The Truth According to Kobe

Kobe Bryant's vanity website, kb24.com, seems to be going through some server troubles, with unintentionally hilarious results. There's a section called "The Truth" where Kobe writes ordinarily banal things and signs his posts Strength and Honor, Mambo.

Yes, he calls himself Mambo. It's like Babe Ruth writing his grocery list and signing it The Sultan of Swat.

But given the latest twists in the Laker soap opera this week, the truth is apparently in short supply:




Incidentally, I immediately took to Kobe's closing and have begun to sign my office memos the same way:

Dear Delores,

We are out of pens. We are also running low on office whiskey and the canary-colored legal pads which are easy on my eyes. Could you visit the supply closet and stop at the liquor store on the corner on your way back? There's a 10 spot in it for you.

Strength and Honor,
Granbo

Edit: Ha, and now it's back. Thank God I saved a screenshot.

Yi Jianlian: This Year's Araujo?

In 2004 -- one of the deepest drafts in the years prior to this season -- a recently hired GM broke his NBA cherry by drafting a foreign player far higher than anyone expected. Rob Babcock really didn't have a prayer of winning any Executive of the Year awards after he plucked Rafael Araujo out of obscurity and made him the Raptors' #8 pick, passing on Andre Iguodala (#9), Andris Biedrins (#11), Al Jefferson (#15) and even Josh Smith (#17) along the way. Three years later, the scorned players (all but Iguodala were teenagers on draft day; Iggy was all of 20) are coming into their own, while Araujo is out of the NBA.

Babcock later claimed that he had inadequate time to prepare for the draft after his recent hire by the Raptors. Bucks GM Larry Harris, on the other hand, has been on the job for several years now, and doesn't have the luxury of making the same excuse after he shocked observers and drafted Yi Jianlian with the #6 overall pick in the 2007 draft.

Much of the derision aimed at the Bucks after picking Yi had to do with drafting a player that, from all indications, greeted the chance to play in Cheeseville with the enthusiasm Shawn Kemp used to have for court-ordered paternity tests. But the real risk isn't that the Bucks drafted a player that didn't want to be there, but drafted a player that no one really knew anything about.

At this point, I can say that I've seen every minute of Yi's NBA career -- a pair of exhibition games against the Bulls and Utah, respectively. Let me make a proclamation so assured that it hardly qualifies as such: if Yi Jianlian has a future in this league, it's as a rather mediocre role player.

Prior to the draft, the only footage circulating of Yi rivaled the Zapruder Film in quality. An NBA exec with a decent budget (this is Milwaukee, after all) could probably obtain more, but I wonder if the Bucks were aware that the camera only added ten pounds. Yi is pencil thin -- it's impossible to overstate just how skinny he is. I've seen Luol Deng as a 19 year old, and Tayshaun Prince in high school when he was teammates with Tyson Chandler (speaking of basing a draft pick on workouts and grainy footage...) Yi is easily the thinnest player I've seen since Manute Bol or Chuck Nevitt, and like those players, I have difficulty imaginging him putting significant weight on.

Yet with the arms of a teenage girl, one would expect Yi to possess some dimension of agility or quickness. He doesn't. And Yi is incredibly awkward both with the ball and running the court -- almost like a child that's gone through a dramatic growth spurt and hasn't yet adjusted to his size.

This then is the real importance of Yi's disputed age. He's "officially" 19 years old, though there's some evidence he may be as old as 25. Though he does look younger than the latter, this isn't exactly compelling evidence: I saw former Bulls guard BJ Armstrong a few months ago, and I'd still card him if I saw him trying to buy beer. There should be as much optimism that an older Yi will bulk up or suddenly gallop like a deer as there is that noted eunuch Doug Christie will be on an NBA roster come November 1st.

