So we all agree that we need to make a serious move or two if we want to do anything significant this season and Bryan Colangelo agrees. Apparently Colangelo offered his once prized signing Jason Kapono to the Nuggets for J.R Smith but the Nuggets wisely declined. So there you have it, Colangelo does admit that he makes mistakes and does try to fix them. The same article hints at Chris Wilcox being available if the Nets decline to match the Nenad Kristic offersheet as they are expected to do. He wouldn’t be too shabby of a pickup but I wonder with Jawai’s heart beating, Voskuhl not sucking and Humphries relegated to the deep bench, how much room we have for another big man.
It’s natural to blame the big men when trying to explain the league-worst -5.50 rebounding differential but closer examination points the fingers at the guards. Jose Calderon is 32nd amongst guards with 3.3 RPG and Anthony Parker, our starting shooting guard for the majority of the season, is 46th amongst the same group with 2.9. Contrast this with Bosh being 3rd amongst forwards with 9.9 and Jermaine O’Neal 18th among centers with 7.5 and you see that the problem is much more severe in the backcourt than the front. A few days ago I went over the impact Triano’s system has had on our rebounding and defense and although his philosophy works on paper, you can’t help but think we don’t have the personnel in our backcourt to sustain the activeness on defense required to see Triano’s scampering defense through. Triano however believes in the current squad’s ability to play his defensive style – we’ll see if that’s true in the next couple of weeks.
The Knicks could sign Carlos Delfino to an offersheet which would give the Raptors a chance to match, that right there could test whether Colangelo is serious about going over the luxury tax but then again do you really want him going over to sign someone like Delfino? The reason Delfino is an attractive proposition is because he brings two things we need: perimeter defense that doesn’t entirely suck and an ability to handle point-guard duties for 5-8 minutes a game. If Will Solomon or Roko Ukic aren’t doing a satisfactory job the natural reaction shouldn’t be to sign another player, but to see how Anthony Parker handles the role in limited minutes. If he doesn’t get exploited by the quicker PGs then we just might’ve found a role for him here (if Colangelo decides not to trade his expiring contract).
The Raptors are in Sacramento tonight (live blog at 10:00 PM EST) to finish off the second half of their 6-game roadtrip. After the OKC humiliation, an expected result in San Antonio and an equally expected result in Los Angeles, the Raptors face a Kings team that has lost 4 straight, 8 of their last 10 and 16 of their last 19. They’re also without Kevin Martin for tonight’s game – he is out indefinitely with a sore left ankle. Technically speaking this is a winnable game but the Kings probably have had this one circled for a while. The Raptors haven’t won in Sacramento for more than a decade and just like how OKC only appeared to be a seemingly easy opponent, so are the Kings. If we can pull this win off we’ll have to beat one of Golden State (lost 7 of 8) or Portland to come back 3-3, that wouldn’t be too shabby.
Jamario Moon will not be in this year’s dunk-off in Phoenix. It’s between Dwight Howard, Rudy Gay, Nate Robinson (wtf?) and one of Rudy Fernandez, Russell Westbrook and Joe Alexander. I thought Moon got robbed last year because he clearly had better stuff than Gerald Green and his material was on par with Rudy Gay, he just screwed himself with the whole tape thing. At the same time it’s very understandable why he’s not in it this year – he’s just not that great. However, why Nate Robinson is allowed to be within 500 miles of a dunk-off is unexplainable.
From Eric Smiths’ blog as he’s talking about miscellaneous NBA stuff:
Minnesota – The ghost of Brandon Roy will always haunt you.
Is he joking? Should we really be making fun of Minnesota for trading Brandon Roy? At least they got Randy Foye out of the transaction, we got VL.
There really isn’t that much going on, here’s a chance to win some tickets to the Magic game. Be sure to grab our RSS feed and follow us on Twitter for in-game updates, latest web articles and other news as it happens.
27 Raps
Fixed.
Minnesota – The ghost of O. J. Mayo will always haunt you.
