Another question is do Americans want to sign in Canada? No they do not. It hurts the Raptors that they are in another country. A good example of this is Steve Francis in the 1999 NBA draft, in tears after hearing he was drafted by the Vancouver Grizzlies. He demanded a trade and never played for the Grizzlies. And the Vancouver Grizzlies folded and moved to Memphis. What I mean is most Americans think Canada is a joke, even though its actually a great country. But no way Lebron James(the best player in the world) signs with the Toronto Raptors!!! Its CANADA!!! Nike would never allow it. I mean imagine Michael Jordan signing with the Toronto Raptors, back in the day. That would be crazy!!! Or course it matters a lot if the team actually wins or not.
Nothing substantial to report on the free agent front, unless you think Rasho Nesterovic going to the Raptors is the move that puts T-Dot over the top. Is there a more anonymous dude in the League? This should tell you something: Rasho played for the Pacers all of last season, and yet his profile pic on NBA.com was still one from his last stint in Toronto …
The Raps haven’t been penny-pinching much either. After smuggling SF Hedo Turkoglu out of Portland in a burlap sack full of gold doubloons, they signed C Andrea Bargnani to a five-year, $50 million contract.
It didn’t stop there, as the Raps then decided to outbid the Indiana Pacers by luring in PG Jarrett Jack with $20 million over four years.
Now that’s what I call impoverished. Did Bryan Colangelo perform an Ocean’s Eleven-style heist to pay for these players? Should I call Vegas and tell them I know who robbed the Bellagio?
The Raps and Leafs have two things in common: They’re both owned by Maple Leaf Sports & Entertainment, and they both really sucked last year.
Nesterovic is the perfect second unit big man — he doesn’t demand the ball on offense but can step up and hit the open shot when necessary, plus rebounds and plays strong enough D. In short, you certainly don’t lose anything with him on the court, especially with other big men on the floor looking to score (Bosh and Bargnani). Also, it’s always good to bring in guys that want to be here — even after the trade to the Pacers, Nesterovic kept his place in Toronto and made no secret of where he wanted to play.
Rasho will never be an offensive juggernaut, but his one-on-one defense is something the Raptors sorely lacked since O’Neal was traded away to Miami for Marion. Where Rasho struggles is obviously in mobility. He doesn’t have quick feet and is very slow to rotate as a help defender. I’ve heard that he’s lost a step since last time he played here, so it’s going to be imperative for the Raptor bigs to do their job and not let their man continually blow by them to the hoop. Bargnani has improved slightly in this area in the last year (still a ways to go), and I still think Bosh really needs to focus on his defense to become a really solid force down low.
Sorry to burst the bubble of some Raptor fans, but this pretty deal much kills any chance of the team resigning fan favourite Pops Mensah-Bonsu. The team has one roster spot remaining but that will like be used on a wing player such as Carlos Delfino or Linas Kleiza. With Nesterovic now back in the mix he will be the backup centre behind Andrea Bargnani and along with that duo, Chris Bosh, Reggie Evans and, gulp, Patrick O’Bryant, the Raptors are now set in the front court.
He was recently offered an extension worth 50 mln over 10 years. It might me an amazing deal or ‘what the fuck’ deal, depending on Il Mago himself – he will have to take into consideration if he wants to regress or shoot the lights out on pick-and-rolls with Hedo Turkoglu. I think he’s gonna continue the progress – he seems to have gained a little more self confidence in the second half of previous season.
Although I’m sure many have noticed it, it has received fairly little publicity and appreciation. What I’m referring to is the fact that this offseason is highlighted by moves of players who WANT to come to Toronto. Unheard of 5 years ago, hell even just 5 months ago. Highlighted by an uncharacteristic burning of Portland, Hedo has definitely helped foster an atmosphere amongst the NBA where players want to come to join the Raps. Preceding this comes the rookie signing of DD, who seems to have been genuinely looking forward to joining the Raptors. Yes it’s a rookie signing and he had no choice but still, he seems sincere in his appreciation. Couple this with Jack agreeing to sign an offer sheet with Toronto as a primary backup (which is generally unheard of for previous starters) and we’re now looking at a franchise that I dare say seems credible.
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34 Raps
When Dwayne Wade signs a max contract next season he will be 29, almost the same age as Hedo! He also relies on his athleticism alot more then Hedo. but we never hear any these so called experts talk about this. C’mon experts if Hedo is to old for 5 years 53 mill. Why isn’t D Wade going to be to old to get near 20 million per season in 4-5 years???
Same things gonna happen with Roy. Only advantage wade has is that he bascially got a whole year off not playing basketball when the heat were tanking, and just becase he’s getting old, he’ll still get all the calls :)
Please do not ever compare Wade and Turkoglu
If Raps get Delfino and they dont win at least 45 games this season, their is something seriously wrong. Seriously!
