"It’s not a good situation but there’s nothing I can do," Garbajosa said last night before Toronto’s game against the Utah Jazz. "It is a decision that the Raptors took and we’ll see what happens. I just wish they find an agreement as soon as possible between both of them.
"I don’t like it because I’m a Raptors player and I’m a Spanish basketball player, but it is something that I cannot control and it is not happening to me."
Garbajosa, who is with the Raptors while rehabilitating his injury during the team’s five-game road trip, said he would like to see the sides settle the matter quickly.
Garbajosa said his allegiances are not torn and that he would not feel conflicted suiting up for the Raptors if the lawsuit is ongoing.
He is hoping to return from a broken fibula and damaged ligaments at some point this season. Garbajosa has undergone two surgical procedures, including one in December.
"My intention is to get healthy as soon as possible and try to help my team this year … but looking further than this does nothing for me now," he said. "We don’t have a timetable. We’re taking new tests and MRIs every week or two weeks and it depends on what the doctors see."
Garbajosa said he had never been told that his career might be in jeopardy, though language to that effect is in the claim.
"Nobody told me that that possibility is there, so to me, it doesn’t make too much sense," he said.
But there have been isolated incidents which down the road, assuming this Raptors team eventually finds its way out of this black hole (hello Bosh) should help this team.
High on that list has been the play of Rasho Nesterovic, who has been thrust back in a starter’s role in Bosh’s absence and has been one of perhaps only two consistent performers at both ends of the floor on this trip. The other, and this is just one man’s opinion, would be Anthony Parker.
Mitchell has seen definite progress in Jason Kapono, the all but forgotten $24-million U.S. signing from this past summer who has caught his coach’s eye these past two weeks.
"I just think Jason the past two weeks has really been working hard on the defensive end," Mitchell said. "He is really making an effort to box people out. He has been getting shots. He’s just not been knocking them down (until Sunday). We’re encouraging him to continue to shoot the basketball … Jason has been playing defence. He has been going to the glass. He has keeping his guy off the glass and he has stepped up his play."
Kapono said Sunday night felt just like old times for him.
"You know, get to play a lot, shoot a lot. It would have been better if we would have won," he said.
"The way Rasho has played, we need him to keep playing that way when Chris comes back," Mitchell said. "The way Anthony Parker has played, hey, we just need A.P. to continue playing like that when Chris comes back.
"The way Jason Kapono has played coming off the bench, the energy Carlos (Delfino) has given us … obviously when Chris is out we need everyone to play a little better.
"What you hope as a coach, even though you are going through some tough times is that when you do get healthy the guys who did step up and do things, they now have the confidence that now we don’t have to stand around and wait for Chris. We can actually go out and do the things we have been doing the past 10 games without him."
"We were right there, it was maybe a six-point game there three minutes into the fourth," Raptors’ Rasho Nesterovic said. "We are on the right track. We just have to keep our composure and just keep going where we left off today."
Nesterovic had a double-double with 13 points and 12 rebounds in just shy of 37 minutes.
"Those two technicals just got us a little bit out of the way," Nesterovic said of T.J. Ford’s back-to-back technicals and ejection five minutes into the fourth quarter.
"I just got a little frustrated and lost my temper," Ford said. "Knowing how hard the first unit worked to get the game tied going into the fourth and them coming out and changing the game, it definitely made it tough for us."
Nesterovic said he was feeling fine heading into last night’s game other than the green Raptor uniform he was being forced to wear. It wasn’t sitting well with Nesterovic. "It’s not our colour," he said.
More evidence that Chris Bosh’s absence is being felt on the defensive end. Heading into last night’s contest, in the nine games the Raps have played without Bosh, the team has scored an average of 103.6 points. Opponents in those games are scoring 109.8. It’s not a coincidence that Sam Mitchell has opened every post-game talk with his team’s defensive deficiencies.
Hit with two technical fouls, which carries an automatic ejection, Ford had to be restrained by teammate Jason Kapono and assistant coach Mike Evans before he was escorted from the court by security officials. He will almost certainly be fined by the league for failing to leave the court in a timely matter but is not likely to face suspension.
