Depending on your perception of time’s onward march, it might seem like yesterday that Jose Calderon arrived in Toronto as a spindly, smiley rookie, a wonky jump shot on a 27-win team. The former Raptors point guard is suddenly in his 14th season in the NBA. “How much longer? I don’t know,” Calderon was saying recently. “I don’t have a number in my head. I’m going to go by my feeling, and by whether they call me or not.”Talent wins in the NBA, but it’s also a relationship business. And there’s no doubt the Detroit Pistons called the 37-year-old Calderon on July 1, offering him a one-year deal worth $2.4 million U.S., on account of Calderon’s relationship with Dwane Casey. The two were first acquainted here in Toronto, of course. And this past summer Casey — who’ll make what he says will be an “emotional” return to Toronto Wednesday night — was in an odd predicament. Though he was the NBA’s reigning coach of the year, he was also restarting his career after being fired by the Raptors and replaced by former assistant Nick Nurse in the wake of an unprecedented seven-year run of success. You know how it ended, in LeBronto, in another sweep at the hands of the Cavaliers, in Masai Ujiri’s change-seeking ire. So you’ll understand why Casey, as he reset his table in Motown, wanted Calderon around. In an ever-younger league, veteran savvy is rarer and rarer. And so, too, is a player who can occasionally step back and laugh about old times. Calderon, speaking courtside in Detroit a while back, recalled a training-camp practice in Detroit wherein the Pistons weren’t performing to Casey’s liking. Calderon had flashbacks to Casey’s early days in Toronto, a defensive stickler taking over the league’s worst defence.“I was thinking, ‘Man, if this happened seven years ago when I was with (Casey), we would still be running right now ...
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