Well, nobody wants to end the season on a loss, but the Raptors game 6 loss to the Nets in New Jersey was about as good as you can get. The team played well, led by strong performances by Calderon and Ford, and Bargnani, Parker and Peterson. Chris Bosh finally came alive in the second half. Coach Mitchell showed that he could make adjustments, re-jigging the lineup during the series as the initial set faultered against the well-prepared Nets offence and defence. It was a great learning experience... now on the the important off-season moves.

Will Sam Mitchell be re-signed? Where will MoPete end up next season? Joey, Juan, Luke, Pape, Uros, Darrick, Rasho... will they still be around? Bosh, Ford, Bargnani, Calderon, Garbajosa and Parker all seem a lock to return, but who knows what deals will be made. The Raps are without a first-round draft pick, and you have to give to get.

See you next season!

Mitchell's been there 3 years. They slumped last year with three young players (Bosh, Bargnani and Ford, all under 25), and got back into the playoffs for the first time in five years - pretty good for the post-Carter era.

Humphries is like a young Richard Jefferson. Stiff, but he and the others are developing.

I think it would be difficult to find a better coach to go to wintry Toronto right now. But I don't know who's out there looking.

I was coming down the escalator at Holt Renfrew this afternoon and I see 3 tall black men walking in the store and say to myself "Hey, that's Juan Dixon (eating a hot dog)... and Mo Pete (in sunglasses and a hoodie, which is why I didn't recognize him initially)!" I was tempted to say something to them, especially Mo, currently the longest-serving Raptor (although most think he will be somewhere else next season)... but I'm shy.

It was quite a thrill, though. Seldom do I see local athletes about town, although many years ago I saw Carlos Delgado (on Bloor St. around Christmastime... and looking fine I might add) and Jose Cruz Jr. (with a lady friend in Yorkville... also looking fine). And I once saw Fred McGriff and Tino Martinez at the Eaton Centre (I stalked them for a bit ) back when they were both with the D-Rays.

Reports are saying the Raps are close to re-signing Sam Mitchell to a 3-year $12 million deal. Toronto Star: Mitchell deal all but done

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Deal done.

Raps acquire Carlos Delfino.

Hey - it looks like I'll be making a few more visits to the ACC to watch the Raps next season. A very good friend of mine - who has shares of season tickets to the Leafs, Argos of the CFL, Rock of the NLL (Lacrosse) Toronto FC of the MLS and the Jays - just told me that he has bought a 50% share on a pair of Raptor season tickets for next season with another friend. I usually go to about 5 Jay and Leaf games with him - so I am counting on a least that many Raptor games next year, since I am probably the biggest Raptor fan of the group who go with him to the other teams' games.

He actually got a great deal. Seats are 5th row of the upper deck towards one corner. Sure they are not the greatest seats in the world - but still not that bad since they are relatively low in the upper deck. And the price is great at just $25.00 a ticket. (The same seats are $40.00 for single game sales). So I can break the bank on the $10.00 beers instead of on the actual tickets to the game. ;-)

Potentially huge news TV ratings wise for the Raptors. Sources are reporting that CBC will pick up as many as 10 games nationally next season with the option to pick up more games in the second year of what is a two year contract. This will the first time the CBC has EVER covered the Raptors, and it will be the first time the Raptors have been covered on anything other than sports cable stations in years.

This has the potential to dramatically increase the number of viewers for those Raptors games across Canada. To use hockey as an example Toronto Maple Leafs national telecasts on CBC averaged about 1.4 million this year - whereas their national telecasts on TSN cable would average only about half of that number.

Although the Raps had no picks in the draft they did end up acquiring the 3rd last pick in the second round, Giorgos Printezis, from San Antonio for a second round pick in 2008. Printezis is a 22 years old "6-9 small forward (who) averaged 11.5 points and 3.9 rebounds last season with Olympia Larissa" in the Greek league. He joins a highly European Raptor team that includes: Italy (Andrea Bargnani), Argentina (Carlos Delfino), Spain (Jose Calderon and Jorge Garbajosa) and Slovenia (Rasho Nesterovic and Uros Slokar).

GM Brian Colangelo, though, has his eyes set on the free agent market and no doubt will do some re-tooling, esp. after seeing divisional rivals make some big name acquisitions (Ray Allen to the Celtics; Zach Randolph to the Knicks).

Among some players the Raps are supposedly interested in: Orlando's Grant Hill, Laker Luke Walton, Golden State's Mickael Pietrus and James Posey and Jason Kapono of the Miami Heat.