Effort against Philly, Bargnani as a #2 man, DeRozan’s rookie wall, Hedo’s redemption, Amir Johnson’s yanking and the daunting roadtrip are amongst the topics of discussion. Warning: Bargnani fanboys stay clear. You can click the play button below or listen directly in iTunes (33:16 min). You may also download the file (11.7MB).
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The Bargnani talk veered off into a discussion of whose minutes a guy like Reggie Evans should be slicing into, if any? Is it Bargnani’s or Johnson’s? The stats point to the Raptors being a better team with Johnson on the floor as he brings more defense at the cost of offense which we seem to have in spades. Does Bargnani get a free pass when compared to Johnson? Amir gets yanked out of the game after two bad plays, but Bargnani continues to see floor time (39+ minutes last night) despite being a non-factor on defense and providing inconsistent offense. Is it a double-standard? What kind of message does it send?
Yes, Marco Belinelli’s shooting is inconsistent, but does he bring more than just that and are we too quick to judge him just based on his shooting. Is his defense and ball-handling ignored or underrated? How long do we wait for DeRozan? Was starting him a good idea to begin with?
The upcoming schedule is fierce: @LA, @SAC, @GSW, @POR, vs ATL, vs OKC. 3-3 would be dandy and 0-6 could see us sit out of the playoffs as Milwaukee, Chicago, Miami and Charlotte make their charge.
Hedo Turkoglu’s had a miserable year, but how easily all would be forgiven if he delivered in the playoffs? We still have faith in Hedo, even though his contract sucks and all signs point to him being a bad fit. After all, we already got two decent PGs, did we really need a one-dimensional point-forward?
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56 Raps
TO’s saving grace will be that CHI is currently behind them, have an even harder
schedule remaining, don’t have noah for at least another couple weeks, and have
one of the few coaches in the league either at or below triano in terms of ability.
it should be an embarrassing finale, watching these two anti-juggernauts ‘fight’ to see who can lose the least & squeak into the 8th spot.
Even without Noah in the lineup, Chicago can still grab the 8th.
that’d be remarkable accomplishment, and if they’re able to do so, then uber-kudos to them. but check their sked…it’s tough, even with a fully healthy noah.
Unfortunately, I see them progressing quite nicely – while we are heading in the opposite direction. When I look ahead, given our struggles over past 8-9 games – I no longer see easy wins anywhere. Unless they change something (attitude) really quickly, I see them finishing 9th.
Johnson did not bet yanked because of two bad plays.
1. The 3 second call was not his fault. He was posted up in the key wide open and somebody instead threw this idiotic skip pass across court leaving Johnson hanging out to dry. I am sure Triano saw that.
Johnson’s minutes were cut because he was under the weather big time. I am amazed that he even played against the Knicks when he couldn’t even breath, until like he says he coughed it up during the game.
I applaud Triano for not pushing Johnson’s minutes when he was under the weather.
“The 3 second call was not his fault. He was posted up in the key wide open and somebody instead threw this idiotic skip pass across court leaving Johnson hanging out to dry”
so he couldnt’ get out of the key?
This is the 2nd time I’ve read that the 3 sec call was someone else’s fault. Its like saying travelling or stepping out of bounds was caused by someone else. Regardless of whether he gets the ball or not he HAS TO know how long he was in there for.
If you don’t get teh ball in time… you move out. He has only himself to blame.
The second three second violation wasn’t him not getting the ball. Like I said earlier, Wright passed up a wide open jumper, and begin a lazy drive into the paint with three defenders there. I blame Wright for that.
There is always a fine balance to be struck between grabbing offensive rebounds over multiple defenders (like Amir did the Knicks game) and three second violations…maybe Amir should have anticipated that Wright would do something stupid, but it hardly seems fair to blame him for not doing so.
3 sec calls come when a player spends 3 secs in the key…. nobody else can decide for him to spend that time in the key.
A player may not help the situation by their choices (ie. Wright in your example), but Amir still needs to know how long he is in there for.
I dunno. Is there a fundamental difference between this sort of play and someone throwing me a bad pass that I mishandle, leading to a turnover? Or I’m posting up and my idiot teammate brings his man over, who then picks my pocket? In both cases, the turnover is technically my fault. I guess in the latter case, I should somehow be aware that my teammate has done something stupid, so I should be extra careful.
