Depth Chart:
PG: Calderon, Jack, Douby, Banks
SG: DeRozan, Belinelli, Weems
SF: Turkoglu, Wright
PF: Bosh, Evans, Johnson
C: Bargnani, Nesterovic, O’Bryant
Where can an injury hurt us the most?
PG: An injury to Calderon will result in Jack moving over to handle starting duties making Douby the backup point. This could be the most realistic injury scenario heading into this year. Calderon’s still got a lot to prove in terms of staying fit for 82, and I’m not being pessimistic when I say that a hamstring could chop 20 games out of his season. An injury here has a two-fold effect, it not only increases Jack’s minutes at the point, it decreases his minutes at the off guard where we’re both unproven and thin. Then again, there aren’t many teams in the league that can lose their starting point guard and not scrape the bottom of the bench to find minutes. Given the acquisition of Jack and Turkoglu’s ability to run an offense, I’d say we have sufficient insurance in case of an injury to Calderon, although his efficiency cannot be replaced. The guy doesn’t take bad shots, is careful with the ball and when healthy, can make the defense pay. We’re definitely liable to suffer on offense if he’s out, but not nearly to the extent we did last year.
SG: Unlike most I’m not expecting much out of DeMar DeRozan early on. He’s got a chance to be a solid NBA player but it’s far too soon to expect consistent production out of him. An early injury to him will hurt our transition game and defense because we’ll lose athleticism at the wing, but Wright can make up for that on defense and the erratic Belinelli is capable of providing the scoring punch, arguably more than DeRozan. We’re not loaded at the 2 and losing DeRozan for a bunch of games will hurt his development far more than the team. Ideally, he’d be playing the role of Courtney Lee, in other words, the defense forgets that he’s on the floor because there are far more dangerous threats on the floor. I don’t see that happening with the Raptors and he’s going to have to work hard to get his. Jarrett Jack and Marco Belinelli are the other variables but you’d think Belinelli is ahead of Jack in the depth chart given size and scoring ability. Losing Belinelli would mean losing the only true scorer off the bench and a trade or signing would have to be made because it would leave us with Sonny Weems as the second wing off the pine.
SF: An injury to Turkoglu and the season’s over. There’s just too much riding on his scoring, play-making, and passing ability that if he goes down we’ll become a slightly more athletic version of last year’s pre-Marion team with a better option at the backup point. He’s been looked at as the answer to our fourth quarter woes, he’s supposed to take the pressure off of Calderon so he can knock down clean outside looks, he’s supposed to run the PNR with Bosh like he did with Howard, he’s supposed to be a double-team threat, he’s supposed to guard the 3-spot, along with Jack he’s supposed to be the magnet that keeps Bosh in Toronto. There is no backup plan here, both Belinelli and Wright are too steep a drop-off to even entertain discussion.
PF: We were 2-3 without him last year and 3-12 the year before that. The dependency on Bosh had a lot to do with Sam Mitchell’s unimaginative offense which relied on him heavily in every single set. The talent on the roster didn’t help the W-L record without him but it should be noted that the team actually played “team basketball”, the results weren’t there but anybody watching would’ve noticed the improved ball-movement and cohesion in the unit. It was as if the shackles of conformity had been lifted and we didn’t have to run the bloody high PNR every time. It was a reminder that catering to your star’s fairly limited offensive abilities isn’t the way to go. That being said, if Bosh goes down we lose our main double-team threat which can suffocate an offense if the coach doesn’t have some trickery in his playbook. We would also lose our best rebounder and arguably our most athletic player. You can’t buy insurance for Bosh and if he goes down there’s nothing Amir Johnson can do to make up for it. I do have a twisted wish – that the team get to play without Bosh for 7-10 games this season so Triano and the players can see that they don’t have to depend on him and that if we play team basketball, we can be respectable. I think with the improved talent on the roster we’d fare better than in years past, although the post-season would be impossible.
C: Hard to quantify the impact of missing Bargnani because he hasn’t been consistent enough to expect anything from so far in his career. I’d like to think he’s an important part of the team and missing him would be a death-blow, but I just don’t see him being out for 20 games making that big of a difference. Our style of play will change and we’ll see a more traditional offense with Rasho clogging the paint instead of Bargnani parked on the outside. We’ll definitely miss the three-point threat but overall, it’ll result in a different Raptors team, not sure we’d be much worse off. See, I feel that if you take Bargnani’s shots and distribute them amongst Turkoglu, Jack and Calderon, you’d end up with the same offensive throughput. This is of course based on his 50% crappy and 50% good career so far. I think if Evans or Rasho goes down we’d be in a world of hurt because it’ll significantly impact our rebounding and put greater pressure on Bosh and undue pressure on Johnson to step up.
