First up, if you’re wondering why our twitter account isn’t being updated it’s because Raps Fan went out on the piss last night and decided he needed to tweet his exploits. In his inebriated state he entered the wrong password 64 times. After some time Twitter said enough is enough and locked his drunk ass out. He then tried to reset said password about 36 times. This really pissed them off and they told him to go suck an egg. End result: we’re locked out of our account. So there, that’s full disclosure.
Next up, where has the morning coffee gone? We’re working on that, that’s all I’m saying. Meanwhile, I’ll fill in for today under a different title (if you have suggestions for it, let me know). Since everybody with an access to a keyboard can have a blog, it’s hard to mandate that they make their posts before a certain time every day. So this post will be updated throughout the day if new things pop up. For example, if The Bleacher Reports churns out a grammatically incorrect piece of crap article about how they just discovered that Andrea Bargnani can’t rebound, we’ll add it later in the day. And if you find something on any of the internets in you or in your neighborhood, post a link and we’ll add it.
The head coach of the Raps joins The Game Plan in-studio to recap the off-season and preview training camp which opens on Monday. Some of the topics of discussion include the coaching strategy for the season, having a full camp to instill his systems and Chris Bosh’s committment to off-season training.
Raptors set to hoop it up in capital
The Raptors have announced they will conduct the first part of their training camp at Carleton University from Sept. 29-Oct. 3 before returning to the Air Canada Centre in Toronto Oct. 4-27.
Doug Smith – Of golfing and oligarchs; a strange mix indeed
Yep, today’s the big old Raptors Foundation golfing event (no, my invitation to play never did arrive) but it’s another signal that things are close – really close – to beginning for real.
And who knows, it might give a grunt a chance to sniff out some items. Wish me luck.
Eastern Landscape — Middle of the Pack Teams
I think this is true for all the teams in the East between #7-#14. Even the fifteenth team, the New Jersey Nets, I think they’re better than they’re been given credit for too … and while they’re the worst in the East, they’re still not as bad as several of the very poor teams in the West were last season.
The All-Time Raptors Defensive Team
The all time Raptor defensive team. Criteria: Only count players who played in a Raptor uniform (for example, Billups is a great defender, but he did it in Detroit, not in Toronto. So he is not eligible), also the length of time the player is in a Raptor uniform is also being considered.
Heels on Hardwood analyzes the Knicks. Remind me who they are again.
Strengths: The Knick coaching staff and its 7 seconds or less offense-first system (which excels at providing roles for players of varying abilities) remains the team’s biggest strength, after a dormant summer where the front office chose to stay away from major acquisitions and preserve cap space for 2010. Player-wise, Danilo Gallinari, last year’s first round pick, returns at full strength (if reports are to believed): playing at 60 to 70 percent his rookie year, he was already showing tantalizing flashes of what could be, and there is plenty of optimism for him as a savvy shooter and play-maker capable of playing 3 positions in D’Antoni’s system. The Knicks also have more front line depth and overall size than the 2008-09 roster.
Amir Johnson, Toronto Raptors Next Marcus Camby?
Considered an athletic freak, Johnson’s game was understandably considered to be extremely raw. In his first 2 NBA seasons, Amir Johnson played more games in the NBADL than he did in the NBA. It appears that Joe Dumars had stashed his promising young prospect where he could ensure Johnson’s game would get a chance to develop. A side benefit of letting Johnson develop elsewhere was he reportedly grew another 2” to 6’ 11” before seeing significant NBA minutes.
Canada’s women hoopsters roll in world quest
Canada led from start to finish but put the game away in the second quarter. Ahead 25-13 after 10 minutes, the Canucks used a 30-7 run in the second to make the entire second half virtually inconsequential.
WHAT: Official announcement of a new partnership between Maple Leaf
Sports & Entertainment (MLSE) and LG.MLSE’s Tom Anselmi and General Managers Brian Burke and Bryan
Colangelo will also discuss how technology has impacted sports on
and off the field, followed by a tour of the LG Experience Zone.
If you were to walk through the list of noteable ex-Raptors the list wouldn’t be very long.
Vince Carter, Tracy McGrady, Charles Oakley, JYD, Damon Stoudamire, Marcus Camby, Alvin Williams, Dell Curry and Mo Pete would be among the notables but many forget some of the true stars of Toronto’s first era of NBA ball.
That list would include names like Alvin Robertson and of course, Dee Brown.
