At least he is back to shooting with confidence. I would have never thought I would see a game where Andrea would have 3 dunks in one half! And Rasho even had one in the same half, as well!!!
Toronto's GM Bryan Colangelo, head of scouts Masai Ujiri and scout Albert Buzzav will attend final game of Slovenian's cup on Sunday.
I guess they will scout Goran Dragić and maybe Jan Vesely http://www.adriaticbasket.com/player.php?id=914
I've seen Vesely playing, very quick, atlethic + very young and big.
I don't know about him-- I see he is only 17 years old. I do know that Rasho has a lot of info on European basketball; he still follows it really closely and he has in the past shared his personal knowledge with his NBA team. I have long thought that should be his post-NBA career- scout of European players for an NBA team.
Clippers-Raptors Preview
http://www.usatoday.com/sports/score.../NBA776431.htmNo matter how much T.J. Ford is able to contribute, the Toronto Raptors believe having him on the court will only make them better.
After seeing limited time in his first game back from a left arm stinger, Ford could have more of an impact as the Raptors try for a fourth straight victory over the visiting Los Angeles Clippers on Friday night.
In his first game since Dec. 11, Ford had four points and four assists in almost 17 minutes of Toronto's 114-82 win at Miami on Wednesday.
Ford should provide good depth for the Raptors as he's eased back into action since colliding with Atlanta's Al Horford in that December contest where he had 26 points and eight assists.
The point guard, whose neck injury in February 2004 while with Milwaukee forced him to miss the 2004-05 season, averaged 14.1 points and 6.8 assists in 17 games before missing the next 24.
"It's about me getting back into a flow and the guys getting used to my style," Ford told the team's official Web site. "I don't think people expected me to come in and do the things that I normally do."'
It's uncertain how Ford will be used with Jose Calderon averaging 14.5 points and 9.7 assists since Ford went down. It would seem the two together could only benefit the Raptors, one of five Eastern Conference teams with a winning record.
"(Ford's) fast and quick and he can get to that basket at will,"' said forward Chris Bosh, who had 24 points Monday. "He can find guys. Yes, Jose's been playing well, but imagine if you can have two guys playing at the same rate, splitting time. That's a good thing for us."
Ford has a chance to see more time Friday against the Clippers (15-31), who have lost three in a row in this series since a 115-113 overtime win in Toronto on Feb. 5, 2006. Ford has totaled 31 points and 16 assists in his last two appearances against them.
The Raptors are looking to build off Monday's win where they shot a season-high 59.5 percent from the field and went 10-for-19 from 3-point range.
"It would be hard for us to play much better," said Toronto coach Sam Mitc , whose team has won nine of 13...
The well-rested Toronto Raptors will celebrate the franchise's 1,000th game
when they host the Los Angeles Clippers Friday night (7 p.m. ET) at the Air Canada Centre.
Vesely will not play since his club Slovan was taken out yesterday by Helios. Sorry, my bad.
Kapono practices for the three-point contest- looks like he only misses one!
http://boss.streamos.com/wmedia/nba/...t_practice.asx
Interesting set of back-to-backs for Rasho, as he plays against his two former teams on consecutive days.
Tonight in Minnesota to face the Wolves- who are now coached by Randy Witmann with whom Rasho was quite close in Minnesota- and then the Spurs in Toronto and Rasho is reunited with the coach who said he was in love with him.
Hi, Slovenians-- I need some confirmation of the language here.
Did BC leave early from SLO to attend to business matters in Toronto? The fact that he specifically left makes it seem like some trade speculation could be well-founded.
http://www.siol.net/sportal/kosarka/...ljubljani.aspx
There has been a lot of speculation about Mike Miller and Kirilenko.
Of course a trade for AK 47 would have to mean Rasho is on his way to Utah. There have been reports that Utah was looking at saving money by trading AK 47 for Ben Wallace. If that won't work out, Rasho woudl be an OK alternative to dealing with Shaq... in the West. Plus, Utah would save even more $$. The Raptors did try to trade for Kirilenko last year.
Last edited by ploto; 02-10-2008 at 04:05 PM.
It says he had to leave for Canada to make an "urgent business decision".
That's what I thought. With all the trades going on, it seems like it could be that. I mean what other business decision is so urgent he misses this part of his trip to Europe.
Please, keep me posted on what's going on with changes to the team- especially if it includes Sho.
im going to raps vs spurs tonight if you see me i'll be the guy yelling at bargnani to play defence and rebound, and making fun of chuck swirsky i can't stand that guy
I think this is actually why Bryan left Europe:
Sam Mitc will not be with the Raptors until after the NBA all-star break, having returned to his Atlanta home Monday to be with his family after the death of his father-in-law, the team announced.
Mitc will return to his head coaching duties for the Feb. 23 game against the Orlando Magic, giving him more than a week to spend with his wife, their four children and his wife’s family.
Assistant Mike Evans will be the acting head coach for Monday’s game against the San Antonio Spurs while Jay Triano will fill that role on Wednesday against the New Jersey Nets.
