I guess cuddling is a good basketball tactic while trying to free up one of your scorers, but I’ve always thought canoodling is the way to go. Maybe next year.
Archive for the ‘Toronto Raptors’ Category
Video: A couple Raptors bro down and hug it out for a double-screen
Posted by Trey Kerby under Score Video, Toronto Raptors on Apr 01, 2013
Terrence Ross isn’t used to driving in the snow
Posted by Trey Kerby under Cars, Toronto Raptors on Mar 26, 2013
Cars are a pretty smart invention and “Cars” is a pretty good movie. I think we can all agree on those two things. But when Henry Ford was coming up with the Model T, he probably didn’t ever consider the descendants of his masterpiece would ever weigh a ton-and-a-half, travel more than 100 mph or be used on roads covered in snow and ice. And if he did, maybe he should have made them less slippery. I’m not a doctor of cars, but that seems like a pretty good idea, in retrospect.
At the very least, I know Terrence Ross has my back with regards to cars on icy roads. From Sportsnet’s Holly MacKenzie:
Sportsnet.ca: How have you been dealing with driving in the snow in Toronto?
Ross: The first car I had up here was a Challenger. I was trying to get home quick. They were like, ‘Just get on the highway. The highway is clear, you can drive as much as you want, you’ll be fine.’ It’s just getting out of the parking lot. My car hit like a massive snow clump. It was like nine or 10 cars behind me all honking their horns. Quincy had to come and put basically like a blanket under my tires so I could get traction. It was at the airport. Everybody trying to get home and I’m holding up the line. It was crazy. On the way home, Kyle, we’re on a overpass going over a bridge and it kind of leans a little bit and Kyle was trying to drive like there wasn’t any snow and you hit a wet spot and you start sliding down so his car got stuck. We’re all on the highway trying to push him. This is late at night. Early in the morning, two o’clock in the morning. Everybody here is just like this is normal. Man, me and Kyle had to basically push our cars into the garage there was so much snow. I’m not used to that at all.
You always hear about how difficult of an adjustment rookies have to the NBA game, but you rarely hear about how hard they find driving in their new cities. Maybe that’s because half the teams in the league play in places where there isn’t terrible snow, but maybe it’s just something that’s gone completely unreported and should therefore become part of the NBA’s rookie transition program. One of the two.
Either way, Terrence Ross should be happy to know that my phone is predicting snow in Toronto for today and the next two days, despite the fact it’s nearly April and winter is technically over. He probably won’t need tire chains or Quincy Acy’s blanket, but a little warning never hurt anyone. Besides, it’s always a smart idea to carry an emergency kit in your car when you live in a snowy climate. You never know when that months-old Snickers bar will come in handy.
Also — slow down, Kyle Lowry. Don’t drive like there’s no snow when there’s clearly snow. For your health.
Video: DeMar DeRozan Boshes an interview
Posted by Trey Kerby under Score Video, Toronto Raptors on Mar 20, 2013
One thing I can’t believe Zach Lowe didn’t cover in his excellent writeup on the Raptors’ advanced use of SportVU cameras is why players who play for the team are so good at videobombing. Chris Bosh, obviously, is the master but he must have said something during their one season together that really stuck with DeMar DeRozan. If there were ghost videobombers that showed the ideal videobomb technique, I have to think DeMar would pretty closely mirror its movement. A simply stellar performance.
(via Beyond the Buzzer)
Video: Landry Fields reenacts the greatest basketball clip of our generation
Posted by Trey Kerby under Score Video, Toronto Raptors, Whoops on Mar 11, 2013
Yes! The funniest basketball video in the history of YouTube has finally made it’s way to the NBA. Grab your green hat and your noisemakers because this is cause for celebration.
For reference:
Always keep your head on a swivel. You never know when a basketball will be launched 70 feet straight in to your face. Safety first, then teamwork.
