I seriously don’t even know where to start. I don’t even want to do this to be honest. I’m not sure what has been going on out on the court all season the last few games, but it isn’t basketball; nobody is competing; we aren’t a professional team. This is a bunch of guys, who have been brought together in an attempt to appease one guy, without any thought of how complimentary they are to each other. We have a bunch of scorers who can’t score enough to win games. It’s actually hilarious. At least this shtick is wearing out, and the stands are half empty, me complaining about what ails this franchise pales in comparison to the sections of empty seats in the lower bowl. The worst part: it was another boring loss.
Calderon was gunning from the opening tip: attacking Arenas off the dribble, finishing at the rim, lobbing alley-oops to DeRozan, hitting his jumper, my goodness. It was a very fluid attack. He didn’t force anything, JC just took what the defense gave him which was space, lots of it. Arenas had zero interest in playing defense, and our boy took advantage. Bargnani looked great too, his jumper was on, but more importantly, he was all over the boards on both ends of the floor. Somebody had to make up for the fact that Bosh was a miserable 0-6 with only 1 rebound. Calderon and Bargnani combined for 8-13 from the field, the rest of the Raptors were 2-14, disgusting. It all boiled down to poor playmaking by our playmakers, 2 assists in the quarter. 2 assists. Think about it.
The second quarter belonged to Bosh, who was an animal in the paint. Every one of his made field goals was inside 8 feet, except for one open jumper from the elbow. Say what you want about him, but he isn’t a finesse player anymore, not with him living in the paint for the most part of every single game. The problem in the second was utilization, sure Bosh was on, but Calderon and Bargnani who carried us in the 1st disappeared. For some reason, we had moved away from those two, and didn’t even think twice. They both had one shot that they hit (a layup and a dunk, guess who got what), and that was it. They were so efficient in the first quarter, but Triano decides not to use them in the second. Smart. At least Bosh got 18, yay.
Heading into the 3rd, we all fully expected the collapse, but other things were at play, namely basketball. Turkoglu creates an open three for Calderon, he nails it. Bargnani creates an open three for Hedo, he nails it. Calderon pushes the ball on the break, sticks a layup in transition, 8-4 run to start the quarter. I liked Bargnani all game, but I really liked him in the 3rd. Those trialling jumpers he sticks are daggers. They hurt, you could see it on Saunders’ face. Then it happened, not as dramatic and stretched out as in games passed, but the Raptors go scoreless for 3:40. No shot attempts closer then 17 feet. Antoine Wright with two of them. I don’t know how to stress this, but Wright should never shoot the ball. Never ever? Never ever! The Wizard score 7 points in that scoreless stretch, but the Raptors responded: 10-2 run in the last minute and a half to finish the 3rd, taking a 5 point lead into the 4th.
The 4th…the Raptors lost the 4th, but this wasn’t the story, Jack was. We have ourselves our very own Ben Gordon, the poor-mans Raptors version. A guy who digs us into holes, and tries to get us out, but more often then not, doesn’t. The rub is that he isn’t as good as Gordon. Yea, he hits some big shots, clutch even, in the 4th, but had he not, he would have been under the bus. No?
- Jack hits a three to push the lead to Raptors up 82-77 – Good
- Jack hits a layup to push the lead to Raptors up 85-81 – Good
- 13 seconds into the shot clock, Jack forces a jumper, no one there to get the rebound. Arenas hits a jumper on the other end Tied 85-85 – Bad
- Jack forces a three out of rhythm with the the rest of the team Tied 85-85 – Bad
- Jack draws foul and hits both from the line Raptors down 87-90 – Good (this ended a stretch of 3 scoreless minutes for the Raptors where the game was actually lost)
- 12 seconds into the shot clock, and the the Raptors all out of position, Jack misses a jumper Raptors down 89-93 – Bad
- 8 seconds into the shot clock, Jack hits a three Raptors down 94-97 – Good
- Jack draws a foul and hits both from the line Raptors down 97-99 – Good
- Jack hits a layup out of a timeout Raptors down 99-102 – doesn’t matter
So yea, he had some big plays, but his poor decision making directly contributed to us losing the game. When you shoot that early in the shot clock, it better be a damn good shot, actually, it better be a layup. Jacks shots weren’t, and they killed us. We had opportunities to take the lead, or extend the lead, but the offense wasn’t run. People were out of position and on a night where the Raptors were rebounding well on the offensive glass, that was a disaster. Out of those 9 plays, 3 of them were bad, but those three were bad judgment by a point guard who shouldn’t be making the same mistake three times.
What also killed us down the stretch was Hedo being asked to create for himself to score with the Raptors down 101-97. He loses the ball off the dribble, and fouls out of frustration, Jamison hits both, sealing the game. The guy is a playmaker, why Triano continually asks him to attempt to take his man off the dribble is beyond me. Whatever, you can’t lose 3 out of 4 quarters and expect Turkoglu to win the game for you, doesn’t work like that. There is so much more that needs to be said: the lineup to finish the game, not enough minutes for Johnson, what exactly is this Belinelli and how the f*** did we end up with him, but I’m a beaten down piece of meat that has nothing left.
