Today Dave Berri posted a short piece refuting the popular (and generally accepted) wisdom that Hedo Turkoglu has been a disappointment. He argues that Turk's performance shouldn't be seen as anything less than a player performing marginally worse than the previous year, citing a reduction in wins produced from 4.9 last season in Orlando to 3.6 this year in Toronto. In short, an average player declining about on par with his age. And he's dead on there. But what this table can't quantify is the effect of watching Hedo coast through game after game playing at about 60% effort and generally being invisible on the court. Or at least he is on the offensive end; on the defensive end he gets a lot of camera time as the opponent goes at him (or Calderon) on set after set. The point is, the disappointment is in the feeling that he cut the cheque and kicked his feet up on the desk to start enjoying early retirement.

Turk aside, what else is there to be learned from the Raptors' wins produced this year? Well, firstly that Chris Bosh is good at NBA basketball. In fact he's 4.2 wins better this year than he was last year, which is pretty freaking good considering he produced 7.3 wins total last year, and he was pretty freaking good that year too. It should also be noted that wins produced uses total minutes played in it's formula, and Bosh has played nearly 400 fewer minutes this season than last. Had Bosh played 3000 minutes, as he nearly did last year, he would have produced 13.7 instead of 11.5. Considering their current position in the East, Bosh's few nagging injuries and recovery games have really cost the Raptors as much as Bosh's badly timed meet and greet with Antawn Jamison's elbow. As to whether 13.7 wins is deserving of a max contract, let alone 11.5, I'll leave that to another time.

Also, free Amir. Second best wins produced per 48 minutes on the court, 3^rd in total wins produced, but sadly couldn't earn more of those minutes due to foul trouble and Andrea Bargnani, who we'll get to shortly. The problem with Amir is that his potential and occasionally stellar play are offset by his seeming inability to maintain a high energy level without fouling. It's the worst gamble for an NBA GM to make, giving a contract to a big man with talent that can't stay on the floor. There are too many drawbacks, from the effect of getting teams into the bonus early, to the fact that your expensive player is on the bench while his less effective backup is in the game, to the effects on lineups and matchups and suddenly irrelevant gameplans. Amir is a quagmire, but he's still one that I hope we re-sign.

Andrea Bargnani. Finally, a statistic that reflects how little your inefficient offense makes up for your atrocious defense. One of Berri's main points in his writing is that offensive statistics, particularly points per game, are overvalued in contract negotiations. Seems to be the case here, because Andrea Bargnani really doesn't produce much else. Especially damning for this particular statistic is the fact that each player's score is adjusted by position, which makes the weighting of something like rebounds more significant (as, really, it should). And then there's the startlingly realization that Bargnani actually played more total minutes than Bosh this season, and yet has not produced a single win. Not even a fraction of a win. He did, it must be said, improve on last year's -1.5 wins produced, but sadly did not make the coveted even mark. For reference purposes, a wins per 48 minutes score of 1.000 is considered average. Bargnani produced -0.012 wins per 48 minutes this season, which is a geeky way of saying that Bargs is like a saboteur that slowly poisons your team until you wake up one day in early April and your team is out of the playoffs despite having a more talented roster than some of those above you.

Jarret Jack. Pleasant surprise, no? Nice bump in production, well worth the money. However, he has killed Jose Calderon, who has dropped 4 wins. Essentially Jarret did to Jose what Jose did to TJ Ford, though TJ and Jose enjoyed periods of shared productivity, which was what produced the two headed point guard monster. Not so this year, where one is playing well and the other poorly. Same result this offseason, with one getting dumped? My money would be on Jack if Bosh leaves; good contract, could bring something valuable back, and might restore Jose's mojo if he's handed more minutes. Regardless, the sum of the duo is a lot of money spent and production that's about on par with Chris Bosh but needing 1300 more minutes played to get there.

Sonny Weems, a keeper. Produced 2.2 wins this season, still a below average score per 48 minutes but any fan that has watched the team would agree that he has improved over the season and is a bargain. DeMar didn't produce much this year, a reflection of his inability to add things like rebounding, assists, and steals while on the court. As the handle improves, the jumper steadies and he grows into his athleticism, whether these other numbers improve will determine whether he's another average wing in the league, or a potential star. After nearly one full NBA season, we know about DeMar what we knew before it began; he's a lot of minutes away from how good he can be. That being said, he's already more productive than Bargnani. Ouch and yay.

