Here’s what the Raptors bring to the table in terms of big men:
PF: Chris Bosh, Reggie Evans, Amir Johnson
C: Andrea Bargnani, Rasho Nesterovic, Patrick O’Bryant
Here’s the rest of the East:
Bobcats
C: Tyson Chandler, Nazr Mohammed
PF: Boris Diaw, DeSagana Diop, Alexis Ajijnca
Advantage Raptors. Boris Diaw averaged 22 points on 67% shooting against us last year and he wasn’t even trying. This is a matchup where we cross-switch by having somebody other than Bosh guard Diaw while he’s guarding Bosh. That somebody has to be either Evans or Johnson. They’ve now got a real rebounder in Chandler and some complementary garbage men. Bargnani will struggle on the glass, but it wouldn’t be saying much of him if you didn’t think he could take advantage of Chandler who loves to stay close to the basket. This is assuming Bosh statistically outplays Diaw.
Bucks:
PF: Kurt Thomas, Francisco Elson, Luc Mbah a Moute
C: Andrew Bogut, Dan Gadzuric
Advantage Raptors. 20 bucks says Kurt Thomas is acquired by a contender at the trade deadline. Andrew Bogut is a big lug who can hurt us but with the guards running the show in Milwaukee he’s getting less touches than AltRaps at the Rail. This is a matchup where boxing out will be imperative because of the abundance of hustle on their roster.
Bulls:
PF: Tyrus Thomas, James Johnson
C: Brad Miller, Joakim Noah, Jerome James
Advantage Raptors. Tyrus Thomas’ inconsistency has frustrated the Bulls and he cannot be considered a reliable option, not yet and maybe not ever. Putting a lanky body like Amir Johnson or Patrick O’Bryant on him can do the trick. Brad Miller’s craft and toughness is to be admired but Bargnani’s man-defense is liable to shut him down; Joakim Noah’s hustle is countered with Evans; Although Noah is younger and bigger, he’ll have plenty to think about going against Reggie or Rasho. The Ace of Spades is Bosh who can’t afford to be getting blocked at the buzzer if we want to win this matchup.
C**tics:
PF: Kevin Garnett, Glen Davis
C: Rasheed Wallace, Kendrick Perkins, Brian Scalabrine
Advantage C**tics. Bosh may as well sit this one out as Boston now has two players that make him go Shiver Me Timbers!. Glen Davis packs a punch off the bench and showed a drive game and finishing ability in the post-season that nobody expected. You could throw Rasho or Johnson at Perkins but the latter’s learned to play tough and can eat any of our bigs save Evans just based on effort. Scalabrine might be a terrible player but he’s a great fit in Boston, you can always count on our defense to leave him wide open for at least 3 corner threes.
Cavaliers
PF: Leon Powe, JJ Hickson, Jawad Williams
C: Shaq, Anderson Varejao, Zydrunas Ilgauskas
Advantage Cavaliers. Safe to say they’ve got the C spot covered. A healthy Leon Powe is an upgrade over Ben Wallace and JJ Hickson showed he’s an NBA player. Bargnani has a quickness advantage against their C’s but last year he only managed to average 9.7 points on 34% shooting against them. So I ask you, where’s the advantage? If you put a stiff on Bosh he’ll school him but if you counter with Varejao or a healthy Powe, things get murky. No worries though, I’m pretty sure Bosh is uber-pumped after what happened last year.
Hawks:
PF: Josh Smith, Joe Smith
C: Al Horford, Zaza Pachulia, Jason Collins
Advantage Hawks. Al Horford and Josh Smith bring the talent, Joe Smith brings the experience and Zaza Pachula brings the grit. Jason Collins brings dead weight. Having said that, Chris Bosh loves playing against the Hawks, he averaged 25/11 against them while shooting 57%. Joe Smith is a more talented backup than anything we have to offer. Say it with me: Aavverryyy baaaddy clap your haands.
