Healthy advice can be hard to digest
We really appreciated your list of forbidden foods now that you are a recovering heart patient. Who of us has not felt the loss of favourite foods when the doc says “never again”? Which athletes come to mind as Accommodation Stars — athletes who had to change either because they grew older or experienced health challenges? Surely such athletes can be models for the rest of us — and help us avoid the trap of wanting to be “forever young.” — Charles N. Those are the two reasons that athletes “change” aren’t they? Health and age. I think we see today that guys like Vince Carter and Dirk Nowitzki have realized they can’t be the same athletes now that they were, so they’ve altered their games a bit. I’d say Grant Hill did the same thing after he suffered a series of injuries, and the one who “remade” himself to accommodate the reality of his life was Magic Johnson, who came back as a power forward after leaving as a point guard when he first contracted the HIV virus. It’s a realization of the human failings as time goes by and that bodies might rebel a bit, and I think it speaks well of those who can. Did you happen to notice who made the inbound pass on the last play of the Raptors-Pistons game? I’ll assume you did notice. It was our old friend Jose Calderon. Good on him. Did you get a chance to catch up with him? How much longer do you think he’ll be in the league? — Lyndon I did notice, for sure, but did you notice that it was basically the same play that Sam Mitchell drew up for Jose to inbound to Chris Bosh at the end of Game 6 of the 2007 playoff series against New Jersey? And I swear if Jose gets a bit more air under the pass in Jersey they win that game, they win Game 7 back home and who knows how history unfolds if that’s the case. And yeah, I caught up with Jose at shootaround that morning. It was great, as you’d expect. He remains atop my list of all-time favourite Raptors. How long? I figure he’s year to year and this might be the last, but you never know. I haven’t read anywhere about the one timeout the Raps had left but didn’t take before the final 1.2 seconds of play against Detroit. Not saying the result would be any different, but isn’t that a “by the book” situation to take that final TO and set up the defence? — G.C. No, actually it’s not. The defence was set up with two seconds left and calling a timeout with 1.2 left would have let Detroit draw up a play. I understand that it didn’t work out, but the strategic decision to not use that final timeout was the right one. Do you think Masai has a big move left in him at the trade deadline to bolster the team’s chances at an NBA final? If so, what is their greatest need? — Stan With all the uncertainty coming next summer, I would be stunned if Masai Ujiri has a “big move” for February, and I can 1,000,000 per cent guarantee you that he and Bobby Webster haven’t thought about it at length at all. Need? They need to keep this team together and let it grow. There is no crying roster need whatsoever.
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