The “fore” edition
Banks – when you head to work tomorrow, wondering how you’ll stretch your paycheque until the 15th, please remember Marcus’ toe and how hard it must be to make it to the bank to withdraw his funds.
Bargnani – solid game adding to the patchwork of the vision of what is to come. My suggestion for the intro song next season? Arena goes dark, screen comes on showing Bargs smiling with grills and Swagger Like Us thumping in the background. Big up yaself!
Bosh – isn’t it getting harder and harder for the haters to feel they have a valid point? Seriously. Colangelo must feel sick that the best player on this squad is one that he had nothing to do with bringing to town but might be responsible for in his leaving. I just hope that what Marion has brought in his short time here plants a seed in CB’s head and has him thinking about staying.
Calderon – between his clap-your-hands defense and his “oh my god, my house is on fire” look when a call goes against him, I sometimes wonder if we aren’t watching him audition for a Spanish theatrical troupe. Like his game, though. Of course, I like soaps too.
Douby – blazin’ one up while watching the Raptors Republic video channel.
Graham – which position would have a better future: Joey’s business advisor or a Commodore64 repairman?
Humphries – 
Kapono – he shot perfect from the field. Mind you, he played 6 minutes. Doesn’t sound like much, but have you seen the horror that can be done in 6 minutes? (cough…jake…cough)
Marion – I am starting to call his shooting motion the Zit Popper. Gotta agree with Jack…can you imagine what this team could have been like had we traded for Marion instead of the deadweight we did get? In any event, his game was almost as good as Realizar’s day is when he downloads the latest drum n bass beats from da islands.
Mensa-Bonsu – zero of 7. How many of you jockers got his back for a 2-3mil contract now? Did nothing of any major consequence during this winning streak and certainly nothing that would prompt any NBA team to have him any higher than 8th on a depth chart.
O’Bryant – if nothing else, he has increased his collection of throw away NBA tshirts.
Parker – missed that big three late in the fourth that might have swung momentum, but did some little things that kept us alive. Like the majority of his games this year, though, it wasn’t enough. Kinda like Raps Fan trying to get to his girls g-spot before he, you know, finishes.
Ukic – statistically a nice game, but can this guy think outside the box at all? That “fast break” in the first half that turned into a game of hot potato was just embarrassing. Not as embarrassing as me being left off the invite list for Dinosty’s housewarming, but at least I’ll get over it. We are stuck with Roko for the foreseeable future.
Voskuhl – I bet he wakes every morning, turns on his ‘puter, and just hopes he gets a mention in an Arsenalist re-cap. The white version of a broken down JYD dares to dream. Good on him. Read to achieve.
Driving The Bus: Chris Bosh
Under The Bus: Jason Kapono
Game Theme:
24 Raps
jokes on you, i don’t bother looking for the mythical g-spot anymore…ass
Good loss we don’t need be passing any more teams and fall to like 12th or 13th pick….
No such thing as a good loss.
When there’s nothing to gain and everything to lose by winning, yes there is such a thing as a good loss.
Hi-yo!
Everyone except bosh looked beat. And he was near perfect in every way he was playing the game.
The big question is now that re streak is over, how will the team play out the season?
Fuck bank$.
31 points (on 23 shots with zero assists) and 14 rebounds against the Knicks… the Knicks…
….being the “best” player on a fucking terrible team does not make you a Max deal franchise player…
It’s not about whether he is a good player or not, for the millionth time, it’s about what you can afford to put around him after you have (over)paid him….or whether it’s better to rebuild since in 6 years he hasn’t led a team to anything more than 47 wins in what was then the Titanic division.
Your insistence that he is worth what LeBron and Wade are worth, because THAT is the issue, you moron, THAT is the contract, means you think he brings to a team what they do…and if you still can’t see that he obviously doesn’t, you deserve to watch a losing team for the rest of your cretinous life.
Your an Idiot!
If its not whether he is a good player or not, why have you been ripping on him and saying how shit he is, retard
So we trade bosh o we give him maximum money?
give him maximum money is a safe pick. a pick to be mediocre forever, but at least, not terrible.
it’s becoming clear that cb has peaked. the bad part is that its peak it’s not enough to carry a team to good results.
which are the holes in the team? the 2 spot, and a weak beanch. if bosh can bring us a
talentend and atletic scorer, capable of creating his own shot off the dribble, and a big man capable of playing 34 minutes with 10 rebounds and good interior defense, we must go for it.
you can’t build around bosh. so it’s better to go detroit-style.
WRONG WRONG WRONG WRONG WRONG.
