Yeah, we know how to use Excel. Strength of schedule per month. For every peak there’s a valley. November is tough but life will get easier, not by much, but thing will even out for the team and we’ll have a chance at netting a respectable record provided we beat the teams we’re supposed to beat. Yes, that’s a loaded sentence since what the definition of a team we’re “supposed to beat” is up in the air, here’s an attempt at classifying our competition.
Atlantic Division
Boston: As much as it pains me to say this, we’ll be lucky to eek out a single win against them. They’re too disciplined and play too hard for the Raptors. Unless a couple Raps have monster games and we have a strong defensive display, I don’t see us doing anything against them. Remember, one strong half doesn’t count for anything. 1-3.
Philadelphia: A team we dropped two to in pre-season but have historically done well (by our standards, 26-27 all-time). This year they have Brand healthy and have addressed the outside shooting with Kapono, who is a far better fit there than here. They’re also top three in the league in athleticism. 2-2.
New York: The Knicks are waiting for Lebron and didn’t make any big moves this summer. If last year’s Craptors team could go 2-2 against them, no reason to think we can’t do better this time around. David Lee, you’ve been served. 3-1.
New Jersey: We lost both our home games to them in close affairs and one won which came down to the wire at the swamp. You might remember Brook Lopez going to town on Jermaine O’Neal once or twice, it was quite amusing. And sad. If we can’t win three games against them this year we need to be relegated. 3-1.
Central Division
Cleveland: I’m going to go out on a limb and say we’re going to beat them twice this season. They got Shaq over the summer but that’s about it, I don’t consider Parker or Moon upgrades, not even over Wally. We’ll win on Wednesday, you heard it here first. Plus, we’re bound to win one at home, Bosh will make sure of that, if not him, his cousin will step up. Remember, we went 2-2 against an NBA finals team last year so beating a great team on occasion isn’t out of character. 2-2.
Chicago: Quick point guards scare me and Derrick Rose is quick. Although you can make a good case that they got weaker over the summer by letting Gordon go, they still have big men who can bang and two wing scorers who can score. I still expect the Raptors to get the two wins at home, no Chuck Swirskly close-up on the ACC scoreboard please. 2-1
Detroit: Much like the Raptors, the Pistons could be really good or really bad. They got more offensive minded by adding Ben Gordon and Charlie V but those two don’t play a lick of defense. The men to fear are Tayshaun Prince and Rip Hamilton who make their living by playing the Raptors. Lose 1-3.
Indiana: Danny Granger’s talent, T.J. Ford lingering motivations for revenge and Troy Murphy having a 20-20 game will result in Indiana taking two games they have no business winning. 2-2.
Milwaukee: We haven’t ever swept the Bucks so no reason to think that’s going to happen, unless of course Roko Ukic starts playing 48 minutes for them. Bogut, Gadzuric and Elson add depth to the big man rotation but the guard play is weak with Redd the only one to worry about. Luc Mbah a Moute’s an up and comer but other than him, they’re relying on Charlie Bell and Carlos Delfino. Make-up costs more in Wisconsin, bet Delfino didn’t take that into account during contract negotiations. 2-1.
Southeast Division
Orlando: Usually we manage to play well against them with the whole Bosh/Howard thing, even last year we split our season series but now that they’ve got Vince, he’ll make sure that doesn’t happen. The Raptors win one game, that too in Orlando when Vince is taking a night off looking up pictures of old high school flames on his iPhone. 1-3.
Atlanta: We went 1-3 last year and no reason to think this year will be different. Historically, we’ve always played close games against them and there’s no doubt this series will present a few chances for our vaunted wing defender Antoine Wright to go up against Joe Johnson. The Hawks are in a better position to win a first round series than us. 1-3.
Miami: The Heat are the only team that takes their media day pics all pimped out. Another team that’s gearing up for Bosh, they tried to offload Beasley in the summer but want to hang on to Joel Anthony? Doesn’t make sense. It’ll be good fun to laugh at JO again. Raps win three laughers. 3-1.
Charlotte: Gerald Wallace morphed into Superman the last couple times we played them. Felton and Augustin will be a load to handle and so will Chandler and Diaw, the latter ate up Bosh last year. You can make a case that they’re more talented than the Raptors and I see the record reflecting that, mostly because of their two home games….everybaaaddyyy claap youuuur haands. 1-2.
Washington: X-Factors R Us. Jamison injured, Arenas mentally injured and Caron Butler off and on injured. Will Andray Blatche amount to something? Will Nick Young continue his progress? Will anybody in DC care if they move to Helsinki, Finland? The Raps have two home games and I think what you saw in the pre-season game of the Wizards looked about right. 3-0.