Heat
PF: Michael Beasley, Udonis Haslem, Dorell Wright
C: Jermaine O’Neal, Jamaal Magloire, Joel Anthony
Advantage Raptors. It’s a year to write-off in Miami as they wait for the 2010 summer to snag Bosh away. The C spot for them is sad and although there’s some talent and grit at the PF with Beasley and Haslem, they possess one of the worst frontlines in the league. JO’s still working out hard thinking it’ll matter. The Raptors should do all they can to get their hands on Udonis Haslem.
Knicks:
PF: Jared Jeffries, Al Harrington, Danilo Gallinari
C: David Lee, Eddy Curry, Darko Milicic
Advantage Raptors. Lee averaged 17/12 against Bosh who bettered him with 18/12. Let’s say this is a wash. Danilo Gallinari is a question mark at best and the Harrington/Jeffries combo doesn’t play any defense. I’ll take Bargnani over those three any day; Harrington’s a nice offensive player but I get a feeling a team with him on it isn’t ever going to do much. This Knicks lineup is a 180 degree change in style from what they sported in the early to mid-90’s. Darko is like the brand new lawn mower people see at garage sales and go, Why, I’m sure I can get this beast of a machine to do something only to find out that due to a manufacturing defect it’s motor was mysteriously replaced with a bunch of old wet newspapers.
Magic
PF: Rashard Lewis, Brandon Bass, Ryan Anderson
C: Dwight Howard, Marcin Gortat, Adonal Foyle
Advantage Magic. Howard and Bosh can offset each other scoringiwise, but the impact Howard has on the game and the rest of his teammates is far more significant. Andrea Bargnani is a poor man’s Rashard Lewis and we don’t even need to look any further to hand the Magic the advantage. But we will. Brandon Bass was a steal and although I don’t think highly of Gortat, he’s no worse than Rasho. Adonal, Patrick. Patrick, Adonal. Patrick, bench. Bench, Patrick. Adonal, bench. Bench, Adonal.
Pacers:
PF: Josh McRoberts, Solomon Jones, Tyler Hansbrough
C: Troy Murphy, Jeff Foster, Roy Hibbert
Advantage Raptors. I’m ignoring the fact that Murphy had 20/20’s against us last year. The Pacers have the grit and some young talent in Hibbert, but proven commodities is where they lack. Tyler Hansbrough reminds me too much of Kris Humphries. Roy Hibbert is still a year or two away and as much as I like Jeff Foster, I can’t help but feel he’s far more valuable to a contending team than in Indiana where he’ll just be taking developmental minutes away from Hibbert.
Pistons:
PF: Jason Maxiell, Charlie Villanueva, Austin Daye
C: Ben Wallace, Chris Wilcox, Kwame Brown
Advantage Raptors. Only because I’m forced to pick a four time All-Star over Jason Maxiell. And our starting C is supposed to be really good. Charlie V brings the firepower and Jason Maxiell the paint pain, Ben Wallace is spent but he can put Evans or Johnson on his back any given day. Chris Wilcox is the talented big that we hope Johnson turns into and Kwame Brown is a mobile body that can dunk. Judging by Austin Daye’s summer league he’s better than Patrick O’Bryant. Despite the Pistons’ secondary bigs all being better, you have to take the Raptors and Bosh, who will feel relieved not to see Rasheed there.
Nets:
PF: Yi Jianlian, Eduardo Najera, Sean Williams
C: Brook Lopez, Tony Battie, Josh Boone
Advantage Raptors. Word has it that Jermaine O’Neal still has nightmares about Brook Lopez. The second year pro is on his way to becoming a solid NBA player but after that it’s nothing but question marks everywhere. Yi Jianlian’s star is fading fast and Josh Boone still hasn’t panned out. Eduardo Najera looks like a slimy real-estate agent who’d try to sell you a condo in South Parkdale by telling how “cultural” the area is.
