Everyone finally seems to have gotten onboard treating COVID 19 as a serious outbreak as the reality of world leaders, celebrities and sports figures coming down with the virus made headlines and forced change. However, in the race to do the right thing and accept the recommendations of medical experts, the “collective we” still aren’t always listening. Events, schools, and even some venues like museums are suppending operations in an attempt to slow the spread of the virus and the rationale is social distancing. While not every business has gotten on board such as airlines that continue to fi ..read more

There is a lot of concern about the COVID 19 virus and it’s potential impact on many aspects of our personal freedom and normal daily activities, activities like attending sporting events with large numbers of fans, but so far in North America no one seems to be  doing anything effective beyond wishful thinking and banning the media from locker rooms is doing less than nothing. The NBA has been a leader in social issues and they should be taking the lead on COVID 19 before some well meaning government agency or our litigious lawyers force more dranconian measures. To defuse possible future fea ..read more

All the talk about the Toronto Raptors heading into this season was about when President Masai Ujiri would throw in the towel and move out Kyle Lowry, Marc Gasol and/or Serge Ibaka for future assets to begin the inevitable rebuild in the post Kawhi Leonard era. Paraphasing Ujiri’s response, hold my beer…. Never once suggesting his defending NBA Champion team would slink quietly back into the north and become irrelevant, Ujiri completed a stealth reload by picking up players no one else wanted, betting on the continued development of the guys he knew and doubling down on his remaining All-Star ..read more

After winning an NBA World Championship and a FIBA World Championship in the same summer, maybe it shouldn’t come as much of a surprise that the Raptors big center Marc Gasol seems to be suffering from a bit of a championship hangover early in the new NBA season. Gasol was held out of contact drills at the start of the Raptors training camp and only saw limited action in two of Toronto’s four preseason games where he shot just 4-12 in 45 total minutes of action against defenders playing with suspect effort. “Initially, we’ll start off with holding (Gasol) out for a while,” said Raptors head co ..read more

It’s only “opening week” in the NBA, but the Philadelphia 76ers sent a message in their home opener against the Celtics, small ball is out and big MEN will determine who will win the East. ESPN’s Tim Bontemps grasped what was going on in Philly right away. The Philadelphia 76ers spent the offseason building a team focused on a very specific identity: being big and physical and imposing their will on their opponents at both ends of the court. “Overall the mentality was to go in and [play] ‘smashmouth basketball,’ as coach says, and I think we did a pretty good job,” Sixers forward Matisse Thyb ..read more

By Frank McLean Tuesday night the Raptors opened up their 25th season in the NBA by finishing off  business from last year’s championship run by handing out their championship rings and raising their championship banner. The rings are one of a kind, the diamonds have 14 carats and 650 of them total. Ring celebrations are rare if you are a Toronto sports fan and these rings are one of a kind. I covered the 1992 and 1993 Toronto Blue Jays World Championships and the rings they received comparing them to the Raptors look like something you would get as a free surprise in a box of Crackerjacks. Bu ..read more

The 2019 NBA World Champion Toronto Raptors will open the 2019-20 regular season for the NBA on Tuesday night with confidence despite all the changes that occurred during the summer. After absorbing the shock of NBA Finals MVP Kawhi Leonard’s departure to L.A., just about everyone who follows basketball has been coming to terms with the fact that this team is still pretty good. “We still good man. People are sleeping on us,” Serge Ibaka said after practice on Monday. “We got players… We know how to play together and we don’t give up. We good man.” The preseason predictions at FiveThirtyEight h ..read more

You’d think after averaging 53.5 wins over the past six seasons and an NBA championship last year the talking heads at ESPN and elsewhere would be giving Raptors president Masai Ujiri a little more respect when it comes to building a winning program? But no, instead there’s a debate if Toronto will even make the postseason. Talk about no respect. It takes a lot of effort to ignore the returning talent head coach Nick Nurse has to work with this season. FIBA world champion center Marc Gasol is back and it would be foolish to assume he won’t be just as dominate this season as he was in the playo ..read more

If you’ve been looking for a big name or proven veteran to bolster the Raptors rotation for the upcoming season, President Masai Ujiri hasn’t been listening. After signing a pair of young forwards that weren’t given a new contract by their old clubs, Ujiri has dipped back into the undrafted pool of talent to scoop up a combo guard from Ole Miss, Terence Davis. Sources: Undrafted Ole Miss guard Terence Davis has agreed to a two-year deal with the Toronto Raptors, with full guarantee in Year One. Davis turned down two-way deals during the June NBA Draft; now signing full contract. — Shams Chara ..read more

The Toronto Raptors have signed another young forward who can’t shoot giving Nets cast-off Rondae Hollis-Jefferson a second chance to prove himself in the NBA. Free agent forward Rondae Hollis-Jefferson has agreed to a one-year deal with the Toronto Raptors, league sources tell @TheAthleticNBA @Stadium. Hollis-Jefferson gets fresh opportunity in Raptors development system and sets himself up for 2020 free agency. — Shams Charania (@ShamsCharania) July 7, 2019 Hollis-Jefferson was rounding into form as a decent mid-range shooter in his third season with Brooklyn, but last year he couldn’t fi ..read more