Eleven Things I Liked About Jose Calderon

Jose is gone, thanks to a deal involving (appropriately) three teams. (Photo: detroitbadboys.com)

Losing Ed Davis is frustrating.

Losing Jose Calderon hurts.

Ed Davis is a good young player with lots of potential, and one of the precious few positives of this season has been watching that talent develop. How much better will he get? Who knows.

Jose Calderon, on the other hand, was the 1997 Volvo of the Toronto Raptors. Not flashy, not fast, not ugly but not elegant. Consistent, reliable, and quietly efficient. Aging gracefully.

These are the things I liked, and will miss, about Jose Calderon:

1. He rarely turned the ball over.
2. When doofus teammates would dribble themselves into a corner with 4 on the shot clock, they could always throw the ball back to Calderon for a smooth and usually accurate jumper.
3. When called for a foul, he would plead with the ref like an Italian man whose pizza has just been stolen.
4. He didn’t complain about having to share starting PG duties with a rotating cast of clowns and ball hogs.
5. His name is fun to say.
6. Mimicking his three-point signal after another big trey was the only time I could flash a gang sign in public without getting beat up.
7. He had a good sense of style; a happy medium between the ridiculously precision-plucked eyebrows of Carlos Delfino, and the just-woke-up-caveman look of Aaron Gray.
8. A few seasons ago, he shot an NBA-record 98% from the free-throw line. I can barely tie my shoes with a 98% success rate.
9. No tattoos.
10. No ego.
11. While everybody else will engage in angry debate over whether this was the right trade or not, Jose will quietly report to his new team and continue to play solid, unselfish, fundamental basketball.

Gracias, Jose!