DIsgusting effort + Disgusting officiating = Disgusting loss. Booed at home again, for what, the fourth time this season?

I’m sure that’ll upset Chris Bosh but maybe this team needs to start looking in the mirror. Yo Chris - there’s a reason you’re being booed. We don’t expect the team to win every game, but we expect effort, 82 nights for 48 minutes - and I don’t think that’s too much to ask. I just can’t understand how a professional sports team - one that’s on a roll and supposedly playing with extreme confidence, AT HOME - can play so passively. Jump shot after jump shot, against a team without a big interior presence. Unacceptable.

Don’t even get me started on the refs. They’re certainly not why the Raptors lost - plenty of awful calls went Milwaukee’s way too. But my God. What the hell were they doing out there? I tell you, if these two teams actually had any balls, it would have degenerated into a cage match. As it is you’ve got two crappy teams without much heart lucky for the NBA, all you had was a little shoving and some harsh words.

Just a joke of a game, a complete waste of everyone’s time that bothered to watch.

Welcome to another five game losing streak!

Well, it’s date #3 with Milwaukee tonight. The teams have split the season series, and in both games, the losing team pretty much choked down the stretch (you may remember the January meeting in Milwaukee, which the Bucks won 107-97, or as I like to call it, the Time Will Solomon Single-handedly Poisoned his Entire Team).

But this is a slightly different Milwaukee team, as I’ve mentioned this week. Michael Redd is out for the year after blowing out his knee, and that gives them a different look. Lotta people are counting the Bucks out because of it - I’m not one of them.

I think the Bucks might actually be better.

Look, Redd dominates the ball. He takes a lot of shots. But this team actually has a lot of weapons - Jefferson, Charlie V, Andrew Bogut, Charlie Bell - and I don’t think they need one guy taking all the shots.

Then you look at Jefferson in particular. He can dominate the ball too, and he’s definitely not as deadly a shooter, but I feel he does a lot more than Redd in terms of driving and slashing, and he has a decent post-up game to boot. Plus, he’s a far superior defender. In other words, he’s exactly the type of SF we need here. Sigh. Toronto fans don’t care for the guy because he came across as an ass in the playoff series two years ago, but I get the impression that’s not really him, and that he only acted that way to take some pressure off of Carter.

On the other hand, this isn’t the same Toronto team that Milwaukee beat, either. Both Jermaine O’Neal and Jose Calderon missed that game, and with Anthony Parker handling the backup PG duties, the Bucks can’t count on Will Solomon handing them the game again.

Injuries have slowed Andrew Bogut (who is still day-to-day with back spasms, though he says he plans to play tonight) and he missed the last game against Toronto. Luke Ridnour is also banged up but expected to play. The Bucks have gotten good contributions from Ramon Sessions and Luke Mbah a Moute as well.

Ordinarily, looking at the matchup, you’d have to think that the Raptors, now fully healthy, should dominate this team at home. And obviously that’s what I’d like to see. But I just don’t trust the Raptors, healthy or not.

Yeah, they’ve won three in a row and the Bucks are banged up. But the Bucks have plenty of guys who can hit open shots and the Raps have been giving up way too many of those lately. And if Jefferson is ready to take the reins of this team like I think he is, he could be a real problem for the Raptors, and you know Charlie V is gonna go off ‘cause he always does against Toronto. Can the Raps withstand those two, and keep everyone else in check?

You know what, even though I don’t trust them, I can’t pick against the Raptors in this one. Even with their defensive woes, the offense is clicking, with Parker, Calderon, and Bargnani playing their best ball of the season, Chris Bosh being his usual All-Star self, and Jermaine O’Neal anchoring the bench. With those guys playing well, the roster is tightened nicely, and anything they get from the 3-spot is just a bonus. And since the Bucks aren’t a great defensive unit I feel like the Raptors can simply outscore them, even if they can’t stop them.

Raptors by 10.

Well, I think we can all agree the Raptors got lucky last night.

Surging to a 12-point lead with 4:47 to go and getting just about anything they wanted on offense, the Raptors looked poised to cruise. But they continued to give up open 3-pointers - the Nets took 32 of them and I’m willing to wager 30 were taken without a defender in reach - and the Nets got right back in it, going on an 11-2 run in two minutes to cut the lead to 104-101.