Expert NBA Sports Picks: Toronto Raptors Predictions
They tried several different combinations of players and trades with none of them working very effectively. At one point they had Shawn Marion and Jermaine O’Neal on the roster, but later traded them away. Let’s take a look at free NBA picks to see if the Raptors did enough in the offseason to merit any consideration as a contender this year?
I’m jazzed like I’m getting a personal tour from Mila Kunis of her bedroom, Raptors, and I’ma let you think you’re the sleeper team from the East to look out for, but the Washington Wizards are sleepier than you.
Nathan Jawai interview (Remember this guy? We drafted him)
Though mostly the biggest influence on me has to be, (Dirk) Nowitzki. His current leadership and hints to me have totally influenced me on how to improve my game in every way. Oh, he’s gonna like that :) (yes, he typed the smiley face)
Early Win Shares-Projected 2009-10 Standings
TOR: 43.4
Quincy Douby, Reinvented by the Raptors
A 6’ 3” 175 lb star shooting guard from Rutgers, Douby was drafted 19th overall in the first round of the 2006 NBA Draft by the Sacramento Kings after his junior year. Following a rough 2 ½ NBA seasons, he was waived by the Kings on February 18, 2009.
And now……….THE QUESTION OF THE DAY:
Given Amir Johnson’s age and need for development, should he be preferred over Reggie Evans?
72 Raps
Yes.
Worst case, he fouls out early, use Reggie for the rest of the game.
Best case – CHAMPIONSHIP!
LOL!
I don’t think Johnson will see much time in the begining of the season because Triano probably wants the toughness of Reggie in the paint for the tough begining if the season. As the season progresses jay will give Amir the minutes, more when we are playing a rebuilding team (the knicks) and of course the garbage minutes.
Same here. I think Triano will opt for experience and go with Reggie. Early season schedule is very tough and Johnson needs more team to ease in.
I think by January or so there’s a good chance Johnson overtakes Reggie in the rotation.
raps want to set the tone for the season early that theyre not going to get treated like the little school kids that get kicked off the court by the older guys, and thats the reason why he’s here and he will deffinately get the majority of the minutes (at least early on anyway)
Ha Arse,
figures in the dead time before the season no one is to be found at the office. :P
Crack that whip!
Arse did you not listen to the 30+ minute interview on the Gameplan. They had Triano on and there are some pretty insightful stuff really nice interview.
http://www.fan590.com/media.jsp?content=20090923_152945_652
Thank you sir!
you should take a listen there is a nice part about bosh and andrea
Thanks for the link
“Alcohol. The cause of, and solution to, all of life’s problems”
-Homer Simpson
thought it was fitting for today.
Anyways, I picture (assuming Amir makes progress as a player) that Rasho’s minutes, and to a lesser degree Evans minutes, will decrease as the season progresses. This ofcourse would change depending on match-ups. So by the end of the season we see something like:
Bosh – 35 – 40 minutes
Bargs – 30 – 40 minutes
Rasho – 0 – 8 minutes
Evans – 5 – 13 minutes
Amir – 10 – 18 minutes
Ofcourse there is hundreds of possiblities given Rasho’s, Evan’s, Amir’s, and Barg’s play.
How nice is it to actually have possibilities up front?
Wing play notwithstanding, that more than anything makes me optimistic about the coming season.
Re: QOTD
We’re entering a ‘win-now’ season for the Raps, that means that the usage of these two players will mainly depend on their immediate output. If Amir plays great from the start, or if he gets a lot better along the path, he might prevail on Reggie; otherwise, I think Jay will mainly go with Reggie first.
I found this prediction of regular season win totals for teams next year really interesting at basketball-reference. I’m especially surprised that raptors ranked fourth with a win total of 44, the evenness of mediocrity in the eastern conference and utah ranked second in the west
sorry i forgot the link
http://www.basketball-reference.com/blog/?p=3408
Amir Johnson might PROVE that he deserves Reggie’s minutes in preseason and practice – this type of thing has happened to Reggie before – but Reggie been about the BEST rebound percentage guy in the league for most of his career – Amir’s got a tough job ahead.
It’s too bad Reggie couldn’t find the basket if it had flashing lights on it.