Northwest Division
Denver: You know how they say you should always focus on the next game and never look ahead to your next opponent. Yeah, Denver does that the night before they’re playing us. 0-2.
Portland: Home team wins both games, last season we lost 98-97 at the ACC after screwing up the last minute or so. This year we don’t screw up, we make amends. This will be the year Bargnani proves hs #1 pick worth. Not. 1-1.
Utah: The Jazz have swept us the last four years and the games haven’t exactly been close. At best we can go 1-1 but let’s be conservative and realistic. 0-2.
Minnesota: No, we will not lose to them again. If we do, I’ll quit RR. 2-0.
OKC: Nick Collison got the better of Bosh on a crucial rebound last year. I don’t think Bosh has forgotten. The game in OKC should be a dandy, I heard that home crowd is louder than the ACC after Marcus Banks knocks a FT down to make it 122-100 Lakers. 2-0.
Pacific Division
LA Lakers: Come for Kobe, stay for the blowout, maybe we’ll touch a 100. 0-2.
Phoenix: We’ve been getting swept here for five years now. The home game is somewhat close but Nash usually comes through. This year we break the streak. 1-1.
Golden State: I was going to go 2-0 here this year if it weren’t for the home date being our fourth game in six nights. Stephen Jackson will be guarding Chris Bosh in this game. Book it. 1-1.
LA Clippers: It doesn’t matter if Blake Griffin is injured or not, we have no business losing to the Clippers. 2-0.
Sacramento: See Clippers. 2-0.
Southwest Division
San Antonio: Surprisingly, we’ve gone .500 against them the last two seasons. On paper, they win both games but let the tribal honker in me pick the Raptors for a W. The home games’ a Matt Bonner night which should tell you how low our standards are when giving people their own nights. Word through the grapevine is that Dion Glover will be getting his own night too. 1-1.
Houston: As we saw, Houston is a solid team, but they’re not as good as we made them out to look. We’re a not-so-terrible 11-16 against them all-time and I’ll play the percentages. 10 bucks Yao stays on the Houston bench all season long. 1-1.
Dallas: We have one win in the last five years. Wishful thinking says the Raptors pull one out at home after last year’s embarrassment. Reality says Dirk is still much better than Bargnani and if Marion is good for one thing, it’s neutralizing a wing. 0-2.
New Orleans: So they switched Chandler for Okafor. Is that going to put them over the top? No, but that’s still going to be good enough for West and Paul to dominate their way to a couple wins. Apparently, atmosphere-wise, New Orleans is one of the best places to see a NBA game. 0-2.
Memphis: See Clippers and Kings, Bosh stares down camera after winning at home. 2-0.
30 Raps
I dunno, 42-40 seems spot on. But looking through the list you’re giving us way too much credit against some of the better teams in the league. Also I don’t think we’ll be sweeping the wizards this season.
I think that is about the right stat for the team now currently. A game above 500(42-40)
hmmmmmmmm.. I’d love to see us win the home opener, but I doubt that’s gonna happen a day after LeBron faces the Celtics. I wish I could be as optimistic as you Arse lol
Considering what we saw this pre-season, it is fair enough to give us 42 wins. Who knows which of our competition will become injured and give us an odds defying twist in the record and standings. Don’t wanna say, but you might be too nice on the Cleveland series, I expect all losses (0-4) and two of the games will be VERY close away and at home.
Swap the Cleveland and Detroit scores and it works for me. I really think that Detroit is going to struggle mightily this year.
I agree 100%. I think Detroit will suck this year.
My question to BC:
Where do you squeeze out 9 more wins? High optimism can give is 4 or 5 more, I think. We have to beat teams like Utah and Phoenix to have a shot at that number. For that, our rebounding needs to be way better.
Quick question on rebounding:
Are we expecting our SG and SF to leak out on the fast break? If so, why do we also ask them to try to grab defensive boards. Isn’t really hard to do both? I like the strategy of a high box-out so long rebounds don’t go to opposing guards, but not actively crashing boards. You just can’t fast break that way.
Good rebounding guards: it makes sense for Rondo to grab boards because he is the PG and looking up the court. It made sense for Kidd also. But, how do we get DeRozan, the recipient of the passes to both rebound and run the floor? Marion was perhaps the best wing player for this type of leaking out offence. I am really curious to figure out how he did both. In his heyday on the Suns that was truly amazing.
I don’t expect DeRozan is being looked at for rebounding. He HAS to leak out and fill the lanes on the break. My best bet is folks are hoping Bargnani grabs 8-9, and Bosh grabs maybe 11-12. Factor in 5 or so from Turkgolu, and you have a decent rebounding front line.
