Summer 2011: What our beloved Raptors should do. Concretely.

[Quixotic]

Making the interview and background checks extremely important for a player who no one has seen play for a year.

Yup. We might also need the benefit of some stalking. Film him while he sleeps. Some torture might be useful too. You don't truly know someone until their back is to the wall.

[Tim W.]

True, but we have a history of drafting players (okay a player) who can potentially play the middle but sees himself as a pf and therefore does not put any effort on the defensive side of the court. No one wants to make that sort of mistake again.

Bargnani's lack of defense and rebounding has nothing to do with what position he thinks he should be playing. It has to do with the fact that he's never been a good rebounder and simply either doesn't care enough about, or doesn't understand basic team defense. Kanter doesn't seem to have that problem. Al Horford doesn't see himself as a center, but he seems to be doing fine.

[blackjitsu]

Bargnani's lack of defense and rebounding has nothing to do with what position he thinks he should be playing. It has to do with the fact that he's never been a good rebounder and simply either doesn't care enough about, or doesn't understand basic team defense. Kanter doesn't seem to have that problem. Al Horford doesn't see himself as a center, but he seems to be doing fine.

I really don't want to turn this into a Bargs thread -- seriously. All I'm saying is that the interview this year (if Kanter is who they want) will have more weight than it usually does. That's it. You can disagree or agree. Through no fault of his own the kid wasn't allowed to play ball in a formal setting for a year, if I was a GM I would want to know how he dealt with that, his mental make up, how he handled the situation,etc.

Quix teams in the past have hired private investigators to check kids' backgrounds. This article is from 2009. Call it stalking if you must. Remember, we're talking about a multi-million dollar investment in a teenager. Again, you don't have to agree with me I'm just pointing these things out.

[Quixotic]

Quix teams in the past have hired private investigators to check kids' backgrounds. This article is from 2009. Call it stalking if you must. Remember, we're talking about a multi-million dollar investment in a teenager. Again, you don't have to agree with me I'm just pointing these things out.

Surprisingly I wasn't really being sarcastic. Maybe a bit flippant, but not sarcastic. If I was picking Kanter, I'd make sure I exhausted every avenue possible from interviews to psychological profiling, and even some Facebook checking if I could get access.