Even a half-french-half-nelson can’t stop CB4.It’s been a minute, but I’m back. Sadly, not a whole lot changed while I was gone.. The fortunes of this team have remained the same. Regardless of how we got here, the fact of the matter is that this team is worse off right now then when BryCo took over. That’s all I’m going to say (you forgot how I ramble didn’t you?). Whatever, it’s done. Team sucks, we understand, moving on…
To call this season a disappointment would be an understatement of epic proportions. Not because BC claimed it was the most talented team he has assembled in Toronto, but because of the inroads we were making over the last few years:
2005-2006 – The BryCo saga begins – 27-55
2006-2007 – First year of an era – 47-35
2007-2008 – The Horford raped us year – 41-41
2008-2009 – The most talented team on paper year – 32-50 or 33-49
THE SPECTER OF A 50 LOSS SEASON IS STILL AT HAND
You bet your azz. Is this team better or worse off then when BryCo took over the reigns? I’m just putting it out there, but I have to ask.
It looks like the Bulls have something to be playing for tonight. They are a game out of 5th and if they can win, and Miami loses to Detroit, they can sneak into 5th and face the Hawks in the 1st round, which is the best 1st round match-up for them, IMHO. Don’t get me wrong, I think the Hawks are a better team, but they are missing Childress and Marvin Williams is injured…could be a sleeper situation for Da Bulls.
Also, the Bulls have the added motivation of avenging that thrilling loss back in April in OT. You remember that one, Parker splits a pair of free throws that could clinch the game, Ben Gordon comes back down and pops a jumper in Bosh’s eye to tie it up at the buzzer? Fortunately, Bosh/Bargnani/Marion stepped up to steal back a game after a furious comeback by the Bulls. Twas an exciting game, Arsenalist even put aside his Twit-stalking of @taylorswift13 to curse out Parker then anoint Bargnani as the future.
Your milkshake would bring me to the yard.The Raptors on the other hand have nothing to play for, but they have a knack of winning when the games don’t mean anything and has actually cost them draft position. Was I the only one who thought it super classy of Bosh to come out and do Colangelo’s job for him on Sunday? Taking it on the chin for the team? This is the guy you don’t want to resign to a max contract? This isn’t a leader? Sure he isn’t an offensive first choice, but the guy is elite. Short of trading him for Roy, Paul, Kobe, Lebron, Wade, Carmelo, Dwight, or Joe Johnson, they wont even come close to good value and the Raptors become the laughing stock of the league and never ever get out of the first round for the foreseeable future. Don’t worry Chris, I still love ya. You piss me off from time-to-time, but you’re the man.
Why am I making such a big deal of this now, with a game to go before the playoffs? It is easy: the Raptors are a game away from 50 losses, and Bosh is the only player on this team who can make sure that doesn’t happen. Simple. We need Bosh to avoid 50 losses as much as we need him to retire a Raptor.
Our cheerleader of the day is Shannon, currently Miss. Illinois. I actually don’t have anything witty to say about her because not only is she beautiful, she is educated (Masters from Depaul), ambitious (ideal job is as an educational advocate traveling the world speaking on the improvement of education) AND seems like that kind of girl that all your buddies secretly pine for, and get all ’school-girly & giggly” when she’s around. Still, the dirty things I would do to you. If you are reading this, hit me on twitter, @rapsfan, and we can make some arrangements to hook up, I’ll be in Chicago early May, could be magical…
Injuries
Raptors – who cares
Bulls – who cares
What the Raptors Will Have to do to Avoid 50 Losses
Bargnani – Keep Noah away from the rim, if nothing else.
Bosh – Keep doing what you do.
Calderon – Push the ball and look for Marion on the break.
Marion – 20/15.
Parker – Hit your flippin free throws.
Prediction
It was a truly disappointing season, but Bosh will send us into the summer with less of a sour taste in our mouths (until the shiznak hits the fan as soon as the playoffs are over and LeBron is holding that trophy). Raptors by 6.
Follow Us.
Feed It.
We still don’t care for pirates.
It was my pleasure talking with y’all this season.
51 Raps
“Injuries
Raptors – who cares
Bulls – who cares”
LOL holy crap that got me laughing, it just caught me off guard, very honest input.