Four Keys to Losing
Shooting the Ball Well
Bosh and Turkoglu were a combined 10-33 from the field, horrible. Nobody aside from Bargnani, Calderon and Jack, who were a combined 23-37 from the field, showed up to play. What the f*** happened to our great offensive players? At least we scored 102 huh Colangelo?
Raptors – 47.6%
Wizards – 51.1%
Taking Care of the Ball
Washington took care of the ball, but the Raptors didn’t. 1.2 assist to turnover ratio for the Raptors. Pathetic.
Raptors – 16.1%
Wizards – 10.1%
Offensive Rebounding
This was the one thing we did well, and the only good thing we did to keep the game as close as it was. Still, we conceded 11 offensive rebounds on the other end, that mostly ended up in dunks.
Raptors – 28.8%
Wizards – 22.9%
Getting to the Free Throw Line
The Wizard got there more, and had they converted a decent percentage of them, this game wouldn’t have been so close. The line has always been kind to the Raptors, but we would have needed to go to the line 50 times to have had won that game.
Raptors – 32.1%
Wizards – 38%
Player Impact
Bosh had the numbers, and seems to have lit up the chart a bit more, but Bargnani gets the nod for an efficient game on both ends of the floor. Turkoglu gets third. Doesn’t matter really. My stat of the night was Weems, who was a -2 in 0 minutes of play, lol. The Atlanta pre-game will be up after lunch.
77 Raps
great take on the game however we neglected a couple of 4th quarter issues.
Bosh scored one bucket at the start of the 4th quarter and Hedo got one bucket at the end of the 4th quarter when it did not matter. during the quarter on offense Bosh and Turk either turned the ball over or took bad shots. there are supposed to be our go to guys in the clutch and they didn’t perform.
so…maybe jack did impact the game negatively in the 4th but we cannot hang the 4th quarter collapse solely on him.
I agree Mike, Bosh and Hedo and Bargs were pretty invisible in the 4th, but for me, that was a sympton of the Jack doing stuff on so many possessions. How can these guys do anything when the point doesn’t give up the ball?
Bargs got like ONE touch in the 4th (which he made). Everyone has seen the way Bargs can get to the rim, nail long shots, hit mid jumpers or even create for others. Why are we letting Jack, Bosh and Turkoglu THROW the ball away in the clutch when we haven’t even given our most diverse offensive weapon a chance? This is just ridiculous. Politics.
nail on head. politics is fucking this team.
I guess so too. Is BC jacking up CB’s tarde potential so he can get a better players in the near future? Do you think a pay max for CB will guarantee TO an NBA title or even a playoff? I dont think so.
Very well written and I saw the game pretty much exactly the same way. Once again this team found a way to forget about a hot Bargnani at the expense of getting Bosh his which slowed the game down and took everyone else pretty much out of the game for important stretches..and other than for one quarter Bosh was pretty horrible but kept jacking anyway.
I too appreciate that Jack had a bigger game than usual but I agree at what expense? He forced some shots early in the clock with better shooters open ( Bargnani and Jose) which contributed greatly to the loss so I don’t agree with Jack being the Drive the buss ( only Jose and Bargs could possibly have earned driver). Under the buss Triano for allowing the game to go to the Jose to Bosh hold for 8 seconds clear out the lane and force up a bad shot play, and then when that didn’t work try the Turk one on one isolation which didn’t work and all the while forgetting the only two players who were shooting a high percentage and playing well in Jose and Bargs. This seems to be a pattern and I’m getting sick of it. The first few games the ball moved more fluidly, Triano said he wanted movement, the players spread the shots around to the shooters and the Raps looked great on offence and needed to work on defense. Now our defense still stinks but is a little better, but our offence once again forgets about hot players for huge stretches and plays one dimensional Jose to Bosh isolation, force up looking for the call. This will not win and even when it produces wins in the season will never win in the playoffs.
Isn’t the real issue with the Raps is that they have exactly the same weaknesses as last year – we stink at the 2 and 3, critical positions in the NBA – to this point it doesn’t seem like Turkaleau, Bellenelli, Wright, Damnd erozan are any better than Parker, Moon, Marion, and Kapono. The only real upgprade is that Jack is much better than Will Soloman or Roko – an he hasn’t been as consistent as one would like.
We are weak at the 2, Turkoglu, if used properly, is a perfectly good 3 imho.
Agree – all I am saying is up to this point we have not seen the upgarde in personnel like we had hoped.
can we all agree now that colangelo is a medicore judge of nba talent; that he has no concept of how to build a team; that not canvassing for ANY OTHER COACHING CANDIDATES AT ALL when he had the chance was a grevious error (please god GET RID OF TRIANO!); that bargnani is a red herring*; and that our toronto sports media just doesn’t understand how to represent a game through credible analysis.
