Raptors soar to the moon and back

Besides Vince Carter, Norm Powell seems like the most stylish dunker the Raptors have had. Who’s your favourite Raptor for dunks? — Justin You’d have to round out a top five of Raptors dunkers with DeMar DeRozan, Jamario Moon and Terry Ross, no? Tracy McGrady would be the sixth man, but he wasn’t here long enough. You wrote: “This is a huge year for the WNBA to come up with an equitable CBA that allows players to make a livable yearround wage.” As a big WNBA fan — from the very beginning when the Houston Comets were dominant — I still have to ask where the increased revenues, attendance, broadcast rights and sponsorships will come from to pay for this. It is not as if league profits are presently available to do this. Yes, it would be great if player salaries — averaging a little below $79,000 (U.S.) with a max of $115,000 and minimum of $50,000 — were higher, but it just doesn’t seem that the league’s present economic capacity will permit significant wage increases. I wish it were otherwise. — Simon R. That’s the issue that needs to be dealt with: How to generate revenue to put in the pie that is more equitably split with the players than it has been. And that’s why finding common ground for marketing and sponsorships and revenue generation is important, and I think collective bargaining might help that. There is no easy answer, that’s obvious, but having more people working toward common ground can’t hurt. But I will contend that, regardless of the level of revenue, the players need a greater share than they’re getting now. I’m wondering if sports, and specifically the NBA, are considering implementing the medicinal use of certain cannabis compounds that have shown to be of benefit to recovery. — Lyall I don’t imagine they’d go that far, but I do suspect it will either come off the list of banned subjects in the next round of collective bargaining, or at least have the penalties for its use lessened or eliminated, given that it’s a legal substance in so many jurisdictions. The Raptors struggle from three most of the year, waiting for their shooters to arrive. C.J. Miles finally gets hot midJanuary, only to ride pine the last three games. Isn’t C.J. exactly the type of player Nick needs to hit those open threes? Why not try to ride him out over the next month to try and restore some confidence down the stretch? Way too early to be shortening the rotation (in my opinion). — Ian I will say I am a bit surprised that Miles hasn’t had more chances since his resurrection for that three-game stint — out of nearly 50, I would point out. But it’s a false equivalency in many ways. There is nothing to suggest that if Miles played he’d get the open threes that Serge Ibaka, Pascal Siakam, Norm Powell and OG Anunoby are missing. Give other teams credit: They tend to set up defensive schemes that end up in threes for the guys “they” want taking them, rather than the guys the Raptors might want taking them. Read more on Doug Smith’s Sports Blog at thestar.com. And if you have a basketball question (or on any sports, really) drop Doug a line at

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