Well, we can’t get any worse in the draft (locked up the 9th pick pretty well?) I take that back. If we lose tomorrow and the Knicks win, we get the 8th pick because we have an equal record, split the season series, but because of embarassing blowouts, they have the lead in point differential (that IS how it works right?) So GO KNICKS!
hum, it looks like they just do random draws… anyway, if they win and we lose we get a chance at 8th at least. GO KNICKS!
“The result of the coin flip is also used to determine who receives the earlier pick in the event that neither of the tied teams wins one of the first three picks via the lottery.”
Got that from Wikipedia, so its 50-50 on who gets the better pick if wiki is to be believed
Also: “In the event that teams finish with the same record, each tied team receives the average of the total number of combinations for the positions that they occupy” – according to that same wiki page
so if raps tied for the 8th pick they would have 2.25% chance of getting the first pick. And while I’m at it: second pick – 2.65%, and third pick – 3.15%
Probably should be noted, Miami has tie-break over Chicago of of its 3-1 record vs them, so Bulls cannot pass Miami.
Doesn’t really matter though, as the Bulls can’t afford to lose, because if they do, the Sixers can pass them in standings, as they play a Cavs team that has nothing to play for, so theres a good chance they’ll win. And if they win and Chicago loses to the Raps, then they both have the same record, but Philly would have the better conference record and play Orlando as opposed to Boston.
Cavs will crush phili just because of that 1 home loss in a season record.
Pretty sure its in Philly
Nevermind, its in Cleveland, but Cavs are gonna sit James, Williams, Zydrunas, and Joe Smith
They can sit Lebron, Mo williams and the Raps still would not beat them in a playoff series. And that is not hyperbole.
That’s hyperbole.
“the fact of the matter is that this team is worse off right now then when BryCo took over” – actually this is no where near a fact… this is completely your opinion. Raps may not be in a better position than the 2006/07 season… but they are light years ahead of the 2005/06 season.
“Was I the only one who thought it super classy of Bosh to come out and do Colangelo’s job for him on Sunday?”
-it may have been classy but it is nothing unique… (I wish he would have done this half way through the season and apologized for what has been happening… but thats just my opinion). Player’s throughout the league do this… actually player’s do this alot more than execs. It has always seemed to me that this has become much more of the players duty in Toronto than the GMs. Bosh has done this nearly every year (for the last few years)…. it was Antonio Davis who started the trend in Toronto. (and pops was the first player this year to thank the fans for coming out and supporting the team… mind you it was after a game)
AD?? You are kidding, right? Glen Grunwald started it and was followed by Alvin Williams and Vince Carter.
Grunwald had the balls to come out, face a pissed off fanbase, and apologized. Colangelo should have done the same if he wanted to show people he cared.
Note he also cancelled the tradition of getting season ticket holders together and having a meet and greet. Now you have to “win” the honour. Deplorable.
people work in mysterious ways…maybe BC goes home and cries himself to sleep because we didn’t make the playoffs. I can only dream.
Yes Grunwald did do it… but how many other execs did? (and I will say that I was always disappointed that the Raps never kept Grunwald, he did a fantastic job and got screwed by Vince)
Not saying other players didn’t come out and talk. But AD came out and called out his team and himself, apologized to the fans and made us a promise. (Paraphrasing here) “we are sorry for this season… but we will get you to the playoffs!” Guess what happened after that…. 12 of 13 wins… raps make the playoffs.
that was a great run. AD put the team on his back and willed them into the playoffs.
I agree that it’s the players who usually come out with those messages to the fans hardcore, but BC owes us more then his silence for what he did ( or didn’t do) this season.
Raps Fan – and that is fair… him speaking to the fans publically is not an unreasonable request.
My issue is that there are so many people on the verge of calling for his head (BC’s) or are atleast putting the responsibility of this season all on his shoulders… and I think that is more than a little unfair. Everyone in this organization needs to take responsibility…. there was no one move, no one event that led to this. Rather there was a combination of multiple events that have resulted in this years ‘debacle’. Injuries (past and current), attitudes, gambles (on court and offcourt), choices (by players, coaches and execs),media attention and fans expectations all led to the Raps poor season.
