I previewed tonight’s matchup with Benjamin Hochman who is a beat writer for the Denver Post and covers the Nuggets on a daily basis. It’s a conversation between two fans more than an interview and we touch on various topics including Iverson vs Billups, JR Smith, Kleiza, Nene, KMart’s steal on Bosh, Birdman, Calderon, Ukic, Delfino, the Lakers and much more. He’s easily one of my favorite interviews so far even though I dropped the ball on JR Smith’s contract (damn HoopsHype) and their playoff appearance. You can listen to the audio by hitting the play button below, or you can download it here:
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Carmelo Anthony is listed as ‘probable’ for tonight’s game after suffering an elbow contusion against the Rockets. If he’s not 100% the chance of us coming back with something from this roadtrip slightly increase, slightly. The Nuggets dismantled us in the preseason game played in Edmonton when we had severe trouble matching the athleticism of J.R Smith and Ruben Patterson. It was the low-point of the preseason and shed some light on exactly how vulnerable the Raptors are against slashing teams. The Nuggets have only gotten better since. One of the main things tonight will be transition defense because as George Karl says, the Nuggets like to rebound and run:
“The thing our guys sometimes don’t understand is — when we rebound, we run. It’s when we don’t rebound, that’s when we don’t run. They think leaking, cheating out, trying to get ahead of the ball — without fundamentally ending the play — helps us run. It doesn’t. There are moments in the game that you can leak, but we’ve all abused that privilege way too often in the past, and at times this year too.”
Well, tonight the Nuggets don’t have to commit 5 guys to the boards and can afford to leak out on every single play since we don’t have any great offensive rebounders. It’s more than sufficient for them to commit only two bigs to the glass while the other three leak out and test the back-peddling Raptors. Their desire to get easy baskets in transition and our reluctance to play transition defense could serve as our undoing. The message is simple: slow down the game and execute in the half-court set.
Last year KMart stripped Bosh on the right baseline with the game on the line. The reason they won was because of his fourth quarter defense on Chris Bosh and tonight our star player cannot afford to be neutralized by Nene or KMart who both have quickness disadvantages against Bosh. I’d even look for George Karl to put the more mobile and “reachy” Birdman on Bosh and see how he fares against a pesky defender. One of the big differences since the preseason encounter is Andrea Bargnani’s play, he’s shown that he’s capable of handling the defensive SF responsibility (crazy, I know) and it’ll be interesting to see if he can negative Denver’s advantage at the swing positions. A great game by Bargnani could go a long way in getting a W tonight.
The defensive performance against the Lakers was by far the worst of the season and I don’t think things can get much worse against Denver. The weird part about the post-game reaction from a lot of players and coaches was that of being content with their LA performance which is really disheartening to me as a fan. Yes, we stayed close by hitting our threes but if we did one thing right, we did three things wrong. The last thing I want to see is a player or a coach looking for silver linings in what was a humiliating defensive performance. This article by Smith in the star is focusing on the Fisher/Calderon confrontation and seeing it as a sign of us toughening up. Whatever.
Jermaine O’Neal’s still listed as day-to-day and is questionable for tonight’s game. The longer than expected stay on the sidelines is now raising questions whether it’s his ankle or knee that’s the issue. He’s very sure that its the ankle but he’s not 100%:
“Everybody wants it to be my knee, don’t they? I can guarantee you 99.9% that it’s not.”
This quote reminds me of this Family Guy clip which begs the question, What’s the .01? I’m not sure what the exact problem is because if they’re saying its not the knee which he strained against the Nets, then its got to be the ankle and that injury did not look too bad at all. All the X-Rays and tests are coming back negative and he’s not feeling pain, so why isn’t he playing? I understand and advocate being cautious but there has to be reason behind it, not fear.
