After a pitiful 33-49 season, Colangelo replaced two starters, the first five guys off the bench, and 2 of the last 5 at the end of it. Two make things more interesting, we have a “rookie” head-coach who has to integrate all these parts while trying to get this team into the playoffs, and possibly beyond. They are a better team then last season, but with 16 games against their Atlantic rivals, I wondered how I had them going 11-5 against the Atlantic.
Boston Celtics
My Prediction: 0-4
Nov – Fri 27 @ Boston L
Jan – Sat 02 @ Boston L
Jan – Sun 10 vs Boston L
Apr – Wed 07 vs Boston L
Easily the cream of the crop of the Atlantic, and quite possibly the East (I still contend that if they were healthy last year, they would have won it all). The Raptors were 0-4 against them last season, and I expect the same this year. The Raps will struggle with Boston’s size up front, it’s not as though foul-prone Johnson is rounding out an elite Raptors front court. If they can counter that front court somehow (which they will have a very hard time with considering the Celtics just replaced Leon Powe with Rasheed Wallace), they still have to figure out what to do with Pierce and Allen. Excuse me if I don’t like our chances.
New Jersey Nets
My Prediction: 4-0
Dec – Fri 18 vs New Jersey W
Feb – Wed 03 vs New Jersey W
Feb – Fri 19 @ New Jersey W
Mar – Sat 20 @ New Jersey W
I have a feeling the Nets are going to be an interesting team. Thy don’t have a whole lot surrounding Harris, Lopez and Lee, but looking at this roster, they seem like a tough lot who is sure to be a well coached one. The Raptors were 2-2 against them last season, but in those two losses, VC had 39 and 27 points respectively. That first loss of the year was the gut wrenching one where VC sent the game into OT with a clutch trey then won it with that reverse alley-oop…we wont have to worry about him doing to that to us with the Nets, the Magic get that honour now. Anyways, they have no one that will give us any trouble, and we sure as hell can’t afford to lose even one game against them if we have post-season designs.
New York Knicks
My Prediction: 4-0
Jan – Fri 15 @ New York W
Jan – Thu 28 @ New York W
Mar – Fri 05 vs New York W
Apr – Wed 14 vs New York W
They will score in bunches and be exciting to watch, but wont be very much better then the 32 wins they got last season. The David Lee situation has not been resolved as of today (to my knowledge), which is a disaster as he has been one of their best/most consistent players over the last few years. Jordan Hill brings much needed size/toughness, but the only way the Knicks beat the Raptors this season is if they score loads and it comes down to a coaching battle. In any event, they can’t be slept on, they have the type of team that can get hot and run you off the court, but that will be few and far between. The Raptors went 2-2 against them last season, but have improved athletically and and bulked up. I have a feeling the Knicks will be worst team in the Atlantic.
Philadelphia 76ers
My Prediction: 3-1
Jan – Fri 08 @ Philadelphia W
Feb – Wed 10 vs Philadelphia W
Mar – Sun 07 vs Philadelphia W
Apr – Sat 03 @ Philadelphia L
They lost Andre Miller, signed a gangster and replaced Cheeks with Jordan. Forgive me if I don’t get too excited for them. I don’t follow the Sixers too closely, but for a team that went .500 last season, got the 6th seed in the playoffs, and took Orlando to 6 games, they sure as hell regressed (IMHO) this past summer. It’s not all bad for them. They went to the playoffs last year, have a slew of talented young wings that can get hot and give folks fits on the perimeter and a healthy Brand. Philly will be nipping at the Raptors heels, and be one of the middle-tier teams in the East fighting for the 5-8 playoff spots (the Hawks have 4 locked up, especially with the addition of Joe Smith up front). Each game against these guys will be a very important one, as the Raptors and Sixers will be neck-in-neck in that playoff hunt. They split the season series last season.
Boston aside, I have the Raptors going 11-1 against the Knicks, Nets and Sixers. Seems very ambitious, but if the Raptors want the 4th seed (which they wont get), they have beat these type of teams each and every time they play them. Even going 7-4 against them – and they steal one against the Celtics, drops them to 42 wins in my scenario, which will probably get them into the playoffs kicking/scratching/clawing and screaming, but with a 7th or 8th seeding.
Boston Celtics – 60+ wins
Toronto Raptors – 45 wins
Philadelphia 76ers – 40 or so wins
New York Knicks – 32 or so wins
New Jersey Nets – 30 or so wins
* please note, I had accidentally switched the Knicks and the Nets predictions, apologies.
That’s how I see the Atlantic shaping up this year.
109 Raps
I’d say that’s actually a pretty balanced outline of likely events.
I figure the Raps drop a couple they should have had and steal one from the Celts, leaving them at 10-6.
I can see that happening, anymore and it starts to get bad for them though.
I agree. Last season the raptors played the Celtics tough and couldve won a game or 2. That being said the Celtics are better than last year with free agent signings Sheed and Daniels, plus Big Baby has shown the league he can be a force.
Phily and NYC are interesting teams.
I don’t know what to make of the Sixers, I love their top four guys but the rest of their team is very disappointing. It’ll be interesting to see how far their best players can carry them. I just don’t know what to think of this team yet.