Thoughts?
107 Raps
Arse .. this is not a ‘team’ .. it’s a group of bballers most of whom have never played with each other in NBA competition.
Trying to predict what will happen if injuries occur is a tad premature, but I’m sure that Triano and BC have made the same evaluations as you.
The question becomes, how do you protect your players from injury?? We know that player fatigue is conducive to injury, so reduced minutes is the prescription. However this affects performance if the minutes are spread too thinly.
At PG, it’s conceivable that Jose and Jack could share minute near equally … say 30-18 .. and hope a Calderjack or Jackeron combo could be created. Even Douby could get minutes from Jose to help preserve him for the season and possibly playoffs too.
SG is a complete toss-up on this team … and nobody knows what’s going to happen. If they flop, look to Hedo playing 2-3 for most of the season.
SF is again dependent on Hedo … with Triano and BC praying daily that somebody will step up to shore up this position.
PF and C should be considered together. Why is it I can’t envisage Bosh and Bargs on the floor at the same time?? Somebody has got to go.. soooo obvious.
So blending the players together and injury compensation go hand in hand.
“Arse .. this is not a ‘team’ .. it’s a group of bballers most of whom have never played with each other in NBA competition.”
FAQ, you keep spewing this over and over. You have a lot of time on your hands, don’t you? Soooo obvious.
He does make a good point at times – if you can ever find it through the annoying FAQ-isms.
It’s hard, I know, to look past the ’sooooo obvious’ and ‘tribal honking fan’ and all that spam, but there are actually some valid points beneath.
I do think Douby may end up taking a few minutes at PG to ease the strain, but I think some of those minutes may come from Jack as well. After all, as you said, SG is a ‘toss-up’ and Jack can play the position and is somewhat-proven (moreso than DeRozan, Belinelli, and Weems, anyways).
See my response below … regarding your idiotic ideas …ppprrfffttt
And which idea would that be?
I have to agree with J, you keep saying it’s not a team, it’s not a team!
We all understand that and see the chalanges involved, but that still does not preclude us from discussing, wishing and hoping that the pieces we do have fit.
Not saying your ideas are not important, because they are expressed eloquently, but at the same time they are repetative.
The fantacizing and delusions by all the t.h. fans infecting this forum just demonstrates the total lack of knowledge of what is required to create a functioning NBA team.
A pile of bricks is no more a house than is a bunch of players a team.
But keep on with yer tinker toy talk and lego brick playtime … trying to convince yerselves that this bunch of disparate bballers will suddenly propel the Raptors into the second round of playoff … ya joyful morons.
it’s true; I’m so delusional I missed the memo about “fantacizing” being a real word…
so true that an injury to hedo and we’re done. that’s why i would consider signing joey graham to a 1-year minimum contract. at least we knew joey’s game from last season (his best, on a so far, disappointing career, considering he was drafted ahead of indy’s franchise player. he could give us spark for some minutes and plays excellent d. a perennial backup.
i would rather have joey over this kid sony weems. who the fuck is this weems anyway?
oh and i have a question, is amir johnson just a power forward or could he play sf? coz if he could, decntly, we won’t need joey.
He’s definitely much more of a 5 than a 3.
And sorry, but I don’t see how Graham is any better insurance for Hedo than anyone else already on the roster, and I’ve never hated him with the intensity of my fellow Raptors fans.
Why don’t you send an email to BC with your stupid fucking ideas … who knows, somebody might even tell you to go to hell … ya adolescent honker … soooo obvious
Anybody ever told you to FAQ-off?
Just fuckin’ brilliant!
ROTD!
Methinks you have me confused with another J. Soooo obvious, ya think???
You’re the “Joey Graham” kissass guy .. right ??!!!
Nope, I’m the Joey Graham won’t make a lick of difference to this team guy. If you had any sense at all, you’d find it dreadfully odd for J and j to be the same person when j wanted Graham on the team and was wondering if AJ could play the 3, and J shot both of those down. Probably a bit hard to distinguish the two though for someone like you.
Hey, Alt Raps … why don’t you have a poll or a contest predicting the Raptor starting lineup on the first game of the preseason and regular season … with a prize for the winner … of course ….
you are the WORST!!!! GO BE A KINGS A FAN
So this is a “t.h. fan only” website ????
