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It was only the Heat. Only the Wizards. Everyone blows them out, nothing to be proud of.
Whatever.
Last season, this Raptors team had a tremendous amount of trouble beating the teams they should beat. This year, one loss out of 4 to Philly, an early drubbing by Milwaukee and a loss to Seattle are the only real head-scratchers in a season that could end up being better than last year, record-wise. No, we won’t retain the Atlantic division, but we might break 50. Of the 35 games we have left, 22 are against sub-.500 teams, including 3 against the Heat and Knicks. I’m not the stats guy, but our strength of schedule HAS to be one of the weakest in the league right now. I don’t expect 30-point prison assaults each time we play these teams, but winning is expected.
It used to be that one could point to the Raptors poor road form as a reason they might lose some of these upcoming “easy games”. That’s simply not the case this year. An old adage says that championship teams play .500 ball on the road, which is where we are right now. If we can continue our recent stellar home form, we’ll be in good shape come playoff time. Provided we can avoid Washington.
Dwyane Wade looked like he was mailing it in. No way he stayed in Miami unless a major acquisition happened. The question is, was the major acquisition enough? With Wade having signed the same type of extension that LeBron and CB4 signed, he’s in Miami for a while, with an option coming up. There is a feeling that he’s too classy to request a trade, and that he’d rather be the guy who rebuilds the team than the guy who bails on it. Marion is a great player as option 2, but he’s not the answer to Miami’s troubles, and with his option at the end of the season, will he stay long enough to put a smile on Wade’s face?
The other side of that coin, of course, is that Marion is a free agent in the summer. Danny Ferry on line 1.
And how, exactly, will Shaq help Phoenix? Oh, he can go on all he wants about being in a non-running system, and how that doesn’t mean he can’t run. Did you expect him perhaps to come out and say he was going to suck in Phoenix and they were dumb to acquire him? Amare at the 4? Beastly.
Ford is back and showing no ill effects, so the possibility of moving him is slightly higher. In my dreams, we get Kidd. Then again, in my dreams I’m 3 inches taller and 50 pounds lighter and playing for the Raptors, so take that how you wish. Even if you accept that Ford is on the trading block, which is by no means guaranteed at this point, you have to wonder not only who wants him, but who wants him that has something we want. We need a rebounder, preferably one who stands in the lane and looks scary. We could also do with a point guard to replace Ford, although if we can swing a 2-for-1 trade, we should be able to grab one on a 10-day. I wouldn’t mind Reggie Evans, and if Philly are trying to move Miller, then Ford and AI2 in their backcourt is an athletic proposition. I’m sure there’s some salary filler required, though, so this trade probably won’t work. You get the idea though.
Now that Kobe has the help he was crying for, I don’t foresee him moving. That leaves Marion, Kidd, Kirilenko, Bibby and possibly Arenas as big-name tradeables. Yes that’s right, I said Arenas.
Washington has been better without Agent 0. Caron is having a breakout year and Jamison is back to the form he showed before. Their backup corps of Mason, Stevenson and company have played extremely well in relief, and if they can get a young point guard in exchange, someone like a Ridnour, they’ll be in a nice position going forward. The biggest bonus, though, is disposing of Arenas’ mouth.
It looks as though Bargnani is snapping out of his extended slump. He’s doing exactly what a certain sexy, talented columnist for this very site suggested he should: drive more, increase his rebounds to around 5 per game, and shoot his way into form. Wonder which columnist that was? Self-praise aside, this Andrea is the one we’re going to need in the playoffs, because Parker is going to be busy defending, José will be worn out, and Bosh will be locked down tighter than a bottle of Tanqueray at the Spears household. Teams with only one offensive option do not win in the playoffs. Delfino and Kapono are responses, not threats. If Bargnani can average 15 and 5 over the rest of the regular season, he will be another body for defenses to worry about come May.
Juan Dixon…I just don’t see the level of suckitude that the rest of you do. He turns the ball over…so do a lot of people. He’s still an effective scorer on his day, is quick, is not as much of a defensive liability as some point guards we’ve had (looking squarely in the direction of Houston, TX), and does not complain about his role. Not too many 11th men on too many teams can come in and light up the scoreboards. There’s no denying that Juan has the ability to do just that. A little time with the only assistant coach in the league with a roster spot (looking at YOU, Mr Martin) and some more garbage time will help him out. With the schedule looking so favourable, the garbage time should be plentiful.