*it’s widely accepted by hoops cognoscenti that the 1 and 5 are the critical positions in today’s game. bargs, while he can shoot, provides NOTHING that a 5 needs to provide in order to create a functioning nba lineup. As for our 1, we have two credible backups. sigh.
For the love of hoops, can we finally end this bargani era NOW?
As for colangelo… /facepalm. just look at his drafts. look at his signings (and you who called for delfino to resign, look at yourselves in the mirror you dimwits!). look at how he signed our “coach” . pathetic.
BC = FAIL
The Chicago bulls won 6 NBA championships with average or below average 5’s and 1s – i don’t think any of phil jackson’s 10 championship teams had an above average 1. The best teams tend to have elite 2’s and/or 3’s which is where we are abysmal and have been since carter quit on us.
elite 2’s and 3’s don’t grow on trees so I am not going to condem Colangelo.
As for drafting bargnani – he clearly has alot of flaws – he also has tremendous skills. would the franchise be that much farther ahead if we had LaMarcus Aldridge (the only real alternative in the 2006 draft – Brandon Roy was picked 6th so it’s crap to say he should have been picked first) – he and Bosh play the same position.
excellent points, negated somewhat by the fact that both your examples also had a) the greatest player of all time (if you doubt that, just ask him), and a top- what? 10 player of all time? is kobe there (top-10) yet? so, yeah, for sure, a team CAN be weak at the 1 & 5, so long as it has all-time greats at other spots.
of the non-bulls & non-lakers chip teams of the past 2 decades, how many were below avg at both the 1 & 5?
this seems like a silly argument. there isn’t any one specific position that defines championship basketball. well-built teams that function on defense win championships. the debate here between having good 1s and 5s versus 2s and 3s is entirely subjective.
3 of the lakers championships this decade featured cornerstones at the 2 and the 5. their return to prominence was made possible by a dominant power forward. so were the spurs’ 4 championships.
there shouldn’t be a distinction. every championship team is weak in spots. what differentiates them is how everyone else on the roster makes up for it. our problem doesn’t boil down to the lack of a dominant player at a particular position. it runs an awful lot deeper than that.
when all is said and done, bargnani will probably be a top-3 player from that draft, which really isn’t something to complain about.
AMEN. I was saying that last year. Looks like he created enormous mess. I wish I was wrong (for the sake of the Raptors and basketball in Canada).
I think you’re hoping for something that will not happen and should not happen. Again Bargnani is not the problem. He is among the best at his position and continues to improve. You and others who want him traded for a traditional center do not think of what Bosh will do without a center like Bargs who opens the paint for him by forcing a big outside to cover him. Do you think Jose or Jack would get in for easy layups as they do now with a traditional center who plays down low? The only reason the lane is open is because Bosh and Turk demand coverage wherever they are. The issue with this team besides defense starts with coaching and deciding what type of team they’re going to be. Are they a team that moves the ball to the open shooter of which they have a few very good ones, or are they a team where everything goes to Bosh slowing down the tempo and rhythm while living or dying with Bosh and whether the ref gives him calls. The coach has to decide and impose his will. It then becomes the primary responsibility of the point guard to distribute the ball and find the open man which again we are not doing in favor of the above in stretches where we seem to become brain dead. This team needs to decide what they want to be.Bargs can be a great center / PF for the team that understands his strengths and plays for them. If not trade him to a team that does. If he opened the floor up for a Duncan for instance he would be amazingly valuable.
The Suns have the best record with a center who is not even close to Bargnani on offense or defense. The reason.. They know who they are and want to be…they have a point guard who makes everyone else better, and a PF who doesn’t catch and hold the ball forever driving on three guys looking for the foul. The open guy gets the ball and they score a ton.
Completely agree with RapsFan. Definitely weak at the 2. But further to that point, the defensive liabilities that we have right now at the point and at the 3 position (slow on both counts) means that we need the ultimate 2 (offensive superstar and speedy defensive stalwart) to make this team anywhere near a contender.
I wonder if Arsenalist still thinks the club is going 3-1 over the next 4, as he said in the podcast. I thought they’d go 1-3, but now it looks like 0-4. I’m not sure this team could reliably beat anybody right now. They certainly look like a .300 team to me.
Lebron could score 40 every game if he thought that would help his team win, he knows it won’t. Meanwhile Bosh just tries to score as many points as he possibly can, and then complains that it’s a lot of work, when he’s too gassed to play Defense. If we keep losing, with the team we put around him, unless as a team we offer some other scapegoat, or injury as a reason, Bosh’s rep will take a big hit. We need it to appear that the rest of the squad is letting the All star down, and see what he fetches.
If the losses won’t send the message to BC to do what he knows they have to, the attendance will.
