Energetic JYD-clone Pops Mensah-Bonsu is back with the Raptors. This can only mean Reggie Evans isn't going to be back anytime soon. I've heard that whispers from the team have intimated as much.
There is no room for Pops, Amir Johnson (who has played extremely well for the club) and Reggie Evans on the active roster, but Pops is good insurance for when Johnson or Evans are out.

He'll add energy, tenacity and rebounding to a team that can use all of those traits.
Apparently other teams wanted Pops, but he made it clear that he would consider going to Europe if he wasn't claimed by the team of his choice, the Raptors.

For months American media outlets have declared that it is basically a certainty that Chris Bosh leaves the Raptors this summer.
However, that point of view appears to be eroding.
ESPN's Marc Stein reported Friday that he now believes, after talking to a number of sources close to Bosh and the Raptors, that Bosh will sign with the Raptors long-term.

Having just spent some quality time with the Toronto Raptors while they were in Texas for a few days, I can assure you that Chris Bosh is thrilled LeBron James and Dwyane Wade have been at the heart of all the 2010 talk lately. Bosh got sick of 2010 questions -- from media gnats and fellow players -- long before it dawned on James to announce he's no longer taking those questions.

As recently as mid-September, I think it's fair to say the consensus was that Bosh was the big name most likely to leave his current team in the summer. But all of our checking with Raptors insiders suggests otherwise.

Teammates Jose Calderon and Andrea Bargnani recently have made public declarations of their belief that Bosh loves Toronto as a city and doesn't want to leave, which meshes with everything I've heard in the past week. The distinct feeling I was left with is that Bosh wants to be the undisputed star on his team and wants to play in a happening metropolis he enjoys. The Raptors and Toronto can make those things happen.

I

n Dallas, where Bosh was raised, there are folks who have known him for years who remain convinced Bosh and James are a lock to sign somewhere together in 2010 free agency, with the metropolis of New York ranking as the primary option, followed by the idea that Bosh could/would join James in Cleveland. All of that, though, was based on the outdated premise that the Knicks or Cavs would be able to afford James and another max free agent. No team in the NBA, at present, expects to have that kind of cap room this coming summer.

So I believe the fresh guidance I've been given, which suggests Toronto -- as we stand some 230 days away from free agency -- is Bosh's most likely destination for the 2010-11 season and beyond.

I share that opinion. The question is, can the Raptors afford to pay Bosh a max extension with other big salaries (Turkoglu, Calderon, Bargnani) already on the books? If the cap goes down significantly, the Raptors and the cheapskates at MLSE will likely have to pay the luxury tax for a year or two, until it goes back up.

Haven't seen this confirmed anywhere, but speculation dating back to last season was that there was a clause in Quincy Douby's contracting guaranteeing him a certain amount of money the longer he was on the roster.
Apparently, his contract would have become guaranteed Nov. 15 and with no opportunities to get him any playing time, the club waived him and saved some cash in the process.

The move also opens up a roster spot for a potential trade or NBA minimum signing.

According to Espn, the New Orleans Hornets have fired Byron Scott.
That comes as no surprise at all as the Hornets, who took a huge step backwards last season, fell to 3-6 this year with a loss to Phoenix.
Chris Paul is playing out of his mind, but the rest of the team isn't very good so this isn't all Scott's fault.
David West has regressed, Emeka Okafor has his limitations and the Hornets have the worst collection of talent at the shooting guard/small forward slots in the league and a dismal bench.

It's possible Paul requests a trade sometime this year. It depends if he has the patience of players like Kevin Garnett and Paul Pierce who put up with crappy teams for years without requesting out. Eventually Garnett and the Wolves agreed it was time to move on, but it wasn't KG who initiated the idea. Expect Paul to ask out in the next year.

There is only one way to describe Toronto's effort on defence this season.
Pathetic.
Granted, most of the players on the roster are below average defenders, but even a group that doesn't exactly consider defence a forte should not be one of the three worst (possibly the very worst according to the stats) team in basketball.
It's all about effort. These guys simply aren't this bad. Defence is about intensity, heart, smarts and a willingness to get your nose dirty. Thus far, the Raptors (with the exceptions of Antoine Wright, DeMar DeRozan and Amir Johnson) haven't shown an inclination to do these things.
Until they do, they'll muddle along around .500 simply because their offence is so scary.

No team, no matter how great its offence is, has been a true contender without playing a lick of defence.
The numbers for the Raps are bizzare. The team leads the NBA in offensive efficiency (by a considerable amount) but is dead last in defensive efficiency. That spectacular offence should be enough to get the team to 40 wins and say, the eighth seed, but with any kind of effort at the defence end, even getting up to 25th or so in defensive efficiency, this likely becomes a 45-win squad with a shot at winning a round.

Bryan Colangelo almost built a championship team in Phoenix using a similar blueprint, but that team was at least mildly competent defensively, which the Raps certainly are not and was led by a two-time MVP and brilliant floor leader in Steve Nash who made everybody better. The Raps don't have a player of that calibre, no matter how long Chris Bosh keeps up his superb play. If those guys couldn't win, the inferior Raps certainly can't.

Anyways, back to the original point. This should be all about pride. The Raptors need to show some on defence because there's no way the offence stays this devastating.