I spoke with Jack Armstrong about the state of the Raptors and the importance of the upcoming draft. We also discussed Jay Triano and he gave his take on NBA intricacies like the overuse of timeouts and the possibility of coach’s challenges being used in the future. We also talked about Bryan Colangelo who he feels needs to be judged soon but not now, and also Chris Bosh who he thinks will not re-sign this summer. Other topics included Bosh’s play in clutch situations, the lack of a leader on the club, an NBA team in Vancouver, Monta Ellis and more. I ended the interview by asking him about the chances of seeing him next to Triano on the bench.
Have a listen by clicking on the play button below. You can also listen directly in iTunes, if you’re on a mobile device you may download the file.
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You can also browse the archive of all RapCasts. Thanks again to Jack for taking the time out to talk to us on his drive home.
21 Raps
Good interview. I’m amazed at how careful these analysts are to not say the wrong thing or what might become the wrong thing down the road. How he asked Arse to name the college players first was a sign that he doesn’t want to cross paths with BC. Imagine him ripping a player and later BC drafting that player? Jack holds his cards close to his chest.
He dropped a gem in this one though: “Players are over-coached and under-taught”. Completely agree with his assessment of late-game situations.
Raptors need a lot more than one slashing SG or SF to turn this team around. They need much more athletic players who can step up and change the game when they are on the floor.
Again, I believe the best strategy for the Raptors is to trade Bosh for several good, athletic players and then rebuild the team over the next several seasons.
As far as reaching the playoffs in the Eastern Conference, there are 5-6 powerhouse teams that the Raptors cannot hope to match for several seasons … only leaving 2-3 openings for playoff status.
The Raptors must rebuild and look to peak in 3-4 seasons … and that’s reality.
Do not present your opinion as a reality. 5-6 powerhouses that the Raptors cannot hope to match? Really? Name each one, and tell me why the Raptors can’t match them. In my opinion, the raptors could go as high as 4-5 (could, not would, but could.). That’s my opinion, that’s not reality, nor will I say that it is. Do you really think that a few good athletic players can help us more than Bosh can? I disagree, that will give us even less of a capable fourth quarter unit. I’m not saying that Bosh can do it alone, but he’s one of the only raptors that has shown that he can occasionally perform in high-pressure situations. Athletic teams tend to break down when things become rough, look at the Atlanta Hawks for example, they never were involved in a close game in the playoffs because they didn’t have any individual talents that were capable of dominating. Chris Bosh can (at times) dominate…at his position. I still don’t see the logic in giving away a force that CAN be dominant for “a few good athletic players.”.
One of the Texas teams will make BC an offer he just can’t refuse … and Bosh will be only to happy to go back to his home state of Texas. Just watch … it’s coming and that’s why Bosh is pretending to be so happy in Toronto … he wants out soooooo baaaadly …!!!!!
Good. he’s the most overrated player in the last 20 years of basketball. Let him go to Dallas and he can continue to loose with Dirk. All he can do is take jumpshots and that’s it
Detroit, Boston, Cleveland, Atlanta, Miami, Milwaukee, Chicago, Orlando, Philadelphia are all better then the Raptors. I agree with FAQ. We need to get rid of Bosh and get many valuable role players in return. Look at Houston. All role players but they are great at what they do.
The Raps need atleast 7-8 new faces for them to contend. Not 1 or 2.
Why I think we can get a top 5 pick.
- We never tanked any of our games. We always had our bets players on the floor at all times when the obvious choice would have been to sit down Bosh and Calderon the remainder of the season. I think Stern will remember that.
- Our winning streak to close out the season. Again, if we were going to tank and get a top pick, we would have lost 6 instead of winning 6.
- The Oneil, Marion, coaching change. Maybe Stern will give us a break and say, hey they went through a lot of turmoil. Through all of that they still competed hard and never tanked any games.
Stern can do that? I thought the balls just popped out with whatever probability they were put in with…
Rose ( hometown Boy ) going to Chicago was no accident.
Toronto getting the #1 pick the year Colangelo came here ( who was persuaded by Stern to Join the Raptors and got the #1 as a thank you gesture.)
The draft is fixed
Same for Lebron, Cleveland getting the Akron boy was written in stone the day LBJ declared for the draft.
Jack sounds like he’s prepared to lose Bosh. We all should be and its not necessarily a bad thing.
The Raptors odds of getting a top three pick are about 6%. They’re a little over 93% likely to get the 9th or 10th pick.
They can’t get picks between #4-#8, their only chance of moving up is into the top three picks.
Also Miami last season and Boston 2 years ago getting the #2 and #5 pick respectively.
because Rose, Wade & Marion combo and making the Heat contenders again with Wade in his prime would be such a horrible idea.
I didn’t say that you idiot. Learn to read.
I believe they were pointing out a flaw in your logic not putting words in your mouth. Learn to comprehend.
What logic? The draft isn’t fixed.
The irony of the situation is that we’d *almost* be better off with the 9th pick than any one of the first 3 picks. If we move up in the draft its for Harden, not for Thabeet, Rubio, Griffen or Jordan (all high risk high reward picks like Bargs). It would force BC’s hand in many ways when it comes to having to trade Bosh or Calderon to make way for the draftee.
Great interview, Arse.
Jack is a funny dude. Got to love his honesty too, even though he keeps himself in check.
One or two decent draft picks will not turn around this defunct Ratpor team … they need a whole slew of athletic veterans to replace the slackers currently on the team and only putting in time to collect their bloated monthly cheques … so obvious.
Can you imagine the desperation of rookie college draft picks trying to function on this Ratpor roster of weirdos … it will be a demotivating experience for these unfortunate saps.
Ship off Bosh now and start the rebuild this summer, because there is no way the Ratpors can challenge the top teams in the Eastern Conference for the next several seasons. Bosh can play for one of the Texas teams with a decent chance to make their playoffs .. and everybody is happy happy happy …. except the thumb-sucking tribal honking fans who are totally besotted with their hero Bosh … so pathetic.
If we dont get to keep Bosh…..whoever gets him better be receiving Banks or Kapono as a gift !!!!
Bosh and Banks for Nowitzki … you heard it here first … Cuban is going psycho now … hates basketball … LOL