Nothing Of Substance To Report Out Of Raptors Camp Yet
By Walter DubowecIt is still way to early to get much that’s meaningful out of Raptors training camp. So I thought that maybe we would have a look at what three local beat writers had to say about camp so far.
Doug Smith of the Star was surprised to actually see a practice in-person. Usually, NBA grunts are forbidden from team practices. Here’s what’s been happening during workouts:
“The morning sessions are dedicated to teaching, mostly defence, and yesterday they were working a lot on trapping the high and side screen-and-rolls. Watch for them to aggressively stop the ball-handler and rotate on the weak side. It's not a full rotation, it's more stop-and-recover and Mitchell makes sure everyone knows what the priority is all the time.”
A few weeks back, we wrote about the prospects of Jamario Moon securing a spot on the Raptors fifteen man roster. Here’s Smith’s take:
“(Moon), as some expected, struggling a wee bit to keep up in his first few days of practice. I imagine the Albany Patroons and Gary Steelheads didn't play at the same speed the Toronto Raptors do. Still, he hasn't done anything to play himself out of the picture either, but it's still going to take a roster move involving someone like Luke Jackson or Juan Dixon for him to stick around. Lots of people cheering for him, though.”
Last season, an ill-informed hockey writer named Al Strachan made noises about the Raptors’ woeful financial state which was a drag on MLSE and the Leafs’ coffers. Michael Grange of the Globe & Mail reports that NBA’s merchandising deal alone pays the Raptors $10 million a year and that Colangelo wants more:
“Wall Street Journal report pegged the league's revenue from international television deals, licensing and merchandising at $300-million, with total revenues of $3-billion. That pool is shared among the 30 franchises. The Raptors are keeping the door open for more.”
“The revenues would flow directly to the Raptors — to include European interests, much in the way the Houston Rockets leveraged the popularity of Yao Ming in his native China by signing sponsorship agreements with Chinese companies.”
Grange also discovered that Sam Mitchell has a big pool back home in Georgia and Sam says, “I can’t swim”. Mitchell has only ventured into his pool once in 8 years.
Steve Buffery of the Sun reports that Kapono is not an Italian name as many have assumed. According to Jason, “Kapono is actually a Hawaiian name.”
Buffery wrote, “Kapono was anxious to get out of a situation (in Miami) where two players (Shaquille O'Neal and Dwyane Wade) dominate, and get to a place where everyone in the court is expected to do more than just offer a supporting role to a couple of superstars."
"Here, it's an equal feeling," Kapono added. "You no longer have to be passive out there.''
Sorry, but that’s all that is worth mentioning from camp to this point.
How about Colangelo's comments on resigning Calderon, as noted by Buffery's article Oct 3rd ?? Seems to me the first time it's been put in words.
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