Raptors drive the paint against paper-thin ClipsOn the day the Raptors fell to dead last in NBA.com’s power rankings, we finally found a team that was bad enough to beat. The Clippers had come back from a 5-game Eastern swing and were playing without Chris Kaman and Marcus Camby, both out with injury. But hey, you don’t pick who you play so give the Raptors credit for coming out the right way – going inside and staying inside. Jermaine O’Neal provided the paint offense in the first quarter and Chris Bosh carried the load in the second half including 18 fourth quarter points as the Raptors snapped their second 5 game losing skid of the year. I’d like to think we still would’ve managed to win this game if Zach Randolph hadn’t been injured after the lead was cut to 6 from 19 early in the fourth quarter.
The Raptors came out playing well as usual, they built an early 15 point lead by going inside to Jermaine O’Neal who’s offensive game is returning to form. He’s still missing relative easy-angle layups but his jumper is tighter and his footwork in the post much is much better. He was up against Zach Randolph who isn’t the greatest defender but does have enough reach to bother you if you’re unsure of yourself. 10 first quarter points from O’Neal and 8 from Bosh (4 FTs, one hook-shot in the paint and a dunk) set the tone for this game – no stupid jumpers, we’re going to hurt you where you’re weak. Makes sense, DeAndre Jordan, Paul Davis and Brian Skinner have no business slowing us down and they didn’t, resulting in a stat you rarely see the Raptors winning handily: 32-24 points in the paint.
So when we get the early lead the next question to take bets on is when do we blow it? The smart money usually has the lead evaporating by the late 2nd quarter and the Raptors – true to form – let go of half the lead by the end of the 1st quarter which ended at 25-18. Baron David and Eric Gordon hitting back-to-back threes right before Baron had unlocked Calderon’s relatively good defense to find DeAndrea Jordan for two in the paint. When the second quarter began all signs pointed to the Clippers coming back to tie and the smart money paying off. However, the Clippers looked a lot like the Raptors of late and settled for jumper after jumper even though early Baron Davis drives had suggested that all they needed to do was break us down at the point-of-attack. Parker came off the bench in the second quarter to hit 3 smooth Parkeresque jumpers, Kapono got both his scores of the night in the frame to make up for the 4 turnovers and an unhealthy dose of Will Solomon. In fairness to Will, he did knock down a three so it wasn’t all bad today. The Raptors took advantage of the Clippers’ 4 turnovers and 5-21 shooting in the quarter to take a 19 point lead into the half. Steve Smith called it in favor of the Raptors at halftime.
The inevitable Clipper run came in the third quarter, Randolph scored nine points during the 18-5 spurt which cut the lead to 6 in the final minute of the third and then again early in the fourth. That’s when he went down and took any Clipper hopes with him. So what happened in that third quarter? Bargnani happened, check out his action in that frame:
5:58 Andrea Bargnani enters the game for Chris Bosh 61-44 5:39 Andrea Bargnani clear path foul (Baron Davis draws the foul) 61-44 5:20 Andrea Bargnani offensive foul (DeAndre Jordan draws the foul) 61-48 5:20 Andrea Bargnani turnover 61-48 4:03 Al Thornton personal foul (Andrea Bargnani draws the foul) 61-50 4:03 Andrea Bargnani makes free throw 1 of 2 62-50 4:03 Andrea Bargnani misses free throw 2 of 2 62-50 3:20 Andrea Bargnani shooting foul (Eric Gordon draws the foul) 62-52 3:00 Andrea Bargnani misses 26-foot three point jumper 62-54 0:57 Andrea Bargnani loose ball foul (DeAndre Jordan draws the foul) 66-59 0:57 Jake Voskuhl enters the game for Andrea Bargnani 66-59
He’s just awful right now and should’ve been replaced much sooner, and by Kris Humphries, not Jake Voskuhl. Don’t get me wrong, 5 rebounds in 8 minutes by Rasho-lite is good production and he’s playing much better than what anybody expected him to but it seems rather unfair that its Humphries whose expense the minutes are coming on. VL gets to play through a stretch where he singlehandedly let the Clippers back in it while Hump is glued to the bench? I thought we were done playing #1 pick favorites in terms of playing time. Voskuhl appears to be higher in the depth chart than Humphries for whatever reason and I’m not sure what Humphries has done to deserve the relegation. Maybe it’s Triano’s way of finding out what he has in Voskuhl and is just letting Humphries recover slowly from his injury.
