College of Sports Media Game of the Night:

On Sunday the Toronto Raptors hosted a former player and tonight will be no different. Both former Raptors help the team reach the play offs. Public enemy number one, Vince Carter and the Orlando Magic were in town over the weekend and showed Toronto how a team goes about finishing a game. At one point the Raptors led by double digits only to see Carter heat up in the second half and lead his team to the 106-94 win. It’s pretty evident why the Magic traded for Carter, making Hedu Turkoglu expendable. Carter had 18 points in the second half when his team was down. Turkoglu had 4 points (all on free throws), two missed lay ups, and three fouls in the fourth quarter when his team was trailing and needed a spark.

Tonight the Raps welcome TJ Ford and the Indiana Pacers to the ACC. Ford was in the middle of the guard controversy in Toronto when team president Brian Colangelo chose Jose Calderone to be his man. Ford was traded to the Pacers and the rest is history. There’s more six degrees of separation between the Raps and Pacers. Jarrett Jack and Rasho Nesterovic were in Indiana last season. Nesterovic was part of the Ford trade. Pacer’s centre Roy Hibbert was drafted by Toronto, but was included in the Ford deal as well. Jermaine O’Neal, who ended up in TO as part of the trade, has since been jettisoned to Miami. Indiana comes into this game losers of their last three, but they sit a half game ahead of Toronto in the East. For the Raptors, tonight is the first of a back-to-back games. Tomorrow night they welcome the Charlotte Bobcats. A W tonight and tomorrow would go a long way. Their next six opponents include Boston, Phoenix, Atlanta, Chicago and Washington (twice).

Now that Jarrett Jack’s signing is official, it’s time to take a look at the implications.

First off, in my opinion, this signing had ZERO to do with Chris Bosh. Yes, Jack and Bosh were college teammates and best friends. Yes, I’m sure Bosh is thrilled to have his buddy around. And yes, I’m sure Bryan Colangelo is quite aware of this relationship.

Do I think Toronto committed $20 over 4 years to a player based on his friendship with Bosh? Hell no.

With Jack, the Raps get a guy that fits in nicely with their current team, and has potential to keep improving. He’s 25, can play either guard position, and brings some much-needed defensive skills to a pretty bad defensive squad.

His shooting numbers in Indiana were also very solid (35% 3FG and 45% FG), especially after beating out T.J. Ford in the second half of the season and starting at point guard. Jack also seems like a pretty smart player and won’t settle for that shot unless he’s open – expect to see him try and drive more often. He’s a strong guy and won’t back down from anybody on either side of the court.

Remember when the Raps were at their best? It was when they had two point guards (Calderon and Ford) and Colangelo has chosen to go back to that strategy. Really, it speaks more to the lack of confidence in Roko Ukic than anything – Obviously, the Raps are in a win-now (or win-soon) mindset, and they really don’t trust Roko. Hopefully, though, Jack can help both Ukic and Demar DeRozan, especially after mentoring Brandon Rush in Indiana. As a leader, there’s no doubt he’ll be solid.

Staying on the DeRozan theme, this signing also gives Toronto plenty of options while DD finds his game in the NBA. Jack and Antoine Wright can handle the 2-guard spot for now, and I truly believe JJ will be a great bench player/spot starter for the duration of his contract. Hopefully, DeRozan becomes a really good player, giving the Raps plenty of depth in the backcourt.

In all honesty, there’s not a whole lot of negatives to speak of in Jack’s game. He can be turnover-prone when asked to do too much, but that shouldn’t be a problem unless injuries strike. Really, the only issue with his contract is the amount of money given to a backup. Indiana has added Earl Watson for very little and it’s worth asking whether that would have been a better signing…

I say no, and that’s coming from a Watson fan. He’s 30, and far too small to play anything but point guard. Jack is truly a much better fit, and probably deserves close to what he’s getting when compared to other contracts around the league. Obviously, the drawback is that Toronto can no longer target a backup for Turkoglu at the small forward position (I don’t think Delfino’s much of a 3). The team is also still short a big, which will hopefully be addressed by signing Rasho Nesterovic. Still, looking at the big picture, Jack is a good signing.

He’s valuable off the bench, and even more important if injuries strike. Remember what happened when Jose was injured last season? Or maybe you’ve blocked it out…ya, it was that bad.

