The “miracles don’t happen” edition
Banks – showed a little bit of promise in the limited time he played. As I recall, so did Primoz Brezec. If ball doesn’t pan out, he can always fill in for Tracy Morgan.
Bargnani – 2 quick fouls. Not going to be a good thing for our squad if that continues, since the guys backing him up are about as well equipped at filling in at centre as a Smart car is at driving in the Arctic. He did snap out of it in the bridge of the game, but picked up another quick 2 late.
Bosh – rocking the suit jacket with denim pants. Casual Friday comes early to the ACC apparently.
Calderon – had a good number of hockey assists tonight, just a shame they don’t count in the stat sheet. He may not be 100% and, even after the allstar break, his lack of driving drives me bonkers.
Graham – may have to start calling this guy the silent assassin. Another game where, for many of his 31min, he seemed invisible. End of the night: 15pts and 4 boards. Spectacular? Far from it. In a way, it’s kind of a sad output from a starter, but you play the hand you are dealt and if you compare his output to most of his career, you have to take it.
Humphries – no truth to the rumour he was kicking it with Mo Williams and LBJ at Ultra last night. None.
Jawai – scored his first field goal in the NBA. Congrats. Also got an early look as he was brought in late in the second. I was shocked. Bet he was too. Have we really come to this?
Kapono – brutal passing offset by a good steal and running the floor in the first half. Only hoisted 9 shots in 24 minutes, so wonder if he is tired from hoisting some bevvies in Phoenix.
Marion – blocks and rebounds like HO, better personality, and seemed genuinely lost for the majority of the game. Never been a huge fan, but the upside he could bring with his stay on this roster far outweighs that of what HO brought. As was said many places today and yesterday, we don’t have much time for him to fit in. He has to show his professionalism and do just that….and quick.
Parker – his performance in the fourth saved him from a game that was uglier than Popeye Jones. 4 turnovers, some bizarre brainfarts, and a night he better forget. Big disappointment coming off some rest.
Solomon – only way his thumb is hurt is if it is directly connected to his ego.
Ukic – mo williams crossed him over so bad that Mo was looking for the crosswalk button. Yoko did have a nice pass to Kapono, but other than that, same old Ukic. Jay would get more production from an udderless cow.
Voskuhl – what have I done to piss off the Gods so much that the backup bigs for my favourite NBA team are Nathan Jawai and Jake “I don’t care if I’m white and look like I’ve just got off a tractor, I’m still gonna wear the headband” Voskuhl? I mean, really? Know what is even more pathetic? I think he should have had more floor time tonight. Heavens to murgatroyd.
Driving The Bus: Joey Graham
Under The Bus: Anthony Parker (yet again, though, no one guy deserved it)
Game Theme:
44 Raps
Move Parker now. He’s a nice guy and a good role player but he’s 32 years old and his trade value will never be higher. Enough with the talk that this guy is a great locker room guy. This team is 21-35 so how bad could their record be without him. BC won’t move him but that is a mistake.
I don’t believe there are people here (including BC) who actually think resigning Parker to any deal is a good idea. He’s a 10 minute backup at best and you have to expect his game to follow pattern and deteriorate even further next season.
Theirs a price for everything and I would be one to admit I would be appauled to see BC turn down Parker @ half his current price. That being said he still needs to trade him to a contender who needs a guard (cleveland for Pavlovic + 2nd rounder etc). Face it he’s a tweener as far as starting/coming off the bench but If you’re one of the many teams lacking depth/quality at the 2 spot Parker is a good rental option…
Missed the game, but following the San Antonio effort, I really thought that this newly-energized group would step up and compete tonight. Guess I was wrong…
altraps: it seems every time Toronto loses a game, you bury them in the roll call. It’s getting tired. The raptors did not play well but they were nowhere near as bad as you paint it.
15pts, 4 boards from a starter. Those are solid numbers especially if they’re playing solid defense. That’s exactly what you need from the 4th-5th option.
Same old Ukic? Give me a break. “Jay would get more production from an udderless cow?” He just scored 22 and a game-winner in the previous game and has been playing ok in the last month. It’s these type of comments that lose you credibility.
You’re like the Doug Smith on the other side of the continuum. No basketball knowledge but manages to putt along due to your predictable schtick (blind negativity) and sheer output.
The team is dog shit. Can you not see it? Alt Raps is being nice with his role call which is a credit to him. He’s pointing out what we the fans already know.
Remember Colangelo saying he would not trade Calderon at this time because he’s a great guy?
Well now, he echoed the same thing about Anthony Parker.
It’s sad that he lets his personal feelings towards character guys get in the way of looking at real talent. Personality should be a bonus not the main factor.