I think all cases like this are nuanced. It doesn’t make sense to blame the person turning over the ball w/o understanding what happened before it. For all we know, that play was a set play in which Wright was supposed to shoot the open jumper, and Amir rebound. If this is the case, and Wright decides to freelance the play, then shouldn’t he get the blame?
The difference in your examples is that you had no choice in the plays (and the turnover on the pass is always credited to the passer not the receiver… even if its a perfect pass the receiver mishandled)
Anyways, as I said Amir chose to stay in the key…. what his or Wrights intentions or expectations are/were is irrelevant. You stay in the key for 3+ secs its a violation. You can’t do it… he needs to move when those three seconds are up regardless of what the rest of the team is doing. He may have thought Wright was going to shoot, pass to him, pass to someone else, or do jumping jacks while singing We Are the Champions… it doesn’t matter.
3 second violations are the most inconsistent call in bball – probably not worth arguing about.
Summary – Amir was pulled quickly – despite our need to match athleticism with athleticism. Yank him – talk to him and put his butt back out there. I guarantee you he’ll work his tail off.
+8 in 8 minutes. We needed defense. Some nights you might limit Amir to 8 minutes due to matchup issues. Last night was NOT one of them.
A big mistake. D is our problem. He’s absolutely plays the best D on our team.
“3 second violations are the most inconsistent call in bball”
Hmm…how about the blocking/offensive foul made more egregious (depending on one’s team) sometimes because of the denied/made scoring. This is an instance when a tv review would be most helpful.
Good point bendit. I’ll revise “the second most…” :)
Have not listened yet, work forbids, but would have to agree, only if Evans merits the minutes. While a fan favourite, his play is far from consistant. He’s kinda the Bizarro Bargnani.
Amir has been keeping his fouls in check lately, his minutes should not be going down based on his contribution.
Looking forward to listening later.
I still have faith in my precious raptors, yes it would be nice to see deploy a crisp slap in the face to each member individually.. and I nominate POB to dish these slaps out accordingly (even his own)..
I dont see any 0-6 for the next 6 games. We will catch atleast 2 off their guard. Its all in the percentages.. Give us a night of rain, (though this is true for any team).. we will walk out with the W.
#FreeWally – genius.
But seriously Andrea is the better player.
However, on a Raptors team that has plenty of scoring options, but rebounding and defensive deficiencies, Amir is a good fit – for usually say 20-25 min/game.
They’re a nice compliment on the floor together. Amir doesn’t shoot well and thus doesn’t extend the floor while Andrea doesn’t hustle – little help D and a poor rebounder. Put them together and their skill sets should offset.
That was the most brutally honest assessment of Bargnani I’ve read/heard.
100% agree on there being a double-standard for Bargnani, if he was on a level playing field with everyone else and got treated the same, he’d be getting pulled after three possessions for blowing coverage or position.
Fact of the matter is – JT has to get his head out of his ars and watch film, look at some stats or read all the blogs and stop babying barg, hedo, jose or whoever and sit their arses on the bench when they are not contributing anything to help the team.
Everyone knows that Bargs is a defensive liability who would rather stay out on the perimeter and chuck 3′s rather than bang and establish position inside. yet he’s out there, logging tons of minutes even when his shot is not falling which is the only reason why he’s out there really. So why is he out there? is it to justify the 50M that BC gave him? Or is Triano that stupid/hardheaded of a coach that he can’t admit to his mistakes? i don’t know…becasue at this point the raps are getting harder and harder to watch without wanting to yell at the tv, at Devlin or worst throwing somehting at the TV. I cant even imagine what Bosh thinks about Bargs and JT. He’s too classy to throw them under the bus.
furthermore, the raps keeps telling people that they are a tougher bunch this year.. ummmm really? allowing 110+/- a game says so otherwise. We’ve got some bangers and tough guys this year for sure but JT what good are those guys if they’re stuck on the bench if you cant’t see pass your flawed system of playing 4 perimeter players and 1 guy rebounding against 5?
If i were Bosh the only way I would resign is if Bargs is traded which wont happen becasue that’s giardinni’s and BC’s boy. they dont to look stupid now drafting him #1 overall.
BTW – i would take aldrige over Bargs any day – at least the guy looks like he gives a shi+ when he plays.
