Hooped Up

A move made too often?
It was early in the game, first quarter if my chicken-scratch notes are to be believed, when Andrea Bargnani did it again.

He gets the ball about 18 feet from the basket, pump fakes to get his man in the air and when the guy doesn’t bite, Andrea still tries to lean in, draw contact and a foul and hoists some odd, flat, silly shot.

Didn’t get the foul – which was the right call by the officials – didn’t make the shot and it’s about the third or fourth time in the last couple of weeks I can remember him pulling off the same play. And I don’t remember it working too often.

It’s maybe something he only wants to pull out rarely, or work more often on in practice because he doesn’t quite have it down pat.
Toronto Star
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Andrea Bargnani is not worth $10 million a year, but jams like these make me think — he’s still not worth $10 million a year. This was a pretty sweet dunk though.

90% of the time, Chris Andersen doesn’t end up on the wrong side of a poster inducing jam. Enter Andrea Bargnani aka the other 10% to Andersen. I’m sure somebody with a Villa on Lake Como can’t wait to hang this beauty over their fireplace.

It’s no secret that I don’t think Andrea Bargnani is worth the bag of money the Raptors resigned him to this summer, but if he keeps making plays like this — I’ll weaken my stance on this topic a micro-tad.  After receiving this sweet feed from Jarrett Jack, Il Mago does what all tall dudes on the break with a good basketball IQ should do.

Considered yourself served.

Another van glorious season of NBA basketball is about to begin and Hooped Up does a quick and dirty preview of all 30 clubs.

The Raptors appear to be heading north as an organization, making few mistakes to improve their roster along the way. Cool handed GM Brian Colangelo had another productive summer adding Hedo Turkoglu, Marco Belinelli, Reggie Evans, Amir Johnson, Rasho Nesterovic and promising rookie DeMar DeRozan to the mix and on paper things look like they’ll improve in Toronto. Read More »

Who punched, who??? Don’t worry I know about as much as you do about these guys, but what do know is that Mancinelli does not like Doornekamp.

During a yesterdays “friendly” game between Canada versus Italy. Canuck Aaron Doornekamp got levelled by an elbow/ forearm / fist from Italy’s Stefano Mancinelli. My Italian is pretty rough but, from the looks of it Mancinelli dealt out a can of whoop @ss because both he and Doornekamp have last names with 10-characters and Mancinelli doesn’t like to share the spotlight.

For your bit of NBA relavence, watch as Raptors Andrea Bargnani and Marco Belinelli play rich guy peacemakers.

BTW, Italy won the contest 81-75.

When did Andrea Bargnani turn into Dirk Nowitzki? Or when did Bryan Colangelo turn into Isiah Thomas? Over night, the Toronto Raptors have decided to mortgage their future on the the inconsistent play of  Bargnani and will sign the 7-footer to a $10 million / year deal. No, really.

Bargnani’s agent, Leon Rose, told ESPN.com on Tuesday night that the Raptors — who later this week will officially sign Turkoglu away from Orlando — have reached an agreement in principle on a contract extension for the 7-foot Italian, who was selected No. 1 overall by the Raptors in the 2006 draft.

The deal, according to NBA front-office sources, would span five seasons starting in 2010-11 and earn Bargnani an estimated $50 million.

I hope I’m wrong, but this signing is a terrible turrible idea and nobody should be surprised if Chris Bosh Read More »

Andrea Bargnani is definitely on fire these days and that could be bad for Jermaine O’Neal, if he really likes Toronto. But, who doesn’t want to live in a city without Sneaky Dee’s anyway? Anyway, “Il Mago”  has averaged 22.3 points a game, 7.1 rebounds and 1.3 blocks, while shooting 55.7 per cent from the floor and a sizzling 57.8 per cent from three-point land while O’Neal has been injured and the Raptors brass might want to “make room” like the Alkoholics track for development of Bargarni  to continue. According to the Globe and Mail , O’Neal sounds pretty cool about whatever happens, though.

“If I was to get traded, God bless ‘em,” Jermaine O’Neal said after practice yesterday. “I have a really good agent in Arn Tellum and he keeps me aware of what teams are trying to acquire me. … And [Raptors president] Bryan Colangelo? He’s my man. We have a very friendly relationship and I respect his view.” 

If the Raptors can pick up a slash and havoc guard or small forward, they need to do a deal now! Otherwise, patience is the key because there is always room for a quality big man on any NBA roster and Jay Triano will find a way to get what he needs out of the former all-star Jermaine O’Neal when he’s health.

If the Phoenix Suns trade Steve Nash to the Toronto Raptors, my chances of getting this wicked job has hope too. According to Sam Smith, the Phoenix Suns have been offered a deal by the Toronto Raptors that would have Jose Calderon, Andrea Bargnani, Anthony Parker, Jason Kopono and perhaps Jamario Moon going to the Suns. Going back to Toronto would be Nash, Leandro Barbosa and Robin Lopez.

This deal makes a lot of sense for Toronto because it would have the best player ever Canada has ever produced (sorry Bill Wennington) coming back home. Plus the Suns, might as well make a deal for a new point guard after they soured Nash by dealing his boys Diaw and Bell to the Bobcats.

As soon as they did that Nash was guaranteed to be Audi 5000 in 2010. Still Nash is a future Hall of Famer and him being traded by the Suns would not make the Phoenix faithful happy.

If this trade happens, lets hope I get that job too.

After things went totally haywire Wednesday night at H.U.H (Hooped Up Headquarters), Andrea Bargnani went baseline on a  Mrs. Fletcher like Reggie Evans for the “Buon giorno, Principessa” dunk. Yes this happened a few days ago but, it’s way to funny to go unnoticed.

Maybe next time, Evans will use LifeCall for some help side defense. My damn he got served!