Dear Mr. Colangelo:
- Toronto is a town that deifies guys like Darcy Tucker and Tie Domi
- Toronto is a town that lauds Gordie Howe hat-tricks
- Toronto fans love lunch bucket guys like Oakely and JYD
- Toronto loves tough, take-no-crap teams
Why then Mr. Colangelo did you come to Canada – the land that bleeds for the only pro game that encourages fighting – and put together a team comprised of gentle finesse patsies?
If I were in your shoes, it would have been a no-brainer to me to build a gritty, leave nothing on the court, back down from nobody team of bulldogs.
Are you depressed about the number of empty seats at the ACC? Do you stay up at night wondering how to clear out warehouses full of #7 and #8 jerseys?
My advice?
Win over the casual fan. Your casual fan loves bulldogs.
Sincerly,
Brian Burke
I think that Andrea has to learn how to be more assertive in the fourth quarter . He has to try to drive to the basket to vary the offensive game of the Raptors which is to centered on Bosh and Hedo in that quarter. He still does not believe he could become the leader of this team when Bosh leave which I think is a foregone conclusion.
The problem right now is that the game is to centered on CB. Okay, he’s a great go to guy but if the defense collapses on him and a number of guys are open, then the best option is to pass the ball and not force the issue.
AB is being assertive in any quarter. The problem is that JC seems to just ignore him and have the play on CB
You might be right. A couple years back, I was at the game with the woman and she asked me, “why doesn’t Jose ever throw Bargnani the ball? (Italian’s her first language.) I don’t think he likes him.” I mumbled something about him being still new … and maybe some school-yard jealousy with him being a first-overall pick (a pet theory I had at the time) and (or) that sometimes, it just looks like that. She went on, spinning her own theory about how much Spain and Italy dislike each other in the international basketball world … and I didn’t really pay much attention to what-all else.
These days, I still do my best to NOT see what I often think I’m seeing. But … Bargs still gets looked off (imo) far more often than he should and not just by Jose. While it’s easy to come up with half-baked theories on why it might be, the conspiracy-theorist in me wants to suggest that maybe there’s a bit too much help going on towards helping Bosh look like the max-money player he so desperately wants to be. I dunno. The worst part about it all is that if Bargs is being ‘disrespected’ (for lack of a better word) in this fashion, maybe HE’S buying into it enough to make him hesitant to take those shots that he sometimes so SHOULD be taking (we all, or most of us see it) only because he wants to be doing the right thing for the team-game … and maybe even to be ‘accepted’ a little more.
Whatever it is or isn’t … something is just not right in Raptor-land, whether it’s the two B’s + Turk not complimenting each other as well as they should – and fwiw, I think Bargnani has at least been adjusting his game of late, to be in better sync with what they need for higher-level team-play – or something else. But for what I’m seeing, as much as Bargnani is an obvious second option for so many of the offensive possessions when he’s on the floor, his abilities are not only not being utilized how they could and maybe should be … there is still that tendency to (too often) pointedly send the ball in a direction away from him even when he looks to have the better scoring opportunity. (To be fair, this tendency isn’t across-the-board. It fluctuates, depending on who’s on the floor with him and sometimes, where they are in the game.) If any of this is so, it’s hurting the team, big time.
I think Bargs has been getting a lot of undeserved flack. People bitch about him being timid – he goes to the rim like 5 times a game now. People bitch about him not rebounding – he crashes the boards, not least on the O glass. You can criticize him on his poor defense, although he’s pretty decent when it comes to 1-on-1, but calling for his head game after game? I mean seriously, is Bargs the only guy playing out there? This is a TEAM game and a TEAM problem; Bargs is not the worst of it.
You got it right. what the team needs right now is to compliment one another, not just one palyer being complimented by the whole team.
If the whole teams compliments one guy and the end result is a big W, then so be it but if it isn’t, then there really is something wrong with this kind of strategy.
CB may be a good player, but not great. The team may be good but not great but even a godd team can win a lot of games if and only if the play is not centered on one. What the team needs is a number of options. That is why it is called a TEAM. Raptors team, not Raptors BOSH or Raptors BARGNANI or Raptors (name your player).
What is stats if you dont get a W.
Bosh is not the problem. Turk, Calderon, and Bargs are the real problems. All three are defensive liabilities and they are very inconsistent. At least with Bosh you know you’ll get 20/10 every game. If you trade Bosh, those three guys will still be here, what good will that do? BC needs to get rid of one of the three.
Or maybe we can accept the fact that the Raptors will be cursed forever. The year we get 1st overall pick is the year where there are no bonafide franchise players, geesh.
Bosh is the problem. We had 6 years to evaluate this guy and we know exactly who he is. Or who he is not. I’m not going to rehash all the points about him that are well known to all b-ball knowledgeable fans. In the current context I would trade him to Houston for Battier, Scola, and a draft pick. Move Bargnani to his natural position and watch him becoming Dirk v2.0. We don’t have a bad team: we have a bad coach that cannot be changed and the wrong franchise player.
