Roof That Peach

"Look I'm on a cable TV show"

Chris Bosh’s latest jab at the city of Toronto, or Canada in general, seems to indicate that the man who needs to be more famous than he really is has some lingering issues about what’s been said about him since he departed for Miami. Now cable TV has become newsworthy.

Seems his condo in Toronto was a BellExpressVu building, meaning he had no NBA League Pass. Given his income level, if it was such a problem, it begs the question of why he just didn’t move to a different condo. But this isn’t a real complaint, it’s just something else Bosh felt he needed to talk about. In this lightning-fast media era, famous people need a stream of talking points to help keep them relevant.

Now I certainly am not going to defend Bosh, but I’ve discussed this issue before. While he didn’t say it exactly, what I suspect he had an issue with was that there was no ESPN. One of the biggest complaints Americans of any profession have about living in Canada is not having ESPN. Does it make them babies if they whine about it and move back because of it? Yes, of course. Canadians give up all sorts of Canadiana when they move south by the thousands per year. Less hockey, no Tim Hortons in all but a few states, no health care unless your company pays for it.

However in this case we’re talking about professional athletes, men who have been coddled and treated like royalty since high school. No ESPN? That’s not good. I can even somewhat appreciate where they come from — a black guy from Dallas doesn’t necessarily want to sit through 15 minutes of NHL highlights on TSN or Sportsnet before he gets anything related to the NBA, NFL or whatever.

But given that this is an age where you can get highlights of anything on your iPhone in a matter of seconds, Bosh’s whining, and previous knock about a lack of U.S. TV coverage of the Raptors shows his media sensibility is shockingly dated for a man who desperately needs to be a media star. And his ego will never embrace the fact that his game and physical dimensions as a power forward isn’t always a marketable top-5 star commodity. But at the same time, that’s why you’re a third fiddle now Chris. The league, NBC and ESPN desperately tried to make Vince Carter that guy when he played in Toronto, but Vince just wasn’t interested in playing basketball.

Having said that, ESPN should be in Canada. It’s 2010. But it’s unlikely TSN, partially-owned by the Bristol mothership, will never let that happen because of CRTC rules and programming allotment. The Score still picks up content that some, but not many of us in this country like watching — such as NCAA basketball and football — but one wonders what the story will be as TSN2 continues to pick what’s becoming a sports TV carcass. If only TSN2 could run “Sportscenter” over “Sportscentre” once a day.

But make no mistake, the ESPN thing is a big issue with pro athletes in Toronto, and it’s always going to be there, however trivial Canadians find it.

If there was a moral victory for the Raps Saturday in Miami, it was Bosh racking up the five fouls and only playing 22 minutes. Friday’s stunning win in Orlando has to help build some confidence. Triano calling out some of his players earlier in the day may have helped. On a day when Triano alluded to Toronto players as selfish, the Raps spread the ball around and pulled out the win on a Sonny Weems three.

You knew Carmelo Anthony was going to hit that shot. I texted my boy that at 9:34 Friday, right before Denver inbounded the ball. Most galling however, was on a night where the Raptors pulled down a season-high 58 rebounds, they couldn’t get their hands on a game-saving 59th that skipped out to Nene, who kicked it back to Anthony for a second chance and a subsequent 97-96 Nugget win.

There’s beatdowns – like the one the Raps took at the hands of Utah on Wednesday – and there’s draining losses, like this one. Afterwards, a red-eyed Jay Triano tried to explain how after a near-ideal Raptor performance – good shooting outside of Jarrett Jack and Andrea Bargnani, and five players in double digits (without Hedo Turkoglu) – they still came up short. “Two players made two great shots,” Triano said in reference to Chauncey Billups’ late 3 and Melo’s subsequent winner.

Notable were Chris Bosh’s five turnovers. While he led the Raps with 18 points on 50% shooting, it’s clearly not every night the team has his back the way they did in this one. In the past eight games, Bosh has thrown it away 33 times, double his career average.

“I don’t pay attention to that statistic too much,” Bosh said when asked about it.

GM Bryan Colangelo alluded to “outside influences” this week when he addressed the team’s recent lacklustre performances. Talk is those “influences” might have something to do with Bosh being more concerned about his next contact, and it’s along those lines where Star columnist Dave Feschuk really does a number on him this time.

DeMar DeRozan limped out of Raptors practice Tuesday after injuring his right ankle. Coach Jay Triano said DeRozan had tweaked his other ankle in one of last week’s games, potentially double-hobbling the rookie swingman. “I said to him, look at things positively – if you’re going to have two ankle sprains, you might as well have them at the same time,” Triano joked. DeRozan will be evaluated tomorrow for his status against the Miami Heat.

If he can’t go, Triano said Antoine Wright may get the task of guarding Dwyane Wade (which quite frankly is probably a better matchup).

Coming off the huge win against the Lakers Sunday, the Raptors will be hoping to extend the latest mini win streak. “It’s very significant, it’s a chance to take over fifth spot with a win,” said Chris Bosh. “All the early stuff is out the window now.”

Coming off another trouncing – this time to the Magic in Orlando – how long is it until the desires of some bloggers become mainstream, and Jay Triano finds himself on the firing line? This team is not responding – the major factor is, simply put, this team is not chemically inclined to play defence. While that’s not really Triano’s fault, at some point questions will be asked if someone else can better motivate the team to shore up their weaknesses.

