Mr_B

"I want to be back," said Ford, who played 24 minutes of Toronto's season-ending 102-92 loss to the Magic here last night. "I never said anything about wanting to leave."

But Ford's future has to be somewhat cloudy. Calderon is a restricted free agent this summer but general manager Bryan Colangelo is on the record as saying he'll do whatever it takes to bring the Spaniard back.

It's conceivable that Calderon could return to be a backup but that seems far-fetched and Mitchell's decision to use him instead of Ford to finish every significant game of the last month cannot be ignored.

"It's really out of our control," said Ford, who had 14 points and six assists last night. "That's up to Bryan Colangelo to make those decisions, what guys will be back and what guys he wants to change.

http://www.thestar.com/article/419455

Junkyard Dog13

I don't want him back, he is too irratic, has no jumpshot, forces bad passes, he needs to go.

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Raps fans since Day 1
Steelers fan since 97
Leafs fan since 88
Mets fan since 98

ballocks

i'm grateful that tj finished the year healthy. from my point of view, there's no difference between the old tj and the new one, and that's good. it's not like the injuries are affecting him on the floor.

but i mean, he's done as a raptor.

even the story itself is hardly an earth-shaking comment. what is he supposed to say? what he said is pretty much exactly what i would expect anyone in his position to say when they see the future as well as we do. i don't blame him.

i just wonder what happened. if he had stayed healthy (the biggest 'if' ever used, granted) something tells me that the ending here could have been different. as it stands, jose calderon filled in admirably and it seems that jose's success in the role is ironically what spurred tj's demise.

it was pretty horrible watching tj over the past few weeks. he had clearly lost some focus, at times even looked like a jerk. i had never seen that tj before and that's probably not the real tj- it's just the dr jekyl/mr hyde variety that surfaced upon realizing that his days with the team were numbered. he'd get fouled, the ball would end up in a teammate's hands who'd then score, and yet tj would waste his time/attention berating the ref coming up the floor for not blowing the whistle on the foul (the old tj would've slapped hands with the raptor who made the basket).

i'd never seen that- not at texas, not in milwaukee, not in toronto. like he lost his mind. maybe it was the result of losing his team, i don't know.

then in game three, when everyone at the acc was chanting his name, jose's name and bosh's name throughout the game, and the players were playing to the crowd for 48 mins, tj claims afterwards that he didn't hear the chants at all. as if he was trying to make a point, that he was holding a grudge against the fans. weird. in so many ways, the non-raptor raptor for about the last six weeks.

like he wanted to make it totally obvious that he wasn't happy. as if he needed to.

then when chris bosh takes his shot at the buzzer of game two and the entire bench is standing, you see tj almost making a concerted effort not to appear interested. kind of peeking around the back of brezec out of curiosity, "is it going in?", almost in fear of showing that he might also be part of the team.

then just shrugs his shoulders after the ball rims out in a "why would i care?" moment. weird.

leaves me with a bad taste in my mouth, i won't lie.

peace