It won’t happen again.

-DL

According to Jarrett Jack, he will be a Raptor, officially today, as the Indiana Pacers are passing on their rights to match the offer he accepted by YOUR Toronto Raptors.

“The Indiana Pacers will not match the four-year, $20 million offer the Toronto Raptors made to restricted free agent Jarrett Jack, Jack told The Indianapolis Star in a telephone interview late Sunday night.

“It took a minute, but I was able to secure a contract for four years,” Jack said. “I’m looking forward to playing with Chris (Bosh) again. It will be like our freshman year (at Georgia Tech) all over again.”
Advertisement

The Pacers had until today to make a decision.”

Good news for us up here. He is a Chris Bosh boy and while there is no guarantee that this makes Bosh stick around it certainly can’t hurt.

“Jack said he is scheduled to fly to Toronto today and a news conference is planned for Tuesday.”

This should be one worth watching folks as he is really colorful, as evident by his interview with Brady and Watters.

“Jack, who will back up starting point guard Jose Calderon and also play some shooting guard, averaged a career-high 13.1 points as well as 4.1 assists last season.

“I wanted to be a Pacer come next season,” Jack said. “I’m indebted to coach (Jim) O’Brien for what he did for me last season. Not only him, but also (team president) Larry Bird and (general manager) David Morway. They put me in the position to play well and get a long-term contract. I’ll always be indebted to them.”

More from DL later on this (I hope) and thanks to the Indianapolis Star for this!

So folks, here we sit on July 14th, with more questions than answers with respect to our teams. All of our teams.

Let’s start with the Leafs:

The easiest question is who plays where and with whom? Assume no more changes(god help us in August) here is how the NHL roster sits:

Goal is the easiest: Toskala and Gustavsson
Defence: Kaberle, Komisarek, Beauchemin, Finger, Schenn, Van Ryn, Frogren, White, Stralman, Exelby
Left Wingers: Blake, Hagman, Kulemin,Collin Stuart, Wallin add Stalberg to the mix
Right Wingers, Stempniak, Ponikarovsky, Mayers and Orr
Centres: Grabovski, Stajan, Tlusty and Mitchell- Add Hanson and Bozak to the mix

So, who makes the big squad, who is on the farm and of course whom plays with whom?

Here is a rough team TSM guess:

Blake Grabovsky Poni
Bozak Tlusty Hagman
Wallin J. Mitchell Kulemin
Mayers Stajan Orr

Kaberle Beauchemin
Schenn Komisarek
Van Ryn Finger

Toskala
Gustavsson

Thoughts, comments, suggestions???

Next question, who fills the off ice vacancies. Last we looked their are openings in the training room, equipment room and oh yeah, the Marlies coaching staff? There has been jack shit in terms of news on any of this stuff, at least that I saw. I thought Hartsburg was a shoe in for the gig but look where that ended. I used to play on of the hockey simulation games on the computer where they actually ranked trainers and staff, so I am always a little bit curious as to who gets those gigs. They are the hardest working guys in hockey after all.

Biggest question is, given the roster at this time, are the Leafs any better? This I think doesn’t have to be an answer about standings or playoffs. I know those are the easiest and most meaningful measures, however given the team on paper, perhaps improvements can be made while not advancing in the standings. We do have to be realistic. It says here this will be a bitch of a team to go into the corners against and to play tight against. Teams that can really score may slaughter the Leafs as the roster as it stands right now is really thin up front. I said to a friend today who expressed doubt in building through size and toughness, the NHL has changed. It’s hard to find big, physical guys who can play the game. Ryan Hollweig has no business being on a roster, but is or was because size matters. Finding the skill guys isn’t as hard as it used to be. I think it will be a better team that barring other big changes will be in tough to make the playoffs. All based on this roster

The Raptors:

Big moves have been made all with the eye on the biggest, dealing with the Twitter Begger, Chris Bosh. The first question is, will the Indiana Pacers match the Jarrett Jack offer sheet that he signed with the Raptors?

“The bigger issue surrounding the Pacers is the Jarret Jack situation since Jones agreed to his deal last week.

All signs continue to point the Pacers not matching Toronto’s four-year, $20-million offer to Jack. The Pacers have until next Monday to decide.