As for VL, he’s playing like its the first time he’s stepped on a court. He’s got the deer-in-headlights look on every play. He’s unsure of what to do with the ball every single time he touches it. Even the stuff he does right he gets wrong. He caught the ball on the left wing last night and checked whether his feet were behind the 3-pt line before shooting, even after checking and stepping back he still shot a two. Earlier in the year he was playing good defense, now he can’t even keep his arms straight up and is fouling constantly. He’s not just missing his jumpers, he’s shanking them wide-left and wide-right like a bad field goal kicker. His offensive ineptness was easier to ignore when he was somewhat making up for it on the other end by playing good man-defense, blocking shots and providing non-fouling help defense, but when he’s doing none of those his offense becomes front and center and right now it’s so bad that you just want to bench him if for nothing else than to prevent his trade value from plummeting. So disappointing, so very, very disappointing.
After we caught a break with Randolph going down with injury, Chris Bosh decided that there was simply no way anybody could come close to slowing him down and his 18 point fourth quarter is a testament to that. Bosh scored 12 consecutive points in a 3:02 span including a couple threes and a three-point play to push the Raptors ahead 92-73 with 4:43 remaining. Even we can’t blow that lead this late. It did include two threes but I can live him taking those kinds of shots when we’re up 15, it’s only when he takes those with us down 7 and a minute to go that they’re classified as bad shots. The game was practically decided when Randolph went down but Bosh hammered home the result.
What does this win mean? Nothing much, the Clippers are too short-handed to be judged fairly and this was their first game back after a long roadtrip – team’s always under-perform in those situations. They had won 4 of their last 6 but none of the energy or desire needed to win an NBA game was present for the first 35 minutes, they also seem to have tuned out Mike Dunleavy who seems to be talking to walls in the huddle. We start a three-day break on a winning note and are still 6 games under .500. The disgusting habit of blowing early leads is still there as evidenced by last night’s third quarter. As Feschuk has one scout saying:
They’re a great first quarter team
Unfortunately that’s all the scout said, no further elaboration was sought or provided. We have some idea though: weak bench, bad conditioning, nerves, drop-off in intensity, defensive indifference etc. If we have a third quarter like that against any other team they would’ve completed the comeback in the fourth.
Chris Bosh and Jermaine O’Neal had excellent games but how much of that is due to the shot-blocking Camby and the lane-clogging Kaman not being there. We won the rebounding battle 48-38, that’s just wrong. This game does not provide any basis for analysis, it’s like if we had beaten the Thunder, how much would you read into that?
The Raptors flew back to Toronto after the game and arrived in town at 7AM. They’ll fly out back to California on Christmas afternoon and face the Kings on Boxing Day. We’re 1-2 on the trip and if only we would’ve beaten the Thunder we actually could’ve realistically aimed for a winning record on this trip.
Let’s end with a couple quotes, Jermaine O’Neal talking about the importance of defense after holding the Clippers to 78 points, he’s the only Raptor that has consistently backed what he’s said and last night was no different:
Every good team in our league is a good defensive team. The last 10-15 years an offensive team never has won anything in the NBA. Good defence gives you opportunities no matter what you’re doing offensively. If we don’t play defence it doesn’t work because if we’re spending all that energy on defence and you’re really not stopping them, then when you do come down with the ball, you’re fatigued. Us being a jump-shooting team, often those shots are short and that becomes a problem.
Triano, the eternal optimist, believes that this team will find it in them to play a high level of defense while thriving offensively.
We’re going to play good defence and we’ll eventually get our legs. I don’t know if it’s the schedule, the travel, the defence or the system we are playing but I have no doubt that we have good enough shooters and eventually we’ll find it.
Hopefully it won’t be too late.
If you want more from this game there’s the roll call and the live blog. Raptors Republic will be a little slow over the next three days and by “slow” I mean only one article a day. Keep up to tabs by grabbing the RSS feed or following us on Twitter for updates and Raptors tidbits throughout the day (and night).
