Basketball in Canada - Page 101

esquire · #**2001** Posted **Feb 11, 2020, 3:17 PM**

^ Winning 15 in a row is an amazing accomplishment in anything... that is something else.

TorontoDrew · #**2002** Posted **Feb 11, 2020, 3:45 PM**

Last nights game was awesome.Hopefully we can continue this momentum after the All-star break.

samne · #**2003** Posted **Feb 11, 2020, 4:55 PM**

Its how they've won 15 straight that's incredible...they havent had a complete line up yet with one or more starters injured.

R. Hollis-Jefferson...who is a great energy roll player...started last night.

suburbanite · #**2004** Posted **Feb 11, 2020, 5:25 PM**

Not only started, started at center... No Gasol or Ibaka. Nurse knowing that he has the flexibility to deploy a small ball lineup like that effectively is big for the playoffs.

rousseau · #**2005** Posted **Feb 11, 2020, 6:31 PM**

So much to love about this team. And the schadenfreude at seeing the talking heads admitting that they've been sleeping on the Raptors this season, that hey, turns out the team surrounding Kawhi isn't half bad, has been fun to see!

How many undrafted players are making major contributions on a defending champion now? It's three: VanVleet, Davis and Boucher.

No wonder Masai Ujiri is being courted by the Knicks.

OldDartmouthMark · #**2006** Posted **Feb 11, 2020, 9:47 PM**

Quote:

Originally Posted by rousseau

So much to love about this team. And the schadenfreude at seeing the talking heads admitting that they've been sleeping on the Raptors this season, that hey, turns out the team surrounding Kawhi isn't half bad, has been fun to see!

How many undrafted players are making major contributions on a defending champion now? It's three: VanVleet, Davis and Boucher.

No wonder Masai Ujiri is being courted by the Knicks.

Agreed. They are a joy to watch.

Knicks are no longer pursuing Masai, though. At least for now.

https://www.cbc.ca/sports/basketball...rose-1.5455418

suburbanite · #**2007** Posted **Feb 11, 2020, 10:49 PM**

There's a rumour every year about teams pursuing Masai, and with good reason. He's established himself as possibly the best basketball executive in the world. In the upper echelon with guys like Jerry West and Pat Riley.

He's displayed that perfect balance of scouting and developing young talent, while not over or undervaluing those players when it comes time to make a decisive move. The Spurs were holding firm that they wanted OG and/or Siakam in any trade for Kawhi. Those two players were considered untouchable by Masai well before they broke out into the players they are today.

As a Toronto sports fan I've never felt this security that every decision that managements makes is the right one. Trading Rudy Gay in hist first year, somehow getting valuable assets for Bargnani, aggressively trying to move up the draft for Giannis, the several undrafted and late round picks, trading Derozan, Valanciunas and co for the final pieces... I can't think of a single move that looks bad in hindsight.

Masai seems happy here. He's said his family considers Toronto home. If some of these crazy speculations about ownership stakes are true, that would be hard to pass up though. At the end of the day, I really only see Masai leaving to pursue something in Africa. Most likely the future commissioner of the African league.

rousseau · #**2008** Posted **Feb 24, 2020, 4:00 AM**

Crikey, was that a statement game or what? If this is the kind of intensity the Raptors can come up with both offensively and defensively, then I'll go on record right now and say that I'm picking them to win the whole damn thing again.

Yep.

Though Tuesday against Milwaukee will be a better barometer for the state of this team, of course.

isaidso · #**2009** Posted **Feb 24, 2020, 9:13 AM**

They're capable repeating, but yes, the Bucks are a whole other cattle of fish. They play them next so it will be very interesting.

suburbanite · #**2010** Posted **Feb 24, 2020, 1:43 PM**

Coach Bud and the Bucks have basically molded their game this year to address all of the deficiencies that sunk them in the conference finals last year. Bud was adhering to the strict D'Antoni style offence of only 3's and points in the paint, and it gave the Raptors room to smother Giannis while only worrying about closing out certain players on the perimeter. He wasn't willing to adjust, and the rigidness allowed for the reverse sweep once Nurse found the right combination (and Giannis's teammates went ice cold from three).

This year he's opened up the midrange for guys like Middleton who is having a career year because of it. He's letting Lopez run more plays as a traditional big man like he did during his time as an all star in Brooklyn. They are way more flexible and adaptive than last year, similar to the Raptors where losing big pieces hasn't stalled them at all. They have way more tools at their disposal now when things aren't working and are a nightmare to gameplan against.

I'm not betting against a potential 70 win team, but I would love to see this new group of up-and-coming Raptors have a good series against them.

megadude · #**2011** Posted **Mar 4, 2020, 4:14 AM**

Have to admit. I have a weakness for cheap novelty things like these. Somehow it makes them taste better that one time. Donut was during the playoffs. Coke in the middle of summer. Coors just discovered at Longos today.

This past fall you may have noticed the lays potato chips with pats, bills, Packers and Seahawks logos on the bag. Only those four for some reason. Maybe to cover Canada from sea to sea. Hawks for the west, pack for central, bills for southern Ontario and pats for Quebec and east.