Video: Mickael Pietrus is great at dancing
Posted by Trey Kerby under Score Video, Toronto Raptors on Feb 28, 2013
The live-action dancing is hilarious, but this very last split-second of the dancing is even better.
Please stay until the end.
(via Deadspin)
A look worth taking: evaluating some of today’s minor trades
Posted by Mark Deeks under Boston Celtics, Memphis Grizzlies, Miami Heat, Phoenix Suns, Toronto Raptors, Washington Wizards on Feb 21, 2013
There’s not going to be a big deal this trade deadline. Not again, anyway — we’ve already had it. No, instead, there are just teams taking free part-season looks at backups. Looks, they believe, are worth taking. Are they right? Perhaps.
To set the tone, Miami traded Dexter Pittman and a second round pick to Memphis, whose 12-man roster and available trade exception made them prime salary-dumping candidates. In Big Pitt, however, they see more than just a salary. Are they right? Perhaps not.
Pittman is one of those enticing prospects who entices without doing much to truly justify it. His combination of being a nice guy with great size, terrific footwork and decent touch is a rare one — when interspersed with an easy feel-good narrative about his weight loss, the attraction is obvious. But the less alluring part of the story is that Pittman just isn’t that impactful, and nor was he ever. He wasn’t at Texas, he hasn’t been in the D-League, and he definitely hasn’t been in the NBA. Pittman can’t defend without fouling, turns it over an excessively large amount, and doesn’t defensive rebound. The potential of Pittman, or the perceived potential of Pittman, far outweighs the production.
Nevertheless, he’s free. And he comes with a pick, which could bag another fringe prospect, who is also free. That, truly, is a look worth taking.
Miami, for their troubles, open up a roster spot without having to waste dollars in eating Pittman’s contract to do so. Since he had no role on the team, he was nothing more than a tax burden. As a matter of bookkeeping, Memphis — obliged by NBA rules to send out something in a trade, however trivial — sent Miami the draft rights to Ricky Sanchez, rights they had previously acquired in the deal that sent Sam Young to Philadelphia. Essentially, then, they traded Sam Young for Dexter Pittman and a pick, saving on some luxury tax dollars in the process. They also got to call Ricky Sanchez their own for a year. The real winner here is Ricky Sanchez, whose name gets splashed over the American basketball media all over again. (Without wishing to be callous, however, Ricky Sanchez is not a look worth taking.)
In a similar deal, Toronto traded the recently acquired contract of Hamed Haddadi (who never reported to Toronto, due to visa issues and general redundancy) along with a protected second round pick for Sebastian Telfair. After trading Jose Calderon in the Rudy Gay deal, the Raptors were down to two point guards and a cursory search of the waiver wire and the D-League turned up little. With no incentive to turn to retreads like Allen Iverson, Mike Bibby or Carlos Arroyo, and with little in the D-League point guard pool other than Ben Uzoh (whom they’ve already danced a merry dance with), Toronto turned their attention to the trade market, where Telfair could be found stealing Kendall Marshall’s minutes. Telfair’s legend blew out long before his candle ever will, but he’s proven himself to be a sufficiently mediocre backup NBA point guard to merit a look from a team that needs exactly that going forward. For the cost of a man who couldn’t even get into the country, it’s a look worth taking.
TBJ exclusive: Matt Devlin’s Wale diss track
Posted by J.E. Skeets under Music, TBJ Video, Toronto Raptors on Feb 21, 2013
On Tuesday, Raptors broadcaster Matt Devlin and DMV rapper Wale got into a hilarious showdown during the Raps-Wizards game when Devlin joked on-air about not knowing who Wale was. Wale heard about the slight on Twitter and attempted to confront Devlin, but he was held back and no harm was done.
But just when you thought the beef was squashed, The Basketball Jones got their hands on an exclusive diss track, recorded by Matty D, lashing out at the Grammy-nominated rapper.
Oh yeah. This just got real …
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Subscribe to The Basketball Jones show on iTunes | Download the .mp3 directly
