Houston shot the lights out from downtown like it was NBA Live 95 and Pops Mensah-Bonsu wreaked havoc on the inside like it was personal. It all added up to a win for the Yao Ming slash Tracy McGrady-less Rockets tonight. That and the fact Jay Triano made no effort to turn to his starters in the fourth quarter to try to pull this one out. It’s kinda like that weird part of the preseason schedule, where the you’ve seen enough of how each player is coming around regardless of outcome but at the same time you want to start seeing your team actually put it all together and grabbing a few W’s before they starting counting for real. It’s a home game too, and you want to see how your revamped starting lineup reacts in those tight situations at some point. Let’s sincerely hope we see it on Sunday against the Celtics.
The Good
Everyone can stop panicking. Jose Calderon is starting to come around. I’m not saying he’s turning into the Glove, (that’s Gary Payton for all you younguns) but he’s starting to look like the Jose of two years ago. Good change of pace to create a couple of crafty drives to the hole and finishing. He’s trying too, people, when it comes to the defense. You can see the effort, and in the end that’s all many of us were asking for, right? I think he made good progress and it showed early in the game. He also pulled off a nifty drive in the 4th quarter, which is very encouraging, because sometimes it looks like Jose starts off like a house on fire and then reverts to a more passive version by game end. Could be the healthy groin, could be direct instruction from the coaching staff, could be Jarret Jack’s footsteps getting louder and louder behind him.
The offense from the starting unit looked good at times. It looked very structured, in a good way. Hedo showed flashes of his point-forward skills and you can tell it will benefit guys like Bosh and Bargnani because he definitely isn’t afraid to feed it to someone inside or cutting to the basket. A team of Jack, Bellinelli, Weems, Amir and Bargnani actually went on a run in the second quarter. You saw everything that makes you warm and tingly inside, like passing up open looks for easy layups and half-court traps. Yes, you heard it…half-court traps that didn’t work just once, but twice in a row.
Hedo Turkoglu made some nice plays as the point-forward. His playmaking is more aggressive than our starting point guard at times. He took Chase Budinger to the hole, who by the way absolutely sucked. I respect Houston GM Daryl Morey but I think he might have fudged this draft pick. Still, it’s impressive seeing someone 6′10″ with those kind of skills. Some of the passes he delivered tonight were those “leading directly to a bucket” types that Jose seems to lack. Let’s hope some of these perimeter skills rub off on Andrea.
We also saw Demar DeRozan wide open on the offensive end due to all the attention the other 4 starters were receiving. This can only be a good thing for him, and he is definitely showing aggressiveness in taking advantage of these opportunities. I liked his defense early on. He forced a couple of tough shots and held his own when Shane Battier posted him up in the 1st frame. He also showed a bit of his mid-range game with a pull-up J from the top of the key. Let me tell you that the combination of elevation, fade, and high release he gets on his jumper, that it will be deadly once he gets comfortable with it. It’s practically unguardable. Another positive sign is that he’s getting to the line consistently this preseason. You can’t teach that stuff. Virtually every one of the premier scorers (and Corey Maggette) in today’s game get to the line at least 5-6 times a game. He’s a rook that’s barely 20 and he’s showing he can approach those numbers. There was one sequence where Battier shaded him to the left and he took it all the way to the rim with speed and coordination.
Chris Bosh is definitely as advertised…stronger and just as quick as before, and he knows it. He didn’t start settling for jumpers and worked the ball inside almost every time he had the ball. He’s going to get his share of “and 1’s” this year. Andrea Bargnani’s drives to the bucket are becoming more co-ordinated and controlled as every day passses. You don’t get that feeling that he just makes up his mind, puts his head down and barrels his way in as he did in seasons past. This is probably why you’re starting to see him dropping a few dimes. He had a couple tonight as well, especially a nice interior one to Amir Johnson in the second quarter.
When it comes to the good, look no further than Amir Johnson (and Sonny Weems to be fair). He had another great game, where he was active on both ends. He showed some good skill in finishing plays, when he wasn’t just throwing it down. I know he’s not 7 feet, but I think he’s the new kind of big in the NBA…quick jumper, can run the floor and finish, wreak havoc on the defensive end. Need to find minutes for this guy. Simply but truly, good things happen when he’s out there. I think that pretty much sums it up. The same can be said for Sonny Weems. It’s almost unanimous now in the Republic of Raptor, that he was a find. Trading for these two just may end up being the defining move of Mr. Colangelo’s summer, we’ll see.