I have the Knicks as the second worst in the East, behind NJ, for the time being. However, if they manage to hold onto David Lee + Nate Robinson, and it appears they will, they should at least hold steady on their performances from last season. I wasn’t impressed with Hill during SL and do not expect him to make much of an impact, but their other rookie, Toney Douglas, he can play. With Nate and Duhon around though, I don’t know how much minutes he’ll be able to get. The biggest key will be Gallinari, if he can get healthy and play up to his ability, then the Knicks have a legitimate chance of making the playoffs.
Dave, so did I. I made a mistake typing it in this morning, apologies.
I think the 76ers will be better than 40 wins. They lost Miller, but have Louis Williams to fill the void. He isnt the same calibre as Miller, but learned a great deal from him over the past couple seasons.
A healthy Brand will be a game changer, especially against the raptors.
Williams, AI, YOung, Brand and Dalembert as your starting 5 is decent, but they are a little thin on the bench. Speights, Green, Kapono, Holiday, and Brezec isnt a crew with a lot of offence. Unless Kapono lights it up, haha
fair breakdown… I may give the Raps 1 win over Boston and NY or NJ one (maybe 1 each) win over the Raps because the best team doesn’t always win. But all said and done the only team I don’t expect the Raps to beat each game is Boston.
I can’t say I’d be excited as a Philly fan… lost Andre Miller and Philly played pretty crappy while Brand was healthy (he didn’t really seem to fit at all on the team)…..
On paper the East has taken a big leap forward this year. The top 3 probably got better although I wonder if Boston can avoid another injury-hampered season (maybe Pierce or Allen goes down for extended games this year; maybe KG just isn’t right). The rest of the 2nd tier pack, with the exception of NJ, got better. So maybe this Raptors roster would have won 45-50 games against last year’s competition but can they do it against this year’s conference? Put another way, Colangelo seems to have done a decent, perhaps even good, job of improving the team but even if his (and Triano’s) vision for the team was the right one, can they keep up with the rest of the conference?
Besides NJ, NY, Miami and maybe Indiana, who in the East didn’t make changes that could make them significantly better this year? Of course, there’s no reason to think the Raptors can’t be one of those teams leaping to the front of the 2nd tier (I don’t share your view of Atlanta – they could be damn good, they could be no better than last year). Maybe Hedo does more than score at middling efficiency. Maybe he becomes the emotional leader of this group of Euro-softies. Maybe the team actually develops a collective spine. If they do I’ll consider the season a success even if they’re fighting for the 8 seed in April.
“Besides NJ, NY, Miami and maybe Indiana, who in the East didn’t make changes that could make them significantly better this year?”
Well how about:
Philly – lost their starting PG and has no one to fill that gap
Chicago – lost their 6th man and clutch scorer, added nothing other than a player coming back from an injury.
Detroit – No clue what they were trying to do. they got Gordon to play the same role as Iverson??? that should work out well. Oh and there starting Centre is still Kwame Brown! yeah they should be much better!
Milwauke – HAHAHAHAHA!!! send the whole damn team to the D-league.
Charlotte – traded a solid Okafor for an injured Chandler. That should make them better. lol
Ok, I’ll bite
Philly – you might be right but there’s room for improvement from within from Lou Williams, Thadeus Young and Andre Iguodala plus Brand was once a pretty good player and could be again. And that team is mentally tougher than the Raptors have been in the past.
Chicago – did you happen to watch any of last season’s playoffs? I can’t write off Derrick Rose and the rest of the Bulls. Gordon takes as much off the table as he puts on. Chicago could be really solid this year.
Detroit – Ok, they could fall into the 3rd tier but they might be good enough to be fighting for a playoff spot in April, just like the Raptors.
Milwaukee – you’re probably right
Charlotte – watch out if they sign Iverson because that’s the one situation where his desire to prove all the naysayers wrong could really pay off. Even if they don’t get Iverson, and accepting that Chandler might be a slight downgrade on Okafor offensively, Charlotte is good enough to be in the 2nd tier conversation in the East.
Look, who knows which teams will have injuries, chemistry issues or have players inexplicably underachieve this coming season. The point is that the East has few bottom feeders so it’s going to be a dogfight all the way to the playoffs. The West, on the other hand looks like its got a few title contenders, 3 more 50-win teams and then a huge drop off
I think you have a good point with Bulls/Gordon. May be addition by subtraction and if Deng is reasonably back to form they may actually be a better TEAM.
philly – lost a great point guard, but still have a solid core. they also have a new coach. they are our main rivals for # 2 in the atlantic.
chicago – this is derek rose’s team now. ben gordon may just be another allen iverson. they have had no legit post player since eddy curry. but they are still full of surprises. they are the east’s 2007 Warriors.
detroit – they got charlie v to replace sheed and amir johnson. replaced AI with ben gordon. they got another rookie coach from cleveland, when i thought they would hire bill lambier after he quit his job in the wnba.
milwauke – LMAO… but they beat us bad last season. chris bosh made andrew bogut look like wilt chamberlain. a healthy michael redd is deadly.
charlotte – they had a decent team last season. a good coach. they got an injured chandler. will they bring back felton or replace him with AI? but they still have gerald wallace who torched us last season and made shawn marion look like a wasted bitch. boris diaw was suprisingly bulked up and outmuscled bosh and bargs inside.
