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slingshot
crayola
Registered: Dec 2004
Location: Toronto, Ontario
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Ford is lost, and Raptors are feeling it
Bruce Arthur, National Post Published: Tuesday, March 18, 2008
http://a123.g.akamai.net/f/123/12465/1d/www.nationalpost.com/380167.bin?size=194x131
TORONTO -- If ever there was a fitting end for a disaster in five acts, the Toronto Raptors' loss in Utah Monday night was it. After losing the first four games of the trip with point guard T.J. Ford drifting further and further from his teammates, Ford cemented his isolation.
With the score tied 65-65 after three quarters against the best home team in the league, Ford missed a shot, threw the ball away twice, committed two fouls, drew two technical fouls, had to be restrained, and was ejected.
Ford left; his teammates stayed; Toronto lost.
It was the grand finale of T.J.'s badly reviewed travelling show, in which he responded to - and confirmed - his backup status by playing like a one-man band, complete with cymbal crashes. Ford's season was derailed by injuries, and a period of adjustment was expected. But right now Ford is lost, and he's screwing the entire team up. And a season that was already vaguely disappointing has taken a sharp turn for the worse.
So with a quarter of the season left, the big question for the Toronto Raptors is this: Can they fix what is wrong with T.J. Ford in time?
The short answer is that they have already tried. Ford met with both head coach Sam Mitchell and director of basketball operations Marc Eversley two weeks ago in Miami to address his frustrations, both with himself and with his role. He has talked about how, after his two stingers and a spinal bruise this season, this is yet another adjustment in a season of adjustments.
And yet he still looks like he is trying to win back his starting job from Jose Calderon on each and every play. It's dragging Calderon down, too. Since Ford returned following the all-star break, Calderon is averaging 9.1 points and 7.7 assists per game, as opposed to 13.0 and 9.2 as a starter on the season.
And that is the root of all this: T.J. Ford has never been a backup in his life. He doesn't know how to handle demotion and has no clue how to fill the role. He is a man on an ice floe, trying to paddle furiously back to land.
"T is finding his way back and dealing with a new role," Mitchell told reporters in Utah. "T.J. has a lot of stuff pent up in him."
Hopefully, some of that stuff was expelled in his tirade towards Davis, which will almost certainly draw a fine from the NBA.
But can Mitchell reach the man he demoted? And can the return of Bosh - which should occur Wednesday, barring setbacks after a workout last night - help his fellow Texan?
Maybe, and maybe. But this franchise has already done everything possible to help the kid. The Raptors added his mentor, John Lucas, to the basketball staff. Mitchell has refused to criticize Ford in the media, or in front of his teammates. Ford's teammates haven't vented their own frustration.
The organization has faith in T.J. Ford despite all the injuries, despite his occasional stubborn unpredictability, and despite this.
So now it's up to Ford to justify that faith, with the playoffs a month away.
The bigger question looming over all of this is the same one that shadows the organization. Eventually, the Raptors are going to have to make a choice between Ford and Calderon.
Don't ink Calderon into the 2008-09 starting lineup just yet. Ford is a better defender and more explosive player, and tends to best Calderon in practice when healthy. Ford won the job this season, and he could win it next season.
But it's a competition now, and the smart money would seem to be on Calderon. The third-year Spaniard has proven himself a starting point guard this season despite some defensive deficiencies, and he will command good money as a free agent this summer.
And after Toronto re-signs him, it is a safe bet that two of their four highest-paid players will play the same position, dividing up 48 minutes or so per night. Rather than spend between US$13-16-million on your point guard position, wouldn't it be more prudent to spend about US$10-million there - on one of these guys and a veteran backup - and devote the extra to your vacant small forward position?
Given Ford's injury history, and his current tailspin, Calderon would seem to be the safer choice. And if that's the case, it won't be easy to trade an undersized point guard with a scary history of spinal injuries, even with protections built into the contract that could make it possible. Pray Isiah Thomas doesn't get fired in New York.
Those, however, are questions for tomorrow. Now, as in Utah, T.J. Ford has to be brought under control. But this time he has to do it himself.
___________________
We are the kids of the quiet revolution, and we fight for a new quiet concept of evolution. We play house music.
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 Mar-19-2008 23:58 
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SuperJimbo
Jimbo. Jimmy. James.
Registered: Dec 2006
Location: It doesn't matter.
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As much as I resent TJ for being the league's biggest suck, I must admit this is probably the right move for the team at this point...
We can ditch TJ after the season is over and put Calderon back where he belongs....
The Toronto Star
Slumping Raptors shake things up
Nesterovic and Ford to replace Bargnani and Calderon in starting five
March 26, 2008
By Doug Smith
Change is coming to the Raptors starting lineup tonight.
Rasho Nesterovic and T.J. Ford are in and Andrea Bargnani and Jose Calderon are out for the struggling squad as it faces the Detroit Pistons at the Air Canada Centre.
The switch of Nesterovic for Bargnani is not a huge surprise given their play of late but changing point guards with only a dozen games left in the regular season is a big gamble and comes at the suggestion of the player being demoted.
After watching Ford struggle to find his way in a backup role, Calderon suggested – and coach Sam Mitchell agreed – that the move be made to kick-start Ford and, hopefully, the team as a whole.
Ford hasn't started a game since Dec. 12, a night when he suffered serious back and neck injuries after being clubbed to the floor by Atlanta's Al Horford.
The 25-year-old missed Toronto's next 24 games and also missed a couple of games with a strained abdominal muscle.
His play of late has been spotty, as he's found it difficult to adapt to a backup role. He's been dominating the ball on offence, trying to force himself on the game instead of simply running the offence.
Calderon, a restricted free agent at the end of the season, met with Mitchell and president Bryan Colangelo on Tuesday to discuss the switch. He sees the same things the coaches, teammates and fans do – that Ford is uncomfortable with the second unit and the team's play in deteriorating.
Toronto has won just three times in its last 14 games.
Nesterovic has proven over the last dozen games that he's worthy of being in the starting lineup. Inserted after Chris Bosh went out with a sore knee, the 31-year-old veteran averaged 13.2 points and 7.3 rebounds per game in 10 games. Overall as a starter this season, he's averaging eight points and six rebounds; he averaged four points and three rebounds coming off the bench.
Aside Bargnani's a 16-point first quarter against Denver on Sunday – the only points he scored in the game – the second-year centre has been wildly inconsistent this season.
With just 12 games left in the regular season, the Raptors are battling Washington and Philadelphia for fifth, sixth and seventh place in the Eastern Conference. Toronto takes a 35-35 record into tonight's home game.
http://www.thestar.com/printArticle/350985
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Mar-26-2008 21:07 
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