Here’s an article testifying to Chauncey Billups’s 11-3 impact on the Nuggets and jives with what Benjamin Hochman was saying in his interview. While the Billups acquisition has done wonders for the Nuggets, the same hasn’t been the case in Detroit. Here’s a brief excerpt from an ESPN Insider article:
It was shocking how much better the Pistons defended with Iverson and Hamilton off the court in yesterday’s 96-85 loss to Portland. With those two on the court, the Pistons fell behind 25-11 at the start, gave up buckets on eight straight trips to end the first half, and allowed the Blazers to go on a game-icing 11-0 run down the stretch. In between, Rodney Stuckey and Arron Afflalo shut down the Blazers’ pick-and-roll game, locked down on Brandon Roy..Iverson was minus-28 while Stuckey was plus-12. The D at the point of attack was terrible with Iverson and Hamilton on the floor.
You don’t know what you got till its gone and Chauncey Billups’ impact on the Pistons team defense is now very evident. As alluded to in the podcast, the acquisition of Billups was made for two reasons, first was to improve ball distribution since Iverson didn’t trust his teammates and the second was to improve team defense. So far so good for the Nuggets.
There are some more VLog’s from Matt Devlin and Eric Smith, I really don’t dig these because unless you’re showing some video or highlights while you talk, there’s no reason to get a camera involved. I do like how Devlin’s still sporting the TNT hat.
You can download the Opening Tip here. A win tonight and we feel a lot better. Let’s go you Raps!!
46 Raps
LOL at Vince Carter syndrome…good interview man, I like how you let them just speak. Keep up the great work.
If we let JR Smith get open threes again I’ll know that we suck. Sign of a bad team is losing in the same way over and over again, Sam’s got to look at game-tape and see what happened in preseasno because that’s how theyll play again. Moons and Graham got to cancel out their wings and Bosh’s got to make KMart regret waking up this morning.
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re: One of the big differences since the preseason encounter is Andrea Bargnani’s play, he’s shown that he’s capable of handling the defensive SF responsibility (crazy, I know) and it’ll be interesting to see if he can negative Denver’s advantage at the swing positions.
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IMO, Bargnani has not yet shown that he can handle the defensive SF responsiblity.
What Bargnani is in the process of showing is that he can handle his Defensive responsiblity versus [i] certain PF’s and certain C’s in the NBA [primarily those w/o a quickness advantage over him]. This is a positive step for him.
One of the areas, however, in which Bargnani is still struggling is his Transition Defense; not a good thing when your opponent is the Nuggets … especially at the SF position.
A 2nd major area of weakness for Bargnani continues to be his atrocious defense on Pick & Roll/Pop actions, in which he is the defender who is victimized by the opponent’s ball-handler, not the original ball defender … either, [i] in isolations after Switches, or [ii] in blow-bys vs the ball defender when Bargnani has failed to [A] close the gap on the Picker and/or [B] Show/Hedge/Trap and Recover correctly.
Until he improves substantially in these two areas, Bargnani remains a defensive liability for the Raptors, overall, regardless of the position he’s playing.
No, he’s not a defensive stopper. Obviously not, but he’s shown ehe can hang in there without getting embarrassed. The guy is no Scottie Pippen but so far he hasn’t gotten taken advantage of and his learning the position faster than anybody expected him to. I think his transition defense is fine too, his man does not beat him down the floor and the only time he gets in trouble is when he’s launching a three and ball-watching. But that’s a mental thing more than a physical weakness.
I don’t see his PNR defense being atrocious at all, maybe when he plays the 4, but definitely not the 3. I wouldn’t even call him a “defensive liability”. I think things have changed since last season.
Bargs is a good 1 on 1 defenders but is still working on his awareness.
Sometimes you see the other team take a shot, with bargs just watching near the net, w/o putting a body on someone (I know this has more to do with rebounding, but it’s all defence).
Some more game experience, and he’ll be fine though.
Khandor,if Bargs is a liability on defense,how is the rest of the crew doing,a passing grade?in all fairness if we are going to look at Bargs’s short comings,we should throw in all our defensive specialist…or should I say,our swiss cheese defense !
All you who laugh at me for wanting Kleiza on our squad…keep your peepers open tonight.
Sho,
It’s not all the same.
There are 3 distinct phases to the game of basketball.
Rebounding is rebounding.
Defense is defense.
Offense is offense.
Each of these main phases can then be broken down into numerous other sub-categories to the game.
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d279,
Bargnani’s performance, thus far, in these two sub-categories is the worst of any Raptor, by a wide margin.
