Comments on: The Bulls Lose 99-89

By: Dave

Dave — Sat, 14 Nov 2009 15:51:56 +0000

I think you are right about Bargnani’s mentality, but I would address the issue in a different way. I would start him and go to him right off the bat for some points. At the same time I would tell Bosh that he is going to set the defensive tone of the game right off the bat and attack the glass at both ends. Once Bargnani has had a little time in the spotlight, I would make him an early sub and then start going to Bosh(say 5-6 minutes in), who should be warmed up for his defending and rebounding and ready to attack on offense. When Bosh is spent(say around the end of the first quarter, I would sub Bargnani back in for him to be the primary scorer on the second unit. Then, I bring Bosh back in mid-way through the second quarter and late in the quarted I take Bargnani out in favour of a defensive presence, in order to avoid a defensive letdown just before half. In the second half, I’d do something similar.

On a similar note, I think JayT is starting to figure out which players do well when they are on the floor together. For example, Bosh-Turk and Bosh-Calderon, Bargnani-Belinelli, Johnson-Belinelli(for some reason), etc… That can only get better as the season goes along.

By: brothersteve

brothersteve — Fri, 13 Nov 2009 20:12:18 +0000

What exactly did CB4 do wrong on Wed night?

By: brothersteve

brothersteve — Fri, 13 Nov 2009 20:11:03 +0000

47-46 total rebounds for Raps + 10-7 in team rebounds?

Have to look at shooting fouls as well – too much work!

Bargs was fouled on a clear path.

This takes dedication!

By: brothersteve

brothersteve — Fri, 13 Nov 2009 20:04:05 +0000

Reggie is very much like JYD.

Great disrupter off the bench. Will get other guys off their game.

Don’t see him as an Oak – Reggie getting 9.5 & 9.5 on a season isn’t easy to imagine.

By: dsr

dsr — Fri, 13 Nov 2009 06:18:25 +0000

Agreed that some teams on the 2nd game of a back to back might have to struggle with fatigue a may be less likely to win. I’m sure the top tier teams in the league have a less likelihood of this happening though. I’m just tired of the people who are saying the Raps are only winning on back to back where the other team played the night before. When I look at the win-loss record, I don’t see any asterisks indicating this…thus it is irrelevant in the end.

By: aldomilan

aldomilan — Fri, 13 Nov 2009 05:18:58 +0000

And he is Italian. His soccer background should suggest strong defensive instincts.

In fact, all European players play basketball only one side of the floor.

I think it’s got something to do with GMs drafting only the offensive minded ones for their shooting because the defensive minded players from overseas generally are worse athletically than the talent that can be found in the U.S.

By: David

David — Fri, 13 Nov 2009 03:19:13 +0000

People rip Bosh because he’s the highest payed player and he’s looking for a max contract.
Is he worth it? Alot of the ripping comes from his end of game play from last year. This has
nothing to do with his color.
Since you bring up racism then how do you explain black only basketball tournments. No whites
are allowed to play. There is one in Halifax. It’s a big tournment. Teams from across the country
play in it. Sometimes NBA players. But if your white, you’re not allowed to play.
I’m tired of blacks waving the racist card all the time, when they themselves are extremely racists.

By: siggian

siggian — Fri, 13 Nov 2009 02:37:41 +0000

Perhaps if I had use “reason” or “cause”, it might have been better. I’m not saying that teams playing the second game in a back-to-back situation aren’t trying. What I am saying is that teams in this situation are less likely to win than if they had a day between the games.

By: cesco

cesco — Fri, 13 Nov 2009 02:12:13 +0000

An improvement in team defense will solve most of the problems the team has. Andrea and CB4 are already one of the most productive bigs duo and they will keep getting better as the season progress . If Triano can get the team to play defense like in the last quarter of the Bulls game more wins will be guaranteed and everybody will be happy. I am not saying this will be easily done.

By: J

Fri, 13 Nov 2009 01:45:07 +0000

Oh yes. Charlotte definitely wants to stock pike another PG. Felton, Augustine and Calderon. I don’t even need to address the rest of your suggestion.

By: Buddahfan

Buddahfan — Fri, 13 Nov 2009 01:32:48 +0000

I am all for starting Evans and having Bargnani come off the bench. Evans will take rebounding pressure off of Bosh. He will add toughness to the first unit. If Evans gets into early foul trouble then Triano an bring Bargnani in.

With Bosh having added the 15 or so pounds of muscle he can handle most centers in the league. In some case Evans could guard the bigger guys like Shaq or Howard. This isn’t as ridiculous as it might sound. The Pistons had very good success with Maxiell who is actually a bit smaller than Evans guarding Howard.

Johnson can fill in as needed.

By: Tinman

Tinman — Fri, 13 Nov 2009 01:20:42 +0000

Give it time. Thats what Triano is working at, spreading the offense more around. Problem is Bosh has been playing like a monster. You gotta feed the monster.
Bargnani coming off the bench won’t happen, but haven;t you noticed the substitutions. Jay takes one of them out fairly early and them they’re not on together until halfway into second quarter. Decision gets harder near end of close games. Don’t worry, they are working on it.