What happens if Garnett reinjures himself and has to sit. I think there are a lot of “IF’s” with the Celts. If one or two of them go down for an extended period of time, Toronto could end up leading the Atlantic and be in the top 4 in the East. I don’t think Wallace will be as effective on that team as everyone thinks. Although he’s very skilled he’s just lost too much of his athleticism, and like I kinda mentioned the other three are getting older and may not be as physically reliable. One last thing, where does Rondo fit in after what happened this summer?
I disagree with your vision that Atlanta grabs the 4th spot, if anything it will be Washington. Atlanta just doesn’t have the frontcourt to do it this year (and no Joe Smith does not change anything)!
The “what if” scenario applies to every single team in the league. The Celtics without Garnett are still a MUCH better team then the Raptors. You only have to look to the playoffs. They are much upgraded with the addition of Wallace for Powe.
I’m actually interested to see how Washington does. The Hawks and Wizards will be fighting for 4th, I think we can agree on that.
there is a difference between the IF’s for Boston and the IF’s for TO. Toronto has the depth to keep going, Boston doesn’t. What happens if Jose goes down, Jack fills in. What happens if Rondo goes down……..hmmmmm….
Or Pierce or Allen?
Who backs those guys up?
Toronto only has one if in my opinion and that is Hedo, because we just don’t know who else can play that position.
Bosh goes down Bargs moves to Forward and Rasho starts. Same with Bargs going down Rasho fills in.
I just dont think Boston has that Kind of depth. Thats why I mentioned the IF’s for Boston.
I don’t care about the IF’s for the rest of the league. I only care about the Atlantic division.
Sure, there isn’t a great backup for Rondo, but the Raptors don’t have a great backup for Bosh or Tukoglu. The Raptors aren’t as deep as you think. We do have NBA talent, but people remember people have been saying Boston isn’t deep since the big three got there. That’s all I’m saying man.
Um, MARQUIS DANIELS, HELLO!?!
JP, I see where you are coming from. But keep in mind that people had all kinds of doubt about Boston two years ago, before the season started (e.g., they have no depth; they are reliant on aging stars; a whole new team can’t gel that quickly). We all know how that turned out.
Also, people wrote them off last year in the playoffs, and they still did really well with what they had (or rather, who they DID NOT have: Garnett and eventually Powe).
The thing about Boston is, their whole team plays defence, and they have championship-caliber mental toughness. That means they get more out of their alleged “scrubs,” and they get playoff intensity virtually every game from their whole team. Anything less is unacceptable there.
Unfortunately, the same cannot be said for the Raptors. If it could, we would have been a 45-50 win team even with last year’s roster (and a 55-60 win team with this year’s roster).
Hopefully Evans, Jack, and Johnson will bring some of that high-intensity mentally to each game and each training session. And hopefully the (partially) new coaching staff will achieve this goal as well.
One can dream.
The IFs for Boston are so much stronger because their top 3 players will each be at least 32 at the beginning of the season. The only players that age on the Raps are Rasho. You can see why the injury questions for Boston are so much greater.
The projections in the article are a little silly. You can’t expect the best team to always win. I put $50 that the Raps have at least 1 win and 1 loss against every team in the Atlantic this season.
Wizards 4th? RapFan… Can Flip Saunders turn this defense, in which before had the effort of Paris Hilton trying to read a novel, into an okay to decent defending team?
They have three all-stars and a healthy team. They may not finish 4th, but they have the horses to fight for it.
I agree with you Raps Fan. People seem to have short memories and are sleeping on the Wizards. If they start Mike Miller at the 2 they will have a pretty stacked starting 5 (Arenas, Miller, Butler, Jamison, Haywood)and their bench is pretty much Foye, Stevenson, Nick Young, Javaris Crittenton, Andray Blatche and JaVale McGee (all guys who started and logged heavey minutes last season therefore they have experience). They are going to be studs and I think they will be a bigger threat to the Raptors than Atlanta will be. Good Call
I think your predictions are relatively optimistc. We know very little about this team thanks to all the unknowns, and I don’t think we’ll be as good as your slating us to be in the Atlantic division. The Raptors have a history of folding against teams they “should” beat, and I don’t think this season will be any different.
Dude, you don’t have to tell me. I surprised myself actually. The Atlantic is pretty weak though, so it may just happen.
Garnett intimidates Bosh into folding down the stretch… and if hes hurt, R. Wallace intimidates Bosh into having an even worse game than if he was playing against Garnett… so basically you are very 100% in saying we go 0-4 against the Celtics… I am predicting we go 3-1 vs. the rest of the bunch (maybe even 2-2) and we make it up by dominating the lowest of the low teams outside the atlantic and winning the season series against teams like Atlanta, Washington, Orlando and maybe actually winning some games on the west coast (i know I am being optimistic here)… but hopefully they can do this and we reach 45 wins and the 5th seed…
The intimidation factor you speak about regarding Bosh and the Celtics has now been neutralized. Let me introduce you to our summer acquistion that goes by the name…Reggie Evans
reggie evans is the second coming of charles oakley. he will beat up KG, sheed, and porkins.
i would like a frontcourt lineup of bosh/bargs and reggie in those situations. reggie could do all the dirty work inside and bosh/bargs could handle the scoring.
