The wrong kind of flag "waiving"...Part 1 - by Apollo

Happy holidays and Seasons` Greetings to everyone from the 2 Wise Men. It has been quite a year and we hope that everyone has a prosperous and happy 2005.

You generally hope for things to calm down a bit during the holiday season and for there to be less drama overall, both in and outside of the sports world. We`ll give only a short word on events transpiring this week. Wongoz and I can probably agree on wishing best of luck to the Canadian National Junior Team, (and the German team while we`re at it), Shaq and Kobe to have a safe game, Peyton Manning, and for the Detroit Pistons and Indiana Pacers to have short memories when Jermaine O`Neal returns to the court.

Beyond sports though, best of luck especially to the voters of Ukraine, who go back to the polls tomorrow. It is always interesting to see the different rights, or lack thereof, that are enjoyed between different countries, and how those who have more rights seem to be able to so easily forget how fortunate they are. This past week, Danny Williams, provincial premier for the Canadian province of Newfoundland and Labrador decided to lower all Canadian flags from public buildings in his province. Recently, talks have broken down between the province and the federal government over the division of revenues, particularly lucrative oil and gas revenues that Newfoundland currently enjoys from off-shore drilling operations. In protest, Williams took down the flag. In response, Canadian prime minster Paul Martin issued a statement correctly stating that the national flag should not be reduced to a political prop.

Now, forget for the moment the legitimacy of Williams' claim. Forget as well that governments since the beginning of time have used national emblems for political gain. The origins of the flag itself probably is due more to politics anyway. Forget also that over the years the tenuous scheme of transfer payments from the federal government to the provinces has both benefitted Newfoundland and hurt it at different times. I'm sure there are plenty of Canadians who would rather not send any money to the maritime provinces for fisheries subsidies just as there are many Newfoundlanders who agree with their premier and want to keep as much oil money as possible. Forget even that the very definition of Canadian pseduo-socialism is that we all contribute something, usually tax dollars, including provincial oil revenues, to ensuring that our fellow Canadians coast-to-coast-to-coast all have equal access to federal and provincial services and programs.

Quite simply, taking down the Canadian flag to make any kind of statement is ridiculous and juvenille. Most Canadians probably don't care, but it flies in the face of people across the world who would receive far worse a punishment for trying to attempt the same stunt in their own countries. The five seconds of publicity and grandstanding that this move has gotten Williams is nothing compared to the ill will and head shaking that his province has now earned as a result of his actions. If we as the 2 Wise Men had a thumbs up, thumbs down section to our site, he would certainly be receiving my thumbs down for this move. It's perfectly fine to be upset or frustrated with the federal government. Entire careers are made on doing just that. But there's a difference between voicing that displeasure and conducting yourself with class and political dignity (if such a thing even exists) and Williams and anyone in his government who endorses this flag strategy need to be educated on that.

Will JP think it's Miller time? Part 2 - by wongoz

I swear, sometimes I think I should be the GM...

So, no sooner than I post about Wade Miller that I read that he's already agreed to join the Boston Red Sox! Rage! So that's the second pitcher the Jays should've gotten that the world champs scooped up. It's like Boston GM Theo Epstein can read my mind or something... or maybe he's just a better JP than JP is.

Anyways, there's slim pickings out on the market now, unless you think the Jays are going to splurge for Carlos Beltran... Sorry Jays fans (all 4 of you), looks like it's going to be a long winter...

Leaving the Vinsane asylum Part 2...by Apollo

Rob Babcock, you are officially on the clock.

The Vince Carter saga was pretty frustrating and draining for me and a lot of Toronto Raptors fans and now that it's over, I'm almost too annoyed to really discuss it further. I'm pretty much through trying to comment on Vince. He got way too much hype in the beginning of his career here, and way too much criticism at the end, but he was easily the best Raptors player this city has ever seen, the best athlete period ever to come through Toronto and an exemplary and underrated member of the community. Hopefully people will remember all of that, but I am highly doubtful when fans are more likely to cheer Matt Bonner over Kevin Garnett and Tie Domi over Mats Sundin. Anyway, a rare appearance by wongoz in this space would seem to necessitate a comment on the trade itself.

