Philly rip Raps, Leo rips Dally, Croatia rip Canada
Posted by Arsenalist on July 18, 2008
The Raptors dropped one to Philly in Vegas. Up by a deuce with 16 seconds left, they let Philly tie it on a layup (think defensive breakdown) and committed an offensive foul to give them the ball back with four seconds left. This of course was enough time for Jamont Gordon to lay one in with 0.6 left.
The PG play was a bit better with Ewing and Lucas improving their shot selection enough to have more points than attempts. Joey Graham and Hassan Adams got their run in and the Raptors had a nice rally in the third where they cut down an 8 point deficit. Nathan Jawai didn’t play (presumably because of his injury) and Rod Benson finally got off the bench for 0 points in 4 minutes. Honorable mention goes out to CJ Giles for grabbing 12 rebounds and being very active on the glass. There’s no point talking about this game because we’re not going to be signing a single player from this roster that we haven’t already inked.
Leo Rautins ripped into Samuel Dalembert on the Fan 590 and called him a prima dona. There are rumours that fire was coming out of Leo’s nose and smoke out of his ears when he was speaking.
The game against Croatia was nothing short of a blowout as recorded so excellently by the Posted Sports Live Blog. As Grange points out there was never a doubt about who the superior team was as Croatia suffocated the Canadians into horrid shooting spells to take the game 83-62. Canada shot 27.1% for the game! So ends Canada’s Olympic dreams and so begins the speculation of what the future of Basketball Canada holds including Leo Rautins’ job status. The Raptors interest in the game was Roko Ukic who ended up with an unimpressive 1/5 for 3 points (box score). As the Posted Blog notes, the main fault today was the inability to execute on offense more than the Croatian defense and that blame must lie somewhere. The game repeats in the evening at 10PM on The Score.
They’re trying to come up with a nickname for the Oklahoma City team and some douchebag is saying that naming the Raptors the Raptors was a mistake and just a 90’s fad. I beg to differ, so what if Jurassic Park was the thing back in the day, the Raptors name still isn’t half bad. The real mistake was associating the color purple with the team which could only mean Barney! Aren’t dinosaurs supposed to be big, dark and menacing? Our early marketing never really captured that image. I’m happy with the name, I just wish they’d stop using the word “extinct” every time we get kicked out of the playoffs.
A nice post here about how Phoenix is no longer the attractive NBA market that it used to be because of the way Robert Sarver does business which is in stark contrast to how Jerry Colangelo did it. The report also suggests that the Suns are going after Shaun Livinston among other second-tier guards. Deron Williams has agreed to an extension with the Jazz and the Clippers have signed Kelenna Azubuike to an offersheet as the exodus from Golden State continues.
Jay Triano will help P.J Carlesimo lead the US Select team which now also features O.J Mayo. Triano is obviously a very well-respected coach whose involvement with USA Basketball speaks volumes about his credibility around the league and his coaching skills. I never got around to figuring out why he was made the scapegoat for Team Canada’s failures. He got the short end of the stick on that deal and I’m happy for the bloke anytime I see his name popping up anywhere. Future NBA head coach this man right here.
Quick one today.
July 18, 2008 at 9:28 am
I love the “Raptors” name. It was an excellent choice.
Well they’ve just cranked up the pressure for their choice. It’s going to get relentlessly mocked if it’s anything short of exceptional.
The “zingers” … oh my! OK city “pride” … jeez …. watching the video.
I love the OK City Slickers. I presume the film copyrighted that though!
July 18, 2008 at 10:48 am
Why are we called Raptors?
As you may guess, I hate the name. I agree though that the bigger mistake was the colour choice at the time. They were trying to follow the formula of the Charllotte Hornets…make a team logo and colour scheme that even fans not from the area would purchase and wear for the fashion statement. They failed pretty badly though.
As far as Jay Triano losing his job…I think some of it had to do with the fact that they wanted to expand the popularity of the team…so they recruited a face well known to Canadians as the head coach.
July 18, 2008 at 11:00 am
canadian basketball can’t afford these kinds of drama’s. at least with triano, the results were similar but with less embarrassment. dalembert is right, good luck getting another nba player to join the team, regardless of who is right here. airing dirty laundry in the public is ridiculous, especially at a national level.
July 18, 2008 at 11:25 am
Rautins is a fucking incompetent and sub par at everything he has done…he wouldn’t have a job as a commentator anywhere but in this city of cretins who think the embarrassingly moronic Chuck and Leo show was entertaining…the fucking cretins who think the Craptors are going to be great with O’Neal and that Bosh is a Hall of Famer.