Note (since you asked):
Yesterday I posted an article on Quincy Douby, just in case someone believes Douby is going to be seeing minutes when it matters but hadn’t seen what he’d done with the Kings. (He still could “develop”, but we’ll see)
http://sbrother.wordpress.com/2009/09/22/quincy-douby-reinvented-by-the-raptors/
Forget age + need for development … Amir Johnson is already a vastly superior player to Reggie Evans.
Reggie Evans is an offensive + defensive liability who’s only use is rebounding. Amir Johnson is a player who can affect games on both ends of the court and adds a large dose of rebounding to mix … It’s not close, Amir Johnson is already, and has been for two years, a far far superior player than Reggie Evans.
Give it 5-10 games before everyone realizes how bad a defender Reggie Evans is because he’s easily the worst man-to-man defender on the Raptors team, and he’s a below par team defender to boot.
100% agreed on the one-on-one defense. Even though Evans was a good acquisition considering what we gave up, injury has resulted in his best days being behind him. But, isn’t team need going to determine who gets minutes and isn’t Evans right now perceived to be the better rebounder? The stats give him a 3.0 PER48 edge.
Reggie is a better rebounder but not so much better that it over-rides his liabilities and makes him more valuable than Amir Johnson.
Offensively, Reggie is even more of a liability than he is defensively. He has no jump shot, he’s a weak finisher around the rim, he is a poor passer, and shoots 52% from the FT line, and he turns the ball too much. He has only one useful offensive skill and that’s his screens — which are only really useful off the ball, because teams will happily leave him when he’s 20 feet from the rim and setting a screen on the ball — Amir Johnson on the other hand shoots 55-60% from the field, is a brilliant finisher around the rim, is below par but respectable FT shooter, turns the ball over less, is a weapon in pick and rolls because of his athleticism and finishing ability, and sets decent picks albeit not as good as Reggie’s are.
We’re talking about such a vast difference in talent and effect on the team on both ends of the court … it’s more important than the rebounding difference — where Amir is a good-to-very good rebounder while Reggie is an excellent rebounder.
Agreed. Given that neither Amir nor Reggie will be called upon to average more than 20 minutes a game, Amir’s foul trouble won’t have as great an impact as when he was asked to start for the Pistons. If you look past that, Amir is a much more complete package. Sure, Evans might have a 3.0 PER48 edge in rebounds, but it’s not like Amir’s numbers are Bargnani-esque (they’re actually quite Bosh-esque, though better on the offensive glass and worse on the defensive glass).
When you reduce that rebounding difference to the time Reggie and Amir will be expected to play, it’s less than a 1 rebound difference. With Amir very likely better than Reggie on both sides of the court (the difference in PF output was a -3.4 for Amir while Evans was at -10.4), it’s not hard to imagine Amir making up for that one possession difference with his own set of strengths.
Finally, of the people who played significant minutes for the Pistons last season, Amir had the best on-court/off-court differential (+5.4). Reggie, on the other hand, had the third worst differential on the 76ers (-3.4). It could be argued that Amir benefited from starting part of the season, but judging from the rest of the Pistons it’s unlikely that he benefited too much, if at all, from playing with the starters (only Rasheed’s 5.0 and Rip’s 1.6 were on the positive side). Could be the Pistons simply had a stronger bench, and the numbers seem to suggest that, but it still doesn’t change that Amir had arguably the biggest impact of all the subs.
I wonder if part of the reason fans seem to be aggrandizing Reggie is because they view him to be a huge upgrade over Kapono, while Amir was acquired in a less popular trade. I think over the course of the season, they’ll see just how big of a liability Reggie can be compared to Amir, despite his superior boardwork.
Reggie Evans did help each team he was a part of significantly upgrade their rebounding. Something the Raptors need.
But Reggie quickly lost his status each time because of his unbelievably bad offensive game.
This scenario is not unlikely to re-occur with the Raptors. Especially if Amir pulls his game together and plays like many people believe he can.
But one should remember that Amir only averaged 14.7 minutes on a Pistons team that was “rebuilding” last season and the Pistons in effect gave up on Amir this year.
Amir could be a great young prospect just waiting to have a break out season or the Pistons got it right when they gave up on him? We’ll see soon enough.
Hopefully Amir comes to camp highly motivated to prove the Pistons were wrong!
“This scenario is not unlikely to re-occur with the Raptors.”
I had to read this sentence three times. It’s almost a triple-negative.
