23, a season-best six games over .500, though the Raptors remain No.?4 in the conference and the Magic No.?3.
Bosh’s career best is 42 points, a mark he achieved on Dec. 22 against the Phoenix Suns. It was the fourth 40-point game of the season for Bosh, tying a Raptors record established by Vince Carter in 2001-02. The 127-point output was the Raptors’ season best.
Dixon is the most likely Raptor to be moved before today’s 3 p.m. EST NBA trade deadline, but even though Raptors president Bryan Colangelo and assistant general manager Maurizio Gherardini were working the telephones most of the day yesterday, the likelihood of a trade – major or minor -appears to be diminishing rather than increasing as the deadline approaches.
Toronto got a boost of confidence against a team that it is looking to catch in the standings.
The Raptors, who are tied for fourth place in the Eastern Conference, inched to within three games of the third-place Magic with the win. They play their next six games against teams with losing records, so they will have a chance to cut into that lead even more in the coming weeks.
That, however, will likely have little impact on what transpires during Thursday’s trade deadline, which arrives at 3 p.m.
Wednesday morning, Raptors president and general manager Bryan Colangelo termed the chances of pulling off a deal at 50-50. If something does get done, it will likely not affect the Raptors’ regular rotation, Colangelo added.
If that holds true, the question for the remaining 30 games of the regular season becomes clear: Is this squad capable of putting up a fight with any team in the Eastern elite?
The key for Bosh was his silky-smooth jump shot as he forced Howard to extend his defence. The farther Howard ventured away from the post, the more lethal Bosh became, his ability to put the ball on the floor more decisive and dominant.
On one move, Bosh took Howard off the dribble, drove the baseline and scored on a reverse dunk, one of many Magical moments for Bosh and the Raptors, who didn’t miss many of their open looks.
Bosh even spotted up beyond the arc and calmly drained a three-pointer, his third of the season.
By the break, Bosh had 24 points, making 10 of 11 shots.
"I just told the coaches at halftime when they went into the locker room to just leave him (Bosh) alone,” head coach Sam Mitchell said.
"Don’t coach him because he doesn’t need our help right now with the way he was playing."
The Raptors provided little resistance against Howard, but the Magic, which played an exceptional road game the previous night against Detroit, looked one step slow, its shots a little short until the visitors mounted a comeback in the final period when they went on a 14-2 run.
Carter trade rumours were hot and heavy yesterday. One team that is said to be interested in trading for VC is the New York Knicks (apparently for Zach Randolph) which makes sense because the Knicks are known for making really dumb moves.
Diehard Raptors fans still are bitter about the Carter trade and VC still casts a long shadow over the Toronto franchise. He still is booed whenever he touches the ball on the Air Canada Centre floor and his name still is brought up (in vain) on local talk radio shows.
Toronto fans have a long memory, and Vinsanity never will be forgotten at the ACC. But at least Raptors fans can take some solace in the fact that Carter hasn’t won a ring anywhere else, and probably never will, and the Raptors likely will go deeper in the playoffs this season than the Nets.
Carter is a player with Hall of Fame talents, who likely never will make it into the Hall. He didn’t play in the all-star game this season, the first time he has missed the NBA’s showcase game since 1999. He clearly is yesterday’s hero.
Thomas’ best days, afterall, are behind — in San Antonio he’ll be an extra body to bang against a very tough Western Conference — but it’s precisely the type of player he once was that is required with these jump-shot happy Raptors.
Somone who can defend the post, protect the paint, provide some veteran presence, these are the elusive attributes missing from the Raptors.
"My respect for Chris Bosh came three years ago in one of those rookie-sophomore games, one of those games where no one tries hard," said Van Gundy, who coaching Miami at the time.
"Except Chris Bosh tried hard all night long. I knew he was something special. Everybody was clowning around but not Bosh."
But if the Magic does double-team Bosh, there are a host of Raptors ready to make them pay for leaving someone open.
Last night, it was Jose Calderon, whose 19-point, 13-assist, one-turnover gem included two huge three-pointers in the final two minutes, and Carlos Delfino, who made five three-pointers in a 23-point game, who shone.
"He’s our best player, he’s our guy and when he’s like this, it’s easier for everybody," Calderon said of Bosh.