In any case, the Bucks shifted Yi around the frontcourt in both games as they're as clueless as I am about what kind of match-up would give him a marked advantage over an opponent. He was routinely beaten off the dribble by smaller players, where his lack of agility and quickness against even second-tier NBA small forwards was obvious. At the power positions, unathletic big men like the Bulls' Aaron Gray (a second round pick expected to spend most of this season commuting between the bench and the D-League) were able to knock him around and even -- surprisingly for a 7'0" defender with long arms -- shoot over him. You can't teach height, but outside of Rocky chasing chickens around, you can't teach agility either.

I'm at a loss to think of anything, in fact, that it looks like Yi can do better than the average. Outside of "hit open shots" (a skill that even Ben Wallace can manage -- I'm serious, he can drain 3 pointers in practice), I can't think of one. What you have is a fairly average seven footer with a better touch than most guys his size but deficient in nearly every other aspect of the game. Due to his physique, I have difficulty imagining this changing. It's an absolute certainty that it won't if he's as old as I think he is.

Yet the Bucks don't have the convenience of stashing Yi in the weight room for the next 12 months to try to get him to add some much needed bulk. Like the Raptors with Araujo, the pressure of being an unexpected lottery pick places considerable pressure on a team to force minutes on a player that's clearly overmatched. There's even more pressure on the Bucks to overplay Yi: after all, having him buried on the bench behind Charlie Villanueva, Desmond Mason and Bobby Simmons would be exactly what the team promised the various Commie athletic organizations would not happen.

Puffers Posts - Raps at Lottomatica Roma

An intersting game to watch from a couple of perspectives. First, Hubie Brown was one of the commentators, and I love Hubie Brown. Next, it was interesting to see the Raps playing against a well prepared unit that has already been in training camp for 2 1/2 months and played several exhbition games together. Third, Roko and several of the Roma players were obviously trying to showcase their talents with a larger (make that North American) audience, and they showed well for themselves. The ESPN commentators mentioned several as looking NBA ready.

The Raps played with a shorter rotation, only using 11 players. Interesting to see Dixon get 16 minutes, Humphries 13 and Joey only with 7. Of course, Rasho didn't play at all, and I think the Raps could have used him, so you can't read too much into the playing time thing.

Bosh and Kapono got the most minutes at around 30 each. I'm not surprised by this since I would expect Mitchell to want to see how these two perform together.

The first half was entertaining, it kind of fell apart in the thrid but the Raps tightened it up part way through the fourth to make it a respectable win.

Aside from showing the Raps a lot of love and respect, Hubie pointed out that Kapono would be a very good fit with the Raps because they have scorers who can also drive. Their starting 5 have excellent FT %'s and with Kapono stretching the defense even more than last year, guys like Parker and Bargnani are going to to benefit, since they can put the ball on the floor and either score or draw the fouls.

Also interesting were some stats that the commentators threw out. They mentioned that in the last 61 games of the season, the Raps won 40, which was better than all but 4 other teams in the league, all in the west. They had the best record in the east for that stretch, edging out Detroit. As well, that 61 game stretch represented a turn around defensively from a -4 points per game differential to a +3 points per game differential, a 7 point jump. The implication is that for the last 3/4 of the season, Totonto played much better defensively.

Watching Kapono and Delphino and seeing some improvement in Bargnani, and hoping that Garbs can play the full year, I would have to believe that losing Morris Peterson isn't going to hurt the Raps. I think they will be a defensively improved team this season.

It's early, but I'm pumped. Let's start the season NOW.

Puffers Posts - Raps Vs Celtics. Isn't This Preseason?

This did not look like a pre-season game until part way through the fourth quarter. When you have Garnett arguing with officials, Bosh diving to the floor for a loose ball, starters getting major minutes in a non-NBA market, you have to think you are not in Kansas anymore.

Right from the opening buzzer the intensity in this game was much more akin to a regular season game. The third quarter was closer to a regular season game late in the season, when the final seeding was on the line. Of course, Doc Rivers can be excused for playing his regular starting five a lot. He needs to see them, and they need to see each other in game time situations and do as much gelling as possible before Oct. 31.