Are we ready to rebuild again?
We are strapped with 3 make me puke contracts: Jose 10M, Hedo 11M and Bargs 10M for the next 3-5 years. Bargs seems to have peaked earlier this season and has gone back into his old funk, if jay can’t figure out a way to get him motivated one needs to go. Also, we need to move Jose for anything at this point, sure he’s great off the pine but you can’t waste 10M a year of cap space on a spark plug off the bench. Hedo is just not fitting in, I give BC props for trying something but really this isn’t working.
What can we do???????????
Cmon guys… relax, we went from chasing Boston for the atlantic and fourth, to wondering if we will make the playoffs at all… Let Bosh resettle into the superstar that he is, let Hedo show us that he’s a spur at heart and waits for the last bit of the season to pick it up… And bargs responds well to being shit on, Its funny how we layed off Calderons defence the last few games.. Adjustments are being made is my point.
Remember our defence from the beginning of the year? geez.. JT, used a man to man zone style against cleveland, so we didnt leave open 3 ballers on the perimeter, and I think he’s trying to structure that style into our regulard defence, if we are to be successful, were going to have to play taht way agaisnt cleve,bos,orl, and atl.
Denver(not an eastern team Iknow.. just a point) will kill you if you play with too much help defence. Were going to have to wait for a bit of experience if there is a true answer.
Newsflash, they aren’t chasing Boston for 4th. They are chasing the Bucks for 5th and are about to go west for 4 with a 10-19 road record. They are in big trouble! Remember when everyone was talking about the Rpators going 18-12 after the break and winning 47-49 Games? Doesn’t that seem like a year ago now! I’ll give us a 50/50 chance to finish above 500.
yeah i was referring to the change in our PUBLIC opinion as I might not rap away all the time, but I’ve been reading all season, as My phone while i work in camp doesnt allow me to post (lg dare).. but Im just trying to stir some morale… because Im starting to realize that i like the raptors more, when i think they have a chance.
Any playing time given to Reggie Evans ahead of Amir Johnson is a negative situation for the Raptors.
The more minutes for Amir the better off the Raptors are.
I still think this team is going to be Mediocre for a long-ass time. It’s core is too soft and too much of the starting line up puts scoring as a priority (especially the 5,4,& 3). Well hell, we’ll see whats happening on March.
I’ll be brief. Bargnani looks good for 7 games and then goes in the tank for 5. The writers continue to say “he’s finally consistant after every 4 games in which he plays well proclaiming that he has “turned the corner”. NEWS FLASH!!!! This is what he is and what he will be. He hasn’t been in the league for 2 years. Its #5. Bellineli is a joke. Do we judge him on his shooting? Ofcourse, and with good reason. That’s all he does!!!!!!! Are his defense and intangables underrated? What are you talking about? His defense is brutal and he looks more asleep than Bargnani sometimes! AND THAT IS SAYING SOMETHING!!!! Reggie doesn’t deserve anyone’s minutes! But BC has to blame something out of his control for the losing so the one role player that has been injured is clearly whats keeping us from winning the Division! What a joke. Amir has rendered Evans as useless. Amir is better in every facet with the exception of offensive rebounding and its close. Bargnani showed where he is in his development. Nowhere. He can shot 3′s and….well that’s it.
What is the point of grabbing offensive rebounds if you can’t finish and won’t kick out? Reggie’s rebounding is hella overrated. He should be glued to the bench.
Agreed. Groggy Ebbins is a glorified one-dimensional pine-warmer scrub, but so is the rest of the ball club, except Bosh. Ebbins’ job is to distract the fans from thinking too hard about why the team is struggling.
NO I DO NOT AGREE!!!! Bargnani has consistently developed year after year. You are SOOoooo Sam mitchelling him… His massive skill set needs development in all areas. Imagine the teams and list of players that get beat by this guy?.. I’ll let you reminisce on your own.. *cough* lebron james *cough*… and others.. *cough*..
There is deffinately one area that is not being groomed in Bargnani’s development. Like Dwight Howard, has had all veteran like talent removed from around him (less carter..) so that he was the clear cut leader of his team. I’m clearly not an expert on the topic, but I know that we want leadership like qualities from Bargnani, when he’s not being groomed to be the leader of this team. Only this year did we start trying to stick Bargs up beside Bosh on the “Podium”. Its “Chris Bosh and the Raptors” Not! “Bargnani and the raptors”
Bargnani will never be a leader on any team. Never.