It capped a terrible series of plays by the emotional guard, who has been under fire for the past three weeks for his erratic play. After Toronto had climbed back into the game to tie it after three, Ford missed a jump shot and committed a turnover on Toronto’s first two possessions of the quarter as the Jazz went on a 6-0 run.
"T is finding his way back and dealing with a new role," said coach Sam Mitchell. "Everybody wants to win and he wants to win. We’ve all been frustrated on this trip. … We understand what time of year it is, all our players are frustrated and T.J. has a lot of stuff pent up in him.
"He played hard tonight. He was picking up, he was playing with a lot of energy and he just felt like he just got hit a few too many times and he lost it."
The Raptors also played the fourth quarter without Andrea Bargnani, who was smacked in the nose by an inadvertent elbow from teammate Jamario Moon and had to leave the game. X-rays were negative and he’s not expected to miss any games.
"It seems like sometimes when you’re on them, you can’t get a break," said Raptors coach Sam Mitchell. "Seems like the ball bounces the other way and you don’t get loose balls, guys making shots against you that they don’t make against other teams. Or at least you feel that way.
"Then you look back on it, those things don’t really happen."
That’s little more than rationalization, isn’t it?
"Yeah," said Mitchell. "You have to try to make sense of it, you have to try to make sense of something that doesn’t make sense."
The toughest part of any extended losing streak – and the four-gamer Toronto carried into Utah last night doesn’t count because it’s been so brief – is not dealing with the inevitable blowouts. It’s handling the narrow losses when one missed shot, turnover or missed rebound spells the difference between losing again and snapping a streak.
"It’s hard to stay motivated and then, you come out and play hard and the ball doesn’t bounce your way," said Martin. "I think we must have had four or five games like that in that streak and those games suck the life out of you more than getting blown out.
"Then it snowballs, man. Then one night you come out and you say, Okay, we’re really going to concentrate and focus tonight and a call doesn’t go your way, the ball bounces the wrong way. You get a rebound, it gets tipped out and a guy hits a three and you lose by one. And then the next night you go out and get blown out."
The Toronto Raptors’ lawsuit filed last week against the Spanish basketball federation could amount to more than $14 million (Canadian) the club claims it is owed on an insurance policy involving injured forward Jorge Garbajosa.
The Raptors’ parent company, Maple Leaf Sports and Entertainment Ltd., filed a statement of claim against the Federacion Espanola de Baloncesto in the Ontario Superior Court of Justice last Friday.
In the 19-page document, MLSE seeks six million euros ($9,397,911 Canadian) in damages for breach of contract, negligent misrepresentation and negligence if Garbajosa has suffered permanent disability, or 1.5 million euros ($2,349,478 Canadian) for temporary disability.
Garbajosa, who earned $3,416,667 (U.S.) last season, is to earn $3,666,667 for the current NBA season and $3,916,666 for 2008-09.
"He was a hard-working player and a solid defender and his absence from the starting lineup is a significant loss to the team," the Raptors stated in their claim.
MLSE is also asking for $5 million (Canadian) in punitive damages.
The suit states that the federation advised the Raptors it had obtained permanent disability coverage in the amount of six million euros and 1.6 million euros for temporary disability. While the policy was written in Spanish, the federation agreed to provide an accurate and certified translation, according to the Raptors’ allegations that have yet to be proven in a court of law.
"The federation knew, or ought to have known, that it was of crucial importance that the translation be complete and accurate and that the Raptors would rely on the federation’s representation with respect to the certification exclusively," according to the claim.
"The Raptors have suffered significant damages as a result of the federation’s actions," the document goes on to state. The team is contractually bound to pay Garbajosa’s salary, even if he never plays again, which is a distinct possibility.
"The defendant’s action … amounted to wanton and intentional disregard for the interests of the Raptors for its own benefit."
Raptors GM Bryan Colangelo is on a European scouting trip and he was expected to meet with Spanish federation officials to discuss the lawsuit.
That might have been the ugliest five minutes of point guard play of the season, maybe since Rafer was here. But what do you do? Can’t trade him. Can’t play Jose 48 minutes a night. Can’t use Darrick Martin every game. Carlos Delfino can’t make a shot.