Sixers:
PF: Elton Brand, Jason Smith, Marreese Speights
C: Samuel Dalembert, Primoz Brezec
Advantage Sixers. I’m willing to say Brand and Bosh offset each other but we have nobody to counter Samuel Dalembert, maybe Amir Johnson? Last year he averaged 12/11 against us while shooting 61%. Bargnani can take him outside but the big man has the recovery skills to contend with him. Our rebounding differential against the Sixers last year was -23, -3, -4 and -13; Bargnani averaged 4.3 rebounds in those games. Jason Smith is a solid young player with a good mid-range jumper and a developing post-up game. Brezec is terrible.
Wizards:
PF: Antawn Jamison, Dominic McGuire, Fabricio Oberto
C: Brendan Haywood, Andray Blatche, JaVale McGee
Advantage Raptors. Barely. Jamison can light up Bosh at will and is quick enough to take away Bosh’s main advantage. Haywood isn’t as effective as he once was as Blatche is set to be the man in the middle in Washington. I’ll take Bargnani’s defense to control Blatche any day and on the other end he can make him sweat too. The Wizards have two excellent hustle guys in McGuire and Oberto but I’ll take an in-form Bargnani over them any day. Bosh’s defense on Jamison needs to tighten up, the latter averaged 26/9 against us. Ouch.
Your thoughts are appreciated. BTW, anybody feel we should send our bigs here? Look what they teach:
- Mental Toughness for Post Play
- Getting Post Position
- Offensive Moves
- Power Moves to Basket
- Ball Faking
- High Post Shooting
- High Post Drive
- Post Footwork
- Receiving the Ball
- Post Passing
- Offensive Rebounding
- Defensive Rebounding
- Outlet Passing for Fast Break
- Running the Floor
- Post Defense
- Screening Techniques
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38 Raps
Great post – one of the best I have read in a while.
Hoping the Hawks and Cavs are closer to us and maybe equal, but I think you’re right. Sixers have only Brand and Dalembert: no PG to give them the ball. I think we have those guys beat.
Magic, Howard. Nuff said. But we did play them pretty well. Celtics, sigh. Only chance we have is if KG is injured, or our bigs learn to play TOUGH defence.
The good thing is against our main competition for the 5-8 spots (Hawks, Sixers, Bulls, Knicks, Pacers, Wizards), they don’t have an advantage over our bigs…which is HUGE I think.
All we need to do is hold our own against these teams, win games at home, have a respectable record against West teams, and we’re all good :)
Oh and also: “Lee averaged 17/12 against Bosh who bettered him with 18/12. Let’s say this is a wash”
Bosh and Lee will NEVER be a wash, you gotta be kidding me. Don’t big up Lee like that, he’s not on Bosh’s level. Sure he had some nice games against us but with a ‘hopefully’ stronger front court D than last year, Lee won’t average 17/12 against us again….I hope….
You’re probably spot on with this assessment.
But KG is coming off injury, not getting any younger – might be wise to take a wait and see approach here?
Leon Powe might be a great pick up – if and when he returns. But looking at the Cavs, their current big man rotation looks a lot like Shaq, Anderson Varejao, & Zydrunas Ilgauskas. I have no idea how that will play out. Not that it should matter much, they’ll still be James all day.
Solid review.
Personally I really like the Shaq pick up by the Cavs… I know he is not the same player we remember from his Orlando, LA, Miami days but he is still a pure brute and few can stop him. Shaq’s and Big Z’s biggest problems are not being able to play extensive minutes… now with the two they can each play 24 minutes a game…. I think thats money at the center spot. Varejo playing 30 minutes at PF and Powe playing 18 looks pretty nice aswell. If it all comes together this COULD easily be the most dominate rebounding (and a top defensive) team in the league.
WIZARDS:
You have the Haywood/Blatche placement in the team hierarchy all wrong.
Haywood is only 29, in a contract year, the best defensive communicators on the team, and will likely solidify himself as a top 10 center in the NBA this year (just watch).
Blatche, on the other hand, is a floundering model of inconsistency with a low IQ.
Agreed — Not the top 10 center part, but that Haywood isn’t being given enough credit.