Further, I liken Bargnani to Jameer Nelson. Jameer played great the first half of last year and put up all star numbers. But when you look at it he improved his shooting from mediocre to elite. It wasn’t hard for me to realize that he probably didn’t improve as much as he was hot. Bargnani averages 23 points for a month and we all go crazy! But then you look and realize the same thing. He shot 54% FG and 50% on 3′s. He isn’t playing better he’s shooting better! Then the next month the world balances out and he shoots 43% FG and 35% from 3 and averages 14 points. This guy is only as good as his shot is and he is streaky at best. JR Smith is another that comes to mind. He is not a “player”. He is a catapult! Sometimes he’ll be a marksman other times a brick layer. But you always can rest assured that he will switch to the opposite within a week or 2. So, hopefully the wind direction, or gravitational pull or whatever governs him switches quickly enough for us to make the playoffs! Did I say I’d be brief?
Amir is worth more to use than Bargnani.
I’ll go ahead and say that.
He brings what these other guys don’t. HUSSLE.
And Reggie is a bust.
Belli is terrible, can’t recall who he was traded for, but it isn’t looking like such a good deal right now.
Move DeRozan out of the starting line-up. It’s time to get serious.
to us*** than Bargnani.
AMEN!!!!!!!!
Fact of the matter is – 3 of the 5 starters of the raptors would be backups on other teams.
Any chance that New Jersey would be stupid enough to trade Lopez and Harris for Bargs and Jose????? I wish..
Right on. Both of them are just OK players. Average dudes who probably reached their potential already, while the expectations are much higher.
I doubt that Nets would part with Lopez. Harris would be nice addition, but I believe he is paid similar $ as Jose. Not sure if that would solve anything (Harris deal).
That trade would make me weep with joy.
Amir a better player than Bargs?!? Comon man stop talkin out yo ass.
He’s far from perfect, but you guys are forgetting all the big blocks he seems to come up with at the end of games. Even defensively, is he worse than Jose, Hedo, or Derozen? Those guys are/were 3 starters and he’s better defensively than all of them.
He’s a scorer. Period.
He’ll stepped up defensively from prior years and lets hope it continues. Hopefully his rebounding improves- but thats all effort, and he doesnt display that as much as he should.
Defensively he is: http://bit.ly/cXyBsO
Our man Turkoglu is right up there among the worst as well.
He’s a player. Period. Defense is half the game. It’s useless if you score 20 and your let down on D and let them score 26.
His blocks are terrific. But 2 blocks do not make up for missed assignments nor 4 rebounds in 39 min.
What exactly does it say about Amir that he consistently has one of the best defensive +/- numbers in the league, for 3 years running? The 2007-2008 Pistons, the 2008-2009 Pistons, and the 2009-2010 Raptors are all very different ball clubs. Yet one thing remains constant: for some reason, when Amir is on the floor, your team defense becomes much, much better.
I can understand throwing this away as a fluke if it were just one year, but this is three years of excellence, in very different settings.
This is why it isn’t clear to me that Bargnani is necessarily better than Amir….it looks like Amir is a game changer defensively. I do not think you can make the same statement about Bargnani on offense.
I agee, Amir offers more to his team.
PPG aren’t everything, I would have a Kidd on my team before an Iverson.
“It’s useless if you score 20 and your let down on D and let them score 26.”
I agree 100% with you on that one.
I have a question for you. Would you consider Bargs a high IQ or low IQ baller? If you consider him the latter, it explains his missed assignments/rotations on D. But I don’t think he is a low bball IQ guy, so I think it comes to down simply to lack of effort.
Same can be said about rebounding. He’s a big dude and all it takes is aggressive box outs and he would get 10 rebounds a game. Why not the forceful boxouts?
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Warning: Bargnani fanboys stay clear.
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Hey Arsenalist,
Being as I’m a fan of Andrea, I’ll bite on this topic. Always up for the challenge.