After a solid possession that led to two Bosh free throws and a silly foul by Bobby Simmons that gave Parker a pair (though naturally, he went 1-2) the Raps stretched it back to six with 1:59 to go. Bobby Simmons then missed a three, the “crowd” quieted, and I started to feel comfortable again… silly me.

At the end of an absolutely abysmal Raptors possession that saw Bosh get the ball 20 feet from the hoop on the right wing, stand there for five seconds- literally, not even dribbling - and then pass the ball back to Jose with four seconds on the clock, Jose was forced to take a long three pointer (short, naturally), the Nets raced back and Vince Carter drained a triple. Three point game.

Bosh then pulled a weak-ass reverse move on Lopez on the baseline; there was contact, yes, and I guarantee had he taken it straight up strong he would have gotten the call - but the refs don’t (usually) reward players for going away from contact, so no call was made, and Harris walked right through the non-existent Toronto transition D to cut the lead to 1.

The next Raptors possession was virtually identical to the one two plays before - only Bosh was maybe a foot closer and the ensuing Calderon jumper was only a two. Another miss. Sigh. Nets ball.

What happened next deserves some scrutiny. First, one has to wonder why New Jersey didn’t call time out; with 19 or so seconds to go, and Lawrence Frank pretty good at drawing up end-of-game plays (alley-oop dunk to win, anyone?), you’d think they’d set something specific. Still, Frank obviously has confidence in his guys to do the right thing, and Harris’ crossover on Graham to create space was a thing of beauty. Luckily for the Raps, he simply missed the shot. There were about three seconds left when he released, it took a high rebound, Parker hauled it in and the clock expired. Game over (although according to reports, Matt Devlin thought it was going to OT - I was watching the Nets’ feed so I’m not sure, but we might have to start calling him Chris Childs).

So, the other oddity - combined with not calling a timeout - was why Harris waited so long - he didn’t really give his team a chance at a tip-in or second chance, or, if the Raps’ rebounded it, to foul right away and get the ball back after the Raptors’ free throws, down 1 or 2 with a chance at a last-second shot. Also, consider this; my memory (might be wrong) is that the Nets only had one timeout left, so when Harris didn’t call it, maybe the thought was, “we’ll save it for that last-second shot if we miss and they get the free throws, and we need to draw up a play.”

So he wasted the time AND the timeout. Clearly not the best clock management ever seen, but still… that unstoppable step-back crossover is a great move, and I’m willing to bet if he did that 10 more times, he’d hit eight of them. And of course, you can make the argument that if you make the shot, you don’t want to give the other team the chance for a last-second winner (though if you’ve watched the Raps in a close game this year, you can be pretty confident they won’t even get a shot off, let alone score.)

So yeah, the Raptors were lucky. But you know what, every team needs a break now and then. The Raptors have had a few bounces go the wrong way (like a Steve Blake three off an offensive rebound) so they deserved to have one go their way. And, I believe that good teams need a few breaks, and that such things can snowball into more good things. If I recall, the 06-07 team that made that huge run got a bunch of breaks too (like MoPete’s hail mary against Washington, or AP banking in a long jumper to seal a victory in Detroit) so maybe it’s a sign that this team is on the right track.

Still, three straight wins against sub-.500 opponents does not a season turnaround make - even if two of them are technically ahead of the Raptors. They still need to beat Milwaukee tomorrow night - and I really believe the Bucks have some Ewing Theory Potential with Redd out - and then the real test begins: Magic, Cavs in Cleveland, Lakers, Hornets in New Orleans. Can the Raps steal a couple of those? Until they prove they can beat some good teams, this team is still lottery bound in my eyes. Give me 5-3 in the remaining eight games before the all-star break and I’ll re-evaluate their chances.

Back to the game, well, I was dead wrong in my Bargnani prediction; he picked up three early fouls (at least two of them really chintzy calls) and another early in the third and never got into a rhythm. I felt like Triano left him sitting too long after he picked up #4 (I would have put him back in at the start of the fourth), but Jay said afterward the team on the floor (a smallball team of Calderon, Parker, Graham, one of Moon/Kapono and one of Bosh/O’Neal) was in a good rhythm, and he was right - when Andrea came out, with 7:38 left in the third, the Raptors were down by two, but by the end of three, were up 7, so why not stick with what was working. Hopefully Bargnani’s psyche isn’t so fragile that one game bad game will send him back into a funk like he was in earlier this year.

