NBA On Display At The Olympics

If you watched the Olympic Games Opening Ceremonies you as an NBA fan likely noticed a number of stars. Yao Ming, Manu Ginobili and Dirk Nowitzki all carried their nations flags into the games in China. I even saw Kobe Bryant was in the marching of the athletes. In the past many of the NBA stars did not take part in the Ceremonies. But they were on display in these games. It is hard to remember back to when professional players were not allowed in the Olympic Games.

The Olympic Basketball Tournament has become one of the biggest events of the Olympic Games. It is no longer a case of the United States just sending a group of pros to beat up on the rest of the world. David Stern has used the Olympic Games as a global marketing tool. The NHL has tried to do the same with the Winter Olympics and it has not been as successful. But like the NHL the Olympics have become an interesting competition on the floor like it has always been on the ice. Ultimately who wins or loses is not really the point for the NBA. It is more about getting their players a chance to perform on the largest stage in the world. The fact that the Americans have not won has actually helped make bigger stars out of the International stars in their homelands and beyond.

The fact that you had several NBA players carrying the flags for their nations is proof of how big they are in the Nations they come from. David Stern has had little to smile about this summer until now. These Olympic Games should be a big hit for the NBA. It really would be the time for the United States to win again which would make the next Olympics even more interesting. But even if they do not win at the end of the Day the NBA will be the winner in almost every case.

Dino Nation Blog Chat On Olympics and More 

In the past the blog has done some live blog events. They were a lot of fun and readers that showed up for them enjoyed them. Technical issues and the growth of the blog have made the Live Blog site we were using not the greatest host for us. So that is why we now have a chat room. Please come stop by to help open up the chat room Tomorrow Night @ 7pm. The plan is to talk about Olympic Basketball Tournament but the Raptors and the NBA in general can all be talked about as well. I hope any of you that have the time to stop by and take part will do so. It is a Saturday Night so if you younger people have places to go I understand. But please pop in and say hello before you go out to party the weekend away.

Josh Smith Is Heading To Memphis?

Josh Smith has signed an offer sheet that could make him a Grizzle. Smith is a restricted free agent so the Hawks will have 7 days to match the offer from Memphis. That offer is said to be a 58 million dollar deal. The Hawks who made the playoffs last season have already lost Josh Childress to Europe. Smith is a former Slam Dunk Champion and more important is a huge impact player for the Hawks.  For the more on this click on link below:

Smith signs offer sheet with Memphis

Eric Smith’s Thoughts on Jack Armstrong Interview

Many of you read the interview with Jack Armstorng yestersday in the Blog. I was able to get a comment from Eric Smith that I was not able to get prior to publishing the blog yesterday. So it has been added to it. But if you have already read the interview I will save you the trouble of going back to look at Eric’s comments.

Eric Smith -”Jack was a colleague who became a mentor and an even better friend.  I’m thrilled for him.  I have no doubt that he’ll do an outstanding job and that sports fans - not just Raptors fans - around the GTA will enjoy tuning in to his show every day.  Jack is already one of the most popular broadcasters in this city and this country and this show will only enhance his profile and appeal.”

Thanks to Eric for his thoughts on Jack. I hope to have Eric by to talk some Raptors Basketball some point prior to the Raptors Training Camp. But you can always find his thoughts and the odd comment from yours truly on his blog “The Rap” on the Fan 590 website and listed under my personal favourites and in the Blog Roll.

So that is a wrap for the blog today. Please remember about the live chat Tomorrow at 7pm. Just click on the Dino Nation Chat Link to be a part of it. I look forward to chatting with some of you folks live tomorrow.

Canada Fails To Come Through With Win

(Photo From Hamilton Spec of Joel Anthony vs New Zealand on July 1st @ McMaster)

Team Canada was debuting in Toronto and it was not a good night all around. I was not in attendance for this one. In fact the first disappointment was not a lot of folks were. Eric Smith estimated the crowd at around 1,500. The set up at the Ricoh Coliseum was set up to hold 5,000 for this game.