Neither is Tyson Chandler or Boris Diaw … all very good defensive players … I’m not sure how much credit Joakim Noah is being given either.
Tyson Chandler — This guy was the difference between New Orleans being a 55 win team and .500 ball club. This is a seriously talented player.
Bucks — Warrick, Ilyasova and Mbah a Moute will be taking up nearly all their minutes at the four spot. Kurt Thomas is expected to the be the backup center for Bogut, with Gadzuric + Elson being non-rotation players kept for depth — I don’t think that changes anything, but that’s how they’re expected to lineup next year.
“Tyson Chandler — This guy was the difference between New Orleans being a 55 win team and .500 ball club. This is a seriously talented player.”
I would actaully rephrase that to “Chris Paul – this guy was the difference between New Orleans being a 55 win team and winning any games at all. This is a seriously taleneted player that makes everyone around him better.”
Chandler (and I do like him as a player) has yet to prove he can do anything other than rebound. Remember… Felton is passing him the ball this year… not Chris Paul.
I disagree …
Chandler has his best scoring season per minute in Chicago. All he got in New Orleans was more minutes and a coach who understood how effective he was in pick and rolls, something Scott Skiles never figured out (Bill Cartwright did though). Oh, and that scoring season, that was Jamal Crawford dishing him the ball.
The defensive impact + the rebounding impact + efficient to very efficient garbage man scoring = a huge impact.
Tyson Chandler is an All-Star caliber player.
The difference in Chandler’s pts per minute is marginal at best. On average Chandler’s pts per minute are better in New Orleans (0.3 pts per minute) than Chicago (0.29 pts per minute). Although his best year was the 2002/03 season (7 years ago) at 0.38 pts per minute. Those figures are so small they don’t really have an impact. However, his fg% skyrocketed when playing next to Chris Paul (from just over an average of 50% with Chicago to well over 60% with New Orleans). Chris Paul is where his ‘effeciency’ came from. He can dunk with the best of them, but he can’t shoot, pass, or handle the ball.
Chandler’s so called defensive impact is debatable…. he is not a poor defender but neither is he a game changer or an elite defender. He is long and athletic and doesn’t try to do anyting outside of his skill set (which is an asset). He is also a rebounding machine. However if this is an indicator of All-Star calibre play, then we have more than 15 centers in this league that are All-Star calibre…
Fair enough …
I think most, not all, of the efficiency difference is down to the coaching staff + offensive system rather than Chris Paul … but that is clearly impossible to prove until Chandler lands in a system where he gets to set a load of pick and rolls night in and out. Personally I’m of the belief that Chandler is so good in a pick and roll (very good pick, excellent turn, very quick roll to the rim, unbelievably long and athletic, great hands, excellent finisher) that it doesn’t really matter who is point guard is. Whether it’s Derek Fisher or Chris Paul, Tyson Chandler is still going to be a very effective weapon in the pick and roll.
As a side note, I don’t trust Larry Brown to use Chandler appropriately … and would expect a drop in scoring efficiency next season, although it should still remain well above average overall. Heck, Larry Brown used to give Ben Wallace and Theo Ratliff a couple of post ups every night, so Chandler will probably get that (not his strength). And likely, Larry will double up on that decision and fail to call enough pick and rolls for Chandler (although hardly anyone runs as many pick and rolls as New Orleans do — Phoenix, Orlando … ??). Brown should have a positive impact on the other end of the court though.
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The one thing that surprises me is that you don’t rate Chandler’s defense higher than that. I’m curious, who would be in your top five defensive centers in the NBA?
I’d go with Dwight Howard, Tim Duncan, Kendrick Perkins and I think Chandler in fourth place. Not sure who my fifth guy would be. Przybilla maybe.
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Hornets record with Chandler in the lineup — 30 wins and 15 losses
Hornets record without Chandler in the lineup — 19 wins and 18 losses
I think those two records describe Tyson Chandler’s impact best, and this is with Chandler having a poor season by his lofty standards. I think he’s a massive difference maker for teams.