Bosh didn’t have a great game either, and he must have had a big bag of movie popcorn before the game - with extra butter. Four turnovers, only six boards? Sheesh. Why can’t he hang on to the ball all of a sudden? O’Neal had a decent contribution of 8 and 4, though I don’t know how he picked up 5 fouls in 20 minutes.

The Raptors got most of their production from the 1-2-3 spots. Shocking, I know. Calderon’s shooting finally cooled off and he committed two turnovers, but he still scored 17 and added 11 assists. Anthony Parker continued his great all-around play, scoring 21 with 7 boards and 6 assists. Kapono wasn’t completely awful - he even took a couple of threes! - and Graham and Moon each made their presence felt (combined 25 on 8-11 shooting, 9 boards, 3 blocks).

In fact I have to give Joey extra props here. In the fourth quarter as the Nets made a run, you had to be feeling that the Raps would sink back into their habit of shooting long jumpers. But not Joey - he was aggressive and attacking every chance he got, getting to the line nine times.

For the Nets, Harris is definitely the engine powering that team. The Raptors could not stop his penetration and he kicked it out for open threes from Vince, Dooling and Simmons, multiple times. He finished with 25 and 10 (though naturally, all anyone will remember is the miss) and he impacts the game whenever he has the ball. The entire defense has to react to him, he is that fast and that slippery in the lane. I have no doubt that he’s an all-star this season, and I suspect the coaches see that too.

Carter looked like he was gonna have one of “those” games - you know, the ones where he scores 40 - early on. He hit four threes in the first four minutes of the game! He ended up with 27, 10 and 5, on 9-21 shooting (I predicted 26, 7 and 5 on 10-18. I think I got this science down!). Simmons and Dooling hit 8-14 from downtown. 8-14! That’s crazy. Ryan Anderson was a non-factor as the Nets went small most of the night, but Brook Lopez made the most of his 35 minutes, going 7-10 and playing some decent D. Only four boards, though, and the Raptors - despite only getting 7 total boards from the “killer B’s” - outrebounded the Nets by 3.

It’s still a little hard to believe the Raptors have won three in a row. First time since the first week of the season… that’s insane. It’s nice to see though. Even if it doesn’t last, it was nice to get a couple quality wins and catch a break down the stretch of one. Let’s hope they can keep it up!

What can you say about two teams that have played each other three times already? Especially when each team has one easy victory and the other time, it was one of the most thrilling basketball games of the year?

As I’ve discussed before, the Raptors and Nets really had a chance to be a great rivalry, what with the trading of Vince Carter to New Jersey in 2004. Unfortunately the Raptors sucked the next two years; hard to have a rivalry when one side can barely win 30 games. Then in 2006-2007, both teams were pretty good, and they met in a classic playoff series.

But then the Nets sucked last year, and now, they both kinda suck. Fighting over the final playoff spot isn’t quite the same as fighting over a division title. Is a one playoff series a rivalry?

So, now you’ve got two mediocre teams going head to head, and when you look at what we’ve already seen- one classic game, two crappy games - you can expect tonight will likely be more of the latter. I mean, let’s face it, neither one of these teams is setting the world on fire. The Raps are 8-15 since their last meeting; the Nets are 8-14, and both teams have lost seven of their past 10. Not exactly seizing the moment, are they? (Each team also holds the “distinction” of having lost to the “Thunder”… ugh.)

Still, I guess this game does have meaning. The Raps are clawing for that playoff spot and they need to beat the teams in front of them; New Jersey is one of them. They also need all the wins they can get before they play the murderer’s row of Orlando, Cleveland, LA and New Orleans. For the Nets, well, same deal - they gotta keep beating the bad teams to hold their ground.

