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.