Raptors 09/10 season thread

[Machiavelli]

I knew they wouldn't be great, but I didn't think they'd be this bad.

[SebC]

It would be nice to see a game where the 4th quarter means something.

[burning_acid1]

They need to play better defence... they have poor rotations

[Ziggy Lidstrom]

Poor rotations, poor perimeter d, poor closing on shooters...

The best part of their d is the PG spot. There was an article explaining the Def Deficiencies of Jose and how Jack 'n Banks have prevented a lot of penetration from the 1 spot which has allowed Bargs to take less fouls trying to cover up jose's mistakes.

What a dilemma, why keep jose around as a starter? He is a streaky shooter, who plays zero d, and is a worse passer than his APG indicate. Why was he the starter? I don't think he'll reclaim his spot with Jack playing this way.

Speaking of Jack, it seems that he is doing to Jose what he did with TJ in Indiana: supplanting the starter when given time to shine due to his skill set and his valuable durability.

[Ziggy Lidstrom]

Side note RE: the upcoming sked.

Det, Det, Char, bos. This is a window where the Raps need to show how much they improved since their embarrassing loss to the Cats and their never ending string of losses with the Celts post jefferson.

My bet is they go one and three. But, I could see a three and one.

[octothorp]

A 1-3 stretch here and I'll pretty much give up on the season and start hoping for a high draft pick and maybe a Bosh trade. But the team has looked better with Jose out; maybe he can work off the bench. Wouldn't mind seeing him traded at this point though.

[Ziggy Lidstrom]

Originally Posted by octothorp

A 1-3 stretch here and I'll pretty much give up on the season and start hoping for a high draft pick and maybe a Bosh trade. But the team has looked better with Jose out; maybe he can work off the bench. Wouldn't mind seeing him traded at this point though.

That is my sentiment to a tee/T. How do you spell that figure of speech?

[Machiavelli]

The Pistons suck. Nice airball on the free throw, Big Ben.

[Ziggy Lidstrom]

I don't know why the pistons would break the bank on CV and Bgordon, when this FA class was upcoming. They woulda had the dough to make up for drafting darko.

[killer_carlson]

Didn't see the game but saw the box score.

In a blowout...why wouldn't you play the rookie for 30+ minutes? DeRozan needs to learn to play in the game. He needs to learn that it is not acceptable to go 1 on 4 every time he touches the ball. that happens with playing time and game film the next day. this was the perfect opportunity, but he only gets 18 minutes?????

Don't get that at all.

Any words on Evans???

[Gozer]

Originally Posted by Ziggy Lidstrom

I don't know why the pistons would break the bank on CV and Bgordon, when this FA class was upcoming. They woulda had the dough to make up for drafting darko.

Generally speaking, it makes sense to buy when no one else is shopping.

[Ziggy Lidstrom]

Originally Posted by Gozer

Generally speaking, it makes sense to buy when no one else is shopping.

Generally yes. I wonder if they are happy with their purchases? should have got a gift receipt. If not then I wonder when the Dumars watch starts. I think their problem was Billups for Iverson really dealt a serious blow to the remaining core. Like who gets beat by the raptors and thirty no less?

[octothorp]

I think today's win over Detroit was more impressive than the last one... Detroit had a much better lineup, and pressed pretty hard and played a physical game. Something I've been saying since the beginning of the season is that with the big men that the Raptors have, they should be able to get almost any frontcourt in the league into foul trouble; getting Jerebko fouled out was huge today. Even when they're not getting the fouls, they need to continue to make opposing defenses work hard.

As I see it, the remaining season breaks down into three sections:

From now until Jan 24th: This is a tough stretch where they play 7 of 13 games against good teams, as well as two against Milwaukee, who present a lot of difficulties for this team. Going .500 during that stretch is going to be tough.

Following that, they've got a stretch of 16 games where they play 11 games at home, and 12 games against sub .500 teams. The Raps probably need to win 11 or 12 in that stretch to finish at or above .500.

Finally, the last 21, where they've got a four game western roadtrip (two of them very winnable), followed by finishing the season pretty much alternating home and road games. A game or two over .500 would be respectable for that stretch.

[killer_carlson]

still no word on Evans.

I thought he was supposed to be back by the end of November. I don't think he'll put the team into a contender, but I do think he'll be worth a game or two ...

[Machiavelli]

Originally Posted by killer_carlson

still no word on Evans.

I thought he was supposed to be back by the end of November. I don't think he'll put the team into a contender, but I do think he'll be worth a game or two ...

Yeah, I was looking forward to seeing him help out the D. No idea what's going on there.

[octothorp]

Yeah, I heard second week of January now, but it's definitely not a good sign when it keeps getting pushed back; surely by the allstar break.

Today was a perfect example of where they could have used him; there's no excuse for Ben Wallace getting easy +1s; they need someone who'll go in there and take hard fouls in that sort of situation.

[Phil Babb]

Is Bosh gone at the end of the season or what?

[Machiavelli]

Originally Posted by Phil Babb

Is Bosh gone at the end of the season or what?

Unless the team makes some serious noise and clear improvement, most likely.

[octothorp]

Probably the biggest determining factor is the economics of other teams. In the end, Toronto will probably pay Bosh the max to keep him if they need to, and they can exceed the cap to get to that point. So unless Bosh takes a significant discount to move to a contender (possible, but unlikely), he could find himself choosing between Toronto or another unproven team. I think It will come down to New York, New Jersey, and Miami as the three other viable options. New York won't become a contender simply by adding Bosh; they'll need clear a huge amount of cap space to get another near max player (like James) as well as Bosh. The challenge is pretty much the same for the Nets, although they have more cap space and fewer existing assets.
Miami is in a better position, as they can clear cap room, sign Bosh, and then go over the cap to retain Wade (I think). But if they do have the room to maintain Wade and sign a player to the max, then they may go after James, which would leave Bosh without a realistic dance partner. Add to it that Stoudemire will also be looking to move teams, arguably only one of the two will have a chance to get the max with a contending team.

That said, if they do lose Bosh to free agency, I think they could do well by going after one of the free agent centers out there and move Bargnani to a power forward position. While I'd prefer for them to keep Bosh, a frontcourt of, say, Chandler, Bargnani and Turkoglu would have a better defensive presence than the current lineup, though less offense.

[octothorp]

Awesome finish to the games for the Raps, 33 pts for Bosh, 28 for Bargs, and a great pass by Bosh to Bargs for an open game-winning 3. Turkoglu left the game with an injury, hopefully nothing serious.