FRIDAY THOUGHTS

TORONTO

Toronto closed out a strong January with a double digit win over the Wiz, putting them at 10-5 for the month and 23-23 on the year--the only team in the Atlantic Division at .500.

Since Chris Bosh returned from injury, he's averaging 25 & 9 in 15 games in his march to superstardom. His performance in that Wizards game showed how dominant he can be--and why the Wizards, although fun to watch, aren't even remotely close to being a championship contender. Big Chris went for 34 & 8 and made 15 straight shots at one point. You can't blame this one on Antawn Jamison's matador defense, this game came after Jamison's injury (which will put him out somewhere between 2 and 8 weeks...WTF? Maybe you should cover all your bases and say he could come back any time between four minutes from now and 2010). Bosh is just unstoppable on the box against anyone, a great combination of size, power, quickness, footwork, hands, and a beautiful touch around the basket. Interesting side note: Bosh is 10-26 in threes this year, good for 38.5%. (But you kinda hope he never develops into a real threat from there; the last thing you want from your dominant post scorer is for him to turn into Rasheed Wallace and jack up 5 threes a game when he should be pounding down low).

Another guy playing well in Toronto is Jose Calderon, the 25-year-old point guard out of Spain. In the 8 games he started in place of injured TJ Ford, Calderon has averaged 14/2.8/8.6 against only 2.1 turnovers. He's not a great outside shooter, surprising for a Euro, but he's a great penetrator and ballhandler and really makes things happen for this offense. A great guy to have coming off the bench.

ORLANDO

I've had a couple people ask about Orlando, but I don't have many answers. Well, I have one--Brian Hill. Why pro sports teams keep recycling these proven losers (like Dallas with Norv fucking Turner?!) is beyond me. Yes, Brian Hill once won with Shaquille O'Neal and Afernee Hardaway. You know what other coaches could win with a young Shaq and Penny? ALL OF THEM. He had plenty of chances after that and never won shit. But instead of taking a chance on a young, energetic coach--Avery Johnson seems to be working out pretty well--some of these teams just go with the tried and untrue. They'd rather have a proven loser than the unknown, I just don't get it.

So we have Orlando--possibly the most talented team in the East--floundering at 24-22. And it's even worse than it looks, since they've played 27 of those 46 games in conference; what's going to happen when they have to run the gamut against the Western powerhouses? This team's a mess.

I'm not saying this is the specific reason, but I always hate teams that play those 10-man rotations where everyone gets 20-30 minutes. Orlando doesn't play an aggressive, attacking, uptempo style (quite the opposite, really), so it's not like guys are just playing their asses off for 5 minute stretches and then needing a rest. So it's more like substituting for substituting's sake. Well, look at it this way. Either Jameer Nelson or Carlos Arroyo is the better player. Whichever one you think it is (Nelson), someone's better--so every minute the better guy is on the bench (and not because he's in dire need of rest), your team is worse off. Now that's obviously a generalization, sometimes you substitute because the bench player matches up better against a particular team than the starter; that's not what I'm talking about here. You don't owe anything to Carlos Arroyo--you use him when it makes sense to use him. But Hill comes into a game thinking he *has* to get Arroyo his 20-25 minutes, no matter what. Well, sometimes that means you're playing him 10-15 minutes a game where your team is worse off for it. It makes no sense. But then neither does the fact that Hill's in the league at all.

QUICK HITTERS

Houston continues to play well without Yao, going 7-3 in their last 10 and pushing their record to 29-16 overall, 1.5 games ahead of the Lakers for that all important 5 seed (which means you get to play Utah instead of San Antonio). Very impressive job by Jeff Van Gundy, he's the Coach of the Year in a walk right now. Also it's nice to see T-Mac come alive, I'd almost forgotten how good he is when completely healthy. In 13 January games, he averaged a shade under 30 along with 6 boards and 7 assists, shot .472 from the floor, and turned the ball over only 2.5 times per game. Nice fill-in work too by Mutumbo (who I talked about last week) and Juwan Howard (averaged 15/6/2 in Jan).

Rocky start to the AI-Melo era in Denver, they lost 3 straight after winning their first 2, including a couple embarassing home losses to the Bobcats and Jefferson-less Nets. Then they lost on the road to Portland, a team they should easily beat even without Iverson (he had a sprained ankle & is expected back shortly). The biggest problem has been Carmelo, he's been very rusty since coming back from suspension--in the 6 games since he's been back, he's shot 50% once and was under in the other 5. The Nuggets are currently tied for the #7 playoff spot with a surging Clippers (7-3 in their last ten), just a game ahead of the hard-battling Timberwolves (led by Garnett's 25/13/4 averages in December).

Speaking of surging teams--well, surging for them--the Bobcats have gone 8-5 in their last 13 games, with wins at Detroit, at Denver and at LA Lakers. Gerald Wallace in particular has been on a tear; in 8 January games after getting back from injury, Wallace is averaging 23/9/3 with 2 steals and a block, and shooting .546 from the floor. He's a tough matchup, a guy who can overpower your shooting guard (like he does with Kobe), and blow past your bigger forwards (like he does with Luke Walton).

Advice for fantasy players--if Paul Millsap is available in your league, jump on him. Boozer is out at least a month, and Millsap is extremely productive when he gets minutes. He scores (with a huge FG%), he rebounds, he gets blocks and steals. In the first 3 games without Boozer, he's averaged 15 & 12 with a steal and 2 blocks per.

NEXT WEEK: ALL-STAR TEAMS