Don’t forget to tell that to Alt Raps and Arsenalist …. ya kissass …!!!
Good analysis.
I never actually thought about this much, but we’ve pretty much moved our backup PG situation from last year to SF. Without Turkoglu, as you’ve said, we’re basically the same team as last year.
However, even without him, I think we’ll be okay if no other major injuries occur. Our offense should be okay, with Belinelli able to score off the bench and our starting five being primarily offensive players. The defense would be filled with the specialist, Wright.
They won’t be able to spread the floor as well and some (or many) of the plays could be useless without him, but the Raptors won’t be nearly as bad off as with the Calderon situation in 08-09.
I agree that an injury to the Turk would be pretty devastating, but I think this team can pull together and players can step up enough that the season won’t be ‘over’.
I would like to argue with one of your points Arse:
“I think with the improved talent on the roster we’d fare better than in years past, although the post-season would be impossible.”
I don’t think, I am sure if we had the Raps 09-10 team without Bosh in 08 we would have made the playoffs. The east in the 08-09 season sucked balls, and the fact that we didn’t make the playoffs last year is just embarrassing. If Bosh goes missing right now, Evens starts Pf, Belleneli starts Sg to take some of the scoring pressure off. I don’t think we would be hurt to the extent that it would be “impossible” to make the playoffs. It would be a long shot but I think there is a small chance we could make the playoffs without Bosh this year. We have a good team without Bosh. Our team is not like the Cleaveland team in the past few years, and Bosh is no Lebron. He brings nothing extraordinary. He just brings stats to our team, and I think it is replaceable.
“small chance to make the playoffs” isn’t far off from “impossible to make the playoffs”.
Sure, we’ve seen Raptor teams lose their star and make runs, remember when Vince went down and the team won like 13 of 14 down the stretch to sneak in and lose to Detroit in 5. Just saying that the rest of the conditions would need to be perfect for that to happen and I’d always put money against it.
Concentrated death directed at Childs.
(He was a damn good player for the raps that year sans that goof)
translation: “The NEW YORK bookies will get you every time”
(I don’t really believe that, but damn, we were one poor decision away from sending an incredible team golfing.)
Make the playoffs without CB$?? LOL
Are you kidding me? Make the play-offs without their best player?
Who would attract double teams… you?
I love all the anti- Bosh sentimment i’m hearing nowadays and when he kills it this year make sure you say the same things and don’t reverse too quickly.
Agree, Turk looks like he is our bread and butter and losing Anthony Parker (at his best) and Shawn Marion were due to the fact that we had to make room for this guy. I’m sure he will be the main focus late in the 4th quarter when we are up or down by 3 pts. Losing Turk can be a mountain of a disaster.
We are indeed much more younger athletic and “potential” talented, and have adequately some tough guys, but this team will never be a very solid team from first sight since Garbo broke his ankle-joint in Boston.
The only thing I am afraid to see in the season opener is Moon playing smart basketball and drawing 5-6 FTs for Cleveland. It won’t hurt as much as Carter getting a piggy-back to the playoffs with D-12 and Lewis, but I’m sure Arse will shoot someone if Moon has a 50% FG and only takes 10 3-pointers for the whole season.
RE: SG: DeRozan, Belinelli, Weems
I hate to even say it.
…but Belineli should be ahead of Derozan at least for now. It is disrespectful, at least at this time, otherwise. Vetranship (sp?), should mean something
There is a pecking order in this league and a player that has not played a single game should not be projected starting over a player that has. Even if it is my favourite whipping boy… Marco. Trust me I want Derozan at this position, but out of respect, Belineli deserves the initial consideration (out of those three players mentioned).
uh, i guess that’s why they have camp & pre-season. btw – you wouldn’t be italian?
okay okay, out of respect, let’s call the veteran Bellinelli the starter… until training camp starts.
Good point ..!!!! … Belinelli is a flashy shooter/scorer, but it’s known that he’s soft on defence and that’s where the opposition will exploit the Raptor’s … unless other players rotate to guard the likes of Lebron, Wade, Allan, Lee, Iguodala, Gordon, Granger, Redd … tell me when to stop …??!!!!
Can you imagine DeDe trying to defend opposing SGs???? … Triano must be apoplectic knowing that he has zero defensive presence at SG ….!!!!
stop.
Does it hurt yer t.h. feeeeelings …???!!!!!