Toronto didn’t do a great job bottling up Howard, who got loose for 37 points, but he had only 14 in the first half, when the Raptors took a 64-50 lead and took control.
But every time Howard made a couple of dunks and it looked as if he’d get the Magic back in the game, the Raptors would go to Bosh and he’d make a play to end a run.
Bryan Colangelo, he of the fabulous life, earns millions to run an NBA team, eats in nothing but great restaurants, drives a Porsche, and occasionally jets off to Europe, where he frequents even better restaurants and, if he’s got a few minutes, orders clothes nicer than yours.
But if there’s a day on which the Raptors president and general manager deserves your sympathy, maybe it’s today, in the hours before this particular NBA trade deadline, which passes at 3 p.m. That’s when Colangelo will be doing what he’s supposed to be doing, working the phone, pitching possible deals to opposing general managers that could theoretically make the Raptors a better team.
But it’s not as though he’ll be selling spring water to the parched. Drumming up interest in what Colangelo is attempting to peddle – convincing the wider world that, say, Joey Graham is a new area code away from making an NBA impact – is as close to ditch-digging as it gets in the executive suite. Today will be a no-glamour slog for the glamourous GM.
The Raptors, as they exist, simply don’t possess great trade bait. High-value expiring contracts, for instance – three of which were swapped in yesterday’s big deal, which sent Kurt Thomas from Seattle to defending champion San Antonio in exchange for Francisco Elson, Brent Barry and a first-round pick – are a handy asset the Raptors lack.
But it’s no stretch to prophesy that 3 p.m. will pass today without a significant change of the landscape in Raptorland, at which point Colangelo will remove a phone from his ear and a little weight from his well-tailored shoulder. He’ll be done trying to sell some tough sells, knowing well that next year’s trade deadline – when Nesterovic’s contract, among others, will be of the expiring kind – holds the potential for more drama than drudgery.
Colangelo is working the phones as feverishly as ever but with the future in mind, and a team that now finds itself in fourth place in the Eastern Conference, he’s leery of making a major move that will have an impact on things he might want to do this summer or even next year.
There are a few glaring needs on the Raptors today – they don’t rebound well enough and can’t defend the upper echelon small forward and shooting guards – and plugging either of those holes with what he’s got to offer via trade may be impossible for the general manager.
Yes, Bosh had 40 and Jose had 19 and 13 and one turnover. But the other guy responsible for that win over Orlando was Rasho.
In the first quarter, when they took command of the game, he had two blocks, a steal, six points and, most important, held Dwight Howard to one point in six minutes.
That’s playing and if these two teams meet in the playoffs, a possibility at 4-5, Rasho’s going to be a huge key.
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Did you notice in the fourth quarter, with Calderon on the floor, there were still a few times that Carlos Delfino brought the ball up the court?
Asked Sam about it and the reason made sense: Jose was dead tired after being pressed almost the entire quarter and there was no way that Hedo Turkoglu was going to be able to harass Delfino into turnovers.
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Shameless hucksterism abounds around the games, doesn’t it? How about the pre-game screamer showing up in a green jersey, not to whip the crowd into a frenzy (as if that ever happens) but to mention the jerseys are now on sale.
I don’t see the need for yet another voice bombarding the fans but to make him a salesman? Yeesh.
And, as I’ve mentioned before, nothing says St. Patrick’s Day and green like the Raptors and Jazz in Salt Lake City.
If the Warriors can’t consummate a deal for some reason there’s next to no chance that they hold onto Pietrus past this spring. Given Pietrus’ struggles this season, dismal hoops IQ, and lack of major improvement from year 1 to year 5 in the NBA, I don’t know if I can really blame them.
But do Raps Juan Dixon and Joey Graham really give the Warriors much, if anything at all? Moving Pietrus for them is a lateral move at best. Dixon does have a nice 3pt shot, but the Warriors are already overloading with smallish scoring guards with Monta Ellis and CJ Watson. Graham has been somewhat of a bust since the Raptors selected him with the 16th overall pick in the 2005 draft. I’d be surprised if Nellie even played either of those more than garbage time minutes. Pietrus is no doubt in a serious funk right now, but he’s better than he’s played so far this season and Nellie knows that.
Toronto trades Jorge Garbajosa, Juan Dixon, Maceo Baston and a 2008 No. 2 pick to the Clippers for Cuttino Mobley and Dan Dickau.