I loved Carlos Delfino and was really disappointed when Colangelo didn’t resign him. Now we’re missing him more than ever. In addition to the not-so-bad perimeter defense and OK point-guard abilities you mentioned, he also brings a pretty good offensive punch. He can easily score 15-20 on most nights, and I think the biggest surprise with him when he was with us was his hardnosed mentality. I’m not saying by any means he was a great defender, but he never backed down, wasn’t afraid to get in people’s faces and actually DROVE the ball from time to time which we are sorely lacking from our guards.
Good thoughts from Colangelo. That would be a good trade, perhaps sweetening the pot a bit with a draft pick but I think that revealing it to the press means the proposed deal is pretty much dead.
If we managed to add Delfino and JR smith, we would have a solid starting 5.
The Denver report is bull. Kapono is owed 2 million more than JR and JR is a BYC so we are giving a excess 5 million to them to make it fair they have to add at least 2 more players which makes it go further down the drain and JR couldn’t have been traded until Dec.15
i can only hope that we let another 3 walk away, when another team shows interest in them, without getting anything back. jr smith would have been nice, bit kamikaze, but we need a cat like that.
we need caron butler, how can we pry him off washington’s hands?
I do not trust Colangelo. His Midas touch has worn off ages ago. He should have known better that the team might regress badly after there fluke season. Who knows what we could have got if we traded our key players in the summer of 2007. Parker,Bargnani,Nesterovich, Humphries,Parker Ford,Calderon – there value was through the roof.
We had the best point guard tandem in the L. I wonder who we could have got if we traded both of them. Surely a Bargnani for an up and coming star could have been looked at. But Bryan sat back and did nothing. The value of those players are worth 0 now.
Raps fan is correct. Bryan will let Bosh walk before he trades the franchise player. He has let many players walk for nothing so it shouldn’t surprise anybody.
shut up bc will make the right moves. He wil not let Bosh leave. I know because I am BC’s manlover, and he told me so. He said he would suck off any gm in the league that he has to in order to get good deals, to surround Bosh with awesome players…BTW I am allowed to watch while he sucks off the GM’s…I really wish it’s Kevin McHale, but don’t tell anyone!
5 dollar make me hollar
Colangelo loves jumpshooting. He said once, we wanted to build the first ever 3 point shooting power house in the NBA.
If Colangelo had to pick between a team of Euroleague MVP’s and the 1996 Chicago Bulls with Jordan, Pippen and Rodman he would choose the Euroleague squad.
People dont understand how much he hates tough guys that play scrappy and intimidate people.
He likes his teams soft and with character.
Those bulls teams were not character guys
Joe: What significant players has he let go for nothing? If you’re talking about guys Mike James then you lose all credibility. Do some research before you say ignorant comments like these….
Your personal bias against BC with the Euroleague MVP vs 96 Bulls comment already blinds you of anything positive BC has and will do…you are the definition of the typical raptor fan that gives true fans like myself and others a bad reputation around the league.
J5
Bryan has let Mike James, Delfino, Garbajosa, Morris Peterson all walk for nothing. You need to do your research. For Mikey we could have got a top 20-25, Delfino a 1st round and the rest 2nd rounders. You never let players walk no matter the circumstances
Wow Doug look at the list of those impact players that BC could’ve traded for more than a bag of basketballs….I’m sure GMs would gladly give a first rounder for Delfino and the Amityville Chucker, and they’d definitely have to wait in line for a broken Garbo that has one ankle and playing on one leg.
Even if we could’ve gotten something for Delfino and Peterson, guys like you would be first in line in burning BC to the torch for trading away your overvalued pieces just before the playoffs….read my comment again: What SIGNIFICANT players has he let go for nothing?
J5, please spare me the “true fan” rant. We all want the same result, we all have different ways of going about it. You can take you money to 5 different financial advisers and they will all give you the “my way is better then the rest” song.
But, none will make the statements you have, that I am sure of.
You give yourself a bad reputation with the comments you have made. You don’t need others to do that for you.
As for SIGNIFICANT players let go for nothing – all players have some sort of value. For BC to let those players go for NOTHING, is inexcusable, regardless of what you, the “true fan”, may think their “true” value is.
One could even argue BC has gotten nothing for TJ and Rasho and a bagload of stuff, essentially. But of course, you must be in the JO is our swagger carrying, interior presence having, 6 time all star, game changing, taking us to the Finals camp. Please.