Talked to a couple of guys on the way out, coaches and players, and the feeling was they’ve got to get T.J. right, somehow. Quickly.
My opinion? He’s not handling being a backup well and I think he knows he’s a second stringer for as long as he remains in Toronto. He’s hurt, his emotional state isn’t good and he doesn’t know how to handle it. The explosion at the ref had as much to do with the last two weeks as it did the preceding five minutes.
This is going to be the biggest challenge of Sam Mitchell’s coaching career, he’s got to get to T.J. and make him understand they need him to be steady, not spectacular, not a one-man show. Who knows if Sam’s up to it.
Here’s the difference between Salt Lake and Toronto. The visitors are making a run, cutting the halftime lead to 52-51 and you know what would have happened in Toronto, right. Boos. Probably lots of them. What happened in Utah? The fans started cheering louder. Same thing at the end of quarter, after Raptors tie it.
I guarantee you that never happens in the Air Canada Centre.
The only saving grace for Toronto was that it remained in fifth place in the Eastern Conference courtesy of the Washington Wizards’ loss to the Atlanta Hawks last night.
All-star forward Chris Bosh missed his 10th consecutive game with a sore right knee and the Raptors have gone 2-8 in his absence. Bosh is targeting a return tomorrow for a home game against the Miami Heat.
The teams were tied 16-16 after the first quarter, a moral victory for the visitors given that, during this swing, they had been giving up huge amounts of points in the opening period.
The Raptors made just six of 22 shots, while the Jazz connected on a measly six of 16. Even the free-throw shooting was terrible, as the clubs combined to go 50 per cent (7-for-14).
"That first quarter was pretty to us because we were still in the basketball game," Mitchell said.
Kapono disputed the notion he was in a slump, saying his role does not provide him with big minutes and that the Raptors’ depth requires certain players to defer to others. That said, prior to Sunday, Kapono had hit 10 points or more only four times in the past two months, and made just three three-point shots in that time.
"I don’t really think I was gone," Kapono said yesterday. "This team is so deep, it’s kind of hard to have all the guys playing well on the same night. It definitely felt good to have somewhat of a breakout game, but I understand my role here. I’m a bench player, I’m a spark guy, I’m a short-minutes guy, so I just try to capitalize on the minutes I get."
"I can’t complain the way [Kapono] has played the last two weeks, and it hasn’t always been about shots," Mitchell said. "I tell our players all the time, ‘If you want me to take you out of the game because you missed some shots, then I’ll do that, but there are a lot of other things you can do on the court that keeps you on the floor.’ Jason has been playing defence, he has been going to the glass, [and] he has been keeping his guy off the glass. He has stepped up his play."
Rogers Sportsnet has given up the ball in the new NBA agreements negotiated with Canadian television networks.
Beginning next season, Sportsnet will be out as an NBA rights-holder. It will carry neither Toronto Raptors nor any other NBA games.
TSN and the CBC are expected to share the 12 Raptors games Sportsnet will lose.
The CBC will air between 15 and 20 games on Sunday afternoons, up from seven this season. TSN will increase its schedule to about 25 from 21.
The Score will continue to air a large number of Raptors games, about 30, and is expected to increase its non-Raptors game content.
Over the past two seasons, Sportsnet’s Raptors schedule has contracted, because the team’s owner, Maple Leaf Sports and Entertainment, has insisted the club receive national distribution.
TSN, CBC, the Score and club-owned Raptors NBA TV are national networks. But Sportsnet, a regional service, had difficulty finding a window for the NBA team because of a commitment to NHL regional telecasts.
MLSE, which owns NBA rights in Canada as well as Raptors’ rights, packaged the Raptors and non-Raptors games together.
Since Sportsnet couldn’t fit a significant number of Raptors games into a national schedule, it also lost non-Raptors games, which, in the past, had been useful as prime-time content in the various regions.