Reggie is a tone setter even with limited minutes, something the Raps didn’t have last year (JO failed large in that regard). His impact last year was minimized because he was on a strong rebounding team (although he likely influenced teammates in that regard as well). Evans wears down opponents and leads by example with effort…his influence on our team can’t always be measure by his stats but more so by the teams overall performance. Hustle plays are painful but contagious.
I’ve been pretty hard on Evans in comments I’ve made around the Raptors blogosphere. I do agree with everything you say, Dave. But he does do two other things particularly well besides rebound. He sets good picks, and is the nastiest mother we have when he’s defending a weak-side or off-ball player. If the (replacement) refs aren’t watching, he’ll keep offensive players honest and fearing for their life/testicles. That counts for something on this pansy-ass roster.
Agreed on the screens — Reggie is very useful for setting screens off the ball for shooters, like he did for Ray Allen and Rashard Lewis in Seattle … Rasho Nesterovic sets excellent screens too, even better than Reggie’s … and Amir sets good screens also, although not as good as either of the other two.
I think Bargnani + Bosh both set poor picks off the ball. They both seem a lot happier setting screens on the ball, when they feel there’s a chance they may get a pass and an opportunity to shoot the ball if they set a hard screen and create some space. I felt sorry for Anthony Parker and Kapono last year, they got no daylight on off the ball screens because of these two … I wonder (+ worry) how much effort they’ll put in for DeRozan next season …
I’m curious as to what makes Evans a “bad defender”. He will not keep up to the quick c/pf in the league (as was shown when Andrea broke his ankles with a spin move last year), but he easily has the strength to handle the post against the stronger ones. He won’t block shots, but shot blocking doesn’t necessarily mean good defence. I also think rebounding shouldn’t be exlusive from defense. A rebound, both on off. and def. prevents your opponents from an additional opportunity… thereby, in a sense, a defensive play.
Not saying I’m expecting him to be a lock down defender but not being a ‘good defender’ doesn’t mean you are automatically a ‘bad defender’. Being adequate at a position is sometimes all you need from a player. I see him more of a situational defender. ie. the Raps are playing the Celtics. I wouldn’t want him covering KG, but I see him defending Perkins and/or Davis.
Additional, depending on the situation, a hard foul is sometimes the best defense of all. Not only to prevent a basket, but to make a player think twice about going to the bucket again. I’m hoping this is one of the aspects we see in Reggie. (ie. Oakley-esk)
I do agree that Amir will end up seeing more minutes, and is, or at the very least has the potential, to be a better player… but if he is as foul prone as he was the last couple years he is going to see the bench. And that provides no defense at all.
Why Evans is a below average on the ball defender (my opinion, for what it’s worth): Slow foot speed, no leaping ability. So his work has to be done before his offensive opponent receives the ball. And fouls, it has been argued, are the worst outcome of any defensive possession. But if you’re going to foul, I suppose let it be hard as hell.
Just a comment on the last part of your post: it’s very probable that Amir actually fouls more on the defensive end than Reggie.
Reggie Evans is a very poor defensive player because he can’t guard anyone at his own position at a reasonable level.
* Evans can’t guard big men like Chris Bosh or a Boris Diaw or an Antawn Jamison who like to step out and use their quick first step + midrange jump shooting ability to beat him from 14-17 feet. He doesn’t have the speed or the defensive positioning to deny him. His lack of speed makes it difficult for him to get close enough to strongly contest the shot, which normally results in a good look at the rim.
* Evans can’t guard perimeter shooters like Troy Murphy or an Al Harrington because he isn’t disciplined enough to stand close to him and take the three pointer away.
* Evans can’t defend combo-forwards like Rashard Lewis or Jeff Green because he doesn’t have the speed to stay with them on the perimeter.
* Evans doesn’t have agility or defensive footwork to defend a midpost big man like Dirk Nowitzki.
* Reggie Evans also fails to defend post scorers like an Al Jefferson or to a lesser extent Elton Brand … not that there are many of these guys in the league.
* Reggie Evans also cannot defend long power forwards like Kevin Garnett or Pau Gasol or a LaMarcus Aldridge because he can’t contest their shots well enough.
* Evans also has trouble with freakish athletes like Josh Smith or Tyrus Thomas.
Evans does do a decent enough job covering the pick and roll and getting back in time to contest the first shooting opportunity — David West types — but he’s in trouble if the big puts it on the floor from there on.
