Paul Jones

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

If Hedo Turkoglu can pick up his game, the Raps can do some damage.

It's the halfway point of the NBA season for the Toronto Raptors and there are many different views on the team’s 21-20 record. Some fans will say it's not good enough, some will say it could be better and others feel the record has been built by beating the weaker sisters of the NBA.

In this corner, 21-20 is good when you look at the following qualifiers: The new roster, with nine additions, needed some time to come together. This was more of a challenge as there were injuries and omissions in training camp, with Antoine Wright and Reggie Evans hurt and Hedo Turkoglu needing some extra time to recover from a long summer of basketball that included the NBA Finals with Orlando and playing for his national team in Turkey.

Then you have to consider the early schedule was difficult and front-loaded with travel and road games. Jose Calderon was injured, missing 12 games. He is only now rounding back into form as he is coming off the bench and running the second unit very well. And finally, for whatever reason, the team didn’t show maximum effort on a consistent basis.

There are frequent questions in my inbox about the Raptors and the playoffs and they are not about whether Toronto will be playing after April 14th. The fans expect the team to make the playoffs so most of the questions are more like: Are they a one and done team?

To look at the top four in the Eastern Conference right now (Cleveland, Boston, Atlanta and Orlando) and predict one of them losing despite having home-court advantage would be a bold prognostication.

But when you look at Toronto and their playoff fortunes, if you are assuming that they will be playing that far in the year, a big factor will be the play of Turkoglu. In truth, for whatever reason, he has so far underachieved and the Raptors are still a game above the .500 mark. If he is able to pick up his level of play and Andrea Bargnani continues to improve on his consistency along with the second unit, Toronto could be a dangerous team.

Chris Bosh has been spectacular over the first half of the season and there have been some solid wins since the middle of December when the team fell to 7-13. There is a four-game difference between the fifth and 10th spots in the Eastern Conference standings so it should be an interesting second half and we haven't even thrown out the "What happens with Chris Bosh question?"

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The Gilbert Arenas saga marches on. And how about the twists and turns in the Marvin Harrison case as the former Colts wide receiver will have some explaining to do in light of recent events. With the final decision on sentencing set for March, the judge's decision may reflect any one of a number of different attitudes. Do they make an example of Arenas, even though the guns were not loaded and no shots were fired? But remember, this is not the first brush with guns for "Agent Zero." As one media member said, maybe he can make his own personalized license plate. You can expect David Stern to weigh in again and issue a more-concrete suspension for Arenas once the dust settles. It will no doubt be a stiff suspension to serve as an example to other NBA players.

While there is talk of Arenas’ contract being declared void, NBA precedent has been set in a similar situation when Latrell Sprewelll tried to choke his coach in Golden State, P.J. Carlesimo. The NBA saw that egregious act as one that warranted voiding Sprewell's contract but an arbitrator ruled that they could not issue that kind of justice. With that in mind, it will be tough to void the remainder of Arenas’ deal that is due to pay him roughly $80 million.

Example or not with a stiff sentence and/or suspension, Len Elmore, a former NBA player, agent, attorney and now ESPN college basketball analyst said it best last Thursday night in the broadcast of the Georgetown Hoyas vs. Seton Hall match-up. It's not about race, or socio-economic status, but about a gun culture in America. Somewhere the founding fathers of the U.S.A. are rolling over, with all the gun play not just by athletes but regular everyday citizens, thinking this is not what we had in mind when we crafted the constitution and the second amendment rights in which a person can bear arms.

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It's probably not going to make big headlines in Canada but on Monday, Martin Luther King Jr. Day in the U.S., is the one day that I will say it really is great to have Memphis in the NBA. The Lorraine Motel in Memphis, where Dr. King was assassinated on a Thursday evening back in April 1968, now serves as the site for the National Civil Rights Museum. The entire movement and the attitudes in America and around the world for that matter, have come a long way and while there is still work to be done, there have been steps in the right direction.

Having had a chance to visit the museum, it truly is a moving experience. A visit to the museum should be mandatory for every NBA player, particularly those of African-American descent. It would help give them some historical perspective and shed some light on what it truly means to be fortunate enough to have the opportunities they all do right now. Trust me, one visit to the museum and standing in the spot where one of the greatest leaders of all-time was gunned down, still resonates with me.