The Musings had an interesting week of replying to hate e-mails, mostly from Canada.  If there were as many people at Raptors games as there are trashing me on-line, they might be able to have a competitive team, but I digress.  So I?ve become public enemy #1 in Toronto and a target of distressing language to say the least from parts of Italy and Turkey.  What I take most from all of this, besides the fact that Canadian?s need to watch more hockey?  I?m international, baby, a Global epidemic.  

? What I learned this week: Wow, Epiphanny Prince dropped 113 in a HS game on 54-60 shooting.  And no, she isn?t 7 feet tall.  She 5?9? Prince scored 36 in the first and finished with 30 in the 4th and a 90% FG percentage.  What up, Kobe?  Sorry, Hornets fan, you need a little more than Aaron Williams and Steven Hunter.  Maybe if you?d stayed in the East?  The 76ers tried to run with the Suns and got beat by 25.  Time to work on some defense, boys.  The Knicks tried to run with the Lakers and lost by 33.  Either Larry Brown or Isiah Thomas has to go, so pick already, Jimmy Dolan.  Ron Babcock apparently changed his name to Rob since the running of the last Weekly Musings.  Sorry about that, Rob.

? Players likely to be moved by the Feb 23rd trade deadline:  

Eric Williams, TOR.  He can probably still contribute 13-18 minutes somewhere that needs a veteran presence and role-player SF.  Toronto is letting him waste away.  Why wasn?t he out there trying to guard Kobe?

Flip Murray, SEA:  He can score, score, score.  But they need another scorer in Seattle like they need more rain.  A point guard is in order here.  

Earl Watson, DEN: Never a good signing once Denver realized they couldn?t get Paul Pierce for N?ne and Andre Miller.  Earl is a good player and needs a place to get serious minutes, but Denver?s not that place.  

Al Harrington, ATL: No doubt the Hawks got the better player in the Harrington for Oops Jackson deal, but he hasn?t been surrounded with the right guys and his talent is basically being wasted.  No chance he?ll re-sign so he has to be moved.  

Tim Thomas, CHI: If the Bulls could get someone to take him with his $14 million guarantee they would, and they might have the 76ers and Nets bidding against each other.  Best part? Thomas would be traded for want amounts to empty space (cap room, trade exceptions, picks).  Which is fitting b/c on the offensive end, he finds an empty space in the D and sits down and on D he kind of does the same thing.

Penny Hardaway, NYK: Penny?s attractive for one reason only, his massive $17.5 mil salary come off the books in a few short months, and that spells relief for a lot of teams.  Isiah will definitely move him somewhere b/c that?s the whole reason he?s still on the team.  If Thomas had his pick it would be to Portland for Theo Ratliff but he also wants Darius Miles and the Blazers are loathe to expand the deal that far.  But rest assured, Penny?s as good as gone.

? Kevon from Atlanta writes: ?Billy Knight is a horrible GM he is sitting there doing nothing to improve my team. I am a Hawks fan and I want to know your opinion on these trades that I think can set our team up for a playoff run next year.?  

He goes on to suggest a few trades that would garner the Hawks Kenyon Martin and jettison Josh Childress.  Nice try, dude.  I agree Billy Knight has not been stellar, but he did make the Al Harrington deal.  Joe Johnson as a point guard? Maybe not.  You may be looking at something like a 3-way between Denver, Seattle and Atlanta that looks like this: Denver would send Earl Watson and Bryon Russell to Seattle for Flip Murray, Vitaly Potapenko and Reggie Evans, a recent Bob Hill cast-off.  To make room for these three, Denver would need to clear a roster spot, and can do so by sending Voshon Lenard and N?ne Hilario to Atlanta for Al Harrington, impending free-agent.  

? NEW ITEM!  In response to dozens of angry Raptor fan e-mails, we here at the Weekly Musings have introduced the Weekly Retraction in which we?ll atone for our transgressions and make right the errors of our ways.  Last week it was written here that Alvin Williams hadn?t played meaningful minutes since his college days.  Though it was meant as a joke, it fell on deaf (read: Canadian) ears.  Let me correct the error once and for all. The sentence should have read ?Alvin Williams hasn?t played meaningful basketball since 2001.?  Since then he?s missed 157 of the Raptors 292 games.  Now ask yourself, does that really change the substantive message of the sentence? I didn?t think so.  

? Quote of the Week, Celts President and GM Danny Ainge on the team after the Ricky D for Wally World deal: ?I don't think we're necessarily a much better team right now, if that makes any sense. To me, it's kind of a sideways deal as far as winning basketball games right now. But I feel we're closer to where we want to be. I'll let you read between the lines.? Comforting to know that even the GM doesn?t think they?re any better.

? Worst Team Tracker: This item is going to remain unchanged until the Bobcats start playing for real, which may be a few years.  Charlotte maintains its death grip on the bottom rung, putting together an impressive 13 game losing streak that has them at 1-13 in 2006. The only win came in double OT against the T-Mac and Yao-less Rockets. They recently lost at home by 10, not a real interesting bit from Charlotte.  But this one was to Atlanta, the other worst team in the NBA.  Brutal. Again, I ask, find me one guy who goes to these games and I?ll Pay Pal you $5. They should dump whoever is coaching them, hire Dean Smith and get Worthy, Jordan, Dougherty and Sam Perkins to come out of retirement.

? Hey, where are all of the e-mails I should?ve gotten from Toronto this week? After being barraged by a few select morons to the north, all was quiet after the Knicks did indeed trade Antonio Davis back to the Raptors for Jalen Rose, as I had predicted.  Yes, I thought the deal would expand to include the likes of Trevor Ariza and maybe Eric Williams or Mike James, but still, I was right and you all were wrong.  Big thanks to D-Tox and the solid Raptor fans that stood up for me on the forums last week but there are a lot of you that had some not-so-nice things to say and are now eating crow, or whatever the hell you people eat up there.  My advice to you, next time you?ve got some anger to vent, kick your pet seal and leave me alone. Remember, I was right.

Thanks for tuning in the latest entry of the Weekly Musings.  Remember to keep it here for piping hot, fresh-out-of-the-oven trade rumors that are completely fabricated.  For the Weekly Musings, I?m Ron Burgundy.  You stay classy, Toronto.

Kevin Casini can be reached via email at KevinCasini@hotmail.com