Once he addresses these two areas of his individual defensive game … which I’m quite sure the coaching staff is aware of and drilling him on repeatedly … the Raptors overall defensive performance will improve substantially.
The Raptors do not need to have Jermaine O’Neal on the floor to be a highly effective defensive team. What they do NEED to get, however, is an improvement from Bargnani in these two areas [in addition to a few others]. Until they do, the Raptors will continue to mediocre-to-bad on this side of the ball.
HE KEEPS GOING AND GOING AND GOING……..
Jibberish.
Khandor said: Bargnani’s performance, thus far, in these two sub-categories is the worst of any Raptor, by a wide margin.
Really Khandor? Barg’s transition defence is the worst of any Raptor by far? Did you watch the LA game? It was Parker and Moon’s men who were killing us in transition. It is Parker and Moon who get consistently broken down off the dribble by their men which leads to the bigs having to help. It is Moon and Graham who consistently get pump faked and then foul (I like Graham’s defence but he is definitely of this). It was Moon who leaked out before we even secured the defensive board who then saw his man get fed an easy alley-oop by Kobe.
No WAY is Bargs our worst defender right now. NO WAY
Khandor,whats with the Bargs ragging,the last game I watched,he wasn’t without faults,but neither was our score of athletes…give the kid some credit,he showed a hell of a lot more defensively than our mvp did…said it !!!
this is what happens when nobody reads your blogs and nobodt visits your own site…u hijack another site….well done khandor u twat.
Is it possible to find out which Raptors have taken charges this season?
I can count these off the top of my head. Bosh, O’Neal, Graham, Bargs, and possible Parker and Hump (these last two have probably attempted them but, I think, were not successful…still deserve to be included in this group because IMO it’s the willingness to sacrifice one’s body that is most important in this stat).
I can even remember Barg’s taking a charge in transition in the past 3 games…when he rushed back on the break and got position on a smaller wing player.
is there any point to #8, #11, and #13?
re. charges – no idea, but i remember jose drawing at least one.
khan – so, just to make sure i’m following…the raps don’t need JO in the lineup, as long as bargs does the things on D & rebounding that JO already does? you seem to be stating:
a) bargs D/rebounding is a considerable liability (’Bargnani’s performance, thus far, in these two sub-categories is the worst of any Raptor, by a wide margin.’),
b) once he improves these facets, the raps, as a team, will be better defensively (’Once he addresses these two areas of his individual defensive game…the Raptors overall defensive performance will improve substantially.’),
c) at present, the raps don’t need JO (’The Raptors do not need to have Jermaine O’Neal on the floor to be a highly effective defensive team.’)
um, so, if they need bargs to improve (say, to JO’s level, or close to it) defensively & on the glass…isn’t it safe to assume that if they had a guy who already does both at JO’s level (i.e. JO himself), they wouldn’t be better NOW, as a team, in those areas?
Don’t you all know he watched the games over and over, in slow-motion, freeze framing at times to come up with his astute breakdowns. Me, I gotta work.
Bargnani’s defence has not hurt the Raptors at all this season. End of discussion.
The Rap definitely need JO…they need him so that they are not forced to play CB4 for 42 minutes a game!
I’m not sure that there are three “distinct phases” in a basketball game: rebounding, defense, and offense. If anything, there are only two, because rebounding is primarily a defensive stat. But regardless, it’s pointless to break up b-ball into smallish subcategories because then the larger point is missed. I agree with most of the posters here, Bargnani, though not perfect, is definitely not the useless defensive player he was the last two years. He’s rebounding a bit better and staying in front of his man. Like all the Raps, he’s a terrible help defender, but that’s because I believe one or a combination of two things: 1) the Raps sniff glue before games and thus have an incredibly slow thought process (see Bosh, Chris), or 2) each Raptor player has put glue on the bottom of their shoes (see body, every).
Jord-I think the glue sniffing may explain why the Raptors sometimes adhere to the “I see the other team about to take an open shot, so instead of going and contesting, I will simply hope they miss” defensive philosophy
I am not sure he has commented on the notion of protection for CB4, either how or if it is needed.