Stacks, in all fairness, you’re an idiot.
I give a rats ass what Ukic has done in the past few games, even his career. Roll Call is about the current game. Just to make it clear, it actually has, you know, the date and opponent in the title. If you think Roko played a fantastic game, hey, you are welcome to your (misguided) opinion. If you want to live in the past, take a look at the roll call for the GAME he actually performed those miraculous acts you refer to. I gave him credit. Too bad his performance doesn’t warrant that praise more often.
Having Joey (or whomever) give us 15/4 will enable us to end up exactly where we ended up tonight: on the losing end of any given game. Yes, it was the Cavs, but it was also a shorthanded Cavs and featured a game where a lacklustre (to his standards) LBJ still almost hung a triple double around our necks.
Did we play our worst game of the year? No. Did we compete for more than one quarter? No. If that makes you happy, you go girl.
as a not-always-fan of altraps’ roll calls, i gotta agree w/ alt on this one. if anything, he was overly kind. it was a desultory result, other than the first half, they played like they were still on vacation. y’know how you come back to work monday morning after being, say, in the DR for two weeks…and you can barely find the motivation to flip on your PC? that’s what it felt like last night.
AP = wow, worst game i’ve seen from him in a looong while. though he did finish an alley-oop…has that ever happened before?
good call on the alley-oop. Not a common sight, but he has done it once or twice if I recall correctly. Pretty sure it was a first this season.
I am still going to say Toronto sucks and we need to bring Vancouver back.. The fans suck and so does the cable you watch it on. I could read it in Bosh’s face. Cant wait to get the #($) out of this place.
Get used to Marion Oval head cause thats your allstar lol
If BC listened to me he would of got Corey Maggette for TJ hooker
That move of getting J.O. cost us big time.
Now have fun with MR. Lemonhead Matrix
Losers !
Vince Carter is the only hope !! YES THE ONLY HOPE !!!
Agreed.
Go back to cow tipping, wanker. We don’t need or want Wince Carter.
I hate f*cking hicks, almost as much as I hate VC.
Bargnani = 3rd/4th offensive option on team.
No way should a guy who’s supposed “plus” is offense be getting that many touches if he is so bloody inefficient. His primary value should be to open the floor for Bosh to operate offensively. But he should do that from a back-up position. If he cannot then you must trade him (won’t happen but he is hurting the team).
Question: If Marion puts up all-star like numbers as a power-forward and Bosh is injured, why does he start at small forward?
I couldn’t watch/listen to the game but was Marion matched up against Wallace/Varajeo or Lebron on offense?
Lighten up, losers. Are you emotionally attached to Ukic? Did the big bad Altraps hurt your feelings when he said Jay would get more production out of an udderless cow?
Don’t like it? Don’t read it. Don’t got a sense of humour? Don’t read it.
lol….thanks Bill.
this game was a sorry sack of garbage, and the raptors are definitely filling the dump this year. What amazes me is how we are at the tax threshold. How can these “players” be worth 72 million??? seriously, think about it…
Marion seems sick of the “players” already. See that post game interview?
Who is a hick retard .. Jp is the only one that knows when its over its over, its a wrap.
You dont believe me here look at this!!!
http://vids.myspace.com/index.cfm?fuseaction=vids.individual&VideoID=8168431
Bring Vancouver back cause these Torontoians dont have a clue about B Ball and by the looks of things not even hockey..
The only way I will become a fan again if we get the man who made this team.
Peace !
Are you suggesting that John Bitove Jr should suit up for the Raptors? I dunno man, the guy is 49 years old now.
maybe he meant Alvin Robertson.
bill/altraps et al.
I’m not emotionally attached to Ukic – but I am to the raptors which is why I follow them. My issue with you, altraps, is your predictably overly negative tone to everything you write. It’s tired.
It’s evident from your writing that the only pleasure you take from following this team is when they are horrible (most of the time) and only grudgingly give positive marks when they are obviously due. Like I said, not an interesting read and predictable. Maybe you should take Bill’s advise – “don’t like it, don’t read it”. It’s obvious you hate this team to an almost maniacal degree. Save yourself the trouble and stop following it so closely.
OR
Start doing some even-handed analysis without the lame name-calling like some of your colleauges (PHD steve) or the boys at raptorsHQ. Seriously. Like I said. Raptors HQ is to you as Michael Grange is to Doug Smith.
Never understood the people who criticize the Roll Call for lack of analysis. This isn’t supposed to contain in-depth analysis, it’s supposed to be a quick and fun read with a laugh or two mixed in with blunt evaluation.