Looking forward to next year, removing Bosh puts the Raptors into prime lottery territory, which is bittersweet news but for the best should he leave. As always things rest on the shoulders of Bargnani though it might be equally true that the team's fate rests on Triano's ability to get through to him. At what point do you cut the cord, for either of them? At least we know that it'll be fun to watch DeMar and Sonny streak up the wings with Jose leading the break and Amir and Bargs trailing in Triano's running offense. They're going to lose a lot of games, but we'll finally get to see what the Raptors have got without Chris Bosh to lean on.

After I finished writing yesterday's post about what Bosh might fetch in a sign and trade, I began to think more and more about how well Bosh would fit with the Thunder and was surprised at how much I'd like to see him play with that team. I'm not sure how most Raptor fans would (or will) react, but I'll be cheering for Chris Bosh no matter where he plays next year; he's worked his ass off for the team and deserves better than what's been put around him. He deserves to play with Durant and Westbrook.

Now I know that you're thinking I must be insane; LeBron is clearly the ultimate teammate and that wherever he plays should be anyone's first choice should they desire championships, and that's granted. But think about how fun it would be to see Bosh run the pick and roll with Westbrook, having Durant as an option off the wing. Or Durant and Bosh in the pick and roll. Or Bosh in the post with Durant as the first option off the wing and Westbrook slashing weakside. You get the point; the offense would be silly good.

On the other end playing with a young, defensive minded team led by a young, defensive minded coach could only bring good things for Bosh. Shouldering less of the offensive load and being asked to cover less ground due to the other long, athletic defenders present on the Thunder would allow Bosh to return to being a solid, impact defender, covering a lot of ground and generally being disruptive. Scotty Brooks also just seems to me to be the kind of strong-willed coach that Bosh needs and responds to, like he did Sam Mitchel. A 20-13-2 kind of Bosh is what I'm thinking of, the kind of Bosh that I wish we could see in Toronto but likely never will because he's asked to do too much offensively.

Anyway, just a short bit of daydreaming. If you were Bosh, what would you choose: OKC or wherever LeBron lands?

Well then. I suppose it's more or less official; the Bosh era of Raptors basketball is flaming out in spectacular fashion and that the franchise is about to go join a team of basketball players capable of winning a lot of playoff games. So, things are bad. Bosh is out with a broken face, and the lack of capable basketball players that are left on the team when he is removed from it makes the team a bit of a joke. This is not hard to deduce when your opponent destroys you playing at a practice level. Especially after the opposing coach comes out and calls the game a practice before it's even started. That, along with the fact that you're in a mutual freefall disguised as a playoff race with Chicago and might see your opponent in the first round should you manage not to suck enough to hold on to the 8th spot, should motivate you. But these Raptors, with a few exceptions, do not respond to such motivation and noone within the organization seems to have an idea of what might. But, as the Basketball Jones noted today, the Raps can't even keep their hands up. Watching the game, it was pretty shocking how bad the defense was without Bosh communicating and taking up space and moving about. He might not be an elite defender, but take what little he does bring on that end and you've got a fucking mess. No other way to put it.

So. Putting that behind us and effectively burrying the season with it, I think the next big (and by that I mean interesting and actually worth discussing) question the Raps are likely to face is: what can they get in a Chris Bosh sign and trade?

I want to look at two potential scenarios, representing what I think are the opposing ends of the spectrum in terms of what the Raptors will accept in return for a sign and trade. Unlike the Vince Carter fiasco, management here has the option of simply letting Bosh walk away and taking the cap space should no team offer anything of value in return. So I think there's a bare minimum the Raptors will accept in return for facilitating a sign and trade; it has to make sense for both sides.

The first is the most obvious: Bosh wants to play with the man who absolutely toyed with his current team last night, and win some championships. Can't fault the man, I'd do it. So what can the Raps get in return for a maxed-out Bosh that outweighs just letting him go sign with Cleveland directly? And before we get to it, disclaimer time: I'm just cobbling together ideas from the ESPN trade machine, these are not really going to match up prefectly salary-wise. I'm assuming about 17 mill-ish for Bosh and aiming just to get within a million or so.

How about, for Bosh:

• JJ Hickson : 1.5M in 2010/11, team option for 2011/12 at 2.4M
• Antawn Jamison : 13.4M in 2010/11, 15.1M in 2011/12
• Delonte West : 4.7M in 2010/11
• And maybe a pick or two, hopefully.