Matching the deal will put the Pacers in a tough position financially to make other moves this summer because they want to avoid going over $69.9 million luxury tax threshold.

Bird answered one question about Jack before shutting down because he wanted the press conference to be about Jones, which is understandable, instead of Jack.

“This is not about Jarrett Jack,” Bird said. “It’s about Dahntay.”

That from Mike Wells in the Indiana Star newspaper. Based on what I have read and seen, we really want this guy Jack to be here. He and Bosh are best friends and apparently he is good off the bench too. I want him here to appear with Brady and Watters every week!

So will the moves the Raptors made make them a playoff team and will Bosh end up staying? I have no friggin clue. Again, that which I read screams yes. They are a better team right now then they were last year. If they aren’t then I think it’s easy to say Bosh is cha cha larue. As the fine folks at PPP tweeted tonight, let’s hope he is preparing for the upcoming season half as hard as he is in growing his twitter empire!

The Blue Jays:

I am truly saddened by what has become of our team. What was once the toast of the league has become a shell of it’s self. This is so much like he Expos to me. I know we aren’t there yet, but the similarities are eerily familiar. The biggest and perhaps the only relevant question is what happens with Halladay? I still say before you deal him you go to him with a blank check and a plan and see if he will sign on. If not you deal him and pray. You pray that you get the deal right and that people will still care. Once that deal is made, what happens the rest of the year is almost entirely irrelevant. With any luck Rolen gets traded and somehow something happens with Wells and or Rios. After the season the question becomes who is running this team? Who is the GM, who is the president and GULP who is the owner, who is going to pay for tickets and sponsorships????? How quickly the mighty have fallen.

Great perspective needed on the Jays:

“They had to think about it. They really did. The San Francisco Giants had to ponder and consider, weigh and debate, the idea of trading for Alex Rios. Giants general manager Brian Sabean left the 2007 winter meetings with the trade on the table. He seemed, in his comments to reporters, to be genuinely torn.

“Everyone sees the merit of both sides of the argument,” Sabean said that day. “That’s what makes it a difficult decision.” Asked by reporters if the issue could continue to twist for weeks, Sabean told the press, “I really can’t say.”

Sorry, Blue Jays fans. You have suffered enough in the last 15 years or so, much less the last two months. This, alas, will not help.

This is painful, of course, because the player coming back from the Giants would have been right-hander Tim Lincecum, who started for the National League opposite Toronto’s Roy Halladay in last night’s Major League Baseball All-Star Game in St. Louis. Lincecum is the best young pitcher in baseball, a genetic freak with unteachable talent. And he remains, at 5-foot-10 and 172 pounds, a Giant.”

That from Bruce Arthur in tomorrow’s post. Love the old saying about the best deals are the ones you never make….

The Argos:

Will this team be able to play with enough discipline to put 4 quarters of football together? The game last Saturday shouldn’t have ended up where it did and one has to believe that Andrus will take care of these issues very quickly. I do, however wonder what the hell Toth was smoking on the Fan this morning. Did anyone catch his CFL rant? I am quite stunned that he didn’t do this when Hogan was around as it would have made for really interesting radio, but in essence Toth said the following:

“They gotta get rid of the import rule. Canadian college players shouldn’t be stuck on a practice squad. It’s not fair to them. And if you want to say “ah come on, that’s not very Canadian”, well then stop shopping at Walmart”…”

That gem was followed up with:

“I spent $120 to watch the Argos take 17 penalties on Saturday”

Is this guy for real? No seriously. This is the guy who takes us to town for watching the WJC but not going to actual CHL games???? What kind of crap is he spewing???? Remember I am not a CFL guy. I am trying to be. If I get offended listening to that garbage I can only imagine what die hards think!