If you want analysis, you should wait for the post-game:
http://raptorsrepublic.com/blog/2009/02/19/what-did-you-expect/
And while we’re plugging blogs, let’s not forget the following:
http://caldeford.blogspot.com/
http://nbaroundtable.wordpress.com/
http://www.hoopsaddict.com/
I’ve known Altraps for many years and I have to admit that at first I also thought he reveled in Raptor losses. But as I’ve gotten to know him over the years I’ve learned that couldn’t be further from the truth.
We you expecting positivity after the Raptors dropped below 0.300 for 2009?
Somewhat fair assessment, Stacks, but I challenge you to provide one Roll Call that is completely negative.
Let’s be fair, the number of games the majority of the players on this team have played well or better is pretty minimal. Maybe 11-13. The rest of their victories, 2-4 guys carried the team. If they lose, it’s difficult to paint a rosey picture.
In any event, to say I am not a supporter of this franchise brings detracts from your repeated argument. If I wasn’t, I wouldn’t be here. If I wasn’t, this wouldn’t be the first year I am not a season seat holder. If I wasn’t, I wouldn’t PVR every game that I can’t watch live. If I wasn’t, I wouldn’t get into arguments with friends who look down upon the sport in the city of Toronto.
I give you credit for wanting to defend this team this year. I dare say, however, you are among a dwindling herd. Keep up the fight, though.
Yes I want Glen Grunwald back as GM. Very underrated.
Sure, he overpaid for players and was responsible for some stupid contracts but atleast we had real talent on the team and were able to compete 82 games a year. We were on NBC weekly and all those high end networks; fans in other cities would cheer on carter as he’d drop 50 points and have the building upside down with his patented moves.
Vince was the talk of the NBA at the time (1998 – 2001). A team with Alvin Williams, Mc Grady, Carter, Charles Oakley,Antonio Davis, Mugsy Bogues, JYD, Morris Peterson etc.
Common,how can you not like a team with intangibles such as mental toughness, heart,sticking up for each other? Defense, rebounding, 3 point shooting, perimeter defense, scoring we had all that and then some. I do believe had Vince not went to his graduation we would have won the 7th game and beat Milwaukee in the C. finals.
Who the heck is Bryan Colangelo? Some spoon fed little brat who was a pimple in his fathers ass all those years in Phoenix. A mere footnote.
An executive who never picked up a basketball in his life or played in a single high school or College game, let alone the NBA. This is the man MLSE was chasing after and relying on him to take us to the promised land?
I’ve said it before and I will again the man is not qualified to be a GM. And we would be better off with one of, Glen Grunwald, Wayne Embry or dare I say Rob Babcock ( simply for his long term rebuilding plan)
Grunwald + Embry would turn this franchise around. I am in complete support of that tandem.
Grunwald is a cap expert and Embry’s respect far outweighs that of Colangelo.
Jesus fuck! Grunwald was Isiah’s sidekick and lucked into his GM position (no one wanted the job). He’s terrible at managing NBA player egos, was way over his head and almost sunk this franchise by giving Vince the keys to the benz (hence handing out long term big contracts to unworthy players that Vince insisted on). He will never be a GM again in the NBA, never, yet some want him back?
Babcock was far more capable but also quite green as the leading man. As bad as the Vince trade was he had an eye for talent and had a long term plan with youth in mind but he was learning on the fly in one of the worst markets to do so. It also irks me that he got run out of town (by FANS and media) and gets so much heat for the Vince trade when everyone was convinced Vince was a washed up traitor (he was a traitor but obviously not washed up) and should have been tossed to the curb at any price…Bosh is starting to get the same unwarranted treatment and it’s fucking annoying.
And for all you piss and vinegar lovers, who are dumping all over Colangelo Jr. because it’s fashionable, guess what? No, his daddy, who you all claim was the REAL brains in Phx, is not here but guess who is? The great Wayne Embry, the same fucking guy who mentored Colangelo Sr. and is now advising Colengelo (whom Embry pulled the strings to get here).
Now tell me which great GM you would hire to run this franchise, when there are zero decent candidates who would take the job? Four Exec of the Year awards in our management team and ya start sharpening the axe when we hit a speed bump? I fucking give up!
Adiamo and Nunya, the cheques are in the mail for your RR commenter’s copyright fee on the word “fuck”.
Hardly a speed bump, sir, unless you consider 2 seasons and possibly a third one a bump.
Grunwald never professed to be a GM. Not once. However, his knowledge of the cap coupled with a solid scouting crew and the wisdom of Embry could possibly right this ship.