The game itself was a game of runs based on the accounts of Eric Smith and his Live Blog from Courtside. There is even a little colour commentary from yours truly from my home in Hamilton. In the end based on Eric’s account of the game it was clear the foul line did in Canada. Rowan Barrett the returning vet for the National Team lead the men in red with 18 points. But in the end after hammering the Kiwi in Hamilton by 27. Canada would drop their T-dot Debut 77-69.

Here is a link to the Stats of this one: July 4 Canada vs New Zealand

Canada will look to rebound with a win tomorrow over Lebanon who they also beat fairly easy in Hamilton in their opening game a week ago this evening. But if they make same mistakes they did in this on it may be tough. Lebanon had a great deal of fans at the game in Hamilton and you can expect a crowd of them to make thier way to Ricoh tomorrow.  Canada has just 9 days till they open up in Athens Greece playing for the right to move on to China and the Olympic games in August.

Sam Mitchell Is Staying In T.O

Bryan Colangelo Says Sam Is Safe

On locker cleanout day big news for Sam Mitchell fans or foes. It has been clearly stated that Sam Mitchell is the coach of the Toronto Raptors. Bryan Colangelo made it clear that Sam Mitchell is the coach and their is no plan to change that. Here is the proof:

“All things should be put to rest right now. I have absolutely no plans to make a coaching change right now.”

“Nobody’s saying it’s all Sam Mitchell’s fault. Nobody’s saying it’s all Bryan Colangelo’s fault. Nobody’s saying it’s all Andrea Bargnani’s fault. It’s a collective effort in everything we do.”

“He’s the coach of this basketball team.”

The rumors of his job being on the line in the Orlando series and prior to that by members of the media. I said in this blog that ultimately only Bryan Colangelo knows Sam’s fate. Now we all do based on his comments today. I respect Colangelo as a man of his word and do not expect this to change.

T.J Ford is a much different issue. I as a Ford fan have some advice for T.J. PLEASE SHUT UP. I am being honest about it because T.J opens his mouth and inserts his foot. It is just the fact that whatever he says will be compared to what Jose Calderon says and that battle is one that Ford loses everytime. Ford talks about himself as relates to the team. How he can help the team. Jose talks team first and people will always respect that approach more. It is a mistake to think both guys don’t want to win. They do and anyone that wants to question Ford as a guy that doesn’t want to win needs to shake their head. His issue with what his role will be is not an issue to me. I want a guy who thinks and wants to be the starter. But I think T.J must listen hard and long to what Bryan and Sam have to say. If they offer him a chance to compete to be the starter with the understanding that it is an open competition in which he or Jose can win. Honestly that is all Ford can ask for. If it does not go his way he must learn to come to terms with that. I have no doubt where and when T.J Ford plays next year he will be at a much higher level from what we saw this season. It was a very tough year for T.J. People can toss that aside but I will not. The guy love him or hate him almost lost his career. He had to fight fear and return to the floor. He has a warrior mentality that is not easily found on this Raptor team. Jose Calderon has earned all the praise that has come his way. He will get a huge raise to return to the Raptors. That is not even a question.

The major thing to me is that both point guards need to improve on the defensive end of the floor. I honestly feel it is a major mistake to move Ford in the offseason. There is no rush to make this deal. Despite what you may read. You also read that Sam Mitchell was getting fired and that day may come but it is not coming soon. Same thing may apply to the trading of T.J Ford. No one knows what Roko Ukic is or will be. Till we have an understanding of that you can not risk trading Ford in my opinion. Ukic as well will not address the major concern for me at the point guard postion which is defence. He is tall and could develop into a good defender but in year one in the NBA will that happen? Seems very unlikely.

The major issues to me are two. We need a Vince Carter like small forward that is like the Vince we saw in his rookie year. A free agent that can slash to the hoop and draw fouls and dunk. A solid defender as part of that package would be nice too. I think Carlos Delfino will not get resigned and be moved on. Moon should remain and I would think Kapono as well. Anothny Parker could be the odd man on the trading block.

The other issue is the need for a real big. Rasho is big for sure but with his contract he may be required to pull of a deal to add to the talent base that will remain. I think I have the answer to the need for a big and it is not Bargnani. Roy Hibbert out of Georgetown in my opinion would make an excellent selection for the Raptors. He has the size as 7ft 2 and 273 pounds to be a force on the glass and a shot blocker on defence. I think he would be an excellent fit for Toronto and should be available depending on which mock draft you believe in.