Really liked the way T.J. Ford handled his ejection after the game. Ford was a raving lunatic when he left the floor midway through the fourth quarter, but in the locker room he was a different man, one willing to explain what set him off, not take the tantrum to new heights. He was dressed, sitting at his locker and announced that he would “answer any questions you have.” He proceeded to explain his eruption calmly. Also, Sam Mitchell was ribbing Jamario Moon about taking out his own man, Andrea Bargnani, with an inadvertent elbow and the three of them had a good chuckle. Mitchell even cracked a few one-liners in his post-game remarks. After a 0-5 road trip complete with a lose-your-cool finale, the Raptors could have fumed in the locker room, on the bus, back at the hotel, and even on the long flight back to Toronto on Tuesday. Instead, they moved on. Almost instantaneously. It should serve them well this week against Miami and Cleveland – not that they need any help with the former.
Bryan Colangelo likes European players too much to have his franchise in a prolonged war with an international federation like Spain’s. Presumably, the Raptors will be adding internationals in future years and trying to buy out their contracts in negotiations. They don’t want to lose leverage by being known as the NBA franchise that brought Spanish basketball to its knees.
On the defensive end, Calderon gave Utah star point guard Deron Williams some trouble in the first two quarter, before Williams started to hit his stride in the third quarter. Williams finished with 21 points, but Calderon did look more engaged in the action than he had earlier in the trip.
In December, Toronto coach Sam Mitchell returned Bargnani to the starting lineup, saying that is where he would stay for the remainder of the year. With the Raptors in a tailspin and Rasho Nesterovic playing well in Chris Bosh’s absence, it will be interesting to see if Mitchell sticks to his words.
Did you cringe while watching this? I did. Jason Kapono did a nice thing and probably saved T.J. Ford some dough by preventing Ford from bum-rushing the official, but man, was restraining him by the neck really a smart idea? I know Ford isn’t made of glass, but I would considered just picking him up around the waist and carrying him to the locker room myself before doing that.
Bosh told the newspaper that the Raptors need more than his presence to emerge from their current doldrums.
"We have to have an intensity, a fire, a passion," he said. "Hopefully, when I come back, [missing] all that will come to an end because I demand certain things from my teammates and myself."
Credit the bench for giving Utah the life Sloan referred to as the subs led the fourth quarter rally in which the Jazz outscored Toronto 31-14.
Jose Calderon led the Raptors with 16 points and Rasho Nesterovic had 13 points and 12 rebounds. However, Toronto seemed to wilt in the fourth as it headed toward its fifth straight loss, its longest losing streak of the season.
The only one who showed much emotion was guard T.J. Ford. Unfortunately it was the wrong kind as he was called for an offensive foul driving into Price and was ejected for arguing with the refs with 6:59 remaining.
He was mocked by the crowd almost as loudly as it cheered the Jazz, underscoring the value of being at home even as the Jazz try not to put too much weight into their home winning streak.
Not even the green uniforms worn by the usually red-and-black Raptors or any other St. Patrick’s Day shenanigans could shake the Jazz. This is the kind of NBA game that a home team wins, especially here and now.
"This is just a really great environment to play in when you’re the home team," Korver said, "and it’s tough when you’re not."
One other thing.
"He frustrated T.J. Ford," Williams said, trying not to smile.
With 6:59 remaining, Ford collided with Price on a drive to the basket. He was called for an offensive foul and two technicals, which meant automatic ejection.
Leading 79-69 at the time, the Jazz bumped it it 84-69 when Kyle Korver made two free throws on the technicals and Andrei Kirilenko followed with a three-pointer.
In all, Utah’s nonstarters outscored Toronto’s bench, 47-30.
I give the Raptors all the credit in the world for sitting down Chris Bosh, the team has been pretty locked into the fifth spot in the East for a while, without much chance at home court advantage unless the Cavaliers really fell apart, and not too many teams in this part of the season (regardless of the conference) are secure enough to think of the postseason and sit a star during this stretch.
But the team’s getting killed on the boards, and while Rasho Nesterovic has long been one of the NBA’s more underrated defenders (and, out of nowhere, an "emerging" scorer who is averaging 13.2 points per game in March), he’s a horrible rebounder: Rasho had eight tonight, but he only sat out 24 seconds of the entire game.
Slow it down, wrap it up: starting NBA centers should be expected to pull in more than eight rebounds if they play 47 minutes and 36 seconds of an NBA game.
