The physical errors they’ve made recently, such as missed shots, blown assignments and errant passes, are going to pop up from time to time. It’s how they handle the misery of losing and the season’s worst prolonged slump at the most inopportune time that’s going to be telling about the makeup of this roster.
"We’ve been through tough times before, no one ever says it’s supposed to be easy," coach Sam Mitchell said yesterday. "The measure of who you are and what you are is when you go through tough times. It’s not about the good times, we all can enjoy the good times. The good times are easy."
There have been troubling signs.
T.J. Ford has been abysmal the past few games in a backup role, not only for the mistakes he’s making but for the signals he’s sending with body language and something approaching lethargy.
There have been sniping incidents on the court, Rasho Nesterovic imploring – with animation he rarely shows – teammates to box out on rebounds like they’ve been taught since they were pre-teens.
There are sideways glances after blown plays, looks of frustration and downright anger, moments that suggest a thin thread is holding the team together.
"It’s not that guys are nipping at each other, it’s just that you grab each other and it’s like, ‘C’mon, c’mon,’ " Mitchell said. "That’s what you’re supposed to do. Rasho is doing it, A.P. (Anthony Parker) is doing it."
"All teams go through tough stretches. The unfortunate thing about ours is it’s happening with 20 games to go and there’s a tight playoff race," said Mitchell.
“Then you’re looking at a tough game (today against Seattle) and then you’re looking at going on a tough road trip, so all that’s natural for people to feel (that things are slipping away)."
If there is a silver lining, it’s that the Sonics are struggling, too. Seattle has lost three in a row – drubbed by 34 in Philadelphia on Friday night – and has a 6-25 road record.
"We’ve been pretty good at not losing extended games," Mitchell said of Toronto’s four losses in five games. "But it happens, I’m concerned, obviously. You’re concerned any time you lose a basketball game. But at this time of year, we understand what’s at stake. Playoffs, seeding, who you’re going to play.
"The thing you have to do is block all that out and focus on that one game at a time. I don’t want my players to start thinking about anything other than that. We can’t do anything about anything else."
Chris Bosh was able to ride a stationary bike yesterday, a fitting routine given how much the Raptors have back-pedalled in the big man’s injury absence.
"I can get my heart rate right back up there,” Bosh said. "I’m trying to get in some kind of shape.
"When I start running, it’ll help me out."
The rub is that Bosh isn’t sure when he can begin to run the floor, let alone rejoin his teammates.
Bosh will miss his fifth complete game today and admits he’s uncertain if he’ll be available for the coming five-game foray to the wild West.
"Unfortunately, I’ve been a student of the game,” Bosh said of his role as a spectator.
"By watching, I can see what I could do better, but that’s really all that I can do at this point.
"I can see what kind of an effect I can have on a game, but I’ve seen this before (missing games in the wake of an injury). That’s why I don’t really get frustrated."
Bosh’s teammates certainly have noticed his absence.
Andrea Bargnani stepped up against the Wizards with a game-high 27 points.
"It’s tough because Chris is a very good player,” Bargnani said. "It’s tough when we miss any player, whether it’s Chris, A.P. (Anthony Parker) or T.J. (Ford)."
If Norm Freedman gets his way, hoops fans will get a chance to watch Anthony Parker and his sister Candace Parker perform in Toronto.
Freedman, whose history with basketball dates back some 35 years, is heading a group of investors interested in bringing a WNBA franchise to play out of the Ricoh Coliseum and the Hershey Centre.
"The prospects are better than 50%,” Freedman said. "The WNBA is quite positive, and so am I, that a team in Toronto will do well.
"There’s a large affluent female population and the promotional and marketing opportunities are there."
Freedman is hopeful the franchise will begin play in May 2009.
Like Durant, point guard T.J. Ford is a Texas alumnus.
Ford provided some advice when Durant was being courted out of high school and often spoke with the athletic swing-man during his freshman season with the Longhorns last year.
"I continue to have a good friendship now,” Ford said.
Admittedly, Ford hasn’t seen much of Durant’s games this season, but he reads the boxscores and sees the gaudy numbers Durant posts.
"He’s definitely going to be among the top NBA players,” Ford said. "He’s the franchise player."
5. Mike Evans
Evans is the Wildcats’ all-time leading scorer, piling up 2,115 points in his four-year career. Like Beasley, he wasted little time announcing his presence, scoring 30 points in his Wildcat debut. Evans spent a decade playing in the NBA and now serves as an assistant coach with the Toronto Raptors.