This is the Nets first home game back after a four game Midwestern trip. Generally, teams are either so happy to be home they blow the opponent away, or else they’re so tired they come out flat and get killed. I have to say, as much as I’m down on the Raps this year, I like them in this game, and the latter point is a big reason. The Nets already appeared tired in their Monday loss to the Thunder (Harris and Carter, combined 6-29), probably went out last night to celebrate VC’s birthday (I somehow doubt they went out and celebrated in Oklahoma City on Monday, his actual birthday), and now have to play a game against a well-rested Toronto team.

Meanwhile the Raps’ve had big leads on the Nets all three times they’ve played; yes, they blew them twice but I would really like to believe they’ve learned from their mistakes, and if they get up on the Nets this time, I believe fatigue will hold the Nets off from making a comeback.

Not only that, but I believe Andrea Bargnani will be a huge factor in this game. He was pretty invisible (coming off the bench) in the two meetings, but now that he’s starting, and his confidence appears to be at an all-time high, I think he’ll have more of an impact. Who on the Nets can guard his inside-outside attack? Brook Lopez? Ryan Anderson? Look, both those guys are having solid rookie years but can they hang with Bargnani on the perimeter? No way. Unless he makes it easy on them by bricklaying, he’s got a major advantage.

I suspect Anderson will start out on Bargnani and Lopez on Bosh; Lopez can be physical and bang on Bosh, and since Lawrence Frank wrote the book on defending Bosh (remember when Jason Collins and Mikki Moore completely took Bosh out of the playoffs two years ago?) I expect he’s passed the lessons onto young Brook - get up on him, hit him hard, force him to drive. Bosh HAS to realize he’s got the quickness advantage on Lopez (or anyone else on the Nets) and take advantage. Much like Bargnani, this one’s all on Bosh - if he does what he’s supposed to do, the Nets can’t stop him.

I guess the real question is whether the Raptors can stop Carter and Harris. Harris has abused Calderon in the Nets’ two victories and Carter, as we have come to expect, has had one good game, one great game, and one crappy game (and please don’t make me go into the Vince Carter Stats AGAIN). I suspect he’s due for another “good” game, probably about 26 points, 7 boards and 5 assists on 10-18 shooting. Parker’s gonna have a long night, because I bet he’ll see time guarding both Harris and Carter… poor bastard.

If I’m the Raps I simply lay off Harris and make him beat you from the outside. He’s a decent shooter but I’d much rather have him taking jumpers than getting into the lane for easy looks (and creating easy looks for teammates).

I think the Raps have got this one. It won’t be a blowout, but they’ll get the early lead and this time, hang on to it and pick up their third win in a row, this one by nine points.

Missed yesterday’s game, unfortunately, but two wins in a row is very nice. What’s even better is that the Raps won going away both times, so they were able to avoid the late-game collapses that have plagued them recently.

Does it mean anything in the greater scheme of things? Probably not. The Raps are in New Jersey Wednesday night, and are 1-2 against the Nets this year. Even if they steal that one and beat the now Michael-Redd-Less Bucks at home on Friday, look at the next four: three of the league’s best - Orlando, Cleveland, LA Lakers - in four nights, followed by the Hornets in New Orleans. Following that: Memphis and Minnesota on the road, then the Spurs at home in Toronto. Best case scenario there is 4-4, and knowing the Raptors 2-6 is more likely.

You can’t count out the Bucks; sometimes I think Redd was a bit of a ball-hog, and this should open things up for Richard Jefferson to shine as a Buck. Either way they’re still ahead of the Raps in the standings so beating them and Jersey is key. And shockingly, Minnesota has played well under Kevin McHale. So those two aren’t the easy wins they might look like on paper.

Not only that, it’s starting to look like 40 wins might not be enough to secure that playoff spot. Don’t look now but Charlotte’s heating up - won 6 of 10 to vault ahead of the Raptors. Philly’s won 8 of 10, New York and Chicago are still ahead of us, and Indiana’s right behind. Even if they do get on a roll, it seems like everyone Toronto’s chasing are also about to go on a roll. Raps have their work cut out for them.

36 games to go? 18-28? They need to go 24-12 in my mind…

Oh well, as I’ve said before, let’s just enjoy the games for what they are and wherever they end up is where they end up.