Canada rolls in and Bargnani gets a little extra pep in his step. Good to see him picking it up for the opening game of the Trentino Cup.
As I said before, I would look at these games- good, bad, and ugly, from the standpoint of what he’s doing to work on his game. Whether he makes the shots or not, if he’s mixing it up on the court, it’s a positive sign. Thankfully in this game, everything was falling.
I will say though that I am looking to see if Bargnani can stay consistent throughout the tournament. Not necessarily scoring 28 points a game- though he’s capable of it against these teams; but at least staying aggressive. It’s a different role for him with Italy because the offense essentially runs through him and Belinelli- making it difficult for his head NOT to be in the game but aggressiveness is a good indication that he’s not taking plays off.
He looked 1000 times better than Bellinelli did
He is better than Beli. In this game I saw some bad defense: Andrea looked lost in some plays but I think it was not always his fault really…Beli (and other wings) let guys roaming free and missed rotations and poor Andrea often found himself surrounded when it’s too late. I’m italian and have high expectations for our national team (in a couple of years we should,and I stress should, be an interesting team), but as long as Beli keeps playing like Vincenzo Esposito (thinking he’s too good to play team basketball or decent defense) we are screwed. The raps should stop thinking about Beli, he’s no use for this team and could be a problem for him to be the second italian in this team, fighting for a few minutes while Andrea has the starting spot. Beli was raised to be THE star of his team in Bologna, Andrea was raised as part of a system, this is why, imho, he’s a better player now (that doesn’t mean Beli is doomed to failure, the talent is there).
It is worth noting that Howard and Gasol are probably the only two centers in the league that you would trade Bargs straight up for. He’s not the third best center, but I’m glad he’s here.
Thats a bold statement….
ming, bynum, stoudemire, oden, duncan, etc…
I thought Bargnani actually looked pretty relaxed in that game. I mean.. he was playing against Canada, but he only looked rushed on a few possessions, set big picks and moved into the paint every now and then.
he is not a centre! i’d rather have bynum with bosh, not sayin he better then bargs, but he is a true center at least, and that would change the dynamics of the team, but since bargs jus got a 50 million dollar raise i guess he’s here for the long run. i dont care ehose on the team, can we just win some damn games. 2nd round of the playoffs is all im asking, then i wont expect much against teams like boston cleavland, and DEEP Benched orlando. dont be shocked if vince kicks us out the playoffs again
Speaking of Bynum, I lived in LA for last 3-4 years and Lakers had Kareem working exclusively with Andrew all these years to develope his LOW POST game, his Back to the basket game and …..
We see the samething with Orlando with Patrick Owing for D.Howard. It has always been said that developing a big man is a hard job and take a long time and …
Who is working with AB in Raptors coaching staff for hiw low post game ?
i don’t know but I hear Oakley is looking for work as an assistant coach. Maybe he can instill some defensive toughness in the kid.
I have seen his interview and I think he is interested to sign with Knicks. I honestly think Raptors should spend some money and start working on this guy one on one like the other teams are doing.
Last summer Bargnani worked out at Pete Newell’s big man camp with J.O’Neal in Las Vegas. This camp is considered one of the best camps for NBA bigs to learn footwork. I dunno if he is gonna make it there this summer, since he is busy playing for Italy, but I am sure if he can fit it in, he will.
I haven’t seen much low-post offensive development from either Bynum or Howard in the past few years. Whatever these legends are teaching them doesn’t seem to be working.
Well Howard will simply never have much in the way of low post moves because of his brute strength, size and athleticism. Why fix whats not broken. He is almost an exact replica of Shaq… maybe the odd spin move, but will simply back you up until your under the basket and dunk on you (or draw a foul, or a double team). It was extremely effective for Shaq and seems to be the same for Howard.
O’neal has a nice jump hook and a little spin-type drop-step thingy. Howard can sure throw up a brick with all that ‘brute strenght’ of his. Howard is great but I don’t believe dominant (although he can dominate some games). Think back to Shaq’s 5th or 6th seasons and I’m pretty sure you’ll see he did more then what Howard does now offensively.
Lets revisit this when Howard is 25/26. At that age he SHOULD be dominating. Then people can pull out the Shaq comparisions and see if they are justified. Untill then there is only 1 Shaq and thats Shaq.
Agree with all center coach for bargnani comments….
Dont forget “the dream” was working with Yao a few years back. The problem is that most of those guys were the franchises best center so they feel a loyalty in helping their team.
Who we gonna get? Loren Woods?
