The only way to stop him, is to blind him.We can all be happy that the Nets have won a couple before facing the Raptors, otherwise we would have helped them end that streak of futility; bet on it. Sadly, this is one of those games that I wont be happy with whatever result we get: if they win, it was because the Nets are a terrible team; if they lose, I’ll hit delete on the server and end the good run we had here at Raptors Republic.
I’m interested to see how the crowd reacts to this lot, since there is no one left from those rival years except Josh Boone. The hate for Jersey goes deep, but it was never embodied in Boone. Tonight should literally be a walk in the park. I don’t care how bad the Raptors have been playing, their fundamental problems aside, just looking at this Nets roster, it is clear they are devoid of any real talent. Sure they have a couple nice pieces (Devin Harris, Brook Lopez, Chris Douglas-Roberts, Courtney Lee), but that’s all this team is, a couple nice pieces with Bobby Simmons who makes $10.5 million this year.
This will be the first of 4 meetings (wins) against the Nets, and it gives the Raptors some opportunity to work on their problem areas in a real-game situation. Not that the Nets should be taken lightly since they are still an NBA team with NBA’ish talent, but this is as close as you can get to a practice that has standing implications as you can get, 2-24 FFS.
DeRozan needs some plays called for him tonight. He needs to be rolled into the offense, STAT! Send him backdoor along the baseline and lob him some alley-oops; give him the ball at the elbow and let him attack the paint; hit him with a pass as he slashes towards the rim, anything really. I’m not saying Courtney Lee is a slouch, because he isn’t, but if our rook starts attacking the rim, then the New Jersey defense will have to rotate to help, which will open up the rest of the guys for kick outs and offensive rebounding situations. Just a thought Jay.
How about we let Bargnani guard a center. The last couple games, he has been on the opponents power forward, and that hasn’t gone too well (Beasley 28pts 11rebs, Lewis 21pts 5-8 3pt). Boone and Lopez will have their hands full on defense, but if Bargnani is our center of the future, and apparently is a good post-defender, then why not defend a center who strictly will occupy the post? I feel like I’m missing something here becuase it isn’t like Bargnani gets sent over to help defend in the post, right? Anyone?
14…that’s the TOTAL number of rebounds Bosh has grabbed in the last THREE games. Unacceptable. This needs to truly stop tonight. If Bosh doesn’t grab at least 11 tonight, I don’t even know what to say… Lopez is a big boy, and is damn active on the boards, but without another solid rebounder on the Nets roster to battle in the paint, this should be easy pickings.
The number 1 reason the Raptors win tonight is that Lawrence Frank no longer coaches the Nets. He has really owned the Raptors over the last few years. The guy got a bum deal this year, but don’t get fooled, he is a top level NBA coach.
The Raptors are 8 point favourites tonight with the over/under at 206. I’m thinking it will be a rout: 106-84. Don’t forget to join us tonight at SCC for Raptor Fan Fridays. Tom Liston said something about a free round for every point the Raptors scored or something along those lines.
40 Raps
The Nets are a much better team than their record indicates. They have a nice blend of young talent (Lopez, Harris, CDR, Lee, T.Williams) and tough minded veterans (Rafer, Dooling, Battie, Najera, Simmons, Hayes) and a few serviceable role players (Boone, S.Williams) plus a wild-card who’s currently injured (Yi).
The Nets are a team with a fair amount of talent on their roster. They’re fully capable of winning 30 games in a season which ain’t that far off from where the Raptors are, particularly when they’re without Calderon.
As they get healthy and begin to recover some of that lost confidence … this Nets team is going to play much better in the remainder of the season. Their record to date (2-24 W-L) is a wholly inaccurate picture of their squad + talent level.
