TJ Ford Appreciation thread

B-Ball Freak · Post #41 » by **B-Ball Freak** » Tue Feb 5, 2008 5:08 am

lucas was right if we had ford the whole season we would have won 3-4 games that we lost...probably be sitting at 30-17 or something right now.

Mad Balla 15 · Post #42 » by **Mad Balla 15** » Tue Feb 5, 2008 5:16 am

TJ Ford seems to have good chemistry with Kapono and Rasho so I definitely wouldn't be opposed to him coming off the bench for the rest of the season. Glad to have TJ back.

18 Parkerville · Post #43 » by **18 Parkerville** » Tue Feb 5, 2008 9:00 am

what about tj and kap in the starting lineup when he's healthy? that was what the season started like, but now bosh is playing like his all-star self.

tj can drive and kick to kap or ap or bargs, or pass inside to bosh and bargs. pretty deadly at the offensive end.

jose delfino and moon can be the core of our second unit.

Grizzled · Post #44 » by **Grizzled** » Tue Feb 5, 2008 9:17 am

Rhettmatic wrote:-= original quote snipped =-

He would have had more assists had the Not Ready For Garbagetime Players not bricked so many shots.

Seriously, I barely noticed Juan Dixon out there and he shot 1-for-6? How?

That sounds even more encouraging. I look forward to TJ and Kapono doing a lot of damage together. If TJ can stay healthy he

Grizzled · Post #45 » by **Grizzled** » Tue Feb 5, 2008 9:31 am

multiple post (The board crashed just as I made this post and I didn't think that it worked at all. Weird.)

Grizzled · Post #46 » by **Grizzled** » Tue Feb 5, 2008 9:31 am

multiple post

Grizzled · Post #47 » by **Grizzled** » Tue Feb 5, 2008 9:31 am

multiple post

Kosta · Post #48 » by **Kosta** » Tue Feb 5, 2008 9:31 am

T.J is huge to this team, no drop off anymore for the second unit, Kapono and Delfino will gets lots of shots. No matter what happens with the starting spot, whether Calderon is there for good or not, we need T.J in any role helping out this team.

The Letter V · Post #49 » by **The Letter V** » Tue Feb 5, 2008 10:01 am

God it was nice to finally see a risky play! That pass to Hump was spectacular, TJ has incredible court vision. And the dunk too. Can't forget the TJ/Pono connection. Soooo happy TJ's back.

BTW I was watching the heat feed tonight, and saw Lucas was sitting behind our bench. Have we hired him as an assistant, or is he just here with TJ for the time being?

Illuminati · Post #50 » by **Illuminati** » Tue Feb 5, 2008 10:12 am

The Letter V wrote:God it was nice to finally see a risky play! That pass to Hump was spectacular, TJ has incredible court vision. And the dunk too. Can't forget the TJ/Pono connection. Soooo happy TJ's back.

BTW I was watching the heat feed tonight, and saw Lucas was sitting behind our bench. Have we hired him as an assistant, or is he just here with TJ for the time being?

I have to agree with the Letter V.

AlvinWilliams_fan · Post #51 » by **AlvinWilliams_fan** » Tue Feb 5, 2008 11:57 am

TEEEEEEEEEEEEEJJJAAAAAAAAAAAAAYYYYYYYYY

B00Yah · Post #52 » by **B00Yah** » Tue Feb 5, 2008 12:38 pm

Way to battle, TJ. It's amazing to see the team shift gears again after so long. We've gone plaid!

La princesa · Post #53 » by **La princesa** » Tue Feb 5, 2008 3:50 pm

What a class act. How can you not like the dude both as a basketball player and as a person. Glad your back TJ .

krakhaus · Post #54 » by **krakhaus** » Tue Feb 5, 2008 4:12 pm

What a great surprise to see TJ dressed for the game after all the ambiguous MLSE quotes about "when TJ returns"! Great debut - TJ is playing like his old self, but smarter. Can't wait till we see both of our PG's playing 24 minutes or so each.

Loved to see the embrace between Jose and TJ when he first came into the game. Whoever says that these two guys can't co-exist is loco.

Hank_Scorpio · Post #55 » by **Hank_Scorpio** » Tue Feb 5, 2008 5:29 pm

Great to see TJ back - but I want to talk about some of this - and I would love it if anyone saw Davkad, if they would direct him to read this:

http://www.thestar.com/Sports/article/300460

The man the Raptors hired to preside over Ford's rehab, former NBA coach and point guard John Lucas, a long-time friend whom Ford considers family, wouldn't allow Ford to short-cut it.

Under Lucas's tutelage, in the spartan digs of a Houston-area recreation centre, Ford endured a basketball boot camp that broke his body down to build it up.

"We did old, old, old-school stuff," said Lucas, who went on to describe the rigours of crabwalks up and down stairwells and court-length wheelbarrow races in which Ford's hands did the running.

The Raptors have been impressed enough with Lucas's work that they're contemplating hiring him in a consultant's role to continue to help Ford's transition back into the lineup.

Lucas seemed enthused by the prospect. "Any way I can help, and help T.J., I'm happy to help. ... I think Chris Bosh has MVP potential. I love to be around guys that want to be stars."

Said Ford of Lucas, with whom he works out during the off-season: "Injured or not injured, he's my guy that I put trust in to get to that next level."

On the long journey to the next level, of course, Ford had to find the will to take the first step: The one over the out-of-bounds line on to the floor.

"I pushed him to try to quit, for one reason: To see how badly he wanted to play," said Lucas. "And at the end of it all, that's what his response was, `I want to play.'"

Doesn't sound to me like Ford was on vacation.

Sounds to me like he was working harder than most of us will ever work in our entire lives.

And it all comes down to the point at the end - John Lucas IS Apollo Creed*

*minus the getting killed by a roided out Russian boxer....but otherwise....