We’re less than two weeks from things starting for real and the world keeps revolving in other ways, so hopefully Ye Olde Mailbag eventually gets back to its usual big self.
But what’s here is good, so thanks for that and enjoy.
Hi, Doug. I think it’s obvious to most that the NHL completely mishandled the issue around Pride night and players taping their sticks. Got me wondering, how does the NBA handle their “event” nights/games. Do they have a policy around such things? And I honestly don’t think I’ve seen an NBA team have a Pride night (I may have missed it), but how would the NBA handle that, do you think?
Thanks for all you do.
MSG
The Raptors have had Pride nights, but have done a poor job promoting them beforehand, which has always surprised me.
Anyway, yes, the NHL botched the tape issue horrendously. It was a mean-spirited “attack,” if you will, for no discernible reason.
For such events, the NBA would want to be apprised before and might offer guidance, but there are no hard and fast rules in place. But the league wants to know what’s going on, that’s for sure.
Hi, Doug. It’s nice to see NBA pre-season basketball. It just means games that count are that much closer!
Some questions:
1) This is one of those questions that I’m not sure if you’ll have an answer for. I’ve noticed when players born outside of North America talk to the press, in the NHL and NBA these guys overwhelmingly speak English, but in MLB they often use translators. Any thoughts as to why this seems to be so? Is MLB less concerned with integrating players into the community or their teammates? (A question of mindset?)
2) I’m very sympathetic to Masai Ujiri and Bobby Webster’s situation this off-season and feel they were unfairly ridiculed for not making any major trades. Given the fact that Precious Achiuwa was injured and Christian Koloko was out indefinitely, the team basically had Chris Boucher and Thad Young remaining as possible centres. If either or both were included in a trade (to balance salaries), the Raptors would essentially be down to one active centre (Poeltl), in addition to losing Pascal Siakam, O.G. Anunoby, Gary Trent Jr. or whoever else was included in these theoretical trades. The rumoured offer of Gradey Dick and future picks was the only shot Masai could take given the injury status of the team. Your two cents?
3) It’s super early, any teams surprising you so far this pre-season?
Thanks for writing about hoops, not hype.
Bernie M.
Yeah, we’re getting close.
If I had to guess on the language, it’s because a few Europeans may have been in North America for college, and ones who aren’t grew up in countries where English was at least a prominent second language. Not sure that’s the case with baseball players. Or, of course, it could simply be a comfort issue.
If they had dealt a centre, maybe another one would have come back in the ballast of the transaction, or they would have otherwise changed their approach to camp invites and two-way deals. So I don’t imagine it was a factor.
I’ve only watched about five minutes of the Spurs-Thunder game just to see Wembanyama and Holmgren, so I’ve got nothing on the other teams yet.
I was watching a program the other day and they were talking about NBA expansion, with Las Vegas and Seattle being mentioned.
This would bring the NBA to 32 teams. No major sports league has ever gone above 32 teams. Do you think the NBA ever will?
Paul M.
No, I don’t. I think 32 is the best and most manageable number for any league without terribly watering down the product.
And I know Seattle and Vegas are everybody’s favourites, but I wouldn’t sleep on Mexico City.
Hi, Doug. I hope that you’ve enjoyed another training camp and all that it brings. Did you get back home to Super Family for Thanksgiving?
Sorry to you and the readers for the number of questions and length of this mail, Doug. You’re the only expert with all the answers.
Over your career, have you been able to generally predict how the season will unfold by watching training camp? What do you look for? Staff-player interactions? Individual and/or team skill development? Mood?
I’m optimistic about this season. While talent wins out in the end, the move to Darko and a new staff could be as impactful as any blockbuster trade.
Watching the women’s 3×3 final from Mongolia in September, when the Canadian women beat the French to capture another title, Michelle Plouffe had what looked to be a severe knee injury on one of the final plays that kept her out of the thrilling end-of-game-winning defensive stop and basket at the buzzer. She still won the MVP. Do you have an update on her status? Can’t find info anywhere.
Curious about your thoughts on a couple of young Toronto sports stars, who resonate by their first names: Scottie and Vladdy.
