For days now, you have been constantly refreshing Raptors Rapture in order to receive the latest Raptors info.  You’ve considered leaving a comment, but perhaps you felt it wouldn’t be properly appreciated by the staff at the Rapture.  What you really wanted was to leave a comment that could become an institution on this site, something that Rapture readers of the future would read and think “who’s the genius that came up with that?”  Well, never fear, our first commenter driven feature is here!
I’m tired of typing out player’s full names.  It’s boring, and it’s time consuming.  So because it’s [...]

 After yesterday’s Doug Smith rip job, I feel obligated to point out that today’s column is actually quite a good read.  It usually is, by the way, and although I was a bit fired up yesterday over what I perceived to be a lack of appreciation for this great game, I still read Smith’s column daily, and more often than not I enjoy it.  Today’s is particularly good for an offseason effort, as he touches on a few subjects that are going to become a big deal starting tomorrow, when Free Agent negotiations begin.
First and foremost amongst those is Shawn Marion.  [...]

Tucked inside Doug Smith’s latest blog for the Toronto Star was this little nugget of information:
There are no plans at the moment to have television broadcasts of any of the games. Nothing from NBA-TV, nothing from RaptorsTV, nothing from There Are Too Many Channels In The Universe TV.
That means no breathless discussion of how DeMar DeRozan looked playing against true scrubs, no waiting for the broadcast of some game to see if Roko’s lost that ability to dribble out the shot clock like few other guards in the game.
And I don’t believe there will be an ink-stained wretch from Toronto [...]

It has come to my attention via Twitter that my Rappin’ It Up post from earlier this morning was poorly received by the gents over at Raptors Republic.
The gist of the beef is that they felt the format of Rappin’ It Up was too similar to both their daily Morning Coffee links posts, and the classic links posts from the AltRaps blog.
Now, I’d first like to make it clear that I am a big fan of Raptors Republic and all of their writers.  I visit the site multiple times daily, I comment frequently, and they were the first people I e-mailed upon [...]

The USC basketball program has fallen on hard times.  Seemingly rejuvenated in recent years thanks to contributions from players like Gabe Pruitt, Taj Gibson, and, of course, O.J. Mayo, the program’s building process came to screeching halt recently amidst allegations that Coach Tim Floyd had provided financial incentives to Mayo (and his handlers) in order to secure a commitment from the highly sought after high school phenom.
Yahoo originally reported the story on May 12th (although there had been prior speculation) and since then the program, Tim Floyd, Mayo, and his handler Rodney Guillory have come under a tremendous amount of media [...]