This week I was on NBA XL talking about the Western Conference as part of their playoffs preview show. For those of you who are unfamiliar with the show it airs across Canada on Raptors TV and Rogers Sportsnet and the show attempts to “combine basketball, fashion, and music, while giving Canadians a steady diet of hoop culture from all angles on a larger scale.”According to NBA XL’s official website:
NBA XL has been an important part of international broadcast stream for the last three years, available in over 13 languages plus 40 countries including the Middle East, Asia, and Dominican Republic. Raptors NBA TV will produce and air the show Saturday evenings at 6pm ET and 4pm PT. And the show will have a second run on Sportsnet Ontario, East, West and Pacific each Monday (check local listings for airings in your region).
The show’s emphasis on NBA stars will play an important role in advancing our home-grown talent, underscoring both networks commitment to celebrating Canadian talent across the globe.
Earlier this month I spent an afternoon in Toronto filming a preview of the Western Conference playoffs with Mark Strong (the co-host of NBA XL), Sam Mitchell (the morning show DJ on Flow 93.5, not the coach of the Raptors) and Captain Kirk (one of the in game DJ’s at the Raptors game). We recorded a Barbershop segment and some of the topics that we covered include what team will represent the Western Conference in the NBA Finals this June, our favourite NBA Finals of all-time, who we think the sleeper team in the West is and what team has the strongest “starting 10″ in the West.
A lot of the readers of this blog are from outside of Canada so if you haven’t been able to check out this television show this week on Raptors TV or Sportsnet you can view the segment by clicking on the You Tube clip below.
A big thanks goes out to Natalie from Need 4 Sheed for helping me figure out how to rip this clip from DVD into something I could post on You Tube.
The Mouth from the South is back for another round of random thoughts. So what is Tom Minear thinking about? The Playoffs? Well, that and Steve Nash, Monta Ellis, Brandon Roy, Tyrus Thomas, Sebastian Telfair and the 2007 Draft.
It’s great to be a Toronto Raptors fan right now. Thanks to General Manager Bryan Colangelo, the Raptors are NBA Atlantic Division Champions after five years of playoff futility. However, my beloved team has no first-round pick (a top-15 protected pick has gone to the Charlotte Bobcats) in a draft year that boasts big names like Greg Oden, Kevin Durant and Joakim Noah. Nevertheless, I’m following these guys anyway because of Colangelo’s reputation – he may surprise us with a trade or two. I wouldn’t call him my “Basketball Jesus” a la Bill Simmons, but with Colangelo, many things are possible.
Realistically, then, I’m keeping an eye on prospects available in the second round. [Note: I just found out that Toronto doesn't have a second-round pick either - it's gone to the Portland Trailblazers. Thank you, Isiah Thomas.] The name that leaps out at me right now is China’s Sun Yue, a 6′9″ point guard (yes, you read that right – 6′9″) who naturally draws comparisons to Boris Diaw and Magic Johnson. Of course, if he’s second-round fodder in the mocks, he’s probably never going to reach those heights, but Sun could still be valuable to a team like the Raps that maximizes versatile (a.k.a. “no defined position”) players.
But why is Sun, who had scouts drooling last year and played well this year, projected as a second-round pick or undrafted? Why is a top-five minor leaguer lacking major-league hype? For the answer, I contacted a few analysts who’d know more than little ol’ me.
This Hoops Addict Podcast is a gem because I was able to get Adrian Wojnarowski on the show to talk about his national best seller “The Miracle of St Anthony.” Adrian writes for Yahoo Sports and his book “The Miracle of St. Anthony” is a national best seller.
For his book Adrian chronicled a year in the St Anthony basketball program and he is able to provide readers with some great insight into Coach Hurley’s program and all of the struggles that the coach and players faced that season. As a basketball coach I loved reading this book because it gave me some great insight into one of the best high school coaches of all-time. Coach Hurley has won 22 state championships, two USA TODAY national titles and has an amazing 847-97 at a school with no home gym and a student enrollment under 300.
During this interview Adrian chatted with me about how he was given permission to document the team, some of his favourite memories of documenting the team for a season and he talked about some of his favourite players on the team.
Click here to listen to the interview with Adrian Wojnarowski.
It’s the day after the Raptors loss to the Nets and two days until their next game. Although I’m anxious to see what the Raptors will do in their next game against the Nets, I’m a bit emotionally drained from the last game as a fan. I expected the Raptors to lose, but at the same time, it looked like they had a chance to win. Just a chance. You got the feeling that the Raptors were on the verge of breaking into the game finally, but mental mistakes kept adding up, and the Nets kept pulling away every time.