I like the Rap’s lineup when they have Bargs and JO playing the 4 and 5 spots while Bosh is resting. It is a good opportunity to those two to get familiar with each other and to get their touches and…hopefully…to hit their shats
slow day + wondering mind =
http://games.espn.go.com/nba/features/traderesult?players=976~3192~2991~306~2011~2759~2010~635&teams=28~28~28~10~28~26~26~10&te=3249:10-3018&cash=
Yertu-interesting man! I have been dreaming about getting Shane Battier all season. He is exactly the type of defender we need.
Yertu – that link doesn’t work me, just post the trade here. I can tell you that Shane Battier is untouchable in Houston. Lots of team have tried to pry him away and failed. He’s one of those character/defense guys that will become legendary.
Oh c’mon, yertu, that’s a ridiculous trade! The Raps trade away an aging SG, a three point specialist, and two horrible wings, and we get back a great defensive player, an athletic guard (who is having a pretty good year), a three point specialist who is better than the three point specialist we got rid of, and a point guard who is playing decent right now. A trade like that would solve all our problems, and not really improve Utah or Houston…
Any realistic trade involving the Raps would merely be the transfer of unwanted garbage/potential for unwanted garbage/potential. We’ve got zero guys with trade value except for players we don’t want to get rid of.
yeah, i know, but one can dream, no? i assume that most of the guys i proposed would be coming back aren’t exactly ‘available.’
the trade was a 3-teamer.
TO would give up AP & moon (to houston) & JK & rob-joe (to utah) in exchange for battier & brooks (from houston) & brewer & korver (from utah); houston would also get harpring from utah.
TO
in: battier/brooks (houston) & brewer/korver (utah)
out: AP/moon (houston) & JK/graham (utah)
HOU
in: AP/moon & harpring (from utah)
out: battier/brooks
Utah:
in: JK/graham
out: brewer/harpring/korver
like i said, i was bored. can’t see why utah would do it, other than to free up space.
this is why looking at trade scenarios is so frustrating…the raps really don’t have any assets that are of value, either contract-wise or player skill-wise, they’re right up against the tax (with no evidence they’d consider going over), and they have a short roster, meaning they’d need to get more back (or at least the same number back) as they trade away…or clear enough space to be able to sign a FA to fill out the roster (and we’ve seen how well BC does that).
way i see it, they’ll either make a big, multi-team / multi-player trade, or do nothing. they can’t get anything of substance in a one-for-one deal with any of JK, AP, joey, moon, etc.
jord – that’s why any deal’s gonna have to involve 2 other teams (minimum). if you look at it from each team’s perspective, it’s not about what one team is giving up/getting, but the entirety of the deal. sure, houston gives up battier & brooks, but get harpring (similar player to battier), AP (vet defender/3-pt shooter off the bench) & moon (filler, but a guy who CAN defend &, uh, can jump).
utah gives up brewer (probably the best player in the deal), korver & harpring, but korver & harpring aren’t exactly stallwarts of the team; graham can give them harprings muscle/energy, JK is basically korver (read: they both shoot, and pretty much nothing else); brewer’s the big loss, but they clear a bit of space.
look, the only thing i know is that this team, as currently constituted, isn’t good enough to win a 1st round series. hell, they may not be good enough to make the playoffs (or save mitchell’s a job). so, they’re either happy with shitty status-quo (and no, this isn’t a reaction to the LA game, just a general feeling about the team as a whole), or they’re prepared to make a splash. how they do that without giving up anything resembling NBA talent, i dunno.
Lesterbain,
I did not say that Bargnani’s Transition Defense in the game against the Lakers was the worst of the Raptors’ players by a wide margin.
If that’s what you think I said, then you’d better read what I wrote a second [first-?] time. :-)
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d279,
If Bargnani’s Transition Defense is by far the worst on this team, as I think it is, what need is there for me to discuss the Transition Defense of the other players, as well?
[e.g. You are welcome to point out how poor their performance is in this area of the game, if that is what you want to do.]
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question,
: )
———-
yertu,
It works better if you don’t attempt to “re-arrange” what I said into your own words … and then try to pass them off as somehow being mine. : )
Your interpretations of what I’ve written on-line are seldom, if ever, accurate … and, therefore, get nowhere fast.