40 Raps
Last night’s great game was great for Raps fan!! (BOH!!) A win is a win is a win… and road wins are somewhat sweeter.
However, I fully agree with you that this game/win does not provide any basis to analyse the Raps.
As you stated, without Camby, Kaman AND Randolph in the 2nd half (the Raps equivalence to VL, JO & CB4) the Clips front line was non-existent. So the loose ball rebounding contests were no contests last night, which is why the Raps ended the game with +10 margin in that category.
Be that as it may, with a valient road win under our belt and three days off for the holidays, here’s hoping every Raps player flies into Sacramento with some swagger knowing that they are the better team and that the Kings are gonna get a royal crowning on Friday!!
There’s every reason to believe that we should beat the Kings, the Blazers and the Warriors to make up for our ‘rock bottom’ loss to OKC last week.
Yo, the Raps Republic needed this win to lift our communal spirits before xmas. (Even though the Clips unitentionally gift wrapped this win with curly ribbons, a fancy bow, and a ‘Happy Holidays’ card).
Agree with James, Santa Clipper delivered and had he not, it would have been one big el crapo xmas for all of us. We needed this win on many levels, let’s hope it’s something to build on. I’m sick of losing.
Also, can we now stop denying that (some) players do not want to play here?
“There has also been some interest shown between the Kings and the Toronto Raptors, with the Kings offering up John Salmons. As a free agent, however, Salmons made it clear he didn’t want to play in Canada and Bryan Colangelo has a policy that he won’t acquire players who don’t want to make Canada home.”
Who is BC looking at: “Bryan Colangelo, the general manager who flew into Los Angeles Sunday night on the heels of a college scouting trip in Arizona..”
*Arizona ain’t no county in Europe I ever heard of! Do they speak English in Arizona?*
good win, I managed to catch the game from where randolph got injured. Bosh actually showed us a post move when he completely undressed deandre jordan. Will Solomon was play the Jason Kapono role perfectly, throwing the ball into the post and waiting for the open three pointer. Why cant kaps do this?
I hope this win translates into some confidence for the rest of the trip. THe squad desperately needs it.
Dino – in fairness to Kapono, the defense sticks to him much tighter than Will. I joked about Kapono’s lack of “traditional threes” in the Roll Call too, Bosh and JO were both having great paint games and he still couldn’t get a clean look. I still haven’t seen the Raptors put him on the strong-side corner as JO or Bosh is posting up. It’s a damn mystery.
The Pros of Vegetable Lasagna: (a) somewhat palatable, (b) safe menu choice for a mediocre restaurant, (c) usually Halal/Kosher, (d) edible, but not a gastronomic explosion, (e) sometimes filling with the right accoutrement
The Cons of Vegetable Lasagna: (a) Horrible as a leftover, (b) unexciting, (c) no kick/zest to the recipe, (d) poor shelf life, (e) lacks meat and muscle, (f) low in protein, (g) can be lethal for a lactard if cheese is included, (h) not the traditional choice for lasagna, (i) if not guided by the right chef out of the pan, can get clumsy, messy and a chore to eat, (i)lacks the confidence that a meat lasagna has and, (j) leaves much to be desired.
LOL at B-Star, “if not guided by the right chef out of the pan, can get clumsy, messy and a chore to eat”
Wow! He bombed that 3rd quarter, the offensive foul on Jordan was followed by loud silence. Nobody could believe how uncoordinated he is, Raps didnt even bother protesting the call. The clear path foul was a 50-50 call…I thought we were parallel with Baron when Bargnani caught him…still stupid though.
Why do you call the bust VL?
Lets not get all crazy here, its the clippers plus i think this might the last win of 08. Lets hope not but it could be so lets and enjoy it. Good to see O’neal set the tone early!
This place is only alive after a loss.
not really, there’s more posts after a devastating loss.
This place is always alive, Paps.
HAPPY HOLIDAYS R.R. CREW AND EVERYONE.
Even you, Andiamo and nunya, you Rap bastards.
Traffic’s actually higher today, there’s just not much to say here Paps, if we had beaten a good team there would be something more to talk about. It’s the Clips without half their first team.
J5 – VL = Vegetable Lasagna
mark – watching him in that third quarter was painful, he couldn’t do a single thing right and the Clipper announcers were ripping into him full force.