Before BC got here…this team was a hole. Fans had nothing to be excited about there was little interest in the team (outside of the die-hard fans). After a single off-season BC gave us more than any could have hoped for. Even with the steps backwards over the past two years… we as fans still have one thing. Expectations. That is something we did not have prior to BC. That alone says something about what BC was able to do.
i totally agree man. the o’neal trade on its own wasn’t the solution, more needed to be done, and bc didn’t do it. i screamed at this since the summer. trading for o’neal and sitting pat was like if the celtics traded for allen and never made the move for garnett.
what i don’t agree with is that bc is paid $4mill a year to plan a contingency. you know, like what would happen if o’neal sucks or got injured (like he does and did). the expectations you talk about were manufactured by bc. most of us knew the trade wouldn’t work out, but saying the best team ever assembled…come on man. that’s not leadership. that’s all i’m saying here.
http://www.torontosun.com/sports/basketball/2009/04/15/9115281-sun.html
Only in the pathetic sports market that is Toronto will an article like this be printed. Nothing against Triano but no coach “deserves” anything after a season like that.
“What Colangelo has to do is bring in a veteran big who won’t ask for touches. Rasho Nesterovic is a free agent this summer. ”
The irony.
absolutely ironic and disgusting. triano has earned a head coaching job as much as BC has earned executive of the year.
the exact reason i never read the sun. it’s all crap (except for the sunshine girl).
at least the rest of the papers have flashes of good sports journalism.
I do like this quote on the state of the roster:
“…a flawed roster that is thin on talent, inexperienced, soft, lacking in basketball I.Q. and generally ill equipped to win on a consistent basis”.
Can’t say he pulled any punches with that statement.
As moronic as many of BCo’s moves in the past couple of years have been at least wh have cap space in what should most definitely be a buyer’s market this off-season. Hopefully he can get some decently priced free agent signings and get some good young players in trades with teams looking to dump salary…If he succeeds in that the Raps future could be reasonably bright, but if he fails this off season I think the Raps will be doomed for years…
I’d like to add to Sweet River Baines’ comment
“Triano has handled quite nicely the many challenges he inherited and the inherent problems of dealing with a flawed roster that is thin on talent, inexperienced, soft, lacking in basketball I.Q. and generally ill equipped to win on a consistent basis.
Triano has shown that he can coach at the NBA level and that he should be named full-time head coach.”
The author doesn’t even explain how Triano handles “quite nicely the many challenges he inherited”. With 49 Losses?!? The article has too many non sequiturs
Absolutely ridiculous, but not surprising coming from Toronto media, and Zicarelli who knows very little about what’s required in basketball.
Triano is a real nice guy, and is a moderately acceptable coach, and likely a good Canadian university coach, but nowhere near a really good NBA coach. In addition to his drawbacks in play making, defense and strategy, he is nowhere near tough enough. He especially cannot tell Bosh what to do after this organization has made Bosh a MVP star in his own mind. Triano has continued to let Bosh think it’s his team, and he gets to do whatever he wants whenever he wants.
This team in addition to a rebuild needs a new strategic, tough coach like Messina.
Yeah, well, it’s Zicarelli.
The guy doesn’t even know what a paragraph is.
In my opinion, someone has been working the media on this whole rehiring of Triano thing.
I haven’t seen one single writer so far say unequivocally that he should be fired.
That’s unreal for someone with a 25-41 record no matter what excuses exist.
It’s a pro-Canadian bias. We all want the first Canadian head coach in the NBA to be a success, whether he is up to the task or not.
What I find most interesting about this article was:
“Give Triano complete autonomy to… to dole out minutes, to criticize players when necessary, to help change a culture that is mentally soft.” Isn’t this, in part, Triano’s responsibility as a head coach whether intern or not? Shouldn’t Triano be doing this anyways if he wants to keep his job as head coach? I’m torn on the Triano issue myself, but don’t good coaches take the reigns whether or not they have been offered?
LOL you would think…
Raps Fan – (I’m not going to justify the JO trade… because it obviously sucked. That is apparent.) I’m just curious what other pieces BC would have been able to add to go along with JO? Who else could he have moved? Its easy to say that more needed to be done… but the reality of trading, adding and eliminating players is much more complex. Bosh wasn’t going. Jose wasn’t going. Jamario (at that point in time) wasn’t going. I don’t think there was much left that could have attracted much…. and no $ for FAs (not to mention attracting FAs to Toronto is like pulling teeth from a crocodile).