How much better? 6-18? 8-16? However, they have a better situation if you consider their cap situation and the core they have put together.
fully healthy all season, is it unrealistic to think that the nets & raps wouldn’t be within a game or two of each other? let’s say that best-case W/L for the nets w/o injury this year would be 9-17…the raps are 11-17, no?
in my eyes, they’re pretty much equivalent…and while the raps are certainly CAPABLE of putting a beat-down on ‘em & winning by 40, they could also go into it THINKING that that’s exactly what’ll happen EVEN IF THEY DON’T TRY. for years, this organization has played down to the lower-level teams…well, that’s caught up to ‘em, ’cause now THEY’RE a lower-level team.
agree with your main point re. the game – if they win, so fucking what, the nets are horrible. if they lose…well, it’s game over, man. GAME OVER.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pTifdoKXoxM&NR=1
seems appropriate…smoking rubble.
The Nets might have had a chance at 30 before the season started but that ship has sailed.
Definitely, that opportunity has passed … but they can play at a 30 win pace the rest of the season once they right their ship.
The point is the Raptors aren’t playing against a team that talent wise is a 15-20 win roster. The Nets are much better than that. Their record so far is misleading.
Can’t that exact same argument be made for nearly any losing team? (Minny, Sacramento, Washington last year…. Nets, Minny, Philly etc this year) Hell, couldn’t that same argument be made for the Raps?
The Nets simply aren’t that good…. losing this one isn’t acceptable under any terms
to a degree yes, but the nets were absolutely riddled with injuries to start the year…for a stretch of games, i think they were without any starters (or maybe just had 1?) – take a look at the number of games played for some of their key guys. there are always reasons for poor records, and no, the nets don’t have a whole lotta talent. dave’s point was simply that you can’t look at the nets’ record & assume a W.
i mean, for comparison sake, let’s say the raps had been without bosh, turk, bargs & jose for a good chunk of the season. what would you assume their record would be without them? and would you consider it to be the ’same’ team once they returned to action? the nets aren’t the ’same’ team that started oh-and-whatever (17? 18?)…just like the raps aren’t the same team that started the year beating the cavs.
The Nets may have been marginally worse with their injuries… but were predicted to be the worst team in the east, and one of, if not the, worst team in the league. Now the inuries may have resulted in a remarkable inept 0-18 start…. but I don’t see them winning more than a couple with all their players there. (don’t forget they had a full roster for the first handful of losses and 2-4 since their first win)
NJ is crap… doesn’t mean ofcourse that they can’t have a good game or the Raps another bad game… but losses to team of NJ level should always be unacceptable.
I don’t understand how people don’t see talent on this Nets roster:
(1) An All-Star caliber center in Brook Lopez
(2) A good starting point guard in Devin Harris, excellent backup in Rafer Alston, and another good backup guard in Keyon Dooling
(3) Three-to-five wing players (Lee, CDR, Williams + Simmons, Hassell) who are better than the Raptors second best wing player (DeRozan)
(4) Low level big men to round out the cast (Boone, Williams, Najera, Battie) + a low level wing in Jarvis Hayes
(5) A wildcard in Yi Jialian
Okay, that team isn’t making the playoffs but there is legitimate talent there. It’s not a very poor team (15-23 wins). The Nets are a poor-to-decent team that is capable of winning 30 or so games. The Raptors meanwhile are a decent-to-mediocre team capable of winning 36-41 games (talent wise, performance wise they’re clearly a decent team due to their ridiculous defensive struggles).
There is a clear difference between the two sides in favour of Toronto, but the difference isn’t that large. Yes, the Raptors are better. Yes, the Raptors should be considered good favourites. But this is not a slam dunk game (as the Nets W-L record would indicate).
The Nets simply aren’t this bad of a team. They’re not last year’s Wizards (due to health) or last year’s Kings. They’re better than that, they have more talent than that. This is not a very poor basketball team despite what their record is at this point in the season.
And yes, the Nets are the worst team in the East … the worst in the conference just isn’t as poor as it has been in some other years (17 win Kings last year).
Nets will be a good team in the future… just not a good team now. Simple as that.
The Nets are not a good team now — agree
The Nets will be a good team in the future — they should be, agreed
I just disagree on bad the Nets are now. I think there’s a large difference between the talent on the Nets versus what they’re being portrayed as.