They were named to the jobs because Evans was in charge of the scouting report for the Spurs while Triano handled the Nets. Had the Raptors faced any of the teams that assistant Alex English is charged with scouting, he would have filled in as the head coach.
http://thestar.blogs.com/raptors/20...game-leave.html
Gilbert running smack on Calderon in his blog.
"On the East side, I don’t know if there were any big snubs. I mean, some people wanted Jose Calderon. Jose Calderon? Who? Come on man, this is All-Star, people. When I’ve seen some of the names that are being thrown around on the ticker as snubs, it’s killing me. I understand Calderon has the best assist-turnover ratio in the league, but you know what’s funny? All back-up point guards have the best assist-turnover ratios. Screw it, Kevin Ollie should be an All-Star then! For like five or six years, Ollie was No. 1 in assist-turnover ratio!
An All-Star is an All-Star! He’s playing at a high level. That means, if you take him off the team, that team should fall down if he’s that one guy. An All-Star means that he is dominating the game of basketball. It’s not even about numbers necessarily, it’s about dominating.
I could probably say that Richard Jefferson got snubbed maybe Josh Smith too. His 18 points, 10 rebounds and three blocks puts him at No. 14. Richard Jefferson is No. 13. Turkoglu is No. 15. But, El Calderon? Come on.
I’ve been loving the way he’s been playing for the last two years. When he first came into the league he was a little timid and scared to shoot the ball, but he’s taking over that team. But All-Star? He’s about 20 years away from being an All-Star.
This is the difference between Antawn and Caron stepping up with me out and Calderon stepping up with T.J. Ford out: Antawn is second in the league in double-doubles and there’s only five players in the league averaging 20 and 10 – he’s one of them. There’s Dwight Howard, Al Jefferson, Carlos Boozer, Chris Bosh and Antawn. Four of those five are All-Stars and their teams are winning. Caron is playing at a high level. He’s taking over the game when he’s been playing – All-Star. Calderon is managing a team. If he was up for Rookie All-Star, Sop re All-Star … BOOM … he’d get in. He might even be MVP! But for the big show? The big game? No.
You know what? I’m sorry people. I think I’m biased because my team was fifth in the Eastern Conference and I was averaging 29, five and five and I got snubbed off the All-Star game. So maybe I’m a little biased. I was in that Larry Brown era, so, my fault. You know what? Calderon might have been an All-Star. I can’t look at my situation and judge everybody else’s situation in the All-Star game. I guess my 29, five and five and being in fifth place wasn’t good enough at the time.
You know what’s funny about that? All-Star is the top 24 players. I wasn’t top 24, I was number 25 for the All-Star team, but, at the end of the season I was All-NBA Third Team, so that means top 15. I was confused at the time. How was I top 15 a couple months later? But anyway, the All-Star game is a time where people are happy and people are having fun. I don’t know how fun it’s going to be this year. Two of the comedians are out, me and Shaq. You’re going to have a whole bunch of guys over there serious and stuff.
My surprise was T-Mac. I think I lost a bet on that one. T-Mac is averaging like 20-something and … yeah, Brendan Haywood won that bet. "
http://my.nba.com/thread.jspa?threadID=300023403
did gilbert arenas just state that he himself isnt an allstar?
Nice win tonight.
I just don't get, why Mitc doesn't play Rasho more against Howard. Tonight Howard scored exactly 1 point against Rasho in Q1!
During 5:49 min at the end of Q1 Rasho scored 6 pts (3/4), got blocked once (by Howard) + managed 1 steal and 2 blocks, also got 1 PF (on Howard)
Howard managed 1 poitnt, 1 block (on Rasho) and went 0/2 from field (once fouled by Rasho) - Howard missed only 3 FGs during the game!.
At the same period both recorded 0 rebounds (Howard 15 in the game) while Toronto outrebounded Orladno 6-4
Please, don't get me wrong. Howard is better and more complete player as Rasho, I just don't get Mitc . Rasho manages to limit Howard very well, why Mitc doesn't use him more?
Rasho played Howard very well in the first half of this game. In the second half, both teams went small. It was mostly just Bosh and four perimeter guys in the second half. I think the idea for Orlando was to force Bosh to have to guard Howard and so they both scored a ton! But Rasho looked very good.
Few trade day rumblings...
Dixon is the guy most likely to be traded-- he wants to be somewhere he will get more playing time as he is in a contract year.
Raptors talked to GS about Dixon and Graham for Pietrus.
Raptors tried to pry Joe Smith away from the Bulls- reunite those old Minneosta days.
There seems to be a low feeling that something really could happen with Kapono because teams are interested in him.
BC spending most of his time telling teams who want Jose Calderon-- NO!
So, I think some trade will happen today involving the Raptors- but not Rasho.
All-American forward Candace Parker will skip her senior season at Tennessee.
The redshirt junior will graduate at the end of this season and wants to participate in the summer Olympics and pursue a professional career, coach Pat Summitt said Thursday...
