Live, in-game random thoughts....

-OK, I'm back just in time to catch the Colangelo show as it makes its return to Phoenix. And would you believe it, BC is on the air with Chuck and Leo!!!!! Listening to him makes me wish he was our announcer, too. He could be a groundbreaker: the fist GM/announcer in NBA history! Hell, if they let the clowns/homers from Boston on the air, what possible argument could they make about letting BC be the voice of the Raps'? Plus, he seems emotional enough that you know he would just be unable to hold back at times and would criticize the hell out of anyone and everyone. As an example, he just blurted out "that's offensive goaltending!!!', and you could tell he knew he was lucky to have not yelled "for fuck sakes, that's offensive goaltending". As a sidebar, Bargnani just had a sick dunk after running the floor like a gazelle. Wow, that was sick. I have mixed emotions about seeing highlight dunks like this: on the one hand, I'm happy because it shows me how good it is, on the other I'm sad because I know I'll have to listen to the Swirsk near piss himself about a million times over the next decade or so.

-Is it just me, or does Bargnani seem to be able to get his shot off more or less at will? I mean, its unblockable because he releases it from about 13 feet off the ground, it has a really high arc (as opposed to the flat bricks we see from, say, Fred Jones) AND he gets it off super-quick. His upside may ultimately turn out to be this: he becomes a scoring force unlike just about any other, a big with an inside/outside combination never seen before from a big like him. As my fellow Raptor fan Cheese likes to say "it's all about matchups, and he's a mistmatch". The fact that he might even turn out to be a decent defender (see: 6 blocks the other night) makes his potential all the more exciting.

-Jose's injury really has 3 upsides: first, it means more D-Mart!!!!. Seeing as how I think our GM should also announce, I don't think it should come as a surprise that I think D-mart should be officially given a player/coach designation. Someone needs to make this happen, and soon. I could get my wish next year. Here is how I envision it playing out: he signs on as an assistant, but keeps himself in "game shape" (a term I use extremely loosely) and he becomes our 16th man who signs ten-day contracts when needed due to injury. Don't laugh, I am dead serious. You heard it here first. Secondly, it means Jose's value might decreaase and hence we can get him cheaper in the offseason, although with the non-lifethreatening injury, he will be back sooner than expected. And third, it only helps us come closer to deciding to officially enter the Greg Oden/Kevin Durant sweepstakes. On this last note, with Bosh's injury looking worse by the day, we may be going in the tank sooner than later. I'd love to see a starting line-up of: Uros at centre, Bargs at PF, Tucker, Joey G and the Hump. Trade MoPete, sit down Rasho and Parker and let Jorge in the game only when neccessary (ie. when the Hump is in foul trouble). Wonder how David Stern would feel about that? As I've often opined, we need one more high draft pick if we want to be good for a long time, and this is the draft of the fucking decade. Wouldn't it just be very Raptor-like of us to be a solidly middle of the pack team and lose our draft pick to Charlotte when the chance to get a great player at 10-15 is highest? By the way, it's top 16 protected. Pray that the Nets don't suck so much that we actaully win our crappy division.

-Jalen Rose: is this the rematch against your old team that you had in mind? The next time we see him it will be on RaptorsTV, which is something I personally can't wait for. He's my second choice behind Colangelo to replace Leo.

-Note to Kurt Thomas: you can't guard Il Mago. The Italian Assassin just showed Thomas his baseline drive move, which is quickly becoming his go to move when driving from the mid-range.

-PJ just made a nice place down-low on Amare. I'd love to see him get lots more burn, particularly in place of the Hump, who has gone from being a "wow, maybe we have something the Jazz missed" type of player into a "well, he ain't ever gonna be a piece on our championship team" type of player in about 5 seconds. He is the exact opposite of PJ: the more you see him, the less you like his game and the more you see how limited he is. PJ, on the other hand, has the type of game that you start to appreciate more every time he's on the court. The more he plays, the less ridicolous the idea of a 6'4" power forward seems.

-Favourite D-Mart moment of the game: when the Swirsk mentioned that he spoke to the fan-favorite before the game and asked him if we was "thinking he'd get 20 minutes", to which the savvy veteran replied "more like 20 points". No career-15th-man in league history has had as much confidence in their abilities as D-Mart. I'm sure he is convinced that he could go off for 50pts/20assts/10rebs. at any time if just given the right chance. He is bordering on delusional, which only makes me like him even more.

-The Swirsk is getting a bobblehead? What is the world coming to? We're going to have to listen to Chuck talk about this for years.

-Pat Burke + Jalen Rose on the court at the same time = garbage time. 0-1 for the Burkester. HUGE defensive rebound, met with cheers. Blown past by Bargs. PJ, continues to look good, scoring a bit. Oh my GOD, TJ just hurt his back. He's holding his back, and walking like an old man. Between him, the Weepy-One (Calderon) and the sympathy crier (Greta Garbo, who also didn't play the second half with a calf injury) we might be the biggest pussies in the world. Charles Oakley is rolling over in his fucking grave. On the bright side, things are looking up for D-Mart.

-December 20th, mark it on your calendar, it's official: time to tank. No Bosh, no Calderon, no TJ, no Garbo = great reasons to toss in the next 60 games or so. When taken in consideration with the post on Oden/Durant above, the choice is clear.

-Pat Burke just hit career trey number 4. As would be expected, the place erupts. D-Mart comes right back to stick it in his face!!! Is there anything better than garbage time? And look, it's a bird, it's a plane, no, it's Slokar!!! Let me officially add this to reasons for tanking the season: 5 months of nothing but garbage-time-all-the-time. Holy Shit Slokar just hit his first NBA bucket!!! And now it's Slokar v. Burke, mano-e-mano, a battle of titans!!! Slokar drives to the basket wildly, getting by Burke before tossing up a brick!! Wow, could this game have ended in a better, more fitting way? And with that, i'm out, because there is no way I can top what just happened.