A list of starting caliber power forwards in the NBA — Josh Smith + Kevin Garnett + Boris Diaw + Anderson Varejao + Tyrus Thomas + Anderson Varejao + Charlie Villanueva + Dirk Nowitzki + Kenyon Martin + Anthony Randolph + Luis Scola + Troy Murphy + Pau Gasol + Lamar Odom + Blake Griffin + Zach Randolph + Kevin Love + Al Jefferson + Michael Beasley + Udonis Haslem + Mbah a Moute + Hakim Warrick + Yi + Al Harrington + David West + Elton Brand + Amare Stoudemire + LaMarcus Aldridge + Rashard Lewis + Brandon Bass + Jeff Green + Jason Thompson + Tim Duncan + Antonio McDyess + Chris Bosh + Andrea Bargnani + Paul Millsap + Memo Okur + Carlos Boozer + Antawn Jamison
Who on that list does Reggie Evans consistently do a good job defensively on?
All of the offensively talented players do well against him. As for the lesser talented guys, including bench players like a Carl Landry to a Glen Davis, they do against Reggie what they normally do to other defenders.
Evans simply doesn’t limit opposing players or hold them beneath their numbers.
………………………………………………..
Rebounding — If you were to include defensive rebounding as defense then Reggie’s overall D could jump up by a good margin because he’s a terrific rebounder … personally, I prefer to look at defense as everything prior to the shot going up and then look at rebounding separately.
Anyway, training camp is only a few days away now … and the season only a month and a bit away from starting … so we’ll all get a chance to see how Reggie’s defense is doing these days in the very near future.
Which ever player can stay on the floor. We don’t need a star at the position, just a passable effort that keeps us in games. Platooning the two may have some merit as well, this lets Jay optimize matchups and play the player that is having the best night.
I would prefer Johnson, but experience counts for a lot in this league, AJ is the more complete player, but still has much to learn, between him and Evans, our opponents would rather face AJ.
Great Analysis Dave. so when do you think we should use a guy like reggie? Based on what you are saying, it seems pretty hard to keep him on the floor.
Bargnani and Bosh are locks for 35 minutes or so a night … leaving up to 26 minutes a game to be split between the three backups.
I think Amir Johnson, in terms of current ability, is a much better player than either Rasho Nesterovic or Reggie Evans. So I think he should be a lock as the first big man off the bench. I also think he can play very well alongside Bosh or Bargnani, or even the other two, because of his skill set. Personally, I’d like to see him get 75% of those backup big man minutes with a fourth guy coming in for for the rest.
As for the fourth big … I think it’s a toss up between Rasho and Reggie … I’d lean towards Rasho and then using Reggie in only emergency or matchups situations but after seeing Rasho run out of steam as the season went on in Indiana last year, I’m hesitant to give him the spot outright (Rasho from two years ago easily wins these minutes) … it’s too early to call it really.
————————————————————-
On Reggie Evans — in my view, he shouldn’t be a rotation player on a team that has good depth with it’s big men … and if he does play, he should be the fourth big in the rotation (where he’s decent-to-solid) but not in a larger role because he causes more damage than good (relative to other first bigs off the bench around the league).
Evans is an excellent energy player too. A great guy to have at the end of your bench to call upon when the starters are giving sub-par effort … he can provide an immediate spark to the game with his hustle and rebounding … ditto for Amir Johnson though! Both are very useful in those situations, Reggie more so than Amir because he has no fear of big occasions or tough battles.
Reggie Evans just isn’t that talented a player … a terrific rebounder and sets good screens, but not a whole lot else and most of those other things are poor-to-very poor which makes a big loss for a team. If he were mediocre at some of those other skills it would be a non-issue … he’s going to continue to get passed over on a regular basis for the remainder of his career, largely because he never became a good enough defender. If he just got his defense to a solid level, then he’d be getting 25+ minutes a night on a contender for the rest of his career.
Thanks Dave.I really enjoyed your analysis.
“For example, if The Bleacher Reports churns out a grammatically incorrect piece of crap article about how they just discovered that Andrea Bargnani can’t rebound, we’ll add it later in the day.”
I started to jizz my pants…until I got to the last part of the sentence. Oh well.
Hollinger lists “most similiar at age” as:
Evans = JYD
Johnson = Biedrins
Based on their age I take that as Evans is a JYD clone and Johnson has the potential to be like Biedrins. Personally I think playing time will go to the player who makes the least mistakes and fills a need for that particular game (shot blocking vs rebounding). I’d guess that they will get equal minutes first half of the season with Amir earning more from there.
