December 2, 2005

Tough Times In LaBatt Country

A friend of mine says to me today:

"Guess what the projected win total is for the Toronto Raptors this year?"

I reply: 11

"No. Five."

Five? Five wins? The previous low was 9 by the Sixers in the 72-73 season. The Nuggets tried to get there a few years back, but came up with 11 wins. Sorry guys, so close.

FIVE!? That's less than one win a month. That's one win every 16 games. That almost guarentees 5 double digit losing streaks! That's horrible!

The Raps have had problems at every position except wherever on the floor Chris Bosh is playing. Jalen complains constantly about everything, some of which is warrented - ie, his GM letting them know that he's got 82 stamped envelopes ready to go. Mike James has had some great games, but likes to shoot his team out of games, and really really likes to give the ball to the other team. Charlie Villanueva is a rookie, as is Jose Calderon, so they don't really count. Eric Williams is also bitching. A role player, burried on the bench is complaining. Ouch. On an interesting side note, the leading scorer on 97-98 Nuggets team that lost 71 games was none other than Eric Williams. Failure begets failure I guess.

Hey Babcock! Rock out wit'cho cock out!

The reason this display of utter failure has been brought to my attention is, as I was parusing their roster I noticed a certain name. I did a double take, slapped myself in the face, shook my head, rubbed my eyes, and pinched myself to make sure I was actually seeing things correctly.

There was a player on the Minnesota Timberwolves two years ago that we lovingly referred to as "6" due to the lack of a name on his jersey in his first game after signing a 10-day contract.

That player was Darrick Martin, and he now plays for the Toronto Raptors. Now, don't get me wrong, I love "6." He provided endless entertainment and hilarity. But when your team has to resort to Darrick Martin as one of your point guards, you know you have major problems. The Wolves were stupid enough to sign and trade for him on a few occasions, but now we know who was responsible. Some might say he's a Babcock guy. And frankly, nothing fits better. Here's a player who bounced between the NBA and CBA for a decade, pretty much stinking it up wherever he went, never doing anything but filling up a roster spot on shitty or desperate teams.

Just fucking unbelieveable. It's a sad day when "6" is on your roster.

1 comment:

Drew Boatman said...

It's not 5 anymore though... Toronto went out and had themselves some carrots 'n cake this weekend. Two in a row! Sammy for Coach of the Year! Punching players works! Skip to my Lou was the problem!