blogsketball

Wherever you go in life, you’re bound to find assholes. The basketball court is no different.

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We interrupt this discussion of the NBA and the 20 000th League Under the NBA for a couple of quick, off-season updates about Ottawa OUA Basketball.

As has become a regular occurrence over the last few years, NCAA teams will once again be heading north of the 49 to take on CIS schools as both sides prep for their respective seasons. With the six-time defending national champion Carleton Ravens based out of Canada’s Capital University, the two Ottawa-based teams always seem to attract some big names for some August games.

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Before the TJ Ford rumours start up, before Jose Calderon gets richer than he ever imagined and before Andrea Bargnani can be called soft like twinkie filling for the umpteenth million time, there has already been a shakeup with the 2008/09 Raptors: Chuck Swirsky is leaving the team to be the voice of the Chicago Bulls.

The Swirsk leaves TO on good terms, saying he had to do what was right for his family. The organization had nothing bad to say on the topic, probably (hopefully) because they’re like me and can’t pull themselves off the ceiling.

I’ve always thought Swirsky had one of the smoothest voices in broadcasting, but the endless tirade of cliches and attempts at creating catch phrases (or just attempts at getting a voice-over in that night’s highlight reels) is Swirksy’s downfall. You can’t get that excited on every single play, you just can’t. It kills your credibility. Plus, he backed Rob Babcock in the Vince Carter trade.

With the Swirsk packing his fridge full of salami and cheese up for Chi-city, you have to wonder who will take his spot. Jack Armstrong was let go this year, so there’s an opening in the seat next to Leo Rautins. I’ve got two pieces of advice:

1) Don’t take anyone from TSN
Brian Heaney? Rod Black? No thanks. Heaney’s a pioneer in Canadian basketball, but really, putting him at center court with Leo would be a mistake. Same with Rod Black. This leads me to suggestion two.

2) Take someone from The Score
Last night, TSN opened their show with Jays highlights. The Score opened with Magic-Pistons. This network loves basketball, and doesn’t give it the “hockey’s over, what else is out there?” coverage that TSN and Sportsnet do. These guys are passionate and knowledgeable about the game and they’re funny as hell. Snatch Tim Micallef up, get Sid Seixeiro in there. Have Cabbie working the sidelines. This is a chance for Canadians to actually look good on TV without having the words Showcase original attached to it.

Finally, something to remember the Swirsk by:

You could say that in a lot of ways, I’m indebted to Lang Whitaker. Although I’ve been an avid SLAM reader from Day One, I never really took to a writer at the magazine until Lang came along a few years back. I mean, Scoop Jackson had his influence on me, but I always got the feeling that if we ever met, he’d scrunch his face up at me, scoff and wave me off, like Kobe does to a ref at the 33 second mark of this video.

But Lang has always been cool.

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On the heels of hiring the worst coach possible for his young team, Michael Jordan has to be kicking himself today. After seeing their seasons end much earlier than they wanted to, Mike D’Antoni is on his way out in Phoenix, and the Mavericks just fired Avery Johnson.

Think those two would have made a difference for the strange-looking team MJ has put together in Charlotte?

B. always struck me as an eccentric. A point guard who has to set the table just right for his teammates, or he’ll pull the ball back out and set it up again…and again…and again, you can tell from watching him on the court that there’s a lot going up upstairs when he playing. Keep reading →

Raps down 0–1. Now what? Keep reading →

On the verge of getting up off my ass and actually playing some basketball, I stopped on TSN before turning off my TV and saw the pregame pep-talk. Was it by Mr. Colt 45 himself, Billy Dee Williams? I’m not sure. Either way, TSN thought it would be a good idea to show Canada’s newest basketball-playing citizen, Mr. Samuel Dalembert, and his Philly Sixers taking on the Detroit Pistons in Motown. Keep reading →

Thanks to some intricate playoff scheduling working out in my favour, I’ve got Sunday off. That means I get to plop myself down on the couch and watch three of the four playoff games that are on TV (only in Canada would you have a NBA playoff game sitting on the table, in the Detroit-Philly series, and no network picks it up).

First up is game 1 of the Raptors-Magic series in Orlando. Rod Black, Chuck Swirsky and Leo Rautins are on their respective m-i-c’s, while my main man Paul Jones works radio. Good choice, TSN. Let’s get into it. Keep reading →

I woke up this morning and saw one of my favorite things—the trusty old if-the-playoffs-started-today brackets on nba.com. The playoffs are upon us. The invitations have all been sent out, the tables are set. We just need to figure out where everyone in the West is going to be sitting.

I don’t have a lot of time (the AJHL finals have been eating that up the last two weeks) to get into each matchup. I just want to look at two series right now, one from each conference.

Orlando (3) vs. Toronto (6)

Down the stretch, the Raps’ season has turned into a disappointment. The unwritten goal for the team was the second round of the playoffs, but I don’t see that happening this year. It pains me a little to say it, but Dwight Howard is going to get the best of Chris Bosh and a surprisingly effective as of late Rasho Nesterovic. The Raps have no answer for Hedo Turkoglu. Orlando has had too strong a season, and Toronto has plunged too deeply into mediocrity for them to make this competitive. A Magic sweep wouldn’t surprise me, but the Raps fan in me would at least like to see it go five.

I know it sounds crazy but…

Don’t count out the Dallas Mavericks. They’ve underachieved all year to get to a pressure-free spot and should they catch New Orleans in the first round, I wouldn’t be totally shocked if they were able to derail the  Mardi-gras that they’ve been having in NO this year. The Mavs might have enough experience to pull the rug out from under the young Hornets and sneak into the second round, where I’d fully expect them to wilt under the pressure that would come flying back onto their shoulders. So, don’t count them out in the first round. You can count them out anytime after that, though.