I think the 1 advantage we will have against other teams is that we can have 3 near 7 footers on the floor at the same time who can score and shoot the lights out. This is a recipe for mismatches.
If Hedo, Bosh, or perhaps even Bargs go down, we’re in deep shit…
This works in theory but not in practice because the “mismatch” only happens if the height advantage is getting you an actual basketball advantage somewhere. Bargnani hasn’t shown that he can use his size in the post and neither has Bosh, they both play like guards more than big men. Turkoglu is the only one among them who uses his size and skill to its maximum ability and can actually cause mismatches inside and outside.
This is exactly what they were saying last year about JO/Bosh/Bargnani and look how that turned out.
This year Turkoglu will be a quality SF compared to last year when JO ,Bosh and Bargnani were together on the floor.
I think the main benefit our bigs have witht hat size isn’t posting up but getting cleaner looks for shots over people. It’s just the style of our bigs – they are jump-shooters.
The difference between JO/CB/AB and AB/CB/HT is that Hedo can guard 3s, where Bargs doesn’t have a chance in hell.
Maybe Turkoglu can teach Bargnanni a few things about using his size to create mismatches. If everyone thinks JO helped Bargs on the defensive end, there’s no reason to think that Turkoglu won’t have an effect on Bargs on the offensive end.
Uh, except that JO was an AMAZING defender. I think he even won a DPOY, if not he was close a few times. He would be a good source for rebounding advice, but would you ask him about 3 point shooting? No. Hedo has a very soft reputation as a defender, and he has been on teams with Dwight and Tim backing him up. Now he has Bargs and Bosh ‘protecting the paint’ behind him? I sure hope Iavroni is a genius.
Point is, don’t ask Hedo for defending advice.
“Defense: A solid defender who plays smart, but is a bit of a tweener. Will create turnovers by reading ball handlers and anticipating their passes. Has the length to deflect passes that most other players wouldn’t get to. Can effectively defend both forward positions, but has a much harder time stopping power forwards. Lacks the physical strength to control the block. Always gets a hand up when his man tries to take him one-on-one. Good rebounder. Not the most dynamic defender, but shows the intensity and intelligence to mask his lack of great lateral quickness at the small forward position.”
The actual scouting report on Hedo’s defense, IE, an opinion not made up by someone getting their scouting report from a reporter who notices the player is white and assumes they cant play D.
I think you misread my post. I said Turkoglu would help Bargs on the OFFENSIVE end, not defensive end.
Ooops, my bad
In theory, we do have the potential to exploit “mismatches” with the 3 bigs, but until they prove capable, we shouldn’t put too much thought into it. If you want an example of a “big” frontcourt that does take advantage of its size, look no further than the Lakers with Pau, Odom and Bynum.
I will temper my enthusiasim for this team right now, because we all got burned by the notion that a 41 and 41 team with an added Jermaine O’Neal had a horrible season. Which I blame in part by the fact that we never really addressed the 2-3 spot where we got exposed, rebounding was horrible, and we had no other option other then Chris Bosh. I will add another major weakness _ was Calderone was clearly hurt, he wasn’t blowing by anyone up to February. I very rarely saw him take it to the hole (which he did the year before). Having no lateral quickness, he was exposed by every point gaurd that played the raps on the defence end as well! That is a summary of last year – hence the horrible record. I’m not going to even address the fact that Jermaine came into the season looking light a big fat donut!!!
However, having said that. I don’t enjoy the negativity and I don’t understand why people can’t be super pumped for this season. This year we have got rid of all the muck (except anothony parker, he was good, not great, good)that was driving me nuts, and we got some proven talent and most of all athleticism – pieces that were clearly missing last year. On paper, we’ve addressed the rebounding, we have improved our depth at the two and three spot, and theoritically Calderon should be perfectly healthy for this season with the summer rest…
Barring a major unknown catastrophe, there is no reason why this team can’t hit 50 wins. The only thing I will gaurantee is there no way with this group we’ll be winning only 30 games, that is flat out ridiculous….
The thing that gets me most excited is Bellinili. I think it’s ridiculous to say that his time in Golden State was indicitive of the player he is…Don Nelson is a horrible coach that ruins players and nobody can say a word to me that would change my mind. E.g please see Al Harrington in Golden State vs. his numbers now in New York… There were rumours that Don Nelson wants to trade Monte Ellis (PLEASE SEND HIM OVER HERE) to clear cap space (clear the cap space with us Don!!)….. Anybody think that’s flat out insane? Please pull the trigger on this deal, this would be a move of Memphis proportions!!!