Wongoz correctly points out the hypocritical attitude of Toronto sports fans with respect to this trade, an attitude which I have been pointing out for years, but I'm pleased that he has finally come around to it. I have to admit that I was annoyed, then angered by the trade. I do not believe that the Raptors got much value at all for VC, but I also think that "value" for Vince was pretty low anyway, so the question then becomes why bother trading him at all? Vince's misguided trade demand came up in the summer and Babcock refused to pull the trigger on any deal at that time, when interest in Vince was probably at its peak. He gambled that VC would be forced to play well to start the year, therefore raising his trade value. A nice thought, but after a few indifferent games and the recent Achilles injury, Carter's trade value was non-existent. Odds are that no teams were calling, so where was the urgency? Babcock alleges that the trade rumours were becoming a "distraction" to the team, which I find rather questionable. In any event, New Jersey was simply biding its time and waiting for the opportunity to spring its offer, which essentially amounts to:

1. Eric Williams - A nice journeyman who can probably play defence better than Carter and Jalen Rose put together, but someone who only played significant minutes because New Jersey was even more woeful than Toronto;

2. Aaron Williams - A serviceable big man who was getting zero minutes with New Jersey, but who looks like Yao Ming compared to Rafael Araujo;

3. Alonzo Mourning - An ailing veteran centre who wanted to be traded and wasn't playing anyway; and,

4. Two protected first round draft picks, neither of which belong to New Jersey - more on these picks later.

The NBA trade deadline comes up in February, which would have given most teams a clearer idea of whether they would require the services of a Vince Carter for their playoff drive. It's always risky to wait until the deadline. Teams are hesitant to add a player who demands so many touches like Carter does. Rather, the deadline is usually for salary cap relief deals and role players. Babcock probably thought this was the best deal he could make, as evidenced by his ridiculous comment that he would have done the trade even if Mourning were not involved. He did get two first round picks and got rid of Vince's hefty salary, which would only cripple the franchise in years to come. There's a few problems with his reasoning though, which should cause Raptors fans a lot of concern.

1. The players he received in the trade are all over 32 years old, essentially the beginning of the end for NBA players. Carter, for all of his alleged deficiencies, is still in his late 20's and will surely be in the league for far longer than either Williams will remain with the Raptors;

2. The refusal by Mourning to even report to Toronto, combined with the departure of the franchise's brightest star essentially cements the Raptors' unfair reputation as a basketball wasteland. Carter now joins a long list of stars, including Damon Stoudamire, Tracy McGrady, Antonio Davis, Kenny Anderson, and Doug Christie, who sooner or later engineered their way out of Toronto. Toronto is a great place to live and play for any professional athlete, but if all they ever hear is how many stars keep leaving, it certainly doesn't help lure free agents, at least not the top tier free agents that the franchise ought to be pursuing. Any team can overpay for Morris Peterson and Rafer Alston, but when Rashard Lewis keeps turning you down, there's a problem. It also doesn't help that the Raptors could now pay millions of dollars in a buyout to ensure that Mourning never plays for them. If healthy, Mourning could have made the trade a huge win for Toronto by providing the inside presence the Raptors desperately need and allowing Chris Bosh to thrive. Now it appears his inclusion in the deal is but an after-thought;

3. New Jersey is not only in the Eastern Conference, but also in the same Atlantic Division as the Raptors. Now Toronto fans love nothing more than to boo returning former players, and Carter will certainly receive T-Mac-like treatment in April when the Nets play the Raptors again, but watching Carter drop 30 points against his former team several times a year is not the way to convince anyone you won the deal, particularly if you consistently finish behind your former franchise player's new team in the standings;

