Unrest in Toronto

Raptors woes are many ... and hard to cure

Call it North of the Border disorder. This week’s mailbag was filled with international postmarks from our Canadian cousins lamenting the current dismal state of the Raptors. Apparently the buzz from the hockey Olympic gold has worn off.

Geoff Mann from Manitoba says Vince Carter is "playing uninspired and the team isn’t performing to expectations." Danielle from Toronto wants to know "why no one is blaming Lenny Wilkens." J.G. from Toronto asks if Jeff Van Gundy might be a better fit for this cast of underachievers.

While injuries have contributed to Toronto’s slide, there is no excuse for this team’s glaring lack of mental toughness. Wilkens is too old-school, and Carter doesn’t seem to care. Until one of them (notably Carter) takes charge, the dinos are going to be extinct come playoff time. As for Van Gundy, forget about it for this season. He’s still under contract to the Knicks and probably wouldn’t be free to coach anywhere this year or next without compensation. Besides, Wilkens still has two years and $10 million left on his contract.

Now onto the ‘bag:

With road wins at Dallas and San Antonio this season, and a 30-30 mark at week's end, I think the Clippers have the potential to be one of the elite teams in the West in coming years. Don't you think it's about time for Donald Sterling to loosen the purse strings and keep all this amazing talent together? -- Cory, San Francisco

There’s no doubt the Clippers have an exciting young nucleus, Cory, but it’s going to cost Sterling some serious silver in coming years to keep them together. A good indicator of Sterling’s mindset will come this summer, when the team decides what to do with center Michael Olowokandi. The Kandi Man, a restricted free agent, wants big money and L.A. pretty much has to give it to him, lest it sends the wrong message to Elton Brand, Lamar Odom, Darius Miles, Quentin Richardson and the rest of the young guns. Clippers fans will be anxiously waiting to see if this is indeed a new era in Clipper-land or just more of the same.

I'm a reporter for my high school paper, and I want to do a story and poll my fellow students on the height of NBA players. What is the average height of today’s NBA player? -- Kerry Holcomb, Orlando, Fla.

According to the NBA, the average height based on opening night’s rosters was just over 6 feet, 7 inches. The average weight was 224 pounds and the average age was 27.4 years. According to one study, the player who came closest to matching those criteria was Bucks forward Darvin Ham, who is 6-7, 230 with four years’ experience. Past prototype players, by the way, were Utah's Bryon Russell and Dallas' Michael Finley.

Do you think the decline in the contribution of big men in the NBA is a direct result of the decline of point guard skills? It seems to me that the two positions have always been linked (Stockton and Malone), and most of today’s point guards are athletes looking to score. They can't seem to orchestrate the game like Magic Johnson. -- Matthew Smith, Bloomington, Ill.

There are probably more good big men in the NBA than ever before, Matthew. They just don’t all fit the traditional mold of the back-to-the-basket player who sets up on the low blocks. Instead we’ve got 7-foot small forwards who can take their man off the dribble and shoot 3-pointers. Similarly, there are probably more creative and skilled point guards than ever before (albeit none as good as the Magic man). Jason Kidd, Andre Miller and Mike Bibby are just a few of the pass-first point guards who can control a game without taking a single shot.

What’s going on with all the mid-season injuries? Jordan, Camby, Shaq, Baron Davis, Iverson, Stackhouse, McGrady, Carter, Brandon; it seems all the NBA's elite are going down. Almost all of them are veterans, so it's not the rookie wall. Anything in particular going on, or is it simply a coincidence? -- Andrew Kingman, Cape Cod, Mass.

It probably just seems worse this season, Andrew. However, we probably have seen more nagging-type mid-season injuries over say, the past decade or so, simply because of the bigger salaries and advancements in medical diagnosis. Teams are much more sophisticated now about evaluating injuries that might have gone unchecked in the old days, and they’re no doubt more careful about putting their multi-million dollar athletes at risk.

With the trading deadline having come and gone, I was wondering if there is any precedent for a player unhappy with a deal to seek to overturn it? For example, could Jalen Rose have asked his agent or lawyer to pursue some legal means to negate it? Also, is there any clause in the collective bargaining agreement or in the standard player contracts that prohibits players from talking about possible ownership of NBA franchises? -- Kevin, Virginia Beach, Va.

No on both counts, Kevin. When an NBA player signs a contract, he gives up his right to dictate where he plays. That’s what a no-trade clause is for. We’re not sure, but we’re betting the Pacers would have included such a provision for Rose had he agreed to give back some of the cash from his seven-year, $93 million deal he signed after the ’00 season. The good news for Rose is that he seems to be enjoying his new role as the Bulls’ go-to guy (at least for now). As for talking about ownership, the league has no rules against it.

Do you think Suns guard Stephon Marbury should move from the point to the two-spot? Starbury’s not the guy you want controlling the game, he's the guy you want to give the ball to so it goes in the net. I'm sure he could have an even bigger impact than Allen Iverson. He's four inches taller, nearly as quick, he's got hops, and he's got range. What do you think? -- Paul Liburd, Geneva, Switzerland

Marbury says he doesn’t care where he plays, but he probably wouldn’t want to give up the point guard duties completely. He’s a product of the great New York City tradition of point guards, and he likes to have the rock in his hands so he can control the flow. You’re right about Iverson, however. His career really blossomed after Larry Brown began using him more off the ball, where he could come off screens and not have to face constant ball pressure. It’s an idea Starbury probably ought to consider, perhaps as he gets older and more mature.

To make players and teams try harder during the season, why doesn't the NBA (like English Soccer) relegate the worst teams to the developmental league and promote the best of those teams up to the NBA? -- Edward Atkinson, Melbourne, Australia

You’ve obviously never had to get to Fayetteville, N.C. Seriously, the NBA would never do something like this for the same reasons the NFL, NHL and Major League Baseball wouldn’t. It would wreak havoc with marketing. Do you really think ABC agreed to pay all that money in the new TV deal so it can show games to the Fayetteville market? Besides, the players association would never agree to it.

If the Kings win the Pacific Divison and the Lakers have the second-best record in the Western conference, L.A. automatically gets the No. 3 seed in the playoffs behind the Midwest Division winner. My question is would the Lakers have home-court advantage over the Midwest champs if they should meet in the semis? -- Albert Arouh, Los Angeles

Yes, Albert. The NBA uses overall record, not playoff seed, as the basis to determine which team gets home-court advantage in any particular playoff series. Thus if the Lakers finish behind the Kings but with a better record than the Midwest winner, they’d still get Games 1 & 2 (and, if needed, Games 5 & 7) at Staples Center in the second round. Now my question to you is ... Why are you worried about it?

Marty Burns covers pro basketball for CNNSI.com. Click here to send Marty a question or comment.

 

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