First up, I will agree that AB has not had a good 7 game stretch. Whatever the reason … Bosh is out, double teams, injury, flu … I’ve heard them all. Did he play through some stuff because he had no choice – with CB being out. I don’t know. Funny thing is, as I started this rant, I checked the NBA website, and it listed Andrea as being injured. A follow-up check and he mysteriously recovered. When it comes to injuries, the Raptors are notorious for being closed mouth – understandably so. And before anyone rushes to counter that statement, I’m not trying to make excuses.
I also don’t think of Bargnani as one-dimensional. I think his rebounding could be more effective, but I also think he needs to be greedy and grab more of those uncontested rebounds. He defers too often to his team-mates. Way too much.
As for Andrea’s style (perimeter oriented), who knows what effect it has. Is Bosh having a banner year with Andrea playing outside. Or is it because CB is in a contract year. Is it because Chris has bulked up, and is stronger. Whatever it may be, I think the two of them have become better team-mates. And as I understand, they’re amongst the top, when it comes to Big men combination’s (offensively). Both need to improve their defensive abilities – it’s one reason why I think Wright should start, and not Weems.
It’s generally acknowledged that Andrea is pretty decent when it comes to one-on-one, but lacks in the help defense. So why can’t that improve. Where’s our Big Man coach? Where’s that defensive specialist we have?
As for Amir, to say he’s anywhere close to Bargnani’s skills, I just see as delusional thinking. I’ve always said – and you did bring it up – that extrapolating Johnson’s numbers to Andrea’s, is not a rationale exercise. Greater minutes do not take into account two things.
1) Fouls – as you’ve said, Amir can’t stay on long enough.
2) Playing 35 minutes every day – Amir has never experienced the grind of a full season at those kind of minutes (as far as I know).
Back to rebounding. Your host complained about hearing Bargnani’s rebounding as being a function of Bosh’s dominance, and then pointed out how this part of his game has regressed during CB’s absence. The stats will bare that out. But as I see it, Andrea’s style hasn’t changed to reflect Bosh’s absence. Rasho, Amir & Evans have stuck more to the Post.
If conditioning or getting stronger is part of the reason for not stepping it up, then that has to change, if his game is to go further. Remember Bosh of the past – great around most teams, but minimized by the bigger guys when it counted. The irony of all this, is that during the past 10 games, the Raptors rebounding differential has been better. Not by much. Minus 0.6 team per game rebounding versus a seasonal average of -1.0.
I also don’t think Mitchell was fired because of Andrea. Sam was an confidence breaker – do we all forget how much Raptor fans wanted his ass out of town. He affected players beyond AB. Moon still has left over fish-hook scars near the corner of his mouth. And then there’s Joey – good old Joey. Jay may not be the right man for the job, but as much as I wish he had a bit of Mitchell’s toughness in him, that still doesn’t make Sam the preferred guy in my mind.
While I’m not here to apologize for Andrea’s drop in play, I do think our lack of success is due to a WHOLE team effort, or lack thereof. It goes to our sloppy play. And our high turn-over rate (with opponent scoring). Our defensive guys trying to be our offensive guys. And yes, Andrea not stepping up to the plate. As I recall, CB was criticized last year for that as well.
To hear comments that say no one would take Hedo, or Calderon, or Bargnani – because of their bloated contracts – I tend to disagree. Turk may be tough at this stage, and Jose is in sort of a limbo, but I believe Andrea would be snatched by a dozen teams – at least. What they would do, is try to make him a more complete player. That might involve having a real a LEADER on the team, who would kick AB in the ass, when he gets into his lethargic ways. I don’t believe in coddling him, but I do believe we dicked him around (with the SF experiment). And now that we’ve settled him into more of a rhythm, we’re ready to kiss his ass good bye. This is why I got frustrated with the Maple Leafs – what have you done for me lately? I watch their games, and go … who the hell is that guy? Then I hear they want to move Kaberle, just because it’s the Toronto way, and I realize why I’ll watch the Raptor first, when both teams are playing.
But I digress.
Our problem does not lie with our Bigs. Our problem is that we play against teams with top quality Guards (and to some extent Small Forwards), and they torch us too often. We statically get the weakest return from the Wing positions, an area that a number of good teams have as their strongest part. And until Demar & Sonny (plus others), can bring their game to another level, we can’t be one of those top 4 teams, that we seem to fantasize about so often, the minute we get on a tear.
