Ah, if Keon Clark only had forward vision. It seems that if you laced ‘em up on an NBA team at some point in your life, you need to get back in touch with your old agent and have him crank up the celly….you could be in line for a multimillion dollar coaching gig. Ex-Raptor Michael Curry is looking at pulling in $2.5mil a year in Detroit, replacing Flip Saunders.  Vinny Del Negro has beat out Chuck Person as the new Bulls wrangler. The John Travolta wannabe should be officially named later this week.

Chad Ford has his latest mock draft out Depending on who you listen to, OJ Mayo could be coming on with a late surge, giving Pat Riley something to think about. Mayo is believed to be the most NBA-ready player in the draft, so if you go with Mayo, do you take him at 2, or do you trade down a few spots, letting someone else take Beasley and save yourself a few bucks in the process? Of course, judging by the Miami Heat’s ticket prices, that may not be a factor.

If you are like me and still drool at the possibility of getting Anderson Varejao into a Raptors uniform, the recent lovefest between him and the Cavs isn’t good news. While we have players going off to every corner of the earth to play for their country, Andy has decided to rest up and come back healthy with the Cavs.

Who would you take? Rip or Chauncey? If Rodney Stuckey sticks (hehe), Dumars is sure to take calls for either of his other guards. In an almost TJ/Jose way, you have to think Rip brings more value and is also the hardest to give up.

Hollinger floats the idea of the Knicks moving down in the draft and trading their #6 with Zach Randolph and his bags of coin to Philly. Brilliant idea, but I’m not so sure that Philly is willing to take on that much burden for one player. This same article has a great quip about avoiding both Lopez brothers at pretty much any cost. You know what that means?? Arsenalist has a new character for his fantastic piece of literary joy. If something is a bad idea, you know BryCo is already on it. This piece of video doesn’t exactly do wonders for Brook’s worth. Just sayin’.

Remember that Star article about how 60% of NBA players end up basically worse off than you and I five years after they retire? Pretty sad since I know how some of you live. Anyway, nice follow-up piece here. Let’s send Spree some good vibes before we go to bed tonight, k?

Let me leave you with this lovely piece of video showing how, in today’s NBA, we can embrace each others love for our team. This was at the Staples Center yesterday while fans were gathered to watch the game on the big screen. Cue birds chirping.

Sure, a broad question and one that could never be answered. But then we never thought we would be a .500 team this year, did we…

What we’ve done is come up with a knock-out bracket of Raptor players with the intention of crowning one player as the “best”. Up to you what that means: best, favourite, cutest, lesser of all evils…whatever. If nothing else, it can keep us from stabbing our eyes out with a pen.

Each bracket will be up for a few days and you can vote using the poll buttons beside this post.

We were talking to Chris Douglas-Roberts about his workout next to Brandon Rush and Bill Walker and how it was pretty competitive. Strange, these days, ‘cause a lot of agents like to hide their kids in workouts, put them up against stiffs or second-rounders. Not so with these guys.

And when I suggested to Douglas-Roberts that there are a lot of guys who shy away from competition, he said:

“And those are the ones who won’t be as successful.”

Pretty telling quote.

Here’s one: What’s it do to the point guard trade market if the Pistons, as I’m hearing, are shopping Chauncey Billups around? He’s more expensive but more accomplished than Ford and would take a team out of the mix.

I’m not convinced the reports of Chauncey’s imminent departure are correct – I’m not sure Joe Dumars wants to blow things up that badly and a move would crush his many fans in southwestern Ontario – but if he is indeed on the market, every team needing a point guard will be calling.

And maybe putting Bryan Colangelo on hold for a day or so.

Maurizio, Masai Ujiri and Jay Triano are in Treviso at the Reebok Euro camp, Jim Kelly’s on the west coast taking in a few workouts and the other scouts are scattering around the east to see kids go through their paces.

Bryan’s sticking around the office for the first of the week, working the phones I’m sure.

- Toronto Star

For example, the Nets’ heist of Carter for Aaron Williams, Eric Williams, a sulking Alonzo Mourning and two non-lottery picks was called the worst NBA trade in 25 years. The Raptors supposedly compounded it by buying out Mourning without him even crossing the border and trading one of the picks to help them dump Jalen Rose’s bloated contract on the Knicks. How’d it work out? Two years later, the Raptors won the Atlantic Division after using the cap space to resign Chris Bosh, trade for T.J. Ford and sign three European players: Jose Calderon, Jorge Garbajosa and Anthony Parker. Who won that trade? Good question. The Nets are happy with Carter–they did sign him to a $66 million extension, and the Raptors are happy with their decision as well. (And where did those two draft choices come from? The Nets trade that sent Martin to Denver, a deal that sent fans screaming from the Meadowlands but ultimately worked in New Jersey’s favor…considering KMart’s history since then.)

- NetsDaily

THE “SAY WHAT?” GREATEST CURRENT ATHLETE ANSWERS WE GOT

“Joe Mauer. We both grew up in Minnesota, and in high school I can tell you he was the man in baseball, basketball and football.” -Kris Humphries, Raptors

Mauer’s credentials: The No. 1 overall pick in the ‘01 baseball draft, Mauer also had an offer to play QB at Florida State. In 2006, he won the AL batting title and is a career .313 hitter.

- ESPN