The “trade Jose” edition
Bargnani – how fitting that the assassin would pass up the final shot in regulation to the Italian Don. Bargs hit it like he was the only man at a convention of women in heat. The ultimate ending may not have been kind to the Raps, but if you didn’t jump out of your seat just a little bit at that shot, you aren’t human.
Bosh – got away with a possible over-the-back call during that last possession, which was a bright spot in yet another mail-it-in performance. An AllStar? Probably not. He is definitely the best player on a weak team, but one of the conference’s best 15? You tell me.
Calderon – have to wonder how much him staying in Toronto contributed to the fact that we were in this the whole way. Interesting how it was being referred to as being a “playoff feel” game tonight, yet 2 out of 3 big names on our roster were in Toronto probably chilling at Alice Fazooli’s.
Graham – fought his way back to the free throw line with a fraction of the intensity he showed last night. He kind of reminds you of your woman during that time of the month: you just never know what kinda reaction you are going to get.
Humphries – well, it’s about time, Kristopher. Far from dominating, but at least further away from sucking. Maybe the in-flight hostess gave him an extra bag of nuts or he just happened to find his own after a long search.
Jawai – guess what he was wearing? You have to believe he was many things back home, but you also have to assume one of them was not a heartthrob.
Kapono – yes, looks in transition are his strong point, but he didn’t look comfortable on many of them tonight. Matter of fact he looked as comfortable as Matt Devlin alone around Jane & Finch. At least twice tonight, I think if he had dribbled once and set himself, he would have sunk his shot.
Moon – we saw the goofy grin tonight. Nuff said.
O’Neal – have you ever had spicy food, say hot wings, and a little while later you feel that rumble in your stomach? You know, your bowels saying “hey jackass, thanks for this”? Then, as you let loose, it burns like a mother? That whole situation will be, from this day forward, be referred to as you Jermaining yourself. After all, nobody really sees it happen and you don’t feel you owe anybody an explanation.
Parker – hard to say if Allen just had an off night or if AP helped lock him down. Of course, offensively, Parker was about as on-target as Dinosty in the washroom after a few pops at Philthy’s.
Solomon – waiting for Devlin to say anything positive about Solomon is about as much fun as timing yourself for the moneyshot while watching porn online only to have the video cut off just as she is about to receive her morning snack. Jack gave him props, but probably too early as Will lost his will and turned into a pumpkin late in the game. He was playing with leg issues, though, so credit him for that.
Ukic – much better than last night. He either watched tape or someone told him to take it to the hoop and make them pay for not respecting you. That OT 3 was Moonesque though. If you haven’t made more than 1 three the whole season, chances are your coach isn’t going to be happy seeing you try and take over the game by trying to double your luck. He made some poor decisions in the fourth as well, but as they said, he looked gassed.
Voskuhl – kind of surprised he never made it off the bench. Could we be seeing the return of the Sam Mitchell way of coaching, by having guys have no clue when they will play? In any event, second night of a back to back with your bigs in some foul trouble early and one of your two hustle guys is nailed to the bench? Strange. Oh…hey…look!! There is Jake!!
Driving The Bus: Andrea Bargnani
Under The Bus: Jason Kapono
Game Theme: Nathanbreaker
44 Raps
Oh YEAH , first post.
Any ways, that was an freaking good game, except fro the losing part
and the Jermaining bit was quite fanny!
nice roll call. a little love for Moon though, who can’t help the way he smiles. Not a bad night.
IMO: Bosh is an all-star, no question – I mean, you don’t need to be LeBron or Kobe to be all-stars. But KG owns him. KG is Bosh’s worst nightmare on D. KG is that guy that gives it to Bosh in the dirtiest way possible every time CB4 has the ball. He needs to work on his game if he wants to take it to the next level though.
1
I used to call that place Alice For Losers
2
Jawai wearing the fucking velvet jacket again: maybe his pacemaker is sewn into the inside pocket or something
3
KG sets more fucking moving picks than anybody in the history of the game of basketball
4
Bosh looked 80% interested in the game
http://www.realgm.com/src_wiretap_archives/56556/20090112/suit_against_e_curry_alleges_sexual_harassment_racial_discrimination/
WOW!!! CRAZY STORY ALERT!!!
This fucking idiot driver should save some time and go fuck himself right now.
American sue-crazy people need to be punched in the face.
I know can you imagine Eddy Curry calling a white dude the “grandmaster of the KKK”. Wild stuff!
lol @ pacemaker
Lebron, Wade, KG, Pierce, Howard, Maybe Joe Johnson, Maybe Devin Harris. Those are really the only guys in the east who might be better than Bosh. Saying he probably isn’t an all-star may be the single stupidest thing ever written.
on any given night: Vince Carter, Ray Allen as well. On the bubble: Iggy, Arenas when healthy, Billups before he left, Mo Williams, Butler, Granger, Z….