Now again, this is the low end of the spectrum, but it offers some potential that might outweigh the cap space. First off, Delonte West is an expiring deal and a good player, which means the odds of getting something of equal or greater value to the club in return at the deadline are good. If not, he's a one year rental.

Jamison is pure salary and you'd try to deal him off to a team that can use him ASAP. In the meantime he'd keep the team very fun offensively while continuing to be horrid defensively, losing you a lot of games and keeping that ping pong ball count nice and high. The point is, you'd probably flip him for something else, and hopefully that's either a player of comparable salary that produces on par with the paycheque and is a better fit, a deal that's expiring sooner, or some package like a good player at the midlevel, a prospect and a pick.

And then there's JJ Hickson, who is the only reason to make this trade. This kid could be pretty good and his hustle, energy and physicality is a good mix with Bargs. He's listed at 12 pounds heavier than Bosh already and still has those young legs that Bosh seems to have lost. He and Bargs along with DeMar and Sonny at the wings would make for a fantastic group in Triano's push offense. Also, he's cheap. There's a reason Cleveland doesn't want to let him go, though it's well worth mentioning that so far his role in the NBA has been to catch passes form LeBron James and dunk on people. So take the potential thing with a grain of salt.

Also there's the pick. It's gonna be late first round, but it always helps to have another spin at the roulette wheel. The key to winning in the lottery is just as likely to be playing enough times as it is to be scouting as it is to be fit and rotation impact. Also a nice trade piece.

The Raptors make this deal to get their hands on Hickson and the pick, along with whatever they can get in return for flipping West and Jamison. The Cavs do it because Chris Bosh is Chris Bosh. This is what the low end of the spectrum looks like; lots of filler, a lot of maybes and what ifs, and a glimmer of potential. A Trade for Beasley in Miami would look similar.

What about Bosh to Oklahoma City?

• Nick Collison at 6.8M in 2010/11
• Jeff Green 4.6M in 2010/11, qualifying offer at 5.9M in 2011/12
• Eric Maynor at 1.4M in 2010/11, his second year of the standard rookie deal
• James Harden at 4.3M in 2010/11, his second year of the standard rookie deal
• Serge Ibaka at 1.2M in 2010/11, his second year of the standard rookie deal

OKC makes this deal because it puts Bosh together with Durant and Westbrook. That's all you need to know. They fill in the rest of the pieces with veterans and mid level guys and compete for championships for a while. Good times. The Raptors make this deal because they get a ton of talent back in return for Bosh, all of it on short and/or cheap contracts. Maybe they don't get all of these guys, maybe OKC keeps Ibaka or Maynor and replaces them with a pick, but you get the idea. No need to break down the players here much, Collison is an expiring deal and the rest of the players could step right into the rotation with the exception of Maynor, who's insurance for when you deal one of Jack or Calderon. This is the high end of the spectrum; good players, good deals, not a lot of filler, and Bosh goes to the western conference. Also good times.

I'm skeptical that the Raptors can get equal value for Bosh. My hope is that they get something of equal use, of equal utility, something that will help them progress instead of another set of burdensome contracts. The OKC scenario is the dream, the Cleveland scenario is likely to be closer to the reality. Whatever they do get, let's hope it's the beginning of an overhaul.

As if last night's loss to Miami wasn't bad enough, Raptors fans this morning woke to the news that Hedo Turkoglu was recently seen out on the town the night of the team's loss to Denver, a game in which he did not play due to a stomach virus. Grange does the best recap and analysis of this latest debacle, you can read it here.

Now I'm not going to comment on the validity of the reports from fans, but keep in mind that Hedo has been here before, which means that either this current incident is being exaggerated or Turk is incredibly stupid for playing hookie in a public spot. Either way it's just one more nail in the coffin that currently houses Turk's bruised reputation.

So in an effort to cheer you Raptors fans up, here's a video of Chris Bosh tossing a ball at Hedo's head. It isn't much, but hopefully it'll be a little cathartic and you can get a chuckle out of it.

UPDATE: Youtube is being a jerk and isn't processing videos, which is apparently a common bug on the site currently. Just gonna have to wait it out, it'll be up eventually.

Futile is a word that often comes to mind when describing the Toronto Raptors, from the individual players to the team's defense, to this season as a whole. It's also a word that aptly describes the last 5 minutes of the Raps vs. Heat game that just ended, along with my streak of consecutive games ending with my sobriety. Sorry, liver.

