In this week’s mailbag, Doug Smith touches on re-signing Gary Trent, the rise of Shai Gilgeous-Alexander, his dream one-on-one interviews and more.
For an off-season, you’ve done a great job filling up Ye Olde Mailbag this week.
Lots of variety, quick and snappy questions, all in at a good time so I can get on with a relaxing day of getting ready to watch games.
It’s gonna be summer soon, so time for some hops-fuelled patio debates.
You’re suddenly in charge of the Raptors front office. How would YOU want the organization to celebrate Vince Carter’s HOF induction and the Raptors’ 30th next season?
—Ian from Toronto
Those are good.
I do know they have had plans in the works for months to do something for Carter — even before his Hall of Fame selection — and, sadly, they haven’t shared the ideas with me. Yet.
But if I had to pick? I’d do something more public than simply hanging No. 15 from the rafters. Maybe a mural in the foyer? Name a street or entrance after him, something the public can see. But it can’t be too crazy; they need to save something for Kyle Lowry in a couple of years.
The 30th? I’d probably intersperse events through the season. With ways to honour players on one weekend, coaches on another, front-office folks on another and the unsung workers who actually get stuff done on another weekend.
But what I would do — and I cannot imagine they won’t — is this: Nov. 3, the anniversary of game No. 1, is a Sunday. There has to be some kind of celebration somewhere on the Saturday night and late afternoon on Nov. 3 that introduces the all-time Raptors team.
Doctor, I have been thinking about tanking and decided it’s a problem in need of correction. I propose the following:
16 teams in your playoffs? 17th seed drafts first, 18th seed drafts second, 19th seed drafts third and so until you have only playoff teams left.
Then the 16th seed drafts, followed by 15, then 14 and so on until champion drafts last.
Rewards teams for being good but not good enough. Punishes teams who mismanage or underspend.
Tricky in a salary cap-world, but hey, that’s why GMs make their money.
Thoughts?
—Patrick from Toronto
Fine question. Maybe not slam-dunk, first-ballot Hall of Fame question, but patience, it’ll get in.
Seriously, it’s got a ton of merit and would even incentivize non-play-in teams to go hard to the wire. And as you rightfully point out, give repeater offenders a thing they can’t hide behind.
Two issues, though: You’d be asking franchises that benefit from the current system to change the system that allows them to hide behind their bad decisions. Might be a hard sell.
And what would become of the draft lottery TV show? How in the world would one of the networks fill that half-hour? More poker?
Doug old buddy old pal, how you been?
Anyways, what are your thoughts for how the team will move forward, such as Bruce Brown, Gary Trent Jr. and Chris Boucher along with the picks?
Also, have you heard anything about the redesigning of the jerseys or logo for the 30th anniversary?
—Hlud
I don’t know “how” they’ll go ahead, and I haven’t had the annual strategic session with Masai Ujiri and Bobby Webster yet, but I suspect they’ll be calling any day.
I don’t think there’s room on the roster for Gradey Dick, Trent and Brown. It’s tricky, though, and my perfect solution would be to pick up Brown’s option with a deal already in place to move him, and get Trent on a two-year, $42-million(ish) deal with no options. It’s a big ask, but I’ll leave Bobby and Masai to work out the details.
Chris? I like him a lot and he should be in the game, but I know they tried to find a deal for him in February and there wasn’t one. (“They can’t trade everyone at once” a guy told me then.) But I suspect he’ll be dealt around the draft/free agency
They have about four too many jerseys now; they don’t need another. A constant, very inauspicious jersey patch is enough. Thirty is nice, but it’s not that huge.
Love your work, Doug. Question: Depending on how picks fall, would Raps have interest in Zach Edey? Seems he has dramatically improved year over year. U.S. media seems totally unconvinced of him. Thanks.
—Peter O’Neil
It’s not just the U.S. media; it’s the bigger basketball world.
Edey, as we’ve said a few times, is an interesting prospect with serious questions about his ability to guard in space and shoot from a bit of range. Those questions will be answered in the pre-draft workout process that’s coming. No one has those answers now.
But the Raptors will certainly have some “interest,” as will 29 other teams.
Interested enough to use one of their three draft picks? Certainly can’t even guess at that yet.
Hi Doug. Long-time listener, first-time caller as they say. Thanks for keeping a level head this season. After that maddening March of random lineups, not to mention the sad news about Jontay Porter (and sadder old news about Christian Koloko) my question is about post-NBA careers.
1) Obviously not everybody lasts long in the league. It’s easy to find out about guys who went on to play internationally, or get into coaching or broadcasting. But what about something totally different? Do you know of any former players who have gone to do something unique and successful outside of the basketball world?
2) A while back you wrote about Darko Rajakovic’s plans for the team this off-season. I always asked if players were, well, off in the off-season for the most part. How much team interaction and control is there over the summer, especially when trades and contract negotiations are looming in the background? When guys go to train with Rico Hines or Hakeem Olajuwon or whatever, did they get sent by coaching staff to improve on certain things, or is that on their own initiative?
Cheers.
—Jordan from Nanaimo
There have been many ex-NBAers who have gone to run major business ventures, so that’s not out of the ordinary. This goes back a long time, but I think the gold standard is ex-Knick Bill Bradley and his post-career job as a U.S. senator.