Turk is tall, but he doesn’t really jump all that high. I think we can count on 3-4 from him, i.e. the positional boxing out to grab long boards. Bosh may average over 10.5 per game, but Bargnani just can’t grab more than 5 average. I think we will have real trouble in this department.
Here is hoping I am wrong!
The highest number of rebounds Bargs can grab is 7 rebounds(and that will be way down his career in the future).This guy is a weak link on the starting team of the Raptors especially for a center in the NBA. I don’t understand how a 7-footer averages marginally greater than 5 rebound per game(7 rebounds per game is acceptable for a 7 footer center in the NBA by the way).Don’t know why Colangelo likes this guy.
Good Analysis!
I am a Spurs fan and a member of the Pounding the Rock blog (Spurs fans blog). I was cruzin’ the internet and come upon your site. Is this the Raptors Blog?
I am a Matt Bonner fan, and it made me smile to see that he will have a ‘night’.
I need to warn you that the Spurs are going to be pretty powerful this year. The Rookie, Blair, has been awesome for the minutes he is playing in the preseason. The Raptors will need to bring their A game, and get some lucky bounces to take one this year.
That said, I want to wish the Raptors a lot of luck this season, and hopefully, 42 wins will be accomplished with a couple of weeks left in the season.
You stole Blair like taking a 100Karat diamond from a bunch of retards. Everyone bought into the “scouting” report from the injuries and just gave up on him, but due to your core of the Spurs team, everyone in San Antonio thought it was a no loss situation. RC Buford is a force to be reckoned with.
You know that the San Antonio Spurs always draft good players.They have had only few busts from the draft in years.
Regarding the home opener, I think there is a 60-65% chance we will considering that we are playing the cave after they they just played the celtics tonight. On the other hand clevland has two former raptors on their team, and u know how well they wanna do against the raps.
Re tonight’s game – Cavs vs: Celtics: That was some good bball, especially in the first half. Though I’m honking … I mean, hopeful for tomorrow’s opener, the Cavs looked scary good when the starting unit was out there. Was fun watching Moon be Moon though, jacking up long ones (and missing) … but he did finish one nice alley-oop. Thought the Celtics would pull it out, but was kind of hoping the Cavs weren’t gonna come into town hungry for their first win. Maybe the back-to-back will slow them down just that bit, but … Raps are gonna have to be good. We shall see. I’m ready. Hope they are. Go Raps!
Watching the Cavs and Celtics on TSN2 tonite … The Celtics looked solid .. while the Cavs were out of sync with Shaq and Parker in the starting lineups … (Btw, I correctly predicted that Parker would be their starting SG!!).
Raps have a shot at winning provided they can sustain a reasonable level of offense and defense … AND … the Cavs are still disorganized with Shaq and Parker in their starting lineup. In tonites game, it degenerated into a one-man LeBron show and the rest of the team were iced.
Let us pray …. dear God … make FAQ’s prediction come true …!!!!
“Btw, I correctly predicted that Parker would be their starting SG!!”
Who the hell else was going to start with Delonte West imploding — Daniel “I’ve got a stupid nickname” Gibson. I don’t think so. Not much of a prediction.
Raptors shall win as long is Bosh is not Shaq’s b***h at the end of the game.
That’s so cool Anthony Parker is replacing that mentally-ill, Delonte West. I have this weird feeling about tommorow night, it’s going to be personal for Parker and Moon.
Its a little early to look at strength of schedule considering that prior to tonight no team had played a game for 2009-10.
Clearly the Raptors with 9 new players and Calderon starting healthy are not the same team as last year so to are none of the other teams.
Strength of schedule means something after the all-star game but not very much in October.
I think 37-39 is more warranted. We usually play Chris Paul to at least a split don’t we though? We are going to lose some games to really crap teams though, in classic raps fashion
lol last time i checked there were 82 games in a season
I am pretty sure he meant that they were gonna win 37-39, not that 37 and 39 would be there final record…
All the Raps have to do for the W is maintain a reasonable level of offense and defense (per FAQ). What insight.
Reggie Miller sucks ass. Just claimed that the Lakers could ‘easily’ be 20-1 to start the season.
Do you take juvenile pleasure misleading everybody with your childish lying ????
Do you ever read what you post? You could take a lesson from some of them….
‘So, how about that?’, I’m thinking. According to the TSN article – from the Canadian Press (link at the side of the page, here), the Raptors are tied for 2nd in the league for the most international players, with five. The Bucks have the most, with seven.
The way they carry on sometimes (especially American press?) about all the non-Americans here, one might’ve thought we had, like, twice what anyone else had. Huh.
Raps will lose tonight. The Cavs will be angry.
Gee … thanks for that info. gonna run out and place my bets now.
Will bosh play like the RuPaul of big men again?