{"id":174901,"date":"2025-09-28T10:12:11","date_gmt":"2025-09-28T10:12:11","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/174901\/"},"modified":"2025-09-28T10:12:11","modified_gmt":"2025-09-28T10:12:11","slug":"why-is-this-team-getting-so-much-hate","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/174901\/","title":{"rendered":"Why is this team getting so much hate?"},"content":{"rendered":"

Here\u2019s a whole bunch of stuff to digest before the NBA<\/a> season really opens here Monday and the baseball playoffs are upon us.<\/p>\n

Hi, Doug.\u00a0St. John\u2019s Ambulance has extra staff around the Rogers Centre, no further comments on that topic!<\/p>\n

On to basketball! Some questions:<\/p>\n

1) Following up on the \u201caimless\u201d question from last week, similarly many NBA writers seem to expect virtually no improvement in the Raptors<\/a> win total. This is regardless of the presence of Brandon Ingram. Any idea why that is? It seems like there\u2019s doubts surrounding fit or chemistry or something? Why the nearly unanimous hate?<\/p>\n

<\/p>\n


\n \"Bobby
\n <\/a><\/p>\n

The Raptors\u2019 presumptive starting five of Immanuel Quickley, RJ Barrett, Scottie Barnes, Brandon Ingram and Jakob Poeltl haven\u2019t played together <\/p>\n

<\/p>\n


\n \"Bobby
\n <\/a><\/p>\n

The Raptors\u2019 presumptive starting five of Immanuel Quickley, RJ Barrett, Scottie Barnes, Brandon Ingram and Jakob Poeltl haven\u2019t played together <\/p>\n

2) A wise man once said every team is one injury away from disaster! This sounds like the Rockets. Do you think their season is salvageable? Does the Tyler Herro surgery open up the East a bit more?<\/p>\n

3) A question for GM Doug. After how many games will we know what we have and what we don\u2019t?<\/p>\n

4) Haven\u2019t thought about this much, but is booing the U.S. anthem over? Maybe we could alternatively have the entire Scotiabank Arena belting out \u201cO Canada\u201d as a patriotic alternative. Pretty sure most fans don\u2019t hate all 300 million-plus Americans, but one trumps them all, so to speak.<\/p>\n

I won\u2019t say it\u2019s hate. Rather, it\u2019s show-us, and frankly the Raptors haven\u2019t. Yes, Ingram is intriguing, but he hasn\u2019t played since last December. Yes, the East is diminished, but Toronto\u2019s shown nothing in reality. No one knows what will happen. I think they will be better, but I can understand why others would think they won\u2019t be.<\/p>\n

I no longer consider the Rockets legitimate champion contenders and they were with Fred VanVleet<\/a>. But I could be surprised, so I wouldn\u2019t say unsalvageable. Besides, other guys might get hurt, too.<\/p>\n

I always say 20 games is a legitimate barometer of where a team is at, and there\u2019s no reason to change from that right now.<\/p>\n

I think the booing is over \u2014 unless the guy does something egregious again \u2014 and I wish the entirety of playing the anthems was over. But that won\u2019t happen and the urge to boo\/cheer lustily will arise again at some flare point. Otherwise, people will barely notice it.<\/p>\n

Best of ongoing summer lounging to you, Doug.<\/p>\n

World athletics and women\u2019s Rugby World Cup have been beauty to watch. We are a hammer-throwing nation and hammer-and-tong tacklers on the pitch. While Summer McIntosh and Shai Gilgeous-Alexander lead the way, what a cornucopia of Canadian athletic successes to choose from for this year\u2019s Northern Star Award. Good luck to you and the committee on making a difficult choice. On the other hand, I guess you can\u2019t go wrong.<\/p>\n

Has the committee ever talked about adding awards? The Northern Star Awards for teams, women and men?<\/p>\n

Soon you\u2019ll be in Calgary and it\u2019s game on for another fall-winter-spring hoops season. While we know you\u2019ve been on the Raps beat since Day 1 (oh my, this September makes season 31) if we cut open Doug Smith, how many basketball rings would we count? What was your first experience with Mr. Naismith\u2019s game?<\/p>\n

I was intrigued by your rankings of basketball importance in the past mailbag: World Cup, Olympics, EuroBasket, NBA. What are your criteria?<\/p>\n

After watching so many stars play in EuroBasket, and so few in the AmeriCup, I fear many Canadians will never get the necessary FIBA experience at the senior men\u2019s level before they sign up to strive for gold at the World Cup or Olympics. Players and team play are getting better and better worldwide. Nothing is a given for Canada. Even the U.S.A. is in danger of becoming \u201cone of the teams\u201d in another generation. Number of players in the NBA means less and less.<\/p>\n