Voskuhl appears to be higher in the depth chart than Humphries.
Is that because of BC?
Clearly Bargs gets playing time no matter what he does. Humphries was having a good run before Voskuhl showed up. I blame the politics of BC.
Happy Holidays.
Let’s all just be happy with our one win for now. At least we can hope for improvement after the break. Happy holidays all
I wouldn’t label Bargnani as “VL”… not “Vegetable Lasagna” at all … maybe “LL” … “Limp Linguini” …!!!!
Bargs has got to stiffen up his bball play at least to the “al dente” level … go for it big boy …!!!!!
The way VL is playing, I don’t see how he managed to become a top 5 pick. That was a very poor decision to draft him. Andrea is not even a 2 second round pick to be honest. Maybe a 45 – 60 range.
Paul Millsap is better then him.
It’s been a slow day today, here’s a couple of articles for some discussion
Heres one for yesterday’s Dantoni & defense argument
http://myespn.go.com/blogs/truehoop/0-37-84/Not-the-Worst-Defensive-Coach-Out-There–Mike-D-Antoni.html
and heres one about how players attitudes can negatively affect their teams records
http://myespn.go.com/blogs/truehoop/0-37-86/One-Bad-Apple.html
Yeah, you’re right it was a bad quarter for him. But consider:
1. That clear path foul was bullshit. Actually, he was trying to make a SMART play, which the clipper comentatators commended him for before taking it all back on the call the ref made.
2. That charge was bullshit. DeeAndre maybe got there at the same time if he was lucky. That should have been two free throws. He was coming at full speed to recover. They didn’t argue because Il Mago’s rep precedes him, just like Joey’s. What’s the point? He’s a center, he looks awkward, it must be a foul. Bullshit.
3.The offensive foul he took was bullshit. He was being aggressive for the board and simply beat Jordan to the punch. The ref was looking to help LA all night because they were at home and shorthanded (and getting their asses kicked for most of it).
So, if you look at it that way, he should have had -4 points taken away on the bogus clear path foul and subsequent bucket and plus 2 points on the line giving him a plus 6 in that stretch.
Look, he was unsure of himself, which happens when everything you do in one quarter gets called against you. The truth is, Bargs has a rep now of collecting fouls, which makes it very difficult for him to get any traction. They are LOOKING to call fouls on him most nights, and that’s atough way to try to get into a rythym, already on the bench.
He also had three plays in the post that sucked. The thing is, he has such a small margin for error. He’s already on the bench, which is an insult to him (not to us, to HIM) and sends a message to the league he is a role player, which in turn sets him up as a foul target for the ref. He didn;t get half this many fouls when he was starting, although he had trouble guarding SF (duh, he’s a center).
Yes, the results suck. Yes, he has to improve. No, we can’t make excuses for him forever. Triano right now is trying to find a second unit that can play together, and he’s struggling to do so.This means a lot of deck chair re-arangement on the titanic in that second unit. Half the turnovers are based on lack of familiarity and a system. The coach already mentioned last night that Bargs isforced to play on the perimiter because O’Neal and Bosh take up most ofthe plays in the post.
The truth is they need to trade either O’Neal or Bargs for a small forward so they can all play appropriately and stop trying to fit all these round pieces into square holes.
Here’s a comment from Van Gundy on the officiating of big men in the league:
Magic coach Stan Van Gundy says that center (Bargs) has been picking up some “ticky-tack fouls” lately, and believes that referees pay more attention to big men.
“I think [Bargs] is very frustrated the way the game is being called right now,” Van Gundy said. “It’s different in this league. The real good perimeter players seemed to really get the benefit of every call, any touch. The real good big guys, it seems it’s just the opposite.
“They let people do more in there. I think it’s part of an ongoing thing — they won’t say that — but I think the league is trying to do everything it can to make it a perimeter league and not a post-up league.”
Just replace Howard for Bargs. And yes, I understand the talent differential, I’m talking about position played and style here.
David – Is Van Gundy talking about big men in general or Bargnani? I get the feeling he’s just looking out for D12 in those comments.
