En-Raptored

Healthy Carter, Toronto hope to sneak up on NBA

By Jon Wertheim, Sports Illustrated

WATERLOO, Ontario -- Should the U.S. ever declare war on Iraq, it wouldn't receive half the media coverage of a calamity currently afflicting Canada. A slumping economy and free-falling dollar? Terrorists sneaking over the border? Acid rain? Guess again.

It seems as though the Canadian Broadcasting Company and Hockey Night in Canada announcer Ron MacLean couldn't come to terms on a contract, so MacLean was shown the door. No, this didn't make my heart skip a beat, either. But north of the border, it dominated newscasts, was the topic on call-in radio and was an above-the-fold story in all the major newspapers. Even the normally staid Globe and Mail had a poster-sized front-page photo of the aggrieved MacLean.

This "news" had the added effect of burying the opening of Toronto Raptors training camp. Even here in verdant Waterloo, where the team is holding camp, the populace was only vaguely aware that Vince Carter and mates were in town. At the local Tim Horton's, the best donut chain this side of Krispy Kreme, the attendant behind the counter saw a customer toting a Raptors preseason guide and did a double take. "Raptors season already, eh?" he asked. (He probably didn't say "eh," but there's an unwritten rule that American journalists can't quote Canadians without using that adorable interjection.) "Man, they snuck up on me."

The Raptors are hoping to do the same to the rest of the league. Last season the Raptors weren't so much a disappointment as an oddity. Despite high hopes, the team crashed and burned during much of the regular season, losing 13 straight in one stretch. With 14 games left in the season and the team in dire straits, Carter called it quits and underwent knee surgery. The team responded by winning 12 of its remaining contests and squeaking into the playoffs. Still, there's a nagging sense that Toronto, once a trendy and hip franchise, has jumped the shark. The lone team in the Great White North is headed south.

Yet you wouldn't know it at Raptors training camp, where optimism ran amok. The team's take on last season is, as forward Jerome Williams put it, "If we stepped up without Vince, we'll only be better when he's back healthy." Carter, too, was giddy, proclaiming that he can't wait for the season to start and that it's time for him to get back to where he once belonged -- alongside Kobe, KG and Carter's quasi-cousin Tracy McGrady on the list of elite players. "I'm going to get all the guys on my back," he says. "We're going to get it done."

For the Raptors to get it done, they not only need Carter but swingman Morris Peterson and point guard Alvin Williams to step up as well. Peterson is a star on the make who has a nifty inside-outside game, but his nastiness quotient is questionable. Alvin Williams is the rare point guard who is better defensively than with the ball in his hands.

The other nagging question mark regards the Raptors' inside play. Antonio Davis is a consummate pro, reliable for 15 points and 10 boards a night, but after that Toronto's big men are rail thin. Forward Keon Clark was popular with his teammates and put up big numbers. But management declined to re-sign him, concerned about his inability to learn the offense and what, in polite circles, are called "character issues." (As a rule of thumb, it's not a good idea to get busted for pot possession while a free agent.) Further, center Hakeem Olajuwon is expected to announce his retirement any day now -- the Dream is over, one might say. When Davis says that center Nate Huffman, who played in Israel last season "can really help us inside," he sounds only mildly convincing.

Whatever, the Raptors are unlikely to meet the same fate of the Memphis (né Vancouver) Grizzlies. Even during last season's debacle, Toronto sold out virtually every game. Carter, despite his slipping Q rating, is the leading All-Star vote-getter four years running. Game 5 of the playoffs last season against Detroit earned the highest ratings ever in Canada for an NBA game.

Comedian Jon (Don't call me Yogi) Stewart once defined our neighbors to north thusly: "Canada asks for a pastrami sandwich, mistakenly gets turkey and says, 'No, that's OK, I like turkey, too.'" In the same vein, Canadian hoops fans may have ordered a title contender. But if they only get a low-level playoff team, they are unlikely to voice much displeasure.

Sports Illustrated senior writer Jon Wertheim covers the NBA for the magazine and is a regular contributor to CNNSI.com.

 

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