I am not knowledgeable enough about Chandler to comment on most of this interesting debate.
However, I will say that part of the discrepancy record-wise MUST be a factor of the drop-off in quality. That is, Chandler is at least a solid player, but the other centers they have seem to be garbage–career backups at best, and not even good ones. The kind of players that would never even crack the rotation in a good team.
So there is a trickle down effect when your front line goes from being solid to being anemic (think: Raptors’ PG situation last year).
well I will say I do think I’m not giving Chandler enough credit… he is a good center and a quality player. I re-read what I wrote and kind of felt like I was knocking the guy… maybe the best way to put it is he is a better player than I’m giving him credit for.
That said I just don’t see him as a difference maker on a team. A nice piece yes, a starting center on most teams yes. But for him to be effective there needs to be multiple talent around him. Like LC009 said, regardless of where you place Chandler quality wise, NO had garbage behind him, so when he was out you go from X quality to garbage.
As for defense… I think it is one of the hardest aspects of the game to judge. There are players that clearly stand out (D-Howard, Battier, Duncan etc.) and players that clearly don’t try (Zach Randolph, most of Golden St. etc.) However, where players rate inbetween these two extremes is a tough evaluation (I am ofcourse ignoring stats such as blocks as I don’t think they are a good indicator of a good defender). Good defenders tend to have other good defenders around them, bad defenders have other bad defenders around them. That is, good defense is more of a team concept than any one individual player. Ex. Ray Allen and Paul Pierce were never known for their defense…. suddenly you put Rondo, Perkins and KG next to them and they look like solid, if not good, defenders. Thats why I would say I see Chandlers defense as ‘debatable’ (and I don’t mean bad when I say that). He is not at a D-Howard or Duncan lvl, but he is also a far cry from being a Randolph.
P.S. I like that you included Perkins as a top defender… he is one player that doesn’t get enough credit on that Celtics team.
This is getting really messed up. Everybody is giving JOE SMITH TOO MUCH credit for nothing. Too talented ? His game is strictly jumpers. He is a water down version of Antonio McDyess with less range and worst rebounder. Atlanta don’t have the advantage over us in bigs. Their guards were the ones that kepted busting our ass. Our bigs were the one that kepted us close. Bibby and Johnson are known to have big games over us. If their bigs have an advantage over us then we would have been blown out every game against them. Joe Smith will be in no position to change our balance over them in bigs.
Smith’s got a stupid little jumper which frees up on dribble penetration. You think Evans can guard him 14 feet out? I agree, Smith isn’t anything special, but he’s serviceable and as you mentioned, their guard play opens up stuff for everybody including him.
Smith is a great addition as a Back Up. Reliable, consistent, will play effectively off the bench in limited minutes – the definition of a good veteran back up.
Not sure he’s “better” than Rasho though? (on the “anything” we have to offer basis)
Not sure why I’m back here this morning – probably because this is the best story on the web today.
Yes , he is a solid backup. But he is no difference maker that will tilt the balance of power for big men from Toronto to Atlanta.
Yes he has a jumper that frees up penetration. But too talented for any of our bigs ? Amir Johnson has been playing with and against ‘Sheed in practise who has great range and more mobility. He can’t cover the great talent that is Joe Smith ?
Sixer as well. Jason Smith is coming back from MAJOR SURGERY which he missed basically all of last season with. Elton Brand played what ? Less then 30 games in the pasted 2 seasons. And they have the advantage when we took one of their bigs that hustles and rebounds for them last season. Even if they are in the lineup when we face them. Will they be at %100 ? They were known to falter having Brand in their lineup last season. So how do they have an advantage over us when their best big man is dragging them down …
I like the break down, but not sold on a couple.
Sixers – yes Brand and Dalembert seem nice, but Dalembert is as likely to not try (or get into foul trouble) as he is to come out and play. Brand, for how great he has been, looked terrible in Philly last year. He simply didn’t fit in. Now that may ofcourse change this year, but then again, from what I understand, a slight breeze may pop his shoulder out of its socket. Speights looks like he will be, at the very least, a solid big throughout his career. They may in general be better defenders than the Raps bigs, but pale in comparison on offense. This is one I’d call for the Raps.
