The Draft Shmaft and things of that nature

As I was sitting there watching the draft in a restaurant in Maui, I said to myself, "Wow!! We got him!! We got Walker or Knight!! It's all over, suck it! But...

With the 5th pick in the NBA draft, The Toronto Raptors select: JONAS VALANCIUNAS

Along with the rest of the fan base of the Toronto Raptors, our jaws collectively dropped in unison. No friggin way! As I have said before, Jonas was one of the picks I thought would be a good choice. But not in a situation like this. Not with 2 players we clearly coveted more, that would fill a much bigger need were still available.

But hold the frickin phone here. Walker and Knight get passed up again, and again. Is there something about these players that us, as mere fans don't know about? Is Jonas Valanciunas the next coming of the Raptor saviour?

The term "european and soft" gets tossed around the digital social scene like cheap candy out of a pinata. To be honest, not too many people know much about Valanciunas. To add fuel to the fire, the guy couldn't play in the NBA next season either due to contract issues with his pro team in europe. So the chance for instant gratification is null. I was hesitant to warm up to the move at first but several things got me excited.

-First being the rumour that San Antonio was willing to trade up to get him. With San Antonio being such a prestigious franchise the last two decades, they to some are considered an expert in the evaluation of draft talent. On the flip side of this coin, that doesn't mean that much to me. I mean, it does and it doesn't. Just cause the Spurs wanted him doesn't automatically make him a must have player.

-Cleveland who was picking fourth chose to pass on him due to his contract issues. So basically he would have went fourth had he have been free to go where he pleased. On one side reaffirming his status as a clearer choice by another NBA team in terms of talent level over the likes of Knight and Walker. So you have the Cavs, Raptors, and the Spurs giving evidence that they would have taken him here before those two guards. On the other side of the coin, it's again just a rumour. How do we know this for sure? And this isn't something we can take to the bank.

-Like i mentioned before, the Wizards and the Bobcats pass on Knight and Walker. With that being said, I don't exactly trust what a team run by Michael Jordon thinks, or a team that used to be run by him. But again, it reaffirms the idea that Jonas is rated higher then the two guards by NBA teams at the time of draft.

-Jonas plays in the U19 tourney and not only does Lithuania win the whole damn thing but Jonas dominates, gets tournament MVP honours and puts up impressive numbers like 23ppg, and 14rbpg. Ok, so in action the guy does NOT seem like a stiff at all. He's agile, gets into dirty areas, defends well and isn't afraid to get his hands dirty. Awesome. The guy is only 18 years old. So perhaps it is a good thing he spends another season in Europe. There's going to be an NBA lockout anyway. So maybe this pick by Colangelo is pure genius afterall.

Gun to my head, I think the Raptors might have gotten the steal of the draft. In 2 years time we could be talking about a star on the team. Someone who will play well, give the Raps what they need on both ends, and make is fellow european, Bargnani, look a little better.

Lebron Whines, Cleveland Shines

First things first, the Raptors really have nothing to be ashamed of taking the top team in the league to overtime without their top player, before finally running out of gas. In the end I do question some of Triano's late game substitution choices keeping Hedo in the game and keeping Reggie... who was an absolute animal tonight, on the bench down the stretch. Hedo did have his hand in bringing the Raps to OT but a few ill advised shots and wasted possessions by him were frustrating. 

Here's the problem I have with Lebron, and it's similar to the Boston thing. He whines and complains like a little baby. He already gets most of the calls going his way from the refs but when he doesn't.... whoa go cry to your mommy pal. He moans and bitches and I am sure he comes close to stamping his feet on the floor. Jack Armstrong echoed my sentiments. I felt like slapping Lebron on the side of the head, or just backhanding him. Boston does this too except they're worse cause they have a really asshole-ish cockiness that makes you want to vomit. Pierce saying that he's one of the greatest shooters in NBA history, made me throw up in my mouth a little.

Shit you might have noticed:

• Hedo for the most part played well. He shot it decently and took what the offense and defense gave him as he was the beneficiary of some nice passes from Jack and Bargnani. He still displayed some of his signature jackass moves though like just putting his head down and running his defender over and then looking at the ref as if he was surprised that he got called for the charge. It's like he's got some sort of deal with the devil where he has to do that at least once a game. The other irritating plays i could think of were his rushed bricked three-pointer to try to win the game at the end of the fourth, and the one near the end where he kept holding on to the ball and running the shot clock down to waste a key possession.

• Bargs played his best offensive game in a while. I think his best move is his pull up jumper from the top of the arch, hoping in close to the free throw line and he just pops up a nice clean looking mid range jumper. Same problem for this team that I have been complaining about for years, they just stop giving him the ball in the second half of games. He had about 18 points in the first but rarely touched the ball the rest of the way. The only thing he does when he has the ball is create. Give the Italian his penne pasta!!! He looked particularly good on the head fake 180 dunk from baseline and the head fake, step out jumper he had on Lebron. Totally faked him out, bravo il Mago.

• Attack of the Jack. Jarrett continued his strong play of late and came up big again in this game. He was absolutely fearless diving into the lane, slithering through defenders and scoring with a lot of duck-ins and drawing all sorts of attention and fouls. He's exactly what we need from a floor general. Clearly the best off season acquisition by Bryan. When I heard we got him, I was ecstatic. When I heard we got Hedo, I said to myself: Why? He's not what we needed. 

• The bench came up big and came to play. Reggie in my opinion had his best game as a Raptor. I couldn't believe all the points he was scoring and just wreaking havoc on the offensive glass and was like a tiger on a wildebeest carcass. Sonny Weems was also exceptionally good. Case in point, the fake out on James, shedding him for the two handed cram job. His shot was on and the Cavs were letting him shoot. Well done. Antoine also had a strong showing, he played as well as one could play on James. 

 

Kevin Durant... "YOU'RE NEXT!!"

 Like I said, the Raptors have absolutely nothing to be ashamed of tonight. Only thing I could complain about is them fading in OT. Toronto just doesn't seem to have the knack for pulling off games in extra time. I don't know what the stats are but I only remember like 2 or 3 OT wins by this team through the last bunch of seasons. As soon as they made it to OT, I knew they were done. It's a trend that must stop and hopefully something the coach can better prepare his team for. So that Raps have Saturday off before they meet up with OKC. Get some rest, a good practice in, maybe head down to the local Massage Parlour, and prepare for a shootout on Sunday.

Raps downed in Cleveland

So the Raps got put down by the Cavs lastnight. Looking at the score and just the score would lead you to believe that it's just a good team taking down one that wasn't as good . However if you did manage to watch the game it was a game where, like tv announcers said was one where the Raptors had many many opportunities to win it and basically pissed the game away.

How did they do this? Well they went cold in the fourth quarter. I knew they couldn't keep it up for 4 quarters and a betting man would've correctly bet on the Cavs being able to keep up the level of competition that both teams kept up with for 3 quarters. The turning point for me came when we had back to back possessions where the Raps got to the line and missed 4 free throws in a row. In a game that close it's the kiss of death. Not to mention they went stagnant for a few stretches where they hoisted up a few jumpers out of sequence, not as a part of a play, not a part of a screen and roll and clanked them off front rim. Add to that the play of the Anti-superman, the Stuporman Hedont Turkoglu. I don't wanna talk about this guy again cause I am just repeating myself but you know what i mean.

Bosh goes cold in the second half. He was the man in the second quarter, then against shaq he played like the Rupaul of bigmen. I don't know why Jack gets benched now in the 4th. He's a much better defender than Jose. It's more evident obviously when Jose doesn't score and hindsight is 20/20 but I don't understand why you would bench your starter.