La prensa canadiense quiere traspasar a Ford y renovar a Calderon
Jose Calderon: "I sacrificed for the team, so I hope the Raptors will do the same for me." Marca.com / March 27
Calderon: "We came to a conclusion and we decided that I would play off the bench. I thought it could be a move that would improve the team's performance. Now the second unit will play as good as if we were starters. Marca.com / March 27
Calderon: I don't think this issue [not being a starter] will affect my next contract. If anything, it will affect it in a good way and I will get better offers." Marca.com / March 27
That's where Calderon's necessity comes in, of course. He'll be a restricted free agent come July, which means that, though he'll be free to entertain offers from other teams, the Raptors can match. "Jose's going to be signed," said Bryan Colangelo, the Raptors general manager. "We have every intention to sign Jose Calderon." Toronto Star
And so the Raptors find themselves in a place they never thought they'd be: at least pondering their future without him, albeit with a long way to go before decision time. Colangelo, in no mood to ponder July with three weeks until playoff time, offered this. "If we get to that point this summer where we feel it's not going to work (with Calderon and Ford) going forward," he said, "then we'll have some decisions to make . . ." Toronto Star
For Ford, playing is living. And he wants – needs – to live in the style he's been accustomed to dating back to his roots as a Texas high-school basketball sensation. Can he even picture himself coming off the bench over the final three years of his contract with the Raptors? "No. Not till the end of my career," the 25-year-old said after practice yesterday. "That's who I am right now. That's where I'm at. "In the NBA, I think I'm a starter. I don't think I'm a guy that comes off the bench and plays limited minutes. I don't think that's my style." Toronto Globe and Mail
Asked whether he could imagine a future playing 24 minutes a game, or some version of that, for 82 regular-season games, Ford was again pretty clear. "No," he said. "This year was a different scenario, because I was hurt and I was out. But if that didn't happen, I was showing I was one of the best guards in the east at the time." Toronto Globe and Mail
And while having Calderon as a gifted understudy isn't without precedent – see Manu Ginobili and the San Antonio Spurs – it's a dangerous precedent for an organization to set if one player is so determined to be on the floor that he'll paint the club into a corner to make it so. Which is why Raptors president Bryan Colangelo, barring a sudden and sincere change of heart by Ford, should help him realize his vision of himself as an NBA starter, albeit it in another NBA uniform. Toronto Globe and Mail
"I think the most important thing is when you focus on the name on the front of your jersey, not the back," Garbajosa said. "When you think about it, if you focus on your teammate good things happen. It's not a matter of how many minutes you're going to play." Garbajosa only learned of his friend's offer when the switch was announced Wednesday morning, and while he admits it's not a common occurrence in the NBA, Calderon making such a sacrifice did not surprise him. "I don't want to say that's the European way or that we are different at all, but it's really easy to talk about sacrifices, it's really tough to do it," Garbajosa said. "With this kind of act, you can see it was not just words (for Calderon)." Toronto Sun
Gracias a bystander.
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