This streak hasn’t influenced my opinion of the team in the slightest. I’m not undermining our efforts against Orlando and Chicago, just stating that a 5-game winning streak does not earn anyone a reprieve for the disastrous season we’ve had. The biggest mistake a team can make is look at false positives late on in the season and base their future decisions on that instead of looking at the big picture. No doubt there have been bumps and bruises along the way, the coaching change, injuries to O’Neal and Calderon and of course, the Marion trade, but writing off multiple long losing streaks, nights of token effort, defensive negligence and a sputtering clutch offense is taking it to the extreme. You can’t just wipe the slate clean with 13 games to go in the season and say, “These are the real Raptors”.
Assuming we can maintain this play for the next couple weeks, these wins could bring about some real good other than the record looking less pathetic in the history books. First, it could prove to be enough for Marion to give Toronto a chance in the summer. We’re playing exactly the style of basketball that Marion needs to play in order to be considered more than just a good defender. Since leaving Phoenix his stock has plummeted as he’s gotten exposed for what he is – a system player. He’s got two options: either he’s going to accept his “real” market-value and consider signing a 3-4 year deal knowing that it’ll be his last major contract. In this case it could come down to a bidding war and in the worst case, we’d have to slightly overpay to retain him. Or he could decide that he wants another major deal and look at next season as an opportunity to reprove himself. He could opt for a 1-year deal and look at our fitting style of play as the perfect place to showcase his skills. This would of course put him in a very attractive pool of free agents in 2010 which could end up backfiring.
Secondly, it increases the trade value of our assets, namely Chris Bosh, Jose Calderon and maybe, just maybe but not likely, Jason Kapono. We’re going to have to deal with the reality that Bosh will be pursued by other clubs when he becomes a free agent and that unless we offer him a max-money deal this summer, there is absolutely zero reason for him to even think about re-signing. He can get his money anytime he wants and it’s in his best interest to wait. Jack Armstrong put Bosh’s chances as being in a Raptors uniform next year as 50-50 and alluded to the current roster as being something Bosh can in no way be attracted to. I just don’t see the Raptors having the money or cap-space to do anything more than either re-sign Marion or spend that money in getting someone like Trevor Ariza or in the best case, Hedo Turkoglu. Considering this and the other moves Colangelo’s alluded to making (Delfino, Graham), it just isn’t going to be good enough for Bosh which means trade options need to be explored. Averaging 24/13 in the last five games is doing nothing but helping his worth.
The same can be said for Jose Calderon (14/11, 56% in last 5) who’s sure to have won back some of his admirers from last season. The FT streak and percentage can also be added to the pros column when evaluating him for a trade. I don’t think Colangelo will entertain the idea of trading Calderon unless he’s part of a Bosh package that is just too good to pass up. Acknowledging the blunder that was the O’Neal trade is enough pride to swallow for a season.
Finally, it gives belief and confidence to the players which might be the most important thing heading into the summer. As a casual Blue Jays fan I know it could be misleading, they’ve made it a routine of playing well in September and coming close to the wildcard spot giving the GM and players false belief in their own abilities. Players like Calderon, Ukic, Pops and Bargnani who are likely to return next year need to feel something good going into the summer. There’s nothing like the promise of better times to motivate a person and this stretch could serve as a beacon that they actually can be part of something nice.
Colangelo’s grades
I thought I’d give Colangelo a report card. Below are his transactions for this year, a little blurb, the consensus grade given at the time and the real grade.
O’Neal for T.J Ford: Hindsight is 20/20 but the Ford for Wallace swap was the answer, shouldn’t have stuck out for their pick. Never liked giving up the 17th pick, thought we should’ve moved up to get the SG we so desperately need now. Trade hinged on O’Neal staying healthy and gelling with Bosh under good coaching. Neither happened and we lost a pretty good pick and a serviceable center for nothing. At the time: B-. Now: F.
Signing Hassan Adams: They told us NJ was dying to sign him but couldn’t because of some cap issues. I always thought that little rumour was the reference letter Hassan’s agent got him when NJ fired him. They told us he could be the answer to our perimeter defense. They lied. At the time: C-. Now: F.