Sam sat his starting five for about half the floor time so that he could get a better look at numbers 6 through 16. But when the first unit was on the floor, they played with intensity. I don't know if this is as a result of all the hype surrounding Bostons "Big Three" or simply a carryover from Sam's pre-season mantra of defense, defense, defense, but they looked pretty effective. As expected, the scoring wasn't much of a problem barring Anthony Parkers cold hand. Bosh did not get as many touches as one would like, but Kapono, Bagnani and Ford showed that any team can't afford to double Bosh without getting hurt bad.

What was a bit of a surprise was the overall defensive effectiveness of the Raptors 9 man rotation. Kapono was no liability on the floor. He got beat by Pierce a few times, but so does everyone in the league. TJ was effective, Parker and Bosh also, as expected. Bargnani was a pleasant surprise. Aside from one embarrassing baseline move by Garnett that left Andrea standing looking over his shoulder, he played pretty effectively facing his man, whether Garnett or Perkins.

The rest of the Raps came through defensively as well. Rasho looked very good, man-to-man or playing help defense. Garbo was as per usual. Delphino established that he is an effective defender, rarely losing his man and staying in front, forcing the pass and getting a few steals. Jose was again effective and even Juan Dixon did not look out of place. Graham had what I thought was his usual good/bad game. Baston, Moon, Humphries did not impress and I'm afraid Luke Jackson had better step up or start waving.

Hey, it's just one game, it's just exhibition, but I think the Raps were playing for something, and I think they showed a better defensive effort in this one than they did in half their games last year.

Puffers Posts - Three Pointers in Raptors Future?

Let’s talk about three point shooting on the Raptors in the coming season, an obvious area of strength for the team. If everything stays the same as last year, the Raps will have two players among the top 5 three point experts in the league, in Jason Kapono, ranked #1 last year, and Anthony Parker who tied for #5. The question on everybody’s mind should be, will this continue?

I have high expectations that it will. Jason had the good fortune to be on a team with two of the foremost offensive threats in the league, in Shaquille O’Neal and Dwayne Wade (thanks Granville for pointing out I had Dwight Howards name here. What was I thinking?) playing with him. You would expect this to open the floor and give him more open looks.

Actually, Shaq only played 6 games in the first 4 months of the season. These were the months when Jason played his best, when he played the most minutes. He shot 61% in November in 15 m/pg, 50% in Dec. in 26 m/pg, 58% in Jan. in 32 m/pg and 46% in Feb. in 33 m/pg. Jason has a rep as getting his shot off relativley quickly, so he maybe doesn't need as much space on the floor as you would think.

March was a bit of an anomaly. He only played 2 games, averaged 26 minutes a game and only hit for 17%. It looks to me like teams started to pay attention to Jason and were able to affect his shot a little. I didn’t check the game by game stats, but I wonder if he didn’t spend a chunk of time on the bench once Shaq got back. Shooters need to shoot to keep their hands hot.

Looking at Anthony Parker, he shot a terrible 28% in November, his first month back in the NBA. December's mark improved to 48%, as he found his rhythm and Sam Mitchell found out how better to use him. January he hit his peak for the year, ringing up 53% from downtown on 60 attempts. February he slumped a little, only achieving 43% andMarch was a bad month, with his percentage sinking to 33% on 27 shots attempted.

I wonder if he was hitting his own "rookie wall?" Note also that that is his lowest recorded shot attempts of the season. April AP bounced back with a 49% average on 61 shots.

Both of these players did better when they had the playing time. This year they are both slated to begin the season as starters. What is this going to mean for the Raps offensive strategies?

There can be no question on anybodies mind that opposing teams are not going to be able to double down on Bosh this year, the way they could last year. With two 3 point artists on the floor with the big power forward, unless they can smother Chris before he gets a chance to pass, they are going to be leaving themselves open for a world of hurt. Chris has been slow to get rid of the ball at times, but in pre-season interviews he identified passing out of double teams as one of the things he has worked on over the summer. Of course, Kapono and Parker are not his only two options.