I agree that our team is difficult to place. But since the team is largely made up of new players – is the “history of folding” comment relevant? We just don’t know. Perhaps with Turk, we perform with a bit more poise down the stretch?
The coaching staff is largely unchanged. I like Traino as much as the next Canadian, but if your’e really looking to do a complete roster revamp, then I think that you should look to do a complete coaching revamp as well.
Because we’re stuck with a very similar coaching staff (bye Mitchell, hello Iavoronni) I think our old habits will die harder than if we had revamped the staff entirely.
P.S. Does anyone know why we didn’t try for Jeff Van Gundy? Is he out of the coaching market entirely now?
He had made comments before the end of the season that he wanted to stay in TV for a couple more years at least.
hes not that amazing of a coach anyway… I would prefer som1 else
Will a style revamp do instead. Tim Chisholm’s Triano interview was excellent. Triano is saying all the right things – of course implementing the system will be another matter. But he’s laying the right foundation.
Def worth a read: http://www.tsn.ca/nba/story/?id=288787
JVG was off the table for all teams this season (at least). Will keep going with his TV gig.
Yeah I read the interview earlier, it was really great. Triano definitely said the right things, but having the team execute those ideas is still sketchy given the fact that this is his first full season as an NBA head coach.
Since Lenny “Losingest Coach” Wilkens we’ve had Kevin O’Neil, Sam Mitchell, and now Jay Triano – all of them rookies. It’s not everyday a rookie coach turns out to be a diamond in the rough (a la Lawrence Frank), so I would prefer we grab a seasoned coach that has experience winning games.
Either way Triano’s got a clean slate this upcoming season, but it’ll be a difficult ride to say the least.
“It’s not everyday a rookie coach turns out to be a diamond in the rough”
Well said – I agree. I hoping (can’t say for sure) Jay’s a little more up the curve given Intl head coaching duties and lots of NBA exp (although granted not much as the main decision maker). Cheers, T
That is a one-side assessment though… you have to remember, every ’seasoned’ coach is also a coach that has been fired because his team didn’t win, or at least didn’t achieve the goals that management/fans had for their team!
Triano is well respected and has a good track record for success at every level he’s coached at. Even the best coaches in history started out as unproven rookie coaches… I like his coaching strategies and he seems to have buy-in from both management and the players, so I think he has earned a chance to lead this team! I wish him and the Raps the best of luck this season!
Not a JT fan, but he did address all my concerns in that interview. Glad to know he is aware of the issues.
Was not to happy about the away Bosh kills flow with his 1on1 game. Durring the Garbajosa years the 25/10 numbers came from natural movment, it did not seem forced. Last year and the year before he seemed more and more forced, and that made the team supper predicatable.
Would have loved to hear more about Andrea and what he envisons and expects from him, are our expectations of him reasonable?
The fact Jay Triano was part of the team USA coaching staff speaks volumes about his accumen and competencies as a coach.
The fact Jay Triano was the lead coach for team USA this summer adds more credibitility to his coaching pedigree.
Personally, I have full confience in JT as our head coach, as well as Iavaroni and English as our assistant coaches. I think all were great hires by BryCo, but we’ll see if that proves true.
Read part 2 of the interview and you’ll see he talk about Andrea
I agree Triano’s thoughts hit all the right buttons, especially his toughness and rebounding talk. I’m not sure this roster is enough on those 2 fronts, but we’ll see in the fall.
But one thing that kind of lurked behind the interview for me was a less than overwhelming endorsement of Bosh. He was frank (and correct) about Bosh being a bit of a ball-stopper and his talk about Bosh overall left me with the impression that he won’t be devastated if Bosh walks after this year. I’m not saying that’s what he wants but the interview left me with the vague feeling that Raptors coaching/management might be okay with losing the “franchise player”, provided they get some assets in return. Maybe they are in the same mindset at Arsenalist and others are actually looking for a player to complement one of their 2 starting PF and figure they’d rather overpay Bargnani than Bosh.
I’m a big fan of Raps Fan posts, but I dont really agree with you on this one man. The raps will not sweep NJ or NY and I do think we can steal 1 from Boston.
A sweep or NJ is probable.
Losing one or two to NY + Philly is also a probable.
Stealing one from Boston is also just as likely.
Agreed, if they steal one from Boston and lose one to New York, they are still 11-5 against the atlantic. still optimistic i admit, but i stand by it :)
thanks btw
Prognostications are as subjective a field as the end-of-year award voting process.
You may be wrong or right, but let’s see how your picks stack up against someone else’s picks:
My Prediction: 0-4
Nov – Fri 27 @ Boston L
Jan – Sat 02 @ Boston L
Jan – Sun 10 vs Boston L
Apr – Wed 07 vs Boston L
New Jersey Nets
My Prediction: 4-0
Dec – Fri 18 vs New Jersey W
Feb – Wed 03 vs New Jersey W
Feb – Fri 19 @ New Jersey W
Mar – Sat 20 @ New Jersey W
New York Knicks
My Prediction: 3-1
Jan – Fri 15 @ New York W
Jan – Thu 28 @ New York L
Mar – Fri 05 vs New York W
Apr – Wed 14 vs New York W
Philadelphia 76ers
My Prediction: 2-2
Jan – Fri 08 @ Philadelphia W
Feb – Wed 10 vs Philadelphia L
Mar – Sun 07 vs Philadelphia W
Apr – Sat 03 @ Philadelphia L
;D
With no Jamario Moon and Graham, we actually have a chance to sweep. This negativity that comes from us might be due to too much exposure to Joey Graham.