Don did to Bellinili what Sam Mitchell did to Bargnani….
I’ll say it right now Bellinili is the Rocky Balbo of this team…. Do not count out the Stallion… Watch clips of this guy, he is a flat out champ!!! He did things in Europe,Summer League, and in Golden State that made my eyes bulge out….. I’ll take any bets that he’s going to be amazing on the Raps, please doubt – I will be posting “I told you so” all over the blogs this year – ‘book it’….
Anybody who watches basketball can see players that suck balls – players that can’t create their own shot – A.K.A. Kapono and Moon, Graham, etc.. (please, if one more person says Graham back, I’m going to lose my f&* mind…. Graham should not be in this league period end stop!!!) players that don’t take it to the hole, who have no dribbling or handles, and for you Joey Graham lovers – who don’t have the brain capacity to play this game at a Pro Level are all going to struggle … Bellinili is a ridiculous passer, has handles and can create his own shot!!
I’ll take a bet with anybody that he’s going to have a great season….
There I’m done!!!
Enjoy this season I know I will!!!!
I thank you for being an optimist.
Personaly, I think this team had more issues than Sam Mitchell’s coaching, I feel we were quite thin and lacked skill on the defensive side of the ball, we lacked toughness and athleticism.
Curious that Bryan needed to replace the entire team after he just fired the NBA’s COY. Was it the coach or was it the team? Sneaky, wicked, what do you make of it move?
If Coaching is the right move, why axe 80% of the team?
good question.
bryan is a pimp…
Sam was the REASON this team sucked,
We are now set for the 2nd round! Go Bryan!
Coaches often get much too much credit for the team’s successes and get too much of the blame for a team’s failures. Sam received both.
Sure? So eventually Phil Jackson, Pat Riley, Obradovic and Messina were all just in the right place at the right time??
Best teams often carry the best players and the best coaches together, and that’s what makes them excellent. Otherwise, they might lack something basic to win and excel.
the thing is, these coaches are championship coaches, they would never take a job coaching some young rookie team. They coach for one reason, and that is to win the NBA title.
“So eventually Phil Jackson, Pat Riley, Obradovic and Messina were all just in the right place at the right time?”
I didn’t say that, did I? “Coaches ***OFTEN*** …
Btw, check some of Pat Riley’s records – I’ve stated this too often before in prior posts: “Pat Riley had a four year consecutive span of 0.305, 0.672, 0.537, 0.183 / was he a terrible coach, then one year later a Hall of Fame coach, then a year later an average coach and one year later the worst coach of all time? Of course not! Players/talent/injuries obviously matter a great deal – what else could explain those four consecutive seasons?”
Sounds great but….who the hell is Bellinili???
;-)
Marco Belinelli – sorry for the spelling….
http://www.nba.com/playerfile/marco_belinelli/index.html
just in case you’re not being sarcastic..
Personaly, I think this team had more issues than Sam Mitchell’s coaching, I feel we were quite thin and lacked skill on the defensive side of the ball, we lacked toughness and athleticism.
were all your points not addressed with the new players?… Please don’t mention Sam Mitchell – If he was such a good coach why didn’t anybody pick him up yet? I don’t think anybody will take on that experiment again – he ran one play and that was it…. He got out coached in every playoff series…. Regardless of the award that he got, it was never because he outsmarted any other coach… He ran the same plays and same stuff; and people figured it out – hence the decline…
Exactly. The only thing that Smitch improved on in his time in Toronto were his substitution patterns – and those were still suspect!
Ultiamte Point About Sam Mitchell as a coach – How many people are saying bring Sam back?… .Grand total of 0 people in all of Toronto!!!
And Sam should have developped plays for Bargnani instead of sitting him down for the longest time after two quick fouls.
Anyway, it’s funny how a coach can go from COY to being fired in a couple of years…
Just shows how useless awards like COY really are. The record of a team is so dependent on so many things.
Smitch got the COY award for the amazing job he did in creating a 47 win team from players from all over the place. He started with the idea that he wanted a running team that shot the ball quickly. When he saw that his team could not do that style successfully, he ditched the running style and went to a pass, pass, and shoot offense that worked very well.
Smitch’s downfall in the last two years was that he became less and less trusting of players not named Bosh and Calderon (and in some cases rightfully so). In last year, that distrust was so bad, he basically only had Bosh and Calderon handling the ball on offense.
I think Smitch has turned out to be a decent coach. I’d want to see him coach some more to determine how good he is.
good analysis
Agreed.