Other notes of interest:

• Check out Jose’s stats from his first two games back: 57 total minutes, 15-19 shooting (2-3 from downtown) for 39 points. Perfect 7-7 from the line, 18 assists, and not a single turnover. Oh, yeah… they missed this guy.
• Jermaine O’Neal had a solid 10-point (4-6 shooting), 11 rebound night, in a mere 22 minutes. Sure, the Kings frontline can’t stop anybody, but hey… as an audition for Miami, it works for me, and if it helps his conditioning and confidence for as long as he’s here, that works too.
• I suspect I’m not the only one who was worried Bargnani’s numbers might suffer with Jose back (who always seems to look to Bosh before Andrea) but in the past two games, he’s 15-27, 4-8 from downtown and has scored 22 and 24. This is a solid month of strong play from Bargnani? Is it time to stop calling this another tease and declare that he’s “arrived?” I’m not there yet, but I’m getting there. He sure is fun to watch when the shot is dropping and he’s got confidence like that - he really is a deadly weapon from anywhere when his shot is on. And I absolutely love that pull-up jumper he’s been rocking lately. Very Dirk-like, and very effective.
• Anthony Parker has been superb of late, taking good shots when available and getting guys involved when he’s been the point guard. He’s also been hitting the boards which is really nice to see (5.8 over the past five games).
• Unfortunately, we’re not getting much in the way of contribution from the 3-spot. You just can’t count on Moon, Graham or Kapono on any given night. Joey played well against the Bulls, and Kapono was all right, but none of them did much last night (although I read that Joey had a good game on D and rebounding, so at least the effort was there). How does Kapono only have two total three-point attempts the past three games? And it’s not like the Bulls and Kings are known for their defense! Argh.

Anyway, a couple days off before heading to New Jersey to see Vince for the last time this year. The Raps have gotten big leads on the Nets three times, and blown it twice. Oddly enough the only one they held on to was in Jersey, so that should give them confidence for Wednesday night. Will they finally get their first three-game win streak since the first week of the year!?

Finally, Jose Calderon is back. Finally, the Raptors showed that they can, indeed finish a ball game.

After all the recent late-game collapses, I’m still having trouble believing this, but the Raptors - clinging to a 94-92 lead with five minutes to go - slammed the door shut on the Bulls with a 20-2 run to close the game. When was the last time you saw something like that?

To be honest, I don’t know what the heck is going on with Chicago; Vinnie Del Negro threw out some pretty wild substitutions last night. Rose never got anything going because he was jerked on and off the floor all night. And why’d he go back to Noah (5 fouls) in the fourth? It’s not like played well (zero field goals, three boards). That team appears to be in disarray.

All told though, I think it’s pretty clear that with a healthy Jose Calderon, the Raptors are a different team. He was much more aggressive on offense last night (10 shots) and his steady hand was key to the team’s late game surge. He led all scorers with 23, had 10 assists, and made all 4 of his free throws.

Chris Bosh struggled shooting the ball, but Andrea Bargnani picked up the slack (23 points). Parker had another solid game, and Graham played well also. Moon, well, he didn’t do much and Roko struggled in his few minutes.

Unfortunately for Jermaine O’Neal, the only thing he did was let himself be posterized by Tyrus Thomas. JO is still struggling to get his legs, but at least he’s healthy.

Overall, though, it was a solid effort all-around. As I said yesterday, this team is much more interesting to watch when it’s at full strength. It was definitely an enjoyable Friday night game.

Word up: Jose is in, according to Matt Devlin.

I really, really, really hope he’s healthy and is back for good. I can’t handle any more 20-turnover games. If he comes back too soon and aggravates it again… well then it’ll be time to fire the training staff. Seriously.

Still, looking at the lineup tonight… Calderon, Parker, Moon, Bosh and Bargnani… backed up by O’Neal, Graham, Kapono, Voskuhl and Ukic… well, that’s the most complete lineup the Raptors have had since their west coast trip.

Does it translate to a win tonight, or any more wins in the coming weeks? Probably not.

First of all, Calderon and O’Neal gotta shake the rust off, and everybody’s gotta get used to playing with them again.