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The whole team is struggling and singling out Andrea is unfair, but it’s so bloody easy to do so because of the way he plays. As much as I disagree with the Wally in the Johnson/Bargnani debate, he’s bang on about one thing: Bargnani’s activity level on defense sucks. I think it almost demoralizes the team when they see their big man not play ‘big’.
I think Mark’s comment #13 is right, how many times have we told ourselves that Bargnani has turned the corner, but it never seems to be a permanent move and he always regresses back to the guy who looks lost out there and relies strictly on his outside shot (which isn’t even THAT great to begin with 37%). To say that he’s a dead-eye shooter is wrong which begs the question what area of the game does he truly excel at? I honestly can’t answer.
I don’t know how much weight you give to stats like Wins Produced and REB% but I just can’t see a guy playing 35 minutes with the numbers he has right now being successful. I also don’t buy this theory that we can make up for his rebounding by having rebounders at SF or SG, I just don’t think the game works that way.
Dribble has been a problem since Day One, no arguments there. Wing production last year was brutal and BC’s attempt at remedying that through Turk has failed so far, I’m actually surprised at our record this season and think Jack/Bosh are the main ones to thank for that.
Re: Contracts. Turk is untradeable, Jose could have some value on a contender loaded at other positions and looking for a conservative PG (Lakers would’ve been a good fit as they funnel guards to Bynum/Gasol and could look past Jose’s D) and I don’t think anybody would be willing to give you much in return for Bargnani. I think they’ll see taking on his contract as doing us a favor.
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I have no problem with saying Bargnani’s defense is lacking. With the exception of his man-on-man. I just think he can learn what is not so much an ability, but very much strategy. I see talent that may be a slow learner, but one with still more potential. He`s closer to 24 than 25. He’s 7 foot, and has the moves to go Postal. :-)
As for all those break-downs, uncontested turnovers, and confused Raptors out there, I have to wonder if language doesn’t play a part. Andrea’s English has improved, but Turk … I can’t understand him. With the exception of Ball. Evans sounds like I’m listening to a childhood musical. And with Jose chirping Spanish, I just wonder how these guys communicate. When it comes to Defense, Andrea or not, our defense — as the stats will say — has sucked big time. No communication it seems – whether it’s language or not. I keep wondering what`s up with our defensive specialist. It can’t be great on the resume. Maybe it’s time to look at the coaching situation.
I also think that Bargnani needs someone amongst the team to be the Whip that gets him going. In an encouraging way, and not Samish style. As we saw after a 3 point dagger, Andrea does have fire in that blood.
As for Wins Produced, and any number of stats, I’m always cautious. I can take a fact and give you several plausible perceptions. Each stat has their place, some more so than others. Take the +/- stat. Kinda ridiculed, and never really seeing the fame that goes with hockey. Yet in a certain way, it has the ability to reinforce a perception.
As to the demand out there, for a guy like Bargnani, we`ll have to disagree on that. As for his 3 point shooting being low (last season was .409), that ability to draw Bigger players out, and away from Bosh, does have it`s benefits. One can agree with that or not, but what happens when Weems, DeRozan, Bosh, Jack & Bargnani are out there. Like last game.
Of the 5 Starters, only Jack & Bargnani would be challenged at that perimeter. That doesn’t include Evans, or Amir either. If Andrea can keep his 3 pointers to a .400 average, that helps the bottom line. You need a .600 Bosh (since he`s no 3 pt guy), just to keep up.
Call me an eternal optimist, but I think Turk will be there next year. This year is a write-off with his face still healing. He`s skittish, and until he feels `safe`, he`ll remand skittish. I do think Bosh will re-sign. And Bargnani will be a little bit maturer – which I think will be the biggest factor in his progress. Demar & Sonny will have a full season behind them. Plus Jack will be able to sport a bigger Leadership role.
That may all be unrealistic, but when it comes to being a Toronto fan, what else is there besides optimism.
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Right now, Amir Johnson deserves Bargnani’s starting spot.Who cares if he’s not a center,it’s not like Bargnani is. His defense is WAY BETTER than Bargnani’s and since we don’t give him the ball on offense a lot, we can give Turk more touches and let Turk score more often. Bargnani has been playing like shit lately, and it’s time Triano brings him off the bench instead of kissing his ass 24/7.Amir gives us defense, which is non-existent on our team and Bargs can give us offense by coming off the bench.I mean would u rather give up 90-100 points a night or 120-130 points a night?