Signing Will Solomon: Got to be honest, I had to Google him up. They told us he could be the answer to our perimeter defense. They lied. At the time: F. Now: F.
Signed Roko Ukic: No-brainer given the backup PG situation, thanks Rob Babcock. At least Roko got his first taste of the NBA, this move probably should’ve happened last year instead of having Darrick Martin in there. At the time: B. Now: B+.
Fired Sam Mitchell, promoted Jay Triano: Let’s be clear, Mitchell wasn’t fired for being 8-9, he was fired for losing to the Magic and Nets in the first round, being stubborn, uncreative and lacking common sense. This move had to be made and was long overdue. Triano brings a defensive philosophy and an offense with significantly more movement which is an improvement over what was there. I know the record doesn’t support the argument but I say this team has the same or worse record if Mitchell is the coach. At the time: B+. Now: B.
Signing Jake Voskuhl: We needed some insurance when O’Neal went down and weren’t counting on Bargnani to fill in so we got Voskuhl. He’s not a Mikki Moore, Drew Gooden, Joe Smith or even a P.J Brown, he’s Jake Voskuhl and we got from him what we expected from him. At the time: C. Now: C.
O’Neal/Marion/Pick for Marion/Banks: We get to play the free-agent market in 2009 and have a chance to retool this summer instead of sticking with the current roster next year and repeating the same result. Giving up the pick was bad enough but taking on Banks to go with Kapono was a mistake from the start. Marion’s been good news but what is it worth if he walks and we don’t sign a major player with the money we saved? The grade for this trade depends entirely on whether we do something positive with Marion’s dollars. At the time: B. Now: B-.
Trading Patrick O’Bryant for Will Solomon: Still don’t know why this happened, it’s not like Bargnani was playing bad and Jake was exhausted from playing too many minutes. O’Bryant is the worst player on this team and is making Will Solomon look good. At the time: Confused. Now: Even more confused.
Signed Pops Mensah-Bonsu: Nobody had seen him play much before he got here and were probably thinking he’s another Voskuhl or O’Bryant. Colangelo had been wanting to nab him for some time now and jumped at the opportunity after the Spurs had to make room for Drew Gooden. At the time: D. Now: B+.
Signed Quincy Douby: He’s the answer to our wing woes. At the time: F. Soon to be: A+.
Have a good Friday.
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50 Raps
Interesting grades, although I don’t think the O’Neal trade was an F, if he had an impact on the way Bargnani is playing now.
I don’t know if its funny or sad that the two highest grades (not counting Douby’s future A+) are signing Pops and replacing the coach.
O’Neal is said to have had a positive impact on Bargs, and Bargs’ vastly improved statistical numbers do back-up that assessment. That being the case, I’d agree to increase the JO trade grade: D-.
I was a proponent of that trade when it went down (leaving the pick aside) but what have we actually gained by making that trade? The argument that Bargnani’s development should be credited in part to O’Neal is ridiculous. Bargnani needed playing time which he could’ve gotten well before January if O’Neal hadn’t been here.
I thought the only reason Bargs improved so much was because O’Neal was…..injured???? lol, it’s not like O’Neal was mentoring the kid (was he?)
I don’t think O’Neal was ‘mentoring’ him by any means, that’s a real stretch. He just played some pick-up ball in the summer before the season began and Bargnani happened to be there.
The pick will ultimately become insignificant, especially when factored in with the one that BC can buy, I’m 90% certain. (That might save us having to put references to “the pick” in parentheses a few dozen times over the next few months.)
I’m not a huge fan of the monday morning quarterbacking. It’s kinda like the Bosh dagger against Orlando the other night; he’d taken the ball to the hole a few times, he was getting the foul calls, he was one-on-one with Dwight, why not do it again? So, was he clutch because he hit the shot or stupid for taking a relatively low percentage shot? (Winning cures all in almost all cases and unlike a lot of jumpers he forces up from outside, his form and rhythm looked comfortable on this one.)
The other reason I’m against the 20-20 thing is that a lot of us talk like we could do as good a job as Colangelo. It reminds me of people who critique a movie, which is fine, but we don’t actually think we could write a better movie; otherwise we’d get out 120 sheets of blank paper and get to work. But here, there are clearly people who think they could do a better job than Colangelo, so if they liked the JO trade last autumn, I don’t think they deserve to be allowed to criticize it now. (I actually thought it was a worthwhile gamble with a plan B worked into it, and I still think it was.)
