Hersey Hawkins.  Also, didn't Jim Les go there?

You're a nice guy, CS.  It seems to me that you tossed this Kinnon guy some pretty easy questions that showed you have a solid basic understanding of the Raptors, while his questions were clueless at best, and obnoxious anti-Clipper hostile ignorance at worst.  We all know it when we see it.  "Miracle season" and "would Brand have made any difference" strike me as, "yeah we're in the East and will go to the playoffs but I know we wouldn't stand a chance in the West, but then you have the Clippers."  You kept your cool and were pretty funny too.

I would have gone for something like:  let's see, tell me how the Raptors would be doing if Bosh missed 50 games... and let's say Calderon did what he's doing now last year, and then in March his leg fell off--you think that might have affected your team at all?

It's interesting to look at the damage caused by last year.  Because it was so complicated and inexplicable (especially to the fan of another team), you see an overwhelming sense that 05-06 was a miracle season--in a year when the Clips were missing one of their leading scorers for most of the season.  And 06-07 was business as usual for the Clips, rather than an excrutiating conundrum.  But then when you look at the injuries and record in 07-08, you have to acknowledge that the Clips are just typically bad.  

zhivclip - My intention is not to disrupt this site or anything, but the question about Elton should be asked.  He's had one good year on a contending team so far, and that should make a lot of fans worried.  Yes, he's your best player, but he didn't do much for the Bulls and while his heart is certainly with the Clippers, last year definitely asked a lot of questions too.  Granted, you did lose Maggette for a lot of last season along with Livingston, and Cassell wasn't 100%, but you have to be able to factor injuries into your players.  At least, that's my own philosophy.  After all, we had plenty of years where Vince Carter was injured along with a plethora of other players.

It's important to note that we lost Garbajosa for the year, Bosh battled injuries during the first two months and TJ Ford was out for about two months already with two stingers, so it's not like we're injury free.  You could make the argument that we play in a weaker conference, but we've also beaten Dallas, Boston, Houston, and the Spurs without being at full capacity.

Steve - Thanks again for helping out.  We'll have to exchange again sometime.  And being snarky comes naturally for most Canadians ;)

There you go, Kinnon.  The generic Clippers gave the Raptors a pretty good shot, I must say.  A few thoughts, from the Clip perspective:

--That's Maggette.  He's been playing like that for three weeks, while having a nasty flu bug and missing games in the middle of that span.  For two weeks before that, he was playing at the level just below that (the 20-24ppg level, rather than 30-34ppg).  The question is, where were the outstanding/breakout games like this in the first 15 games of the season?  If he can stay healthy he should get even better as Brand comes back in two weeks, but he's not going to go 5-5 from 3 any time again soon.

--Say hello to Al Thornton.  The Raptors have breakout players in Moon and Calderon, so we don't have to worry about them.  Check out the Clips stats and look at how many minutes Tim Thomas (and Reuben Patterson) has played, then look at Thornton's numbers.  Thornton is a rookie (though he's 24--not quite as old as Moon) and he disappears at times, and on other nights he never gets his shots, but this is about the 5th or 6th time that he has answered the bell in the late rounds and come out punching.  He did it against Vince Carter, and killed him.  Taking on Bosh was surprising, and he did pretty well.

--That was Kaman 2.0 at about 75%, and he had some trouble with foul calls.  The Rapts didn't get to see Kaman at his best, but you could see how he can do more things than somebody like Rasho, and he hung in there and still made a few plays.  Throughout the early season he was beating everybody up the floor and just getting after it on every play, but he's not sharp right now, and his speed isn't quite back yet.

--No Cassell, which can have its own silver lining at times.  No Tim Thomas, which meant a clearer path for Thornton.  And Josh Powell is doing a nice job; we like him a lot.  I'll mention that there's no Paul Davis, and it may be that there never will be any Davis ever again.  Very little QRoss.  That's a deep Clipper conundrum, right there.  No Shaun Livingston, but he's traveling with the team and you probably could have watched him working out before the game, and your report would have been very valuable because nobody knows what's going on with him.

--And EB will be back after the all-star break.  He will make the team better.