Slow News Day (version 3)

Posted on September 7, 2010 | No Comments

It’s less than a month until training camp starts and it can’t start soon enough for many NBA fans. August and September are incredibly slow and if it wasn’t for the World Championships, there would be pretty much no reason to talk about basketball.  Of course, that doesn’t mean websites like RealGM.com go black for this period. They still have to print something, so at times like this, they have to reach deep. More on that later, though.

In Raptor news….well, there’s very little Raptor news and fans on some Raptor websites are busy with hypothetical arguments to keep busy. I am going to start posting a little more frequently as training camp nears with an Offseason Report Card, a series of Raptor previews, a look around the league and some predictions, as well.

While there’s little happening regarding the NBA, the World Championships do give us something to discuss. One of the newest Raptors, Linas Kleiza has been impressing many with his play in Turkey, averaging close to 20 ppg and 7 rpg while leading Lithuania to a 5-0 record, beating Spain and France along the way. He’s looked very good and is certainly a ray of hope for Raptor fans this year.

Another new Raptor addition, Barbosa, has also been playing well for Brazil, averaging more than 16 ppg while leading his country to a 3-2 record. If healthy, Barbosa has proven to be an excellent scorer off the bench, but with Brazil, he’s their leading scorer and main guy.

Even David Andersen has been playing well for Australia, averaging around 10 ppg and 7 rpg.

Obviously FIBA is not the NBA, but it’s nice to see the new players playing well on the international stage. Ironically, the only Raptors playing in the World Championships are new additions to the team. Calderon hurt his hamstring and is not playing for Spain. That’s obviously not good news for Raptor fans hoping to see a healthy Calderon this season. Personally, I was hoping Calderon would have a good year with the Raptors. It’s been two seasons since he signed his big contract and has certainly not lived up to it. He struggled with injuries during the first season of the contract, which many blamed on a tough summer of playing for Spain. He went overboard the next season trying to rest his body, showing up at training camp rusty and out of shape. It took him a while to get back into the groove and hurt himself again. Hamstring injuries have haunted some athletes for a couple of years before they finally fully recover. It appears Calderon will not be 100% for quite a while, unfortunately.

OUR TOP STORY…

So I understand RealGM.com has to go with something, but are they really this desperate?

RAPTORS STILL HAVE $14.5 M TRADE EXCEPTION

The Raptors still possess the $14.5 million trade exception they acquired when they completed a sign-and-trade with the Heat for Chris Bosh in July.

Toronto acquired center David Andersen from Houston earlier this offseason, but they used a smaller trade exception ($2.7 million) they received in the Hedo Turkoglu trade with Phoenix.

Great! News that the Raptors HAVEN’T done something. They haven’t used their exception. Of course neither has Cleveland, or Utah or Phoenix for that matter. I guess they have to save that news for another day.

DIONTE CHRISTMAS TO PLAY IN TURKEY

Dionte Christmas will play in Turkey this coming season.

Christmas played on Sacramento’s summer league team in Las Vegas.

He went undrafted out of Temple in 2009.

So a guy who has never played in the NBA will continue not to play in the NBA. Thanks for the heads up.

And in more ironic news…

FOYLE NAMED DIRECTOR OF PLAYER DEVELOPMENT FOR MAGIC

The Orlando Magic have named Adonal Foyle as director of player development, President of Basketball Operations Otis Smith announced today. In his role, Foyle will provide support for the overall development of the players, act as a conduit between players and management, and give assistance to the basketball operations department.

Originally selected by Golden State in the first round (eighth overall) of the 1997 NBA Draft, Foyle appeared in 733 regular season games during his 13-year NBA career with Golden State and Orlando.

So a guy who had enough potential to be the 8th pick the year Tim Duncan was drafted, who averaged 24.4 ppg and 13.1 rpg his final year at college, yet never averaged 6 ppg game in the NBA and never developed into anything close to the player many hoped in his 12 seasons in the league, is in charge of developing players for the Magic. What’s that old saying? If you can’t do it, teach it?

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Category: International, Magic, NBA, Raptors

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