Have a good night and oh PLEASE HELP ME GET TO 50,000 followers on Twitter follow me at @yyzsportsmedia.com

TSM

So it started with LT’s little Sundin post the other night(in response to a hankeybuzz comment that perhaps Sundin was coming here) and then tonight Ek himself had a tweet about Sundin looking at either the Red Wings or, gulp the Leafs. I was at Mt. Sinai at the time waiting on someone getting a non-emergency MRI, and can think of no better place for me to be should I ever read that Burke has actually signed Sundin. On many occasions we talked about what Sundin owed the Leafs (nothing) and what the Leafs owed Sundin (nothing) but I say this, Sundin deserved

I don’t want to debate whether they should (NO) or whether he would want to come back (NO). What I do believe is that Mats Sundin deserves a better ending to a career than he just had in Vancouver. I know what his stats were, I know what he did, I know the ice time he got and who he played with etc. Spare me. I am just saying the guy has had one hell of a career. He played his ass of for Toronto and has little to show for it. It would be nice, I mean really nice if he could go out the right way..If, and I will say it again, IF a team like Detroit would seriously resign him, that would be FANTASTIC. There are no guarantees in life, but I would lay decent money on a return to the final four for the Red Wings next year. Even if he didn’t win the cup, to go out on a team like that would be the way for a guy like Sundin to ride off in the sunset. One caveat, he should, if he is going to do it, sign for the whole year, be there from start to finish, like he said he thought he had to. Let me say this again. I am in favor of Mats signing with a team, not ours, but a team who will contend this year so he can go out the way a guy who had a career like he did should.

So, there has been lots of banter about guests on PTS, I think that’s awesome. It’s validation of this site. What’s great to me is that we are finally seeing some new talent really emerge as top notch writers in this city. Brunt seems to universally loved, to me he is finally being pushed by some other general columnists. What a group the folks at the Globe have put together.. Brunt, Blair, Grange….in addition to the other writers. Grange has been on both networks of late, joining Griffin and Cox as guys who have crossed their streams. I really like PTS when Blair or Arthur are on. They aren’t the typical (Kelley) Mccown sidekick. It’s good old fashioned radio….

Speaking of good radio. I really miss the Sam Mitchell interviews on the fan. I used to listen to those calls every week, even sitting in the car longer so I could hear him with the fellas. On the NBA side, especially the Raps, the team lacks the public personality that Sam was. Triano just isn’t a character. Today, Watters and Brady interviewed Jarrett Jack of the Indiana Pacers. Jack is the former college roommate of one Chris Bosh. The Raptors signed Jack to an offer sheet, as he is a restircted free agent. Perhaps DL will fill us in about the capabilities of Jarrett Jack as a player. I can tell you this, HE IS A CHARACTER! I don’t care what he does on the court, this guy is fantastic. He is what pro athletes should be. He has charm, personality, he clearly gets it. More importantly, he brought Watters and Brady out of their chairs and into their A games, especially Wilbur! I have said this before, not only his Watters on too often, he is at his worst when he is talking hockey and talking hockey to those he knows. It is the least compelling radio you will ever here. When he doesn’t know the person and he doesn’t know the subject as well, he is every bit as good an interviewer as anyone else in the market! Seriously! Find old clips of him talking to guys out of his circle of comfort. He asks questions that you and I would want to ask. You can tell he is interested, he thinks about the questions and he comes across as genuine. In the piece today with Jack, Watters had the balls to ask Jack how much of raise he was getting as a result of the Raptors offer sheet, Jack, actually answered the question!(about three times what he made last year!). I can almost guarantee you that very few reporters have ever asked a player that type of direct question on the air. Fewer have ever answered it. Jack talked candidly about his relationship with Bosh, that he joked with Bosh that Bosh better be here for all 4 years of Jack’s offer if it holds. He talked about Bosh adding bunk beds to recreate their dorm room form Georgia Tech. Seriously folks, the 640 site isn’t the best for listening to, so click here to navigate to the clip- it’s good.

Speaking of good, I know many of you are, like me not huge fans of the Argos and the CFL. Having said that, as i do every year, I am trying again to like them and enjoy the product. Did any of you catch the @yyzsports twitter tweets live from the game? Or the pre and post game blogs? Our man Marc was there and did a great job bringing you all the action. We are trying to bring you more of that type of coverage (if you want it) so give Marc a shotout and let him know how you think he did. He’s a student at College of Sports Media and gonna be a great edition to a paper, radio station or network somewhere!

Eklund has broken news of a coup in Chicago. Dale Tallon has supposedly been let go and replaced with Scotty Bowman’s son Stan. If this is true, don’t expect Tallon to be on the sidelines too long. The Panthers should run to hire him.