Mulling their options

With just about a month to go until the NBA trade deadline, it’s annual tradition for junkies to abuse ESPN’s trade machine to play virtual GM. I can’t think of a single time anybody proposed a trade machine transaction and it actually came true, but keep in mind that the software engineer who developed this app for ESPN is now an assistant GM with Daryl Morey and his number-crunching Houston Rockets. Who says it doesn’t pay to day dream?

Or if we want to entertain any of those Bosh to L.A. rumours, we might as well score Ricky Rubio and go for broke in three years right? I mean, at least then Raptors fans have something to look forward to — the same rationale Knicks fans have used to keep themselves sane for the past 24 months (too bad that bubble is about to burst).

Dear LeBron: Steve called, he wants his trophy back

For the past two seasons, Wednesday’s matchup between the Suns and Hornets would have been billed as a passing of the torch game.

Steve Nash, three months away from his 36th birthday, pigeonholed as the two-time MVP in the twilight of his career — chasing a ring despite a rapidly closing window.

Chris Paul, the future of the position, building a stronger MVP candidacy every passing year and leading his upstart team to the playoffs and beyond.

My how things can change.

Nash and his revitalized Suns ran the hapless Hornets off the court last night, burying 13 of 26 three point attempts en route to a breezy 124-104 victory. Registering 8 assists in the first quarter alone, Nash only needed to log 22 minutes total in the win, letting backup Goran Dragic drop 14-7-7 on the JV team wearing those New Orleans jerseys.

Raptors at Spurs: Starring Tony Parker’s tailor

If NBA basketball was analogous to playing Street Fighter, the Raptors would be the dude who knows every combo, every chain, every special move in the entire game. Glaring achilles heel? Toronto is unaware there is such thing as “blocking”. Like, I’m not even talking about knowing when to block. The Raptors don’t know blocking exists. This becomes noticeable after taking 15 dragon punches to the face.

With this offensive (literally and figuratively) mentality,  The Raptors posted 124 points in regulation, shooting .592 per cent from the field and nailing 11 of 17 attempts from long distance against the Spurs on Monday. Toronto lost the game.

If you didn’t watch the game, or even if you did, read that last paragraph and try to just make sense of it with a rational basketball mind. That San Antonio — sans Tim Duncan and Tony Parker — managed to put up 131 points in regulation to walk away with a win is simply an unbelievable, untenable fact. I saw most of this crime against basketball (when I was not burying my head in my hands) and yet, my mind remains blown by what I witnessed.

Sadly, this is not an original screenplay. The Raptors again were felled by poor rebounding, poor late game execution and a porous, inexcusably awful defensive effort.

Ricky Rubio man crush update

Brandon Jennings has earned a lot of hype coming out of the gate. ESPN has him ranked as the top rookie of the season so far and justifiably so: the Compton native is averaging an impressive 18.5 points, 4.4 rebounds and 4.4 assists through five games in his NBA career.

I’m not sure anybody saw this coming.

Throughout last year’s NBA Draft process, Jennings was probably the biggest enigma. Once considered the top player in his graduating year, Jennings spent a highly publicized season in Italy playing Euroleague basketball instead of going the traditional one-and-done route at an NCAA institution.

In light of the Bucks rookie’s explosive performance out of the gate, many basketball heads are now wondering aloud if more talented teens will opt for the Euroleague route on their path to the NBA. This is a valid question, and certainly it will be interesting to see if Jennings ends up being a trailblazer or an outlier. I however am wondering aloud if this tells us anything about how Ricky Rubio will fit in the NBA.

If Jennings, a 20 year-old who struggled mightily and was relatively inconsequential to his actual team performance in Europe is able to make his presence felt on an NBA court — what does (if anything) that project for the moppy haired FC Barcelona star?

So who are the real Raptors?

Five games in, we know at least this much about the Toronto Raptors this season:

• They are going to take a lot of threes
• They are going to give up a lot of threes
• If they make more than the other team does, they’re probably going to win
• If they make less than the other team, they’re probably screwed

Basically, the Raptors are the Orlando Magic-lite; and frankly that’s not a bad place to be. The only difference really between the two teams is Orlando has far superior rebounding, which allows for many more chances to launch threes on second and third chance possessions.

With that said, the Raptors walked into New Orleans tonight and won a road game slightly more than the Hornets lost a home game. Just slightly.

Jose Calderon played by far his best game of the year by simply being more aggressive. Instead of turning the corner and depending on his currently-wonky jumper, Calderon looked to push the ball in transition and drive to the net more often. Although this didn’t always result in layups and even ended up with some blocked shots and bad passes, it’s essential for a point guard to put dribble penetration in the mind of his defender. Simply getting into the painted area creates opportunities and cutting lanes for teammates and if Calderon continues to look to get into the lane, he will have plenty of opportunities to shoot himself out of his slump. He’s not all there yet, but there were glimpses of the floor general Toronto fans have been expecting for over a year.

Final Fantasy: Waiver wire sleepers

For Regular 12-team H2H

Anthony Morrow is somehow only 22 per cent owned in Yahoo leagues right now, below injured players such as Francisco Garcia and Mike Dunleavy Jr. I know his early averages have been nothing to cheer about (12.7 ppg, 1.7 rpg, 0.7 apg) but for anybody in need of shooting percentage help from the wings (and buckets of treys while at it), Morrow is your man. He broke out against Memphis going for 24 points on 83.3 per cent (!) shooting, 4-4 from long range. Don’t expect that every game, but if he evan halves that production consistently he’s worth a pickup for those looking for speciality help in those cats.

DeJuan Blair again is worth a look for speciality needs. Particularly if your league counts offensive rebounds, his 3.3 per game would offset decidedly poor FT numbers. His .704 from the field is nice however, and overall 9.8 points, 8.5 rebounds and 0.5 steals in only 20 minutes a game are gaudy numbers any way you slice it.

NBA Thursday: Starring Manu’s bald spot

Watching tonight’s ESPN doubleheader, the unavoidable thought in my mind was how different the NBA would be if Carlos Boozer had stuck around in Cleveland. Booze is exactly the type of mobile scoring big man that would make LeBron even more of a monster. Imagine Boozer at the four alongside Varejeo or Big Z at the 5 depending on the matchup? Scary stuff.

Chicago at Cleveland

If I’m a Cavs fan, even though it’s only been five games into the season, I am officially very, very worried. Chicago was incredibly mediocre on both sides of the ball but because Cleveand’s offense was so inept, the Bulls ground out an ugly road win despite poor shooting and broken execution.

Charles Barkley provided some actual basketball insight in wondering why Mike Brown keeps trotting Shaq and Big Z out there at the same time. The Cavs’ twin towers have trouble guarding mobile bigs in the pick and roll and neither of them command a double team on offense. That same big lineup got burned in Toronto repeatedly as well, so what gives? In my mind, it’s the Kevin Durant phenomena — except in reverse.