As a shout-out to my brother Rick, how favourable is the situation in Sacramento? Brad Miller is dropping stats like he was taking a vision test, they get two premium players back in Kevin Martin and Mike Bibby, giving them two bench guys in Udrih and Salmons who have been performing at epic levels all season, and the Artest trade talk is starting again. If you consider that any of Udrih, Artest, Salmons and Bibby could be traded in the next couple of weeks, likely to strengthen the questionable interior defense and provide some non-mental-case depth, happy days may be ahead. They’ll still lose to Toronto, of course.
Dear New Jersey, thanks for trying to make a Big 3. You fail. The name of your fail is Vince Carter. I hear Toronto is willing to offer Maceo Baston, Jorge Garbajosa, Sam Mitchell’s left sock, Chris Bosh’s girlfriend and a pair of 2nd round picks for Vince. It’s probably the best deal you’re going to get. Oh, and because of Vince, you’ve now lost the greatest all-around point guard since that Earvin Johnson guy.
Yeah, that’s about it. Lansdellicious – Out.
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the raptors also had losses to dallas, portland and cleveland where they had substantial leads, and allowed the other team to come back with a total collapse where the whole team was to blame.
i don’t know about you guys, but i don’t want to see cleveland in the playoffs either. they play defense, are bigger and i have feeling will turn it on come playoff time. do you really want to see lebron stroll into the key uncontested laying up, dunking or any of the other things he does great?
i agree on dixon, just not sold on paying the 11th man $3+ mill/year. he plays better defense than calderon and ford in mho.
i really don’t see tj getting traded. i still think, and people call me crazy, that jose is the one who gets shipped off. roko has no value yet, tj is both a bc and smitch guy, and younger, and prone to dieing at any moment on the court. not a good combo
and f*ck carter. i wouldnt even trade smitch’s socks for the pansy. seriously i would, but i wouldn’t give up garbo, i’d substitute joey graham .
I’d check your facts on Marion being available this summer…
http://www.hoopshype.com/salaries/miami.htm
Jamison may be returning to form, but he’s a free agent after the season, which complicates anything Washington will try to do. Though highly unlikely, it’s theoretically possible they could lose both Jamison and Gilbert next July.
He has an option, Spudz — but I don’t know why everyone is assuming he’s going to use it. In addition to Marion, Iverson, Gilbert Arenas, Baron Davis, Jermaine O’Neal, Elton Brand, Corey Maggette and Ron Artest can also opt-out. Obviously, not all of those guys are going to do so. If I had to wager, I’d say Marion takes his option and stays for another year, as will Iverson, O’Neal, Baron and Brand. Those are too many max contracts to go around and that’s what just about all of those guys will be looking for. Something’s gotta give.
true, granville, but look at the potential FAs a year from this summer.
Then, of course, the new CBA and potential strike. Like I said last year, which way do you gamble as a player or agent: take a long term deal now or a small one (like Bosh and Lebron did at the time) and assume the banks will open after the labour talks.
Good point on the FA’s in 2009, but does that counter the point? Marion, for instance, gets $17 million next year if he doesn’t opt out. On the open market, for a team that doesn’t have his Bird Rights, we’re looking at $13 or $14 — I think that’s best case scenario. In any year, he’s not going to get $17 million to start.
My guess is that if he opts out, it’s to sign an extension. Top drawer FAs rarely change teams. We can all name a few but there have only been a few, and the luxury tax is now a blood-colored line that it wasn’t five years ago, so there will probably be even fewer. I think it’s more likely, for instance, that Maggette gets a couple million raise in an extension and sign-and-trade than that he goes anywhere else. The truly scary thing is Isiah + Marbury’s $20 million expiring + unprotected first round picks.
No, wasn’t really using it to counter the point, but you have to think his agent is looking at that class and starting to sweat a bit.
There will be a few teams with some nice wiggle room that summer and it will be interesting to see what will happen when you throw the CBA into the mix.
The Raps, of course, could have some nice space but that would assume you let Jose go (or he signs an undervalued contract this year) and you hold on to Rasho through next season and drop his $8mil. Even then, are you upgrading a team or blowing it up and starting afresh? If Bosh stays you can probably only afford another mediocre allstar and some bottom feeders.
if marion opts out of his contract, he is dumber than i thought. two dumb decisions in one year:
1. asking to be traded from the suns
2. opting out of a contract that he wont come close to getting on the fa market
Marion was in Phoenix I think longer than any other player on the Suns roster (if you don’t count Nash being drafted there and then traded to Dallas, then being signed as an FA a few years later). He also predates the coach, the GM, even the owner. From what I understand, Amare is really, seriously, a prick, so I’m not so quick to blame Marion.