TJ Ford showed last year that he has the kind of first step that can get him to the basket virtually anytime he wants to. The complaint from the fans was that sometimes he wanted to too much. But his field goal percentage and free throw percentages were at career highs last year. Shooting 82% from the stripe should mean you want him to drive as often as possible. If TJ stopped shooting threes, his FG% would be significantly higher. His only month above 33% for 3 pointers last year was Dec. yet he still managed to drop almost 44% of his shots from the field. Chris and TJ had an excellent pick and roll game going last year. There is no reason to think it won’t continue to be as effective. Stockton and Malone lived off this bread and butter play for most of their careers.

I should mention Toronto’s other three point threat, Andrea Bargnani. His season’s results stand out because of the contrasts. November and December he shot 33% and 28% respectively. These were his first two months in the league, of course, when Sam was still trying to work him into the rotation. For January, February and March he shot 39%, 48% and 37%. In March he only played in 8 games. If you remember, through March and April he was struggling with the flu and appendicitis. April’s abysmal 20% mark is attributable to his struggles coming back. In the playoffs he was back to form, hitting 41%.

So, putting the most optimistic light on things possible (and that’s what fans do in the pre-season) Anthony Parker should not have the slow beginning he did last year. Coming back as one of the starters, playing with players he is already familiar with should add up to better results from the corner, if anything. Jason Kapono will be starting, something that helps his % significantly. He will once again be in the enviable position of playing with serious scoring threats that need to be defended against, giving him open looks. And Adrea Bargnani has the good fortune to be established on the team, in familiar surroundings, and presumably not likely to suffer appendicitis again. I expect a good start from him, after his experience this summer playing ball in Europe.

Quite frankly, adding Chris Bosh and TJ Ford into this mix, there is not a starting 5 in the East that has a chance of playing effective defense against the Raps. The next big question…can the Raps play effective enough defense against anyone else to allow their significant scoring punch to win them games? Check back in December and we will all know better

The Other Side - Crunch Time for BryCo

Around this time last year, Bryan Colangelo made a lot of people scratch their heads by leaving one of the best teams in the league, the Phoenix Suns, to come to one of the worst: the Toronto Raptors. It was an inconceivable move to some: why walk away from a cushy job, in a city where it's always summer, to come to the "frozen wastes of Canada" and a team that lost to Maccabi Tel Aviv? Madness.

Or was it? Those who follow basketball closely could come up with several reasons for Colangelo to jump, not least of which was the chance to get out from under his father's shadow. Jerru Colangelo is a legend in the NBA, and is responsible for some of the best trades in league history. As long as Bryan was in Phoenix, there was always going to be an element that believed good old dad was pulling the strings, not him. This same element probably believed he didn't deserve the job he had. A change of scenery gave him the chance to prove that he could build his own team, without help from dad, while simultaneously showing his father that he was just as good.

Coming a close second was the situation he was coming to. Phoenix had been built from the ground up, with shrewd cap management, intelligent trades and scouting, and a touch of luck. Colangelo appears to be a GM who believes in building around what you have, and not in changing what you have to build according to your ideal mould. Phoenix is an athletic, small running team that puts up ridiculous offensive numbers. They can do this because of 3 players: Nash, Marion and Stoudamire. Everyone else fits around them. Toronto had nothing worth keeping outside of Bosh, Mo Pete and Villanueva, so there was a lot more room for Colangelo to manouvre. The Raptors also had ridiculous cap room and a city hungry for a team to cheer. This was jsut the clean slate that Colangelo needed to prove his point.

So, the jump having been made, Colangelo set about building his team. Out went the dregs of other team's benches. Out went draft mistakes. In came multi-faceted players from overseas, an underutilised but athletic 2-guard, a couple of role players and, in the most controversial move, out went Villanueva, one of last season's top 3 rookies, for a point guard with a questionable spine but undoubted quicks and mercurial talent. Before a shot had been taken, this team was either doomed to the lottery, or headed for the playoffs, depending on who you listened to. Colangelo, having heard it all before in Phoenix, smiled and waited.