I almost forgot, but Patrick O’Bryant played a mean 4th quarter, mixing it up a little bit inside. Better late than never. I’m sure there’s more about it in the Roll Call.
The Bad
Well we got shelled by the 3 ball all night and sure, you can say it was just one of those nights where everything fell, and that might be true to some extent, but many times Shane Battier and Trevor Ariza, the main aggressors, were wide open for their looks. The crafty Battier set up for the shot 3 from the corner and it took a little too long for adjustments to be made. Hedo blew more than one assignment in covering Battier, but he hit like 3 or 4 in the first quarter alone before any timeout was called to hopefully rectify the problem. At the same time, the Rockets were grabbing their share of offensive rebounds. Basically we weren’t covering perimeter nor were we securing rebounds inside. SOunds like a confused defense to me.
I know Pops was just abusing the Raps inside at times during the game. Barganani is to blame for some of this. I’ve thought of another idea for him. Give him a bonus for everytime he gets 3 in the key. Offense or defense. What will it take for this dude to get into the painted area? Since we’re on Andrea, gotta say one more thing. Enough of these pump fake, side step bailout prayers. Even when he actually takes the shot, usually 18 – 20 feet out, it’s a low percentage shot. And to top it off, he tries to throw himself into the defender while taking the shot, hoping for a call. Please stop. Don’t rely on the referees like that. It’s not going to work as often as you like, and it’s not the best area to be working out of. He’s still not very comfortable with posting up. He tried it a couple of times today, and the ball was stolen from him and you can just see that he’s still got a ways to go in that situation.
This game showed more than anything that our starting 5 will not be adequate defensively. This is just a fact. You have:
- A below average defender in Jose
- DeRozan is still a pup
- A questionable Hedo, doesn’t look great man-to-man but played as a starter on a good defensive team in Orlando
- Chris Bosh, who has been criticized for his D, but is striving to improve
- Bargnani, who is a good man defender but horribly inadequate when it comes to help defense
A good defender/rebounder would help this group, because the early returns aren’t pretty. Pretty ugly actually.
Which Brings us To the Ugly
Hate to do this, especially since Mark Cuban has praised them recently, and I think he just might be right. The replacement refs, at least they’re consistent and seem to treat everyone the same when it comes to blowing the whistle. Even LeBron.
Buuuuut, today we saw a Rocket drive to the basket and DeMar DeRozan took a charge. No, actually he got called for a block and the other player got called for a charge. Two fouls and tip-off at centre court. That’s more funny then ugly actually. Hey, at least every call is not carved in stone like it used to be.
Yes, and Chase Budinger. Ugly. Where do you start?
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Excellent read IMO. Some other RR writers seem to be overly critical, dramatic and/or subjective. I find your writing very objective,concise and accurate. Well done!
agreeeeed lol
Good read. I was hesitant to even check the site this morning thinking that the Raps were going to get killed in all the articles (and maybe rightfully so)! Glad to see a level headed review and analysis.
I really enjoyed your post-game analysis! Great job!!
ok, let’s see…
jose – his defensive problems were never about effort, just ability. the lateral quicks, which have never been a strength, were a detriment last year due to injury (we hope). now that his legs are healthy (we presume), he’s back to, well, just being weak. it is what it is.
the staring unit’s offense – ’structured?’ really? how ’bout ’stagnant.’
houston GM = daryl morey. replaced dawson 3+ years ago. whatever.
agree re. the D. it starts with protecting the paint, which seems to be their focus. buuuut…when your interior defenders need help from the wings, it leaves the perimeter open (hmm, seems familiar). it didn’t seem to matter who was on the floor (i.e. what combo of frontcourt & backcourt), the perimeter D was an issue all game. it would be one thing if the rockets were hitting contested shots, but these were wide-open looks, and no team, no matter how poorly they shoot from deep (see philly) is gonna consistently miss open looks.