As I said a while ago, I don’t envy any GMs. It’s a job which requires luck and skill. However, salary caps don’t. A nicely handled capologist working in tandem with someone who has respect league wide (and is interested in acquiring new talent, not just guys he knows and/or overpriced former allstars) could and should serve us well.
..but Grunwald WAS the GM so he didn’t need to profess it. He accepted the job knowing full well he wasn’t really qualified (but no one can blame him for that), it was just MLSE being cheap and stupid (desperate?).
Colangelo Jr. is considered one of the top GM’s in the NBA in terms of understanding the cap and also manages the ego’s of his players extremely well (how many players have publicly asked out since he has been here?) along with a decent track record for assessing talent and finding the right mix of players to play a certain style. Also, Embry hand picked him and is still around as an advisor so we are in as good a hands as we could hope for.
No doubt BC shit the bed this year but we have only been bad for one year, not two. This team was going along quite nicely last season before TJ pulled his ME-J routine that threw the team off-course. BC messed up the new mix (JO) but he doesn’t sulk about it (insert all previous Rap’s GM’s), he moves forward. I know this isn’t the popular stance right now but I still prefer to have BC running this organization than most of the GM’s out there and certainly more so than any GM we have had in the past.
On record alone, we have regressed since his arrival. That is all that matters, especially if you are proclaiming that you are putting together “best teams on paper”.
A .500 record last year in this division is nothing to crow about.
Sorry, our record has not gotten worse since he got here. I remember what Colangelo inherited.
Take a look at NOLA’s situation or Milwaukee’s (with Sessions and CV coming up for RFA) or Washington’s prospect of paying the tax for a team that has never made it out of the first round and has only gotten older and more broken down. Whatever bad talent moves BC has made of late, none but the JK signing have huge cap implications. (A Free Banks will earn his $4+ mil) If the downward trend continues and the Raptors have to do a full rebuild, BC or his successor will have a fairly clean slate with which to work. That doesn’t make him a golden boy but he never paints himself into a corner when it comes to the cap. Other GM’s do.
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Who the heck is Bryan Colangelo? Some spoon fed little brat who was a pimple in his fathers ass all those years in Phoenix. A mere footnote.
An executive who never picked up a basketball in his life or played in a single high school or College game, let alone the NBA. This is the man MLSE was chasing after and relying on him to take us to the promised land?
I’ve said it before and I will again the man is not qualified to be a GM. And we would be better off with one of, Glen Grunwald, Wayne Embry or dare I say Rob Babcock ( simply for his long term rebuilding plan) – by JP
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Bryan Colangelo attended Cornell University and played varsity basketball there for 3 seasons as a reserve player.
Those who criticize the man’s background in basketball FOR THE WRONG REASONS are JUST AS OFF-BASE as are those who think he’s a TOP NOTCH General Manager in the NBA due to his 2 EOTY awards.
Life is more complicated than either of THOSE two end point positions and, unfortunately, many in the Raptors’ hoops community still fail to grasp the subtleties of the game [including how it's played at the Executive Offices], and what’s actually needed for major on-court success, at this level of competition.
IMO, Bryan Colangelo is indeed an “average” GM in the NBA – i.e. not the worst and not the best – but for different reasons than the ones referred to here.
Grunwald was a better baller.
:)
There are any number of individuals in this world who could successfully build a league championship winning team for the Toronto Raptors and it’s simply ludicrous to think that Bryan Colangelo is either the best or the only person who should be charged with this task, at this point or in the not-too-distant future.
OK, big brain, name them? No dancing, just names.
The majority of Toronto basketball fans are STUPID!!!!!
Getting just as bad as Leaf fans!
AGREED
stupid in all aspects of life or just basketball related?
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OK, big brain, name them? No dancing, just names. – by Raptoronto
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1. What’s the matter, you don’t enjoy dancing?
2. Give me one good reason I should give YOU any names at all?
LOL : )
[Not saying that I won't ever be prepared to give you a name or two down-the-road only that YOU might need to provide ME with a legit reason to fulfil YOUR request, first; that's all. Step, Together-Slide, Together. Step, Together-Slide, Together ...]
“There are any number of individuals in this world who could successfully build a league championship winning team for the Toronto Raptors” – Khandor
…sound familiar? Why say it if you can’t back it up?
joey graham bothers me. he thinks hes lebron except lebron gets 9 assists a game and joey doesnt pass EVER.. i felt like he was competing with marion last night.
im facing the music and its a really fat skanky britney singing the raptors suck!!!
Well, now we have O’Bryant. :s
I can tell you why people criticize the roll call for lack of analysis, Arse. They’re just as disappointed with the losing as we are, they just express their anger differently. We should sympathize with their disability instead of calling them out for it.