I love that people are tuning out: in Toronto failure is still not an option (unless you are Leafs fan which ironically is your nickname).
Bargnani would not make a good power foward in the nba. I would definitely entertain a Bosh for Battier/Scola/pick trade though, that is intriguing.
I concur – Bosh is the problem!
Bosh scored the first hoop of the 4th quarter and then disappeared. Bosh simply cannot carry a team in crunch time! Our best player cannot win games – that is why we lose.
Try this trade – Bosh for Perkins and Big Baby! We create 10 million in cap room and we get a lot tougher. Bosh gives the Celtics another championship. We take our ten million and go find a Gerald Wallace clone – someone who can create his own shot from the wing and become the offensive leader that this team needs.
Bargs moves to the four spot and Perkins anchors the paint on the defensive end and gets offensive boards.
Bosh is a very good basketball player who cannot lead. In Boston he would not be asked to be the leader. Let’s face it, Bosh is not going to lead this team to the playoffs let alone the stated goal of at least winning one round – just not going to happen.
Time to blow this up – again! This time for real.
Bosh and Garnett together?
LOL, b-ball knowledgeable. Who the heck here is b-ball knowledgeable anyway? We are just fans who loves to rant, make up crazy trades scenarios, and be hypocritical.
Yes the Leafs suck, they have sucked for a very long time. But at least they shutout the Habs last night.
lol @ rapsarekool
You my man are 100% correct, none of us are experts!
“Try this trade – Bosh for Perkins and Big Baby! We create 10 million in cap room and we get a lot tougher.”
The CBA doesn’t allow you to do that. Do some research before you post.
I believe you can do this through the non-simultaneous trade provisions of the existing CBA. However I defer to Colangelo and other CBA experts on how such a trade could be affected.
I was going to try this trade on the ole ESPN Trade Machine: http://games.espn.go.com/nba/tradeMachine
But when you go to Boston, you aren’t able to try and trade Big Baby (or any other recent signing). I think there’s something in the CBA about after you sign a new deal –unless it’s a “sign and trade”, I guess– the team can’t trade you for 6 months??? (sorry, didn’t look it up….can anybody confirm this?)
Without the Trade Machine, I’d have no clue as to what trades would or would not work…..that CBA thing is confusing!
ya, its mid december before you can try a guy signed in the summer.
same is true for Hedo, Jack, Rasho, etc
You just may be right!!! Bosh will get his 20/10 every game even if he’s shooting 7 of 22 and can’t hit a shot for his life, or pass the ball out of a double/ triple team because he would rather try to get a foul, or see that a teammate like Bargs who is a better shooter is wide open and hot but hasn’t touched the rock for 8 minutes perhaps should get the ball.
Give me a break and stop looking at Turk, Jose and Bargs as the problem when the biggest issue on offense especially is that we have made Bosh into the MAN who gets the ball whenever he wants, even when he’s way off and covered closely. He has never learned how to pass because he doesn’t pass. He’s so damn predictable we will never win anything with him that is important unless he realizes his limitations. He is and can be a great player but right now he is one of the problems. As for the other three being defensive liabilities, I agree none are top caliber defenders but Bosh is far from one either. Bargnani plays better man to man defense than Bosh, and his help defense will come. Bosh is currently a better help defender but by no means great. Bargs won his battle with Haywood last night while Bosh was whipped by Jaimison. As for rebounding I guarantee Bargnani would get more boards if Bosh wasn’t trying to pull everything down himself while Bargs boxes out bigs.
please, for the love of all that’s holy, let the nets win a game before they play the raps.
Amen brother!
Actually Yertu,
yes The Nets !!!! ,
At this point every game is of concern,ya we beat Cleveland,that seems like years ago…do you think we can beat them again ?
I’m concerned about the Bucks,Pistons,Bobcats,Bulls,Knicks,fu.. at this point anyteam from the D league !!
my point was more slanted towards the horror of the raps being the first W for the nets this year. i mean, at that point…well, it kind of becomes ‘hide-under-a-rock,’ clipper-esque ‘funny.’ i have no doubt the raps could lose to them, i just don’t want to be the FIRST team they beat this year. like the raps aren’t a big enough laughingstock.
“This is a bunch of guys, who have been brought together in an attempt to appease one guy, without any thought of how complimentary they are to each other.”
Great take.
Does this mean you have changed your take on the Raptors .. from your glowing opinions in the preseason?
(Have you noticed that desolate t.h. fans are posting as FAQ imposters .. wonder why?)
This is really hard to swallow. I don’t blame the fans for not showing up because the Raptors rarely do either. The effort is awful and the “teamwork” is nonexistent. It looks like it’s time to dump what we can for draft picks and young talent and start over. I just hope they don’t try to make lateral moves to gain repectability. It’s obvious that this team isn’t going to be anywhere near a contender in the next 3-4 years as constructed so if they are over 25 years old don’t bring them in.