Hawks – Smith is a athletic freak…but wants to be a wing, Horford is the big man replica of Jose… as consistent as can be, Zaza doesn’t do a lot but gets the job done, Joe Smith is a vet that does a little of everything and does it well (much like Rasho). But again… I’m just not sold that those bigs are better than the Raps.
Bosh vs Smith – Bosh (slight edge)
Bargs vs Horford – Horford (slight edge… Bargs, if he can play consistently, will be the better player)
Evans vs Zaza – draw (they pretty much do the same thing… try to grab rebounds and throw bodies if they have chance)
Rasho vs Joe Smith – draw
Amir vs Collins – tough one, I’ll call it a draw but I would give it to Amir (Amir has potential but can/will he use it, Collins has nothing…)
If this isn’t a draw… I don’t know what is.
I think you make some interesting points but I noticed you mentioned O’Bryant again as an option to defend T. Thomas. I have said this many times Patrick O’Bryant will not see the floor period. He is only on the team because they had to take him to make the money work on the trade. When a 9th overall section get traded twice before his rookie contract is up what does that tell you.
I also think your are cutting the Raptors short saying the Sixers front court is better. You have Brand coming off 2 lost seasons due to injury and he is getting older. Not to mention he didn’t look good last year. To say that Bosh and him offset is wrong. Sammy is a joke and might not start they are so upset with his play. Bargnani is a much better player. Speights is the wildcard as he could be a very special offensive player. He reminds me of a young AL Jefferson in that it will take him a few years to find his way but he might be an All Star one day if he’s committed.
The comments about Lee vs. Bosh are interesting but you also have to remember NY is so bad and plays so fast that numbers get inflated. Lee might have put up good numbers but he is no where near the player Bosh is. Not even in the same class. If he was so good why no offer sheet. Clearly Portland thinks Millsap is better as they signed him to an offer sheet Lee would have signed in a second and NY wouldn’t have matched because they are so concerned about cap space.
Hawks are also a tough one. I think given the choice I would take Toronto’s front court in that one as well but it is far from crazy to have the opposite opinion. I think you can’t underestimate the value of having the best player of the bunch. I like Josh Smith more than most and think Horford is nice for an undersized Center but they have no one in the class of Bosh. Joe Smith has little left in the tank and is a non factor. I would take Rasho over him in a second. On a great team as a floor spacer he can be effective but Atlanta isn’t good enough or big enough to make up for his shortcomings at this point in his career. He has lost all mobility and can’t protect the rim anymore.
Orlando and Boston are clearly better but that’s no suprise. I would take the Raptors front court over the rest.
After thought….Some great posts lately guys! As a Raptor fan whether I agree with you or not I really appreciate the work you do to make this site possible. It’s so much fun to talk Raptors Ball with guys who love it as much as I do. Keep up the good work!
Amen to that :)
I agree with pretty much all of the list except the Sixers. Brand is JO 2.0. Dude is washed up and Bosh will own him this year. Imo Sammy and Bargs cancel each other out. Sammy’s got the edge on d, while Bargs has the edge on offence. I’d also rate Reggie Evans over Smith or Speights. Although I do like what both Smith and Speights potentially bring to the table. In terms of backup C’s Rasho > Primoz. Off topic: Amir Johnson is my darkhorse for the Raps this year. I think he’s gonna be a solid player. Always liked him on the Pistons.
One thing I really hope is that Amir will be far better than Chris Wilcox.
I’m not sure about some of the positions you’ve listed. I interpret that the first name on the list implies the starter, and he will get most of the minutes at that position. If so, I disagree in the following cases:
- I’m almost certain Leon Powe won’t be starting for Cleveland. It’ll probably be Shaq & Varejao.
