Russell Hicks = KrisHumphries-0.9-beta.zipNews is thin these days. Once our lottery position is known on May 19th things should pick up as the Raptors and the ever vague Jim Kelly will begin working people out. We have an 81% chance of selecting 9th and a 1.7%, 2.0%, and 2.4% chance of getting the 1st, 2nd and 3rd picks, respectively. In the meanwhile, the Raptors have offered Russel Hicks a workout. This quote-filled article puts it rather bluntly: his chances of being drafted anywhere are low. If we like him enough he could be a summer-league body and if we like him even more he’d get an invite to training camp. And if we like him even more we’ll hand him a 4-yr deal at 6M per. Hicks, I should say, is a Canadian which I think has something to do with him getting an early call. He’ll fly into Toronto on Sunday night, work out with the Raptors on Monday and then fly back on Tuesday morning.
Here’s what his fellow Niagra native Jay Triano had to say about him:
When I was coaching the national team we had him on the radar as far as a young player that was going to be pretty good, but my focus has been on the NBA over the last little bit…Geography, nationality, everything is out of it. The bottom line is you need to win games.
Yes, win games. Russel Hicks FTW.
This draft is bugging me a little, I’m positive that we’ll actually use the pick this time but then again I thought that last year. Some mock drafts are having us select Ty Lawson while others are hinting at Gerald Henderson. I think this is also reflective of the divide that exists in the fan base: draft a needed wing to replace Parker or sure up the backup PG spot which proved to be our Achilles heel last year. I’m leaning towards getting a wing because we need to get more athletic and fast than we need another project at PG. The PG is the hardest position to learn in the NBA and drafting a project and living through his mistakes isn’t the way to go about winning next year, which I assume is mandatory if we want to retain Bosh.
Unlike drafting a PG, drafting an athletic shooting guard is a safer bet because he doesn’t have the ball in his hands on every possession and the team isn’t dependent on him for supply. If we think back to Mo Pete’s rookie year we saw a player moving without the ball, running the break, hitting the glass and being effective while playing pressure-free basketball. That sounds a lot like the type of player we need except it’d be nice to have a higher offensive ceiling than Mo. Not to mention that we’ve already invested a year in Roko and to pull the plug on him would be a tad bit harsh. If we gave Bargnani three years, Roko at least deserves two, no?
Consider this too. If we’re serious about playing up-tempo ball, don’t we want players that can actually play up-tempo ball? The talk is that we’ll be bringing back Carlos Delfino and he’s not exactly Mr. Break, even though he’ll improve the ball-handling his tendency is still to slow it down and navigate rather than push full speed ahead. I don’t recall him filling the flanks in his lone season in Toronto and with Joey Graham likely departing and Parker a year older (if he even comes back), we need somebody to complement Marion on the break. That somebody is a wing who should come from the draft. Now I understand the need for a third ball handler in addition to Delfino but those combo-guards/tweeners aren’t terribly difficult to find and let us not forget that we have Marcus Banks warming the pine. How many PGs do we need?
If you read this blog often you know what I think of the C**tics and transitively speaking, of Kevin Garnett. I did not like his antics against Jose Calderon and this article takes a closer approach towards who exactly Garnett has pulled similar stunts against. Here’s the list: Zaza Pachulia, Jose Calderon, Marco Belinelli, Matt Bonner, Rick Rickert, Andrew Bogut, Wally Szczcerbiak and Rasho Nesterovic. The pieces is considering calling Garnett a racist. I don’t know enough about Garnett to label him with that term but I can say this: He picks and chooses who he wants to show-up and intimidate and let me tell you something, it’s never a tough guy. Also, every time the camera has focused on him in the playoffs this year he’s always swearing, making stupid gestures or exaggerated fake emotional expressions. The guy is a &*^%.
In other news, Chris Bosh won back chrisbosh.com.
38 Raps
I think the SG spot needs to be dealt with the draft pick (for the future) and forget shoring up the PG backup position. We keep saying we’re only pieces away from contending, but it doesn’t look like a sure thing (if it ever was) and we’re counting on a lot of things to go right for that to happen.
Draft for the future, BC.
May I ask, who is the “we” you’re referring to? Is it the Raptors organization and Bryan Colangelo in particular, or is it the majority of the Raptors fan base?
I’m just curious … Does the majority of the Raptors fan base believe this team is only a few pieces away from contending?
maybe he means contending for an 8th seed?
NBA teams with a few good pieces are always in contention… look at the pre-KG Celtics…
Side note – if KG was in Toronto we would love him. This city loves intensity & effort. Jose’s problem was that noone made KG pay (did JO play that game? shouldn’t he have stepped up?).