Hedo and Bargs are untradable but the rest need to be shipped out or sent to the D League!!!
.
Trade Talk (for a deal at the Trade Deadline)
It’s possible we’ll turn things around, but it’s more likely we make it to the 7th or 8th play-off spot, with Bosh likely bolting. So in that spirit, I had a unusual trade proposal.
ONE THAT INVOLVES …. JO.
wtf.
A 3 way trade … Bosh & Banks to Miami for JO (+ draft pick). Then ship JO to a 3rd team for a 11 & 11 type Center + a quality SG (not a project either). Maybe even get a decent back-up for Hedo @ SF.
1) Wade gets his Bosh
2) Raptors get a rebounding Center, a decent draft choice, Bargs moves to PF, and we reinforce our SG position.
3) Team # 3 gets JO’s expiring contract (and is able to chase after Lebron, or whoever).
Not sure if this kind of trade would work, but I’d be interested in knowing who “Team # 3″ could be, and what might be available.
.
“Team # 3″ could be new york: LEE and GALLINARI for JO
Lee and Gallinari for JO? I know they’d be doing it to open cap space for the off season, but that would leave them with no one to complement anyone they brought in. If you were Lebron would you want to play for a knicks team that had no decent forward or center? That being said, I would love to see Lee on the raps. Dude is seriously good.
This post is spot on – this offseason was the Neville Chamberlain appeasement summer from Colangelo and while the individual pieces all exhibit strengths, the sum of the parts might struggle against York University’s basketball team right now. And if his foot ever heals, there’s only so much Reggie Evans can do to fix this mess.
How many more seasons will we have to put up with the same glaring five weaknesses that have defined this team since Davis and Oakley left:
1) A collective IQ of 10 on defense
2) Inability to grab rebounds in the clutch
3) Total lack of transition defense
4) Unfamiliarity with the concept of boxing out
5) Lack of leadership in all facets of the game
Additionally, how many more seasons will the Raps start off 2-0 or 3-0 and get everyone excited, only to start a downward spiral come November or December as soon as they have to head out west? Its like Groundhog Day.
And not to bring up another issue, but can anyone remember another Raptors team that put in so little effort? Either these guys think they are much better than they actually are, or less they all hate each other. Or both. Either way, this isn’t a team that will accomplish anything, and the post-Bosh reconstruction project needs to begin ASAP.
The Nets probably have us circled on the calendar already as a gimme game!
Positions 1, 3, 4 and 5 are exactly what we expected them to be. No one expected great defence from any of these guys, so we can’t be surprised when we’re not getting it.
The problem is the two. I like DeRozan he’ll be a good player some day, but in allowing him to start we’re allowing him to set his own standard for defensive intensity vs. coming in behind a Antoine Wright who’s atleast prepard to take the issue of defense seriously. Additionally, someone has to raise the defensive intensity of the other four because they cannot do that on their own.
Question – if defense is the reason why we lose game and defense was to be this teams primary focus since the beginning of the year, why wouldn’t we have Wright in there starting?? Shit, even Beli plays with more defensive intensity. To be clear, I don’t think DeRozan is the reason we’re in this position, but I do think this team stands to benefit from a change at the starting two spot.
Agree totally that Bosh is causing major problems. Despite all of our new talent it seems like we run the same boring offense as we have done for the last 4 yrs- push the ball up, dump the ball in the low post to Bosh, ball sticks in his hand, he gets blocked/forces a shot/maybe dunks/turns ball over. Then you have 3-4 bona fide shooters and cutters moving around or wide open for 3’s that he completely ignores. Jose clearly only has eyes for his man Bosh, because he completely ignores the rest of the team. Running the offense through Bosh is KILLING this team. I remember the home opener vs Cleveland- we shared and swung the ball, it was beautiful basketball. It seems we’ve reverted back to our same losing strategy of giving the ball to the ultimate ball-sticker and waiting to see him get blocked by the likes of Haywood, Noah, Lopez, and other 2nd tier post defenders.
Defense is the problem, dumb dumb. The offense is as good as it’s ever been the last few years. And what’s this talk about cutters? I agree, it’d be nice if we had some athletes in the starting lineup who could make some hard cuts.
Could not have said it better and this has been going on way too long.
Trade Bosh for Lee and Gallinari now.
I was real disappointed in Triano again this game. No timeouts to end Wizards mini-runs when the raps held the lead. I don’t understand why he is so opposed to doing this. We see it time and time again from other coaches. Last night Flip called 2 or 3 timeouts to help stop Raps runs… and guess what it worked. I know coaches like to have timeouts to use at the end of games… but seriously what good are they if you aren’t in a position to use them.