I also wanted to mention that you slightly misquoted BC. He said this was the best RAPTORS TEAM HE HAD ON PAPER…. much different than “the best team ever assembled”.
Smitch got it right just before the NBA regular season started when he came out with this bombshell to the media … “This team may not be athletic, but it is basketball-wise!!!”
Now if that wasn’t an admission of pending disaster, I don’t know what is …!!!!
what was more telling was how he was riding calderon/parker/bosh for 40min a game and they were only 8-9 when he got the axe.
Smitch knew his days as the Rap’s coach were numbered before the start of the regular season … and he played Bosh and Jose 40+ minutes to rack up as many wins as he could for his coaching record … plain and simple.
I stated this at the start of the season, that you just can’t add 5 new players at the start of the season to the Raptor roster and expect the team to suddenly jell and be a playoff contender … particularly with the low level talent of those new players. No doubt Smitch gave BC his brutal assessment of the team and it’s prospects in light of the improved Eastern Conference .. and that wasn’t what BC wanted to hear … bye bye Smitch .. so obvious.
If any team deserves to be blown up, it’s the current Raptors … wotta mess ….!!!!!
from Bill Simmons’ column
“37. Chris Bosh
From my 2005 Trade Value column: “The runaway winner of the 2005 Shareef Abdur-Rahim Award, given annually to a tantalizing young star on a losing team who everyone assumes will keep getting better and better, when the reality is that he’s close to hitting his ceiling already, and his numbers look so good mainly because he was playing 35-40 minutes a game on a bad team. Remember I told you this when Bosh is making $15 million a year on a 22-win Toronto team five years from now, and he’s the subject of 370 trade rumors before the 2009 draft.” Just call me Nostrasimbo.”
lolerz
Best comment and certainly Rap of the Day! How prophetic.
maybe we should call it the Kevin Garnett award.
ya, KG, he sucks.
B.S.
Yea he only anchored a championship team. Idiot.
Excellent lol
Most overrated player in the NBA in my opinion along with Carlos Boozer.
Dear BC,
Extend Bosh to whatever he wants – he cant be replaced and trading him for prospects will give you $0.50 on the dollar. Hopefully he shows class and takes 15ish per year.
Extend Bargs – do it before he commands big bucks. Hopefully he’ll take 10ish per year.
Resign Marion and Parker – Marion for 6-8 per would be best and parker (6th man) for 3/per and since both are on the decline make sure to keep the contracts relatively short.
Sign the best ballhandling SG that you can get for the mid-level to push Parker out of the starting spot.
Buy as many late first and early 2nd rounders you can get your hands on – preferably 3+.
yea, what edgar said…rotd.
I will admit that this year has been the worst ever, but I will not agree that the team is worse off then when BC started. Players have developed and gotten better(Bosh, Calderon, Bargnani), the team has closed out the season strong, the salary cap and signing money is in the Raps favour. I will agree that there are still some unseen hiccups to come, but you gotta be crazy if you think this Raptors team now is worse than the one BC inherited. This year is a wash and at around 10pm tonight it will be officially over. Lets learn the lessons of this year and move forward. I for one believe that this team has a bright future next year, the same expectations that we had for this year. You gotta believe, if you just dog the team all the time, of course they will always suck in your eyes.
Look at the Jays right now. What was everyone saying about the year they are gonna have? That they are an afterthought after the big 3 in their division. Well true Jay fans probably saw the potential in the team, even after that dismal offensive performance last year. So far the Jays lead the MLB in runs scored. Do you think maybe they learned somethings from last year’s woes. I think the Raptors have learned some lessons this year also.
Forgive me for using another NBA city’s name, but I could see the Toronto Raptors 2009/2010 edition rising from this year’s ashes, once again taking the league by surprise and storming the playoffs. The pieces are still there and with some quality additions this team could do quite well.
In the end we are just armchair quarterbacks who don’t have to make the decisions and take the responsibility for it. We have no risk in criticizing those that do. BC isn’t perfect, but ask yourself who would you want in that job otherwise that a) would be available and b) would want to come here?
If you have a plausible answer to this then lets talk…
Colangelo is/was an absolute disaster. Not one good move since since his time here.
Marion will not resign with us. So we traded Rasho, TJ, Hibbert, Moon, and 2 draft picks for Marcus Banks? Why can’t a reporter mention this to him?