On the other end of the scale, it’s a similar difference as the Lakers (elite team, legitimate contender) to the Phoenix Suns (good team, close to being a very good team) … between a very poor team like last year’s Kings versus a poor-to-decent team which I reckon the Nets are despite their atrocious record.
Anyway, enough on that I think. That Nets aren’t that interesting!
Hi, Lawrence Frank here. No.
Fire Jay, hire Frank!
I thought the same thing when I remembered Frank was fired…
Frank sounds good to me!
If not a blowout, it will be a 5 point win with many of you RFF ppl at Philthys drinking away the pain of the worry of the almost lost. Devin Harris’ shooting slump could disappear tonight.
paging reggie.. paging reggie? your services are required for this practice game, paging reggie?
Are the Nets jelling … while Raps are unjelling ???!!!!
That could be a bad omen for tonight … believe it.
Can something unjell? and as an FYI for FAQ, its gelling
Are you asking if the Nets are Jello? Could be! lol
Raps have come together at home to face weaker teams. Why not do it again?
This must be a statement game for the Raps … and they must decisively trash the Nets if they are to be considered a playoff team. So let’s not be too hard on the lugubrious Raps as they attempt to pull themselves out of their funk.
GO RAPS ….!!!!!!
If Nets finish last and can draft Wall, would they go for Devin Harris for Chris Bosh (sign and trade)?
Wall, Bosh, Lopez and Lebron or Wade? Pretty deadly.
I would neeed more then Devin Harris in a Bosh trade. Lopez would have to part of the equation (although I wouldn’t trade Bosh to jersey for any reason).
Yeah why would be trade bosh for Harris? so we can have 3 starting capable PGS for the foreseeable future? makes no sense
It gives Rod Thorn a chance to once again screw us again… in a different fashion.
“if they lose, I’ll hit delete on the server and end the good run we had here at Raptors Republic.”
DON’T DO IT
We’ll need somewhere to comment on who should replace Triano now that Colangelo has finally fired him!
AND there will be more trade rumors than anybody could count.
Instead of hitting DELETE, in the event of a loss, why not add a poll where readers can vote for an alternate team to follow.
I can see the headlines now: “Raptors Republic Adopts a new team: On behalf of Raptor’s fans, having been abandoned by their team, RR, the ESPN blog affiliate for the Toronto Raptors are now focussing their attention on the XXXXX…” I predict the group here would vote for one of the young “up n’ comers”; either Portland or OKC.
As much as I like OKC, I say screw it and let’s go for the Kings. Who would expect that? I wonder what ESPN would think of this…
“but without another solid rebounder on the Nets roster to battle in the paint, this should be easy pickings.”
Lets just replace “Nets” with “Raptors”.
Isnt this what other scouts and coaches (erstwhile or real) say to their teams before playing the Raptors?
Ahh.. thanks for the shoutout…
How’s this – if I make it to RFF, a couple pitchers if Amir Johnson grabs 7 or more boards. Cheers.
DeRozan is another bambi-eyed liability. At least jack and Weems look like they mean business on the court. Basketball is still a physcial game- look how San Antonio beat Phoenix in their heyday- by knocking Nash out of bounds.
I Hope NJ win by 30 and then if BC doesn’t fire Jay we will all know that Jay gives good blowjobs.
Would this knowledge make a difference in your life?
On another NJ note, has anyone else realized that on Feb 3 NJ is coming to town and the halftime show is none other than Vanilla Ice!
http://www.nba.com/raptors/fannight.html
That is the worst thing I’ve heard all day, wow.
I thought you were joking at first. I hope he’s paying the Raps to perform. And paying the fans to witness it…
Ever since Jose was injured, DD has been in a slump. Coincidence? I dont think so. Jose would give Demar some early looks and actually lob it to him. But Jack doesn’t do that.
just looking at this Raptors roster, it is clear they are devoid of any real talent. Sure they have a couple nice pieces (Chris Bosh, Andrea Bargnani, Jose Calderon, Hedo Turkoglu), but that’s all this team is, a couple nice pieces with Marcus Banks who makes $4.5 million this year.