Roy Hibbert Is Raptor For A Little While

The irony of what is going on with the Toronto Raptors and your Dino Nation Blogger is amusing to say the least. People know that I am a big supporter of T.J Ford and he is now on his way to join the Pacers. You may also be aware that I was pushing for Roy Hibbert of Georgetown to be part of the Raptors. I even wrote about Hibbert and became the Raptor Blog choice of Hoya Fans. So on draft night the Raptors selected Roy Hibbert. It could have been a great moment for me personally and from a career standpoint. Only problem is despite being technically right about the Raptors pick, it will only be till July 9th. Which is also ironic because the fact I get to remain right until that point is T.J Ford’s Contract. For details on that read back in yesterday’s blog.

Draft Party And Hoyas Fans

Everyone at last night’s Live Draft Party Blog had a good chuckle along with me. I always claim not to be an expert and I still stick to that claim but I am right more times than I am wrong. But this one I can only take credit for till July 9th. There is a small chance if something went wrong with this trade Hibbert would remain. It is something that can happen on rare occassions when NBA teams are selecting for other teams. But these things are very rare. So based on that I wanted to thank all the many Georgetown Hoya fans that have come to find the Dino Nation Blog over these past few months. I was amazed by the response of the Hoyas Nation and your support of your player. Short of the time this blog was on the Raptors Website we have never had as many hits as you folks produced. The first blog on Roy Hibbert is the second largest blog we have ever done. I was hopeful all you folks would have reason to check back on Hibbert as a Raptor but looks like that will not be the case. But you are all welcome to come back and visit anytime and especially when the Pacers and Raptors meet up. I now have a few folks on the Pacers to pull for minus about 3 or 4 games a season. Roy will be one of those I pull for and wish success. I really think he will have an excellent chance at success in a Pacer uniform. So shout out to all you loyal supporters of the Hoyas. I will point out that this blog also ended up on a Syracuse site when I talked about Donte Greene and your numbers of fans crushed the Orange supporters. So add that to the fire between the two Big East Rivals. Here at Dino Nation Blog the Hoyas were big winners in the numbers of hits they produced.

I also want to thank all of the hardcore loyal readers of the Dino Nation Blog that were part of the Live Blog Draft Party. We had some technical issues that caused me to be MIA for a bit but I hope you had fun. If any of you showed up late and were not able to get in to it, I apologize. But these events seem to be something worth doing going forward. I am going to start the search to find a more friendly host to my computer. It also was suggested that we should do something where we all could get together. I will keep that in mind. It is hard to come up with something that would allow everyone to take part. Some of my readers are under age and thus can not go certain places. I would not want them to feel left out. Anyway it is a thought and will see what happens in the future.

NBA Needs To Fix This….

I really think all this we are not allowed to comment stuff is stupid. Can the NBA please come up with a rule that allows teams to comment on trades that are in process as long as they have been agreed too. I mean Larry Bird an NBA legend and a guy I respect, looked like a goof saying that this is all speculation and he can’t comment. Jermaine O’Neal thankful does not share that view and did comment on this trade. There is a link in the last blog prior to this one if you missed it go check it out. I was doing updates through the day all yesterday. O’Neal commenting was his first step in getting me on his side. I am sure being on the good side of the Dino Nation Blogger is high on his list of things to do. Actually if I am high on any NBA players list of things to do I would be shocked. Heck I would be shocked if any of them read this blog. But just in case you are a NBA player I am a good and fair interviewer and am happy to talk with you whenever you have the time. I think now is a good time to mention that it has been a long week. So hope you don’t mind the little bit of fun. Not that it wouldn’t be a serious thrill to chat with NBA players in this blog. I am hopeful we can reach that point in the future.

Raptor Brand Coming Soon To Land Down Under

Now the Raptors again for the record till July 9th did not have a second round pick. But it is pretty much public knowledge that the Pacers selected for the Raptors at number 41. They selected a guy that has the nickname ” Aussie Shaq “, yes that would mean he is big. Nathan Jawai is a native of Australia and come July 9th will be a Toronto Raptor. He is a raw guy that is said to be someone that impressed a lot of NBA scouts despite the fact he has a lot to learn. Just like the charcter Shaq played in the movie BLUE CHIPS this guy is kind of like that as he didn’t pick up a basketball till a very late age. But click on his name above and learn more about him. You have till July 9th to get to know him. I don’t think there will be a test but it is never to early to study. Draft Express does a very good job of breaking down the various players. You can start your studying for the 2009 NBA Draft as soon as you like.

