NBA Chat With Stephen Brotherston 2/25/13

Join HOOPSWORLD’s Stephen Brotherston for his weekly NBA Chat covering the Toronto Raptors and all things NBA every Monday at 3pm ET.

Remember chats fill up quickly so get your comments and questions in now.

You can follow Stephen on Twitter @stevesraptors or subscribe on Facebook

Please note: Due to the home game vs the Wizards on Monday night, today’s chat will start and end a 1/2 hour earlier than scheduled.

  1. Jaimeson

    Is Kyrie a newer version of AI? A better shooting one with no off court distractions so far. Just got to see if he holds up health wise.

    • Stephen Brotherston

      Welcome to this afternoon’s chat.
      We are kicking things off a little early as I’ll be heading out to cover tonight’s Raptors v Wizards game at the ACC.

      It is very hard to directly compare players from different eras and backgrounds. Irving is on a long term annual All-Star track. Whether he can carry a team to an NBA Finals is yet to be determined – but I do like the talent Cleveland is building around him. It has to be exciting for the fans in Cleveland.

      That lack of off court distractions isn’t a minor thing to me & health is always an issue – the league demands so much from these kids.

  2. Steve

    What is your take on bargnani being booed?

    • Stephen Brotherston

      Fans have a right to boo. You buy a ticket – you can can boo anyone, anytime.

      Of course if fans think this is going to help the situation or make Toronto a more attractive free agent destination or not be a distraction to the rest of the team and possibly cost the team a shot at the playoffs – they should think again – if they care?

      But – Fans have a right to boo – just don’t expect it will ever make a player on the home team actually play any better.

  3. Steve

    Do you think Toronto should’ve just dealt bargnani at the trade deadline regardless of his value?

    • Stephen Brotherston

      No.

      Toronto is over the salary cap. Even without Bargnani’s salary, they will still be over the cap. Bargnani’s $10m contract is the only asset they have to pair with another contract to go fishing for a Pau Gasol or Carlos Boozer or other high priced player in the trade market this summer – And there will be a trade market this summer of teams wanting to get below or just lower their luxury tax situation heading into next season.

      No Bargnani = no big trade asset/contract = no big trade possibly this summer

  4. Peter

    Hey Stephen! How was weekend? The Lakers are on a roll right now (I can finally say that about the lakers lol), do you think they can make the playoffs or Hou and Uth are just too far ahead? IF the LAL do make the PO, I DON’T wanna play them.

    • Stephen Brotherston

      About time too – Lakers had too much talent to be that bad.

      Hard to see Houston folding now & Utah has a tough roster – the hill isn’t impossible to climb, but the Lakers will need help to climb it.

      If the Lakers sneak into 8th – the Spurs are not exactly going to be scared.

  5. JT

    While you are my favourite chat guy, your biased opinions are ridiculous (coming from a Laker fan as well!) last week you said Both Wolves and Raptors would say no to Wolves- Love, Pekovic, Roy, Barrea
    Raptors- Bargs, Val, DeRozan, Kleiza. You’re answer because Raptors aren’t giving up Val. WHAT! You won’t give up Val for Love and Pekovic and a backup point that you needed! Clearly a one sided trading favouring raptors so ofcourse Wolves would say no but if Raptors were to say no to that then they deserve were they have been.

    • Stephen Brotherston

      If you knew Bryan Colangelo – you’d know the chances of getting DeRozan & Valanciunas are slim & none, and slim just left town.

      Equally, the Wolves are not parting with Love unless its a contract year and Love is saying that he’s not staying.

      If you have no bias, you are either not being honest with yourself or you’re not interested(in which case you’d be flippant) We all have bias about things we have a strong interest in. If there were no bias, we’d never see a trade happen.

  6. francis

    do u see the raptors making a push for the 8th seed and is sebastian telfair playing tonight

    • Stephen Brotherston

      Telfair will have trouble cracking a lineup that is working well, especially this soon – foul trouble or injury is his ticket in.

      Raptors never gave up on 8th – but the big push started 10 games ago when RG arrived.

  7. Clarence

    When will some Raptor fans realize that their actions towards Andrea will not only hurt the current team, but it will affect future players signing in Toronto?

    Basketball is a team sport and the only thing that should matter is if the team is winning and not one player’s lack of performance.