The point Joe is making, is that BC values shooters and UN peackeeping quality players over knock your ass onto the ground, rebounding ones. And his 14 year career proves as much. FACT.
Not so sure Joe is the blind one, between you two.
I am as frustrated as each and every one of you, but I won’t start making irrational statements like you guys are making. I’ll fully admit that it was BC’s fault for moves like Kapono and Bargnani and garbage like Solomon, but do you really believe that it makes that much of a difference if they traded guys like Delfino and Peterson?
I’d like to ask you guys if you would commend or rip into BC for trading Delfino and Peterson during the middle of those seasons before the deadline? If you would commend him for “getting something in return” then I guess it’s just a difference of opinion with us.
And I’m assuming you’re one of those guys that say that “we are a wing away from being a contender” BS? If we don’t get JO and get a wing, all we would be complaining about is the lack of an inside presence…so go ahead…go dream about what would’ve been with Gerald Wallace or Jason Richardson instead.
Why is everyone here so against
Oneal? Oneal is money. Literally. In 2010, we have a bucket of money.
That’s relatively important, because we’re going to have to re-sign the premiere PF in the NBA (Chris Bosh), and in order to do that, I think it would be safe to say that he’ll want to see a decent supporting cast.
Bargnani is coming together quite nicely, and was a great pick — he’s got depth, and the height to play, and speed to outrun any centre in the league off the dribble… which (obviously) he needs to develop the confidence in, as well as further developing his defense (which he has shown a marked improvement upon).
Kapono is a role player, with the most playoff experience on the team, and incredible range… but he is limited. He’s an obvious second-stringer, but worth it.
Parker shouldn’t really be starting either, but he’s there every night playing defense.
Graham is a young prospect that can still develop, look how much he’s developed here in the past 2 months.
Solomon is a decent backup veteran point, which is important to have on any team — we weren’t ready to lose ford yet, because ukic is still a couple of years off, but ford’s head was bigger than his game. So he was a bit of desperation (but cost-effective desperation).
Adams has been traded for a pick.
Voskuhl is a good energy guy, scrappy, and a rebounder with still a bit of upside… (a lot like the type of player that some people think BC is against signing).
And Jawai was supposed to go higher in the draft, and may have been a sleeper — now we’ll see what his rookie self can put together in a salvaged season once he’s fully cleared to play.
2010 is the year that BC makes or breaks his reputation. Every other year is just preparation, and side deals.
Everything is so “logical” in hindsight, but keep in mind players like MoPete and Delfino were rotation players for a playoff team. If we had traded Delfino for a draft pick mid-season, we probably would have gotten killed by the Magic even worse ended up playing the Celtics or something. It’s basically conceding a first round loss — what GM would do that?
And even if Delfino had such high value (first round pick?!) then why is he still playing in Russia right now? There are rumors the Knicks might give him an offer sheet, but so far not, and so far no other team has either. What does that say about his trade value?
I meant trading those players before draft night. Not during the Orlando series or before that obv.
The only good move Bryan has made was the Hump/Aroujo trade. That’s it. The rest were lateral moves that made no difference really.
Kapono, parker, graham, moon, ukic, solomon, adams, jake vaskuhl, bargnani, Nathan Jawai ?
You have go to be kidding me. Who are these people? Not one of them is NBA material and are better suited for Euroleague.
* on draft night
Seriously, we all wanted good players on our team. But if you think we can get quality players for mike James and Delfino you are dreaming. The reason why Toronto is in such bad shape in terms of Wing talent is because the raptors do such a lousy job in the drafts. We could have drafted Igudola, or Al Jefferson with our Hoffa pick. Now those guys could fetch some nice players in return, not Delfino who was not signed by another GM. Also We drafted Joey Grahm instead of Danny Granger. I think BC did a ok job in trading Tj Ford and parts for Oneil. But his draft choices are questionable. He didn’t draft Hoffa or Graham but he did missed out on Paul Millsup.
Also the reason why he got freaking Soloman and Hassin Adams is that they are all he can afford. If he has premission to go over the cap don’t you think he would get somebody other than Adams knowing we have the worst starting 2/3.
He would sign more euros with the cap money. YOu think he would sign a Josh Smith or an Andrew Bynum…?