July 18, 2008 at 12:00 pm
If people really knew what happened behind the scenes at Canada Basketball that resulted in Jay Triano no longer being the coach of Canada’s Men’s National Team there would be several real life individuals … who are well-known in Canadian basketball circles today … whose present reputations would take a major hit.
* People on the ‘outside’ have no clue whatsoever whether or not Leo Rautins or Jay Triano (etc.) is/was a ‘good’ coach or not.
* People on the ‘outside’ have no clue who the ‘key’ players were/are within the Basketball community in this country today and over the last 30 years … or how provincial sport organizations like Basketball BC, Alberta or Ontario operate on a daily basis, and/or the internal machinations at a national sports organization like Canada Basketball.
* People on the ‘outside’ have no clue which players/coaches are really ‘the best’ and most deserving of the opportunity to represent Canada at the international level in men’s basketball.
It is simply astonishing to read the different blogs (and newspapers, etc.) which exist today and experience first-hand what it is different people think they ‘understand’ about the game and how it is they think the game actually ‘works’ today, at this level of competition … from the perspective of an ‘outsider’ …
when the simple fact is they have no clue at all
never having been on the ‘inside’, in terms of any of these different basketball environments which they are trying to comment about.
People who don’t know what they are talking about almost always end up assigning the blame for something to the WRONG people, while the right people go about their merry way, seemingly scot free.
July 18, 2008 at 12:27 pm
uhmm…how about enlightening us then?
July 18, 2008 at 12:29 pm
Here’s a simple test that you should have to be able to pass IF you wish to comment with any type of authority about someone/something like Leo Rautins/Jay Triano/Canada Basketball/FIBA:
1. How old was Mr. Rautins when he was first named to represent Canada on the Senior Men’s National Team, as a player? (1 in 10 chance, ages 15-24)
2. What position did Jay Triano play when he was leading the Canadian Men’s National Team, as a player? (1 in 5 chance, PG/OG/SF/PF/C)
3. Who is the best PG (in a FIBA game) amongst the following list of players? (1 in 8 chance)
Jermaine Anderson
Andy Rautins
Tyler Kepkay
Rowan Barrett
Olu Famutimi
Carl English
Dave Thomas
Aaron Doornekamp
4. Who are the ‘best 3′ Big Men to have ever played for the Canadian Senior Men’s National Team? (open-ended query; HINT: None were in Athens this week)
5. Name 4 individuals who have held the position of Exexcutive Director for Canada Basketball at one time or another? (open-ended query; no HINTS)
Answer 4 of 5 correctly to be able to comment with authority on anything connected to Canada Basketball … re: Leo Rautins, Jay Triano, Steve Nash, Samuel Dalembert, Jamaal Magloire, Gerald Kazanowski, Bill Robinson, etc. :-)
FYI …
http://www.philly.com/philly/sports/sixers/20080718_Dalembert_tells_his_side_in_Team_Canada_dispute.html
July 18, 2008 at 1:53 pm
lol @ quiz…
July 18, 2008 at 2:01 pm
Damn khandor, I am humbled. Never proclaimed to know much about Canada’s basketball program but if that quiz is any indication I’m completely lost. I got #2 right.
khandor, tell us the steps this country needs to take to fix whats wrong..seriously
July 18, 2008 at 2:09 pm
lol @ Arsenalist!
July 18, 2008 at 3:44 pm
lol @ flux
i’m humbled too…please enlighten us man!
July 18, 2008 at 4:28 pm
1. 17
2. OG
3. Dave Thomas
4. any combination of Bill Wennington, Todd MacCullach, Jamaal Magloire, Lars Hansen and Greg Wiltjer
5. Wayne Parrish, Fred Nykamp, Leslie Dalcin, Ernie Armstrong (former high school & community college coach who was on the right track), Rick Traer, etc.
The first two things that need to be done to ‘fix’ the problems which exist at Canada Basketball are:
* To eliminate the control/influence which the different Provincial Sport Organizations (e.g. Basketball BC, Alberta, Ontario, Quebec, etc.) have over the operation of the National Sport Organization (i.e. the Executive Directors of the PSOs are the ONLY VOTING MEMBERS OF THE CANADA BASKETBALL ORGANIZATION … How many of you knew that already?).
* Wipe out Canada Basketball and create a ‘new’ National Sport Organization … based on a different operational model (i.e. separate from the PSOs) … to oversee (exclusively) the Olympic Games/World Championship events (i.e. Junior/Senior Men’s & Women’s) competitions on behalf of this country.
July 18, 2008 at 5:23 pm
oops … and, just to ensure others realize I’m someone who understands that I too might be wrong about something from time to time … the factually correct answer to #1 might actually be 16. :-)
July 18, 2008 at 9:31 pm
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