To be perfectly honest, I’m surprised it didn’t happen sooner: TJ Ford is showing signs that he’s unhappy coming off the bench behind the ever-improving Jose Calderon.
If his body language in the couple of games before last night had been translated into words, you’d have shielded your kids’ ears. Tuesday in Orlando, non-plussed he’d been hooked from the game, Ford made a 20-foot walk to the bench look more like a procession to the electric chair. It wasn’t the only outward expression of his discontent.
“T.J.’s a good guy. He’s a good person,” said Darrick Martin, Ford’s fellow point guard. “He’s just working through some issues and he’ll be fine.”
In sports, there’s a line of thinking that claims that a guy shouldn’t lose his job due to injury. It’s a nice (if romantic) idea to be sure, but completely unrealistic.
Ford went down with what some feared could into a career-ending injury back in December, and Calderon stepped in and adroitly steered the Raptor ship and nearly earned himself an All-Star appearance for his troubles.
Even with a healthy Ford, it wouldn’t be right (or make very much sense) to yank the Spaniard from the starting lineup. Them’s the breaks, TJ.