But that means he’s a coach who’s not really able to work on the team’s human assets and develop them to a higher level, which at the end underlines a major flaw in his skills, at least IMO.
i think the reason sam had success that season is because garbs parker jose and bargs were all unknowns that had breakout seasons. i dont think it was sams choice to change the style i think he had no choice. 4 of his main players only knew how to play euro ball and he benefited greatly from the suprise attack aspect of that. as soon as we got to the playoffs and a team got some time to scout us he crumbled. once the horseshoe was removed from his ass and teams had an idea of what we were doing the dream was over.
the more i think of smitch the more i realize just how bad he was. he got sooo lucky.
Smitch knew he was on his way out after he blurted:
“This team may not be athletic, but it’s basketball-wise!!!”
… to the media reporters after the end of the pre-season games..!!!
BC must have shit a brick … the COY telling Raptor fans that the team wasn’t athletic … and all the season tickets were not yet sold …!!!!
Smitch had just put his head into the guillotine with that truthful admission …LOL
Belinelli hasn’t earned the starting role any more than DeRozan. I don’t know why fans think this guy can play. He has been in the league for 2 years and done nothing playing for a team that doesn’t play defense which is his weakness. If you are a Offensive weapon and can’t get oof the bench is GS you aren’t very good period. DeRozan is an elite talent, Belinelli is not. The Raptors should and will start him if it is even reasonably possible which it is because no one else will TAKE the minutes.
His first year Belinelli played a grand total of 7 minutes per game…. That’s being generous!!!
Mark Nisbet – You will be my “I told you so” guy…. Don Nelson started to use him last year, when he got consistent minutes he was 15 points a game, when he got benched averages went down!!
FYi….
Excuse me, but I think that’s a very superficial examination, to use an euphemism…
Belinelli was starting last year for a part of the season, and he did pretty well. Afterwards he got injured…plus, do you really appreciate the way Nelson and the GSW management have run their team in the last few seasons?
Colangelo has been looking to sign Marco for a while, he has a great opinion of him, and so does Triano. I’m not saying he’s a great/good player, I’m just going to wait and see how it goes.
Jumping to conclusions too fast might hurt!
Certainly Belinelli and Nelson rubbed each other the wrong way. When Belinelli did get min (> 15 a game), he put up 12 PPG on 56% TS% along with 3 assists. Decent for sure.
Just imagine … a NBA rookie and a GS reject are fighting it out for starting SG on the resurgent Raptors … now that’s going to be interesting … believe it
Perhaps you haven’t heard about the Golden State Warriors. Dysfunctional may be a kind word to describe the situation there.
To be a “GS reject” does not mean much. GS welcomed Corey Maggette – what a great decision that was.
Have a brief look at this:
http://www.mercurynews.com/sports/ci_13236079?nclick_check=1
“Cohan’s Law: If the Warriors can screw something up, they will.”
Not to say that Belinelli is an all-star – not even close. Just that what happens in a Warrior uniform is not a good indicator. For example, Anthony Randolph is one hell of a player, yet they barely play him as well.
FAQ: Question > Do you think GS was a highly functional franchise that maximized their players’ potential last year?
GS took Devean George plus cash for Belinelli .. perhaps because George was an expiring contract and GS had no need for Belinelli’s talents.
It’s not a question of “functional franchise” as much as it is how will MarcoB play for the soft Raptors … and ’soft’ they are if you include DeDe or Belinelli at SG … like a big gaping hole that will be brutally exploited .. believe it.
Johnson is capable of averaging a low double double over a long stretch of games if he can learn to stay on the court and gets the ball passed to him on offense.
His defense and ability to make the rest of the team on the court with him better defensively is better than Bosh’s even with his foul problem.
hes a definite upgrade from hump
How much will Amir have to step up his game to be a significant factor as an important backup player on the Raptors … that’s what I want to know …??!!!!
i think he already has game. so not much. all he has to do is rebound ,block shots and not force offense and he’ll be more than enough. i want to know how much he CAN step up?? because i think this kid can be really good.
Way too much negativism out there – Last year’s Raptors were an “experiment” a short term risk hoping the JO’s knee was better and the team had just added an all-star. And Bryan fixed that experiment in just over 1/2 a season. Too late for last year – but not for this year!
JO’s knee wasn’t better, isn’t better, and he’ll likely hurt for the rest of his life – This isn’t his fault, it is just the way it is. At $20m, JO sucked up most of the team’s cap space and they sucked at the first signs of injury.