I agree Bargnani’s been subpar as of late, and his rebounding has been shit, he hasn’t stepped up in Bosh’s absence. But I stopped listening once your podcast guest stated Amir Johnson is a better basketball better than Bargnani. I Love Johnson, don’t get me wrong, and yeah he plays way better defense and what not, but to say he’s an overall better talent/player is ridiculous.
I agree with many point that was made about AB. I am wondering if his lack of mobility, and inactivity is due to physicall fitness !!!
Remeber a year ago or so, he had the breathing problem and got a nose job so I guess that is not the problem. But Can it be that he is just NOT fit enough to ” Go for every possesion” or ” After every wall” like Johnson and …
I wish he would commit a summer over here to a program like Bosh did over the summer with a top trainer and get physically there.
This Matt Moore guy did a piece on the Bargnani podcast. Very surprising..he beats a strawman and then says some telling things that indicate he doesn’t watch much Raptors basketball. Very puzzling.
Earlier today Matt Moore as most of you know wrote an article entitled.
“The Amir Johnson Nonsense Must stop”
http://www.hardwoodparoxysm.com/2010/03/08/the-amir-johnson-nonsense-must-stop/
Here is the conclusion of my response that I posted on my website NBA-25-15 with the link to the entire response provided below the conclusion
Should Johnson start? – No not until he can show he can get his foul rate down to say 5 per 36 minutes and preferably less. Will he ever be able to do that? I don’t know and I don’t think anyone knows. They can guess and give opinions which is fine, but no one knows. However in my opinon, if he can not get his foul rate down significantly he should not start.
Should Johnson get more time say 20 – 25 minutes a game and Bargnani less? I think that the Raptors would benefit by this arrangement.
http://nba-25-15.blogspot.com/2010/03/amir-johnson-nonsense-must-stop.html
He updated his post. But screwed the pooch again. I dunno, in general I have a high opinion of that site. But I guess Matt Moore is unwilling to re-evaluate preconceived notions about what makes a basketball team successful.
Man…it feels REALLY weird being the guy advocating for hustle bigs over a jumpshooting big. Ten years ago, no one would need convincing of the merits of the former over the latter. And I’m not even a traditionalist fuddy-duddy guy who has been watching basketball since the 70s…I’m only 24.
Bargnani:
The team is paying you $10 mill/year you think you can show your thanks and gratitude and make your paycheck mean something and start playing defense and rebounding. Your 7 feet what are you afraid of exactly?
Because that’s his problem. He can rebound if he wanted too but something is holding him back. He has that stupid blank facial expression all the time and the guy just stands on the 3 point line.
It all starts at the top folks. Soft ownership group, soft president/gm, soft coach, soft players.
Hope at list you get it hard !!!
technically, he’s *only* making ~$6.8M THIS year. he doesn’t get up to the $10M per range until next year. maybe he’ll try harder then?
Re-ashing that 2006 draft and did BC make a mistake in picking Andrea over Aldridge , we can see the following :
Defensive rebounding + blocks
Aldridge : 5.8 + 0.6 = 6.4 in 37.4 minutes, 13 mil/year for next 5 years
Bargnani : 4.9 + 1.4 = 6.3 in 34.7 minutes, 10 mil/year for next 5 years
Clearly on defensive rebs/blocks we got better value for our dollar from Andrea.
One-on-one we probably got better value from Andrea.
On the offense the second pick never shoot threes so he stays much closer to the basket and get more offensive rebounds.
One-on-one defense…
The old guy who played Leo Tolstoy is Christopher Plummer, a Canadian – born in Toronto – btw.