4. The draft picks - The key to the deal, as Babcock himself said. Acquiring two first round picks for any player is a decent move, but it of course depends on being able to translate those picks into talent. Several years ago, the New York Knicks were poised to make a big splash in the draft with three lottery selections. None of those players selected remain in the NBA. The Boston Celtics had three first round picks this season, but are still essentially a team that lives and dies with Paul Pierce. The picks may be exercised over the next three years. It is unclear whether Toronto has the option of choosing when the picks may be exercised, but that's less important. The 2005 first round pick, acquired from Philadelphia via New Jersey, can be no higher than the 9th selection overall in 2005 and the 6th overall pick in 2006. Currently, Philadelphia is contending for a playoff spot and is only 3 games out of the third seed in the East. Realistically, barring a collapse by Philadelphia, this pick may not even be a lottery selection.

The other first round pick, the 2006 pick from Denver via New Jersey, will also likely not be a lottery pick. Denver is currently in the last playoff spot in the West, and is forced to play in the same division as the Minnesota Timberwolves and the resurgent Seatte SuperSonics. Denver is young and a bit unpredictable, but certainly has the talent to make the playoffs for the next three years when this pick may be exercised. Considering that their record will also likely be far better than some Eastern Conference teams, this pick will be in the late teens to early 20's at best.

The main problem with the trade is that it hinges overwhelmingly on Babcock's ability to draft players, and draft players late in the first round. Thus far, Raptors fans have absolutely no evidence to suggest he can find anyone even serviceable, let alone a starter, in the draft lottery, let alone the rest of the first round! Outside of the lottery, the NBA Draft is highly unpredictable, and the Raptors' own draft history is downright atrocious. For every VC, T-Mac and Chris Bosh that the Raptors have been able to secure in the lottery, they have the ghosts of Michael Bradley, DeeAndre Hullett and Aleksandr Radojevic to haunt them. Araujo was projected to be the most "NBA-ready" big man available and Babcock swore on draft day that he was not a "project". A horrible summer league and limited minutes later, Araujo has been a disaster, a big man who cannot even get minutes on a team that is woefully inadequate in the front court. If the success of this deal is based upon what the Raptors can do in the draft, New Jersey should already be declared the overwhelming winner. Even in a best case scenario where both Philadelphia and Denver miss the playoffs and the Raptors end up with two lottery selections, Babcock is more likely to pick the next Araujo than the next Garnett. The pay off from these selections will not materialize for years, if ever, and certainly will not come within 2 years when Bosh's contract is up for renewal.

Certainly, Babcock was shackled with problems from the beginning of this, his first year with the Raptors. He had no idea that Vince would make a trade demand, and he was unfortunately left to deal with the consequences of the many screw-ups of past management. If Carter's injury-filled past hold true to form, Babcock will be congratulated down the road for unloading a $20 million salary, regardless of who he gets in the draft. The downside unfortunately, is that with Jason Kidd as his point guard, Carter will likely flourish, at least enough to make New Jersey look like winners while Toronto fans impatiently wait for the results of the newly acquired first round picks. Babcock is likely not done dealing, and if he is able to unload the equally cumbersome Jalen Rose salary this year, he will be doing well. The problem of course is that having salary cap room does not mean anything if people aren't willing to come play in your city, and these recent moves have done nothing to enhance the Raptors' attractiveness as an NBA destination. Babcock is perhaps taking the biggest risk of all by hoping that his rookie coach Sam Mitchell can take this group of overpaid role players to the playoffs this year, or at least close, thereby buying him time to rebuild the team altogether. The sad reality for fans is that with long term contracts committed to both players and management, this current group is here to stay regardless.

Will JP think it's Miller time? - by wongoz

Posts on consecutive days! Perish the thought! Haha... well, maybe I'm inspired because Apollo called me last night for a brief conversation wherein he asked for my street address because he couldn't remember if I had moved since the time he came to visit.

