I’m pretty sure Antoine Wright isn’t going to take DeMar DeRozan’s starting spot. See, DeRozan has done exactly what he’s been asked to do, he’s kept an ear open to the vets and coaches, he’s played smart basketball and has improved with each game. Taking him out of the starting lineup won’t necessarily hurt his development, but it will slow it down. And confuse him. It’s like your boss telling you that you have to do so and so to get that promotion and then you do exactly that so and so and at the end of the month he’s like: Sorry, I promoted Bill.
When you don’t have much to talk about, talk trash. Says one Antoine Wright as he drains his knee and takes another cortisone shot:
“Honestly, I talk trash everyday. You either are going to beat me or get tired of hearing me talking. I think now, the level of practices just has been raised just with guys (having) to hear . . . me celebrating about all of the wins I got today. They are going to be ready to play, hopefully.”
So let me get this psychology straight. He’s talking trash to his teammates after winning a shootaround hoping that it raises the intensity level of the practices? That’s scrapping the bottom of the barrel for motivation. Intensity is always set by the play, not by talk. Trash talk does wonders for personal battles in the heat of a game, not sure how much it’ll help a unit in practice, especially when only one side is talking. Still though, give Wright points for thinking along the right lines. Let’s hope he backs his words with his play in, you know, a real game.
If that didn’t warm you up to this chap, how about this little quote which he advocates taking out one of the C**tics:
“A guy like Ray Allen can get going quick and sometimes you’ve just got to knock him down. You don’t get rollover fouls. You don’t get to use them the next game, so sometimes you’ve got to break a guy’s rhythm. Take a hard foul, regroup, talk to the coach, maybe change the coverage…When we say stand up to them, nobody is going to fight anybody. This is basketball. When we say ‘getting tougher,’ it’s just the mind frame of being able to block out a little bit longer, being able to set a screen every single time. It’s just about being mentally tough enough to carry it out. I’m not saying we need Chris Bosh to start throwing his elbows like Charles Oakley.”
Whoa Daddy, stand back, this guy just might be packin’ a piece his next game! Good quote though, one of those that says “I’m here to turn these pussies into gangstas”. Problem though is that these kinds of quotes shouldn’t be coming for role players on the fringes of the NBA, they need to be coming from your core product which is one of Bosh, Bargnani and Calderon. They would carry a whole lot more weight if that were the case, right now it’s just fodder for a slow day.
Moving along, Triano’s talking about how the team is out of shape and how they’ve finally eased up on the classroom sessions and are playing some real basketball.
“Today we had a lot of positives, we’re starting to grasp a lot of stuff but we’re not in very good shape. We did a lot more live drills, not much instruction. ..it was good intensity guys played hard.”
Ex-Raptors shooting coach Dave Hopla will also be with the team for three days. He’s not contracted to any team and is consulting out there so the Raptors thought they’d teach Amir Johnson how to shoot. Apparently Hopla only missed one shot in 40 minutes and made like a 100+ shots before missing one.
Here’s more video from Turkoglu and Bosh. I’ll summarize what Bosh said: He felt he had a pretty good game against the C**tics and even though he was “huffing and puffing” a lot, it was due to him playing his first 30 minute game since April. He’s also glad that there’s one more pre-season game left and that they’ll play that like a “regular game”.
There’s also this article in the Orlando Sentinel that ranks Chris Bosh as the 4th best PF in the league behind Gasol, Garnett and Nowitzki. He’s just ahead of David West.
I want to touch on the DeMar DeRozan to Vince Carter comparison that came up during my pick-up game today. They are nothing like each other, nothing. Vince was a power-player his early days, DeRozan is a slithery type that looks to slice his way to the rim. Vince had a higher vertical leap and made up for a raw post-up game by simply elevating over anyone for short fades. DeRozan’s mid-range game is all about spotting up for a catch-and-shoot or pulling up after a quick hard dribble and using his high-release. Vince was very active on the offensive glass his rookie year and averaged close to 6 rebounds. Sure, he played 35 minutes but still, that kind of rebounding output from a SG is considered high. If I had to pick NBA players to compare to DeRozan I’d go with: J.R Smith, Danny Granger, Rudy Gay, and Al Thornton. I’m sure I’m missing some but you get the point.
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So we have three leagues of 20 teams each in our first RR fantasy competition. Great turnout, thanks for joining, we appreciate it. Those of you who couldn’t get in, sorry, but even though there’s room for probably three more “arenas”, it would’ve been an administrative nightmare, more so than it is already.
Raps are off till Friday and we got nothing but practice talk till then. We’ll throw in a podcast in there too.
30 Raps
My current favorite quote from a Raptors player,
“You don’t get rollover fouls.”