I do not like Bosh. At all. I want him gone. But by paying him max you are not saying “you are worth the same as LeBron and Wade”. Both of those players would get MORE than max if it was possible. Contracts in the NBA are not relative, you can’t say “LeBron and Kobe get X, you are 47.8439% the player they are according to your stats, so you get that percentage of their salary.”
the thing is, lebron and kobe are worth more than the max, which makes the comparison a little unfair
if you could get more than max, wouldn’t this value be the new max…and therefore you couldn’t get it, because it’s the max…/head explodes
But then the max would keep going up until LeBron and Kobe are paid 58 million a year
Jose has to get better next year at feeding the hot hand. Andrea was a monster yesterday and comes out today 3 for three and was fouled on his fourth attempt. I thought he was going to go for 40. He then does not see the ball again for minutes and when he finally gets it, Jose passes with 5 secs on shot clock and Andrea must heave up a 25 footer. He was never in the flow again and I put that on Jose.
If Roko ever becomes a player and that is a big if, he must not only develop a shot but make his drives. He is excellent getting to the basket but I have never in my life seen more misses off drives then he had this year.
It’s incredulous that Bosh (probably) thinks he belongs in the same class as Lebron, Kobe, CP, Roy, Wade, or even Devin Harris. The guy is more like second tier, similar to Lamarcus Aldridge. Actually, I would rather have Aldridge, because he has some post-up moves and better defence, in addition to the jump shot.
Who should we get in free agents this offseason? I think we should look for trades, and I don’t feel that any player on the Raps should be exempt from trade considerations.
That quite possibly could be the absolute DUMBEST comment ever made on Raptors Republic. Sorry. That was too much. You would rather have Aldridge over Bosh. If theres a definition of pwnage you just lived it
Bosh is way better than Aldridge, or “second tier” players.
That aside,
Bargnani’s foul trouble was not his fault. The fact that he didn’t get any decent shots was not his fault.
Lets talk Ukic.
This kid drives TWICE in a row, as a point guard. Sure, I like his determination, but do you think maybe he should PASS to a GOOD player?
You know, one with good numbers, like say… Bosh or Bargnani?
Sick of Ukic playing hot potato with Kapono and Graham. Get the B’s the ball!
Scott.
i was so fucking pissed at jose calderetta!!!! late in the 3rd quarter i think, when we stole the ball and it was a 2-on-1 fastbreak, jose bringing up the ball with marion inside vs. only al harrington, i expected jose to pass it to the wide open marion. when he continued his way, i expected a drop pass inside, but what the fuck!!!!!!! FAIL!!!! he drove to the basket for a layup, got rejected/stopped by harrington, and then touched the ball last!!!!
what the fuck was he thinking??? then he cries to the refs like what mr. alt raps said, “Dios mio! Madre de Dios! Mi casa esta en llamas! Ayuda! Mi cerdos estan ahi!”
So, we are mathematically eliminated. Next season?
Bryan Colangelo has no small task ahead to take this team to the next level. Assuming of course this is what he wants to do. In my opinion, these are the things, in no particular order, that need to be addressed.
1)
Either we replace Triano, and get a legitimate, seasoned coach (I am including Messina here, but he is not my preferred option), or we don’t. Let us say we don’t replace Triano:
This means we need an assistant coach to teach Bargnani and Bosh so that they improve their weaksude defence; someone to teach Bargnani when to switch and when not to. I feel like he makes the wrong decision every single time.
2)
Roko:
Is he as good as some think on this site? Look at Phoenix’s Dragic who plays an eerily similar game to Ukic. He is a third-string point guard, whose only weapon is a drive. Phoenix finds it necessary to use him behind Nash and Barbosa, and sometimes alongside Barbosa, so he has competent guards who can pass the ball. Are we expecting too much from Ukic to take serious minutes off the bench? Sometimes I think the team stagnates when he is on the floor, watching him take his drive. IMO, move on from Ukic, but others will disagree. Ultimately BC needs to decide, because Calderon cannot play 41 minutes a night.
3)
Bosh:
If he is paired with a natural driving scorer, who also has a midrange game, Bosh will be deadly as the cleanup man. He will attract doubles, and be able to kick out to someone who can do something with the ball. Add Bargnani on the perimiter to swing around to, and we should have our way offensively. With that kind of SG, I see no reason why Toronto wouldn’t be as attractive as any other destination.
4)
Marion:
On a reasonable salary, he is a great SF in my opinion. He is the guy we need to keep our offence from getting stagnant, as it has a tendency to do. His game isn’t perfect, but it is a good compliment to the kind of offence we are moving toward.