It appears Triano is deadset on starting DeMar. A rookie starter adds another interesting element to a season full of them. Hopefully he can step up and the rest of the starters help this kid develop.
He also stated he likes the fact that Jose has to compete for his starting job with Jack. I think Jack’s skillset is better suited for our second unit but I love the fact that Jay isn’t cutting any slack for Jose and the two TJ-killers are now facing off.
Glad to hear JT’s been listening to me.
DeRozen needs to start. For now but especially for the future.
Sorry bout the Twitter thing…this is why I’m not allowed to play with shiny things.
I’d prefer Johnson. For some reason, I have this mental image of Jerrett Jack tossing it up for Johnson to slam home two or three times a game (I blame Shoals who wrote something about that a while back). I have no idea if it could happen… but what the hell, right?
Er, that should be Jarrett Jack
I think everybody overestimates what type of player Amir is. The dude was drafted 56th and is a relatively sloppy player who hasn’t proven much in the NBA. Sure he’s athletic, but Evans is a banger and can provide much more than Johnson. Potential is potential and doesn’t mean he’ll definitly develop.
You’re also speaking as if he hasn’t played enough minutes to have more than just potential. Amir has potential, yes, but judging from the most recent season, there are plenty of statistics that point to Amir as already being the better overall player. I don’t think Amir will ever be good enough to start, but between these two career backups, I think Mr. 56th draft pick has a leg up over Mr. Undrafted.
Question, I’m big raps fan and i just moved to colorado, and as you can guess they don’t play the raptors here. What is a website that i can either pay or watch for free the raptors games live. Thanks…oh and it has to be mac compatible.
last year THIS SITE was my savior for those TSN2 games that weren’t televised. raptors republic posts a link to available live streams to raptors games.
i’m not sure if this happens every game but if it does….. there you go.
http://www.atdhe.net
You can watch anything related to sports on there.
Try out atdhe.net or justin.tv. I’ve also heard of channelsurfing.net but have never tried it out.
Why not get NBA League Pass? You’ll get every Raptor’s game that way.
Let’s keep this conversation going here:
Is there any way to increase the video quality of those streams?
I was stuck watching many a Raps game online last season and I couldn’t stand the choppiness/graininess. This year I’ll probably fork over the cash for digicable or satelite but I’d still like to watch some preseason games online.
i’ve been checking the site every day but haven’t had an urge to reply in a while.
just want to quickly say that I am very encouraged by what coach Triano said in the fan 590 interview, especially in regards to Evans pushing Bargnani to be stronger each practice. When he mentioned that Bargnani has looked strong during these early pre-trainingcamp pick up sessions but ran into trouble today because it was Evans first day against him and was “meeting him at every turn”…. That’s what you want to happen. You want that toughness challenging you in every practice and it’s only going to make Bargnani a better and stronger low post player.
for some reason I first read “Raptors set to hoop up in capital”
that’s gotta hurt ;)
Don’t tell me the Raptors are still in their ‘developmental phase’ and will be testing out some of the new names before they decide what needs to be corrected!!!
Triano used last season to ‘develop’ players giving them plenty of floor time to show their wares … and now most of them are gonezo … with only Bosh, Bargs and Jose surviving (Banks and PO’B would be gone too if somebody wanted those stiffs). So much for ‘development’ ….
Now we are starting off this season with 3 playable veterans from last year and 11 unknowns (Rasho is a ‘known’) … and we’re still talking ‘development’..???!!!!
Now you know why I am skeptical when tribal honkers predict a 0.500 season … yaaaaa shhhhure …!!!!!
Well, I’d say that there’s a good chance that some of their new players will play worse than expected and some will play better. But nobody knows for sure which players will belong to the former and which ones belong to the latter. (Yes, I know which ones you think are likely to be the former and I’ll bet you think there won’t be many of the former, and that’s fine, but you can’t know for sure until they’ve played some games)
With essentially a new team with quite a few players who are 25 and younger, yes there should be talk of development. This team also has a number of veterans and talent (leaving aside pointless debate over exactly how much) so we fans also expect a good number of wins.
I don’t predict a .500 season because there are so many different ways this team could go. We could see the gelling not happen as FAQ has predicted and the team’s record suck. We could see a repeat of 3 seasons ago when the Raptors had a similar rebuild and had the 47 win season. I won’t predict, but I certainly hope we go above .500.