Re: Bargnani – the ‘one dimensional’ thing mentioned in the podcast comes down to something I’ve believed to be true for the last while now: He has a disappointingly low ambition level. Most of us have seen that the ‘talent’ is near off-the-charts (ok, imo), but … if he had HALF of the fire-in-the-belly desire to really be ‘the best’ as what Chris Bosh has demonstrated he has (an absolute shit-load of) since day one, he’d be dangerous, no question in my mind about it. But he just doesn’t. Do I still hope he finds it? As a Raptors fan watching the game, wanting to see them dominate … I probably still do at times, even yet. But … when and if I do, as of late especially, I’m quite aware that I’m kidding myself. I find I’ve pretty much given up thinking that he’s a complicated soul, worthy of whatever coddling he might need to fully blossom. These days, I find I’m just bugged all to hell, seeing all that talent wasted by him not really ‘wanting it’ more than what he does. Then again (I wonder), is it possible that I just had unreasonable expectations for him? Perhaps, I don’t know. But to my eyes, he teased us all with enough flashes of brilliance to make me (at least) think he had the goods for real. If he actually does, to the higher level that I expected to see by now, maybe it’ll take him getting traded for that ‘desire’ thing to kick in once and for all … again, I don’t know. I do know that if I was running a team in the NBA, I’d probably try hard to steal him in a trade. But if that happened (and is it becoming more ‘when’ than ‘if’? I, for one, will no longer be shocked by reading one day, the big news that Bargs has been traded … ‘cause I believe that Colangelo isn’t stupid, at all – and he sees what everybody else sees) the shock of it just might be the thing that wakes him up once and for all. Then again … maybe that’s just the ‘fanboy’ in me thinking out loud. (Now, there’s a term – ‘fanboy’ – that’s not at all disparaging.)
DeRozan – I agree that he needs to grow his body … and substantially so. Until then, the jury is mostly out, as far as I’m concerned. Hopefully he gets on it in a big way this summer … and Bosh is the only example he really needs. It’s not that hard to do; less so if one is a pro athlete who’s serious about his career. I’d also like to see him work on his basic game a whole lot, though. Too many times, I’ve seen him look off what would’ve been the right pass or play to make, to instead, go for a much less-wise rookie-hero moment. The biggest thing that concerns me about DeMar however, is that glancing at his tweets every now and then, I find myself wondering about how smart he actually is? I don’t necessarily think he’s stupid, per se, but … maybe he should take another page out of Bosh’s book and … pick up a book of his own on occasion. Like, to read. Maybe, instead of spending so much of his free time on video games and dumb-ass, can’t-spell-to-save-his-life-never-mind-the-grammar tweeting, it wouldn’t hurt him to learn a bit about the world outside the cocoon he lives in with the Raptors. Taking that odd gander at his Tweet page, it’s appalling how ridiculously uneducated he honestly seems to be. And … I’m sorry, but don’t they teach them anything in those schools he supposedly went to? He obviously needs to learn a few basics about the world … and perhaps he can start with learning how to spell – at least somewhat – and how to form a half-assed sentence. I understand, of course, that ‘tweeting’ lends itself to a certain shorthand … but … you can’t hide dumb. So, as a Raptors fan … I wonder about that. Is he actually be smart enough to learn all that he’ll have to learn to be as good as he can likely be? (And if you’re offended btw, don’t be. Just look at the ‘greats’ in this game, or any other game. There aren’t too many who are dumb-ass dumb.)
Turkoglu – when we signed him … it was done and I, like most, hoped for the best. And I still hope – as it sounds like you do (podcast) – that he can show up large when we need him to. But now – like, right f’ing NOW – would be a good time for him to start. Otherwise, it’s plain to see that with his contract tying us to him for four more years (good gawd!) after this one … he’s more of a bust than he isn’t. Maybe having the ability to shine brightly when he wants to will eventually pay off … but I’m not as hopeful as I once was, frankly.
That last game against the Sixers came very close to extracting every bit of hope that I once – and quite recently, at that – had for this team. To come out on a Sunday afternoon in front of their hard-earned-money-paying home crowd with such a sad, apathetic and unfocused effort was near soul-crushing for this Raptors fan. Had I been in that crowd at the ACC, I would’ve felt absolutely robbed. As it was, I felt a bit that way, just from watching it on tv. As I told a friend after the game, “I officially hate them, now”. But … today’s a new day and they’re in L.A. … so, it’s more fun to hope than not, I guess, at least for a hard, competitive effort. Perhaps by this evening, I’ll find myself thinking that maybe – just maybe – they’ll remember what it felt like when they beat the Lakers those few short weeks ago … and they’ll dig in and try as hard as they can to win the game. But I have to admit … I’m not holding my breath. Not yet, anyway. I’ll see how the day goes.
well, can’t complain about that one. and sorry for knockin’ ya around a bit there, DeMar. Just a bit grumpy. Good game, Raps. Damn that Kobe, tho …