LOL!! No Moon! No Graham! No deadwood!!
FYI…. SI.com has the Raps ranked 10th in the East behind the likes of Philly, Detroit, Washington, Chicago, Miami.
Everyone has different opinions, even those ignorant East Coast Americans….
Everyone has a different opinion, they can’t help it if they have the wrong one ;)
Everyone in sports media knows that you can increase your site traffic by 30% overnight by slagging the Toronto Raptors.
SI can suck my …. :)
They are the deffinition of douche.
Miami will be better than the Raps because they have JO… Deja Vu anyone?
Everyone is high on the Wizards, and i dont get it. They look like an average team at best but everyone seems like they have a secret fetish for them.
I have never trusted SI in anything regarding “rankings”, they are horrible at making predictions.
that is true about their predictions and anything related to the raptors and to a lesser extent canadian sports teams…Don’t feel to bad we can laugh at them for predicting the Mets as World Series Champs this year in baseball… On the other hand I like their power rankings and a lot of their articles focusing on players and whatnot are quite good…
I would actually prefer we start the year ranked “low” by the experts. Would much rather have the team have something to prove – rather than last year were expectations were lofty and it would have been near impossible to meet them.
As well, the start of the schedule is quite tough and we’ll have a difficult time starting with a good record.
Just out of curiosity…how did SI have us going into the 2008-09 season?
Don’t remember last year’s, but it seems like we’re always ranked in the bottom five (even that year we won the conference, I think), so 18th means we’re definitely going places!
When did we win the conference?
SI also picked the Mets to win the World Series this year…
Those 4-0 predictions seem a little bold.
Something usually happens to permit the weaker team to steal a game out of 4.
11-5 against the Atlantic would be quite the accomplishment.
Here’s hoping you’re not too far off.
I expect the Raps will be part of a really tight group of 2nd-tier teams fighting for playoff positions 4-7: Toronto, Atlanta, Chicago, Washington.
I expect the 3rd-tier teams fighting for the last playoff spot to include: Miami, Detroit, Philly.
I don’t expect the other 5 teams (NY, NJ, Indiana, Milwaukee, Charlotte) to contend for the playoffs.
If Brand loses as much “bad weight” as he can, and doesn’t break a bone, they can be a 2nd Tier team. I feel one of these teams in the second or third tier might completely surprise us (9-10 game winning streak at the right time)and one of the tier teams you mentioned will DROP down to the bottom like a rock.
This is pretty much the way I break it down too, except I’m not sure the Bulls are second tier — I say probably third tier. The Raptors beat the Bulls twice toward the end of last season, and I think they’ve gotten worse and we’ve gotten better. The big question is really how good the Wizards will be — If they’re better than us, we’ll get 6th seed at best and will be in tough in the first round. If they’re not as good, I think we have a good shot at 5.
I think Calgary Raps Fan’s breakdown of the eastern tiers is how I have it right now.
With Chicago, Derrick Rose is something special and can’t be slept on. With his continued improvement plus Deng plus the other guys on the team (including Miller and Salmons)… plus the fight they’ve shown everyone they have, I can’t put them into the 3rd tier.
I totally agree with Calgary, Washington, Atlanta, Toronto and MAYBE chicago are going to fight for the 4th spot. I think Chicago actually got better, Gordon’s shoot selection hurt them a lot of times last season, If Deng can stay helthy, they are going to be a great team, Salmons is a better team player than gordon (gordon and rose can’t play together in the same line up). I think atlanta is overrated, crawford adition may hurt the team chemistry. The one to keep an eye on is the wizzards if they play defense and share the ball. In offense they have a lot of options.
Detroit and Philadelphia’s offseason really hurt their chances. Andre miller was the key to the team last season. he’s a great floor general and playmaker and louis williams is just an undersize scorer, not a point guard. He was great from the bench last season but, in the starting line up, he’d have a lot of problems.
Gordon a Villanueva are not the answer for the pistons problems, actually, andre miller could have been a great option for them, stuckey is no the answer at the pg because he’s not a pg, just like ben gordon. Their inside game is very bad, kwame brown, ben wallace and wilcox are role players and charlie V is very perimeter oriented. And their back up pg is pathetic. I watch Will bynum play last year in detroit and in 2006/07 2007/08 for Maccaby in Israel and actualy i never saw him passing a basketball, what kind of pg does somethin like that?
I have a weird feeling that we will steal at least one win against the Celt-dicks this year. I sure hope we do….
We will win 1. We always play them tough. How many Raps-Celts OT games has there been over the past two years?
I’m too lazy to look it up, but I say……… 4?
Can you let me know which game we’re going to win and give me a rough idea of what the score will be? Then I can call my bookie.
The 1st one.
Book it!
The Raptors are totally unproven as a ‘team’. You just can’t look at the parts and then assume they will win as a team.