    I hope that Andrea understands that for every one fan that boo’s him, thousands support him. He needs to just go out and have fun playing the game.

    • Stephen Brotherston

      Some fans in the building might realize their actions are not helping, but I wouldn’t count on it.

      Unfortunately it will be up to Andrea to figure out how to play thru this.

      I would really rather have a playoff game in Toronto than boo anybody.

  8. DRE

    Hello,

    What are you thoughts on the Bargnani booing?

    Its great that his teammates and coaches are sticking up for him. However I feel that the fans that are booing him have had enough and its hard to argue. This is not just about his recent play its 7 years of frustration. He is shown that he is capable of great things which just infuriate fans even more. I think Casey said it best “He can control the crowd by his play, his approach, his body language”.

    • Stephen Brotherston

      Hot topic in Toronto.

      Bargnani can work his way past this, but it isn’t going to be easy – the worst part is the team might be forced into running plays to get him easy baskets instead of the plays they’d rather run just to shut up the crowd.

  9. Jeffrey

    Stephen ,
    I believe the cavs have the right to switch their pick from Miami this year (28 or 29) with the Lakers pick because of the sessions deal last year. But how does that work if the Lakers owe a pick to the suns? Can the cavs only swap the pick if the Lakers make the playoffs, or could they swap it if the Lakers r in the lottery with the suns getting the pick that would b Miami’s and the Lakers getting no pick?

    • Stephen Brotherston

      Cavaliers Team salary Page

      Hoopsworld has the details in the team salary page

      2013 – Have the right to swap lowest (closest to 30) first-rounder with Los Angeles Lakers (Ramon Sessions), although if Lakers are a lottery team it goes to the Phoenix Suns. The Cavaliers can swap either their own pick or the Miami/Sacramento with the Lakers. If the Lakers make the postseason, it would be probably be the Miami pick to Cleveland.

  10. #supportandrea

    Hey Stephen,

    I love the Rudy Gay trade and feel that it illustrates how the Raptors need to continue to be ready to pull off similar moves in the future if they’re out there.

    That being said, Is it actually better for the Raptors to compete hard but come up just short of the playoffs this year? i know making them is the next step but i believe we need to give up our draft pick to OKC or establish that it is ours for the year (i.e. draft night and we retained the pick) before we can ever include our pick in trades. I think having control of our first will be very valuable if another situation similar to the rudy trade arises in season and the Raps want to make a move. Any thoughts? And correct me if I’m wrong, I’m not entirely sure about the rules regarding picks when we’ve got a protected pick hanging out there

    As a Raptors fan i will support and cheer for my team 100% (stop booing bargs ppl, it helps no one) and coming back all the way back to make the playoffs would be amazing and i hope they accomplish the feat, but big picture im already happy with the fight they’ve been showing to come back from 4-19 and would not be disappointed to see the draft pick situation sorted out. It’s a valuable asset and trades are currently the most effective way for the Raps to add talent IMO (i.e. lowry, Gay)

    • Stephen Brotherston

      For next season, ending up out of the playoffs this season gives the Raptors control over their 1st round draft pick again (for next season) and this does make things better for doing trades in the summer – the trade protections of that draft pick create a mess otherwise.

      The Raptors got a starting PG for that messy protected pick though – that’s a pretty good deal – they just have to live with the consequences.

  11. Stantonia

    How is Pau Gasol coming along? Will he make it back in the regular season or would the Lakers need to make the playoffs for him to be back this season?

    • Stephen Brotherston

      Its unlikely Pau is back before April & possibly not before the playoffs start. This depends on how fast his foot heals and there are no guarantees on that one. He will be back sometime between April 1 and Oct 1 and we won’t know when until just before he steps on the court. At least he didn’t have the surgery and its still possible he returns in time to get in shape before the playoffs start.

  12. dub

    What will the raptors look to address in the offseason? I would think they will be looking for a new home for bargs. What else do they have the money to do? and how do you expect they will spend it?

    • Stephen Brotherston

      The new CBA changes everything and there are no straight answers for most questions. No the Raptors will not have cap room to go after free agents. They might have exceptions depending on what else they do. They will be looking at trades – we know Bargnani has been/will be in play. They might possibly try sign & trades, but the rules have really changed here as well – not so easy anymore. The Lakers Steve Nash S&T can’t be done anymore.

      Casey says he wants to add toughness – that says a lot.