Toronto isn’t talking as much as it should on defense, I don’t like focusing on why Toronto lost more than why Sacramento won (the Kings are a solid team with talent that plays hard and, sometimes, intelligently), but the Raptors may have pulled out a tough win on the road had it just let each other know just where Beno Udrih was going, or who had whom in transition.
This nightmare is over and we need to get back home and start winning some meaningful games. Miami is a win and I’ll gladly take it but after that we have three massive games coming up which if we win, will give this team a huge boost of confidence which it so desperately needs. This trip has undoubtedly given every Raptor player and coach a first hand look at just how vulnerable we are and how fine the line between us being a good team and a lottery team really is. After Miami, we get Cleveland away and then Denver and Detroit at home. If we manage to win two of those three games, it’ll do a lot towards grabbing some momentum for the final stretch. I’m not worried about Washington catching us, I almost want them to, it’s Philadelphia that is of concern. Philly is a game back and playing well, if they catch us it’ll pit us against Detroit in the playoffs which will be no fun.
Khandor called it, TJ should be sat at the end of the bench until he figures some things out. I am was a TJ supporter, I love his game, I still think he has a big upside, but he pissed me off something awful tonight. I was for starting him to satisfy his ego, and settle shit, but not anymore. Bench him and fire Lucas, shit is ridiculous. Jose was actually having a pretty good game, but saw little burn in the 4th, don’t know why, don’t really care
As for Mitchell, I actually thought he was doing his best coaching job in weeks, keeping TJ’s minutes short, using his bigs well, leaving Andrea in even with foul trouble so his confidence could get a boost…
…but in one fell swoop that all came crashing down.
As mentioned, Sam signaled for Ford to re-enter the game to start the fourth and immediately, TJ re-started his one-on-one challenges with Price! I couldn’t believe it and as each passing wasted offensive possession went by, and as the scoreboard disparity between the Raps and Jazz grew, I kept waiting for Mitchell to give Ford the hook.
But alas, it did not come.
I couldn’t believe it.
I’m no NBA coach but you could see TJ start to get frustrated with the way the game was going and it just seemed obvious that he should be replaced before things go out of hand. Ford began turning the ball over (Toronto had seven of its 17 turnovers in the final quarter) and making poor decisions in transition all the while complaining about the lack of calls.
One play in particular indicated to me that it was time to go back to Jose and that was after seeing Ford attempt a vicious shot-block which amounted to nothing more than an attempt to flail out at Ronnie Price regardless of the ball.
But Mitchell let the pot continue to boil.
And before you knew it, the pot had completely boiled over and the game was out of reach for Toronto.
The little flicker of hope in this time of trouble. Anthony Parker and Rasho Nesterovic. They have played like the old pros that they are. Both have raised the level of their play with Bosh out and they now need to maintain it as Bosh returns. Things are bad for the Raptors but as bad as it is the truth is they have lost nothing yet and if they can turn it around can save this season from becoming a huge disappointment for most Raptor Fans. But the room for error is now gone. No more mistakes can be hidden the time has come to look in the mirror and decide what you are going to do to make this team better. That is the challenge for ever Raptor Player and Coach. Bosh will no doubt make sure everyone answers that challenge.
Toronto Raptors: They need Chris Bosh back. Badly.
T.J. Ford: Dude, chill out. Seriously.
As we know the Raptors do have the rights for Roko Ukic, so this might have been a reason, but as I was following Bryan’s eyes for a while he was really following Danilo Gallinari. Of course everything is just “speculating”, but for me it was a pretty big deal to see a NBA GM in Europe while the NBA season is still going on – not too well for the Raptors right now though.
I was also wondering if Bryan told his coach about his trip – I am not sure if Sam Mitchell, who let us know he isn’t into European Basketball at all, would come here, so Bryan did the job for him.
NBA teams should not, under any circumstances switch up the colors of their jerseys for a holiday. What’s next, orange and black on Halloween? Come on, guys. Apparently green makes the Knicks and the Bulls look worse than usual and it makes TJ Ford crazy. You guys see his ejection against the Jazz? He went a little crazy.
Already without Chris Bosh, they would lose TJ Ford in the fourth after he blew up after being called for an offensive foul and was ejected from the game. It didn’t really matter as the outcome was all but decided thanks to a 24-4 run by Utah to open the final period after trailing by one at the start of it. Utah outscored Toronto 31-14 in the fourth after being outscored 27-18 in the third.
