TREVISO, Italy -- So, where were we?
Ah yes. Game Six. Jose Calderon with the ball, Jason Kidd in his chest, a pass floated to nowhere and that’s it, game over, playoff run over, season over. Summer time.
Which brings us to now. Treviso, Italy, training camp and a new season. I recommend the Tagliatelle Con Nero di Sepia, it was excellent And the hotel? Quite nice.
And the Toronto Raptors? They’re nice too.
Whether that means they top their 47-25 record from last season or not will likely depend on injuries and chemistry, which was good last year and should remain so, although there are a lot of pretty good players trying to break into a nine-or-10 man rotation, which could be interesting.
But with the core back and the depth improved there is an air of optimism around the club that hasn’t been around since this guy would break up the monotony of media day with an impromptu Dominque Wilkens impersonation and his cousin said he was the second coming of Scottie Pippen.
Which brings us to From Deep. And you may ask yourself- Well ... How did I get here?
Well, I’ve been writing about the basketball in Canada, the NBA and the Toronto Raptors since joining the Globe’s sports department in 1998, but the sport only became my full-time beat at the start of the 2006-07 NBA season.
It’s been a passion for much longer. The goal with this blog is to find ways to make more basketball coverage available for that most determined breed: The Canadian basketball fan.
I’ll still be writing regularly for the paper, but From Deep is a place to find more: more Raptors coverage; more Canada Basketball news; more CIS hoops and, if I’m bored, the occasional update on the fate of the x-Pet Wussies; masters of the slow break.
Oh, and I don’t plan to do all the lifting myself. If you know something I should know, or see something I should see, or have a question I should try and answer, make like Nash and pass it on to mgrange@globeandmail.ca.
I’m going to put some shots up with this guy’s kid. Enjoy breakfast, back later.