Preseason came, and the Raptors played out of this world. Everything they tried worked. The team gelled well. Fred Jones, who most people thought was a good pickup despite also being a second choice behind John Salmons, caught fire. Still, the negativity was rife. Preseason means nothing, came the cry. They're playing against scrubs. Colangelo, who'd heard all of it before, smiled, waited, and cheered on his team.

Start of the season, and the Raptors struggled out of the gate. The negative crowd started rolling the pastry for the crust of a most excellent crow pie to feed the positive crowd. They, in turn, were pointing to a lack of familiarity with each other and a nasty road schedule to start the season, as excuses. Bargnani, the team's first ever number 1 overall pick, looked lost. So did the European imports. Bosh was playing well, and TJ Ford was doing OK, but we were losing. Sam Mitchell's job was called into question. Colangelo, who was used to hearing all this, smiled, waited, cheered on his team, and watched them improve.

And now here we are, scant weeks from the team's first playoff appearance in several seasons. Colangelo has made mistakes, namely Fred Jones and PJ Tucker, and has corrected them both: Jones was traded for Juan Dixon, and Tucker has now been released and replaced with former lottery pick Luke Jackson. Dixon has been playing very well on both ends, and costs less than Jones did, which is a plus. Jackson is a good shooter who can penetrate but has suspect defense...which should ring familiar to Raptor fanse.

What comes next, though, will determine if Colangelo has "Onions baby, onions!" or if it's time to "Get out the salami and cheese, momma, this general manager job is OVER!". And, unlike most GM's in the league, very little will rely on his team's performance in the playoffs. The negative crowd will tell you that, despite the team's offensive prowess and their undoubted defensive improvement over last year, the team is still a poor rebounding unit, and well sub-par defensively. They will also point to the number of wins this team has had this year against other teams missing their top stars. None of our success of this season is likely to be repeated next year unless the rebounding and defense are rectified. They are pointing to siging Luke Jackson as evidence of this. Those who are more optimistic will point to the fact that adding one defensive stopper to 14 sieves on defence is like using a cocktail umbrella in a hurricane: largely pointless and unlikely to last. Instead of trying to address a glaring hole with a very small plug, instead improve and already good area of the team and add a slightly different dimension to it. There is precedent, albeit from other sports: the great Brazillian soccer teams win games by the mantra: "It doesn't matter if you score 3 goals, we'll score 5 anyway". This seams to be the way Toronto are going. In the East, there are not many teams who can trade shots with Toronto, Washington being the best equipped. Of the playoff-bound teams, only Detroit is good enough to shut down the Raptors on a night when the shots are falling.

Next season, though, Colangelo has some serious work ahead of him. Bosh and Ford have their extensions activated, together earning over $20 million. The salary cap has been estimated around $57 million. Peterson is likely to leave, possibly via sign and trade, but we'll presume not for the purpose of this article. Sow is not likely to be extended, and Darrick Martin may be asked to move behind the bench. That's about $12 million off. Given we're currently under by about $2 million, and the cap is going up about $3 million, we're still over the cap. Meaning less flexibility. Colangelo will have a mid-level exception to work with, around $5.7 million, plus the possibility of trading Joey Graham, a possible sign and trade for Mo Pete, and a draft pick. Somehow, he has to turn those assets into 2 or 3 players who can rebound and defend at something approaching the league average for their positions. And it's not the best year for it.

There's no glaring impending free agent that rebounds or makes stops, so we're relying on Colangelo's ability to find hidden gems, either overseas, on the ends of benches, or on the trading blocks. He also has to remember that Calderon is going to need extending, and will want big money after the way he's played this year. Ultimately, the way Mr Colangelo handles the next 4-6 months will determine his legacy in this league, more than anything he has done until now. Only time will tell if he is as good as he says he is, or if daddy dearest was the one with the brains.