So yeah, it feels like I have a slightly pulled muscle from the amount of fist-shaking that I did at the TV yesterday.
The crowd, though, really got up for most of the game. It was hard at times, I know. The Raptors didn’t play well… but as a crowd, we were excited for every Raptor bucket, we booed Vince Carter with venom and angst.
During a trip to Vegas to cover Chris Webber’s Bada Bling Charity event, I happened upon one of the baddest DJ’s on the planet by chance. I was exhausted from having such a good time mingling and getting to know the numerous celebrities at Hard Rock Café’s Body English—from Nas and Kelis (Bossy was currently number one on the charts) to Emeka Okafor, playground legend Lloyd “Sweet Pea” Daniels, NBA champion Gary Payton and defensive stalwart Doug Christie (who was there with his lovely wife Jackie). Just so you know, Jackie is not the otherworldly jealous caricature media associated, so gently squash those ridiculous rumors. Common and Talib Kweli performed a classic set that I’ll not soon forget. My fiancé and I saw Common—my favorite alternative to what’s popular presently—perform a couple months earlier at the University of Delaware, so I knew the night would somehow develop its proper perspective. The night was laid back and especially memorable because I was able to reminisce and laugh with Webb, Juwan Howard, and Jimmy King of the Fab Five about their glory days—literally a dream come true.
It was one of those nights where there are lots of camera flashes to document the night I personally labeled Native Tongue Jazzy because of all the folk of conscious ilk present. Honestly, this poetic moment didn’t seem like Vegas. I will never forget nodding my head to the piano fused baseline of Talib’s “Get By.” That track is so inspirational.
After waiting in a ridiculous cab line, I finally returned to the hotel—Caesar’s—and ordered some hungry man grub. Like my daughter used to say when she was a hungry toddler, my stomach was rugglin’! I heard this laugh and because of the belly chuckling thoughts of my gorgeous little girl, I couldn’t help but smile.
I couldn’t blame the brotha; I’d ordered a lot of food and was ready to get down. Neither of us said much when eating, but afterwards we yucked it up like two drunk chumps mad ‘cause they are sober.
We were laughing hysterically about something Vegas when the conversation switched to business. Irie was not unlike anyone off the street—very chill. When he let me know he was the official DJ for the Miami Heat, my wheels began to spin. I was writing strictly sports—sometimes with a little spoken word poetry mixed in—but wanted to branch out and write something in the entertainment genre. I supposed it would be something Hip Hop relative just to see if I could pull it off for future reference. Part of achieving success in life is wittingly capitalizing on precise moments in the clutch—even after tossing down a couple. Business is business. It’s like the person sitting next to you on a flight. You just never know what could come from such a meeting. Crazy how life puts you in the situation precarious just to see if the results intrigue, but like my Dad used to say “The squeaky wheel gets the oil son!” After exchanging contact information with Irie after a couple more laughs, I retired to my room with a career focusing memory and woke up a little more inspired.
DJ Irie is definitely doing his thing. Here’s a recent interview conducted shortly after Dwyane Wade went down with a separated shoulder.
Today’s loss might mark the beginning of heartbreak for Toronto Raptors fans, but at the same time, I believe it should be time for optimism. During this year, we’ve known the Raptors always bounce back and gain focus before they win. It’s part of the education process, and these Raptors are some quick studies. It’s a part of their pattern. It’s why I’ve believed that they would lose this first game to the Nets, and why, more importantly, we should not lose track of this series.
As the great Bill Russell pointed out, you could almost throw away this first game. It’s a feeling-out process and the Raptors are the young team that people will expect to need some time to get into their groove. Today, though, I think it’s important to focus in on what Joey Graham brings to the table and why he will be a pivotal point for this club.
While Anthony Parker might be the guy that is our most consistent defender, we need another guy with strength and length to defend against this particular New Jersey team. Let’s go down the list. Juan Dixon, a fairly good rhythm shooter, has difficulties matching up with Carter or Jefferson, because he’s giving up about five inches to both. It’s a no-go as far as that is concerned, as both players can front him, beat him off the dribble, and shoot over him. Next up, Morris Peterson. I think long time fans have been waiting for Mo Pete to step his game up, and while he rebounds and defends well enough with most people, Sam can’t afford Peterson’s sketching 3 point percentage this year, and frankly, his tendency to jack a shot up whenever he pleases (especially with his percentages this year). Humphries and Bargnani can play out of position at times to defend both Jefferson and Carter, but they’re a bit slow. Actually, Bargnani would be perfect if he didn’t miss three weeks, and damaged his great conditioning.
The only option for Sam, therefore, is to rely on Graham.