Speaking of Bargnani he better use his time with John Lucas wisely this summer. He must improve and be far better. Colangelo seems commited to Andrea and his development but my worry is his value goes way down if he goes back in the tank next year. Make or break summer for Bargnani.

Based on Bryan Colangelo’s comments to not be shocked if you see Jorge Garbajosa have his contract bought out. I base this on a comment made by Colangelo about garbo’s particaption in China for Spain. He said the if Garbajosa is under contract to the Toronto Raptors he would not be playing for Spain. My guess is he will play for Spain because he will no longer be a Raptor and will have his contract bought out. You really can’t trade him based on the fact that no one is sure he will ever be able to play at the level of his lone season in 06-07.

Those are the opening thoughts on what should be a VERY INTERESTING off season for the Raptors. I have done a podcast but have had issues uploading it. If I am able to figure it out I will add it to this post. I repeated many of the ideas in this blog in case I don’t.  Sorry about the delay today. But I had fire alarms going off all morning as they were testing them where I live. I also had some other things in life to take care of. I am working on getting our new writer all set to go as well. Hopefully he will be able to get his stuff on here very soon. He is excited to take part and I am excited as well. Hopefully you all will get excited by what he brings to the blog. So Sam Mitchell press conferences live on…thank God for that because i can’t tell you how many luaghs Sam has given me over his time in Toronto. I like Sam as a person and am happy he is staying with the Raptors. Some may be angry about this news but I am not among them.

Raptors Shot Caller Takes You Inside A Virtual Sports Bar

 

I as a blog writer am kind of left to wonder what all my readers are thinking each day. I don’t get that instant kind of feedback. Well now I found a way to interact with my audience and have some fun while I am doing it. Raptors TV has been telling you about a new feature on Raptors.com called Shot Caller. I figured being a responsible somewhat journalist I would go check it out. I mean if people that are reading this blog might be part of this thing I needed to see what it was all about. Some of you that read are not as old as me but if you are in your 30’s you all can remember the things they had in bars that would let you play trivia and play along with sporting events. It was a big fad in sports bars and roadhouses across North America. Well the Raptors have found a company in Canada (Which is great) to bring that kind of experience to the modern age on your computer.

LiveHive Systems is a company based in Waterloo, Ontario. They are the people that run the game for the Toronto Raptors. I am not certain but if Chris Bosh was not busy playing this is the kind of thing that would be up his alley. Bosh has gained attention for all his Internet adventures mostly on U-tube and his own website. Live Hive has made a place for the fans of CB4 and the rest of his Raptor Team where they can have fun and play along with them in a way. The Shot Caller has several features:

*       Polling: Questions are posed for viewers (i.e., Who do you think would win in a shootout between Chris Bosh or Allen Iverson?), then the answers are accumulated and the results posted.
*       Group play: Players invite their friends to play along with them so the group can have its very own competition and its very own Leader Board.
*       Chat: Sponsors, teams and broadcasters can now participate by chatting to viewers via NanoGaming’s enhanced Chat function.
*       Facebook: Players can download a Facebook application and see how they are performing as compared to their friends listed on Facebook.

I have went and played and watched what went on like I said. The game is kind of like a basketball IQ test in real time. You can be asked to guess what will happen in the game you need to be watching while playing. Trivia about the Raptors from all through their history. Also questions about the team they are facing being the Magic in this case. But in addition to that you can chat with your fellow fans as you play. You will see the joy and frustration of your fellow Raptor fans in real time. It is like having a party and having 100 guests but not having to feed them or offer them anything to drink. I as a Raptor fan have learned through writing a blog that there are many Raptor fans out there. But in a Hockey first Canada it is not always easy to find a large group of people that are basketball fans. This helps you find some and makes some friends from all across the world and close to home. That is the great thing about the Internet.