This year is different! Better depth than most teams.
COY awards are based on record, not ability. Sam never even learned to implement an in-bounds play – the Raps looked bad every time it mattered – cost them big games. Sam was an “emotion” only coach which is never enough. Kinda of fun to watch, but highly dependent on the guys not needing any real coaching.
Jay is an Xs and Os coach and after Sam that’s a nice thing to see.
And Colangelo believes Belinelli is a “most improved award” type player. Check out his quotes about Belinelli’s play. Bryan believes the Raps have picked up a very good player! (Could be why “fans” are excited about him?)
Injury risks – Try to imagine any team losing 2 of their top players, or like most of the better teams that rely on a “star” wing to carry them – just 1.
Boston – no Pierce, LA – no Kobe, Denver – no Anthony, Cleveland – No King! Still favs to get to the conference finals?
It’s nice to hear someone putting Hedo in that position for the Raps!
I’m optimistic about Belinelli, too, after everything I’ve been reading about him. But does anyone anywhere have any link to an article, interview, quote, or ANYTHING that gets Marco’s input about coming to Toronto and the upcoming season? THAT is what I’m interested to know.
… and this season’s Raptors are NOT an “experiment” ..????!!!!!!
WOW …!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
are you actually yelling as you write that??!!!!!!!!!!!! calm down
I live in Los Angeles and saw DeRozan play a lot last season for USC.
He started last season with USC pretty slowly. It seemed to me that a lot of that was due to a lack of aggressiveness on his part. As the season went on he got a lot more aggressive on offense and his game and numbers rose accordingly.
DeRozan will be one of the top rookies in the league if he starts off the year aggressively and stays that way all season.
Do you think that $2,282,640 is enough to motivate his ‘aggressiveness’ .. or does he need a whole lot of kindness, support and consideration for his feeeeelings … like the tribal honking fans on this fine forum ..???!!!!
“Do you think that $2,282,640 is enough to motivate his ‘aggressiveness’…”
No it is not enough. He needs good coaching, experience and good teammates as well.
BC and Gherardini both had the hots for MarcoB last season and even wanted to make a deal to be able to draft him several years ago. Who do you think Triano will favour when the regular season starts .. DeDe or MarcoB ????
FAQ: Sometimes I swear you invent things to comment on. I find myself coming less and less to this site because of bloggers like you.
I wish everybody would ignore you, then maybe you’d go away.
so now you’re hating on derozan?? was he a bad pick?? who should we have picked faq??
What ‘hate’??!!! Buddhafan says says he/she saw DeDe playing at USC .. and he was somewhat lethargic and later got aggressive. Sounds like the young man has questionable self-confidence … and now he’s a NBA multi-millionaire with a shot to start on the Ratpor’s questionable roster.
Imagine … Euro-veterans like Jose, Hedo and even Barg, together with USian all-star Bosh … having to accomodate the tender feeeelings of draft pick rookie DeDe to help him become a man .. in the NBA .. playing SG .. after only a freshman year at USC … lotsa pressure on the young man and I hope his mom (and dad?) are there to support him … like vince’s mom did …!!!!
Buddhafan says: DeRozan will be one of the top rookies in the league if …” … and that’s gonna be a big ‘IF’ …!!!!!
he never said anything about being lethargic he said he was unaggressive at first butlater in his FRESHMAN year became aggressive. you are reaching my friend. you’re just sitting somewhere finding ways to hate on the raps.
and you never answered my question was he a bad pick?? should we have picked someone else.??
what about the story of his freshman year gives you the idea that he lacks in self confidence?? and dont give one of your bullshit answers like you did after the hedo trade teaching us all about the turkish culture in toronto and the invisible turkey town
How many frosh start off playing like a champ in college?
I have no idea.
A lot of times college freshmen and rookies defer to the veterans on offense especially when they are on a team with a bunch of guys can fill it up.
Do you think the Raptors have a bunch of guys that can fill it up?
The most important injury would be to Alvin Williams, the man is a Warrior and another injury would be impair the psyche of the team as a whole….
Second would be any missed time to the endearing problem of Marcus Banks missing frontal lobe, his struggles in this department are well documented and tragic leading to many missed chances to flourish into a fine 15th player.
‘FAQ’ F*** OFF YOU OBVIOUSLY HAVE NO LIFE WHAT SO EVER.