The test will come in the pre-season games, which are going to be crucial for Triano as he runs his rotations through the games and finds out what he’s really got as a team.
The pre-season and first 12 games will tell us if the Raptors are for real.
FAQ, unproven as a team comes more into play in the playoffs then the regular season. We saw the Raptors from a few years ago come together and win 47 games. Take it for what it’s worth.
Pre-season doesn’t tell me a whole lot, but the first few games of the year, I totally agree.
I’ll reserve my judgment on the Raptors because Bosh, Bargs, Hedo and Jose do not make a ‘team’ yet. Bosh and Bargs are still somewhat incompatible, Hedo’s contribution to a new team is untested and Jose has become a limited minutes PG due to injury and whatnot.
The success/failure of this group of disparates rests with the other players and if they can step up to play a major role under NBA competition. If they don’t step up, the Raps go down the tube and Bosh looks for a quick trade to a playoff potential team … and the demolition and rebuilding continues.
Triano will/must hold these guy’s feet to the fire, because his celestial success depends on their NBA factory productivity. If the Raps reach the playoffs even at 6-8, Triano is in the running as COY … also provided his bench coaching was immaculate. (Players have been known to make their coach the COY … e.g. Celtics.)
It will be interesting to see what happens, because the Raptors are a real ‘drama team’ now …!!!!
I don’t think drama is the right genre for these Raps… suspense or maybe even thriller would be a better way to describe them.
…and preseason will predict which people should be bought off from our team (for example some players that have $700,000 – 800,000 contracts and are 7ft tall).
FAQ – I think it goes without saying that just about every team will have to rediscover their chemistry and are starting the season unproven as a ‘team’, either by the addition or subtraction of players from their squad from last season. Needing to gel as a ‘team’ is not an issue that Toronto is facing alone in the eastern conference!
Orlando – losing Turk/Alston and adding Carter cost them some depth and changes the dynamic of their team. Turk is more of a team player who thrives in a supporting role, whereas we all know Carter needs to be front-and-center or else he has the tendancy to disappear
Cleveland – adding Shaq totally changes their approach and could be a huge success or huge bust
Boston – added Sheed, who’s a head-case that could hurt their chemistry, plus their stars are all a year older and proving to be injury-prone with diminishing skills
Chicago – lost Gordon, their super-sub 6th man, so the rest of their bench will be counted on for a lot more scoring this season
Washington – added Foye and Miller, with Agent-0 coming back from injury… that is almost as much rotation-player turnover as Toronto
Toronto – I think we are all familiar with their moves
Atlanta – of all the teams I consider top and 2nd-tier in the East, Atlanta’s roster is more like last season’s than any other team… most experts say this is a good thing, but with so many teams below them having improved from last year, I think they’ll be hard pressed to finish as high in the standings this year as they did last year
Vince Carter has never displayed the need to front and center. He has done nothing but be a team player (too a fault almost) since he joined the league. He’s a winy bitch, granted, but just look at him joining the Nets, and taking 2nd fiddle (fiddle 2b if you consider RJ in the mix as well).
I get what you’re saying, but it seems that he’s either carrying the offense of he completely disappears…
I think the Magic’s potential problem is that there doesn’t seem to be a middle-ground for Carter, where he can pitch in on both offense and defense, and do all the intangible stuff that doesn’t show up on stat sheets.
It all depends which Carter shows up. If Carter can adapt to the Magic’s existing core, he could put them over the hump and help them win a championship. If he plays disinterested or tries to carry the offense too much, he could severely hurt the chemistry that the Magic had last season.
I’ll be SHOCKED if VC/D12 are able to beat LBJ/Shaq in the playoffs.
Quantitatively, the Raps have made the biggest overhaul of all the teams in the NBA .. I think.
What most on this fine forum just don’t appreciate is the difficulty of creating an effective ‘team’ .. which makes me assume most have not played bball at a higher level, or any other team sport that required teamwork. I’ve gone through the misery of playing on failed teams because of egos and stupid coaches playing favouritism. I’ve also experienced playing on decent teams where the players know each other and the synergy is great.
Five players playing as a team are like 6 players on the floor, while a crappy team is like 4 players struggling to get out of a hole in the court.
Like Arse, I just don’t know what is going to happen to the Raps … and I refuse to make comparisons to the past or to other teams … justifying speculation on the basis of past statistics or ‘luv’.
Be certain that Triano, in his mind, is anticipating the negatives in order to stay realistic. Outwardly, he and BC must put on optimistic demeanors to suck in the season ticket buyers and keep the t.h.fans tuned in for ad revenue. Triano can’t be a happy man with the situation he is facing … an untested team filled with unknown players.
Triano will use the pre-season in a serious manner and will push these guys to the limit to determine their potential … athletic and IQ-wise .. because he will have to hammer them into a functionally forged team … believe it ….!!!!!
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“What most on this fine forum just don’t appreciate is the difficulty of creating an effective ‘team’ .. which makes me assume most have not played bball at a higher level, or any other team sport that required teamwork.”
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You beat this point to death, point taken! Its not easy to forge a new group into an efficient team NOR is it impossible. Time will tell.
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“Triano can’t be a happy man with the situation he is facing … an untested team filled with unknown players.”
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I guarantee you he’s A LOT happier with this situation than the one last season!