Raptors are really making an effort to reach out to the so called “U-Tube” generation and Raptor’s Shot caller is an example of that. Here is what someone from MLSE had to say about it:

“We want to engage our fans in the playoff experience and this partnership with LiveHive allows us to reward our fans,” said Chris Hebb, Senior VP of Broadcast & Content, Maple Leaf Sports & Entertainment. “It is a lot of fun and free to play. It will bring Raptors fans together from right across Canada.”

There have been many people including myself that have said the Raptors need to build that national feel to the Toronto Raptors. This is an attempt on behalf of MLSE to do that. They have also supported a Canadian Company to do that. But they are working with them because they know what they are doing as well. LiveHive previously brought its NanoGaming technology to football, baseball, NASCAR, hockey, Mixed Martial Arts, and reality TV. Most of note to basketball fans is they have worked with Comcast and the Sixers bringing them a product similar to Shot Caller.

So I have been on the Internet a longtime and you are saying at this point that is great but what is in it for me. Well for starters it’s FREE and there is not much of that on the Internet anymore. There is also the chance to win Prizes from the Raptors based on your abilities at the game. It also let’s you have some fun and interact with other Raptor fans like you from the comfort of in front of your computer. It has the chance to expand into greater things I would imagine as well. To attempt to give you an idea of what it is like I happened to run into couple of my readers on the shot caller and will ask them a few questions to help you out on what it is like from a fan perspective:

1. What made you decide to try shot caller?

Ro Ro: What had me drawn to shot caller was the prospect of making predictions that were beyond just “who will win the game?” I felt it to be a great challenge and thought it would be a lot of fun to try.

KTurner:I saw it ad during a Raptors game, it sounded like a nice idea. I was in desperate need of tickets to game 3.

2. How did it change your experience of watching A Raptor Game?

Ro Ro:Playing shot caller gave me *yet another* reason to focus on some of the finer details of the game because of the incentive of gaining points. It was a way to challenge myself and my knowledge of the game…not to mention the chance to win some pretty sweet prizes

KTurner:I found it very hard to watch the Raptors game because my television and my computer are not located in the same area of my house, so I had to run back and forth between both during gameplay.

3. Would you tell a friend to try it? Why or Why Not?

Ro Ro:I would definitely tell a friend to try it because I think it would be fun to not only play against one another (for bragging rights of course) but also to interact in the chat…maybe talk a little trash (for fun obviously). however the only reason I wouldn’t recommend it is so that I wouldn’t have as much competition

KTurner:I would definatly tell my friends about this game, it’s a great opportunity for Raptors fans to win great prizes and chat about the game with other fans live!

4. What is best thing about it to you?

Ro Ro:I really enjoy the challenge in the predictions as well as the instant recall questions but by far the best aspect of shot caller for me is the interaction with the fans in the chat!

KTurner:Just the fact that it allows hardcore Raptors fans like me to win great prizes and interact with other fans.

5. What would you like to see in the future with this game?

Ro Ro: I would like to see this game occur not just for the playoffs but maybe during the regular season as well. Somehow integrate it more often throughout the course of the season asl well as expand it a bit more throughout the NBA (like a fantasy pool game of sorts)!!!

KTurner:The only thing I think needs improvement is the timing of the questions. It would be much easier if the questions came up between every stoppage of play, that way fans trying to watch the game won’t be interrupted during the game, and could simply walk to the computer to answer questions during breaks.

I want to point out these are people that I selected and was not given to me by the Raptors or LiveHive. It is an actual reader(s) of this blog I felt that was important to me to mention. It is ultimately up to you the Dino Nation Blog readers and Raptor Fans in general to decide for yourself. But it is not costing you a dime to do that and you actually might win something that is a pretty good deal if you ask me. If this is a success I would imagine that it will continue into next season and beyond. It is a new way to experience a sporting event and I personally enjoyed the experience it makes writing my recaps of games a little more of a challenge and probable costs me some points in the game itself. But that is ok it still was a fun experience to see what a random collection of Raptor Fans are thinking during a game. That is a useful tool for me as a Blogger. But for the average fan it is just a lot of fun. So click on the Logo below and give it a shot. See if you have what it takes to be a Shot Caller:

 

For the record if you are looking for me I am Username: DinoNationBlog just so you can see for yourself I actually do play and use this product. If I didn’t you would not be reading about it.