Can you blame me though? The Raps managed a measly 6 made field goals and 4 made free throws in the 4th quarter, with 3 of the made buckets being scored within the first 3.5 minutes or so of the quarter. After that you won't find another until 6:22 left, then one at 3:31 left, and finally Jack's 3 with a second to go. So the Raptors effectively managed two buckets over the last 8 minutes of the 4th quarter, with a pair of free throws sprinkled in over that time. Ew. Just ******* ew. Here are some other things the Raptors did between Bosh's layup at 8:27 and the end of the game: committed 4 turnovers, committed 6 fouls, missed 9 shots and had two blocked, both by Carlos ******* Arroyo. Let me repeat that, Carlos Arroyo came up with two blocks against the Raptors in the 4th. That's futility.

In contrast, Wade repeatedly made Udonis Haslem look Bosh-like by simply creating openings in the Raptors defense and then finding Haslem with space to operate for a little waltz down the lane or his steady midrange game. No secret to the magic, no revolutionary tactics, just execution based around the fact that one team has a player that is effectively creative when made to give up the ball, while the other does not.

Interesting then to see that the Raptors point guards ended up with a combined 30 pts on 10-17 shooting, along with 9 assists, 5 boards, 2 steals and 2 turnovers between them. Interesting because none of it means a damned thing with 5 minutes left in the game, when our point guards are at their least effective. As much as Raptors fans like to talk about the team's current two headed point guard monster, it isn't a threatening monster; it's a neutered version of the old TJ Caldeford combo, mostly because 90% of the balls in that duo belonged to Ford and his ability to shift defenses and create on the fly.

Now don't get me wrong, Jack and Calderon are both quality players. But when defenses tighten up neither has the ability to do much besides dribble the ball over half and run the offensive set the coach calls, and it usually takes them the first 14 seconds of the shot clock just to accomplish that. Gone even is the 'horns up' pick and roll with Bosh and Calderon at the elbow, the team's most reliable and effective offensive tool since Bosh and Calderon started playing large numbers of minutes together in seasons past. In it's place is an apparent philosophy that the team simply needs to run it's offensive sets, typically a Bosh isolation, with the expectation that doing so will result in a quality shot. From a purely anecdotal perspective, it does not.

The problem in the scenario above isn't Bosh per se, it's that the Raptors have no way to get the ball to Bosh in such a way that the opposing team needs to be worried about anyone besides him. Once those 14 seconds have gone off the clock and Bosh finds himself with the ball, standing at one of his sweet spots with an entire defense collapsing on him and no room to breathe, no cutters and no options aside from a pass back out for 3, the result is more or less already determined. No, the problem is that if you want to consistently win tight games you need to be able to generate offense in a way that trumps opposing defenses. You can do it one of two ways: with the Wades of the game, or with perfect execution of plays that take advantage of mismatches and effectively exploit openings on the floor. In short, the latter option requires a team of players that all on the same page and who can all make plays for eachother when the opportunity arrises, while the former requires talent. Does either option, to you, describe these Toronto Raptors?

So, where then to point the collective finger? At the point guards, and not just for the sake of a bad pun. For as much as their collective statistical production might appeal to some, it's essentially an even distribution of mediocre play over 48 minutes (and sometimes more if they are played together). More importantly, the team's spineless character in the closing minutes of games can be directly attributed to the duo's tendency to bumble under the pressure offered up by opponents, thereby typically killing whatever set the team was attempting to run. Hedo Turkoglu was supposed to help alleviate this. He has not. And so Raptors fans are left mulling over the same questions that have dogged the team since Bosh declared he will looking for a max contract: is Bosh worth the money given that he can't create like a wing, and how can we ever know unless we pair him with an elite wing player? As a Raptors fan it's painful to contemplate how good the team might look like if you replaced the point guard duo with a single player, a top-10 wing that could play both ways and could run the pick and roll with Bosh as effectively as he could find options when creating off the bounce.

In fact that's probably exactly what Bosh is going to be thinking about when he sits down across a table from Brian Colangelo this summer. As for what Colangelo might be thinking of going into that same meeting? My guess is he'll be thinking about the futility of the pitch he's about to make to the franchise player.

I'm going to be putting up a companion video sometime later today or possibly tomorrow illustrating why I think the Raps have a lot of room for very simple and realistic imrovement, but I wanted to post this piece now because it's done and I'm impatient. So here it is.