Ok, lost in all this mumbo-jumbo (and perhaps deservedly so) of the Vince Carter trade and the Ron Artest brawl is the Toronto Blue Jays' offseason. Obviously, the biggest move so far has been the loss of free-agent slugger Carlos Delgado, who was to the Jays as Carter was to the Raptors. Perhaps not as important on the field (after all, there are 9 players on a baseball diamond), but no less important in off-the-field terms. Delgado was a good citizen, stayed out of trouble and even held a political stance that resonated with some Torontonians.

In the wake of last season's fiasco, finishing last in the AL East after 7 or 8 straight years in third, GM JP Ricciardi knows he has some retooling to do, and now unburdened by Delgado's contract, he's gotta put his money where his mouth is. Funny thing is, it seems like it's more of the same thing.

Coming from the Billy Beane school of "Moneyball" methods, JP has put an emphasis on high walks and low strikeouts on his hitters, and vice versa for his pitchers, while eschewing traditional scouting reports and the supposed "five-tool" rankings.

It hasn't quite worked out the way it was supposed to: Eric Hinske, a third baseman supposedly in the Eric Chavez mold, has lost his way, and now his position; the closer-by-committee approach failed miserably, as Kerry Ligetnberg, Justin Speier, Jason Frasor, Aquilino Lopez and others stunk up the joint; and his trade record with anyone other than Oakland looks suspect, with the Luke Prokopec deal smelling foulest.

But it was always the Delgado contract which tied his hands, right? Now that he's free of those handcuffs, what is he doing with this money? So far, the only move of note is the signing of third baseman Corey Koskie, a native Manitoban who probably accepted a slight discount to play for the team he cheered for as a kid. His signing displaces Hinske, who, unless JP can find a new home for him, will be moved to first base. Doesn't this strike anyone as perversely illogical? The man who doesn't hit enough for third base is now going to be moved to first base, where offensive expectations are even higher?

Whatever. Pitching makes up for a lot of offensive deficiencies, and with Roy Halladay and Ted Lilly still on board, they're within striking distance of a respectable rotation. JP has to nail down a second or third starter though, and to that end, he was chasing Matt Clement, formerly of the Chicago Cubs. The talent is there, to be sure, but for all his abilities to strikeout batters (more than 1 per inning pitched last season), he has never seemed to be able to put it all together.

Luckily for JP, there's another option. He can throw the millions he was luring Clement with to the just-became-a-free-agent Wade Miller, who was not offered a contract by the Houston Astros. In fact, if you dig into the numbers, it appears he would be an even better option (big caveat - Miller is coming off a season where he only pitched 88 innings before shutting it down due to a rotator cuff injury).

Clement vs. Miller, head-to-head? Miller is younger (28 vs. 30), has a better winning percentage (.598 vs. .479), has a lower career ERA (3.87 vs. 4.34), allows fewer baserunners per inning pitched (1.34 vs. 1.45), has pitched the same number of complete games (5) in 35% fewer starts (123 vs. 192), and barely strikes out fewer batters per 9 innings (7.7 vs. 8.0). To his credit, Clement pitches more innings per year (190.1 vs. 151.1) and allows fewer home runs per 9 innings (0.92 vs. 1.07), but I think that if Miller's injury is healed, he represents the better option. A big if, no doubt, but still.

Anyways, we'll see if JP follows his own stathead advice and makes a push for Miller. Jays fans can only hope.

Leaving the Vinsane asylum... by wongoz

Well, I'm more than a bit surprised that Apollo hasn't yet commented on the Vince Carter trade, but I'll take a stab at it now.

Some people have taken Raptors GM Rob Babcock to task for failing to get more for his most-valuable trade commodity. These same people are the ones who have been whining for a Carter trade for months, so what's it gonna be? Obviously, there's a reason why Babcock pulled the trigger on this one when he did, but he deserves the benefit of the doubt, no? Especially since we don't really know what other options he had (unlike his first-round draft selection of Rafael Araujo; doesn't 76er swingman Andre Iguodala look like he could improve this porous Raptors D? ).