Every March Dick Vitale bursts through your living room exclaiming, “Just win, baby!” While that’s the mantra for college teams this month, the Raptors mantra might be “Just lose, baby!”
Right now the Raptors sit six games behind Orlando for the third seed in the east and 1.5 games behind Cleveland for the fourth seed. The Washington Wizards are currently the sixth seed and, after a big win against Toronto last night, only find themselves three games back.
Which begs the question, would sliding down to the sixth seed to face Orlando in the first round be more beneficial than facing Cleveland in the first round?
I have joked with Jason Kapono about the weather a few times this season. He also marvels – in a funny, sarcastic way – at how I rarely wear a heavy jacket or toque despite the weather we’ve received in T.O. this year. And when I made the mistake of once telling him I’d take the snow over rain ANY day … he hasn’t let me forget about those words all season. Everytime it snows … Kapono gives me a jab about how he’s certain I’d enjoy it more if it were raining. You don’t have to shovel rain.
But there’s never any animosity in his words. It’s all done tongue-in-cheek. While I can tell he doesn’t LIKE the snow … I’ve never thought for a second that he regretted coming to Toronto because of it. He’s a California kid – born and raised. He played his college ball at UCLA and he spent the best year(s) of his career in Miami. Obviously he has been sun-drenched and he prefers warm breezes and palm trees to windchills and pine trees. However, he has more than twenty million reasons to like T.O. … and I’m sure he can put up with the snowflakes for 3-4 months.
Many of the players and coaches live in condos … so a good chunk of their day is spent going from an underground parking lot in their building to the underground parking lot at the ACC. Aside from not being able to golf or sit on a patio for lunch, I’m not sure their day to day life is truly affected by the weather all that much (if at all).
Plus, while I am TIRED of the snow this year – getting storms every other day it seems – you also have to factor-in a couple of things.
1) While most of you are “stuck” in Toronto – unable to escape the snow (unless you’ve got a vacation booked) – the Raptors are flying in and out of the city all of the time. Sometimes they’re heading to other destinations that have been hammered by Mother Nature as well. But other times they’re escaping the white stuff by heading to Atlanta, Charlotte, Miami, Orlando, Los Angeles, Dallas, Houston, San Antonio, Phoenix, San Francisco, Sacramento, New Orleans, or Memphis. That’s one city shy (14) from being exactly HALF of the league. Thus, a respite from bad weather is never far off.
2) Some of the greatest players in the history of the game have played in cold weather / snow-covered cities. Again, a player’s decision about where he wants to play – or where he’s happy playing – has MUCH more to do about winning; about being on a competitive team that has a chance to be a consistent playoff/championship contender. It has little to do with WEATHER. Look back at some of the best:
- Michael Jordan (Chicago) – snow
- Larry Bird and COUNTLESS others before him (Boston) – snow
- Patrick Ewing and many others before him (New York) – snow
- Kevin Garnett (Minnesota (and now Boston)) – snow
- LeBron James (Cleveland) – snow
- Karl Malone and John Stockton (Utah) – snow
- Isiah Thomas, Joe Dumars, Chauncey Billups, Richard Hamilton, et al (Detroit) – snow
- Carmelo Anthony (Denver) – snow
- Allen Iverson (Philadelphia (and now Denver)) – snow
- Ray Allen (Milwaukee) – snow
Do I need to go on?
The Raptors will be judged by free agents – and players coming to down via trade – based on how good or bad they are as a team and as an organization. They’ll be judged on Bryan Colangelo, Maurizio Gherardini, and Sam Mitchell. For now, they’ll be judged on Chris Bosh, Jose Calderon, TJ Ford, and Andrea Bargnani. They’ll be judged on by their division and conference and whether or not they’re in a position to be a consistent winner that is moving in the right direction … towards the Larry O’Brien trophy.
Some folks’ paranoia about Toronto … and that sort of “inferiority complex” has got to end. Now.
it’s impossible to formulate an opinion about this young man other than … he’s a solid person, caught in a difficult situation with the Raptors (so far) this year – i.e. given the serious injuries he’s had to deal with (to this point in his career) and the fact that there’s a 2nd terrific, young Point Guard on his team, Jose Calderon, who is having the ‘best’ season of his career to-date.
Whatever ‘personal issues’ Ford may have at the moment … hopefully he can over-come them shortly and regain his status as a solid, young PG, in the NBA … whether as a ‘Starter’ or as a ‘Key Back-up’ for the Raptors.
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“The measure of who you are and what you are is when you go through tough times. It’s not about the good times, we all can enjoy the good times. The good times are easy.”
—Doesn’t that hold true for the coach as well, Sam?
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