It's easy to dismiss the Toronto Raptors. It's easy to look at their record and their roster and their salary structure and think to yourself, 'Ew. I would rather push my face into a wall than support this club.' The assumption that tends to be made is that for the Raptors to eventually claw their way up the standings improvement has to come from within, that Bargnani has to develop into a consistently great player, that DeRozan needs to contribute 15+ ppg, that the Raps can hire whoever it was that kept Stalin's corpse looking so good and apply his magic to Turk. But I think you're wrong. Or, well, half wrong anyway.

Now I'll start by assuming that Chris Bosh is going to resign. Obviously that's not a given, but for the purposes of prediction you have to make some assumptions and that's my first. I'll also assume that Jay Triano is going to remain head coach, which I think is a good thing going foward, at least until the Raps are ready for a serious run at a title. If there's one thing Jay has proven to me so far it's that he's a decent Xs and Os coach, which should only improve with time. It's his management of players that worries me.

Ok, worries isn't the right word. You can't really blame Triano for the roster he's got, and you can't really expect said roster to define their own roles logically based on their strengths and weaknesses, because they're professional athletes with egos that outweight their actual abilities. Plus, you have to listen to your coach or you get benched, which tends to be a consideration. So when you see Jose, jack, Turk, Bargs and Bosh on the floor together and think to yourself, 'I'm watching the worst defensive team in the history of basketball, and the head coach LIKES this lineup', all you can do be thankful that your team isn't employing Don Nelson or Mike Dunleavy. What you have to remember though is that it's a desperation lineup, a move made because no other lineup provides enough intelligence, ability and experience to close out games.

Why, then, am I optimistic? Well, to start with, there's Bargnani. One of two things will happen with Bargnani's development; he's either going to grow into a star, or he's going to grow into trade bait. Either way, I'm fine with it. Fans have seen glimpses of the dominant Bargs all season, and it's enough to make you drool into/onto whatever vice you use to distract you fromhow painful watching him play can be at times. Two things need to happen for Bargs to reach his legit #2 option potential; he needs to get more touches early in the clock so that he doesn't feel like he has to shoot when the ball comes to him, and he needs to continue to learn good defensive positioning and habits. Some people are born with the latter, an inate understanding of space and how to exploit it to frustrate offensive players. Bargs, on the other hand, is learning it slowly and gradually. You see it in the number of solid defensive plays he makes because he's in better spots on the floor than he was last year, you see it in the (slightly) lower number of times he's been getting exposed on switches and rotations. It's a result of a full season of not being jerked around by a coach who has no idea how to use him, and he needs another two seasons of that before you can really evaluate whether he can be the kind of center you can win a playoff series or four with.

As for that offense, well, I don't think there's much doubt now that it's coming along nicely. And that's why I'm a lot less invested in his defensive development than most; Bargs will always be tradeable. Colangelo may have been reluctant to do it before Bargs developed into a legit 18-20 ppg scorer, but his 'legacy' is much less in doubt now that Bargs has at least moderately panned out. Given Bargs' modest contract and the eternal overvaluing of the ppg statistic in trade scenarios, you'd have to think Bargs would get you something solid in return. And two years down the line, that something, or somethings, might just turn out to be what shoves the Raps over the hump.

Which brings me to Hedo Turkoglu. Which was a mistake. Not a big mistake, not a franchise killing mistake, but a mistake of painful irony; acquiring player A's long term deal to appease the short term goal of inticing the more important player B into signing long term, only to have player A dissapoint thereby making it less likely for player B to comit long-term. Just be glad you don't live in Cleveland, or this would be the running theme for your favorite franchise. That being said, his deal doesn't cripple the franchise and on a better, deeper, more balanced team (in other words, one capable of making a deep playoff run), Hedo would make the perfect 6th man. As fans we have a tendency to expect a player to match up to the exact monetary value of his contract, rather than expecting the team as a whole to perform in line with it's payroll, which I find a bit skewed. Doling out contracts in the NBA is hardly an exact science, as a quick glance around the payrolls of the league will demonstrate quite nicely. So forget about how much Hedo makes, and ask yourself what his ideal role would be on a championchip calibre team.
To my mind (or at least to one of them), Hedo's skillset and defensive liabilities scream out 'bench role player'. The guy who can come in and stretch the defense, who can create a little offense for himself or others, who can get the ball to the weak side and who can exploit mismatches with cleverness while hiding his defensive lethargy by playing him against bench players. In other words, he's a guy who canbring a lot to the table as long as he isn't giving up more than he's creating. Don't believe me? Go take a look at what Jose Calderon does off the bench for the Raptors. There's a reason he and Turk can't play together; they duplicate eachother's skill sets. And Jose's contract is more moveable.