andrea – i hate to harp on the guy, ’cause he actually played decently, and his fanboys will point to all those boards (5!) & say he’s doing his part. sometimes, it’s about the boards you don’t get vs. the ones you do. houston just wanted it more. and that’s the thing that truly bugs me about VL – he just doesn’t seem to want it. in years past, we could simply point to the fact that he was adjusting to the NBA game, that he was learning a new position, a new system, becoming familiar with new coaches & players, etc etc etc. we finally just accepted that he is what he is, but why? why isn’t it ok to DEMAND that he put in the effort to better himself as a rebounder & defender? he’s certainly not being told to not try harder, he just doesn’t seem to want to. i get the impression that he holds himself above the mundane task of rebounding – he seems to see himself as an elite scorer, and that all that ‘dirty work’ is best left to guys like evans & johnson. yeah yeah, start flaming, whatever.
the one thing I’ll say about the perimeter D (and I’m not trying to defend them here….. irony?) is that there are some nights when the shooters are just on.
Battier went 8/9 from downtown. Thats absolutely ridiculous.
He wouldn’t even be able to do that wide open in an empty gym. How he did it in the middle of a preseason game, I have no idea. Bad D, sure, but also great O.
On the defense, this is what I was trying to say last season. The “Protect the paint” philosophy only works on teams that don’t shoot the 3-ball that well. You can’t use the same defensive philosophy against every team or you will get carved up. Our perimeter defense will still be as inadequate as last season despite the improvements in athleticism if we only use this defensive scheme (which, I believe, we spent our entire training camp learning).
Wow are you sure you’re not Khandor? Bargs played the best defense and offense of all the starters for sure and you still find it in you to look for any little reason to throw him under the buss. Get a life man or get another team!
Yertu sounds nothing like Khandor… and I think his concerns are legitamate. Andrea will make or break the team this year. If he can’t improve on D and reb from last year we could be in for a difficult season.
If he can play defense and board the way a 7fter is capable of…. we should be in for a very exciting season.
We can say all we want about the rest of the team… but aslong as AB is the #2 guy and getting heavy minutes, he needs to produce at both ends.
yertu is not khandor.
Dude,
I said that Bargnani sucks in another article comment and you disagreed with me. You also got a little personal while I didn’t get personal at all. You disagree with Yertu and get a little personal with him as well.
What’s up with that?
I have to agree with yertu in principle. Whenever Colangelo is asked about the rebounding on the team he openly acknowledges, “We know Andrea’s not going to be a great rebounder”. It does tick me that we can’t demand that of our star player..whats more frustrating is that I think both his technique and effort in that department are lacking. Technique I can handle, effort I can’t. The last sentence of your post might be the most brutally honest thing I’ve ever read.
To the game, I thought we lacked zip in our step on defense. That’s one area where lack of effort is hard to tolerate. It was a back-to-back and they did have a hard practice but still, giving up so many points to Houston at home without Yao, Tracy and Scola is hard to swalow, no matter how optimistic you are.
I also agree. There’s no doubt Bargs has offensive talent, but what’s also offensive is his lack of effort to rebound. When he hits a 3 as the trailer on the break it all looks good, but when he’s standing out on the 3 point line and one of his teammates misses a shot, I’m sitting there thinking “what the hell is our centre doing standing out a 3 point line???”.
I personally don’t think it’s a problem to acknowledge that Bargs won’t be a great rebounder. Some people (Evans, Rodman) simply know where to be and how to get there for a rebound. Others, for whatever reason, completely lack that intrinsic knowledge and have no clue what’s going to happen if the shot misses.
I agree in the respect that you have to overcome that lack of ability with increased effort. Even if you don’t know where to be to grab the board, make damn sure your man can’t get it either. Hopefully once the offense gets more fluid Bargs can afford to extend himself further on D. Also with Rasho, Evans, and Amir behind him who are more than willing to take his minutes by D’ing hard.
Finally, you can’t help but appreciate Triano’s attempted schemes. Sure, some things look confused, but it’s still preseason. I don’t think anyone can argue that he’s 500% more innovative than Sam ever was and that makes the games more interesting if nothing else.
I saw a lot of poor spacing when it came to the starters. At one point I think all 5 guys were on the same side of the floor! Its going to take some time. Once they figure it out they should be pretty lethal though.
Completely agree with your take on Bargnani’s pump & lean-in prayer to draw a foul. I’m surprised it’s not called more for an offensive foul the way he dips his shoulder in on the shot.