However … well written piece, as usual. One question, Arse: Is the following your opinion, or have you got some inside info? “Let’s be clear, Mitchell wasn’t fired for being 8-9, he was fired for losing to the Magic and Nets in the first round, being stubborn, uncreative and lacking common sense.” Because you say, let’s be clear, which suggests it’s more than just you gleaning.
I reckon that a big part of Sam’s firing was that he a) didn’t see eye-to-eye with Colangelo and b) didn’t back down easily. I think Triano does back down even when he disagrees with Colangelo, which may not be the best characteristic in a head coach. Bosh said the other day, “Most of the time he’s not afraid to give us a piece of his mind.” Most of the time? Meaning some of the time he is? I think Triano is an excellent assistant coach, but signs are he’s not a leader and therefore not the head coach we want and that the players need, since there doesn’t seem to be a leader among them either. So, I’d give Colangelo a B for making the appointment of Triano, but if he leaves him as head coach next year, I’d give him an F.
That’s entirely based on my view of the team but later confirmed by the comments made by Colangelo who cited that the team just wasn’t gelling the way he had expected them to and he was seeing nothing more than the continuation of the last two years. Think about it though, is 8-9 really a record to get fired for? It was building up.
I agree with your comments 100%. I hate it when you read someone say something like “they should have traded up to get ..”, or “they should have made this trade”. Other than hearing it directly from the person (in this case Colangelo), how can any of it be believed?
I mean we’re sitting here thinking Colangelo missed out on trading up, as if there was ever an opportunity to do so. Armchair GMs read rumors about a trade opportunity and wonder why BC didn’t take it. It’s absolute hogwash.
Very well put Sean and I agree with your thoughts on the severe 20/20 experts on here. I also noticed the Bosh on Triano quote last week and found it interesting/disturbing.
I think you’re being way too harsh and revisonist here.
Yes, the team sucked this year. Yes, adding O’Neal didn’t work from the perspective we wanted it to (although it clearly helped Bargs become a much better defensive player).
For this trade, Colangelo deserves a D+ (only in the sense that it improves bargs). For firing the manager too late (it should have been done in the summer with a coach of his choosing and screwed the whole team’s confidence into the toilet) he deserves an F.
Everything else is not really his fault–and he really has landed on his feet like a cat with ni…(sorry, eight) lives. Here’s why…
He won the Marion trade hands down. Banks or no banks. Crappy pick or no. Go take a look at what those players are doing for Miami. They’ve made them WORSE. Their perimeter d looks sneakily like ours did, especially in the number of threes they are suddenly giving up, despite the calls of their play by play guys that they have the best perimter d in the league–that was when Marion was there. Moon is back to getting jack and one ball and one leg O’neal can’t move laterally to get the rebounds there either. And he loves him those stupid offensive fouls and chucker shots. Miami is not only bad this year though. The beauty is they have no money to be any better next year, when Wade explodes from carrying their asses all THIS year. But they’ll have lots of capspace…they better hope people REALLY like warm weather there.
In order to see this from a slightly fairer perspective in terms of how you view the core, you have to admit one assumption you have is not correct–that all injuries are all somehow equal.
The truth is this: injuries TO KEY PLAYERS AT KEY TIMES count.
You can pretend ’till you’re blue in the face that they shouldn’t but facts are facts.
You don’t lose your starting center (as average as he turned out to be) and your starting point guard (who couldn’t play healthy until now) and win.
You just don’t.
You don’t win because especially because finesse offensive teams (like the way this one was purposely built) with two bigs (and no slashers, which I’m sure Bryco was aware of) need one BIG thing to get the job done–a real, healthy, honest to goodness all-star point or similar fill-in (Rafer Alston with an already good team with a coach who had been there for years). They had that in Calderon and then, just like that, it was gone–Think of Houston and Yao Ming and MacGrady.