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Tinman,
If you think Bargnani’s [i] Transition Defense and his [ii] Pick & Roll/Pop Defense have not hurt the Raptors so far this season … you are free to continue thinking that way. I will not try to change your mind. Based on what you’ve said thus far on this site, you are someone who does not value the information which NBA teams keep on their own players, in the form of Possession Outcomes in each and every game. As such, there is really no point whatsoever in you reading anything which I write. Perhaps you’ll be a lot happier if you simply scroll by my comments here and never visit my blog. It’s okay, I won’t be offended.
———-
re: #16,
That’s correct. IMO, the Raptors are in definite need of a “4th Big” to back-up their Rock, Chris Bosh [C]. Preferably, a solid vet, who doesn’t require a lot of touches or shots to be effective, who can make a mid-range jumpshot, is an outstanding passer, with a high bball IQ, and a reputation throughout the League as a winner [because he's played on winning/championship calibre teams]. And, if that player could also, somehow, carry a price-tag that has him listed as the 12th highest expiring contract in the NBA for the current season, that would qualify as the icing on the cake.
Khandor: I never said that you said that. You simply put those words into my mouth because they apparently refute my argument. Just because I used evidence from a particular game to refute your general point about Bargs’ defence, doesn’t mean I impled you said that. Nice try though!
lesterbain,
Please point out where I said, that’s what you said in your comment? : )
khan – how did i ‘re-arrange’ anything you wrote? i quoted you! maybe you should take a page out of your handbook (titled: ‘How To Be An Annoying $^&*(*^ In 57 Easy Steps!’), and go ‘READ WHAT I WROTE.’ i don’t have the time to explain to you that which is painfully obvious to all who wish to see.
Khandor- nobody agrees with you about Bargs’ Defence. You stated your point. I stated mine. Everyone proceeded to agree with mine. You cried your river…now build a bridge and get over it!
But please, don’t reduce this to a “he said…she said” argument…which you clearly seem to thrive on, as I am not the first person you have demanded to tell you where you said something.
lesterbain,
Then it seems to me as though we can both agree that it’s impossible for you to point that out.
Would have preferred me to include the following disclaimer at the beginning of my orginal comment?
[Almost-?] Nobody here is going to agree with me about this … but, hey, what the heck, here goes nothing …
If so, then, just pretend it’s there anyways.
Khandor….see #9
yertu,
re: the different parts you asked about
They’re in bold below …
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re. charges – no idea, but i remember jose drawing at least one.
khan – so, just to make sure i’m following…the raps don’t need JO in the lineup, as long as bargs does the things on D & rebounding that JO already does? you seem to be stating:
a) bargs D/rebounding is a considerable liability (’Bargnani’s performance, thus far, in these two sub-categories is the worst of any Raptor, by a wide margin.’),
b) once he improves these facets, the raps, as a team, will be better defensively (’Once he addresses these two areas of his individual defensive game…the Raptors overall defensive performance will improve substantially.’),
c) at present, the raps don’t need JO (’The Raptors do not need to have Jermaine O’Neal on the floor to be a highly effective defensive team.’)
um, so, if they need bargs to improve (say, to JO’s level, or close to it) defensively & on the glass…isn’t it safe to assume that if they had a guy who already does both at JO’s level (i.e. JO himself), they wouldn’t be better NOW, as a team, in those areas?
———-
At least, it’s never dull when dealing with you.
d279,
See?
Goddamn Khandor, why not post some of your possesion outcome charts so we can have sufficient enough knowledge just to understand what you are saying.
I know Bargnani’s defense is much improved from last year. I have seen it watching the game, I do not need to watch the same game multiple times to come to that conclusion.
From your logic Khandor, you have claimed in the past that O’neal should not be starting and should be getting 9/10th man minutes. From that, i am assuming you want bargnani to get top 8 minutes. But, why not play o’neal is bargs defense is that bad? Does bargnani really contribute that much extra to offense that playing o’neal for primarily defensive purposes makes the raptors worse off?