Home of Dino Nation Blog:http://dinonationblog.wordpress.com

Rally Round The Raptor Flag

Hey CB4 I Got Your Back

Well the Raptors have now experienced both of sports versions of death. The long and drawn out version in game 1 and The Short and painful version in game 2. The one common theme in both was the start of the game which was horrible in both. The case can be made if the Raptors just show up for the first quarter they could have a 2-0 lead coming home but reality is they are down 0-2. Expect some changes in game 3 as Sam Mitchell said there will be in his post game comments. He would not say what but suggested from watching the game reporters could figure it out. Based on the fact the Raptors played small ball I would think Andrea Bargnani is heading back to the bench. I would also think it would not be a surprise if T.J Ford was joining him. Ford as struggled with his shot in a major way. He has looked out of sorts and if he wants to remain in Toronto beyond this playoff he better remind people why he is considered a very good point guard. Most important person being Bryan Colangelo. Bryan has shown to not be afraid to make a move fast and Fred Jones and Juan Dixon’s short run with Raptors is proof of that. But Jose Calderon if he is to be the starter in this series he needs to do a much better defending Jameer Nelson. That may be the only thing T.J Ford has going for him is that his speed if he uses on defence he can do a better job then Jose. But so far we haven’t seen it.

 

Who was to blame for the final play of last night’s game. Many are saying Sam Mitchell, a few are saying Chris Bosh and Bosh says blame the Ref. Why is that you ask? Bosh said he decided not to drive the ball because he had no confidence that after he felt he was fouled on a play with 30 seconds left that he would get a call. He said in his words he wanted to take the game out of the referees hands and ultimately he took game in his own. He would be a hero this morning if that shot had fallen but hero and goat can be just inches away from each other. Just ask Vince Carter how that goes after his shot in Philly when just a few inches long. Chris Bosh will hope his future is a lot brighter then Vince’s after that shot. That was pretty much the drop off point for the good times for Vince Carter in Toronto. Injuries and a fractured relationship with fans would follow. Leading to his ultimate exit where he basically gave up on the team and himself and ultimately his fans. But Chris Bosh has more character  in him then Vince Carter. Things matter more to Chris Bosh then they ever did for Vince Carter. While Carter was no doubt upset to miss that shot in Philly. His life would go on the next day and no big deal after all he was college graduate it was time to celebrate. Bosh on the other hand will take the fact he let his team down and the fans down to heart. He needs to win, he wants to win it is part of his make up and what makes him a winner off the court and helps him in the attempt to be on the floor.

 

Normally I would not think that fans can make much of a difference. But the way this team lost game 2 and the overall mood around this team, fans could make an impact. If they support this team all the way through game 3 it may be that extra push they need. It may also be what they need to get kick started to a better start. If the fans turn on this team though I can’t imagine how disappointing that will feel for the team. Normally I am not a believer in that whole raw raw type of attitude in sports. But this team I think could use some of that blind loyal support right now. There is need for some team spirit. I mean check out any college program in the United States. Those kids come out and support the school no matter the record and cheer their brains out. Sure it may have to with the amount of beer they drink before the game. But they have faith in their team while the game is going on. Raptor fans need some of that college spirit. You see that same passion in smaller numbers at Canadian Schools as well. I use to experience the Panda Bowl which was an annual battle of Ottawa U and The Carleton Ravens in Football. The Ravens no longer have a football program but the Panda Bowl was a great event and Carleton had a brutal football team for years but still each year Raven fans would come out and cheer. Some of the things they would cheer I can’t say in this blog based on the language. But the point is they had spirit. Raptor fans need to tap into that college spirit.

 

Hopeful people can put aside there Fire Sam thoughts and support the team. Put there Bryan Colangelo off season suggestions letters away. Put down there T.J Ford voodoo dolls. Just cheer as loud as you can and leave the off-season for another day. Maybe I am being optimistic by thinking that can happen. But 3 years ago you were not watching basketball right now at least that involved the Raptors. Maybe remember that fact and if for no other reason then that CHEER.