Why L.A. does it: Donald Sterling, this is right up your alley … it’s a straight salary dump! Dixon expires this year; Garbajosa and Baston expire next year; and Mobley is making $8.3 million per year through the 2009-10 season. I like Mobley, but he’s the kind of guy who loses any and all value on a lousy team. May as well trade him.
Why Toronto does it: Because the Raptors are turning three nobodies into a valuable supporting guy with playoff experience who shoots 40 percent from 3-point territory. By adding Mobley to the mix with Jason Kapono, Anthony Parker, Jose Calderon and Carlos Delfino, the Raps would have five perimeter guys shooting 40 percent or better on 3s. Would you want to play a hot team that’s making 3s in the playoffs? I wouldn’t. As for Mobley’s deal, I’m going to use the Derek Fisher Corollary here. Remember when Utah traded for Fish before last season and it was one of those, "Yeah, his contract sucks, but now that we have him, he really helps us" trades? In my opinion, Mobley is this year’s Fisher — a valuable supporting guy who happens to be overpaid. Well, is this necessarily a bad thing if you have the cap space? I say no. Besides, the money would be a wash this season and next season, and for the final year of the deal, Mobley becomes a valuable expiring contract for trading purposes.
Note: Right now, the Raptor Truthers are furrowing their brows and saying, "Wait, was that a fairly logical explanation or am I crazy?")
It was debatable, however, whether Nelson and Dooling were more pleased to be away from Van Gundy or Raptors point guard Jose Calderon.
They’ll see Calderon running the pick-and-roll in their nightmares, although better to deal with it now than in a possible playoff matchup against the Raptors come April.
Among other things, Van Gundy said he didn’t think his guards "take a great deal of pride" stopping the probing of guards such as Calderon. It’s an old Magic problem that still haunts, even though Orlando just had trumped Pistons nemesis Chauncey Billups.
When this message was relayed to Nelson and Dooling, they stared straight ahead, perhaps biting their tongues or embarrassed by Calderon’s clinic.
Calderon finished with 19 points on 8-of-10 shooting with 13 assists, and Carlos Delfino added 23.
"They ran the pick-and-roll like Stockton and Malone," Dooling said, saluting the famed duo of John Stockton and Karl Malone.
"We watched film of [Calderon], and I thought it was on fast forward, but it was on regular speed," Howard said. "He’s tough. We might see these guys in the playoffs, and we have to play better defense. They just exposed some of our weaknesses."
Orlando came into the game with the No. 3 seeding and Toronto with the fourth seed. Even though the three-game series is now tied 1-1 — the final game is March 4 in Orlando — the Raptors returned serve with some extra topspin.
"They literally hit about anything they put up. Calderon controlled the tempo. A lot of it was our defense; we weren’t showing on the pick-and-rolls and missed rotations. It was totally different than the defense we played against Detroit," said Rashard Lewis, who had 16 points as did Hedo Turkoglu.
However, in my eyes, it wasn’t all rosy tonight. Little mistakes like Jamario Moon’s failure to consistently attack the basket while defenders were in his way, regression of Andrea Bargnani’s play, and poor ball movement while Juan Dixon was on the floor would have caused the Raptors to play a much tighter game against a better team. The concern about Moon’s failure to attack the hoop seemed to have been downplayed by some of the fans at the game. It’s enthralling, for sure, when a player can make dynamic moves like he can, but the problem is that he’s unable to put fear in a team. Bargnani got away from getting to the free throw line, missed some shots, and just couldn’t match up well against a power center like Howard. Finally, Juan Dixon’s lack of ability at the point was underlined especially by the poor play of Jason Kapono, who was on fire while T.J. Ford was playing. The difference and need of a guy like T.J. to come in and make the bench better cannot be understated. As we enter the final leg of the season, the starters are going to feel the wear of the season just that more seriously. A suitable backup is just going to be that important for the Raptors to insure that their starters will be able to play well in the playoffs.
There were a couple plays tonight which served as microcosms of this game, they both went something like this: Calderon brings the ball upcourt, Bosh sets a screen for him (at this point Jameer Nelson is lost), Bosh is rolling towards the rim while Calderon is also attacking the rim at the same time, the help comes inevitably. Instead of Calderon forcing a shot, he swings it to the weakside where the ball is swung around back to the strong side for a short jumper. If there’s a thing called “textbook Raptors basketball”, it was on display tonight. And top it all off we only got out-rebounded by 6 and there’s even a silver lining there, we beat them on the defensive boards 25-23.