No he didn’t play, and no one said anything or did anything.
I think if you managed to get a random sample of Toronto raptors fans, the majority would say a few pieces from contending, yes.
Wow, okay, I’m surprised by that.
Arsenalist, if you’re looking for some ideas, I think that would make a great poll — how far away are the Raps from contending for a title? — I think those results would be very interesting. Or perhaps an article, because the comments to that question could be great.
Thanks Dave, I’ll keep that in mind next time.
Why are you surprised? Do you think the people who read this site are your average fan? I don’t know how many unique hits this place gets, but I would bet that more people in Toronto just watch games on tv, hear about Bosh being an all-star olympic medalist blah blah, Calderon’s amazing A:TO ratio, Marion’s defensive prowess and Bargnani’s hot shooting and think that we just need a special SG. It’s not hard to see where that is coming from, is it?
Dave,
IMO, before last off-season the team was actually just a few moves away from becoming a legitimate contender in the EC.
Given what’s transpired here since then, however, what you see is the unfortunate state of affairs in Raptorland whereby the team has, in fact, gone backwards … relative to the other competitors in the East, and across the league, in general … while many of its fans still think that the opposite is true.
Interesting?
Yeah, that’s one way to describe it.
We are a few BIG-ASS pieces and a WHOLE Competent Coaching system away from contending actually.
okay before anyone jumps on a bandwagon, i’d just like to give my 2 cents.. I AM WHITE; RAPTORS DONT NEED A WHITE PLAYER. lol Do we not need another Scoring Option that can CREATE for himself and for others? like i know this guy is good and has potential..but i just dont see this man attacking the rim and dribbling through the lane with cross overs and getting to the lane 200 PLUS times a year.. lol I mean like how many WHITE players are capable of doing so? ITS BEST FOR THIS TEAM we get a BLACK GUY WHO CAN GET THE JOB DONE..not being racsist folks.. i just hate seeing us get white players to give us an EDGE time after fuckin TIME.
and BEN GORDON to toronto is a bad move..he has troubles creating and getting to the line even tho he can shoot lights out..if he was 6′5 or above and attacked the rim with more force more often..then it wud be a diffwerent story
I can agree for the most part but it’s a tad over-simplified, no?
Bring in Rodney Carney & Gerald Green or Antwan Wright… get a backup center/powerforward like Joel Anthony and we should be set.. Get Kapono OUTTA here..bring in BRIAN CARDINAL or SCOTT PADGET..high I.Q, great locker room guys, love to help the youth, and can shoot lights out..and play HARDER DEFENSE then your loverboy Kapono. OH and did i add..CHEAPER then Kapono?
I think we need Demar Derozan who will be perfect for an up and down style. . . My second pick will have to be between tyreke evans or James Harden even though i think harden might be a bit undersized. Remember we need tall atheletic men who can not only play big on offence but on defence. You gotta get guys who can guard lebron and kobe types. . . they’ll blow by harden
I agree with DeMar DeRozan however there is a big disadvantage in 3PT shots. Assuming that Calderon, DeRozan, Marion, Bosh, Bargs are staters, we don’t have any 3PT shooters except for Calderon and Bargs, and lets face it we need a good 3PT shooter and slasher. Strengths – good slasher, athletic, good transition game, one of better perimiter defender in the draft, and leeping ability. Weaknesses – 3PT shot and Create his own shot. My secondary choices would be Gerald Henderson & Tyryeke Evans.
As far as drafting PG, I don’t think we need PG if we’re resigning Parker and Delfino. They both can run the offence and they can keep their man infront *cough* Calderon *cough* and hopefuly Roko can improve his game on offence (passing, shooting, driving strong to the basket and dribbling)
DeRozan, Evans, Henderson in that order and trade Curry if he falls to us. None of those guys puts us into contention on their own. Not even close.
I can’t believe Messy mentioned Ambercrombe and Fitch in that article. Brought back some funny memories. I would label anyone either, but that has crossed my mind from time to time.
I agree that Garnett is a c*$t. I don’t know if he is a racist, but he definitely is a bully and picks who he perceives are the weaker. He’s a bully and a giant dickhead, I can say that for sure. Try running up the court waving a finger in Ron Ron’s face. Try punching Rasheed Wallace.
Colangelo says we need to get tougher…a hard nosed bigman would make a lot of our problems with Garnett go away. Lets see what happens in the offseason.
we need to hire cito gaston.