Somebody pass me a spoon, this is fun…
you would take Big Z over Bosh? Come on. LeBron is the reason that team is anything more than mediocre.
I’m pretty sleepy, but did you just put Mo Williams ahead of Chris Bosh on a depth chart?
You’re like one step away from challenging him to one-on-one at somebody’s driveway collapsing hoop.
“somebody pass me a spoon” = stirring the shit pot.
And Verbatim, I said “on the bubble”. No way would I take him over Bosh for a season…
funny thing about Jawai…he comes to games even though he doesn’t play…that shows some real heart.
nice one
Here’s something from Bill Simmons’ column posted in October 28, 2 days before the season even started.
” …here are some other things you will enjoy about the 2009 season …
1. The Raptor Truthers slowly turning on Jermaine O’Neal. I can’t wait for this. I would set Jan. 19 as the over/under and take the under.”
DAMN!
and heres another Raptor-related gem
” …if O’Neal somehow returns to 20-10 form, it would be the first time that a big man rejuvenated his career in his 30s without the excuse, “He’s not doing cocaine anymore” (which happened a few times in the ’70s and ’80s). Power forwards and centers are like porn stars and singers: When they lose it, they lose it. That’s it. End of story. We have six decades of evidence to back this up. So the Raptors aren’t just gambling on O’Neal’s returning to All-Star form, they’re gambling on an improbable turn of events that has no precedent in the 62-year history of the NBA. Tom Chambers, Antoine Walker, Artis Gilmore, Ben Wallace, Mutombo, Ewing, Hakeem, Shaq, Moses, Larry Johnson, Derrick Coleman, Ralph Sampson, George McGinnis, Spencer Haywood, Jerry Lucas, Nate Thurmond … seriously, find me a former All-Star big guy whose statistics dropped as dramatically as O’Neal’s did from 2005 (24-10) to 2008 (13-7) and then rallied back the other way. You will come up empty.”
Real talk there…
I recommend some of you guys to read that column. Really entertaining and at times really accurate stuff!
Here’s the link: http://sports.espn.go.com/espn/page2/story?page=simmons/081028
There are some particularly stupid people here and some really stupid people in the Sports media here who thought it would be a good trade…no one with a brain ever thought it was a good idea…not news or insight there….
Guess what…when Bosh gets a contract worth over 100 million just to stay here..and then within a few months injures his knee and has to have surgery…he will be the next name on that fucking list….
saying that no one thought it was a good idea is kind of a distortion of reality. As I recall, the general sentiment was that JO’s massive contract was very valuable as trade bait or as cap space in two years. If he had returned to playing at an all-star level that would have been great too but I don’t think anyone expected that. I still have confidence that Colangelo can orchestrate a decent trade using JO’s contract that can help take the team to the next level.
True. He’s a 10 million /year player.
I said it.
I rather have Paul Millsap who makes 750k
Amare
Aldridge
Josh Smith
David West
Bynum
KG is CB4’s kryptonite. The bad thing about this is that Bosh’s teammates know that he is scared of KG. It doesn’t help team psyche and i don’t think they can ever beat the Celtics in the foreseeable future until Bosh owns KG.
Does anyone else hate Jason Kapono as much as I do? I also think his wife is overrated.
LOL
Agree 100%. Everyone is going nuts all over her and I see a pic and I’m like, what’s the big deal. Butter Face.
I guess you dumb cunts forgot that it was Calderon who won the game for us last year in Boston..the only time we fucking beat them….
You asshats are just starting to cotton on to Bosh now….you are just starting to see Bargnani’s potential now….where are the cunts who like to call him VL?
You are also too fucking dense to see Ukic’s potential….
Tracy McGrady is an All Star too…do I want him carrying a team? Bosh is a talented scorer and a world class choker..has been for 3 fucking years but Toronto is addicted to mediocrity so not ever winning big games doesn’t seem to matter much…
I guess you have also forgotten when Bosh sat out the entire 4th quarter when the Raptors beat San Antonio last year too..an extremely rare win against a good team… if Triano had had the balls to stick with the players who got them back into the game on Sunday instead of bringing back Bosh, maybe they would have won…it’s like his choking makes the players on the court nervous….
His choking makes Vince Carter look like fucking LeBron James…at least Carter almost always makes the big game winning play….
