After last night…well what more do I need to say, in the words of Bougagloo, “jordanesque”

Rafeal Arujo, the Raptors (Babcocks) first round pick a few years back, finally ended his tenure today with the Raptors, after being dealt to the Utah Jazz.

Surprisingly we got two guys for him (Kris Humphries and Robert Whaley) leaving many to wonder if we got ripped off (how do you give away two guys of Hoffa of all people), but then again Hoffa’s stay in Toronto was as painful to watch, as watching one of those PETA videos, but you can only hope that he found a better home.

Now to describe Hoffa’s tenure with the Raptors isn’t hard, but rather then talk and write about it, I feel this video sums up his abilities, and why the fans felt the way they did about him.

**Note** Nate Robinsons is 5 foot 9 while Hoffa is 6′11.

The final installment in our playoff round-up, has Miami pitted against Dallas.

Firstly, that last round was amazing. Miami clobbered Detroit, although Detroit put up a fight, the Justice League prevailed, with The Glove coming up big, and playing once again like he was in his old Seattle Supersonics jersey. Shaq, anyone else catch the block on him? I’ve never seen someone push Shaq to the floor like Big Ben did, but eh, even Superman falls.

As for the Phoenix, Dallas series, yea I dropped the ball on this one, but then again like readers commented in the past, I went with what I wanted rather then what would. Although Phoenix slugged it out for as long and as hard as they could, end of the day the current Suns team just isn’t up to par. They were able to out-run the Lakers, and the Clippers, but Dallas was on pace with them when it came to playing Phoenix ball, and were able slow things down just a notch by playing there lock down defense. I don’t think there was a doubt in anyone’s mind that this Dallas team wasn’t playoff bound, but when you got a team like the Suns who in every matchup were the underdogs, you just can’t help but to love them..

With that said lets look at how everyone else did..

Harsimran - 1/2 + 1
Tejdeep - 2/2
Gagan - 2/2
Mandeep - 1/2 + 1
Heera - 1/2 + 1
Columbus - 2/2 + 1
Gurjet - 2/2 + 2
D.Singh - 1/2 + 1
Jason - 1/2
Cincinnati - 1/2
Kamaldeep - 1/2
Myself - 1/2 + 1

So winner of that round was Gurjeet, but then again anything less would be disappointing.

As for the finals match up, this is definitely a tough one, and will be a fun one to watch.

Dallas has the run gun game of Phoenix, and the stellar defense of the Pistons. All in all they are the team to beat in this one. Miami and the justice league have been playing like crap, the whole playoffs. Shaq is playing like an uninspired third wheel, although his comments are still at par. Wade is looking tired, but then again he’s going into this series well rested. Payton, is playing like he was 10 years younger and in many ways put the team on his back. Truthfully I’d call Dallas to beat Miami in 6, but due to my long standing relationship with my brotha from anotha motha, I’m (out of fear of being smacked and not invited to watch the games) go with the Heat. Clearly they’re the underdogs here, but Paytons been playing with heart, after all this is his last chance at getting the championship. This is clearly Shaq’s last chance to prove that he’s a champion with and without Kobe, and as far as Wade, if he’s ever going to win a championship then its now. So Miami in 7.

Now ‘yall know the drill, so get to it..

Mike James…who? my point exactly. Who does this guy think he is? Future NBA All Star? MVP?? You have to hate the fact that players such as Mike James come onto the Raptors have a decent season because they get to hog the ball and then blame the game on the young’ins (Bosh & Charlie V), and now he thinks he can get away with choosing his team, calling himself the greatest, etc. etc.

At least when Tyson went crazy, you could still reflect on Tyson’s golden years, but with Mike James this guy’s just plain arrogant. Get rid of him, and let him become another shadow in the dusk, joining the ranks of Rafer Alston and others whose names have been permanently etched out of my memory.

A lot of people have been hating on Bargnani without ever really seeing him play or seeing exactly what he’s capable of it. Most people are on the Aldridge, Gay bandwagon simply because they’ve seen them play throughout the last NCAA season, but then again how many of us ever really get a chance to watch the Euro league.

Colangelo was saying that we’ll be seeing a lot more players coming out of Europe in the near future simply because, the level of competition there although not NBA, surpasses that of College ball, in other words the the best Euro player is better then the best NCAA player. It’s impossible to weight in on this just yet, but so far the success of Euro players in the leauge seems to speak for itself. Anyways here are some more videos of Andre Bargnani that were posted on YouTube, although I’m in no place to judge whether or not he’ll live up the hype, you got to believe that Colangelo knows what he’s talking about, the Phoenix Suns are a living testament to that.

Anyways here are Bargnani’s stats for the night (copped this from RealGM):

Benetton lost today 75-67

Bargnani in 22 minutes

15 pts

5-6 FG (2-2 3FG)
3-4 FT

7 rebs
1 assist

8 drawn fouls!!!!

(This is in a Euro leage playoff game.)

Ironically in a twist of fate the Raptors secure the #1 spot, and overcame the 8.8 % shot they had at getting it. What this means for Raptors fans is simple, a brighter future. Giving Colangelo the first round draft pick, is in many ways like giving Jordan the ball with 2 seconds left in a game 7 of the NBA finals, you know he’s going to make magic.

Now with that said what will Colangelo do? No doubt, it’ll be the best thing for the franchise, but what exactly does he have in store?

Here is where I submit the following few options as I see them to date.