5)
SG:
I feel like if we can lockdown an all-star shooting guard (JJ…can Hedo play SG???), and keep our line as is, we have a great, and I mean great starting lineup (provided Bosh and Bargnani work out their defensive issues). I want to see BC break the bank on this one, luxury tax be damned. If we want to keep Bosh, and keep the fans coming, I would love to see JJ in a Raps uniform in 2010, or Hedo (assuming he can play SG, I dunno) on this team. I mean, we are in danger of losing Bosh to a team like Miami, but Miami is not in danger of losing Wade. Wade can bring players like Bosh to him. Let’s see if BC can sell Toronto to bring someone to Bosh. We need to stop relying on Bosh as our primary scorer. His quickness took a hit this season with his injury, but he still is a monster on the offensive glass, and a nightmare in the post for a lot of players. If we have a SG that can handle the rock Bosh won’t always be the guy who has to try to create his own shot.
6)
Bench:
This might require some spending, but please get a decent bench, BC. In fact, though it is number 5, it should be #1 in priority. We can’t keep milking out stars for PT, and then complaining that they are getting tired or injured. Good bench players are players are players like Delfino, Parker, Graham, Moon – granted it is too expensive to have them all, but these are the kinds of guys you look for in bench players – we used them as starters. Guys who can come in the game on limited minutes, and provide energy basketball, and NOT blow leads. We also need another big man in the rotation. Pops is a good 4th or 5th big man, but I think he is overused. Right now, it is his athleticism that buys him time – we’ll see what an 82-game season would do to that as a 3rd big.
- – -
If we break the bank, and not even in a crazy way like Cleveland, we should be able to keep Bosh and get much better. What I propose should be attainable over 2 years (luxury tax be damned). Look at how Cleveland bends over backwards for LeBron to get themselves to where they are now. If we did just a little bit of that for Bosh, I don’t think that the location being Canada would matter, provided that players knew we were building a contender. Look that Blue Jays in 92, 93, for example.
Maybe I am just a homer, or a poor fiscal manager, probably both – but if the Raps spend a few million more, would they go under or lose money? Or would they make the playoffs, get fans excited, and sell lots of merchandise?
1)I agree that we need someone to teach defense, assistant or head coach I don’t care but the P&R need to be defended
2)Roko isn’t the issue.The system is. We were not moving without the ball. When we did it, our offense was ok even yesterday. I’m not sold as him as a passing PG
3-4-5)If Marion stay, we need a PG like JJ. Agreed
6)Bench: Pops is ok, but he can’t be the 3rd big.I have seen the play that JC use when Pop is on the floor. Make an ill-advised J as soon as Pop is close to the rim.Not stupid, but an offense can’t be based on that.
I will stick with Hump because… if we have to because he is injured, but we need someone Rasho-like.Parker is ok from the bench.
7) Economics: if CB stay,Marion got resigned we need a good SG badly. The bench must be:
– our draft pick, Kapono & Banks( unless a miracle happen and we get rid of the contracts), Hump, Nate,Ukic and we have I think max 2.5 million left. I don’t see space for POP…, and no $ to take Rasho back
You forgot Jose and the fact that on this team, he is useless. If B-Co can a find a team that wants a $10 million per year point guard who doesn’t play any defense, doesn’t put pressure on the opponent’s defense, defers to his teammates at every possible instance (leading to his ridiculously low usage %), and consequently doesn’t have any positive impact on his team’s performance, BUT who has a sparkling assist/turnover ratio and drop dead gorgeous percentages, I think he probably needs to make that trade.
Brasky, I disagree. In the offensive system that is being implemented, IF we have a ball-handling #2, then Jose would be great.
As is, even though we can all acknowledge he has had a bad season, has a pretty good assist/per game stat, and point production. If he can keep his man in front of him, and he is getting better, AND the Raps work on their pick and roll defence (i.e. 1 above) he will be considered an all-star in all likelihood.
I agree that a creator at the 2 who plays good defense would be a good fit next to Jose, but that is easier said than done with our givin salary situation. Calderon is not going to become a competent defender, nor will he become significantly more aggressive on offense. It’s just not going to happen. He lacks the lateral speed to prevent blow bys, he consistently gives up on the play after the pick and roll, and he just seems generally uninterested on the defensive end. And on offense, he rarely pressure’s the defense to put his opponents in a position to react and make a tough choice. It’s no coincidence our outstanding shooters aren’t getting the same quality looks they were in years past with TJ. Defenses are content letting him pound the dribble for most of the clock and bomb away long twos and threes all night despite the fact he sticks them at a high rate. Because, for one, he rarely shoots, and two, the obvious pass he ends up making towards the end of the clock rarely ends up in an easy score, despite the number of assists he piles up. He makes the defense’s job very easy.