Focusing on him as a player that just needs “pieces” around him rather than a player who is just one part of a team that requires 5 excellent and 4 very good players, is going to guarantee failure as long as he is here.
Danny Granger has flat out played like more of an All Star than Bosh…Paul fucking Pierce deserves it more…
Holy, hate filled tirade buddy. Calm down
I agree with you. With bosh as out leader we cant win against any top team. We cant win more then 1 game in the playoffs. He cant mentally overpower a better play then himself. This is why he has success with Memphis and Charlotte and not Boston or Detroit. He’s a 3rd option type player who doesn’t make his team better and doesn’t demand accountability.
This is the guy who Took Dwight Howard out for dinner and went to play video games during the playoffs while being down 2-0 series. You call that a winner? Did Jordan go party with Malone, Miller, Ewing, Barkley during the playoffs?
this guy is back with his usual bs.
“waiting for Devlin to say anything positive about Solomon is about as much fun as timing yourself for the moneyshot while watching porn online only to have the video cut off just as she is about to receive her morning snack. Jack gave him props, but probably too early as Will lost his will and turned into a pumpkin late in the game. He was playing with leg issues, though, so credit him for that.”
some stats:
Field Goals Rebounds
pos min fgm-a 3pm-a ftm-a +/- off def tot ast pf st tp bs ba pts
W.Solomon G 29:18 4-6 2-3 0-0 -9 0 2 2 5 3 0 1 0 1 10
R.Ukic G 23:28 7-12 2-2 0-0 0 1 2 3 3 1 2 1 0 2 16
Devlin is been around this pro game for a long time to know a weakass player like Solomon when he sees it and he’s just voicing the opinion of majority of the basketball minded fans of this team.
I know he kid is a rookie and needs to work hard but i still don’t know what he has to do to get his minutes from the coaching staff over this loser Solomon. it’s a damn conspiracy.
Lets start a site called [REFS AGAINST RAPS]. Garnet was so up on Bosh he almost gave him a bj.
I hope the MVP chants for Bosh continue. But this time, they should stand for “Most Valuable Pussy”
in the postgame comments, even KG gave respect to CB4, calling him one of the best power forwards in the game. It took KG sticking to him like glue, putting his absolute best defensive effort out there. For now, I think it is safe to say that KG has Bosh’s number, and it is up to others to either set good screens or get open so he can pass out.
And, credit to a guy a really don’t like, Garnett played awesome D tonie. Sure he grabs…but that is the refs job to call that and let him know what he can and cannot do. And they don’t call that shit on him, even though they should.
Everyone is rightfully down about the record of this team…but I mean, Bosh isn’t an all-star? Come on.
why are you muthafuckas so down on Bosh? What the hell did KG do in the series?
Raps are a sub .500 team playing the champs with 3 all-stars in their gym with two starters out. The effort was fantastic. More than I ever saw in the Smitch led team. We have 2 young guys who are really blossoming in front of our eyes. Calderon will heal and come back strong. BC will engineer a trade. And if not, the team as constituted, barring further injuries will still make the playoffs and make a series of it. This is more than what i would have dreamed a fortnight ago.
So stop the bitching!
I am gonna flame the next fucker who uses VL.
Ukic gotta start. Now. Lets give the kid some serious burn.
You think the Raps are regretting passing on Danny Granger and instead selecting Joey G. No knock on Joey but look at the man Granger has become.
Everytime Jose is on the floor it poses a problem. What you might say? well his footspeed is one of the slowest for any starting PG in the NBA. When guys liek Rondo, Harris, Rose, Stuckey (list goes on) drives past him the wings have to collapse to stop full penatration. All Rondo has to do is pass to Allen or Pierce and Calderon basically gives him the assist.
Its time for the Raptors to seriously ask themselves how much Calderon is worth to them. Sure hes a great shooter (so is Kapono) and he never turns the ball over. But I mean Ukic has done everythin the Raps could want. He defends, he attacks and once he gets a shot he will be dangerous..Hes basically the anti Calderon becuase he drives and plays defense.
Would Jose Calderon for a fringe all star forward such as Drew Gooden, Josh Howard, AK47, Stephen Jackson be a decent trade?
Tarun
I do agree with what you said about Jose. He’s very slow and cant keep anyone in front of him whether Chris Paul or Ramon Sessions. It’s laughable and embarassing. The reason he looked so great the last 2 years was because he was playing against bench players, while TJ had to deal with starting point guards. Less playing time = more effort on defense. Jose is now exposed. I think he came back last game because his ego couldn’t take it if we beat Boston with Ukic. My opinion
Joey for Kirelenko doesnt work contract wise plus they have Deron
Golden State has Monta Ellis returning
We can do better then Josh Howard
My top choice would be Rodney Stuckey. He’s 6′5, can play defense, good natured guy and mentally tough.