- Even though they’re both power forwards, Maxiell and Villanueva will surely be getting the bulk of the minutes in Detroit. There’s no way the corpse of Ben Wallace starts ahead of either of them — even in Detroit.
- And as for the Knicks, well, who knows who will get the bulk of the minutes. That team is crazy. Your guess is as good as mine.
They’re very interesting results. The Raptors big men are better than 9 teams and there seems to be a good number of people who feel the Raps should have the benefit of the doubt over Phily, at least until Brand proves he’s still who he once was. The 5th or 6th best big man rotation in the East.
It will be very interesting to see where the perimeter players rank. Will they sink the bigs? Or will they rank highly too?
I don’t share the optimism, but I have to say, it’s great to see. Especially after some of those dark days from last year.
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I think the Raptors big man rotation will be comfortably superior to the Knicks, Nets, Pacers and Pistons. I see the Bucks and Heat as two teams that Raptors bigs are probably better than, but not definitely. Miami because of their two wild cards in Beasley + Jermaine, Milwaukee because their bigs could have a large defensive impact on the game which the Raptors bigs are, how shall we say, less likely to have.
A couple of the others I see as comparable rather swinging to one team or the other, and then a few more where the Raptors will be out-matched.
So, I’d have the Raptors bigs as being better to 4-6 teams in the Eastern Conference. Mainly because of Chris Bosh.
Good content but I would have to say that 76ers and Hawks are at best a tie and Wizards are probably good enough matchup-wise to make it a tie also…
at second glance the Pistons could match us in the post, but that’s only at their optimal performances.
OK so this was a very insightful post. I agree with most of the advantages and disadvantages you mentioned. I actually feel though that the Raptors frontcourt will be much better than the Sixers. I think that we are taking a lot more stock in last years production and results that we probably should when projecting into next season. I can see Bargs completely clowning Dalembert, and I swear, the Bosh that we have come to know the past 5 seasons is dying this summer. The Bosh we will see in Oct and beyond (till possible May the latest, but hopefully longer) will be something more resembiling Kevin Garnett, than what we currently have. Bosh has had a history of playing softer than we would like our bigs to play, but he has gotten much stronger than he was end of season. He will be a much bigger force than he was last year, and that is not just optimisim talking. Great players mature, and develop, and special players like Bosh usually add another dimension to their game that takes them to the next level. Our bench bigs will do what they are supposed to, though Amir Johnson will probably be more offensive minded than we assume right now. Oh, and back to Bargs. He will be a really solid big this season. His offensive boards probably won’t go up, but the defensive rebounding will improve. If he can develop a mental toughness and confidence then he will be off the charts. I see bigger things for our bigs this year than what most are expecting…but what do i know…lol
I think that if you put the 76ers ahead of us, then you should also put the bobcats because Charlotte’s frountcourt is better than the 76ers’ one. Our bigs are better than both teams. Ilyasova and Warrick are solid options at the PF than Elson and in my opinion, they are going to surprise some people around the league.
One last thing, Galinari isn’t a PF, he’s a classic SF and in this league, maybe even a SG.
Agree with your opinion on the Celtics, Cavs and maybe Orlando, the only difference with orlando is the power of Dwight, the rest is almost even. Atlanta in the other end is a team to discuss. Rasho is very similar to Zaza and Joe is going to do a similar job to Reggie and Amir. Horfor and Bargs are very different players but is hard to say which one is better. Bosh is waaaaaay better than Smith, in terms of basketball ability and team play
I think one area that is clouding the conversation is people who have commented are comparing the 5th guys in the rotation i.e. Amir to Smith for the 76ers and weighting it the same as the best vs. best. ie. BOsh vs. Whoever. Other than Dwight Howard and maybe KG if he’s back to 90% of what he was last year (No garauntee) then he is the best post player in the East. So in the Hawks case for instance Don’t worry about if JOe Smith is better than Rasho! BOsh is better than Horford and Bargs is better than ZaZa. Josh SMith is a SF (I agree he plays PF a lot) so if he wants to guard Bosh go crazy he will get his lunch handed to him.