Toronto’s defense was decent as well. While it may not have been the “let Howard get what he wants and let’s stop everyone else” mentality … it sure seemed like it at times. The Raps held Hedo Turkoglu and Rashard Lewis to 12 and 9 points respectively through three … and they combined for only 6 of 21 from the field. Howard may have had 28 points and 8 rebounds, but a combined 21 points from Turkoglu and Lewis – two guys that average 19 and 18 respectively – wasn’t getting it done for Orlando.
Van Gundy was unimpressed with his team’s attempted comeback.
"Those kinds of runs happen all the time in the NBA," he said. "All [Mitchell] did was put Calderon and Bosh back in and game over."
The dream Toronto final standings in the East? Boston, Detroit, Cleveland, Toronto, Orlando, Washington, Philly, Atlanta. The only easy first-round matchup would be the Pistons dunking Philadelphia. Atlanta would run the Celtics hard, while the Washington big three might actually over-throw King James’ crew in Cleveland. As specified, Toronto would beat Orlando. That would set up Boston-Toronto and Detroit-Washington. Again, Toronto matches up well against the Celtics, while Washington would battle Detroit tough. Hopefully so tough, that after Toronto dispatched the Celtics, the survivor would be too battered and bruised to stop a Raptor rampage to the NBA championship.
Where the Raptors would lose in four straight to whoever comes out of the West.
If the Raptors could find a way to get it through Jamario’s head that he needs to attack more, he could be a lot better player. He went 4-4 from the line tonight and 6-12 from the field. He also inexplicably launched two more three point attempts, nailing one. The thing with Moon is that he doesn’t really force a lot of his three attempts, he basically gets good looks from the floor, but he shoots under 30% from behind the arch. That’s pretty much an indicator that shooting 3-pointers should not be part of your arsenal.
Carlos Delfino is playing some great basketball lately. He is being aggressive, fighting for loose balls, getting rebounds, taking charges, knocking down shots, dishes out assists…he’s doing everything the Raptors need him to do and more. He has essentially made Jason Kapono look completely one-dimensional and is doing a lot of the things I bet the coaching staff wished Jamario would do. Should we be seeing Carlos and Jamario going hard to the basket at around the same rate? No, you would think that Carlos would settle for his shot a little more than Jamario, but next time you watch a game, look at how they view the court in front of them. Two completely different approaches with guys using their weaker skill set to score points.
Switch up the rest of the entertainment package too. It’s stale. The same songs, same gimmicks, all the time during the game. The face of the Leaf crowd pleasers is a big stuffed bear named Carlton. He is a silent character, as quiet as the fans. That’s ok, no mascots really talk, but Raptor at least entertains a hell of a lot more than Carlton. Raptor inflates and shrinks, falls down stairs and consumes security guards. The Raptors do a much better job of entertaining the fans outside of the actual sport. Leafs need to rethink their in-game entertainment cause what’s happening on the ice isn’t doing much for anyone right now.
The problem with Orlando is that when the shots are not falling, as was the case tonight (9-28 from downtown) they are not strong enough defensively to keep the game close. Much like the Raps, when their Plan A is not working they don’t seem to have a Plan B to turn to.
With the early struggles and the Raps shooting a high percentage and never really cooling off, there was no real turning point.
Moon…man; imagine if Moon won the dunk off. He would have put up 22/23 shots tonight. I can’t believe some of the forced jumpers he put up. I lost my voice yelling racial/offensive obscenities at the guy. Why he has such leeway, offensively, is beyond me. Seriously though, he is on my last nerve. Maybe even beyond my last nerve if that is possible. I will give him credit for three things:
- He took Rashard out of the first half of the game (along with Delfino).
- He grabbed 12 boards.
- Somehow, he put up 17 points. I really thought he had like 6 or 8 points, but I guess taking 12 shots will rack you up some points.
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uhmm….i do that mobley trade…i would settle for any trade right now, even if it doesn’t address one of our needs.
yup. would rather have an overpaid guy we would use as opposed to, as is stated above, nobodies.
hmmm…all nobodies acquired by Liar. Go figure.