Nobody on this forum or anywhere else knows with certainty what this team will do when the lights are on but why not use these longest 2 months of my life to speculate and debate how the Raps can succeed or fail??
FAQ please read (and re-read) Jay Triano’s interview on TSN.ca if you haven’t already. Triano knows all of our concerns, and he seems really pumped up to coach this collection of players that you refuse to want to refer to as a team.
Its obvious that Triano is thinking of ways to bring the most out of all the players we’ve got, and to be honest, I have nothing pure faith in his ability to motivate, teach and organize the Raptors this year into a highly efficient and dangerously lethal team.
Funny how you say that Triano will use the pre-season in a serious manner, and he actually mentions that in the interview. He’s no fool. The goal is playoffs, BC has done is job exceptionally, Triano will do his as well.
This years team will turn a lot of pessimists into realists, and a lot of realists into optimists.
How can you say you play a lot of ball, yet never have experienced disparate parts coming together to play great team ball?
Sometimes, even at a pickup run, 5 guys will stay on the court for hours winning just because they mesh well together, everyone falls into a defined role naturally, they all are willing to move and share the rock — even though they are strangers.
On court chemistry definitely gets better with time, make no mistake about that. But to say it’s impossible to have chemistry because people have never playing together before isn’t true at all.
Bottom line is you just don’t know until people get on the court.
Yes, well said. It is also my experience playing pick up ball and following the NBA for the past 15 years. Sometimes a complete new set of players click immediately, and of course other times they do not. But in the case of the new Raptors there is no obvious poison. Having watched these particular players (old and new) for a few seasons I don’t think we have guys with that Jordan-esque need for winning, but sometimes complimentary talent is enough to take a team far.
Thank you, Captain Obvious.
That’s why we have training camp? FAQ, I do agree that many new faces have appeared but we are still the Raptors, not any other team. You can paint pretty colours on your car but the engine is still the same. Raps, I like your predictions but I have a feelings we will pull off atleast 1 win against the Big 3.
“Raps, I like your predictions but I have a feelings[sic] we will pull off at least 1 win against the Big 3.”
Well … nobody can argue against your “feeeeelings” because your “feeeeelings” are always right .. right..???!!!!
Raps Fan is guessing 11-5 for the division … but my “feeeelings” tell me it’s gonna be 5-11 … wanna compare “feeeelings” like {{{girls}}} ..??!!!!
It’s all conjecture. None of us has a damn clue what is going to happen next season. That’s what makes sports great. You never fucking know.
All we have are our feeeeeeeeelings.
Yes you have your feeeeeelings … because you and those in your generation have been effeminatized by the school system and from the popular entertainment media … yer a bunch of mommy sucky babies .. so obvious.
“What do you feeeeeel about the Raptors … tell us …”
I hope not everyone in YOUR generation is as bitter as you are… what generation are you in anyway?
And for that matter, you seem to know a lot, what generation is Marc in exactly?
Born in ‘82. And I am extremely glad to not be any older.
I feel sorry for old man FAQ.
FAQ…once again I have a feeeeeeeeeeling that you’re in need of some serious therapy for your obvious personality disorder. And if you read Toronto4Ever comment again, it is obvious he means “I have a feeling” not “feelings” which you would have noticed if you weren’t such a jackass.
I think he noticed, since he included “[sic]” right next to the quoted typo. He just chose to be a jackass anyway, because, well, that’s what he is. Also, he’d have nothing to write about if he didn’t.
On the hawks getting 4th….its true they are a talented team and usually give the raptors fits because of there athleticism. That team however has a very combustable problem and that is Jamal Crawford. This guy is a perrenial loser and bad locker room guy. The only thing he will do is steal mins from the level headed Bibby and Johnson. Also with Josh Smith always a question mark on his effort makes this team anything but a lock for 4th. They do have the talent to be there but this could be the team this year that goes through in-house problems and doesnt live up to expectations….like the raptors last year
Did anyone saw chishoml interview to triano? That was an excellent work and Jay said everything i wanted him to say, the style of basketball he has in mind is awesome. He talked about the ball movement and the transition offense. He said that he values the possesions too much to make a 7 seconds or less offense, and that’s just great. My only concern about this season was that the raps become the newest version of the Phoenix Suns offense, but that’s not going to happend. Triano expects everybody takes good decisions and that the ball moves a lot during the offense. He does not want Bosh to have the ball and goes one on one, he said that if bosh can creat something in one or two seconds, he mus pass the ball, that’s excellent because with the players we have, the ball movement will create a lot of oportunities. I agree with Triano in the fact that the league is getting better in the one on one defense, so moving the ball will create a lot of problems to the defensive team.
This is going to be a great year, the raps will suprise a lot of people and make a push in the east. That guy in SI.com that put us 18th behind chicago, phily and detriot has no idea of basketball!
This is the best raptors team ever, with team players who want to be here, a very deep team at every position and a great coaching staff with a lot of konwleadge about basketball (especialy Triano and Iavaroni). Just one quality back up SF away from being a contender
I wonder why people are unsure of the Shaq move. What if he doesn’t work? Then you cut him, trade him, whatever! They gave up nothing to get him. If you remove Shaq they still have the same rotation as last year without Ben Wallace 5 minutes per game. They added Parker and Moon. How could they be worse? That argument doesn’t make any sense as they gave up nothing. It’s not like the O’Neal trade for Marion which could go either way. I have heard several experts make that statement as well and its just stupid.