By: skip

skip — Fri, 13 Nov 2009 00:33:37 +0000

Nice Rap!
If it does even out (us playing B2B vs. them playing B2B) then it’s better than “not too bad”, in my opinion, due to the fact that there are 2 (3?) more instances of us being on the tired end of playing a B2B.

By: Tim W.

Tim W. — Thu, 12 Nov 2009 23:45:45 +0000

I have two problems with bringing Bargnani off the bench. The first is that there is no one else to really start at center for the Raptors. If they had another option, then it might be a possibility and the second, and more important one is that Bargnani has never played well coming off the bench. By moving him to the bench, you risk stifling his game, which has been somewhat fragile over the course of his career. He’s been tried in many situations and so far the only place he’s had any real success is as a starting center.

By: dsr

dsr — Thu, 12 Nov 2009 23:29:44 +0000

An excuse for who…do you see the players,coaches,management or owners making these excuses. Absolutely not and you never will because these are professional athletes and regardless of how they feel physically they have to give 110%. The excuses are for the stupid fans who don’t realize that a loss is a loss and a win is a win…end of fucking story.

By: Blind Man

Blind Man — Thu, 12 Nov 2009 23:28:56 +0000

Anyone ripping Bosh this season is crazy. He’s doing everything one could reasonably expect from a franchise big.

By: wsg

wsg — Thu, 12 Nov 2009 23:11:48 +0000

Something I’ve been thinking about the last hour or so …

I remember reading a comment that yertu wrote a while back (here or at the Star site), laying out an argument for Bargnani coming off the bench. Being a Bargnani fan, I (still) had to nod at the logic of it ‘cause I understood the good sense it made.

These days, I agree with it even more. Why? Because, when Bosh is on the floor, he’s the first and second option … and in that position, Bargs doesn’t really know what to do with himself (as has been suggested here, by more than one, today). I believe that Bargs is a natural ‘first option’ and when he’s thrust into that role, I think it’s more likely that he will excel. The opener against Cleveland might be a good example of this notion. Right off the bat at the beginning of that game, Bargs found himself with the ball near the corner and went around Varejao (I think) and slammed it home. From there on, it was like the game was his. He took it to the Cavs every way he could.

Since that game, Bosh has gotten more and more aggressive with his play – and spectacularly so – but with it, we’ve seen less and less of Andrea Bargnani doing all of the things that we know he’s so capable of doing (having seen it).

The question that I wonder is, why is it that we don’t we see all of those things lately? I can’t believe that Bargnani is actually just l a z y . I just don’t believe that. There’s something else, another dynamic in play here, that is causing him to be lesser of a player than what he really is.

Watching CB4 at work these days, he’s an absolute one-man wrecking crew. But when he has the ball, there’s not a much chance that it’s going anywhere except to the basket … whether it goes in or not. Any passes he makes are usually only because he’s been absolutely forced to. This isn’t a knock on Bosh at all … it’s just his game. (I’m a big Bosh fan, by the way.)

Then, we usually see Bosh take the first rest while Bargnani is left on the floor … to (probably) let him chair the ‘hot seat’ for a while … but, the problem as I see it is, the patterns (for Bargs) have already been set (finicky mind perhaps – I tend to think thoroughbred race-horse-like) and what he’s now being ‘asked’ to do is not what he’s already been doing out there, for those last minutes.

This may seem like a view-point of one who wants to over-coddle Bargnani … but, I can’t help but suspect that there is SOME truth to what I’m thinking. Basically, I imagine that he’s sort of a complex cat – more than what his exterior generally shows … and – right or wrong, good or bad – playing second banana just takes an unnatural toll on him and he’s not good at it.

This might not be the reason why yertu suggested what he did about Bargnani coming off the bench (not exactly, anyway), but it sort of amounts to the same thing (in the end, I think). And the thing is, I don’t even think Bargnani would even mind all that much … especially if he was sold on the idea, that the second unit was ‘his’ … more or less. If this is even a little bit true, and if the Raptors are going to be as good as they could and should be, I think they should seriously consider having Bargnani come off the bench. The team would benefit.

By: Marc

Marc — Thu, 12 Nov 2009 22:47:24 +0000

This whole starter/non-starter bull is totally bush league. Who cares who starts? It matters who plays. Take a cue from Popovich.

Calderon/DeRozen/Turk/Bosh/Bargs should be our starting line up for the entire season (and playoffs). Players thrive off of consistency.

By: Marc

Marc — Thu, 12 Nov 2009 22:40:11 +0000

That’s it exactly. We all prop up Bargs because we desperately want him to realize his potential. Where Bargs goes, this team goes.

Bosh, on the other hand, might be gone after this season.

By: @cornersniper

@cornersniper — Thu, 12 Nov 2009 22:39:06 +0000

I think he’ll make a difference and will give make Johnson and Bargnani look over their shoulder. If Triano values defense as much as he says he does, you’re bound to see a few mild benching of Bargnani early, especially if we’re coming up against a big team who’s hitting the glass.

The Clips game should test our bigs, looking forward to it.