Assistant coaches or development coaches will visit players a couple of times in an off-season just to see how their work is going. The full-team workouts are not officially sanctioned by the teams, but there’s a wink-and-nod deal that everyone will show up in some city for a few days later on in the summer.
And yeah, players are given quite specific things to work on during their exit interviews at the end of the season, and they tailor summer workouts to that. It’s all quite co-operative between the team and the players.
Just as the Chicago Cubs had their goat and the Bosox had to overcome the trade of the Bambino, Toronto had Harold Ballard, who vetoed signing Wayne Gretzky because he couldn’t sell any more tickets.
It’s time that Leafs fans burn an effigy of Harold Ballard to get the hockey gods to lift their curse.
Go Leafs Go!
—Tom Zsoter in Toronto
Man, you must have some hate on for Ballard.
As much Old Hal was responsible for a lot of ills and was a bad person basically to his core, he actually died in 1990 and Gretzky’s dalliance with the Leafs was in, as I recall, about the mid-1990s.
And no matter what he could do, Ballard couldn’t veto that from the grave.
Nice try, though.
Hi, Doug. Can’t complain about the playoffs so far (NBA or NHL)!
Some questions:
1) It seems like most believe that Jordan Nwora won’t be a Raptor much longer. They always say “you can’t teach height,” so that means his defensive flaws are correctable with coaching. Then you have a young player with size at a low cost. What am I missing?
2) A lot was written about the “worst-case scenario” of the Raptors’ pick falling to No. 19 instead of 16. Isn’t that a bit of an exaggeration? Not that much difference in player quality in that section of the draft is there?
3) If the Sixers or Bucks fail to get past the second round (or first round) do you think Nick Nurse or Doc Rivers is likely to be fired? And will we see Adrian Griffin coaching again?
4) Speaking of the Bucks … no Giannis Antetokounmpo, no Zion Williamson for the Pelicans, no Jimmy Butler for the Heat! Just bad luck, or are some teams in need of a shakeup of their rosters?
Enjoy the ride to the finals!
—Bernie M.
I can see Nwora back on a non-guaranteed camp invite, but he’s also going to be 26 when the season begins and with his third team in four years. Almost cutting bait, no?
Not sure whoever would have suggested dropping to 19 from 16 (I presume in reference to the Pacers pick) as a “worst-case scenario,” but I wouldn’t pay much attention to them. Strikes me as ridiculous.
No, Doc and Nick will be fine. Their contracts ensure it.
Some teams have been hit with bad injury luck and bad timing. I’d suggest changes are needed in New Orleans, Phoenix and with the Lakers when this is all over.
I enjoy watching Kyle Lowry on the real estate commercials. Any idea if TV is in his retirement plans?
— Curtis S.
They sure dug deep into the archives to unearth that ad, didn’t they? The last time I talked to him about retirement — and that’s at least two years away — it was more about golfing and hanging with his sons rather than working for a living.
Hey, Doug. I guess a benefit of a bad Raptors season is that you have a bit of time to relax ahead of the lottery, draft and various summer shenanigans.
If you could choose a current NBA player and one head coach (though not necessarily from the same team) to sit down for extensive one-on-one interviews, who would they be and what would you ask them?
Do you think that Shai Gilgeous-Alexander’s MVP-level play this season is a result of his participation in the World Cup, or would it have been at this level even if he had not been on Canada’s team?
Appreciated as always,
—Phil
There are probably dozens and dozens of answers to the first question. I’ll go with two easy ones.
I wonder what inside him drives LeBron James to do it at his age and with all he’s already accomplished. And I wonder if his personal history and loss have shaped Steve Kerr’s world view.
Shai? I think the success he had at the World Cup against that level of competition and the responsibility he had for the team’s success hastened his rise, but it was coming eventually anyway.
Hi. Doug. Hope you are doing well.
I understand some people are talking about the dominance of the three-point shot in today’s NBA.
I would think that the easiest way to dial this down would be to drop the three-point line to the sidelines instead of the baseline. No more corner threes.
I was thinking about the history of rule changes and the only ones I can recall that reduced scoring are the widening of the lane, especially the change from the keyhole. Introducing the shot clock and reducing the times makes defence easier but increases the number of possessions, so scoring goes up.
Is my memory correct, and does this imply that it is very unlikely that the league will go after threes?
Thanks.
—Jim R.
I think fewer threes would just mean more above-the-break threes, actually.
One of the great fallacies is that the league wants to curtail scoring. That’s just not true. Fans want scoring. It’s why the league has never been more popular or as financially successful as it is right now.
Maybe they put a measure of hand-checking back into the game, or maybe the top coaches devise defences to guard threes more successfully, but the league’s fine with where the game is now.
Sir, even though he dropped 50 last night (Thursday), all things considered if you were advising Joel Embiid would you tell him to go to the Olympics, or spend the summer getting healthy?
—Paul M.
I’d probably tell him to go. It’s at most six games. I can’t see him playing more than 20 minutes a game, given the style of play, and the experience will be great.
Of course, I also would have told him in the first place to try to get his homeland into the Games before cherry-picking a spot on an already-stacked United States team, but that’s another conversation.