Secondly…. why were the Raps not looking to the guy who was shooting the lights out (ie. Bargs) at the end of the game. I know Bosh is our guy, and Hedo is SUPPOSED TO BE Mr. 4th quarter…. but when you have Bargs shooting like he is, give him an opportunity to win the game for you. If not, then just pull him right off the floor and get Amir out there for D. I could understand if Bargs was 3 for 12 or something atrocious, but the guy was shooting nearly 60%. GIVE HIM A CHANCE!
Every time Bargs is hot we go away from him for long stretches and never put the ball in his hands with the game on the line unless something else blows up.
There is absolutely no question that a team needs to score to win and score in the 4th quarter.
However, it seems to me that really successful teams are able to play lockdown defense in the 4th quarter.
In close games shooters tend to get tight, passers make passes that they would love to take back.
It seems to me from what I have seen of teams that have won NBA championships that without exception they all had the ability to hold their opponents to under 20 points in the 4th quarter on a regular. When their scoring wasn’t there in the 4th quarter they cranked up the defense another notch limiting opponents to 17 points or less.
A team is not going to win consistantly if they are always going to rely on a player or two to make clutch shots in the 4th quarter to overcome lousy 4th quarter defense.
It therefore seems to me that if a game is close within 5 points going into the 4th quarter a coach should put his best defensive team on the court at the start of the 4th quarter and keep them out there as much as possible in the 4th quarter.
The idea is right… but if the team can’t score in the 4th quarter what good does that do? All this talk about defense being important is true… but good defensive teams still need to put points on the board.
Look at Charlotte. One of the top defensive teams in the league… but had a horrible record prior to the JAckson trade because they couldn’t put points on the board.
Good offense is futile without some defense, but good defense is just as futile as without some offense.
Bosh and Calderon need to go. I don’t want Bosh to stay if were not winning, so let’s get something good for him. (Monta Ellis and 2 picks give or take) Then we have Jack and Ellis who can play 1 and 2 plus ellis can score at will. Top 3 in points in the paint and he’s 6′3.
Trade Calderon I don’t care what he does on offense anymore, he’s D is awful. I say give him some extra mins to boost his stats and move him. He can’t guard any point guard, let alone the top Pg’s in the league.
I think we seriously need to rebuild for the future. Were not winning a championship with this team. we already have some good young players. Trade a couple of the big guns, get some more young talent and a few picks. At least then if were losing, we know we have a future. What do we have now? A failed experiment.
I vote for the raps of the future
If we hit -20 on the Ws and Ls difference, maybe. Signing Turk, Jose, and Bargs now looks very Ferguson Jr.-ish on Bryan Colangelo’s part.
Worse comes to worse, I’ll take on Bargs’ contract because if Bosh is not on our team, get some other supporting cast to help Bargs emotionally develop because in total, Bargs tries to pick more fights with players in his 3 year career then Bosh ever did in his 6 year career. Who will give us the hook shots in the paint in the future? who knows?
Get real … only Euro players want to play in Toronto for the Raptors. Good US players won’t come to Canada for love nor money … just watch Bosh take off. The only way the Raptors can hold decent US players is through the draft, and that’s it.
Toronto Raptors will forever be a Euro-based team … believe it.
OK lets say it’s true (probably is) that American players don’t want to play Canadian ball, what king of team can we make out of euros. There is Dirk, Gallinari, Ginobili, Tony Parker, Biedrins, radmonovic, and Gasol are all euro guys who have proven to be at least decent and in some cases downright amazing. So I guess where I’m going with this is that the raps can form a good team out the right of euro players and I think that should be who we try and sign from now on. Try this for a starting line up
calderon
Bellinelli
Hedo
Bargs
Biedrins
Not a whole lot worse than what we have now.
this line up will never work. it’s basically the same time minus the brother in the line up. This team needs to stop with the Euro experiment. American’s will play for the raps. but they have to a winning team and not for just one season. players want to win and get paid. Our owner won’t spend, so we won’t win. you get what you pay for
The line up was more to show that we could have a euro line up that wouldn’t be much worse then what we have now. I fully agree it is not a great line up, and I would go farther and say it is not as good as the current line up (biedrins is no bosh, though I’d say belli is a bit better then DD). The post was written to show that having American’s not want to sign with us is no excuse to lose.
I only watched 5 minutes of this game (busy ridding a virus off my laptop), we were only up by 3 points to a sad-sack Wizards team (tho fully loaded). I can tell we played with no such enthusiasm at all, and you can feel the crowd in the ACC knew that we will lose. This game had such a SAD tone to it.
actually, the were without mike miller, who was off to a pretty good start this year. so, yeah, they lost to a 5-10 team, at home, missing their starting SG. twist that knife…
You guys are calling for bosh’s head!? If you think bargani or turkododo can lead the team to anything other than lotto picks….
I’m as angry as everyone else, but blowing up the team just seems like a ‘lets do something-anything’ knee-jerk fix. Name a team that has been blown up that has gone on to win a championship in the next decade. We’d be looking at Raptors 25 instead of Raptors 15 and the same number of banners.
http://www.nba.com/history/finals/champions.html
Imagine if Boston had traded Pierce, a very good but flawed player (like Bosh) in an effort to clean house. Would they have won two years ago?
