After a sluggish and defense-free first half where the Raptors gave up 28 points in the only meaningful quarter, we got our act together and led a third quarter charge ignited by our starters and finished off by our bench. The bench led the assault with Will Solomon and Andrea Bargnani netting 17 and 15, respectively. Mitchell let Solomon play a game-high 32 minutes and he preformed well under constant pressure from the Cavaliers defense (Mo Williams), something which was great early on but eased off as the evening wore on and the enthusiasm for the game shifted into truer presason-mode. Check out the highlights and a good CBS game report.
From all accounts it appears that Bargnani looked confident in his approach while Jermaine O’Neal was working hard at shedding the rust off of his 29 year old body. Andrea Bargnani was a big positive as he led the team in rebounding with 8. At the end of the day its pre-season and the only thing you can read into this performance is that we showed up to win the game and not just stretch our muscles. Its a good approach to have from Day One and hopefully the effort that was present in this game is maintained throughout the season. As Sam Mitchell points out:
“We have a lot of work to do … but we got better as the game progressed. We made a lot of mistake defensively, especially in that first quarter. We can’t give up 28 points in the first quarter. But the effort was there.”
When was the last time a Raptors team was commended for consistent effort? Let’s move on and if you’d like more on the game maybe you can check out Dime’s take on it. This game does remind us of something: our big-man situation is quite enviable, with Chris Bosh, Jermaine O’Neal, Andrea Bargnani and a resurgent Kris Humphries I think this was the first time in a long time that I felt we could hold our own against the Cleveland bigs (Wallace, Big Z and Varejao). Again, its one game but its better to win than to lose.
Bryan Colangelo is comparing Andrea Bargnani with Danilo Gallinari and disagrees that Gallinari is a better prospect. Colangelo’s argument seems to be based on size alone and sounds damn sure that Bargnani is the better player and will have a better career. I think Gallinari’s a different type of player, he’s quicker and more athletic than Bargnani but is almost a prototypical small forward. Bargnani on the other hand has the unorthodox tools to be successful in different situations and can pose matchup problems on a nightly basis, the only question is whether he’ll be able to refine his technical skill and play with a confident approach so that he may utilize his God-given advantages.
Charley Rosen’s Atlantic preview has us finishing third in the division and the best case scenario for the team is deemed to be a second-round appearance. Obviously he’s more sold on Philly and Brand than on the Raptors and O’Neal. Check what he says:
..the roster remains top-heavy with shooters: Marshmallow-soft Andreas Bargnani. High-flying Jamario Moon. And Jason Kapono, who has no other NBA qualifications. Only Anthony Parker has a complete game, and is in fact one of the league’s most underrated players.
I would normally agree with that assessment but I’m going to give Bargnani the benefit of the doubt right now. Let’s see how he’s improved, I don’t think Rosen would’ve made a comment like this after Bargnani’s rookie season and given all the talk of improvement around the kid I think he deserves another shot. Besides, Rosen isn’t exactly a Raptors fan. Kapono is perceived as a a one-trick pony around the NBA but as we saw in the playoffs last year he can do more than just catch and shoot. This is where Sam Mitchell comes in and hopefully helps elevate a player’s game.
As for Anthony Parker, the problem with him is that he’s old. He’s 33 right now and seems to tire out in the fourth quarter and starts front-rimming his jumpers and FTs. That’s really the biggest knock on the guy, he’s a good player who’s playing beyond his means – 32+ minutes last year is stretching the guy to his outer limits. He’s probably the most complete guard we have and we’d all be even more happy to have him if he was 25.
I think that’s all I got today. There’s not much going on. Greg Oden made his debut for the Blazers. Is he eligible for Rookie of the Year this year?