Brandon Roy is leading his team to what looks like a deep playoff run. Our Superstar is leading us to the worst team in the L. Roy was the most NBA ready player. How can people say he wouldn’t amount to much? We have a soft Italian Jumpshooter.
Calderon is a “BACKUP”. You do not give Backups 40 mill dollar contracts. Give me Rondo, Mo Will, Rose, Stuckey, Jameer etc.
This clown in the Vince Russo of the NBA. But for the wrestling fans, when Russo went to WCW to be the man the company went bankrupt in 9 months.
For the guys who want Marion resigned here’s some bad news
http://www.realgm.com/src_wiretap_archives/58561/20090415/marion_wants_to_play_for_winner/
Which basically means, Toronto has no chance of resigning me next year. With an attidute like that, I could see Marion riding off into a SA or a Cleveland sunset.
That may have been the most pointless newscap I have ever seen
I see Brandon Roy destroying these elite teams and shutting down Kobe twice. While Bosh cannot beat one single good team on the road and can only dominate Washington LOL It’s just so laughable how bad this Franchise is to to bottom.
I agree
Bosh has had sufficient talent to work with and connot get the job done.
Ford, Calderon, Garbo, Bargnani, Carter, Marion, Oneil, Rasho,
If you cannot make the second round with that then don’t ever call yourself a franchise player. Ever.Those are competent players.
heck Darrick Rose and Mario Chalmers are leading their teams to the playoffs. Bosh your a 3rd option player,deal with it.
The Raptors will deel with it, and Bosh will make a lot of money somewhere.
All of these guys, outside of Carter, are bordering on role players. Ford is the next closest thing on that list to a high impact play maker. The rest are basically system players. Bosh is not Lebron. He won’t lead them to the promise land alone. He needs more than a team full of good system players. Like Khandor mentioned, I’d be dangling Bargnani, whose value has never been higher and who isn’t a great fit next to Bosh and Marion.
Cleveland. Lebron and Mo and then you get a huge dropoff.
orlando is missing their starting pg and have no sg. They are doing well
New orleans – It’s chris paul, david west and then role players.
Miami – Wade and Beasley and then role players.
Bosh is cant even lead us too a playoff spot. Should be get him a superstar for every position on our team then? he’s a joke and the sole reason why we are not a contender today
“Darrick Rose and Mario Chalmers are leading their teams to the playoffs”
-Mario Chalmers lol….. forgot a little known player named D-Wade on that team? Mario Chalmers…. hahaha
It says here they are 1 for 1 on their latest deels, whether Marion signs or not. Season is a wash. No idea what be in store, like most teams who didn’t make playoffs, some will next year.
Bosh sounded pretty positive in the post-game, just sayin’. And it didn’t look like he was being fake about it.
FACT: Money never stops talking. (Money also screams during recessions).
Raps Fan,
re: 2005-2006 vs 2008-2009
These are the rosters which finished these two seasons:
2005-2006, 27-55/.329
James, Peterson, Graham, Villanueva, Bosh,
Calderon, Bonner, Woods
Barrett, Martin, Al-Williams, E-Williams, Araujo, Sow
2006 No. 1 [overall] Draft Pick
2006 No. 35 [overall] Draft Pick
2008-2009, 33-49/.402
Calderon, Parker, Marion, Bosh, Bargnani
Ukic, Kapono, Graham, Mensah-Bonsu
Banks, Douby, Humphries, Jawai, Voskuhl, O’Bryant
2009 No. 9 [overall] Draft Pick
The only real benefit accrued since then is tied to the way the ping pong balls fell in the Raptors favour during the 2006 NBA Draft.
If you remove that No. 1 [overall] Draft Pick, I agree with you … there is very little to choose between these two rosters. What made the 2005-2006 season relatively easy to endure was the presence of that HIGH draft pick waiting to arrive in June and the Salary Cap space opened up by the Jalen Rose trade … to go with the solid core of young players in the stable at that time, i.e. Chris Bosh, Jose Calderon, Charlie Villanueva and Joey Graham, plus two useful vets like Mike James and Morris Peterson.
What’s transpired since then, given the lack of Quality Depth on the roster, and the absence of viable contingency plans needed to cope with the inevitable injuries sustained by all teams in the NBA, is extremely disappointing to see … and a waste of the opportunity which presented itself back then.