In view of the news that has appeared in different media sources regarding the supposed claim made by the Toronto Raptors against the FEB to demand the policy money for Jorge Garbajosas’ injury, the FEB would like to clarify that:
1) As of right now, the FEB has had no notification about any claim being made by the Toronto Raptors against the organization.??2) The FEB scrupulously complied with the requirements that the NBA team had requested of the Federation by endorsing the insurance policy which was desired by the Raptors, and approved on September 2nd, 2007.
3) Since the endorsement of the mentioned policy, the FEB hasn’t received any solicitations for pay of the policy money, as the case should be, since the organization complied with its payment, and no other kinds of obligations derived from the situation with the NBA team.
4) The FEB will always look to collaborate to achieve satisfactory results for all interested parties.
5) The FEB hopes that Jorge Garbajosa has a speedy recovery, and that he, and his team, the Toronto Raptors, achieve great success in athletics.
6) Lastly, with the aim of not having impact on the normal operation of activities, the FEB abstains from further commentary regarding this topic.
- Spanish Basketball Federation
Well four losses in a row the Raptors decided to trick the Jazz into thinking they were the Celtics by wearing green. Actually it was for St Patrick’s Day and Raptor Fans should drink the green beer to at least have a little fun because the Jazz are just double tough in Salt Lake City. Raptors would be tired as well closing out this awful road trip. The news that Bosh will return on Wednesday when they return home. basically everything pointed to an easy win for the Jazz. But as a wise man once said that is why they play the games.
I know the rest of the league went green for Paddy’s Drunken Binge Day, but seriously bros, something about the Raptors and their color scheme are all about looking like Tommy by in ‘93:
It’s gotta be the jagged stripes on the side that gives it that nostalgic look, at least to me. And come on: DRAGONZOD vs. RAPTOR, WHO YOU GOT!!!! Oh and Raps lose again without Bosh to the Utah Jazz. There’s a message in there somewhere. I think it’s something about cheeseburgers.
Calderon’s performance in this quarter was his best effort, by far, during this soul-crushing, and hopefully job-ending, road trip. now Calderon’s defence was suspect during this game, he should have been back again after 3 or 4 minutes but because Price was torching Ford, Sloan decided to leave him on and since Mitchell is incapable of making matchup decisions beyond first team vs. first team, second team vs. second team, ford was left on for what could be the decisive moment of his raptor’s career. besides the fact that TJ committed two absurd TOs during his 4th quarter episode, Mitchell should have realized that TJ’s tendency to get into battles he can’t win would surface. lo and behold after consecutive calls against him he felt the need to enhance the situation by trying to draw contact but instead drawing a charge. Two Ts and hes gone and TWO FTs AND A 3 AND THE GAME IS OVER. Really a tale of two quarters (or a quarter and 5 minutes) and a tale of two PGs.
Now I can’t comment much, because I didn’t watch the game (instead I put up with Hot Rod’s monotone commentary and his constant misnaming of people). But I really don’t see how getting Chris Bosh back is gonna just turn this team around. Of course, this could be resulting from the fatigue of a 5-game road trip (when will the NBA learn that this is not a good idea?)… a Western Conference road-trip in that for an Eastern Conference team. But they really seemed uninterested. Ford’s attempt to take over late… even with his shot not falling. Before getting himself tossed, that is. The lack of an inside presence defensively (this looks better because Okur was out and Flop sucks). The fact that their big off-season signing was 3-point specialist Jason Kapono… a guy who only took one long shot tonight. The fact that last year’s #1 pick (Bargnani) has done little to prove it a useful pick, while Jamario Moon seems to have really hit the rookie wall. And there isn’t really anyone on the bench that seems like they’d be playing major minutes for other teams (excluding the teams like Miami and Seattle and all, of course). I mean… Kris Humphries playing 20 minutes? Of course, I’m just an outsider looking in at one game, so maybe it’s just a 1 game thing. But I’d think that you’d want a bit more before you start thinking that Chris Bosh is the answer.
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uhm…the FEB didn’t get a bill for the money, but got sued? who is lieing here? good find man!
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