What Goes Around Does In Fact Come Around

For those of you that believe in Karma I have some great evidence for you from last night’s NBA DRAFT. Darrell Arthur sat in the green room for hours and had to wait till very late in the first round to get selected. I mean at first glance you feel really bad for this kid. We all have seen this in the past in sports with guys like Jameer Nelson in the NBA, Brady Quinn in Football and many other examples over the years. But in this case it is more a case of karma instead of sympathy. This is the kid as you may recall stiffed the Raptors for a draft work-out not once but twice. So I was happy to see NBA teams STIFF HIM. After all that waiting he was finally selected only to be traded later on from the Hornets to Portland.

Sticking with this theme. Richard Jefferson I hope it is REALLY COLD and lonely in Milwaukee. Many will recall Jefferson during the playoffs two years ago made remarks that were mocking Raptor fans for wearing red which was a marketing mistake as Jersey wore red alternate uniforms for Game 1 of that Nets/Raptors series. Jefferson will be in Milwaukee based on a draft day trade that sent him to the Bucks. Here is the breakdown:

To New Jersey:
Yi
Bobby Simmons

To Milwaukee
Richard Jefferson

No O.J in Minnesota…More Love

There were lots of minor deals and to many to mention but the other of some major impact was a deal between the Grizzles and T-Wolves. O.J Mayo the much talked about U.S.C freshman is traded for Kevin Love of Rival U.C.L.A. it was part of an 8 player swap between the clubs. The Pacers made another trade that was with the Portland Trailblazers that will see Jarret Jack former team mate of Chris Bosh join soon to be former team mate of Bosh, T.J Ford. Larry Bird also has Jamal Tinsley and you almost have to think he will be moved based on these trades.

Colangelo Will Be Ready For July 1

The next big event for the NBA will be the start of free agent peroid on July the 1st. As werid as it seems the Toronto Raptors could likely sign a free agent and annouce it before they are able to have a press conference to welcome Jermaine O’Neal to Toronto. How strange is that. Obviously the 2 things the Raptors will be looking for would be a back-up point guard and a more athletic and slashing type option at the swingman. They will have somewhere between 5 to 6 million to spend once the Cap Number for next season is set. The Raptors will have a the full Mid Level amount to spend. Few teams in NBA will have cap room this off-season. As a result this year the free agent pool is much smaller. Guys like Shawn Marion and Ron Artest decided not to take opt outs based on the fact there was not a lot of teams with money to spend to acquire their services. Bryan Colangelo has always been skilled at finding guys that would not jump to the front of your mind and make them work for his basketball club. He will be put to the test in this free agent market and try to find some more of those guys you might not expect.

Tired Dino Blogger

It has been a busy and fun week for the NBA and for the Dino Nation Blog. The amount of people becoming aware of the Dino Nation Blog is starting to grow and that is something that I find to be something that I take great pride in. Yet at the same time it is something that I take as a great thrill. I remain humble and do my very best to entertain and inform all of you. The fact that since the Raptors season has ended and yet this blog continues to grow is really a great feeling. I work hard to not only write this blog but get it more attention and readers. It is nice to see that work is paying off. So if you are new to the Dino Nation Blog. I thank you for joining this growing community of Raptor fans. I also encourage you to pass it along to others. It is the best thing you can do for me and it is something that I am greatful for to each and every person that does it. In a short time of just 8 months this Blog has grown into something far greater from what I could have imagined. I am working hard on expanding on that to even bigger and better things. Each and everyday I devote a great deal of time to building this blog into something that will be hopefully something that will become something not only I can be proud of but all of you that read it from it’s roots can be as well. All of that being said it is time to take a couple days off and recharge. Not to say they will be total days off as I am always doing little things even if I am not writing. But basically unless something major happens I will see you all on Monday. Enjoy your weekend and be safe so you can come back Monday and read the Dino Nation Blog for another day. Thanks to everyone that took part in last night’s Draft Party once again. You guys are great and I personally have a lot of fun interacting with you in a more direct way. You are all welcome to join the blog’s facebook group and get some idea of what is to come in future as well as share any thoughts or ideas you have for the blog or me. I will add some links to this over the weekend to the complete draft results and anything else that might be interesting.

Update: T.J Ford Talking on Trade on Swirsky Show on Fan 590

Tags: Bucks, Chris Bosh, Darrell Arthur, Georgetown, Hoyas, Jarret Jack, Jermaine O'Neal, Kevin Love, Larry Bird, Nathan Jawai, NBA Draft, Nets, O.J Mayo, Pacers, Richard Jefferson, Ron Artest, Roy Hibbert, T-Wolves, UCLA, USC, Yi