Its pathetic that we used our 7th and 16 pick to draft Graham and Villanueva.
10-Andrew Bynum, 17-Danny Granger, 21-Nate Robinson, 30-David Lee, 37-Ronny Turiaf, 40-Monta Ellis
Imagine:
Calderon
Carter
Granger
Bosh
Bynum
Let’s say the Raptors got incredibly lucky and the Nuggets agreed to trade JR Smith for Jason Kapono. This completely unfair and ridiculous trade that gifts the Raptors with an up and coming potential star …. and in all likelihood (he’s young, he could still improve so not a certainty) it would be nothing more than a stop gap signing.
If you put Jose Calderon and JR Smith together in the same backcourt you would have the single worst defensive backcourt in the NBA. The dribble penetration the Raptors have suffered from this season would get far, far worse. The pressure the combination of these two players would put on the Raptors defense would be massive and it would stop the Raptors from ever being a top 10 defensive team (and that’s with better defenders surrounding them than current options).
Jose Calderon’s inabilities as a defensive player put a lot of pressure on who the Raptors choose to put alongside him on the wings in the future. A second poor defender on the perimeter who plays 30-37 minutes could be a killer blow.
Dave,
re: Calderon’s relative weak defense on the ball
In part, this is the reason the Raptors SHOULD be using Moon at #2 and Graham at #3 beside Calderon … as they did for the final few defensive possessions in last night’s win over Sac-town where they even went one step further and finished with the combination of:
1/Parker-2/Moon-3/Graham
which is by far their best Unit of perimeter defenders and defensive rebounders.
So Joe, it’s Colangelo’s fault that Babcock drafted Graham and Villaneuva? And since you do your research so well, is JO a European?
“The only good move Bryan has made was the Hump/Aroujo trade. That’s it. The rest were lateral moves that made no difference really.”
Exactly…so would trading the guys you mentioned no GM outside of Rob Babcock would give a first rounder for.
It just proves my point that you’re so biased against Bryan that everything he will do guys like you will rip him up and make these non-sensical arguments.
JO is 67 years old and is playing on one leg. We didn’t need that.
BTW, Whats our record with him in our lineup? Why are we last in rebounding? Why can’t we beat any 500% team with him as our C ?
He doesn’t make us better really. He brings us into treadmill territory. This opens the door for signing more aging, washed up players.
Colangelo has made mistakes, there is no secret about that. Bargs as #1 is arguably the most visible one at the moment. I was a huge Colangelo backer but when he signed JK instead of Pietrus I started to quesiton his motives. Also, durign the ‘06 draft when CB openly stated that the Raps needed a banger rather than a finess 3 pt. shooter (subtly pointing to his preference of Aldridge over Bargs) , COlangelo still drafted Bustnanai.
However, everyone who was saying that COlangelo shoudl have traded every single player who walked, need to keep in mind that it was not always possible to get value back.
Mike JAmes WOULD have gotten value back, however, Jose was not developed yet and we had no other PGs. Althoguh it was likely that we would get outbided in the offseason, BC had to consider resigngin him in the off-season. However, to fix this prob. he made the trade for TJ. I was a big Charlie V fan, but this was the right trade. Acquirign TJ Ford gave us a distributor.
Rasho for Bonner was also a good trade at the time. Rasho gave us a decent guy in the middle who could board and defend bigs. NOW I wish we still had Bonner.
As someone else already stated, we couldnt have traded Delfino or Mo Pete at the deadline b/c we needed depth inthe playoffs. Mo Pete was huge for us against New Jersey, he basically replaced Joey in the rotation and Delfino was solid (besides the chucks)agaisnt the Magic. Our teams just werent good enough to beat any of those teams. You don’t trade away players we have expiring contracts when you’re looking to make a playoff run. Say we trade Delfino for a 2nd rounder in ‘10, how does look gogin into the Magic series?
IMO, Colangelo needs to make a move gettign Bargs out of here ASAP to get any credibility back. The one thign I respect most abotu him is that he isn’t afraid to make mvoes b4 it’s too late (Babcock Vince stupidty). This opinion will change if he keeps Bargs for the whole year, unless he (bargs) miracuosly becomes a bgi factor in our wins.