http://sports.espn.go.com/nba/teams/schedule?team=tor&year=2008

I dont want to disappoint but as much as I like play analysis (and I talk about it a lot) its hard not to get excited about rumor mongering. After all, isn’t that what the internet is all about?

Great article here. Welcome to RR. I have to agree with Khandor here. Maggette is NOT the answer to the Raptors problems this year. Our poor wing play was exposed during our playoff series with New Jersey. Had we had Garbo AND Parker (who was defending well back then) to keep Jefferson and Carter in check, we probably would have won. Furthermore, that series exposed Bosh as the one dimensional offensive player that he was and still is. He was guarded by athletic big men who crowded him, bumped him, and got help if he got by them. I think this is the strategy that the entire league has used on Bosh since then. Boston and Detroit consistently shut him down. In part, this is due to the good defence by KG and Sheed, but the other part is due to the team defence that surround Bosh and prevents him from getting comfortable. New Jersey did a great job of pressuring/doubling CB4 and he was exposed as a terrible passer/decision maker in these situations. IMO, he has done little to improve in these important areas. The reason that LBJ, Kobe, and DWade are so dangerous is that they are able to recognize the double teams and make the correct decision which in turn makes their teammates better. If teams are able to defend Bosh with only one defender, the Raptors cannot utilize their complimentary players at all.

1. The Mavs’ decision to let Nash go, when they did … was NOT a mistake.

Dallas improved dramatically without Nash at the helm, and Phoenix improved dramatically under the guidance of D’Antoni, with Nash at the Point, in a 4 out/1 in offensive alignment, playing at 100 MPH.

It was a change in direction that benefitted both teams.

2. Dallas made a huge mistake trading Harris for J-Kidd.

Harris was NOT the problem with the Mavs’ team that won 67 regular season games and then lost in the 1st Round of the Playoffs to the Warriors. Nor was he THE problem when their team struggled mightily last season prior to making the deal for Kidd.

What the Mavs needed to do was improve at the Center position, not the PG spot.

Potentially “correcting their mistake from Nash” had nothing to do with their plight.

3. That was not the reason Ford + Nesterovic + Baston + the No. 17 [overall] 2008 Draft Pick were traded for O’Neal + the No. 41 [overall] 2008 Draft Pick … and Delfino, Garbajosa & Brezec were let go.

Colangelo & his basketball brain-trust:

i. Did not know how to deal effectively with a disgruntled player like TJ Ford. That’s a deficiency on their part.

ii. Tried to address the Rebounding and Interior Offensive/Defensive needs of last year’s team through the acquisition of O’Neal. That’s was a mis-calculation on their part.

iii. Discovered that Ford was perceived to be a “‘Damaged Goods’ player with a possible upside” that could only be moved for fair value in return, if the Raptors would take back a “‘Damaged Goods’ player with a possible upside” themselves.

iv. Needed to stay below the Luxury Tax Threshold given the way MLSE chooses to run its basketball franchise.

When BC made the Oneal deal, it was similar to the Iverson trade in that there are two potentially favourable scenarios. If it works out, awesome – we have a good team. If it doesn’t, you have a massive contract coming off the books at a good time. Unfortunately, the second scenario looks like more and more likely. Outside of trading Bosh, I don’t know what we can do but wait. This team was always based on a bunch of “ifs” and none of them are panning out.

I like what I hear from Triano, but right now this team is embarrassing to watch.

as for the trade…as proposed, it wouldn’t work for $ reasons. include joey in lieu of hump, and it would.

i don’t think it makes the raps any better. creates more competition for shots, and maggette is a scorer, but little else. belineli has skill, but whether that ever translates into anything is yet to be determined…he could just be a smaller bargs. plus, we’d be saddled with maggette’s contract, which doesn’t seem overly bad now, but it will in a couple years.

Well I think this is our answer.. If I was BC this is what I would do..

I would trade Andrea Bargnani (Broken Italian record)
Anthony Parker (Inconsistent)
Kris Humphries (a loaf of bread)

For Correy Maggette (Consistent)
Marco Beilinelli(new Italian hit)

New Line up

Chris Bosh
Jermaine Oneal
Jose Calderon
Correy Maggette
Jason Kapono
Jamario moon
Marco Beilinelli
Joey Graham
Roko Leni Ukic
Willie Solomon
Hassan Adams
Nathan Jawai
Jake Voskuhl

And if Bosh wants to leave we want Kevin Durant next year… so what do you guys think???

completely agree. i don’t know how many hours i’ve wasted (at work, of course…i’d never waste my own time) on ESPN’s trade machine, trying to see if there’s a deal out there that works. everytime i come up with something that seems to make sense, i look at the team that’s getting whatever raptor players i’ve included, and immediately nix it, as there’s no way they’d make the deal. it’s a symptom of the home-town bias towards ‘our’ guys – we always overvalue ‘our’ guys, and undervalue guys on other teams. eg: most raps fans would think bosh would be worth, say, aldridge, lafrentz’s expiring contract, and a pick (and most would probably think that the raps wouldn’t be getting enough back) – but why on earth would pritchard make that deal?

jord – the G&M article you’re referencing wasn’t written by grange, but by chris black http://caldeford.blogspot.com/2008/12/hollinger-and-why-jose-calderon-is.html

This post is crazy and I am sick and delirious.

Also among the points you mention is inserting the #1 pick into the O Neal trade, but perhaps they did that to avoid the luxury tax that would have come from signing the #q pick. They might have needed to trade it similar to the way that Phoenix did. This would not be BC’s fault but rather MLSE.

Josh Smith, Joe Johnson, Paul Pierce, Kevin Garnett, Rajon Rondo, Lebron James, Dirk Nowitzki, Jason Terry, Josh Howard, Chauncey Billups, Carmelo Anthony, etc.

And I’m not even trying to make cases for defensive players or some fringe guys. And I got up to D. Stupid, stupid, stupid.

Does Harris deserve to be an all-star more than Calderon? Probably (I haven’t really compared the two much in different ways). Still, Grange is making a stupid statement and it annoyed me enough to write this. Ok, I’ll stop sabotaging this column by phd “i’m so insecure that i need to make sure people know my credentials” steve. I’m just kidding, man. Nice article.

The team reflects its leader… passive, weak, complacent….and that good old Toronto touch of unearned arrogance…

… when losing isn’t a big deal, you tend to lose a lot…

What will it take? Not making the playoffs?