Remember the Kobe trade rumours? Do you think L.A. would have won without him last year?
Elite players win championships and we have one in Bosh (at least for this year). He is a 30-10 guy on any given night and plays with intensity despite some leadership issues. You aren’t going to replace that.
What they don’t have are the right pieces around him. Some good individual pieces, yes, but not the right pieces. Not great pieces. Bargs is not Dirk. JC is not Billups. Turk is not…well Turk’s soft game is not a fit.
And don’t preach about the lottery, it’s a box of chocolates crapshoot.
Look, I bleed purple too, but the Raptors are a moderately talented team that’s underperforming slightly. You can get the fire hose out if you want, but it is not a formula for success in the NBA.
Of course you are correct BUT the Lakers will go $20-30 into luxury tax territory to win a championship, it works. Boston got 3 max players and paid for their championship!
The Raptors formula is based on collecting the revenue sharing cheque!
If the Raptors will not commit to going deep into luxury tax territory – the only real option is the Detroit Pistons formula of 5+ mid-priced guys and no max players.
And try to out-work the teams with “stars” with depth.
You can’t have someone earning over $20m per season and win if you won’t spend to support them. Ask MLSE if they will chose to spend more – can’t see it.
brothersteve … exactly what I have been saying on this fine forum …. and been castigated for predicting it.
BC and MLSE will never never invest $130+Million for one all-star max money player … because they can make more money with spreading the salaries amongst several decent players .. even if there is no hope of making the playoffs … Toronto t.h. fans will keep on coming … like the Leaf fans .. believe it.
SOrry Copywrytr – Two bad examples…Toronto doesn’t have the cache Boston and LA do to draw complementary role players…
Calderon & Bargnani, “They both had one shot that they hit (a layup and a dunk, guess who got what), and that was it. They were so efficient in the first quarter, but Triano decides not to use them in the second.”
And Bargs was 1-1 in the fourth. The teams 2 best shooters on the night are ignored in crunch time in the 4th. Why? So Bosh and Turk can go for 2-13!!!!
I believe that’s an example of why teams hire coaches and we aren’t just playing street-ball.
Where were you Jay (out-of-my-depth) Triano?
At least Bosh got his numbers right?. It appears Bosh’s blatant ball hogging and no intensity on d playing except for getting stats for a contract and not the team is having a massively detrimental effect on this team. It all starts there.
Bosh is unable to bring his game up to the next level . His stats this year are simply masquerading that fact . He can only be a complement to a top level player , but I hope he get his max money on some other team not the Raptors.
Stick a fork in them. Season’s over, playoffs is gone.. ” They are who we thought they are” a big JOKE!
The current cast is probably the best it will ever get, in the preseason most people were excited about the cast BC assembled and were calling him a genius, I still think it is a good team and across the board (except perhaps SG) they are all potential All Stars. The problem is the coaching and how they can’t get these players working together, get rid of Jay and try another coach before you blow up the team.
Shaq was right about Bosh, and we have two other forwards with the same mojo. Or lack of…I have yet to see these guys make a hard foul..either the’re scared or couldn’t care less.
What this team needs is an artest or two…Stop the dunks! Drop the driving guards!
I wish the team could be evaluated with Evans, he adds an ingredient that would impact everybody.
The Raptors have an improved team but the coaching has gone from indifferent to downright harmful.
The analysis of Jack’s game fails to mention that whenever Jack and Calderone are on the floor, no one covers Jack and his man always double teams Bosh. Half the time, when Jack gets the ball alone in the corner he dribbles the ball or passes rather than shooting. Having a shooting guard that no one bothers to cover and is reluctant to shoot doesn’t make a lot of sense. Moreover, with Jack and Calderone on the floor,the Raptors get killed on defense particularly on perimeter shooting. I really don’t understand why Triano keeps favouring this option. Doesn’t he watch game films? How could he miss this?
Raptors won’t be successful,if they keep relying on Bosh to shoot while being double and tripple teamed. Under Triano this problem has gotten worse not better. They all stand around and watch Bosh play.
When a player finally get hot and starts to make baskets, he’s taken out until he’s had a chance to cool down and they rarely stick with what’s working.
Triano should be playing DeRosen and Wheems much more. They’re both good athletes and despite the mistakes, the Raptors will get the most dividends from playing them as the season wears on. If the Raptors had Jennings on the Team, I guarantee he would be sitting on the bench most of the time. It seems counter intuitive to allow ventrans to make endless mistakes and to pull the rookies off as soon as they make slips.
The only way Barg is effective is if he starts by hitting his long J. Whenever teams play the Raptors, they all defend them by crowding the middle. The Raptors have to spread the def if Bosh is going to be successful.
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