Getting the ball to your bigs (if you are intent on playing a San Antonio spurs redux (before Parker) kind of game (which is what Mitchell hinted at over the summer), you need really really high level execution without the penetration (except from the bigs and princeton cuts + horns up.)
No point guard, no “twin tower threat” center, no chance. Until Marion and some “bigs” depth happened–you know, Pops playing the Humps role better than Humps (as well as some fucking home games and the time to make some extra adjustments to fit him in. I ask you, who the fuck put this schedule together? They get their longest stretch of games at home when the fucking season is over? How the fuck were they supposed to gell? I ask you…) Anyhoo…I digress.
Now that Andrea is doing a top five center in the league performance and calderon and Bosh and Marion are performing like the former and present all-stars they are (were) we’re actually a good team.
Take a look at Orlando.
Their main cogs are Howard, Shard, Turkey glue and Nelson
We have Bosh, Bargs, Marion and Calderon
Now, if you just closed your eyes for a second and forgot this monstrosity of an injured and poorly handled season (by Bosh with this girlfriend fiasco and his GM trying to compromise his vision too much for Smitch) and just considered the quality variation, I think you’ll come to the conclusion it’s pretty damn close. Yes, that means accepting Bargs could be equal or better compared with Shard (haters, beware!)
So, given this lineup plus a little offseason tinkering (Rasho, Delfino, nice athletic two–say, perhaps, Henderson or Derozan), we could get 47-50 wins next year. We might even win a round. Is it Lebron James good? No. But it’s playoff competitive good.
You can bring up Utah and Washington (when they won without Arenas) all you want–but those teams were largely guard oriented and had been playing together for YEARS under the SAME coach (including the backups who actually replaced them). In terms of Washington, it was addition by subtraction–as many have figured out now. But even they got tired of pulling the extra load and tanked huge for Griffen.
Look, you can’t absolve Bryco of all responsibility–he clearly overestimated some of the minor parts (Soloman’s and other dregs) even though these were not going to play anyhow–kind of like complaining about Reddick) and gambled too big in the short term on O’Neal–but his idea wasn’t that far-fetched–just a little messy and lacked depth.
Overall, I give him a pass (a C+) if they run the table. End of the season or no, a 10 or 11 (or 14) game winning streak is a significant stretch of a season. They count just like the other ones do.
We have four all stars now. If they can play like this next year we’re a good team and colangelo gets back his depth to make it that much better (fully having learned not to be so collaborative with his coaches–unless they agree with what he’s selling–Triano or Messina or both).
I don’t have time to respond in full right but you can’t judge a trade by seeing what the players we traded have done for the other team, you have to look at in the incoming stuff way more. And the pick of course (which could be two).
A 10 game winning streak with the team sitting well out of the playoffs does NOT count the same as if it had happened in December.
I could be convinced that O’Neal trade was a D, but that’s only if we somehow twist this around and attribute Bargnani’s development to him (which doesn’t make sense to me).
Later.
Some very good points here.
Great post!
The injury factor is a legitimate reason (but just one of many) for our failings this season. Loosing Jose and JO at the same time crippled us.
Any team that looses both their starting PG and C at the same time would be too.
As for BC, he thought that acquiring JO would be the equivalent to hitting a home run. But it turned out to be a strike-out. What really hurt us with that deal was having to give away Rasho and the 17th pick.
In hindsight, had we offered the Bobcats Ford+our pick for Wallace to start the season, and still have Rasho, we probably would have had a better season.
At the end of last season, he had two glaring holes: interior defence and perimeter defence. But with JO and Jose both out in January, we than had a third hole: offensive effectiveness.
I’m ready to put this season behind us. I’m already looking forward to the off-season and better results next season.
‘In hindsight, had we offered the Bobcats Ford+our pick for Wallace to start the season, and still have Rasho, we probably would have had a better season.’
gee, ya think? of course, that’s if the rumours of wallace wanting nothing to do w/ TO were false…
Wallace did say he didn’t want to be traded here. But if he was, during the off-season, I’m pretty sure he’d have reported to training camp.
Had Wallace been traded here, he may been disgruntled with the transaction, but I’m sure winning games would have changed his opinion of it.
Larry Brown wanted him traded for the first-half of the season. Today, he’s the team MVP and is in Brown’s master-suit.