I think your defense of Bargnani is very suspect. If he’s on the bench it’s not an insult, not every bench player is a “target” for refs. Some of the calls against him are suspect but in no way are they hampering him more than his own actual play. Not even close.
I can’t wait to see you defend him missing wide open jumpers. Listen, we’ve all made all kinds of excuses for him over the last two years and I think it’s enough. To say that half his turnovers are because of “lack of familiarity and a system” is total bogus, he’s out of his element on the court because his confidence is very easily shaken and his natural basketball instincts are weak. We’ve basically lifted all the pressure off of him by moving him to SF and giving him the freedom to do whatever he wants and he’s still struggling. He has failed to improve and adjust his game after year 1 which is when the scouts caught up with him.
Frankly, if we have to spoon-feed a “star player” to the degree you’re suggesting, then he’s not even a good player but a mediocre one at best.
It’s confidence, man. It all stems from where he is played. Would it be nice if everyone played great regardless of where they played and regardless of what happens and rose above all the bullshit movement, chnage of coaching staff and systems?
Sure.
Is that realistic? No. This isn;t a guard moving to small forward or a power forward moving to center. A center to small forward? Come on.
He has been jerked around like a friggin’ yo-yo. When he played where he was supposed to at the the beginning of the year he was great. They moved him to small forward because Colangelo knew he deserved to start, but couldn’t get that 20 million dollar man out of the way.
Truth? SF is not a “freedom” to play the way he wants.SF was a stopgap for a team that doesn’t have one. Nothing to do with Bargs and you know it. You may be sick of the excuses but the truth is most of them are frankly…you know…true! They’ve jerked him around too much and now they are reaping the benefit of it.
They guy needs to get dealt to a team that will play him where he should be played and minutes he deserves. Look at Oden. He is averaging a foul out in fouls every fucking game but what are the Blazers doing? Starting his ass. Is that because he is better than Prysbilla? Not at this stage, not even close. It’s called development. We have alternately coddled and screwed this kid up so bad it’s almost a lost cause. Are they “spoonfooding” Oden?
No.
They are playing him to develop him–because he’s more important in thelong run. What Toronto should have done in his first year so he could have struggled more out of the gate for progress later.
As far as missing wide open jumpers…so what? It happens. Chris looked like shit too the last few games. Do you want to shit on his ass too?
I don’t think we should trash Bargs for lack of trying. In his first season he was hailed as a great 3-point shooter and even lifted the team to wins with his scoring. In his second season Sam had him playing completely out of his element … a slashing and jump-shooting #3 … and for a 7-footer to suddenly find himself relearning the game on the job in the NBA … well what do you expect?! Now in his 3rd year, the Raptors have no system and have fallen apart. Bosh has established his niche and gets his precious stats, but the rest of the team is floundering … not even Jose knows what is happening half the time.
I suspect that Mitchell just plainly told BC to his face that this group of misfits will not survive NBA competition, and he told him before the regular season started. That sealed Sam’s fate and he knew he was going to be fired and I suspect that is what he wanted.
There were 2 signals that Sam was finished: (1)He was playing Bosh and Calderon 40+ minutes a game in a futile attempt to pad his W-L record as a coach, and, (2)His demeanor on the bench during games was one of abject resignation and just waiting for the ax to fall. So obvious.
The Raptor team must have been adversely affected by the building tension and subsequent demoralization that was setting in. Team practices must have been a waste of time with Sam not caring any more because he had essentially given up on busting his ass coaching this team that he publicly stated was “not athletic”..!!!!
So now we have a bunch of bball players just doing their own thing, trying to devise plays without a system. And now just imagine rising NBA star Bosh evaluating his career with the Raptors and protecting his multi-Million $$$$$$ investment in himself.
Think ….!!!!!
Anyone else notice Bosh got 30 points because the Clippers were missing there Center and Power forward? His Intensity he had was justified considering he had no competition all night and was happy to facing scrubs as usual
At least this time the scrubs didn’t shut him down…
JO’s tapping ass:
http://www.inquisitr.com/13082/former-porn-star-says-toronto-raptors-jermaine-oneal-assaulted-her-by-slapping-her-ass/
Camby, Kaman, Ricky Davis were out, Baron was beefing with his coach and while making a huge run( from 19 down to only 6) Z-Bo gets hurt. Thats the Raptors equivalent of Bosh, Bargs and Anthomy Parker Jose beefing with his coach, with JO getting hurt in the second half. And even with that it still felt like the Raptors mightve lost that one.
