Raptors 09/10 season thread

[Regorium]

They just got crushed again.

Sometimes I wonder whether or not Bosh is good enough to build a team around. Maybe it'd be best to let him leave and start over yet again.

[Gozer]

Originally Posted by Regorium

Sometimes I wonder whether or not Bosh is good enough to build a team around. Maybe it'd be best to let him leave and start over yet again.

He has an elite high-post isolation offensive game.

Surround him with elite athletes that dominate in defensively and in transition and rely on Bosh in the half court - you have a solid and competitive team that probably doesn't win a championship without other exceptional players.
Could you imagine Bosh on Atlanta?

But if you surround him with heavy-footed ball handling shooters that only excel in half-court offense - then Bosh isn't good enough to carry the defense and the rebounding and the team struggles to be average.

[flames_1987]

I can't believe this is the same team that was looking so good and with so much promise just a few months ago. Hedo being locked down for 5 years and how he acts can make staying look that much more attractive to Bosh. Big win last night though, will prob get that #8 seed in the east.

The Suns look really good though and what a story it would be to have them somehow win it all this year. All those seasons of disappointment before put to rest

[octothorp]

You know the problem with this team? I stopped watching their games back around the time that the Olympics started. I think they're something like 30-10 in games that I've watched. I'm planning to watch most of their games the rest of the way, so there shouldn't be any problem.

But yeah, I'm pulling for the Suns as well.

[Hustle]

I checked the NBA standings for the first time in about a month and was shocked to see what has happened to the Raps. Now, Bosh is gone with fractures in his face and nose.

1 game lead on Chicago.

Toronto: Boston, @ Atlanta, Chicago, @ Detroit, NY Knicks

Chicago: Cleveland, @ NJ, @ Toronto, Boston, @ Charlotte

Raps have the tiebreaker with Chicago.

I'd say the sched favors the Raptors with two bottom level teams to close it out.... but with Bosh gone who knows what will happen coming down the stretch.

I wonder if last night was the last game CB4 has played in a Raptors uniform?

[bubbsy]

get tickets to take the wife to her first raptor game, she's crazy excited, and of course, he breaks his face the game/night before...........

ughh...

[malcolmk14]

I'll be heading out to Toronto for Game 4 if the Raptors make the playoffs to watch the Cavs sweep them.

[octothorp]

Originally Posted by Hustle

I checked the NBA standings for the first time in about a month and was shocked to see what has happened to the Raps. Now, Bosh is gone with fractures in his face and nose.

1 game lead on Chicago.

Toronto: Boston, @ Atlanta, Chicago, @ Detroit, NY Knicks

Chicago: Cleveland, @ NJ, @ Toronto, Boston, @ Charlotte

Raps have the tiebreaker with Chicago.

I'd say the sched favors the Raptors with two bottom level teams to close it out.... but with Bosh gone who knows what will happen coming down the stretch.

I wonder if last night was the last game CB4 has played in a Raptors uniform?

Even in a worst case scenario for the Raps, it'll come down to that Chicago game. If they win that one, Chicago would need to win three more than Toronto over the remaining four that each have. So if Toronto beats Chicago and loses the rest of their remaining games, Chicago would still need to beat NJ, and two of Cleveland and Boston at home or Charlotte on the road.

[bluejays]

This is going to sound ridiculous, but Turkoglu's injury tonight was complete BS. It was merely a tap and to see the guy flail like that and leave the game is totally unacceptable. With Bosh's injury he was bleeding and even on replays you seen he got it hard on the nose. With Hedo's, even on slow-mo it was impossible to get hurt badly. They needed him the most tonight and he dropped like a sack of crap he is. Frustrating times.

[flames_1987]

Go Suns!

[Gozer]

Just starting to watch the PVR'd game against BOS, Bosh is goneski but I don't think the Raps will suffer that badly.
I've ragged on the team because they lack balance, but losing Bosh means more touches for another legitimate offensive big and Hedo is in a great "prove it" situations, really shines in the spotlight, and the fans want to embrace an explosion from him.
Obviously losing Bosh hurts, but it will mean the Raptors will no longer win the point-differential from the forward position - but it isn't a team altering injury like Howard is in ORL or Wade is in Miami.