A trash talking guy willing to foul someone, now that’s encouraging!
Just to get his redundant statements out of the way now:
“Evans and Wright are ‘injured’ … not a good sign for long term dependability. I wouldn’t count on these guys for much ….
…Stop deluding yerself and misleading all those naive Raptor fans who post/lurk on this forum … the current edition of the Raptors stinks to high heaven, and you don’t need to wait until the regular season to come to that sober conclusion…
…there is no way Triano & Staff will magically transform this disparate group of scrubs into anything close to a playoff contender…
…wake up people … you don’t just add 9 new players after blowing up the team and magically become a playoff contender …
…you people blather a lot but you don’t see the game from the pov of the coaches … instead you blurt about what you would like to see happen in your delusionary haze … sheeesh… if onle you understood basketball as well as I do…
…Just think how Bosh must feel about the dismal situation he finds himself .. being the so-called “franchise player” expected to lead a group of disparate players who have never played with each other ever…
…stupid tribal honkers!!!!”
And now back to our regularly scheduled programming.
You sound too clear-headed; you need to leave out some words here and there for the real FAQing feeling. =)
Faq/ your constant bitching is becoming a real pain in the ass
Do you save all of your previous comments? Thought so.
You forgot the spurious Smitch quote
Wright and Evans are the toughest people on the team….they dont lay down, thats something that this team DESPERATELY needs….and your 100% correct, this should be coming from Bosh and Bargnani, but it NEVER will.
I dont mind if he takes DeRo’s minutes if it means we are not pussies on the court the whole game.
I haven’t seen Wright play that much but how can a guy who’s 6″7 playing SG be so tough and be such a shit rebounder (for an SG) at the same time?
I like Wright’s attitude, but what I like more is that from reading these quotes, it’s apparent that his words roll out easy, his thoughts make sense and he’s got something on the ball. If he was a scrub just bouncing around the league, landing here with the Raptors, he probably wouldn’t be saying these things and if he did, nobody would listen. But he’s played some half-decent ball in the past, he’s been a starter on a good team and former team-mates and coaches (from what I’ve read) speak highly of him. Bodes well.
Added thoughts: I don’t know if I agree with the notion that what Wright is saying should really be coming from the core players. In a perfect world where your favorite star says all those things that fit just right, into what you enjoy imagining him to be, Bosh or Bargnani might be saying these things … but that’s just not the real world and if it’s not who either of them is, maybe you go out and get a couple of guys like Wright and Evans to stir and shake things and in their way, teach.
Of course, that’s not to say we shouldn’t want to SEE that from those main players on the floor, but maybe we already are. Watching Bargnani on Sunday, we all saw him getting a bit of an edge out there. It could be that having guys like Wright and Evans on the team are having an effect, already. It’s still way early. And I still think this team is going to be good.
Wright doesn’t rebound because he covered the best perimeter player for Dallas. When you guard Kobe and company every night your not in rebounding position a lot of the time. I bet we will see his numbers in that area climb a bit as we need the help. When you play with Dampier, Howard and the best rebounding PG in the league (Kidd) you don’t have that as a focus.
ALl that said he is what he is. Don’t start thinking this guy will make a big difference because he’s not a starting caliber player. Think Dauntay Jones for Denver last season. He started because it allowed Terry to shot more with the second unit. SA does the same with Manu.
Should the Raptors do the same for DeRozan?
DeRozan should be in the second unit because he hasn’t earned a spot in the starting lineup yet. If he can dominate the subs of the league, then we can consider him as a potential starter! Even Kobe started as a sub!
Yeah, but Phil Jackson was quoted on the LA Times saying, “I tell kids when they come into the team that rookies are lower than plankton, and they have to understand that.”
On top of that mindset, Kobe came out of high-school (IIRC), which might even have ranked him lower than rookies.
Right. DeMar is going to parallel Kobe’s career path. At 20, Kobe was in his 3rd full NBA season, and getting starter minutes for the first time. Would anyone bet the home on DeMar playing 37.9 MPG this season? Not me.
I fully agree, Boko. My comment was really only a side-note to the “Even Kobe started as a sub!” comment, not to the rest of your post.
I think that DD will play 10-14 MPG, unless we see some extraordinary development by him. And I think that is how it should be.
However, if the coaches feel that having those MPG be in the start of the 1st and 3rd quarters would be best, then I am fine with it. I certainly don’t want to see him playing in the 4th unless: A) He becomes a solid defender, or B) The game is a blow-out.
I think that Weems had played himself into the rotation so far, and Belinelli might have played himself out of a role that was pretty much dropped on his lap (about 20-24 MPG at SG).