Celebrating this “win” is like celebrating a footrace against a handicap.
The JO story is irrelevant man. Superhead is probably the dirtiest slut in the hip-hop industry who just creates drama on purpose all the time. She even wrote a couple of memoirs about herself fucking around in the showbiz.
Her being “offended” and “disrespected” by something like that is bullshit.
wild, for sure man! It’s just a very slow news day, that’s all.
Nicely done, as always Arse. I’d like to see the rest of the plays during that mini-Clippers run, as I doubt it was ALL Bargnani – though I don’t doubt it accounting for most of the momentum.
Merry Christmas to Raptors Republic, and Raptor fans everywhere.
Spudz
http://www.altraps.com/forum
Has nayone read about the Suns holding work outs for back up PG’s?Damon Staudomire, Troy Hudson, Dee Brown, Eddie Gill, Walker Russel, and Darryl Armstrong.
The article is in the Arizona Republic and is linked to by Henry Abbot’s True Hoop on ESPN.com
So, BC picked up Voskol. Aren’t the Raps thinner at back up PG? Any one of these guys could play significent minutes now. By significent I mean actually contribute to a win once in a while, not sub in for a cross your fingers and hold your breath 3 minutes while Jose gets a breather.
This is of coures assuming they would be interested in Toronto. Am I naive to think any NBA gig is better than sitting home? Its been mentioned before that maybe the only way to get talent in Toronto is trade for it (or the draft) because no free agents want to come.
Spewdog, I’d take Hudson and Damon over Solomon any day, not sure how much 40 year old Armstrong has left in him. I don’t think its question of players not wanting to come here, especially players of low caliber like the ones you’re mentioning. If Colangelo wanted a backup PG he’d sign for one but by signing an official backup you’ll be killing Roko’s minutes and I’m not sure BC wants that happening (developing players and all).
http://myespn.go.com/blogs/truehoop/0-37-89/Cocktail-Napkin-Fun.html
In the spirit of (sorta) your discussion, Spewdog and Arse.
Flux,
Given your comment from 2 days ago:
——————————
Everyone has read this, yes? Yes, it’s Sam Smith, buy hey I love it.. BC is in a panic. LOL.
http://www.nba.com/bulls/news/smith_081222.html?rss=true
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and a most intriguing retort provided by Bryan Colangelo
“There is no fire sale. There is no panic,” he said. “It’s completely false that I’ve talked to the Knicks about a deal for Eddy Curry and whatever else (has been rumoured) and it’s completely false that I am trying to give away Anthony Parker. And it is completely false that I’m panicking. We’re not panicking.
“I would have traded Chris if I was panicking. That deal’s there,” and he laughed at the prospect of trading Bosh as though it is an absurdity. “There is no panic. ….. We’re only going to make deals if they’re the right deals.”
is it safe to say that:
1. The Raptors’ President/GM has indeed been in panic mode, recently, since it’s become obvious to all in the NBA that Sam Mitchell was NOT the MAIN reason this team got off to a mediocre 8-9 start this year, with a player roster proclaimed by his boss to be “the most talented team the Raptors have had, on paper”;
2. The other GMs in the league perceive Chris Bosh to be a FIRST RATE player in the NBA, who they would love to acquire on the cheap for their respective team;
3. There will be no major trade forthcoming for the Raptors this season that involves either of their two best players, Chris Bosh [C] or Jose Calderon [PG];
4. What this team needs to do to improve its performance in the immediate future is re-work the pieces it has on-board already.
———
As I’ve said before …
What this team NEEDS to do now is sit tight, attempt to improve from within, seek out only minor deals to better fill out a legit 15-player roster, resign itself to not contending for a spot in the Eastern Conference Finals this season, and resume the gradual building process it will take to accomplish THAT goal in the future, in the aftermath of THIS series of notable Air Balls.