I've thought that this team has the talent to be a contender, but lack the composition.
If the Raps go in the tank with this injury then I'll be wrong. It's lack of talent.

[moon]

It will be interesting to see what the fall out will be from this Raptors season.

They don't have a ton of talent but the TO media seems content on pumping them up as a good team.

For all the supposed good that Coangelo did in Phoenix he, and the owner, really kept them from being coming a championship team and the guy was insanely overrated if you actually look at the moves that he made.

It really looks like his "Euro" experiment failed and he should be canned but my guess is that they blame this year on bad luck/injuries, pray that Bosh is dumb enough to re-sign and go into next year with a chance at finishing 7th.

[bluejays]

Here's what I really really like about Colangelo - he doesn't wait around to make a move. I don't think he deserves the can yet either...as long as he doesn't continue his Euro trend. His Euro experiment was bound to fail simply because the smaller Europeans in basketball tend to be more outside shooters with no defensive game with little inside aggressiveness. Then you have big guys like Bargnani who have the talent to do great things, but are simply pansies. Turk got his money and only plays part time. Belinelli dropped off bigtime from the start of the season.

It's not necessarily the talent on the team, but rather the work ethic of the starters Bargnani and Turkoglu, and being more assertive on a consistent basis. The team on paper is not bad. DeRozen is going to be a solid starter soon. However, that defensive aspect to the Raptors' game especially at Centre is their biggest hole.

Assuming that Bosh resigns, some of the depth needs to be dealt for a pure centre to go for it all now. I'd start with dealing Calderon, and just somehow getting rid of Banks and Belinelli for cap purposes to sign a better scorer. Evans has been unimpressive himself so he'd be one I'd look to deal too for a second rounder. Nesterovic, Wright and O'Bryant are UFA's and are as good as gone. Amir is also a UFA and will likely get a large pay increase from some team out there (he's as good as gone unfortunately).

Getting David Lee while signing Bosh will be impossible, so here are the Centre's I'd like to possibly see the Raps pursuing realistically:

Tyson Chandler
Brendan Haywood
Channing Frye (could be breaking out)
Marcus Camby (as a temp fix)
Joel Przybilla

Ideally Chandler would be good short and long term, but Camby's still a beast. On a side note, one guy who may be a UFA who may be very good on the Raps team at a solid price is Richard Jefferson. Anyway, I'll resurect this post in the offseason.

[SebC]

Originally Posted by moon

For all the supposed good that Coangelo did in Phoenix he, and the owner, really kept them from being coming a championship team and the guy was insanely overrated if you actually look at the moves that he made.

Care to elaborate? I haven't been following the NBA that closely over the past few years.

[malcolmk14]

Robert Sarver ruined the suns, he forced them to trade draft picks and players for expiring contracts and cash to cut costs. He let Joe Johnson walk for an extra $5 million.

They could have had Rajon Rondo, Rudy Fernandez, Sergio Rodriguez, and a few other guys too but didn't want to pay them.

[moon]

Sarver certainly was a big reason but after trading the 7th pick in 2004 they then signed Quinton Richardson for the same money it would have cost them to sign the pick. They could have had Luol Deng or Igoudala.

That wasn't so much a money issue since they wasted the money on a useless Richardson right after trading the pick.

The Johnson debacle was handled terribly and the "return" they got in the sign and trade was pathetic.

Coangelo gave out some bad contracts to guys like Diaw and Banks which stopped them from signing anyone decent and getting guys to come play with Steve Nash would have been very easy.

[Gozer]

Originally Posted by SebC

Care to elaborate? I haven't been following the NBA that closely over the past few years.

http://sports.espn.go.com/espn/page2...simmons/080501

Bill Simmons has a nice summary of this abortion in his book, this is another I found with a quick search. Skip down to "2005 Suns" (and it's a fair amount of reading) for a recap.

[CaramonLS]

Biggest game of the season tonight... Raptors vs. Chicago. They're tied in the standings now.

[Gozer]

"If the Raptors have had a bigger game the past few seasons, it hasn't been until tonight."

That was Rod Black's intro.

[flames_1987]

Rod Black fails at life