Back in 2011 Pearl Jam released a beer in a wine bottle. Was only at one chain store and only in the US. Happened to be going to watch football at Penn St. so between the four of us we got one each. It was worth quite a bit not that long due to the limited production but now I just saw one on ebay for 60 USD. Wife and her bro still have them on display. Same with the posters from concerts, which PJ fans will gladly pay hundreds of dollars for. My wife turned down $1,600 for three of them.

porkmedallions · #**2012** Posted **Mar 4, 2020, 7:47 AM**

I thought this was hilarious when I saw it. https://www.nandos.ca/spicyp

megadude · #**2013** Posted **Mar 4, 2020, 1:03 PM**

Perfectly appropriate. Now if there was a restaurant selling fried monkey brains then they could get Serge as a spokesman.

WhipperSnapper · #**2014** Posted **Mar 5, 2020, 1:17 AM**

Speaking of novelties, The players and executives each got to have the Larry O'Brien for the day. Do you guys think it was the real one or a replica? They had a keeper present but, that doesn't mean it was the real deal.

TorontoDrew · #**2015** Posted **Mar 5, 2020, 3:42 PM**

I'm sure it would have been the real deal but it would have also had it's keeper in tow to make sure it was safe. Much like the Stanley cup when it travel.

suburbanite · #**2016** Posted **Mar 5, 2020, 4:09 PM**

??? They make a new Larry O'Brien Trophy every year that the winning team keeps. This is how it works in the NFL and most other leagues as well.

That's what makes Canadian sports unique with the Stanley Cup and Grey Cup which have a history attached to the actual physical trophy itself, and it's not just the symbol of winning a championship.

Acajack · #**2017** Posted **Mar 9, 2020, 1:04 PM**

The Carleton Ravens won the U Sport men's basketball championship last night in Ottawa, over Dalhousie. It was the Ravens' 9th championship in the past 10 years. And their record 15th title overall.

Attendance was 4100 at TD Place (Civic Centre) which seats around 10,000 and is the home of the OHL-CHL Ottawa 67's.

From what I gather the event was heavily promoted on social media (saw lots of ads on Facebook) but I dunno about traditional media coverage.

I haven't paid much attention to the Ottawa anglo media recently, but from what I can see from searches they barely talked about it in the lead-up to the tournament.

Even today coverage is fairly light except for the odd "Oh yea, BTW Carleton won".

(Nothing really new about that level of coverage, though.)

VANRIDERFAN · #**2018** Posted **Mar 9, 2020, 1:35 PM**

Quote:

Originally Posted by Acajack

The Carleton Ravens won the U Sport men's basketball championship last night in Ottawa, over Dalhousie. It was the Ravens' 9th championship in the past 10 years. And their record 15th title overall.

Attendance was 4100 at TD Place (Civic Centre) which seats around 10,000 and is the home of the OHL-CHL Ottawa 67's.

From what I gather the event was heavily promoted on social media (saw lots of ads on Facebook) but I dunno about traditional media coverage.

I haven't paid much attention to the Ottawa anglo media recently, but from what I can see from searches they barely talked about it in the lead-up to the tournament.

Even today coverage is fairly light except for the odd "Oh yea, BTW Carleton won".

(Nothing really new about that level of coverage, though.)

Still basically friends and family. CBC broadcasted the tournement on their GEM streaming site which is nice but TSN/Sportsnet basically had very little presence.

The local Regina radio station was talking to Arash Midani of Sportsnet about the lack of USports coverage. He said it is all about ROI. It is far cheaper to buy the ESPN feed of NCAA games than to send out a crew to a random Canadian University to show the games. In the end its a chicken and egg thing, no interest, no sponsors, no advertising, no coverage. Student and local interest, full stadiums, great atmosphere equal sponsors, advertisers and coverage.

Acajack · #**2019** Posted **Mar 9, 2020, 2:16 PM**

Quote:

Originally Posted by VANRIDERFAN

Still basically friends and family. CBC broadcasted the tournement on their GEM streaming site which is nice but TSN/Sportsnet basically had very little presence.

The local Regina radio station was talking to Arash Midani of Sportsnet about the lack of USports coverage. He said it is all about ROI. It is far cheaper to buy the ESPN feed of NCAA games than to send out a crew to a random Canadian University to show the games. In the end its a chicken and egg thing, no interest, no sponsors, no advertising, no coverage. Student and local interest, full stadiums, great atmosphere equal sponsors, advertisers and coverage.

I will reply in the TV/ratings/attendance thread.

WhipperSnapper · #**2020** Posted **Mar 9, 2020, 3:51 PM**

Quote:

Originally Posted by suburbanite

??? They make a new Larry O'Brien Trophy every year that the winning team keeps. This is how it works in the NFL and most other leagues as well.

That's what makes Canadian sports unique with the Stanley Cup and Grey Cup which have a history attached to the actual physical trophy itself, and it's not just the symbol of winning a championship.

Exactly. Is it the replica the team keeps or do they get to spend time with the real deal?