Posted by TrueBlue:
Posted by DarkKnicks:
Calderon really showed a lot of class in his last press conference of the season. I dont think he is an all-star and maybe not even a starter for a very good team, but the guy is really cool and smart with everything he says. I hope he gets good contract somewhere. Look at this vid.
http://www.tubasket.com/noticiaDetail/verNoticia/691/5135/0/0/251/NBA
[Edited by - DarkKnicks on 01-05-2008 05:30 AM]
Yep they are totally two different individuals T.J. and Jose. T.J. still expressing he wants to be starter and Jose saying he'll play whatever role to remain a Raptor, whether it's coming off the bench or a starter. One is 100% team the other is 75% self 25% teammate. I love Jose seriously I truly do. Matter of fact shame on me for not mentioning him as one of my Favorite players in this league.
tj said he views himself as a starter. he also said jose's great and is a starter also.
jose said all the right things but in a spanish paper about a month ago, and i'm paraphrasing, "i made alot of sacrifices for the team so i hope they understand that come contract time."
breaking down on a psychological front...tj has a napolean complex. but without it, he wouldn't have been able to make the nba and come back from serious injuries. he's not a cancer like others have suggested. does he have attitude? yes. does he have some growing up to do? yes. but he's an asset that can help a team. this year was a tough one for him b/c so much sh t went down. prior to the injury, he was playing the best ball of his career. then he gets hurt, jose takes over and play at an allstar level. then he comes back when bosh goes out for 2 weeks...the team loses, he's still coming off the bench, and the media is blaming him for it. he never came off the bench before in his life and the adjustment wasn't easy. so sh t hit the fan this year.
it was very interesting to see how the toronto media portrayed the tj/jose situation. tj became the enemy and jose was the hero. just reading their papers and hearing what was being said, tj, who they lauded the year before, suddenly got criticized only after jose started playing really well. not a peep before the injury. but after he gets hurt and jose blossoms, they can now get on tj for everything. for me, it was very interesting to observe this. even their announcers would get highly critical of tj.
tj would get ripped for defense, when jose quite arguably is the worst defender in the league at the pg spot. although i must say, i love his *clap* when a shot goes up. then tj gets criticized for taking ill advised shots and being a ball hog even tho he was averaging 7 assists a game as a starter. he never played with a healthy bosh, and when the team went 0-5 out west w/o bosh, it was b/c tj was a selfish player. meanwhile, w/o bosh, nobody on the team had the juice to score or create their own shot but him.
i love calderon. i love tj. i think both are awesome players that bring two different styles of play to the table. neither one has outplayed the other and it's not easy to "pick" one b/c the other one will go someplace else and play well. i think at some level, race also plays a part in how each player has been portrayed. it's turned into an unfortunate situation. and one that will be resolved this year once a trade is made. but let's say jose gets moved...the media will be back lauding tj like they were before jose blossomed.
4/28/2008 9:19 PM