Point is, he hasn’t played a playoff game in a long time, and I’m sure he’d love to be for any team.
and if Wallace had another concussion and was out of the lineup for a long period, with multiple years at $10 a year on the books, how good a deal would that have been?
exactly.
Look, the JO trade was a good trade. At worst a B+.
I think the issue is not what did JO do- or not do because, he did play in close to 3/4s of the games he was here for and WAS a presence on D while averaging a double double. What more did you want from him?
The issue is that BC failed to address the issues at the wings, back up PG, and all around depth and when guys went down, there was no one there to replace them.
13 & 7, a “double double” while forcing the entire team to readjust to his style of play and resulting in the raptors being a worse defensive team than last year… wow why dont we just give BC an Exec of the year award now
Rasho put up the same stats a Oneal when given the same ~30 mpg
http://ca.sports.yahoo.com/nba/players/3260/splits?year=2007&type=Fielding
check his splts from last march and april
Agree fully. Lack of depth, toughness, perimeter D, and slashing-ness, was/is the problem.
PhD, there was as much injury-risk involved with the JO trade as there would have been with the proposed Wallace trade.
And JO ended-up missing around 40% of his games while he was here.
That’s the exactly.
I agree that JO did deliver what was expected from him when he was healthy, but it proved beyond a doubt that perimeter defence (and overall wing production) was our biggest weakness. Bigger than interior defence. (I’d like to add that I think Rasho would have delivered as much as JO did for us, simply on the basis that Rasho would not have missed any many/if any games and would have come off our cap this summer.)
The fact is that we’re both happy BC realized this and was able to quickly flip JO for Marion and temporarily address our perimeter defence and wing production problem.
James, the only difference was Wallace would be on the hook for 2 more years than JO.
“And JO ended-up missing around 40% of his games while he was here.”
He played in 41 of 55 games. So, he missed 25% of the games.
The key to any trade is to put it in terms of the general thought when it occurred. As was said here, and basically every other blog before the season started, it all hinged on Jose and Andrea having a year of 17/7 (rough parameters). No one was completely sure how JO would fit in…and we realized that we had depth issues..but if Jose oculd handle the burden and Andrea could put up decent stats…well…”ladies and gentlemen: Your 2008-2009 Toronto Raptors” (paraphrasing Simmons).
As can be seen, Jose tumbled. Andrea started off 5-8 games well, then tapered off hard. This is what happened last year; quick start and then nothing. Since mid-Dec he started to pour it on and be consistent and his numbers are slowly approaching the figures above (and are above if you consider only his performance since consistent minutes).
Thus, we knew beforehand it landed on Jose’s workload and Andrea breaking out. Andrea had started to breakout, but Jose was still mia. Only in the last 2 weeks do we see Jose playing well; with Andrea continuing his progress.
Its an easy excuse to say injuries. Every team goes through them. Yes. However, pick any team in the league pre-season and look @ consensus predictions and who the team will rely upon. Howard is the cog that allows the magic to flow; if they lose him, how do they do this year? Same can be said of any team. Calderon is not our best; but he is the one we needed this season. I think you can see where I am going with this…
i see where youre going…
and ill add a little too it….NO DEPTH at the pg position…
parker was just a notch below passable..and if he’s not in a walker by next season i would be ok with signing him for cheap and making him the primary backup pg or sg while continuing (to try) to develop roko.
of course this also if only we can retain marion and hopefully get a starting shooting guard whos strength (in order) should be 1. defense 2. passing 3. creating his/her (candace!?) own shot.
Anthony Parker gets my vote for the MMP Award (Most Mediocre Player): 30 minutes a game, 10-11 points a night, gets you three rebounds, two assists and a steal, plays OK defense, and you forget he’s out there at least five times per game. He’s perfectly average
which is much better than a horribly below average bench.
whoa….I read that and I was wondering “When the hell did I write that?!?!”
looks like I’ll need to change my “name” ahahaha
My problem with Parker is that he plays w/in the system. He will have some high scoring games, but for the most part he finds his game w/in the flow of the offense. Should he perform better against the bench of other teams (if he was on the bench)? Yes. Will he? I don’t think so. Parker is one of those guys who, I believe, will perform roughly the same way whether he is playing vs. the starting likeup or a bench. I don’t think his #’s will increase/decrease that much, nor will his overall effectiveness drastically be altered.