So let's not play the "what if?" game and pretend that Babcock could've gotten Ray Allen (whom I would've traded Vince and whoever else for and Seattle might actually have done it), or that the rumoured Portland deal involving Shareef Abdur-Rahim was any better. Let's just see what we got from the deal, and figure out if Babcock got fleeced or not.

Obviously this trade hinged upon getting players back that would match up with Vince's salary. And of course, Babcock should've been trying to obtain players that actually had some value on the court (that is, trading for 10 guys making the vet's minimum wouldn't cut it either). I love Jalen Rose's inquiry upon hearing of the trade if the Raptors had acquired Richard Jefferson. Haha, AS IF.

So are Eric and Aaron Williams good enough on the defensive end to make up for Vince's offence? We will see. I've often heard that when Rose is on the floor, it's like the defense playing 4-on-5. With Vince too, it may as well have been 3 or 3.5-on-5. So if we can recover a few of those points on defense due to poor defending and rebounding, that should make up for any loss in point production.

Then of course, there's Alonzo Mourning, or rather, his contract. If Babcock can engineer some sort of buyout, that would be great, but if Zo actually decides to play for the Raptors, well, hey, that's a bonus. I don't think that's likely, and neither is the Miami rumour of a trade involving Mourning, Rose and Donyell Marshall for Eddie Jones and who knows who else.

The key is whether Babcock can turn the 2 first round draft picks into anyone productive. A lot of talk has gone about how the picks are crap because they won't be high picks, but a high pick doesn't guarantee anything except a contract. We could get a Chris Bosh, or we could get an Araujo. We could get a Lebron, or we could get a Darko. We could get a Yao, or we could get a Tskitishvili.

Some have said they're likely to be picks no higher than the 10th overall selection. With a bit of good scouting, Babcock could easily get some productive players. Players in recent years from that range of picks include Zach Randolph, Jefferson, Joe Johnson, Josh Howard, Tayshaun Prince, and Caron Butler. So all is not lost.

Only time will tell how the Raptors made out on this trade, if Babcock was indeed fleeced or not. New Jersey sacrificed some rebuilding components for a chance at glory in the here and now, and the Raptors have to make sure they maximize those rebuilding components for future glory. Then, and only then, can Babcock save himself from Araujogate.

A Stern Warning... Part 2 - by wongoz

Yes, that's right, i'm back... of course, it's taken a lot longer than expected to finally get back into the blogosphere, but i thought now's the right time... since there's so little happening in the sports world that really interests me.

Yup, you read that right. I've watched a few basketball highlights, including the little spat in Detroit... I've watched a few football highlights (American and European)... and well, there's no hockey to watch, and nothing else really interests me, so... what else is there?

It's pretty crappy, actually, if you ask me. The NBA seems to be enforcing its rules designed to increase scoring, as scores in the 110s and 120s are now a bit more regular... but still, aside from the soap opera that is the Vince Carter story, there's nothing really intriguing me about this season. But since I have to write something about it (see the title of this post), well, let's have a go at it.

Let me say that I agree mostly with Apollo here, about the Ron Artest suspension. I think that while it's not unreasonable to expect a multimillionaire to conduct himself in a professional manner (come on, we expect that out of bank tellers who get paid peanuts), I think a lot of the blame lies with the inadequate security at The Palace at Auburn Hills, and with the Detroit fans themselves.

It wasn't Artest who provoked the scrum with the fans. It wasn't him who started throwing things (if they were batteries or any other such thing, wouldn't that have been considered assault?). And while you might think that the customer is always right, buying a ticket doesn't entitle you to anything more than watching some athletic spectacle and voicing your pleasure or displeasure, as the case may be.

I'm not trying to condone his actions; actually, i think all NBA teams have the right to put in any sort of clause for professional conduct into the players' contracts. And those players who break that clause should be penalized as deemed appropriate.

But no one should expect physical abuse in their occupation, not you, not me, not bank tellers and certainly not Ron Artest.