I’d say 60%-40% or 70%-30%. The bigger numbers in favour of Reggie. As much as I like to see a player develop, hell, I waited 3 years for Bargs, We need to set our feet down and bring the fire power from the start. Later in the season I’d split it 50-50 or give the edge to Amir.
http://www.theonion.com/content/news_briefs/star_athlete_signs_contract
I can see how it might’ve been funny had the article been written better. I’ve seen far better stuff on theonion in the past, but this link wasn’t really worth the time.
This is my favourite Raps-related Onion article:
http://www.theonion.com/content/node/51320
and probably the only other one.
“Development”????… Yer saying ‘development’??..‘development’??… we talkin’ bout ‘development’??… not ‘performance’ but ‘development’?? … why are we talkin’ about ‘development’ when we shud be talkin’ about ‘performance’?? … when is we gonna have ‘performance’ and git it over wit ‘development’?? .. I mean how much longer are we gonna need ‘development’????… we need ‘performance’ players not ‘development’ players… ‘development’ happens in ‘practice’… not in ‘performance’ … cause ‘development’ happens in high school and college, not the NBA …!!!!
hahahahaha. nice one FAQ
Virtually 100% of NBA players continue to “develop” their game for years after they enter the NBA. Even the best ones. And it doesn’t just happen in the off season either.
With 10 players 25 and under, you’re going to be seeing development all season with the Raptors. (and most other NBA teams)
So, brothersteve … do you see this edition of the Raptors a 0.500 team … or even a ‘playoff’ team … and no ‘hoping’ either ..???
Jawai’s comment about Dirk being the most influential player in his development is interesting. The advice (hints he calls them) he feels will improve him as a player.
It just seemed like a comment that also showed the leadership that Dirk brings to his club. Mind you, if you are going to hold on to your contract for dear life, kissing Dirk’s ass would probably near the top of the list. At the same time there was a sense of genuine respect in that comment, that made me feel it was more than that.
Do we have that sort of leadership? Is Bosh the sort of leader that Dirk is? Is Andrea? Is Jose?
What are the dynamics of giving a max contract to a player that may not be ideally suited to be the leader in the locker room? Kind of like a Vince Carter situation, notice that there was a lot of sniping even from his own teammates off the record. It’s almost like, if you get paid the most, YOU MUST BE THE LEADER.
…and if you put someone in that position who is not suited to it, it slowly undermines your team, as the other dogs start questioning who is pulling all the weight.
Raptors desperately need an Oakley or Barkley … a gristled old veteran who the younger players cannot contradict nor challenge whatsoever … Anybody come to mind ..???!!!
You?
I’m available for the league minimum of $736,420 … but only for one season ….
Perhaps you could be the player/coach and help assemble this assorted group of players into a team. Maybe even address the tribal honkers after each game so that we can gain a better understanding of this strange sport played without skates and a puck!
chauncey billups or jason kidd. that’s who they need. or for jose to make this HIS team.
Hedayet Turkoglu
Maybe I’m misreading things but I think that this is really the first year the CB4 is embracing the leadership role. Any leadership he’s done in the past has been on the quiet, passive side but I think he’s going to be more active and be more in people’s face. Or rather, I hope that this is the case.
He’s been a very good player for a long time and I think we forget that he’s still a pretty young guy. Sometimes it takes a while for a young player to gain the confidence needed to be the leader.
From What I read here , it seems like Reggie will have a tough time defending PF who are fast or can put it on the floor. So my question is, How does he do against centers ??? It seems like he a physicall beast who likes to bang and is a good defender. Can he do well against centers who are typically much slower than PF in this league ? Or He is too short for that role ?? How does he compare to a guy like Ben Wallace in his prime ?
unfavourably in every facet of the game except meanness and bad news brown lookalikeness
Exactly why Evans is a great back up option to Bosh. CB can handle the quick PF’s but gets molested by bruisers (even the mild ones). Evans will gladly give back and throw some dirt in yer eyes while he’s at it. I think Evans is a better defender than some realize; he can “look” bad at times because he can be over aggressive and slow to recover but NO ONE wants him defending them. He wears down opponents both mentally and physically and isn’t getting enough credit for that…he creates space with his presence alone (watch when he sets screens and how opponents will stop in their tracks to avoid him), he’s Oakley without a jumper and a need to be heard. Unfortuantely that lack of O makes him effective in only very limited minutes but I think thats all we need.