So what could the raptors look like in two years? Consider one simple transaction; the raptors go into the luxury tax and sign a veteran defensive small forward who can hit the 3. The cascade effect on the team's defined roles would be pretty significant; Jose moves back into the starting lineup with DeRozan and player X and the 2 and 3, bargs and Bosh at the 5 and 4. Turk and Jack off the bench plus whatever spare parts make up the rest of the bench. Ideally, Amir Johnson is still around, Sonny Weems for his athleticism off the bench and maybe even Reggie if you can resign him on the cheap. That's a solid 9 man rotation, especially if Bargs and DeRozan develop into the defenders their bodies should allow them to be. That's the internal development model, bolstered by one key move, and it doesn't look too bad, does it? A tweak here, a tweak there, two years of repetition on the defensive end and you'd be fighting for a conference championship in my opinion.
Now what about the trade model? You have to assume Bosh, Hedo, DeRozan and Jack all stay. What could you get for Bargs and Jose and your various assorted bench pieces? Could you get a solid defensive 5, your typical 10/10 brusier? What about a borderline all-star point guard? How about that defensive-minded 3? The answer is yes to all of the above, because patience and good relations in the NBA mean that you can eventually pickpocket the myriad struggling teams looking to clear cap space for that next big draft or free agency bonanza. We tend to think of what we could get for a player in a fair deal, but how many fair deals do you see in the NBA, deals where two teams exchange players for fit instead of one for salary and one because he's worn out his welcome? I hear Deron Williams is unhappy in Utah...

My point is, the Raptors aren't as far away as you think. To my mind, the biggest advantage the Raptors can have going into next year is continuity in the 1 through 8 spots on the roster. Triano has had to focus all of his energy this year on the Xs and Os because, frankly, this team is pretty damned challenged in that area. There's a lot to make up for; lack of quickness on either end, of toughness, of slashing and rebounding and general savvy. These are things Triano has to adjust his schemes for, and they make planning your schemes difficult. Makes cramming those same schemes into the brains of professional athletes even tougher, especially with nine new players. And in a sense, I take this as good news. That may sound odd, but consider that it takes good teams that can't rely years to build up all of the defensive principles, all the little tweaks, all the familiarity necessary in order for decision making on the defensive end to be instinctual and effective. This group need seasoning, they need another year of Reggie Evans beating up on them in practice full time, they need defined roles and defensive repetitions and a few years of chemistry built up through playoff series losses. They need time, they need patience, they need to grow. They have the talent, minus a piece or two, and the rest is a function of time and energy.

Whether potential improvement manifests through internal development, external dealing or the more likely combination of both remains to be seen, but going forward the team has options and it has the pieces to work itself toward competing for a championship. Don't expect it this year or the next, but expect it, because this team is on the right track.

There are, I think, 3 things to be taken from this photo, snapped during the game vs the Lakers on March 09.

1. This is Hedo Turkoglu's night captured in one facial expression. I am hoping it is not Hedo's Raptors career captured in one facial expression.

2. Andrew Bynum hates you. He hates you, he hates Hedo, he especially hates Pau Gasol, he hates those towels, he hates the colour of his shoes, he hates the colour of Hedo's shoes, and he hates that you're looking at him.

3. Phil Jackson really just wants the playoffs to begin. His head also looks very small when put inside a larger circle.

Been a long time since I've posted due to vacation and laziness, but hopefully this will get me back on track. I'll be posting something a little deeper and more interesting in the near future, but for tonight here are some thoughts on 3 random topics that I've had over this time off and aren't really worth a full post themselves.

1. Does consistency have a price?

Watching the Raptors play without Chris Bosh in the lineup is just painful. Every Raptors fan knows what I'm talking about when I make that assertion; the team simply doesn't compete as hard with Bosh on the sidelines in his dapper attire. To their credit the team scrapped for wins over New Jersey and Washington following Bosh's injury, but the effort and energy has gradually been waning as the games have passed. And that's why Chris Bosh deserves max money.