Firstly the Raptors are in the market for a few new things:

1) A new PG. We have no choice but to rid ourselves of the arrogant, narcissistic Mike James. This is a guy, who no one even knew about until he was on the Raptors. Sure he has a play off ring, but its fair to say that he never won anything on his own, or helped Detroit win it. But more importantly then all of that, there is a more important reason why Mike James has to go,”He just doesn’t fit in” - Martha Stewart. He’s not Colangelo’s type of of PG, hes a shoot first, pass later type of a guy, and that’s just not acceptable in Raptors land with the new sheriff and all.

2) A Center. The raptors are shaping up to have one of the best front courts in the league. Bosh and Villanueva have shown that they are true all stars, both having there 40 + nights. Even so, neither of them are true centers, and for that reason alone a center is something we could use. Imagine Bosh and Villie at Forwards, then give them a decent low man and bam, things are going good.

Now with that said it will be interesting to see which way the Raptors lean. A name that seems to be coming up everywhere with the #1 pick and all is Bosh’s boy, Aldridge. However Colangelo dismissed these rumors saying that he doesn’t see Aldridge shaping up into a top a center of the likes of Shaq or Amare, and with Bosh and Villie V in the back court he doesn’t see that much of a need for him.

Bosh made it clear that he doesn’t see the need for another finesse style big man on the team and feels that what the Raptors really need is a good pg who “passes us the ball”, and a pg who “makes the open the shots”. I find it safe to say that Bosh is as sick of James as I am.

Seeing as to how Bosh agrees with me, I think its safe to say that the Raptors will be getting a new PG in this off season so, so long Mike James, who? exactly.. I can’t say who we’ll be getting in his place since I’m not in tune with the market so I’ll leave that to the Real GM’s here to speculate.

Colangelo has made it more the obvious and clear that he intends to bring Andrea Bargani here, and I doubt he’d waste the #1 pick. What I see happening more or less is him giving up the first round pick for a possible 5th, 6th. Getting rid of Mike James (how he does it I don’t really care as long as he gets rid of him). I can see Alvin Williams retiring, opening up some more space, thus giving the Raptors more options.

In result the Raptors have a ‘bang em low’, front court in Bosh and Villie V in addition to a pg who can get them the ball. They also got the 3 pt line up in Peterson, Bargani, Villie V, and the new PG.

As far as Bosh being the future, I see Colangelo wanting to focus the team more around Bargani in the future more then around Bosh.(Just by the way he bigs up Bargani already)

But then again maybe Colangelo is just Machiavellian in his ways. Bigging up Bargani selling the idea to other GM’s and positioning himself to make some quick grabs while everyone else has their eyes are on the next big thing.

Anyways here’s a video of Bragani I found on google video so now to leave y’all to it.

Ahh, back from the long weekend and no better way to start of the new week, then with another round of playoff predictions.

Firstly lets recap Round 2, arguably one of the best rounds of playoff Basketball in a long time.

Firstly the round shocker has to be Cleveland vs Detroit. I had Cleveland in and out in 5 (if even), but Lebron being able to carry his team to 7 made me into a believer that this man-child may just be the future, and will infact live up to the label of being the phenom. I have to also agree with Scoop Jackson, that this was a must loose series for Prince James (You can’t be King until crowned with MVP’s, and a championship), as he needed to experience the agony and pain of loss, to help him evolve to the next level as a player.

Anyways enough about that, its a busy day and we don’t have time to waste so lets first check up on how everyone did:

Gurdeep - 2/4 + 2 bonus
Harsimran - 3/4
Atam - 2/4
Gagan - 2/4 + 1 bonus
Gurjeet - 2/4
Cinci - 2/4
Mandeep - 4/4 + 1 bonus
JP - 3/4
Kamaldeep - 3/4
Columbus - 2/4 - 1 (You don’t post predictions when the teams up 3-1 in a series come on now)
Shinda - 4/4 + 2 bonus.

**Bonus points for predicting # of games.

So there’s what we have going in, but that was the easy part, now we’ll let this round separate the boys from the men.

How I see things:

Phoenix vs Dallas
I’ve been with Phoenix thus far, so I can’t drop them now. Every one’s been talking all along how Phoenix just won’t be able to hold there own, which they proved they could do regardless of Amare or Kurt Thomas in the line up so I’m going to back Phoenix in this one. Not an easy pick considering the way Dallas is playing and the fact that Dallas puts the D in defense, but we can only have one winner and I’ll have to go with Phoenix on this one.

Miami Vs Detroit
The rivalry continues, with another hard pick for this round. The X-Factor I think will come down to a healthy line up, and the mob boss himself, Pat Riley (yes the coach). I can see Shaq, holding his own against Wallace after all the experienced and elder shogun will prove victorious. Wade, he’s lost, he knows what it means to loose, he’s got the drive, the talent and the potential, but does he have the strength? This kid gets knocked around more then Tina Turner, so you have to wonder if history will repeat itself, but just like Flash always prevails in the comics, and with the Man of Steel himself at his side, I see Wade coming at this series with vengeance. If all else fails count on the Glove aka Green Lantern to help out in what ever way he can when it comes down to it. End of the day count on the Justice League aka Heat to take this in 6.

Now as always leave your predictions and we’ll see how you hold up. Gurjeet and Pindi I have to say you guys flopped in the past rounds considering the amount of gian you’re expected to have on this topic. Gagan, you’ve let your heart and hate for individuals guide you thus far, and your results are far from impressive. Considering the time you put into watching highlights, memorizing stats I expect more from you, but alass maybe my expectations are just to high.