The only people panicking about Jose were the ones who were judging him soley on his last season performance. I’m not here to say I told you so, because Jose is no where near the level I want him to be at, but sometimes Raptors fans just want to complain and fail to look at the whole picture (myself included).
“…but sometimes Raptors fans just want to complain and fail to look at the whole picture (myself included).”
Great read, IMO. And your whole comment could apply to other categories of Raps followers (journalists, bloggers, …). Kinda hyperactive and compulsory behavior, I’d say.
One day Belinelli is doing great, the other he’s a total liability. Jose sucks for good, and we’re not even out of pre-season yet (plus the injuries, the inactivity…). DeRozan is a below average rookie, the next day he’s definitely going to be an all-star…Defense sucks, offense stagnates, the team is physically useless…it doesn’t really matter that the team is clearly working on the chemistry between so many new players, it is of no use the argument that they might be working on physical endurance to be spent along a lengthy and tough season as is the NBA’s…Everyday some of us clean up the blackboard and restart from scratch, just to do it all over again the day after. That’s why I hate some of the NBA pre-season’s media/fan franticness, it looks a lot like obsessive masturbation.
But then again, we have guys like Arsenalist, who cheer us up and do a hell of a job day in, day out. :-)
Good read, A-Dub.
I’m not nearly as vexed with what’s gone on in these exhibition games as many are. I’m actually liking what I’m seeing out there. We’re working stuff out, as we should be right now. Ten or so games into the season (that hasn’t started yet), I think the Raptors will begin to show themselves as a force to be reckoned with. Would it be nice to see them WINNING these exhibition games instead of not? Umm … I guess, but I’m not even sure about that. I’ll admit I was definitely hoping for a win against Boston the other night, but really, after the moment passed, I got to thinking whether it really mattered if they did win that one or not(?). After a deep breath or two, I realized that it didn’t matter one little bit. At best, after the fact, it would have been hollow and it wouldn’t have meant a damn thing. And we all would’ve realized that (had they won) and eventually got around to saying so.
Watching last night, I think I get what it is they’re doing right now: using the pre-season to practice against other teams (instead of just themselves) the way they’re supposed to. The flashes we saw with Turk on the floor (only his second game with hardly any pre-season practice), with Bargnani showing off bits of what he can do (ya, call me a fanboy), with Bosh doing a little more of what’s he’s going to do this year … and then a lot of having the new guys out on the floor, while learning – and it looks to me like they all are, new guys and not – the systems that are still being implemented … I quite like what I’m seeing. There was even a moment there, when I was shouting ‘good job!’ to DeRozan, the way he was playing defense, keeping his man in front of him. He doesn’t have it all down just yet (of course), but he is going to be some kind of good player in time, I have no doubt.
As well, I was pleased to see that the replacement refs (as you mentioned) are getting more consistent and – aside from that laughably ridiculous double-foul they called after conferring for a minute about it (I’ve never seen refs compromise with each other on a call the way they did there – what a hoot that was) – they’re getting very close to the level of what the regular refs usually do. The bar isn’t set all that high unfortunately, but in this case, that might be a good thing.
So, call me an optimist, but I think this team is going to be good. Maybe even very good. The season hasn’t started yet.
One thing about the “double foul”… its not unheard of. A bit ridiculous yes, but I’ve seen it 3 or 4 times in the NBA. Always makes me laugh a bit but it does happen.
Really? I didn’t know it was possible to call a block and a charge on the very same play. Thought it had to be a first.
nope not the first… probably not the last either. Its one of those things I think refs should use more often, although sparingly. Those pump fake, jump into the defender type plays… or the stick your elbow into the defender while he’s moving style Paul Pierce likes to use.
A double foul makes sense if its a lose ball foul where two guys are going after the ball, but when a player is driving to the hole its got to be one or the other. A blocking foul and a charge can’t happen at the same time! If Derozan was set, squared, and not moving he draws the charge – so then how is he also guilty of blocking?
I think they really embarrassed themselves on that call and the league offices will probably be watching it and wondering how they’re going to strike a deal with the real refs!
Actually, with 3 different refs looking from 3 different perspectives, it’s surprising that this doesn’t happen more often. I prefer seeing the replacement refs going with the jump in this situation as opposed to the huddle to decide the call that we would have seen with the “real” refs.
+1 my friend.