Then, you gotta deal with the O’Neal vs. Bargnani starting situation. Once O’Neal is back in the groove, how long is he gonna be happy sitting on the bench? How will Bargnani play, looking over his shoulder at O’Neal. His shot has already faltered a little lately…

Of course, of O’Neal gets traded first, then that doesn’t matter, but bringing in a new guy also creates an issue of guys needing time to adapt and gel with each other… and anyway, until that happens, the trade rumours surrounding the team right now have gotta be weighing on them.

Distractions, rust, playing time… not good issues for a struggling team to be dealing with.

But, as I’ve been saying, I don’t believe any of it ultimately matters for this season. Still, I’ll be happy to have the full team back (well, minus Hump) and hopefully healthy and gelling. That should at the least make the games more fun to watch.

I don’t have much of a preview to write here. The Raps just played the Bulls last week, and lost at home, so I don’t imagine they have much hope of winning in Chi-town.

As I wrote last week, Derrick Rose is better than any player on the Raptors (and he’s just a rookie), the Bulls winning simply depends on how much support he gets from his teammates. The Bulls have a lot of shooters, and if they’re on, they’re tough to beat; They’re also athletic so when they get out on the break, look out.

Since the Raptors give up more open looks than any team in the league and offer up some of the worst transition D you’ll ever see, it’d be pretty easy for the Bulls to run them off the floor.

The Raps were in last week’s game because Andrea Bargnani caught fire and they fed him the rock for three quarters (and proceeded to ignore him down the stretch). They also hit the glass when Gordon, Deng and Hinrich were missing shots.

That’ll be tougher tonight because the Bulls will have Drew Gooden back; their best rebounder missed the last game and although the Raps were without Jermaine O’Neal, his contribution is expected to be pretty minor.

Early word is that Jose Calderon is gonna try and play tonight. Not sure if this is a good thing or not; if he’s not 100 per cent then what’s the point? Heck, 100 per cent or not, he’s going to get destroyed by Rose.

As for the rest, well, the deal is still the same. The Bulls offer the sort of shooters and athletes that that give the Raptors trouble. If their shots are dropping and they’re getting out on the break, the Raps are in trouble. But because jump-shooting teams are always vulnerable, the Raps can steal this one - they get a few misses, hit the glass well, keep the bigs involved, slow things down some, and get solid contributions from Parker and Calderon… well, I guess there’s a chance.

But not much of one.

Bulls by 11.

Moving on, the All-Star Starters were announced last night, nothing too crazy happened (like T-Mac making it ahead of Chris Paul or even worse, Yi making it ahead of Kevin Garnett). I agree that Allen Iverson isn’t having a great year but he’s always been a fan favourite, and he’s still a very good player; remember the starters should be a combo of player talent and popularity. Devin Harris and Jameer Nelson are having good years but they haven’t reached their ceilings and they’re not that popular… yet. Let them join the team as bench players this year, pay their dues that way, and in the next year or two - assuming they continue to get better - they’ll get the votes.

I assume Chris Bosh will get selected by the coaches, and although the team sucks and Bosh has been up and down, I definitely believe he’s one of the best forwards in the east. And, although I was hoping he’d make it this year, I have no doubt that Jose Calderon will miss the cut. He’s missed too much time and, either because of the injury or some other reason, hasn’t played quite as well this year as last year. He just doesn’t deserve it, not with Harris and Nelson having the seasons they are. Even Derrick Rose is more deserving right now. Calderon’s turn is going to have to wait until next year - assuming he ever gets healthy.

Anyway, that’s about all I have to say for today. It’s an unfortunate time to be a Raptor fan, our team sucks and there’s a chance we won’t even have an all-star. Sigh. Hopefully we’ll get a couple of good, exciting games this weekend to keep us entertained.

Slow day at work, so here’s a couple thoughts on the goings-on of the day.

First up, Alonzo Mourning has officially retired.

Excuse me if I don’t shed a tear.

Raps fans have a hatred for Zo that I believe is only topped by their hatred for Vince Carter. To recap, Carter was traded to New Jersey for Zo - who was unhappy in New Jersey and wanted out - as well as the Williams Brothers and two draft picks. It also cost them highly touted Jerome Moiso (waived), who was just about to find his groove with the Raps!! Um, just kidding about the last part.