You can make all of the demands you want about needing to get a certain level of statistical return for that kind of contract, about the necessity of a max-money player being an alpha dog or of being the kind of player that can get their own, unbloackable shot at will, and Bosh will meet some criteria and fall short in others. But what isn't talked about much and what seems to be taken for granted now that it has appeared is Bosh's ability to motivate the players around him, his ability to be the vocal leader on defense, to kick his own team in the proverbial ass when the opponent goes on those inevitable 10-0 spurts. They're the kinds of intangibles that you don't notice until they're missing, until you see how attrocious the Raptors' already poor defensive communication becomes without Bosh in the lineup, how lost they are on offense without a steady, reliable weapon to play through.

Consistency is rare in the NBA and consistent greatness is far rarer. Consistent greatness galvanizes teams, steadies them through the ups and downs both of games and of seasons. It would be easy to attribute the Raptors' shocking resiliency and late-game competence to the acquisition of Turkoglu, but the team performs just as shakily with Turk on the floor as off. No, what Bosh is bringing to the table this year is something that the Raptors haven't had since the Vince Carter days: the rare player that you have to scheme for, that you have to set your defense against, the guy that opens up spaces on the floor just by being out there. More importantly, that's the case every night. To me that's worth max money, how about you?

2. Is Jay Triano a long-term solution as the head coach?

As I mentioned earlier, Bosh has become a player that needs to be planned against and prepared for in a seven game series. As easy as it is to point to the previous first round losses in Bosh's career and rightfully show how easilly he was made ineffective by a shorter, quicker defender, that wasn't the same Bosh and that wasn't the same team. The second point there means little because it rarely is in the NBA, with any team in any year. The first does, but it's unfortunately dependent on coaching.

I would trust a veteran coach, a top-8 coach in the league, to get Bosh his 25 points a game on easy buckets, mismatches, trips to the line, drives and jumpers. I would trust that coach to put Bosh in the right spots and his teammates in the right spots, to create switches and to take advantage of mismatches and holes. I would trust Triano to do that for one game, but not for seven. Managing Bosh in a seven game series is going to be a challenge, in the way that managing any primary player whose skill is not based on freakish, unguardable athleticism is a challenge. But it's doable in a seven game series.

After watching a good percentage of the Raptors games this season I'm not at all convinced that Jay Triano is capable of accomplishing this task. I think he can do it for one game and I certainly think he could get there in his career, but I don't think he's shown a consistent ability to find ways to match opposing lineups or use his own to the best of it's abilities. A lot of that has to do with player inconsistencies and new faces, but I just don't think his bag of tricks runs deep enough. I think that in order to make the adjustments necessary over not just one but potentially four playoff series (which you have to assume is what you're ultimately aiming for, regardless of how many years that might be away) requires a coach that's seen more coverages thrown his players' ways than the players themselves have. Given that, how long does Toronto go before they have to hire a tested, veteran coach?

3. Do tighter rotations make sense this early?

The raptors are a team lacking guys with NBA motors. By that I mean guys who compete as hard as they can every second they're on the floor. The raptors have a few but they're mostly coming off of the bench and tend to foul a lot and run hot or cold. This is less of a problem during the regular season, but a big one in the playoffs.

There has recently been talk among those who cover the Raptors that it's time to shorten the rotation. I disagree. To me, if the Raptors are going to win in the playoffs they need to be a team that can overcome the inevitable foul trouble that will come from an inability to cope with opposing offences running at full speed. We've seen it in spurts all season; the lack of footspeed, the lack of conditioning, the propensity to foul due to poor positioning and communication. So now imagine those same problems versus a team running their offense at full speed for 48 minutes.

The Raptors need their depth and they'll need it even more in the playoffs. Players will be gassed earlier, fouls will pile up more quickly and those fouls will be even more devastating if the players you turn to on the bench don't produce. If the raptors had quality depth instead of quantity depth then I would agree that shortening the rotation makes sense, but they're going to need Marco Belinelli in the playoffs. They'll need him because their other options are DeMar DeRozan, Sonny Weems, Antoine Wright and Jarret Jack, none of whom can be counted on in any given game, or more to the point, in 4 out of 7 games. As frustrating as it will be to watch, Triano is going to have to go into every game not knowing which wing player will produce for him. And if he can't know which it will be then, how can he shorten the rotation now?

The LA Clippers waived guard Ricky Davis on Tuesday, requiring his roster spot to complete the trade that sent Marcus Camby to Portland for Travis Outlas and Steve Blake. Acting quickly, the Raptors contacted the swingman's agent to let him know that there was no way in whatever hell Davis might believe in that the Raptors would be picking him up. Davis, the volatile guard best known for padding his rebounding number in an attempt to get himself a triple double (see video), declined to comment because noone from the media asked him any questions.

