Toronto Raptors Ramblings

The World Champion - Toronto Raptors

Beautiful. Simply beautiful. Spain wins the world bball championship and in the process Jose Calderon / Jorge Garbajosa gain a boat load of confidence. With Jorge getting a place on the All Star team for the tourney it's the cherry he needed before coming to the NBA. He won't take anybody by surprise, unless he stinks....but after this performance that seems unlikely. Jose didn't inspire but being on a winner will help develop the 'edge' a winner needs. I'll predict that translates into an extra 4 wins this season. Bold and wildly unprovable or trackable. My kind of prediction.

Side note: In a weird kind of way I was really rooting for the U.S. to win the world championships. I rarely root for the favourite, especially when it's the U.S. cause you gotta like the little guy and a great story. But when it comes to hoops I am a staunch defender that the NBA is basketball and those players are the best players. Which if true certainly shows that the best teams aren't just the best players assembled.

So upon further review i'm happy they didn't win, cause they've got to start winning with a team. I still have no clue why the U.S. doesn't have some crazy sharp shooter sitting at the NBA three and jacking wide open shots all day. Drive, collapse, kick, drain three. But I digress. They also don't know how to play zone defenses. Painful. Maybe Wayne can explain to them the need for role players. When I read how the team will be saved in ESPN etc. you hear about Kobe, Pierce, Stoudamire etc. etc. etc. You don't hear 'maybe they should have kept Bowen'. You don't hear 'maybe they need some more Battiers'. Baffling. With zero lessons learned it should be a rough round at the Olympics in two years when Kobe decides he can win the Olympics single handedly.

posted by WG @ 11:25 PM