(What was the biggest shame was that Alvin Williams was too hurt to play and Jerome Williams had been traded a year earlier. I mean, all they had to do then was trade for one more Williams and they could have had a lineup of five Williamses on the floor, and that would have been the greatest moment in Raptors history. Alas.)

That trade looks pretty bad as it is but what made it worse (the worst trade in the NBA this decade, in fact) was that Mourning refused to play in Toronto. In fact I don’t know if he ever actually came to Toronto. He wanted to be traded, yes, just not here.

So, you’d think, if you were the Raptors, you’d confirm with him that he’d play before pulling the trigger, especially since he was the only player of value in the trade coming this way.

But, no, that didn’t happen. Actually, rumour has it, it did: Sir Rob Babcock did indeed ask - and Zo confirmed he wouldn’t play - but BABCOCK STILL MADE THE TRADE.

Now, you’d think at this point, the Raps would play hardball and force Mourning to report, and if he didn’t not pay him, as is their right under the collective bargaining agreement.

But, no. They let him sit out - in Miami - and never even tried to make him join the team. In fact as I recall he never even had to take a physical to prove he could play, and thus couldn’t even be fined for not playing.

Now, you’d think, OK, here’s a guy that won’t play for us, he wants to play somewhere else so he’ll accept a bargain buyout and we’ll go our separate ways.

But, no. The Raptors offered to buy him out FOR THE FULL VALUE OF THE CONTRACT. He never played a game for the Raps, still collected his ENTIRE paycheque from us, and then went on to help the Heat win a title.

So, you can understand why Raps fans don’t like the guy. There was no reason for him to act like such a prima-donna; especially mere months after saying he wanted to play with Jason Kidd in Jersey, he could have rehabbed his image by coming to TO, teaming with Jalen Rose and mentoring Chris Bosh and (ahem) Rafael Araujo. Instead he acted like a prick and never even showed up.

And if - as he claimed - it wasn’t about the money, but rather about going somewhere to win a title - he would have simply accepted a minimum buyout to be set free. But he took the full amount! It was nothing but highway robbery.

Still, as big of a jerk as he was to the city of Toronto… the blame really is on Babcock here. First of all, this was a terrible trade, even with Mourning; he could have done better. Second, Babcock enabled the situation. He didn’t force Mourning to report when he could have. He waived the physical. He paid the ridiculous buyout.

Why would he ever, in a million years, do this? I don’t know. I understand he was blinded by the fool’s gold of the draft picks and made the trade despite Zo’s refusal to play. But at the least, you don’t pay the guy FULL AMOUNT and allow him to go help another team! The purpose of a buyout from the team’s perspective is to save a little money. If you’re going to pay him the full amount anyway, you may as well keep him on your team so he can’t help someone else!

Anyway, the point of this tirade was to suggest that it be Babcock, not Mourning, that deserves the brunt of your hatred. Yep, Mourning was an ass for refusing to report. But Babcock was a much bigger ass for A) making the trade in the first place and B) not taking a harder stance with Zo.

Also, SI Grades the Raps

This afternoon also saw this rather harsh grade - and harsh reality - of the Raptors season from Steve Aschburner of SI.com:

Toronto Raptors: It’s not easy to earn a grade this harsh. You would need to underachieve dramatically, abruptly fire your recent Coach of the Year (Sam Mitchell), have a showy offseason move (trading for Jermaine O’Neal) blow up in your face, turn your lone superstar into a cranky finger-pointer who might want out, cope badly with a key injury (Jose Calderon), run off a string of losses and drown in trade rumors a month before the NBA deadline. Ladies and gentlemen, your … Toronto … Raptors! Grade: F

Good times. My grades from a week ago were a smudge higher, but really, I can’t disagree with him at all. Although, he also forgot to mention “trot out the worst collection of swingmen in the NBA every game,” as well as “bring in two guys who washed out of the NBA years ago (Adams and Solomon) as your only off-season free agent pickups.”

Oh, hey, and guess what the only other team to get an “F” was? That’s right, the Clippers. Remember when everyone thought we’d be Phoenix North? Turns out we’re Clippers North.

Yep… really good times.

Remember when Young MC rapped, “well you got no money and you got no car, then you got no woman, and there you are”?

Well we got no swingmen and we got no D, so we got no winning, and here we are.

Here we are.