  13. dub

    If Thomas Robinson was a available wouldnt you think there was a deal to be had for bargs? He would have been a great stretch 4 to play with cousins and raps could have had their PF for the future that could have developed behind amir.

    • Stephen Brotherston

      I like Robinson, but I don’t really want to see another young inexperienced player that is 2-3 years away added to the roster.

      It seems like the Maloofs did that deal to squeeze out another $2m into their pockets before the sale of their team closed – that didn’t look or feel like a basketball trade – of course I could be wrong, the Maloofs didn’t want or need the money and were just looking out for the future of their franchise?

  14. dub

    Do you think that our backup pg going forward is in toronto right now? I dont mind lucas as the 3rd pg but i think BC lets him or telfair walk this summer in hopes of getting someone else to be the primary backup.

    • Stephen Brotherston

      Every player over the last 30 games is auditioning for next season. I’d give Telfair a good shot at proving he can fit in – he has friends on the Raptors. ST fits as the 2nd or 3rd PG & having a couple of vets in that spot is pretty solid

  15. Kuda

    Hey Stephen hope all is well,
    1) whose to blame about the Andrea situation and lack of growth?
    2)Is demoting him to the bench or D-League an option the Raptors looked at so as to motivate him?
    Thanks #GOJays

    • Stephen Brotherston

      Bargnani has been injured for a significant number of games in each of the past 3 seasons. It has hurt his game. He doesn’t get back into game shape very quickly during the season.

      After Bosh left, making Bargnani the face of the franchise was obviously a mistake. Having Jay Triano tell him he had to score more for the team to win was probably even worse as that’s when he stopped playing defense.

      Negativity is rarely a motivating tool – more like a why should I bother anymore tool – but Bargnani has not taken coming off the bench negatively, he knows he needs to get back into game shape before he can play more minutes.

  16. Dd

    Do you think Kleiza’s NBA career is all but finished?

  17. Alan Anderson the Chucker

    Alan Anderson was a great find by BC. Does he have another year on his contract? Will he be on the raptors next season?

    • Stephen Brotherston

      Alan is on a 1-yr deal. Casey wants him back. I’d expect he’ll return

  18. Martin Prince

    Whose your current favorite raptor?

  19. Poopsworld

    What could Jonas Val do to get minutes in the 4th quarter aside from blow outs?

    • Stephen Brotherston

      Its going to be based on matchups & foul trouble. Amir has the big man spot in the small lineup and has Casey’s confidence for defense. If the other team runs out 2 bigs and JV is playing well, he’ll get out there.

  20. Mayor Ford

    Better rookie season: Bargs or Jonas?

    Better player as a rookie: Bargs or Jonas?

    • Stephen Brotherston

      Bargs was have a really good rookie season until his appendix went – solid argument for ROY if he kept upping his game to the end.

      JV is having a good rookie season – definitely showing signs of becoming Tyson Chandler like on defense – but with the injuries & restricted playing time, he hasn’t been as good as Bargs was to the same point in the season. Still time left….

  21. Kardinal Offishall

    How do you see Redick fitting in in MIL? How do they finish the year (W-L). How many wins do the Raps need to get past Bucks?

    • Stephen Brotherston

      Other than the Bucks think Monta or Jennings are gone (or if Monta ops in, they’ll trade him?) – Not sure why the Bucks needed another guard that can hoist up shots?

      Ideal number to get into the playoffs is 41. 18 more wins for Toronto. But the Bucks have been sliding, if they don’t stop, 15 wins might be more than enough

  22. Benoît Lelievre

    What is your opinion about that Rockets-Kings trade? Why would any team do that to herself?

    • Stephen Brotherston

      It looks like a trade done for the money – but TR wasn’t getting much burn in Sactown. Have to believe the Rockets are pretty happy about it.

  23. Marcus Allon

    What do you think of the Drummond over Terence Ross Debate in regards to the 2012 draft?

    • Stephen Brotherston

      Drummond responded especially well to Lawrence Frank – Frank said it even surprised him. The back injury is a concern, but assuming Drummond improves his conditioning this summer and has no lingering ill effects from the cracked vertebra – Drummond was the steal of the draft. (Lillard wasn’t stolen at 6th)

      Ross shows lots of potential – a solid wing who can defend and score. Raptors are pretty happy with their selection.

      That’s all for today.
      Thanks for all the great questions & comments