THE GREAT RAPTOR REDESIGN: AT LEAST SIMMONS KNOWS BARGNANI'S NAME NOW...

The principle here is to always have your own take, but this Bill Simmons gem about the NBA's age minimum couldn't be permitted to slide (Found at The Fan's Attic, which finds Simmons' writing to be awfully similar to another commentator's):

"The age limit wasn't about protecting these kids as much as cultivating them as properties over the long haul. For example, what would have been better for the league -- (Kevin) Durant getting drafted by the Raptors and playing 25 up-and- down minutes a game (like Bargnani right now), or Durant kicking butt in college and turning himself into a national phenomenon, someone who has every diehard basketball fan checking schedules to see when Texas is playing next?"

Yes, Sports Guy, it's just terrible for the NBA that Andrea Bargnani is thriving in Toronto. It's horrendous that he has helped win the Raptors a wider following among the GTA's large Italo-Canadian community, who apparently missed your memo that you're not allowed to identify with a player unless you've seen him play in the NCAA Tournament. It's just awful that the Raptors are leading their division and are playing .600 ball (24-16) since the man-child that is Il Mago began playing significant minutes in late November.

Actually, Bill, what's terrible, horrendous and awful right now are your beloved Boston Celtics (16 straight losses and counting), but that's neither here nor there. Would it kill you to admit the Raptors are playing great after you called them the "worst team in the worst conference in history" two months ago?

You know what? Kevin Durant can play, but if he and fellow frosh prince Greg Oden from Ohio State had been eligible for the NBA Draft last June instead of being required to spend a year in college dunking on future teachers and luggage handlers, the Raptors may very well have still taken Bargnani with the No. 1 pick (although it would have been a harder sell). That probably speaks first to the depth of Raptors GM Bryan Colangelo and assistant GM Maurizio Gherardini's commitment to building an international-flavoured team they could market to the multicultural modern Toronto, but they also had Chris Bosh for the low post.

What Simmons is missing here is that the Great Raptor Redesign is about getting away from the Sports Guy's simplistic model of big college stars = NBA success. The redesign doesn't require a classic back-to-the-basket centre, let alone someone such as Oden or Durant. It requires an agile big man who fits into the Phoenix Suns/Euro style -- push the ball, draw and kick, and have five players who can each handle the ball and find the open man.

Simply put, that kind of big man doesn't come out U.S. high schools and colleges any more. That's part of why Uncle Sam has been getting his Stars-and-Stripes top hat fed to him by various European and South American countries at the past few World and Olympic tournaments.

Simmons is myopic not to realize that Colangelo, et al., have realized the old template needed to be chucked, and Toronto was the perfect place to try it, since a relatively new franchise with a history of mediocrity offered a blank slate. Granted, the Raptors are only three games above .500 in the Titanic Division entering tonight's game vs. the Lakers, but they're coming along. If the Sports Guy -- and sports fans outside Southern Ontario -- doesn't realize what the Great Raptor Redesign is all about, he will soon enough, assuming he opens his goddamn eyes.

(UPDATE: ESPN.com's Daily Dime gives the Raptors an 'A' for their recent progress, adding, "Someday they may even get on TV." At least someone over there who's paid to cover the NBA is paying attention.)

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