Hakeem Olajoan ( I know I am not spelling his name right). He was a Raptors for a season after all. Will that be possible to get him for One year to work with AB now that we know we are going to have AB for next 5 years !!!
LOL@woods
Full disclosure Patrick Ewing is an assitant coach with the orlando magic and as a byproduct trained with Howard. He barely played on the Magic. On the other hand I’d like to mention the fact that Howard still has a much limited offensive game (he has zero moves) even after years of training under Ewing.
Also the Patrick Chewing Snickers commercial is the best!
There hasn’t been much pessimism for the rap bloggers in this post (i’m sure there will be), but you guys have to realize how much fun this team is going to be to watch next season. I’M A DETROIT LIONS HARDCORE FAN, and it seems like we are more excited for the NFL season than raps fans are.
This is a stellar lineup filled with young quality players. Watch them gain some toughness and confidence (the two go hand in hand) and then watch this team soar.
The NFL pre-season is right around the corner (Yippie!) meanwhile the nba season (pre or regular) is months away. It’s tough to get excited for a team we won’t see on the court for some time. But you are right this team will be very different from last year only based on the fact that we lacked quality depth at every position last year. I’m excited but the season seems like its still a long way off.
The seasons not that far off, the NBA schedule comes out in a couple of weeks. It’ll be here sooner than you think….and so will the SNOW! :(.
I’m a Lions fan too!
I think Bargnani gets criticized too much. Last season I saw a big leap from him defensively. Don’t forget, yeah he’s a centre, but he does play a lot more on the outside than most centres. His rebounding numbers went up as well as his blocks. Lets look for that to continue to progress.
Bargnani is not you typical centre, will probably never average 10 a season, but his defense has improved. He boxes out better and I can’t see him regressing next year. Rasho will keep things loose.
Raptors coaching need to take advantage of the slashing to the hoop, having a centre keeping the other big outside when needed.
Our whole team stunk defensively, be it the fault of talent or coaching. Bosh isn’t the best defender at his position as well. Our perimeter defense was poor as well. I do not buy into the theory that we need toughness, look for Bosh and Bargnani to start bringing some. I really think Bargnani has it in him, let that confidence carry over from last half of season.
Glancing through the Depth Charts, it looks like the Lakers should repeat.
Raptors still don’t have proven depth at SG and SF .. unless miracles happen.
It’s not enough to have Hedo and then a bunch of nobodies, unless the rotation is shortened and people do double duty.
I wonder what Triano and his crew will do with this disparate bunch of bballers. Gonna be interesting if not entertaining until Xmas, and then the shit will hit the tribal honking fan.
Will they jell .. Who can tell .. WTH .. Ring the bell ..??!!!
Our depth chart so far…
PG: Jose Calderon | Jarret Jack | Roko Ukic
SG: Jarret Jack | DeMar DeRozan | Antoine Wright
SF: Hedo Turkoglu | DeMar DeRozan
PF: Chris Bosh | Reggie Evans | Andrea Bargnani
C: Andrea Bargnani | Rasho Nesterovic
I wouldn’t really call that “desperate”.
If we get Carlos Delfino, then we can give DeRozan and Wright some time at the SF spot and there is nothing to lose because;
a) They are both 6’7+
b) Both good defenders
c) Both really athletic
One of the main reasons we sucked last year was our lack of depth at the 1 spot. Every time Jose went out with an injury, the L’s kept piling. With Jarret Jack, you can scratch that off the list.
We lacked bench depth in general. Now we have good defenders coming off the bench, and two sixth men in Jarret Jack and DeMar DeRozan. (WHO CAN BOTH PLAY THE 3 SPOT). Plus we have a good backup PF in Reggie Evans, and a good backup C in Rasho. Scratch that off the list.
We lacked scoring on the wing. Because we didn’t have any ball handling scorers on the wing to take pressure off of Bosh, we had trouble scoring at times. With Hedo Turkoglu, we now have a ball handler AND a scorer AND a clutch player. Scratch that off the list.
Add to this a full year with Jay Triano without the negative momentum and we have a good chance for 40+ wins.
Definately not a “desperate bunch of ballers” to me.
“Jarret Jack and DeMar DeRozan. (WHO CAN BOTH PLAY THE 3 SPOT). ”
Meant to add Antoine Wright after DeRozan.
Sorry, but Jack is not a SG and the rest of the subs are not exactly playoff calibre players on their own. Maybe Triano will create a strong team concept if the players can jell effectively. I hope they play as a “team” and not individuals in their last contract year and gunning for a “max” contract.
Btw … it’s “disparate” … NOT “desperate” … look it up.
Maybe “NBA Inside and other stuff” shouldn’t be quoted. Their writer(s) seem pretty idiotic.