Defending Atlantic Champions vs. Middling Pennsylvania Selects

7:00 p.m. ET - Air Canada Centre

Instead of actually previewing tonight’s game against the Sixers I thought I would list an interesting fact about the Sixers, followed by a less interesting fact about the Sixers, several times:

- The 76ers are named after the signing of the Declaration of Independence in 1776, which took place in Philadelphia.

- Lindy’s Pro Basketball’s annual has this, possibly the summit of sports journalism, to say about the Sixers’ Andre Iguodala:

“Iguodala should have a big year. He’s on the verge of becoming an All-Star. He started to be more aggressive following the Iverson trade. Iguodala is a tremendous talent.”

- The Sixers went 30-28 after the Iverson trade last year.

- The Sixers finished 35-47, last year, in the Craplantic Division.

- Haitian-Canadian Samuel Dalembert expects to play tonight after suffering a stress factor in his left foot (go right Andrea!).

- Kyle Korver looks like Ashton Kutcher.

- Philly’s first-round pick Thaddeus Young averaged just over 14 minutes a game and 4 points a game in the preseason. Don’t expect to see him tonight.

- Young is 19 years old.

- Philadelphia point guard Andre Miller finished seventh in the NBA in assists last year, with 7.8 per game.

- T.J. Ford finished sixth in the NBA in assists last year, with 7.9 assists per game.

- The Sixers will lose tonight.

Later, Luke

As expected, the Raptors waived Luke Jackson today, setting their roster for the start of the season. All that's left is for the Raps to actually play. More on that later.

Il Dido

First it was Delfino, then Garbajosa, now, in this week's look-alike feature, Andrea Bargnani:

Mitchell Sharpening His Axe

Tonight's game against the Wizards at the ACC will be the Raptors' final game of the fake season. How fake was October? The Raptors assaulted the Eastern Conference champion Cavaliers last night, 111-78. They also lost to Euroleaguers Real Madrid on Oct. 11, 104-103. Neither of which meant anything. But while the "Royal We" can't wait for the real season to begin, tonight's game means something to five men:

1) Chris Bosh - After sitting out since Oct. 7 Bosh got back on the court last night and played well, scoring 12 points in 15 minutes. Bosh's fluid-drained, braced knee will be pumping for a few more minutes tonight, just to "get in rhythm" for the regular season. The Raptors need him to be in Michael Jackson rhythm to avoid the traditional franchise curse of ghastly Novembers.

2) Juan Dixon; 3) Luke Jackson and; 4) Jamario Moon - One of these players must get cut before Monday at 6:00 p.m. EDT. If Pro-Line offered such a feature, I would bet on Luke Jackson since it will cost us the least in two ways. First, we have a glut of wingmen that are all, although middling, better than Jackson. Second, his $798,308 contract would be an easier buy-out than Dixon's $2.9 million salary.

Also Mitchell, much like with Matt Bonner, seems to have crushed hard on Moon. If you haven't seen Moon play yet, everything you've heard is true. He is EPMD raw, but he's also Carl Lewis athletic. Neither of which is an overstatement. And at $427,163, why the hell not keep him? Every man needs a project. I have a blog, Sam Mitchell will have Moon.

5) Sam Mitchell - He's the one that's got to make the decision on who to cut, and who to start at small forward: Graham, Kapono, maybe even Delfino or Garbo. Take your pick.

HEY! IT'S ANDREA BARGNANI'S 22nd BIRTHDAY TODAY!!! Have a good one, stud.

Basketball Fantasies

My fantasy basketball draft was held tonight and team Larry Turd (me) selected Tim Duncan over Chris Bosh in the second round. I have as much respect for Duncan as a grown man can have for a basketball player, but I'm not a fan of his. The frightening thing (as a Raptors' fan and a fantasy owner) is that I believe 31-year-old Duncan will give me more games than 23-year-old Bosh.

Duncan managed 80 games in each of the last two seasons, while Bosh played in 69 and 70 respectively. But set the DeLorean to 2004-2005 and you would find something else to consider: Bosh played 81 games and Duncan played 66.