Seems to me that this season for Vladdy, and last season for Scottie, they had lost some of the joy we used to see. While I understand the grind of professional sports exacts a toll, these guys seemed to have been affected by their circumstances. David Thorpe of True Hoop (who’s a confidante of Masai and whose son played with Scottie in university) believes this is the case. Maybe the trading of several of Vladdy’s best mates, and seeing their successes elsewhere, could have dampened passion. Not everybody’s built the same and, irrespective of salary, most people need some enthusiasm to get through long seasons. What have you seen? Do you have any insight or stories from the past about players who markedly changed with the addition or loss of teammates?
Wondering if you’ve read the book “The Eye Test” by Canadian journalist Chris Jones. It’s an insightful work, with real-life examples from sports, business and society where facts and data, along with in-the-moment flexibility and adaptability, make for the best innovations and winning decision-making. Your Irregulars may find it a timely read.
Are you going to the women’s Olympic pre-qualification tournament in Colombia in November? The competition will be even tougher in the final four-team tournament where it looks like the women’ll play in Hungary or China next February. Hope that you’re able to carve out space in the paper and on the website (and in your schedule) for the women’s team, too.
Interesting that the Canadian senior women’s and men’s teams are coached, excellently, by Spaniards.
Thanks for your superb insight and reporting on the gaffe, and supposed causes of it, of MLSE bailing out on the bid for the WNBA franchise. They’ll never be better timing for MLSE to go for it, business and basketball wise. That personal animosity toward Masai may have been the cause is shocking, although not so much because of from where it’s allegedly coming. Expansion fees are only going to go higher. I fear the one side of the top of the MLSE pyramid is going to make Toronto sports teams less viable on the championship side of the ledger, and perhaps less likeable and more expensive, too. This side of MLSE leadership has kept a Blue Jays upper-management team that speaks in platitudes and doesn’t learn from organizational errors.
Looking forward to your stories about the upcoming season and ramp-up to Paris 2024 with, hopefully, three hoops teams participating.
Any chance for a Star in-house basketball podcast like Wilner’s “Deep Left Field”? If you know in advance when you’re going to be on a podcast, please give us a heads-up so we’ll know where to look. Thanks.
Paul
Wow, there certainly is a lot to unpack here. You’ve been saving up, I see. (And that’s fine, really.)
The pre-season doesn’t tell an awful lot, and even less now that teams are playing fewer and fewer games. But if you’re looking for things, it’s how new guys are interacting on the court, how skills of returning players are meshing. But I’d say it takes a good 15 or 20 games before anyone knows what a team really is.
I ran into the great Kim Gaucher at Raptors camp and she said Michelle Plouffe hurt her ACL in that final and it’s unclear if she’ll be ready for any Olympic qualifier next year. I sure hope she is. She’s such a dominant 3×3 player — the best in the world, many say.
I think with many young players — Vladimir Guerrero Jr. and Scottie Barnes among them — it’s how quickly they really understand what it takes to thrive. I think a case can be made that for both of them, success came too quickly and a bit too easily, and how they mature is going to determine what they are.
I can’t imagine I’ll get to go to either of the women’s Olympic qualifiers, although I’d love to. But rest assured I’ll do my best to stay on top of the story as it unfolds.
I wouldn’t put too much into a Ujiri-Rogers conflict. I think it goes much higher on the board/ownership level, and I think the next two or three years are going to be fascinating with regards to how MLSE ownership shakes out. It’s a bit out of my wheelhouse, but we’ll try to figure it out. I will say, again, they dropped the ball on the WNBA.
I certainly can’t see a podcast in my future. Never say never, though, but I’m not getting any younger and it’s getting close to “pulling back a little” time.
Hi, Doug. I meant to get this in for the last mailbag, but was unable to. The analytics business with the Jays is inconsistent. If they are so sure about it, then why did they even start Gausman against a team that always seems to have his number? I’m not saying that they shouldn’t have started him. Finally, how accurate are analytics that are based on the regular season in the playoffs? It is a completely different entity. Cheers.
Mike K. from London
The issue with Kevin Gausman and the entire pitching rotation was that they had no time to really set it up because they waited so late to clinch a post-season berth and first things, first.
But, yeah, you can fold, spindle and mutilate most numbers to fit whatever narrative you want most of the time.