——————————-
Season’s Greetings! … to all. : )
fluxland .. re the truehoop article with this most cogent paragraph:
“When July 2010 finally comes around, I suspect the free agency circus will play out like the current MLB carousel: The top players will choose their destinations first. When it’s time for the solid second tier to act — and you can draw that line of demarcation wherever you wish — they’ll go where the money is, whether it’s in Salt Lake, Sacramento, Clipperland, or Nome, Alaska.”
Bosh back to Texas ….???!!!!
Hark !!!! Is that Santa Claus I hear under the tree coming early .. nope .. and a Merry Xmas and H.N.Y. to alll ….!!!
Andrea Bargnani by the Numbers
Mitchell coach, 9 starts
Nov, 14gms,29mins,.449fg,.431fg3, 5.3rbs, 1.6blks, 12.4ppg
Good improvement, every body happy with play. Team 8-9
Triano coach, 3 starts
Dec, 12gms,23mins, .283fg, .138fg3, 3.3rbs, 1.0blks 6.5ppg
Useless player, stupid pick, trade him for whatever. Team 2-8
Starting 12gms, 32mins, 5.6rb, 1.6blks, 12.2ppg
Subbing 16gms, 22mins, 3.6rb, 1.3blks, 7.8ppg
What happened ?? Is this the same player, or is it the Coaches new systems, or what else, has Triano fogotten about AB ??
Clearly, Andrea should be starting and playing 35mins/nite for his developement, and the growth of the team. He was drafted by BC to be a Center and spent the whole summer on post moves,etc. he should play only as a Center, in the post come hell or high water.
Unfortunately Triano needs to win now with O’Neal, so unlikely to happen, so wait till next year/coach.
Khandor, I did read that wonderful denial by BC. Panic mode, IMO, is in full effect but he more then likely will not trade any of his starters, unless something exceptional is on the table. We “all” know however, given the current situation of the Raps, every player in the NBA is turning down getting moved to Toronto. And somewhere Sam M is laughing.
=====
FAQ, agreed, IMO (barring a miracle or two of epic proportions) the guy is GONZO!! Hmmmm.. notice how he never bought a house here? In fact has any player ever bought a house in the TO area, or do they all do the condo thing to stay close to the ACC?
He’s complained about the cold weather, and has spent a good chunk of his career here, he said he doesn’t care about the money, wants a team with a bright playoff future. The signs are all pointing to him leaving, I don’t know how anyone argues otherwise.
Oh, and notice Dirk saying he will take less money to get some help?
=====
Johnn19, remember when you delivered this gem at Khandor’s blog? : )
“Johnn19 Says:
October 5, 2008 at 11:29 am
If you feel that your expertise tells you the Rap’s are going to win 2 and lose 13 in Dec then you better stick to forcasting dog show results and forget about a sports blog.”
The Crystal Ball Wizard strikes again!!
Flux,
————————————
re: Johnn19, remember when you delivered this gem at Khandor’s blog? : )
“Johnn19 Says:
October 5, 2008 at 11:29 am
If you feel that your expertise tells you the Rap’s are going to win 2 and lose 13 in Dec then you better stick to forcasting dog show results and forget about a sports blog.”
The Crystal Ball Wizard strikes again!!
————————————
You Da Man, in my book, bredren. : )
Much appreciated.
fluxland … that big sucking sound you hear in the ACC is the vacuum left when Bosh is traded .. and soon. BC insists Bosh is the “franchise” player, most likely to bump up his trade value.
I wonder who would want Bosh for 1 1/2 seasons going into the 2010 bazaar. Who would envisage Bosh taking them deep into the playoffs …hmmmm????
I would hope Raptors can get 3 serviceable players for Bosh plus a draft pick too. Toronto will soon settle down to being a blue-collar team filled with Euros and middling players to bring in the tribal honking fans to watch and cheer their no-name, no-star NBA team. The brutal inevitability of Toronto being an undesirable destination for top US college draft picks.
Grim reputation that may never be overcome in our lifetimes … too bad.
Bargnani needs to be traded. For his sake and ours.
yes Vegetable Lasagna needs to be traded !!!! with who?
and then about
“So what happened in that third quarter? Bargnani happened, check out his action in that frame”
oh! he was bad… no question about it
but what happen to the rest of the team in that frame?
i haven’t see any great plays to remenber
i mean that maybe the problem at this point is only a bad athletics condition