There are several potential Canadian senior men\u2019s players, who didn\u2019t make the NBA playoffs or were eliminated early and were without an injury, who could have spent a week in training camp and less than two weeks in Managua.<\/p>\n

It\u2019s not about skill development; these guys are all good and getting better individually. They\u2019re already training during their off-season. Summer national team ball is about crafting the culture of a team in a FIBA tournament and carrying that experience and bond forward to win the most difficult global basketball titles. It\u2019s so hard to reach the podium at international events.<\/p>\n

Even a veteran like Norman Powell played for Jamaica this summer to get ready for World Cup qualifying. Powell understood he needed this experience to get better.<\/p>\n

Well, lots to unpack here, let\u2019s get to it. And I\u2019ll save a bit for next week if you don\u2019t mind. Don\u2019t want to get too long in one day.<\/p>\n

I\u2019m not privy to any high level Northern Star discussions other than voting on the winner, but my sense is they are just fine with it being an individual rather than\u00a0 expanding to each gender and team. And I\u2019m fine with that. The Canadian Press administers its male, female and team athlete of the year, which is fine.<\/p>\n

Me? This is my 31st of 31 training camps \u2014 I\u2019ll be heading to Alberta after Monday\u2019s media day here. But how many rings? I can recall as a very young teen watching Bill Russell and the Celtics win every championship in the mid-1960s and \u201cplaying\u201d pretend games in a buddy\u2019s driveway with what was a fake basket nailed to an eaves. And way, way, way back in the day, I was a proud member of the Stamford CVI \u201cmidget\u201d team in Grade 9, used to meet buddies in the \u201cgym\u201d of the Lundys Lane United Church hall about the same era. So maybe 50, 52 years ago? That\u2019s a lot of years.<\/p>\n

I rank global events as World Cup, EuroBasket, Olympics and NBA Finals in that order for one reason: The first two (and the first is bloated, let\u2019s not forget that) are solely basketball events, resonate for the sport and always attract the best players. Or should. I think the Olympics are too hard to get into and too easy to win in and get lost a bit in the deluge of sports, and I get that it means more in North America, but that\u2019s our fault.<\/p>\n

CFL rule changes:\u00a0Doug, what a dumb idea to reduce the size of the CFL playing field at a time when players are bigger and faster than ever. U.S. teams outgrew the smaller size of their field decades ago, so that every play is now a battle of attrition with virtually no movement, despite their four downs to our three. Your thoughts?<\/p>\n

<\/p>\n


\n \"The
\n <\/a><\/p>\n

I\u2019m glad they stayed with the wide field because that\u2019s the true differentiation in the games. And they better not mess with it and three downs and 12 players, but I fear this past week\u2019s moves are the thin edge of the wedge.<\/p>\n

And I get there needed to be something done to re-energize the fan base, but I don\u2019t think they needed to do all they did. I cannot for the life of me figure out why cutting off 10 yards in the middle of the field seemed necessary, and while I can see that the middle of the end zone may open for more passing touchdowns, I wonder how many touchdown passes caught between 15 to 20 yards deep in the end zone will be lost.<\/p>\n

Hi, Doug.\u00a0Hope you are well. I know you are not really a pucks guy, but a story out of the Leafs<\/a> had me thinking about some broader sports issues, so I hope you can oblige my curiosity.<\/p>\n

The Leafs have given their goalie Joseph Woll an indefinite amount of time off to deal with a personal issue. This is, of course the right thing to do and happens in every sport (eg. Kyle Lowry a couple of years ago). I would wholeheartedly support the player\u2019s right to keep whatever is going on personal and private. I would say, however, that I was quite surprised when Leafs GM Brad Treliving seemed to go out of his way to point out that this was not an alcohol or other substance abuse issue. Usually the fans are just told the issue is private and left at that.<\/p>\n

<\/p>\n


\n \"Maple
\n <\/a><\/p>\n

Which had me thinking \u2026.<\/p>\n

1) Have there been any other times that you are aware of when professional players have taken time off and the message was that it was not substance abuse?<\/p>\n

2) I guess the most logical reason for the GM to say that would be because the internet is such a miserable place at times that they didn\u2019t want rumours to spread. Would you concur?<\/p>\n

3) The cynic (conspiracist?) in me wonders if that comment has anything to do with sports betting. Gambling has been blended into so many facets of professional sports (much to its detriment) that I can\u2019t help but wonder if there are some odds on the player\u2019s stats that would change if he had a substance abuse issue.<\/p>\n

