You might have guessed the reason(s) for the dormancy lately. After a hardy month of convincing myself that the Raptors are well-alligned for the future they started sucking the fat bag, losing five straight and eight of their last ten. I still believe that the team's salary flexibility over the next two seasons is a massive asset, but some of the personel, including a coach or three, might be doing a less-than-adequate job. And at some point the future has to become the present, which has shown no signs of happening in Toronto.
Most disappointing has been the play of T.J. Ford and Andrea Bargnani. It's getting more difficult to have confidence in the potential of Bargnani when he's passed up, or just plain flunked, his opportunity to contribute at his natural position while Bosh is out with a knee boo-boo. Meanwhile, as evidenced by the above clip, T.J. Ford has gone apeshit. He's eschewed passing in favour of taking inscrutable circus shots, ignoring his teammates and handing the ball to opposing teams.
A friend and I have been dreaming up possible trade scenarios involving Ford and, sadly, a suggestion from a Blazers fan on a Yahoo! board seemed most realistic: Pryzbilla + Jack + filler for Ford. It leaves me breathless. Remember, the Raps only gave up Charlie V for the Little Engineer of Doom.
On the positive side, Washington's only one win away from tying Toronto for fifth in the East. The Raptors would be much happier dropping to sixth to face the Magic in the playoffs than staying in fifth and drawing the Cavs. Chris Bosh loves playing the Magic.
Here's a great piece by Tim Chisholm for TSN which is a bit discursive - since it begins by questioning the basis of the NBA's Coach of the Year Award - but makes some nice points about how Sam Mitchell is failing, and the challenges of making a good team an elite team.
Oh, and Rogers Sportsnet won't be televising Raptors - or any NBA - games next year.
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