I didn’t see yesterday’s game. I didn’t listen to it on the radio, nor did I catch the game in an hour. I checked the score once during the game on my iPhone, (29-28 Detroit at the time) and at about 11:00 to see the final score. I didn’t read the box score, didn’t watch Raptors Post-up or even Sportscentre.

All I did was skim Doug Smith’s blog coverage and his game story this morning. It seems pretty clear: I didn’t miss much, did I?

Looks like the Raps hung tough in the first half before completely imploding in the third, then leading to extended garbage time in the fourth. So, they couldn’t even make it exciting for those that did watch… that’s disappointing. Overall it sounds like a dud of a game.

All thoughts of the two teams’ respective records and success (or lack thereof) aside, you know you’re gonna see games like this around this time of year - boring, no flow, missed shots, bad defense… the league always bogs down a bit in the month or so before the all-star break. Unfortunately, if you’re the Raptors and desperate for a win, that sort of game is the opposite of what you need right now… but it’s true what they say, that losing breeds losing. Sigh.

The Raptors desperately need a win right now, just in terms of their psyche. They won’t continue to play hard if things keep going south like this; it’s just human nature, no matter how much money you get paid or how “professional” you are: in a poisonous work atmosphere, success becomes that much more difficult.

Basically, the Raptors need to catch a break or two to help them snap this skid. Will it come Friday in Chicago, or will we have to wait until Sunday… or even longer?

Again, it doesn’t “matter” in the long-term scheme of things - the season is essentially over - it only matters in the short term, in terms of keeping the games fun and the fans entertained.

On the injury front, Jermaine O’Neal played last night. Looks like he finished with 11 points and one mere rebound… I guess he’s still getting his legs back. Jose missed ANOTHER game with The Hamstring That Won’t Heal (that’s nine of the last 10 now; what is he, the Rocco Baldelli of the NBA?), and now more bad news: Hump’s got a fracture fibula. That’ll be a good six weeks of recovery, I’d imagine. Sigh.

As for the trade front, still nothing happening, although supposedly, the Raps and Heat exchanged medical records yesterday. Yay for Internet rumours. Sigh. Wake me up when the deal goes down, eh? This has been the longest transaction in the history of sports.

Honestly, there doesn’t really seem to be much point anymore, anyway, except for the bottom line. MLSE gets to save a few bucks next season because Marion’s deal comes off the books and surely the team won’t sign any big money players this summer. Even with Marcus Banks on the roster, Will Solomon, Jamario Moon, Joey Graham and Anthony Parker will be gone, so replace them with Delfino and add a couple more minimum salary scrubs and the team payroll is about $10 million cheaper next year. MLSE executives rejoice! We’ll miss the playoffs but save a few bucks - two years in a row!! Sigh.

From a basketball standpoint, it doesn’t mean squat, not for this year (not for the Raps - if JO can stay on the court, he’ll be a huge help for the Heat). Marion makes the Raptors better, I don’t doubt that… but at this point, it’s just too late. Unless he helps the team go 28-10 the rest of the way the season is a failure, and there’s no way Marion makes that much difference, especially with Calderon on the shelf.

Then next year, well, Marion’s gone, and assuming all goes according to plan, your roster next year is Bosh, Bargnani, Kapono, Delfino, Calderon, Humphries, Banks, Jawai, and Ukic, as well as some more of those euro-scrubs that BC likes so much. Yeah, that’s probably good for 33-35 wins, right? Sigh.

OK, so maybe even MLSE can see you need at least one more decent player there, and with a payroll of ~$55 million, that’s possible, but it’s certainly not someone who’s gonna help them make any noise in the playoffs. Matt Barnes? Ben Gordon? Marvin Williams? Ron Artest!? (shudder). Williams would seem to be the best fit as he’s a natural SF but will he ever reach his potential?

Anyway, it’s all just speculation. But I will say this: The trust that the Raptors fan community has in BC is starting to erode, big-time. For me personally, I hope he stays in the job for many years to come, because regardless of what goes on between now and summer 2010, I still believe he’s the right guy for the job. But I know others are already seriously starting to doubt him. He doesn’t need to hit a home run right now, but he needs to do something between now and the start of the 09/10 season to start rebuilding that trust.