I’m fully confident that some confusion will leak from the preseason into the regular season and the team will be bad for (hopefully short) periods. Especially with the tough opening schedule, it will be amplified.
However, this will improve the team long-term and they’ll be a real force as the season progresses, especially with the schedule softening. I’m very excited with Triano, I think he has a keen eye for how to use his talent effectively.
The only thing that matters with Johnson right now are his fouls.
He has 2 more preseason games and maybe the first week of the season to show that he can play more than 15 – 20 minutes a night before fouls send him to the bench for the night.
Unless he can cut his foul rate to maybe in half he will be back on the end of the bench when Evans is healthy.
After watching him play for 4 years I don’t hold out much if any hope that he will be able to get his foul rate down.
Johnson has to play aggressive to be effective. The problem is, is that when he plays aggressive he fouls at a ridiculously high rate.
Not much hope here for an improvement in that area. Hope I am wrong but I expect him to be on the end of the bench once Evans returns.
and it doesn’t help that he’s trying to learn to play smart with these replacement refs, cus its far from the reality of NBA officiating. Hopefully he can stay in the game long enough for us, because he makes a big impact.
Completely agree. Johnson was given numerous opportunities with the ‘Stones and never capitalized on any of them.
He’ll be on the end of the bench disappointing any fans that had high hopes based on his potential.
Johnson’s finishing around the rim scares me a little. It’s one thing to finish on the break when the defense is trailing but if he’s got to go over or around somebody, his first reaction is to avoid contact. DeRozan is the opposite, he anticipates contact and tries to draw it when he’s trying to supply a finish. The rook has been impressive and as Dub mentioned he’s benefiting from the lack of attention being given to him.
Speaking of finishing at the rim, did anyone notice that despite his good game yesterday, Pops missed an open dunk last night – his trademark!
yeah…. who cares that he was perfect other than that…..
Miss him already, huh?
Jay didn’t bring his starters back as 2 of them, Hedo & Chris looked gassed. But it would have been nice to see Jose and Bargs back in at the end.
I’m guessing that Jay wanted to see POB play?
The flashes of excellence from Hedo are encouraging, it’s just too bad we have to watch him work through his lack of practice and playing time. It’s tough watching Hedo screw up doing stuff that will work once he gets his game together. At least he’s not alone.
i miss reggie.
Conditioning, conditioning, conditioning..
Demar DeRozan is probably the only starter doesn’t need to get in better shape.. They’ll get there. Battier’s 90% from three really killed us. We had to do a better job of getting them off that line. Statistically the game was winnable but for that single 3pt shooting stat. Jose was fine, Turgkolu was good in limited minutes and Bosh was Bosh. I think we’ll be fine.
Lastly, I hope that Weems has officially been moved into Bellinelli’s back up role. His athleticism and ability to get to the hole is what the second unit needs.
Raptors Republic suck my dick!
ok
with a name like peter north seems like youve sucked too many to name including yourself ha! moron cant believe you said that when you dont even know where you got youre name from…….gay and stupid bad combination buddy stick to your day job of being more of a rim finisher then the raps!
marcus banks is better than jose..thats how much jose sucks
Ideally, Amir should be starting next to Bosh and Bargnani should be coming in as the 6th man. That’s not to say a raw Amir would definitely be up to the task night in night out, but he provides much more balance to a starting lineup lacking in defense, rebounding and general athleticism. Meanwhile, Bargnani would get all the shots he wanted as the main gun off the bench.
Ofcourse, this will never happen.
THIS GAME SHOULD BE A MAJOR CONCERN
Yes I know its ONLY a pre-season game. BUT, when the coach’s main focus this training camp has been on defence, and you go and give up 124pts on 56% shooting to a team without its 2 best players I think theres a reason to be concerned. Does anyone think that the Raps are going to flick a switch come the regular season and start playing lock down defence?
They may be better at protecting the paint, but the Raptors seem unable or unwilling to close out on shooters. I think Triano needs to stress that when he says protect the paint, he doesnt mean abandon the perimiter.
Theres a good peice on this over at RaptorsBlog (sorry not sure if its ok to mention other sites here)
Raptors need to hire a specific big man coach for just AB. They have signed him for 4 years now and if they want to see the kid start to rebound and develop a low post game, then get him a guy which can teach him.