Just a humble opinion.
How is that a problem? It’s foolish to ever expect him to be anything more than a darned good role player and locker room presence. He’s the same player he’s always been with Toronto. Put him on the bench as a backup point and off guard for cheap and he’ll be a very nice stabilizing force for the next few years.
Its an issue…as in; if we don’t address our bench, he is not the answer. IE – On a good bench he is worthwhile as a stabilizing force. On a bad bench, he will be useless. So as long as our bench is woeful, he is not that game changer. Nor do I forsee him as a good 6th man off the bench, to give that extra ‘ummmmpphhh’.
who said anything about 6th man? he’s a 7th or 8th man…and a very stable one…which is what you want out of that spot in the rotation.
grade A: steps taken toward being a contender
1) not firing mitchell after the nets playoffs series: f
2) fire him this year: a
3) give the job to triano: b
4) let triano be head coach: c
5) sign a proven coach: a
6) give x for o’neal: d
7) o’neal for marion: a
8)re-sign marion at reasonable price: a
9) give a pool of dollars to bosh: b
10) trade bosh at the peak of his career (for a shotblocker\rebounder and a slasher): a
O’Neal trade – I wouldn’t go that low. Remember, Barney was pretty woeful last year….and not reliable. Since Dec. he has come on strong…but whose to say why that happened? I have no idea..and O’Neal was a gamble, but filled some required holes. Plus, our coach was a moron who couldn’t set them up – O’Neal oculd have been more useful.
Solomon – $#&%$^^&
Solomon: the son of David?
wat? lol
The O’Neal trade was an F at the time. Had they done their due dilligence, they’d have gotten to the root of the problem, which is the perimeter defense – starting with Jose Calderon. O’Neal has a statistically significant history of being a high usage low efficiency/turnover prone, mediocre rebounding injury-case who, while excellent in this regard, is a far superior individual defender than he is a team defender. It doesn’t matter that he got injured again – this is who he is as a player even when semi-healthy.
People who didn’t know any better, like me, simply looked at the name and reputation and said good move. Colangelo with all the resources he has access to should have seen this coming a mile away. Sooner or later, he’s gonna figure it out and Calderon will be gone.
Is the Quincy Douby grade a joke? He hasn’t player over 10 minutes on the court…
I believe it’s that thing called “sarcasm” that is sometimes hard to detect on the ‘Net
Not really sarcasm.
sar·casm (särkzm)
n.
1. A cutting, often ironic remark intended to wound.
2. A form of wit that is marked by the use of sarcastic language and is intended to make its victim the butt of contempt or ridicule.
It’s a joke.
really great post…really great comments by everyone…
IMO the answers lie somewhere between arsenalist and david moro…
in hindsight, it is such a huge thing for a player like calderon to have been injured all year…that was the main problem with our defense (much bigger than an old ap, bargs still learning/making mistakes, cb4 giving up) and i know jose is still a sub par defender…he’s at least doing a better job at staying in front of his man…plus he was raised in the mitchell pick and roll system for 4 YEARS!…i admit i hate(d) him but he’s made so much progress in the way of pushing the tempo and getting the ball to cutters (while occasionally taking it to the cup himself)…if he can continue to grasp the concept on offense while staying away from the spanish national team (no spain…unless for pig farming) this summer…then i really believe we have to keep him…
speaking of the spanish national team (or national teams in general)…shouldnt the cause just a little more backlash from fans, coaches, owners, and gm’s?????? we lost garbo, calderon helped screw us this year, manu aint right, and yi jianlian (although he already suck) has been crazy fatigued…
if it werent for david stern wanting to “globalize” the nba, i would assume that these owners would be freaking out and making a bigger deal.
anyways…injuries or no injuries, winning streaks or losing streaks (a couple of 7 gamers if i can recall?), and smitches or no smitches…the underlying fact is that BC was too overconfident with his roster and maybe a little too smitten with himself (and out of touch) that he was able to trade for jermaine oneal…and for those things we were certainly more screwed then we were because of injuries…
worst bench in league history/not as many chances to solve (cap space) this summer
my overall grade this year for the GM i followed from phx to toronto: D
There is another side to the playing for the home country in the summer situation.