On Colangelo:
Anyone remember him saying 2 years at our press conference after getting eliminated by Jersey. He said, and I quote, ” Don’t taste the success of a 47 win season, that’s not good enough, it’s never good enough”.
Well here we are and were out of the playoffs.
Company line? MLSE puppet? You decide
Orlando, Atlanta Milwaukee had the 13 14 and 15th record in the East and now there better then we are, with all star players and athleticism. All under Bryan’s watch and we have yet to counter
How do you guys type comments (or the Roll Call) while you roll around on the ground flailing your limbs while you have your 4-year old boy tantrums?
We all want the world and want it now but sometimes it ain’t easy.
At least we’re a few more solid nights and a 30+ point game away from being able to suck each others dicks over the dawn of the Andrea Bargnani era. Wonder how long before we start criticizing him for not winning every game?
———————
re: I do agree with what you said about Jose. He’s very slow and cant keep anyone in front of him whether Chris Paul or Ramon Sessions. It’s laughable and embarassing. The reason he looked so great the last 2 years was because he was playing against bench players, while TJ had to deal with starting point guards.
———————
When Ford was injured last last season and Calderon was logging 35 MPG, he was doing it versus the opponent’s starting PG.
When Calderon struggles containing dribble penetration off a Big-on-Little pick situation, in general, it is the lack of proper defense being played by the pick defender that causes the problem for the Raptors not the work/inability of Jose Calderon to keep his own check in front of him.
When the Raptors’ post principal defenders consisted of 1/Bosh, 2/Nesterovic, 3/Humphries and 4/Bargnani they were able to contain dribble penetration off the #5/#1 pick better than they’re able to do it thus far this season when their principal post defenders consist of 1/O’Neal, 2/Bosh, 3/Bargnani and 4/Humphries or Voskuhl.
When great players move on and leave the game behind it creates a vacuum into which the next wave of TOP NOTCH players at that position can step up to fill.
e.g. As long as Hakeem was healthy and playing at the top of his game there was no way that David Robinson or Shaquille O’Neal were going to best him. However, as Hakeem continued to age, room was made for the Admiral [whose window of opportunity was quite small, as a result], Shaq and the Big Fundamental to step into the limelight with their respective teams, as solid Big Men in the NBA.
Kevin Garnett was a terrific player in Minnesota who needed guard and wing help to win it all … because he is fundamentally not a ball-handling player.
Those who are relentlessly trying to compare Chris Bosh with the likes of Kobe, Lebron, Wade, Jordan, Oscar, et al. … are simply wasting their time.
Karl Malone was a terrific NBA player, as was Charles Barkley, Patrick Ewing, Dan Issel, George Gervin and a host of others who never managed to win it all.
As a 24 year old with the type of game he has right now … coupled with his work ethic and character … Chris Bosh will be just fine, for whatever team he plays for down-the-road, as one of the best Big Men in the NBA for the next decade.
Hopefully it’s in Toronto … but if it’s not, c’est la vie.
I’ll second that
But what is their record now, under Triano, with and without Calderon?
Didn’t O’Neal bring the Magic deep into playoffs his first year?
Khan – your point is correct, but a freak like O’Neal is the wrong example. He held his own immediately against the best. Even using Robinson is not the best example – the immediate contribution from TD as a rookie brought the Spurs to that next level and opened a lot of space for the Admiral.
Tinman,
I used Shaq and Robinson for a specific reason.
Even special players like THAT who were tremendous in their own right were not able to best a supreme player like Hakeem, when he was healthy, operating at his peak efficiency, and was ably supported by a solid cast of teammates.
In fact … in two high profile situations both were simply annihilated by the Dream [and I'm not referring to a "statiistical" comparison] and, yet, still went on to have very solid careers in the NBA.
Because Chris Bosh can’t get by Kevin Garnett, at this stage of his career, is no knock on CB4 … it’s a testament to the ability of The Big Ticket.
Agreed. And furthermore, Bosh does just as good of a job on Garnett defensively. It’s not like KG goes off against the Raptors, Bosh keeps him in check. The problem is that the Raptors rely on Bosh’s offence a hell of a lot more than the Celtics rely on KG’s.
Good point Khandor. And it gives an excuse to plant this link. Watching the Dream destroy the Admiral is a thing of beauty. I guess there were better players than Hakeem but I think he was my favourite aesthetically.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hW4uXlRGAF0
Sam,
Aesthetically …
IMO, there has been none finer than Michael Jordan.