Both have suffered that scourge of the NBA - plantar fasciitis - but Bosh's fluid-swollen knees are worrying. He's aiming to play tomorrow against Cleveland, and after sitting out since Oct. 7 he says his knee feels "85 per cent". That percentage isn't high enough.

I'm trying to remain positive, but to reiterate, I'm a Raptors fan and I took Tim Duncan ahead of Chris Bosh in the second round of my fantasy draft.

Jorge Bana's Midnight Runners

Thanks to Knicks Fix for the Dexy's tip.

The Raptors beat a National Basketball Association team! Our reserves trounced the Chicago Bulls' reserves 92-82 last night. Encouraging in the win were Il Mago's 19 points on 7-12 shooting (but only one rebound); and Rasho's 12 points in 13 minutes, although he was matched up against the dangerous Aaron Gray who somehow dumped 14 points on us. Garbajosa didn't play a second but "the team" says he's fine.

In other hilarious news, The Knicks have cut Allan Houston. Remember when he said that God told him that the Knicks were the right team for his comeback? I guess Satan himself, Isiah Thomas, disagrees.

Man, the preseason sucks the fat bag. I've never anticipated Halloween this much in my adult life.

Dinobots beat all of Lithuania

Watching the Raptors struggle with Lithuanian D-League equivalents Zalgiris last night three things were tragically confirmed: Toronto needs Chris Bosh in the line-up for the team to succeed; European baketball jerseys are horrid; and Andrea Bargnani is not a post player, yet.

Bargnani in the paint is all rethinks and travelling violations, desperate spins and blind chucks. It’s only his second season, and it is encouraging that he’s demanding the ball down low regularly, but he needs some polish and instinct which will only come with practice.

The game itself (or at least what one can gather of it in the RapsTV Game in an Hour) was a ghastly mix of kick balls and broken plays. Both teams’ break outs and transition defences were either jet-lagged or still in progress. After blowing a fourth-quarter lead Toronto was lucky that they were playing a group of Lithuanians and ex-NBAers rather than, say, an actual NBA team, which they’ll be doing tomorrow when the Bulls cross the border.

On the positive side, TJ Ford played as gloriously as he did during Bosh’s absence last year. Ford managed 13 points, 11 dimes and only two turnovers in just 24 minutes. But it was obvious, particularly in the fourth quarter, that Toronto missed the option of dumping it down to Bosh for a low-post bucket or a pass out of the double-team. Those plays will be the Energeon Cubes if the Raptors’ offence hopes to score on the Decepticons this season. And for that, we need a healthy Boshimus Prime.

Also, take what you will from the rebound stats last night, but beating the Lilliputian Lithuanians 47-43 on the glass is not medal-worthy.

TV on the Radio

The Raptors' next preseason game against Lithuanian stallions Zalgiris Kaunas, or as they are officially known, “A.Sabonis basketball centre Žalgiris,” won’t be televised. However, it will receive an abridged airing in the Raptors NBA TV "Game in an Hour" segment Wednesday night from 11 p.m. to midnight. Utter horseshit, I feel, particularly after reading a brief history on the Zalgiris website, a portion of which follows below:

“In 1944 best basketball players from Kaunas united into one team
which was named "Žalgiris" shortly after that. From the beginning "Žalgiris" starts fighting for the first places in the Soviet Union's championship. Just three years later "Žalgiris" climbs on top of all teams and wins the first championship in 1947.”

This predated the Soviet “mounting” rule revision of 1952.

Unfortunately, Raps fans will only be offered radio coverage of the final three preseason games thereafter (versus Chicago, Cleveland and Washington). Guess we won’t be able to follow Juan Dixon’s attempt to play himself off of the team with his refusal-to-pass-to-anybody preseason strategy (he’s shooting a sparkling 5-16 in 30 total minutes). If Colangelo can’t trade him, Dixon will be the only cut out of camp, especially given the way Mitchell’s been talking about Jamario Moon.

Jimmy Delfino

Join me in welcoming Carlos Delfino to the Raptors in this, the first installment of the 2007-08, look-alike series: