Comments for Raptors Republic - ESPN TrueHoop's Raptors Blog

Comment on Raptors Follow the Comeback Recipe; Enjoy Their Homemade Win by poiter

poiter — Fri, 19 Mar 2010 10:40:22 +0000

Maybe he pays the refs, he’s got the money to do it

Comment on Bottoms up, Raps luck one out in the 4th by obviouslywow

obviouslywow — Fri, 19 Mar 2010 09:23:02 +0000

I havent been following Dirks season very closely, but anyone saying he was the MVP frontrunner was talking out of their rear.

Biggest name in the game + Biggest numbers in the game + Best record in the game = Here is your crown King James.

Comment on Bottoms up, Raps luck one out in the 4th by FAQ

FAQ — Fri, 19 Mar 2010 04:55:26 +0000

BC blew up the Raps last summer, and now we know Bosh is not a franchise player on his own .. so no use offering him max money. Besides, the Raps are loaded with somewhat untradeable long term player contracts as it is .. so the team will not be blown up again.

BC is advertising Bosh as a max money player in the hope of maxing out his trade value with say NYK, Bulls or Miami.

Bosh may already know that BC intends to trade him, so Bosh is doing what’s right for his reputation. Only 16 + 4 games and Bosh will be shopping for a new team .. and it should happen after the Finals.

Comment on Bottoms up, Raps luck one out in the 4th by shahinc

shahinc — Fri, 19 Mar 2010 04:39:43 +0000

Do you really think Delfino is the why Bucks are successful this year ??!!
I still think Delfino was asking for too much and getting Amir and Weems was a great deal for Raptors.

Comment on Raptors Follow the Comeback Recipe; Enjoy Their Homemade Win by Dave

Dave — Fri, 19 Mar 2010 04:17:46 +0000

Second that — the video clips are excellent. Highly enjoyable.

Comment on Raptors Follow the Comeback Recipe; Enjoy Their Homemade Win by Tj Ford

Tj Ford — Fri, 19 Mar 2010 03:51:29 +0000

IS THAT BUTTER CHICKEN???? THE PICTURE OF FOOD?

Comment on Bottoms up, Raps luck one out in the 4th by David

David — Fri, 19 Mar 2010 03:48:01 +0000

Connect the dots. Delfino plays for the Bucks.
Raptors made a choice to sign Turkoglu instead
of Delfino. There is a $5-6 million difference per
year and 3 yrs. difference in age.
Turkoglu has a contract which makes him difficult
to trade. If his performance doesn’t pick up, it will
affect the team for 4 years.
Who am I talking to? To all the Raptor fans who said
Delfino wasn’t worth signing.

Comment on Raptors Roll Call March 17 vs Hawks by David

David — Fri, 19 Mar 2010 03:20:41 +0000

Maybe or maybe not. If Delfino was signed than the GM doesn’t go after Turkoglu.
Which means he puts his energy signing Marion. Humphries stays as a good bench
player. Those three players I would take over Turkoglu, Johnson, and Weems.
Defense would improve without losing any on the offensive end.
Bosh, Bargnani, Marion, Delfino, and Caldron or Jack is a very good starting lineup
which could compete against any team.

Comment on Raptors Follow the Comeback Recipe; Enjoy Their Homemade Win by sleepz

sleepz — Fri, 19 Mar 2010 02:55:16 +0000

There’s way too big a difference at the guard positions. Calderon, Jack, DeRozan vs. Bibby, Johnson, and Crawford. Distinct advantage-Hawks.

Comment on Raptors Follow the Comeback Recipe; Enjoy Their Homemade Win by Roarque

Roarque — Fri, 19 Mar 2010 01:21:14 +0000

Did not see the whole game but to quote Irish Jack, the Hawks were bringing a double as CB4 took his first dribble NOT when he took the pass – note that when the Raptors isolated CB4 against a single defender ( even if it was Horford ) he was able to score. They isolated him because the entire Raptor offense went to the opposite side of the basket so a second Hawk defender either had to leave a Raptor completely undefended to help double up CB or let CB have single coverage for the shot.