And a totally random Kawhi Leonard question. Does he still drive his \u201997 Chevy Tahoe?<\/p>\n

I know of athletes who have taken absences, extended or not, to care for ill family members and\/or spend last days\/weeks with loved ones. Lots of very, very good reasons.<\/p>\n

And yes, because of the irresponsibility that\u2019s rampant on the interweb, I can see teams wanting to nip misinformation in the bud to protect the players.<\/p>\n

Sadly, that\u2019s the era we live in and it absolutely extends to the all-pervasive gambling aspects of our times and leagues and teams have to be wary of that, which is in part the reason more of them are more transparent with things like injuries and personal leaves.<\/p>\n

Hello, Doug.\u00a0Still going strong I see!<\/p>\n

Kyle Lowry is joining Amazon Prime\u2019s NBA broadcast crew, which last I looked included\u00a0Ian Eagle, Kevin Harlan, Stan Van Gundy, Dell Curry, Allie Clifton, Steve Nash, Dwyane Wade and Candace Parker.<\/p>\n

My goodness that\u2019s \u2026 ambitious.<\/p>\n

Watching this group\u2019s chemistry develop might be a better storyline than some of the teams they\u2019ll be broadcasting.<\/p>\n

Are you looking forward to watching them?<\/p>\n

<\/p>\n


\n \"Kyle
\n <\/a><\/p>\n

I\u2019m not sure how much we\u2019ll be able to see up here \u2014 and I am not paying extra to stream an American network, regardless \u2014 but I think it\u2019s interesting to see which play-by-play people are with which analysts and which others are teamed panels.<\/p>\n

I suspect there will be a lot of mixing and matching to find combinations that work; my feeling is always that too many voices cloud any broadcast.<\/p>\n

But I do want to see how our friend Kyle sneaks away from his team often enough to do any broadcast work. Of course, it\u2019s an easy limo ride from Philly to New York.<\/p>\n

I seem to be hearing a lot more about NBAers being interested in playing golf. Do you notice a huge difference in this during your time covering the league?<\/p>\n

It\u2019s a noticeable increase because of things like FaceGram and InstaChat where we\u2019re inundated with off-season hijinks of athletes. My guess is that players have loved to play golf in the off-season in these numbers in the past, it\u2019s just that no one was dogging them with cameras every day and they weren\u2019t promoting their own selves.<\/p>\n

Hi, Doug.\u00a0So, you are back into the NBA marathon. I hope everybody wants to talk to you and answer all your questions clearly, concisely and correctly. All flights are on time, all food is fine, all stools are welcoming, all hotels are comfy and all beverages are precisely to your taste (oh, and the games are good).<\/p>\n

I was hoping this question was going to be all about the success of the women playing positionless rugby, but, alas, the CFL rule changes dropped.<\/p>\n

This looks like an argument between people who are interested in Canadian football and people who are interested in making money from Canadian football (and thinking that making it look like American\u00a0football will help with that).<\/p>\n

<\/p>\n


\n \"Bobby
\n <\/a><\/p>\n

If you wanted to spin Friday as the dawn of a new Raptors era, there was a way to get there.<\/p>\n

<\/p>\n


\n \"Bobby
\n <\/a><\/p>\n

If you wanted to spin Friday as the dawn of a new Raptors era, there was a way to get there.<\/p>\n

I am not sanguine about the chances of heading this off with reasoned arguments about the consequences of the rule changes. I think this requires an attack on the pocketbooks. I am thinking a direct boycott\u00a0of the games is not the way to go. I am looking to organize a list of advertisers and invite people to boycott them.<\/p>\n

I understand you may not be in a position to publicly offer political advice in this area, but I would be interested in your comments.<\/p>\n

I wouldn\u2019t know where to start to make that list. Each team has so many in-market \u201cpartners\u201d and I suppose the national sponsors\/partners can be found by watching TV games?<\/p>\n

As for the value or impact of a boycott? I honestly don\u2019t think it could possibly be as wide ranging as to have a real impact on the companies, or the league.<\/p>\n

My sense is that the outrage has diminished, but I stand by my original reaction: I cannot see these rule changes attracting as many new fans as it will drive away older ones.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Here\u2019s a whole bunch of stuff to digest before the NBA season really opens here Monday and the…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":174902,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[557],"tags":[64,63,590,85],"class_list":{"0":"post-174901","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-nba","8":"tag-au","9":"tag-australia","10":"tag-nba","11":"tag-sports"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/174901","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=174901"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/174901\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/174902"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=174901"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=174901"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=174901"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}