Paul Jones

Paul Jones is the voice of the Raptors on the FAN 590 and writes regularly for Sportsnet.ca.

The schedule has turned a bit in the Raptors favour and now it's up to them to take advantage of it. Wednesday night in Detroit they will be in a situation they had thrown at them a few times earlier in the season. While the Pistons play the front end of the back to back in Charlotte, Toronto will be in Detroit, watching and waiting and that produces a great opportunity for the Raptors.

The imbalance in the schedule has been beaten to death by Raptor followers but it is indeed a fact that Toronto has played more games than any other team and their 30 game total includes 16 contests away from home. Cleveland and Houston have also played 16 road games and only the lowly New Jersey Nets have played more games away from home.

But as things even out between now and the turn of the calendar to 2010, Toronto will have played 33 games with the split being almost equal at 16 at home and 17 on the road. That is why this stretch becomes important and when you factor in the next three games are against conference opponents, Detroit and Charlotte, wins, at least 2 of 3, become a must as tie breakers may become a factor some where down the line. The law of averages might be in Toronto's favour as they have lost 11 straight games at the Palace of Auburn Hills and surely are due for a win soon.

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I had a chance to speak with Tim Floyd, Hornets assistant coach, when New Orleans was in town for Sunday's match up with Toronto. Floyd was DeMar DeRozan's coach at USC and Floyd discussed DeRozan, his potential and the Hornets as a reclamation project.

Floyd sees the former Trojan as a natural leader with all star potential who will "figure it out". He discussed how hard DeRozan worked last season in making improvements particularly toward the end of the campaign when he came away with the Pac 10 tournament's MVP award. The biggest adjustment was, and will continue to be, learning how to play in a half court type game.

Currently DeRozan is playing like a rookie as he is still figuring things out. He's good on some nights while still searching on others but there is no questioning his attitude, willingness to work and listening to advice being given to him by coaches and veteran players.

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OK so how does our man Chuck Swirsky get out of this one?

Apparently he pulled a Jim Rooker. In the event you don't know what that is, Rooker, who was broadcasting games for the Pittsburgh Pirates saw the Bucs jump out to a 10- 0 lead over the cross state rival Philadelphia Phillies. Rooker then proclaimed that he would walk back to the "Steel City" if the Phils came back to win. Well guess what, the Phillies did come back and won the game by a score of 15-10. Being a man of his word, Rooker, turned it into a charity event raising money, but did indeed walk back to Pittsburgh.

Last night with the Bulls up big at home against the Sacramento Kings, "the Swirsk" says he'll walk to New York, site of the Bulls next game, if they lose. Well don't the Kings orchestrate the biggest comeback in franchise history, erasing a 35 point deficit to win it 102-98.

Hmmmm, I guess that's why my intrepid broadcast partner Eric Smith always plays the odds and waits until the game is almost out of reach before crooning "Jonesy, I'll shave off my beard if..."

Since it would be prohibitive to walk to the "Big Apple" for tonight's contest, Chuck has graciously donated $1500, the cost of a return trip from the Chi-town to New York, to a charity in lieu of making the mile trek.

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So let's see, the Associated Press votes Jimmie Johnson its male athlete of the year. No not the guy with the hair that is famously known to have coached the University of Miami Hurricanes and the Dallas Cowboys, but the NASCAR driver.

It reminds me of the time that Larry Walker lost the Lou Marsh Trophy, awarded to the Canadian Athlete of the Year, to Jacques Villaneuve an F-1 driver. I have heard it from my man Erik Thomas, who does a stellar job on the FAN hosting Raceline Radio, and believe that it does indeed take the athleticism of a marathon runner to maneuver a car around the banked oval for the entire race, but it just makes me wonder if the voters really believe that Johnson is a better athlete than Roger Federer who came second or Usain Bolt, who placed third in the balloting.

As "ET" says, it's a great argument around the water cooler. What do you think?