AGREED!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
This is what happens when your hired by a Pension group who looks to maximize profits before winning.
Was it necessary to hire Colangelo when Kevin Pritchard and Sam Presti were looking for Jobs?
Coaches available – Stan Van Gundy, Rick Adelman, Cartlile from the Mavs.
Kapono over Pietrius, James Posey, Eddie House. House shoots 3’s much better as well as mentally ans physically tough.
How is Orlando competing with Boston without their starting PG and now Alston suspended for one game? Jay Triano would have the Magic miss the playoffs to begin with.
Why are we signign all these garbage soft, Canadian players? Give me some Denver Nuggets thugs that can ball not some pansy ass church boy
draft Curry and then:
Trade Calderon for Iverson (pistons sign and trade)
Resign Marion,
Resign for very cheap take it or leave it offers to Delfino,Parker, Joey
Sign Rasho or Maglore or Pops (prefer Rasho)
Curry
A.I
Marion
Bosh
Andrea
That’s a sick starting 5 on paper…Would it gel? Iverson would have to play team ball, I actually think he will after Detriot call me crazy.
other rotation players
Parker
Delfino
Hump
Rasho
Joey
Overpaid 3 PT specalist:
Kapono
Possible projects:
Obryant/Jawai/Ukic/Pops
100 % useless and expensive
Banks
We would have to score 100 + to win but maybe we could be Dallas of a few years ago shit D crazy O and 50+ wins and exciting b-ball.
Sign me up…
i think chris wilcox (free agent) should be a priority for the raps this offseason…or a player like him, we can get some rebounding depth for cheap. plus hes not soft
Andre miller sg + free agent is also availiable–thats a possibility too even if we draft a SG we could use some more depth hes pretty a under rated player
Ben gordon is gangster, he can put up 40 in your face with no regard for human decency(he can also play PG)…one of the most under rated players in the association, BUT hes exspensive,and he takes a lot of shots= less touches for Bosh&Bargnani
trade senarios are hard to theorize…there fun but theres a lot of woulda coulda shoudas.
this offseason is huge, i wonder what will happen
You still want Iverson? Really?
no fuck iverson, hes done
iverson is garbage. his style of play is crapping out with his age.
Arsenalist, I am saddened that you linked to that bullshit article. It looks exactly like historical revisionism to me.
Are we sure the author wasn’t David Irving?
Kevin Garnett is a dick, plain and simple. Not a racist
I’m disappointed that I disappointed you. Summertime is slow and I hate the C**tics more than you can imagine. Multiply that by a 1000 and that’s how much I hate Garnett.
I love the Celtics and I love Kevin Garnett. He’s a great teammate and that is all that matters. Kind of like Ron Artest and not at all like Kobe Bryant.
The Raps need more great teammates. “Foxhole guys” as Barkley likes to call them.
I do like Garnette. This is the guy who has shut down Bosh( RuPaul)his entire career. Great defensive player, post player, leader and actually won a ring.
Replace him with Bosh years earlier and we become a great defensive team and a contender.
With Bosh, expect more 22 -60 seasons in the future. The guy is too busy suing websites that advertise his name instead of working on his game
Career Loser to the fullest extent.
Is Bosh as good as Garnett? No. Does he need to be for the raps to contend? No. But if Bosh is an A1-class star and not an A-class star, Bargnani needs to become an A1-class star too (and to be a more complete player), Jose needs to get better, someone like Marion needs to stay and the 2-spot needs to be filled by another A1 or future A1. The team is still young enough to peak in 2-3 years, if it could be kept together and built upon. I think Bargnani will establish himself as the #1 option on offence this year and triano’s success should be defined by what he does to make bosh into a better defender.
preach brother preach!
this is what we do; we draft derozan and pray to god he doesn’t end up like gerald green, even though his windmills are fucking nasty….anyways, we then buy the 20th pick and get jrue holiday or terrence williams, in order to shore up our future at the backup pointguard spot,
problem is i love roko, but it won’t hurt to have some competition at that spot.
we then sign the fucking birdman at the midlevel exemption, denver can’t afford him, he makes $700,000 this year.
AB, CB4, Marion, Delfino, Caldy
Derozan, Parker, Kapono, Holiday or Williams, Fucking Birdman, Pops!, Hump Dawg, Roko.
Agree, but Williams isn’t a PG. http://www.draftexpress.com/profile/Terrence-Williams-507/ I like Jeff Teague if he drops to 20 as a risk/reward guy.
give Birdman a Midlevel?? 5 mill per to chill out @ Betty Ford? wow