Yeah, we lost Garbo for good and Calderon for a season, but think about how great it would be if Nash (and I guess Magloire, if we have to) came back to play for Canada? I don’t think it’s too much of a stretch to say that we could have qualified for the olympics last summer.
Spain inspires patriotism like we do not. You have to respect a guy who will go through the rigors of an NBA season and then choose to continue those rigors thru the summer.
I love my Raps, but I would be more excited to see Canada win gold than to see the Raps win a championship.
And that’s pretty much how it is in Europe. Most top-flight players would choose country over club and I recall several years back before the issue was more clear cut, football players would have it written into their club contracts that they would be free to play for their country. The day the raps start to say “no more international play for any Raptor players”, watch the window of available free agents shrink even more.
Interesting that we went from being seen as a team with the deepest bench a couple years ago, to having the thinnest bench now…quite obviously BC’s minor signings (i.e. as Arse mentioned in his post) haven’t worked out. I hate to use the B word but who carries more of the blame: our starters or our bench (or neither, or both, or cheese)?
IMO, I think that this season shows how potentially good and how potentially horrible the current roster is. The winning streak serves as a blueprint, and a warning for how to proceed for next year.
First and foremost, the Raps need productive wings. Over the last 5 games Parker has produced 11 ppg and 5 boards while shooting 46% (47% from 3). Marion has given 16.8 and 10.6 while shooting 56%. If the Raps could consistently get these types of numbers from their starting wings, it changes the offensive dynamics greatly for this team.
Secondly, the Raps need a role player with energy who plays within his abilities (eg. Pops). You cannot underestimate the infectious nature of a player that produces solely on effort. The Raptors have been +69 on the boards the past 5 games. Obviously Pops doesn’t provide those numbers himself, but one can make the argument that others on the team feed off his energy and play at a higher intensity level themselves. A quick aside, although I have been really impressed with PMB, I don’t think that he needs to be kept at all costs (specifically $s). But if he leaves, a player in his mold needs to be brought in.
Lastly, the raps obviously need depth, and specifically at the one. In an ideal world, they resign Parker on the cheap. It’s obvious that he can no longer be the starting 2. But as the back-up 2 and possibly 1 (until Roko’s able to take that over full-time) he would thrive. You can’t underestimate his veteran leadership, or the continuity he would provide.
My point is, that although many people have been quick to want to blow up the team (mostly before the past 5 games), it looks like tweaking may be all that’s necessary. The 5 game win streak has shown what consistent efficient wing play would do for this team. Unfortunately, I don’t believe that the current wings will produce like this for a full 82 game season, let alone the rest of this season. If BC can nab players that can get 30 and 15 consistently, shooting between 45 and 50%, without being defensive liabilities – we’ll see the Raps back in the playoffs next season.
By 30 and 15 do you mean minutes and points? Because not a single player in the whole league s averaging 30 and 15 right now..
30 points and 15 rebounds
That would be a combined average from both starting wing positions. And in retrospect 15 boards is a tad high, 12 would suffice.
Everything has been said that needs to about this season so how about next season? The Raps are hard against the cap (and therefore limited in their roster) because they lack value in their smaller contracts.
This offseason is all about VALUE. If BC can get some steals by rolling the dice on low risk high reward types like Gerald Green as well as resigning Marion (or his replacement) to an low ball contract all he has to do is take advantage of their restricted FA’s in Delfino and Pops to fill their roster gaps. This would mean they have that much more flexibility in roster movement in the short and long term. Also on the BC wishlist is convincing MLSE to throw money at smaller/struggling franchises in return for cap relief or additional picks or prospects. Maybe we should make a consensus wishlist…
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[...] Raptors Republic has some grades for Bryan Colangelo’s wheeling and dealing from this past year. Interesting and mostly accurate marks handed out, if you’re looking for an answer to why B.C. traded Will Solomon for Patrick O’Bryant then look elsewhere. Only Jesus and B.C. know the answer to that one. – [...]