Truthfully, there isn’t. Triano is well-respected by his players, but you can’t teach an old dog new tricks.

This season is quickly slipping into a strange abyss – and given that it’s Bosh’s contract year, with virtually no chance of Bryan Colangelo trading during the season, logic may lean towards status quo and Triano staying.

But you know when a team is bad. And right now, watching this team, it’s bad.

There’s no doubt the Atlanta Hawks are a good basketball team. And the way the Raptors have played them in two outings this year may either mean the Hawks are very good or the Raptors are just that bad. As always, the truth lies in the middle, but Friday’s 111-89 Toronto loss spoke volumes about what’s wrong in Raptorland. Any delusions about “revenge” for the 146-115 spanking they took in the ATL nine days earlier went out the window in the second quarter with a 22-8 Hawk run led by Maurice Evans.

While some minimal defensive effort was spotted, you just get the impression that this team lacks a motor of some sort. Second-chance points continue to kill them.

“That’s a little bit deflating,” coach Jay Triano said postgame, in something of an understatement.

The bad news for Toronto is they’ve only defeated two teams all season with records over .500. In even worse news, Jose Calderon left the game at the half after re-aggravating the sore left hip that kept him out the previous two games. Disturbing word around the ACC after the game was he had been taken to hospital for diagnostic tests.

Excellent point about the Raptors lack of fibre by Captain Jack Armstrong after Chris Bosh got punked by Paul Pierce Friday night. The Celts are cocky, but personally I don’t think the facial was an intentionally dirty play – knees collide sometimes, but Jack adroitly pointing out that the only rallying Raptor was Jay Triano – who’s backing of his team has never been questioned. Dirty or not, T’s or not, plays like that need to become a rallying point.

However the fact is this is a team comprised of a superstar in his contract year (likely on his way out of town), a couple of quality European players, some journeymen and a rookie. While it causes controversy in some quarters, I’ll say it again – European athletes are soft. In-yo-face ain’t their style. On the other hand, sometimes biting genitalia while celebrating a goal is. While I like Bargnani’s demeanor, he’s not Charles Oakley. Then again nobody else is, but as I mentioned elsewhere, the absence of Reggie Evans is really screwing this team right now. And with his lingering injury I’m really starting to fear that he’s becoming a modern-day Toronto acquisition of Ken Dayley.

Maybe hope lies with Amir Johnson – I’m sure this has been pointed out, and I’m even more sure it sounds gay, but dude has the best Raptor biceps since AD.

Sports Illustrated’s NBA preview is out, and they pick the Raptors to finish second in the Atlantic, sixth in the Eastern Conference. ESPN meanwhile, is predicting Toronto seventh. Either way, that’s a playoff berth. Given the Raps’ throwaway 33-49 season last year, it’s close to constituting high praise for Bryan Colangelo’s offseason work.

Players say they never pay attention to these kinds of things, although they can also serve as a motivational tool. Chris Bosh is no different. “How many predicition polls have been correct in the past 10 years?” asked Bosh Tuesday at Raptors practice. “Let ESPN bring that up.”

The preseason’s main concern – whether or not this team has gelled yet – will soon be evident with two tough tests (Cleveland and Orlando sandwiching Memphis) in their first three regular season games. “With the number of changes that we’ve had,” said coach Jay Triano, ”we’ve got enough guys who can score, it’s just knowing where they are, small things.”

Bosh sums things up succinctly, if not simply. “We can either be good or bad, it depends on us,” he said. “I think we’re gonna be good.”

For the record, there’s a lot of pundit love for the revamped Celtics this year.

I briefly spoke with Raptors coach Jay Triano last month, and while we didn’t touch much on the upcoming season, he did reveal some interesting facts about coaching at the NBA and national level, as well as the current state of Canadian basketball. He was promoting the Campbell’s Chunky MVC – Most Valuable Coach – program, which recognizes amateur coaches from all sports across Canada. And for a guy who went from coaching the Simon Fraser University men’s team to becoming the first Canadian head coach in NBA history, he’s probably one of the right guys to talk to.

“We have 1.8 million coaches in this country, in all sports at all levels, and I just don’t think our coaches get enough recognition for what they do for our athletes,” he said.

Triano should know something about recognition issues, having coached the Canadian national men’s team for seven years. While he led the program through what was arguably one of the most successful stretches the national team has ever had, coaching basketball in a country that, sportwise, can charitably be called one-dimensional has its challenges. Three years after being replaced by Leo Rautins in 2005, Triano joined USA Basketball’s coaching staff under Duke coach Mike Krzyzewski.

“I went to Vegas (for USA Basketball’s orientation camp),” Triano recalls. “Nate McMillan was there getting picked up at the airport at the same time, so we say ‘why don’t we share a cab.’ But there’s two black limousines, one with his name on it, one with my name on it. And then we stay at the Wynn, and you get your own room.”He continues, “When I was with Canada Basketball, it was a shuttle van with everybody jammed in, taking us to a hotel that was off the (Vegas) strip, that was two people in each room.”

Triano doesn’t mean to look petty, but his comments echo ones like those of Canadian soccer player Greg Sutton. These things matter. For the record however, Triano does believe the basketball team is on the right track for now.

“Maurizio (Gherardini) has taken over with working with them, and he’s changed the atmosphere a little bit, the standards of travel have gotten better and they’re going to Europe a little more, so I think it’s started to turn the corner. I think our youth in this country is very good, and we’re moving in the right direction.”