These are my Toronto Raptors Linkage links for February 24th from 09:28 to 11:40:
- Doug Smith’s Toronto Raptors blog – What the Raptors want to do is play smart offensive basketball. It’s that simple.
When they rebound, get going; don’t wait around to hand the ball off to the point guard, either pass it to midcourt or dribble it yourself. It helps to have more solid ball-handlers in Anthony Parker and Shawn Marion on the court so the bigs can look either for them or then can take off themselves.
And then it’s just a matter of taking what you get on the offensive end. If there’s a runout layup, great; if there’s an open three for a trailer like Bargnani or Calderon, great; if there’s an easy post up for Bosh, great.
If not, get into your stuff.
- Nba: David Falk Says The NBA Players’ Union Better Pucker Up – How extreme? Falk said he believed Stern, the commissioner, would push for a hard salary cap, shorter contracts, a higher age limit on incoming players, elimination of the midlevel cap exception and an overall reduction in the players' percentage of revenue. And, Falk said, Stern will probably get what he wants.
"The owners have the economic wherewithal to shut the thing down for two years, whatever it takes, to get a system that will work long term," he said in an extensive interview to discuss his new book. "The players do not have the economic wherewithal to sit out one year."
- Raptors game day – T-Wolves/Raps (watching it live this time) | Cuzoogle – I will start off by saying I will see this game because there is nothing better on. The Raps should bottle up whatever they did on Sunday and crack it open again. No Big Al in the middle, so Toronto should just go inside at will. The Raps will win 101-90 in what will be a way better game to watch than the one in Minny a few weeks ago.
- 3 In the Key – Toronto Raptors Game Day Preview vs. Timberwolves – RaptorsHQ.com – This is a must win game.
You will hear this for every Toronto Raptors game going forward until this team is either (a) mathematically eliminated from the post-season or (b) shock many and secure a playoff spot late in the season. It has gotten to the point where there really is no margin for error. This team is 5.5 games out of the eight spot.
If the Raptors do want to make the post-season they absolutely must beat teams like the Minnesota Timberwolves. There are no ifs, ands or buts allowed.
- Morning Report: The Salary Cap To Fall – The bigger impact on salary cap declines for teams is the decline of the luxury tax number as well. There are an estimated 10 NBA teams with salary cap numbers in excess of $71.15 million and are looking at luxury tax payments this season – New York ($95.9 million), Dallas ($93.2 million), Cleveland ($90.8 million), Portland ($79.1 million), Boston ($78.7 million), Lakers ($78.2 million), Phoenix ($75.1 million), Sacramento ($75.4 million), Toronto ($72.5 million) and Miami ($72.1 million). Based on 2009 salary cap obligations as many as 14 NBA teams could be facing tax next season, and that's before any free agent business is done. This could turn out to be a very tough summer to be a free agent, and 2010 could be even worse if declines go as expected. Huge drops in the salary cap could motivate the upper echelon free agents to take contract extensions and extend the terms of their current deals rather than hit free agency and smaller possible deals.
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Related posts:
- Toronto Raptors Linkage for February 24th through February 25th
- Toronto Raptors Linkage for February 23rd through February 24th
- Toronto Raptors Linkage for February 24th from 14:33 to 20:10
- Toronto Raptors Linkage for February 24th from 12:20 to 13:33
- Toronto Raptors Linkage for February 13th through February 14th
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