I definitely agree. There may be a wild card in that it would be hard to sit Shaq (or have him only play say 10 min a game) if it wasn’t working out. Team chemistry’s important – the locker room is important. And when do you make the change when things are going wrong – do you let it go 20 games – 40? They can probably sort it out before the playoffs, but you may have a little (although obv no where near as bad) AI-type starting situation if its not working.
Trade Bosh for Shaq … ya think ..????!!!!!!!!!!!!
brutal idea…ill take an underachieving jump shooter over an unmotivated reality tv star any day of the week
But Shaq is a future hall of famer! ;)
Cough… Olajuwan… Cough…
You can’t sit Shaq, you can’t cut Shaq. You have to play him. Even if all he does is clog up the lane.
Who -1′ed me? Are you gonna tell Shaq to sit down?
Either he will be a good fit and they win the championship or he will ruin their chemistry and they’ll fail miserably. There’s no half-way with Shaq. He either works, or he doesn’t.
I think he won’t.
I think we can win against the Celtics maybe about 2 games. I dont believe they’re that good to be unbeatable.
I don’t think we’ll win any games agains the C*tics. Wallace & KG will eat Bosh and Bargs on defence. Rondo will bring out the matador in Calderon; Allen will always nail his three’s in crunch time. When healthy the C*tics are the team to beat in the East.
even at an average age of 125 ?
Even if Leon Powe sprains his pinky.
i think we could take 2 out 4 from the celts. we almost did that last season, both at bean town. the first game, it was a sure win for us, but we blew it. then of course, bargs’ miracle shot. bosh and jose were terrible in that series, esp. bosh, who showed fear and intimadation for the presence of the big bad wolf KG. and KG, being a smart player, just kept on getting in bosh’s head, and attacked him physically and mentally as well, with the “you can’t score on me!” type of defense forcing bosh to settle on taking faggoty jumpers. bargs was the guy in that OT loss, and KG even guarded him, and not bosh in the OT period.
but we are a better team now, way better than last season. we got tough guys in reggie evans, wright, jack, hopefully derozan to bang up with the likes of kg, porkins, rondo, house. compared to last season, we had mostly a bunch of sissies and crap.
philly is a very interesting team. i think they would be our main challengers for the second spot in the division. yes, they did lose veteran andre miller, but they still have a great core in iggy, thaddeus young, dalembert, and elton brand and they drafted jrue halladay to replace andre, and of course jason crapono. if it is based on paper or on nba live 2010, we are probably better and rated higher. but philly has been philly, and have always sneaked in the playoffs and have given the higher seeded teams quite a scare in the 1st round of the playoffs.
for now, i’d take new jersey over new york since new jersey has a more solid group of young guys and are in much better financial/salary cap situation. the core of devin harris and brook lopez is better than that of nate robinson and david lee, where both of which are still free-agents. new jersey’s young core is more talented, but with coach d’antoni, the knicks will still be an entertaining team to watch.
but, if the knicks are able to sign ramon sessions, which solves their point guard problems, and if they are able to keep lee and nate, they might be a darkhorse in the atlantic division.
so my predicted standings are:
boston: at least 50 wins
toronto: 40-45 wins
philly: around 40 wins
jersey: around 33 wins
north york: 30-41 wins
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Chris Mannix – Sports Illustrated
” …. and the versatile Moon is a capable backup at both small forward and shooting guard.”
Maybe I’ve become punch drunk, or I’m too hard on Moon, but I can’t help laughing every time I hear how valuable Jamario is. Yeah, he’s a great 9th, 10th or 11th type guy, but to place him as a capable “shooting guard”, well, that just makes me want to … I dunno know … stop drinking!
Is it just me, or do most of the experts forget that you have to watch a team, to understand who’s good and who’s not.
And what`s with the 18th standing (10th place in our division) that “Book’em Danno” Mannix, has the Raptors placed. Meaning, we miss the play-offs again.
No wonder Rap fans spend more time on independent blogs, versus so called professional media sites. Stephen Ass Smith seems to be spreading.
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RapthoseLeafs
Mannix makes some strange rankings and comments so I’ve pretty much dismissed his entire article.
Regarding Moon, I think if he’s put in the right situations, he is a capable backup (9th to 11th is about right). His first year, he was a decent player who contributed. Last year, they tried to make him into a starter and he doesn’t have the skills or mindset to do that successfully. He’s not really that interested in getting to the paint and that’s what the Raptors desperately needed last year. He’s not that bad a shooter but he does have a tendency to jack it up instead of making the extra pass. I think he was a decent defender but with the very visible and annoying habit of falling for pump fakes.
Having said all that, it’s my opinion that Cleveland is no better this year than last even with the changes they’ve made and there’s a real chance that they are worse.
Big up!
Cleveland does not rock.
I’d really like to see an Xs and Os analysis of Kevin ONiel’s D system that Jay is planning on utilizing.
Anyone have a source?
Thanks
If anything, I would say that a Jalen Rose endorsement does more harm than good.
Oh, wait. Were you being sarcastic?