Yer obviously another one of those juvenile tribal honking kiddie fans who’s life is all wound up in the Ratpors together with yer #4 uniform that allows you to pretend you’re a 6′10″ man …LOL
How do I know??? .. because you don’t know how to spell “whatsoever” …LOLOL
FAQ: You’re the last person to chastise anyone on their spelling and grammar. Your writing leaves a lot to be desired. Anyway, shouldn’t you be going to work or something, you’ve been on the site all day.
Hey guys,
Lay off FAQ for a while. All he is doing is questioning our unbridled enthusiasm (Cosmo Kramer, The Doodle). Nothing wrong with having an opposing view and nothing wrong in being questioned. I tend to agree with what he has to say. It forces me to be more rational and reasonable with my expectations.
+1
I agree to an extent. But the problem is that if you actually try to debate it, he has a tendancy to insult you and the Raptors without actually making a counterpoint.
If the comment is ‘debate-worthy’, I will discuss it in depth … but if it’s just some juvenile tribal honking love-lorn fan crying and lashing out because he perceives his beloved Ratpors have been insulted … I step on insects like that.
Now that you know that … what do you want to ‘discuss’ ..??
Right now? Nothing, really. I’d prefer to just watch them come November and see how they do. After all, no matter how much we discuss – pessimistically or optimistically, the team will perform the same, be it horribly and admirably.
But while we’re here – what do you consider to be ‘debate-worthy’?
Oh, and thank you for the civilized response.
Nothing wrong with being pessimistic. I’ve been a Raps fan long enough to know how much they just love to disappoint their fans.
That being said, there is a difference between caution and hate. As far as I can tell, FAQ hates the Raptors and desperately wants them to fail so he can gloat in all of our faces.
Shitting on our team is not a good way to curry favour.
Its not what he says but usually how he says it. Annoying as hell when he starts to direct barbs towards specific posters. Enough to make me lay off the republic until the season is much closer!
O_o .. I agree with you partly Arse. I do agree on the point that if Hedo is down, the team is down. As FAQ mentioned though, We aren’t a proven team quite yet so we can’t really judge anything. Predictions never hurt though.
Point well take … and this buncha guys might jell fabulously … or they may be the worst mix of players imaginable … and the first to jump ship will be … … … Bosh of course.
The Raptors have been totally renovated, and Triano and Iavaroni will have to mix’n match, slice’n dice, whack’n hack these guys into some semblance as a NBA-worthy team …!!!
The Bosh-Bargs-Jose-Hedo veteran core will have to provide a joint leadership on and off the floor to make it work … and the biggest contributor must be Bosh. Does he have the cojones to pull it off .. or is he gonna take off .. mid-season to a contending team ??!!!
FAQ is acting like a troll. Do not feed trolls.
Heheh funny, but true
Good stuff. Insightful even.
I’m mostly concerned about the SG spot. I like your fair & balanced approach, but from a distance it’s already clear that the team needs a ROY campaign from DeMar DeRozan to make any noise. He’s the only player on the roster that might (potentially) be considered a threat by opposing teams.
The scouting report on Jose, Bosh, Hedo and Bargnani lets anyone with a clue win a close game against them. (Encourage Jose to cough up the ball early, get Bosh to dribble with his right hand, let Hedo over-dribble, tempt Bargnani to take low percentage 2 pointers or let him travel-drive to the hoop).
Those guys don’t scare anyone. DeRozan is exactly the combination of accurate and explosive that might become difficult to contain towards the end of games. He seems to have a ‘get it done’ edge to his game. At least in summer league play.
#1 — An injury to Hedo Turkoglu would be extremely painful. It would leave the Raptors with the weakest wing rotation in the NBA and it would kill them on a nightly basis.
#2 — An injury to Chris Bosh would also be very painful. The wild card here is Amir Johnson, both how many minutes he can play and what he does with it. If Amir plays very well, then a Bosh injury is less painful than a Hedo injury. If Amir plays poorly or if he only gets 15 minutes a game, then Bosh’s injury would hurt more so than any other player. Bosh is the team’s only elite talent and losing his points + rebounding would put the team in a major hole.
#3 — The team can work around a Jose Calderon injury so long as Hedo is healthy. Hedo can help out Douby or whoever the third string point is at the time and makes things work well enough. Obviously you’re losing a lot of talent and that hurts, but they’re very well set up to handle the loss.
#4 — An injury to Bargnani would improve the team. The Raptors would be better if he didn’t play.
#4 makes me laugh, but not because its false. I hope Andrea plays well enough this year to be a positive win share contributor.