Lakers are doing it with Bynum, Magic are doign with Howard. If not, he will be doing what he has done for last 3 years.
Rhetorical Question::: “Should Bosh and Bargs be on the floor at the same time?”
A starting lineup of Bosh, Bargs, Hedo, Demar, Jose … isn’t that a vulnerable group, particularly on defense ???
JT is talking about an 8-9 player rotation .. so why not just go to 10 man platooning … Bosh, Rasho, Hedo, Demar, Jose … then … Bargs, Amir/Reggie, Weems, MarcoB, Jack.
Just brainstorming …..;-)
Why not? Are you going to play one 24 minutes and than the other?
NBA egos won’t allow for platooning. I’m too lazy to research this, but I think 4 years ago a platoon situation was effectively instituted for the last half-season in ?Memphis? only to have the players rebel the following pre-season and the coach fired by mid-season.
I’m a fan of the 10-man rotation, but yeah, it’ll be hard to get the team to buy into it.
It will be a 8-9 man rotation with 11 players in the mix depending on match-ups. Every basketball rotation is platooning.
Houston missing two of its starters and we get blown out of the gym second game in a row.
Sorry, guys, but if I sound like FAQ, its because the Raps suck right now. Wow. They stink. They have two weeks to get their heads out of the backsides, or they will be o-for-october.
Slashing, rebounding, squaring up your man, fight for the &^*(&%^&^ b-ball. This team has not been known for this for 3 years, and they need to start doing it NOW. Soft floating jumpers, waiting by the perimeter, being a pylon on the floor, watching somebody else get a rebound, recieving a hard foul and doing nothing in return – that is the team I have watched the last three years.
If nothing changes, Toronto finishes above NJ and NY, but get 28 to 30 wins on the year.
I just wanted to add my two cents:
1. It’s not necessarily a bad thing if Bargs camps out at the 3 point line. In fact, it often creates offensive rebounding opportunities for others by drawing an opposing 7-footer out to the top of the key (Bargs takes most of his 3s from the top of the circle), where they’re likely to snag only long boads.
The problem is that the Raps don’t have player anyone in the starting unit that will crash the boards aside from Bosh. It could be a powerful tool if the Raps had the right personnel to take advantage of it (especially since you’re playing in a conference featuring Dwight Howard for X number of years to come), but you need above average rebounders at the other spots to take advantage.
2. The big thing that nobody seems to be talking about this pre-season is that the Raps have beaten two teams that have also made big offseason adjustments, and lost to teams that have remained to some degree stable (Philly is debatable in either category, but really they still play the same style aside from moments of trying to integrate Brand). This is because the established teams are practicing established plays out of their book, running them to get back into rhythm and maybe throwing in some new plays or new options here and there. Contrast this with the Raps, who have been playing a new offensive setup that’s been very erratic without it’s old standby pick and roll, and a defense that’s been getting used to a lot of new faces and a new system.
In short, the Raps are trying more stuff out and making more mistakes than the other teams. Hence they are losing. It’s pretty simple. Offensively it’s not worrying, and defensively it isn’t either because working on a system is different from keying your defense to opposing players and playing defensive match-ups. I think the Raps are going to be steady enough offensively to steal more games early in the season than people think, and the defense will improve a lot with meaningful substitution patterns, match-ups and (hopefully) an executed gameplan based off sound scouting. This isn’t a team that’s going to stop you with defensive talent, so to expect it to be there while learning the system and without full scouting is unrealistic.
‘I know Pops was just abusing the Raps inside at times during the game. Barganani is to blame for some of this.’
Andrea deserves NO blame for Pops abusing the Raps inside. In the first half Pop’s was matched up against Amir and Bosh, never against Andrea. There were 2 instances in the first half where the two engaged though.
The first was when Andrea was one of the first Raps to actually get position on Pop’s and box him out, unfortunately he could not coral the rebound and it went out of bounds.
The second was when Andrea tried to front Pop’s instead of just standing his ground. This resulted in a Pop’s dunk, I’ll give you that one.
Andrea was taken out of the 3rd at 6min mark and never came back. Pop’s never entered the game until the beginning of the 4th. They were never on the court together for the second half. So I’m just baffled how you can lay blame on Andrea when the facts speak differently.
*did you mistake Rasho for Andrea?
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