Comment on Bottoms up, Raps luck one out in the 4th by bendit

bendit — Fri, 19 Mar 2010 00:35:58 +0000

Thats a bit convoluted if I may say. Since we are doing a Bosh vs. Gasol compare (obviously including their teams as exhibit #1) wouldnt you agree that if we were simply to exchange the 2 players that it would be more than likely that Bosh’s #s would go down in LA and Gasol’s rise in TO? My position is that the two are somewhat of equal value talent wise….and they would both defer on the Lakers…a very good team. Dirk I cant say since he never really played on a bad team talent wise after his first couple of years (the best I can remember).

Comment on Bottoms up, Raps luck one out in the 4th by SnakeEyes

SnakeEyes — Fri, 19 Mar 2010 00:27:17 +0000

You have a point. But I actually was talking about this year’s Dirk lol, but more specifically pre-elbow injury – dude was on a TEAR hitting game-winners and putting up monster stats – he was a clear-cut choice for the MVP race. But all in all, yeah, Dirk’s much slower nowaday,s he’s past his peak, but he’s still deadly as hell, he plays a much more power-game (than before, not that he’s a power player in general).

In overall value and career though, I don’t think Bosh touches Dirk – or at least we won’t know until CB4 plays out his career.

Comment on Bottoms up, Raps luck one out in the 4th by Dragan

Dragan — Fri, 19 Mar 2010 00:10:24 +0000

Celtics would be my favorite pick to match agianst. I know they beat us on regular basis, but I hope we can at least make entertaining series, and get a little payback. Looks like Bucks will be playing them, though.

Hawks? Orlando? Cleveland? No.

Comment on Raptors Follow the Comeback Recipe; Enjoy Their Homemade Win by Matt Nelson

Matt Nelson — Fri, 19 Mar 2010 00:07:14 +0000

I loved that post. Thank you.

Hopefully this Hawks game is an inflection point like the “other” Hawks game was. But in a totally different kind of way.

Comment on Bottoms up, Raps luck one out in the 4th by Ripp

Ripp — Thu, 18 Mar 2010 23:38:56 +0000

I think you are confusing the 2005-2007 version of Dirk with the present one…Dirk isn’t as good as he once was.
KG two years ago was also better than Bosh, but certainly that is no longer the case.

At a point in this year Bosh has had better stats as the first option, with a much weaker supporting cast, and a very similar record.
You might give Dirk the edge based on work in previous years, but there is no reasonable argument for saying that Dirk is “much better”…one can make arguments both ways.

PS: So just finished talking to my friend who is a Mavs fan, from Dallas. I asked him if they’d started the season with Bosh, does their record increase, decrease, or stay the same. And he thinks they’d be up by 3-4 games…primarily due to the difference in defense. Obviously this is just one opinion of one guy..but it really is not a clear-cut as you make it out to be.

Comment on Raptors Follow the Comeback Recipe; Enjoy Their Homemade Win by Ripp

Ripp — Thu, 18 Mar 2010 22:49:47 +0000

He is too small to bother Bosh one on one…his athleticism and shotblocking aren’t enough due to his size. This explains why Bosh killed the Hawks in previous years, before Horford started guarding him. Even as of last year with JO (which presumably was the guy Horford was guarding), Bosh’s numbers were really good.

Watch how easily Bosh scored on him in his second to last possession. And that was with the Hawks defense still focusing on him.

Comment on Bottoms up, Raps luck one out in the 4th by shahinc

shahinc — Thu, 18 Mar 2010 22:48:59 +0000

Be physicall with that cry baby and he will shy away.

Comment on Raptors Follow the Comeback Recipe; Enjoy Their Homemade Win by studio

studio — Thu, 18 Mar 2010 22:37:07 +0000

agreed: best post of the season

Comment on Raptors Follow the Comeback Recipe; Enjoy Their Homemade Win by Dan

Dan — Thu, 18 Mar 2010 22:35:15 +0000

Josh Smith is also a fantastic interior defender and ridiculous shot blocker. his length and size bothers bosh, too.

the hawks are a tough matchup for us because of that size and athleticism

Comment on Bottoms up, Raps luck one out in the 4th by bendit

bendit — Thu, 18 Mar 2010 22:17:07 +0000

While it is true that Dirk rarely takes three anymore, the shot chart dispels the notion that “his game is centered around the basket”. It shows that he is still a jump shooter (and a very good one at that) in the bone. Bosh changed his game over the last couple of seasons.

You may access the charts for Dirk & Bosh @ nba.com/hotspots which I believe validates my point (though probably not the term “rarely”) :)