Saturday, January 20, 2007

Spanish Fly vs. TJ - A case for Jose?

Thought this was a timely article about back-up PG's who are better than the starter. Considering how much TJ sucked tonight, and how much Jose didn't, I thought it would be worth the read. The following excerpt does a great job of illustrating just how I've felt at numerous times this year:

The Toronto Raptors are in a slightly similar situation. I’m not saying it’s the same at all, but the way Jose Calderon has been playing of late leads me to believe that he will be a starting point guard in the NBA once he settles down and plays well more consistently. Not taking anything away from TJ Ford, but Calderon has outplayed him more than a few times this year. He’s the guy who led Toronto to a win the other night against the Kings, and there have been other occasions where Calderon has just done a better job over the course of a game than Ford.

Despite all the potential negatives this could cause down the road, there are certainly worse problems to have. Can you remember a time when we were 3-deep at the PG spot (TJ, Jose and of course, D-Mart!)? Me neither, so here's hoping our cap situation allows us to lock him up this summer for a 3-5 year period (with Roko being PG #3 and D-Mart #3B/coach).

Friday, January 12, 2007

The Smitch Has Wisdom.

Good article at TheStar about the importance of beating up on teams that are injured when you get the opportunity. It's nice that we're on the good end of this equation for a change. We're finally healthy for the first time all season, and when you add in the fact that the League gave us our annual proctological-exam in the form of a particularly shitey start to our schedule, maybe the concept of the Raps' as first-place team doesn't seem quite so absurd. The absolutely terrible teams in our division also makes this concept somewhat more realistic.

Despite our current good health, and the relative poor health of our recent and future opponents, there are many reasons to think the Raps are a team that is only going to improve as the season wears on. We've developped a good, solid rotation (which is helpful because it means Fred Jones and K-Hump aren't playing much), Il Mago is playing a significant role that is only going to increase as the season goes on, we're showing all the signs of improvement in team play and we've got depth at the PG position.

As I sit here eating crow, I must admit that TJ has looked as though he has made significant improvements as the season has gone on, which, given his age and small number of games played due to his past health issues, would strongly suggest actual improvement that should be sustained and improved upon further, rather than merely a Mike-James-esque flash in the pan that does not accurately reflect a player's true ability. Thank god we didn't sign Mike James.