Parker redshirted her freshman season to recover from surgeries to repair a torn knee ligament.
The 6-foot-4 Naperville, Ill., native leads the team in scoring with 20.6 points per game and rebounds with 8.8 per game and is one of six women to have dunked in the college game. She made her seventh career dunk earlier this month against Kentucky...
By skipping her final year of eligibility, Parker has the chance to enter the WNBA draft in April. She would likely go as the top pick.
The Los Angeles Sparks hold the top pick, which would give Parker the opportunity to play alongside Lisa Leslie and former teammates Sidney Spencer and Tye'sha Fluker.
http://ap.google.com/article/ALeqM5j...iHeVAD8UUQHQ04
Chad Ford: (2:18 PM ET ) ... I've done some checking ... nothing to report out of Toronto.
Dixon traded to Pistons
Feb 21, 2008 04:02 PM
Doug Smith
Sports Reporter
The Raptors are stocking up on Slovenian centres.
In a deal consummated right before the NBA's trade deadline, Toronto moved unhappy guard Juan Dixon to the Detroit Pistons for Primoz Brezec, a 7-footer who joins fellow Slovenian Rasho Nesterovic in the Raptors front court.
Brezec, traded earlier this year from Charlotte to Detroit, is in the final year of a contract that pays him about $2.75 million (U.S.) this season. Raptors general manager Bryan Colangelo said Toronto will also receive "cash considerations" as part of the deal for Dixon.
With Dixon gone and a big man coming back, Colangelo said the Raptors will be okay with Carlos Delfino acting as a backup to point guard Jose Calderon while T.J. Ford recovers from various injuries.
"I feel comfortable between the guards that we have and Darrick Martin and Carlos Delfino that it's the right play," said the general manager. "There were several transactions that were available to us for back-up point guards that ultimately would have cost us flexibility going forward. In most cases, they were looking for draft picks and that's something we weren't entertaining."
Dixon, obtained a year ago from Portland for Fred Jones, wanted out of Toronto once his role diminished to the point where he was third behind Calderon and Ford at point guard and buried behind the likes of Delfino, Anthony Parker, Jamario Moon and Jason Kapono.
His agents had made it known to Colangelo that the 29-year-old, who is in the last year of a contract that pays him about $3 million, wanted out.
http://www.thestar.com/Sports/article/305735
And actually playing Carlos at back-up PG means more minutes for Jason which is a good thing, too.
Whoosh!
Welcome Brezec!
It was a deal much more about the departure than the arrival, a swap of little for big, expiring contract for expiring contract. A tweak more than anything else.
The Raptors made a small move at the NBA's trade deadline yesterday, moving the unhappy Juan Dixon to the Detroit Pistons for Primoz Brezec, hardly a blockbuster but all that general manager Bryan Colangelo felt comfortable doing.
"It's important to have players that want to be here," Colangelo said after the trade. "Juan and his representatives made it pretty clear that he wasn't content with his role.
"You want to make players happy and you don't want unhappy players around. Not that he was handling himself in an unprofessional way, I want to be very clear. I only want players here that want to be here and want to be part of this culture."
Colangelo said he had a chance to make other, bolder moves but the need to maintain financial flexibility – primarily to re-sign Jose Calderon this summer without bumping up against the NBA's luxury tax threshold – made him back away from potential deals.
"We didn't want a knee-jerk reaction to everything else happening out there," he said. "We like where we are, we like our team, we're moving in a positive direction. (With) the need to re-sign Jose Calderon to a contract it was very important we did not put ourselves in a position to jeopardize the flexibility that we have."
It's hard to imagine Brezec, a 7-foot-1 centre, having much of an impact with the Raptors. After one good season with the expansion Charlotte Bobcats in 2004-05, he's been a non-en y both in Charlotte and Detroit, which obtained him earlier this season.
The native of Slovenia, a countryman and national team teammate of Toronto's Rasho Nesterovic, is another seven-footer, though, who might come in handy against the bigger teams the Raptors have to face. But his inclusion in the deal was made much more amenable by the fact his contract expires at the end of this season, as Dixon's did.
The departure of Dixon, though, does thin out Toronto's backcourt, at least until T.J. Ford returns from his latest injury. Colangelo said he expects coach Sam Mitc to use Carlos Delfino in that backup role when Ford, or Jose Calderon, are unavailable.
"There were several transactions that were available to us for backup point guards that ultimately would have cost us flexibility going forward," Colangelo said. "In most cases, they were looking for draft picks and that's something we weren't entertaining."
Colangelo also said he resisted any urge to make a blockbuster trade because he thinks his team is on the right path.
"Last year, I think we finished with the third seed (in the playoffs) and winners of the Atlantic (Division)," he said. "This year, we find ourselves currently in the fourth seed and not far behind where we were. Obviously not first in the Atlantic because of Boston's success but we don't think we're too far way from the top of the East."
http://www.thestar.com/Sports/article/305950
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