Raptor Republic, would it be possible to stream today’s game on your site. It would be greatly appreciated.
yertu,
Actually that previous comment to you should read like this, instead …
——————————–
re: the different parts you asked about
They’re in bold below …
re. charges – no idea, but i remember jose drawing at least one.
khan – so, just to make sure i’m following…the raps don’t need JO in the lineup, as long as bargs does the things on D & rebounding that JO already does? you seem to be stating:
a) bargs D/rebounding is a considerable liability (’Bargnani’s performance, thus far, in these two sub-categories is the worst of any Raptor, by a wide margin.’),
b) once he improves these facets, the raps, as a team, will be better defensively (’Once he addresses these two areas of his individual defensive game…the Raptors overall defensive performance will improve substantially.’),
c) at present, the raps don’t need JO (’The Raptors do not need to have Jermaine O’Neal on the floor to be a highly effective defensive team.’)
um, so, if they need bargs to improve (say, to JO’s level, or close to it) defensively & on the glass…isn’t it safe to assume that if they had a guy who already does both at JO’s level (i.e. JO himself), they wouldn’t be better NOW, as a team, in those areas?
——————————–
… because I missed one the first time through.
Did someone just ask Khandor to post more info?
Dino Gunners, I’ll try to have a stream for you on the front page.
BTW, this is a fascinating discussion that’s going on.
Dino Gunners,
re: Possession Outcomes
Some of it is on my blog, sprinkled here and there. It’s simply too much to publish in high volumes, never-mind on someone else’s site, like RR.
Even though I do not agree with some of the notions which have been developed and promoted recently by the likes of Dean Oliver, Kevin Pelton, and other highly reputable individuals, in the hoops’ number-crunching field, there is much to be learned from visiting their respective sites.
If I recall correctly, Dean even has an example on his site of a specific type of Possession Outcome notation which many NBA teams use to record what actually happens in a game for their own evaluation purposes.
For those who really want to understand how the NBA game actually works, it’s essential that you at least know the format, the terms of reference, and the sort of info being kept by these teams’ assistant coaches when they breakdown tape in this League.
re: what you see or don’t see when watching a game
I agree with Coach Bob Knight. When it comes to understanding basketball … THIS is the single most important aspect of the game.
re: From your logic Khandor, you have claimed in the past that O’neal should not be starting and should be getting 9/10th man minutes. From that, i am assuming you want bargnani to get top 8 minutes. But, why not play o’neal is bargs defense is that bad? Does bargnani really contribute that much extra to offense that playing o’neal for primarily defensive purposes makes the raptors worse off?
1. As a former No. 1 [overall] Pick, who the Raptors are counting on in a big way, Bargnani needs to be playing major meaningful minutes in each game this season.
2. IMO … the effect one player has in a NBA game is not limited to his individual performance. In part, it is also distributed to his teammates and his opponents, in terms of Rebounding, Defense and Offense. Working out the best rotation possible for a High End team in the NBA is rarely as simple as, “Bargnani is bad at Defense; O’Neal is good at Defense and, therefore, should be starting ahead of Il Mago.”
I would argue that you’re playing defense anytime your team doesnt have possession of the ball…..
Yuck, Bob Knight is an idiot. The shot clock takes away control from him as a coach!? What kind of nonesense is that?! It doesn’t take away control, it just changes the game. For the better, I might add. College hoops always frustrates me cause teams dribble and pass with no direction for about 20 seconds, and in the final 15 seconds start their play. Unless the previous 20 seconds were a part of an elaborate play to bore the other team into a stupor. Plus, guys like D’Antoni took the shot clock and said screw it, a shot clock doesn’t take away my coaching skills, instead, I’m going to impose a shorter shot clock on my players. My point is simply that Bob Knight is a whiner and irritates me to no end. Shot clock taking away control as a coach?! I could hardly believe what I read. He’s a dumbass. How long can I keep this rant going…
thanks arsenalist for the stream.
Hey,
Sorry but I cant see the stream link for tonights game on the front page. Anyone have it? Thanks
Wait for it man, the game hasn’t started yet.
Live Stream:
http://raptorsnation.net/raptors-nuggets/
password: jose8
Enjoy