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My main concern now is that I think Wright will definitely earn some good burn, meaning that he has to play some minutes at SG. Jack will probably earn some minutes there as well, and so will Derozan. I really don’t see us playing FIVE different guys at SG, that sounds like a mess to me.
So what that means is that, on any given night, Triano has to choose between Belinelli and Weems, and the latter seems to have risen to the occasion better than the former.
Maybe it will become a match-up thing: when we need a lights-out shooter, we go with Marco; when we need another athletic slasher, we go with Sonny.
That’ll depend on whether Weems or O’Bryant is included in the active 12. I have a feeling they’d rather carry an extra big (3rd string center) over a 3rd/4th-string wing assuming Wright is healthy.
Yes, but who do you think is in the 9-10 man rotation? This would be my list, in order of importance to this roster as is:
F Bosh
C Bargnani
F Turkoglu
G Calderon
G Jack
F Evans
F Wright
G Weems
C Johnson
G Derozan
So that would leave us with (starters listed first):
PG – Calderon*, Jack
SG – Derozan, Wright*, Jack, Weems
SF – Turkoglu*, Wright
PF – Bosh*, Evans
C – Bargnani*, Johnson
* I see these players taking up more minutes at these positions than any other player.
If we are matched up against oversized centers (e.g., against the Cavs or Magic), probably switch Rasho for Amir.
Hmm… Should the active 12 include a) O’Bryant or Nesterovic? b) Weems or Wright? & c) Banks or Douby? ( assuming everybody is healthy). It really doesn’t matter much, since we’re going to start with a 9-man rotation.
I think that the inactive list absolutely MUST be: Banks, Douby, POB, at this point. Those guys would have to play their way out of that situation, and I don’t see that happening.
As for guys who will be active but that Triano will struggle to find significant minutes for, I would say: Rasho, Amir, Weems, Belinelli. On any given night two of those players may get decent minutes, but on other nights they might ride the pine.
I am quite interested on seeing what happens at SG, but at least we have several players competing for the spot, so we have options.
So if guarding Kobe was his excuse last season, what was the excuse the other seasons? Why is he one of the worst rebounding SG’s in the history of the NBA?
It sure troubles me.
Just ahead of D. West? I would say. A lot of ahead of D. West. I like D. West’s game but come on.
Blake Griffin is ahead of D. West and Griffin hasn’t even suited up for a regular NBA season game yet.
hey arse, who’s the dude pulling the bosh impersonation in your pick-up game?
I don’t know, just some Persian dude. Good player.
This is the right attitude a player should be. ‘Trash talking’ is always the best thing to do in any competition. Good to know that Antoine Wright has the ‘I am a winner’ attitude. Antoine Wright knows his goal — he wants to be a winner! This is what we lacked last year, no one was motivating the team through trash talking.
Raptors players should learn the concept of ‘trash talking’ — putting your opponent down through verbally saying in their face that they are a shit and ‘I am better than you’ is the ideal thing to do in an intense competition. I’ve been in a lot of dance competition and this attitude even exist to every dance competitor.
I promise to you guys that the Raptors will never going be the same again if they follow Antoine Wright’s attitude. Wright has an excellent state of mind as a competitor, teammate, and a good role model to aspiring NBA players. I hope to see more about Antoine Wright and hopefully he will able to transform the entire Raptors squad as the ‘Bad Boys’ in the East!
Dance? lol
The team needs some type of “character” considering how lame the people were last year during the Ukic era. Trash talking is pretty dumb when the guy can’t back it up well, but Antoine sure set his own bar very high if he wants to be the main trash talker, he better back it up.
i was saying the exact same thing after the first celtics game when perkins started talking shit. bargs or bosh need to make him pay with an elbow or something. PLAY TOUGH and dirty! its how the best players play the game. i cant wait to see this wright guy on the floor smackndown jesus shuttlesworth its about fuckn time.
i couldnt agree more about derozan not being like vince. not the same ferociousness going to the basket. vc wasnt human his first 3 4 years in the league.
I don’t think you can teach somebody to throw elbows. If Bargs or Bosh were that type they would’ve done it by now. They’re passive people by nature..you can’t teach them how to Oakley..gotta be born with that.
If I had to pick one of those two to actually swing some elbows it’d be Bargs. Don’t know much about Wright but it looks like he’s trying this angle to get some PT.
BC shoulda made Oakley an assistant coach and not pussy Alvin or English … cause Oak has more props than the two put together … believe it.
BRING BACK OAK ..!!!!!
“So let me get this psychology straight. He’s talking trash to his teammates after winning a shootaround hoping that it raises the intensity level of the practices?”
Did he make that comment of his in a jokingly manner? I can’t imagine anyone actually believing that trash talk during a 3-ball pick-up game translates into a higher intensity level during real games.