Miami’s front court is a joke. I can’t believe a Raptor fan (Yes, I’m talking to you Dave!) is saying JO is a wildcard. He isn’t going to play 65 games in a season ever again. I’ll give a player the benenfit of the doubt their first year back from injury but in his case or Brands situation I’ll believe it when I see it. It’s like Mavs fans saying if Marion gets back to where he was 3 years ago….If he’s been something for last 750 days he’s probably that!!! Guys have a bad month or have a bad season statistically due to nagging injuries (Calderon) but if a guy plays 75 games 2 seasons in a row with 2 different teams and puts up 13 pt 8 reb. he is a 13 pt 8 reb guy. I don’t care if he was a 20-10 guy 3 years ago. he’s 32 give it up. Beasely is nice but again not as good as Bargs at this point. THe Bucks are interesting but Bogut, Warrick, Dan G.? Are you kinding? Luc is a SF. He doesn’t play a minute of PF so he shouldn’t be included. The Bucks front court is bad and Washington with Haywood (missed all last year) and Jamison (Mr. Great Stats little impact) are okay but the rest are old and do the same thing. Oberto, Thomas, Gadzuric….Skiles mind as well where a blind fold and spin around 3 times and whoever he’s pointing at your in!!! They are all the same thing. Decent but no offense and old!!!!!!
The Raptors strength is their front court no doubt about it so in saying their are only 3 teams with better front courts isn’t saying we are a shoe in for 4th. It is interesting that the 3 teams with better bigs (Cavs, Orl and Boston) are the 3 best in the conference.
Our backcourt/wings is one of the worst in the conference. We need the bigs to dominate.
“Luc is a SF. He doesn’t play a minute of PF so he shouldn’t be included.”
Not to be a dick… but that statement is way off. According to 82games last year Mbah a Moute played 13% at SF, 38% at PF and 1% at Center of the team’s minutes per position. At 6′8 he is a classic tweener, but he has been overwhelmingly used as a PF during his rookie season.
Haha — disclaimer: I think it’s highly unlikely that Jermaine offers anything significantly better than last season … I don’t know why I’m so reluctant to write him off completely, but for some (most likely) irrational reason I am.
I’d love to see Jermaine leave his scoring days behind him and concentrate more on defense + rebounding, I think that would make a large positive difference to his contributions. I don’t see anybody convincing him of that in the near future though …
I guess I still think there’s a bit of talent left in Jermaine. It’s the application of the talent that bugs the crap out of me — letting his offense effect his game so much, slacking off on D + the boards in order to save himself for post ups.
I don’t know what to expect from Michael Beasley. He hasn’t exactly had the smoothest of summers, and he was a massive disappointment last season. He did start rebounding the ball a lot better near the end of last season, and that carried over into the playoffs. Improved rebounding and some improvement with the shot selection, that could go a long way. Then again, maybe we see none of that improvement, in which case the Raptors’ bigs are clearly a lot better than Miami’s.
Mbah a Moute played over two thirds of his minutes last season as a power forward. Both the Bucks coaching staff and their front office consider him an undersized power forward (at the moment at least) rather than a three mainly due to his lack of offensive ability. I agree though, I think he’s a natural small forward too.
Jermaine is wore out as shit but he’s still going to have a half a dozen 20/10 games a year…. hence him being a wild card.
Arse .. you haven’t seen the new version of the Raptors playing as a team and you are speculating/fantacizing about players who are either peaking(Bosh) or others who are attempting to continue developing their NBA game(Bargs) or total unknowns(the Rest) at PF/C … to the exclusion of the influence of the rest of the team.
What you’re doing is imagining what would happen if they were to play 2-on-2 … a somewhat futile exercise .. wouldn’t you say…????!!!!
Great point — Fully agree. The Hornets backup bigs were terrible last season and have been for some time.
Sorry, that was a reply to LC009’s comment on the Hornets W-L record with and without Tyson Chandler.
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