Raptors GM Bryan Colangelo, when not asked if he had any interest in signing Davis, did not reply, "Are you ******* high? I'd rather shove a broom up my urethra. Now where did I put that collar starch...". Chris Bosh, asking to speak on conditions of anonymity that I'm ignoring because this didn't happen, stated that Davis once approached him about where he could find toothless hookers in TO. During a game. With he Clippers down 3 and less than a minute left. Davis then reportedly walked off the court in disgust when Bosh informed him that he should be asking Reggie Evans. Mike Dunleavy, then coach, didn't notice. NBA insiders are praying that Davis simply fades out of existence a la Back To The Future, or follows Stephon Marbury to China where he will likely be kidnapped, ransomed, and then sold as slave labour to rice farmers once said ransom is ignored. This outcome seems unlikely however, as a statement not released by Davis' agent/driver/cook/dealer/jeweler/therapist, states that Davis has been applying for judging positions at various wet t-shirt contests nationwide.

In a recent interview on the Toronto sports radio station Fan 590 Bryan Colangelo stated that the Raptors might be 'buyers' at the trade deadline this year should the right deal come along. Of the names being mentioned by the media and by fans, Andre Iguodala, Josh Howard and Caron Butler are the highest profile and most talked about. We can more or less rule out Iguodala given Toronto's lack of comparable, moveable assets, and so I find myself asking whether the theoretical defensive gains from a Caron Butler or a Josh Howard would offset losing bench strength in the form of a Calderon or an Amir Johnson (really the only two Raptors whose contracts and skill sets make them attractive as significant trade pieces). But is that the right question to be asking? Setting that question aside for now, perhaps the better question is whether such a big move makes more sense this year, or next.

Consider the Raptors' roster from a financial standpoint (and here I'm going to assume that Chris Bosh resigns, simply because it seems the most likely outcome). If the Raptors are indeed looking to be buyers this year, then we can safely assume that they will be next year as well. Given that, wouldn't next year be a better time to buy? Now obviously I can't predict how the NBA's financial landscape and the upcoming negotiations between the players and the owners will play out, but we can safely assume that money will be tight, and those with money to spend will be in the proverbial driver's seat. And the Raptors will have money to spend, even though they are likely to be adding salary in the form of a new contract for Bosh.

The contracts of Marcus Banks (4.5 mil), Marco Belinelli (1.5 mil), Regie Evans (5 mil) and Sonny Weems (750k) will all be expiring at the end of the 2010-2011 season, and as such could all prove to be valuable trading chips at next year's deadline. That's approximately 11.5+ million in expiring deals in a season when the financial crunch should hit hardest; a considerable advantage given that none of those players save perhaps Belinelli and Weems should be expected to contribute significantly to the team in the long-term. In other words, at next year's trade deadline Colangelo can go shopping without having to give up any of his core pieces.

It's also worth considering the kind of talent that will be available in free agency in 2011. Check out this list from NBA Roundtable. See any familiar names? That's right, Josh Howard and Caron Butler are both there. Now Howard has a team option for 2010-2011 at nearly 12 million, so we can assume he'll be hitting free agency this year. Does it therefore make any sense to trade for Howard at this year's deadline? Not unless you think he's your missing piece, and even then he's only a half season rental. So unless you're trying to dump salary, giving up assets for Josh Howard makes little sense. As for Caron Butler, his deal expires after 2010-2011, so why give up assets to go after him this year when you can simply wait to sign him after next year (especially considering he's suddenly having an off year, which should raise some flags given his age)? Again, you'd have to think he's the missing piece of your puzzle and his addition would outweigh any subtractions you'd have to make to acquire him. Not worth it in my opinion.

Instead, I believe Colangelo should sit on the 2010-2011 expiring deals he has, and look for bargains at either next year's deadline or in the offseason, when he can add pieces without having to subtract from the core of the team. It's also worth considering that the Raptors could be best served by continuing to evaluate what they have in DeRozan, Weems, Belinelli and Wright, all young wings would could continue to flourish with steady minutes and a well-defined role, before making any rash decisions. This is especially true of DeRozan, whose games is extremely raw and who clearly needs a solid offseason of work in order to harness his physical talents. If any of these players can prove to be good to great two way players, then the Raptors would find themselves with a strong core and the ability to add another significant player without having to give up much in return; a very strong position to be in heading into the prime of Chris Bosh's career.