But the reality is that after a spectacular stretch of player movement – in which the Phoenix Suns topped the Los Angeles Lakers’ acquisition of Pau Gasol by trading for Shaquille O’Neal, inspiring the Dallas Mavericks to try to deal for New Jersey Nets star Jason Kidd – the Raptors can only stand by and watch.
Attribute that to their financial reality.
The driving force behind most deals this time of year – when good players leave bad teams for better ones – is for the bad team to acquire expiring contracts that will allow them to rebuild their teams sooner rather than later.
The Raptors don’t have many expiring deals to offer. Combining Juan Dixon and Darrick Martin in a deal would allow the Raptors to take back a player earning roughly $4-million (all currency U.S.). In other words, another tool for coach Sam Mitchell’s toolbox rather than a difference maker.
The Raptors have long needed a rugged, scoring small forward (Ron Artest? Corey Maggette?) and a ball-chasing, floor-running big man. But they haven’t added either yet because they sense that it’s simply not their time yet.
“You would always want to get good fast, but would you age really quickly doing it?” Bosh said, with his general manager’s hat on. “Your average age would go from 26 to 32 or something, do you really want to risk that? You can either build to be good in the future or you can be good right now and have to build up eventually.”
While the first, second and third seeds are almost certainly out of reach, the Raptors’ future appears to be the No.6 spot, if not No.5, where they are right now. Add the right piece and put together some consistent basketball, and they could battle with Cleveland for No.4 and homecourt in the first round of the playoffs.
Once in the playoffs, they have a chance to win a series if they happen to be shooting well from the three-point line. Keep that up and they might even throw a scare into someone in the next round.
In that scenario, a young club gains some valuable playoff experience and management gets a better sense of what it will take to keep the Raptors movin’ on up to the NBA’s more exclusive neighbourhoods.
Jason Kapono could not help but laugh.
After seeing teammate T.J. Ford go down with yet another injury – this time an abdominal strain – in the team’s first practice since the all-star break, Kapono had to crack a smile.
"I’m not laughing because it’s funny. I’m laughing because it’s sad," Kapono said Monday night. "It’s unbelievable the type of things he has gone through, from being carried off on a stretcher, to spraining his [wrist] in his third game back, and now his first practice, having a strain."
Toronto is just a half-game behind fourth-place Cleveland, so these next games are crucial, especially given the club’s miserable March. Toronto plays eight of its first 10 games next month on the road, including a five-game Western swing in which they should be underdogs in each game.
"We have six winnable games here," Bosh said. "We have to defend our home court because we’re going out on the road. We’re pretty decent on the road, but it gets a little tougher when you’re not at home."
3. Are the Eastern beasts content with their lineups?
The Magic and the Raptors still could make runs. But for all intents and purposes, there are only three teams in the East that realistically have a shot at the final: Boston, Detroit and Cleveland.
While the Pistons will likely rely on their newfound depth to try to improve, the Celtics and Cavaliers could both use a new point guard.
Boston’s Rajon Rondo has had flashes of brilliance, but he has often been shot-happy in crunch time.
LeBron James, meanwhile, all but openly campaigned for Kidd. He was a little disappointed when his team did not get him. "I want to win now," James told the Cleveland Plain Dealer in a thinly veiled message to general manager Danny Ferry. "I’m not a guy who wants to sit around and wait."
7. Will the Raptors have their full arsenal clicking in time for the playoffs?
Chris Bosh and Jose Calderon, one half of the Raptors’ foundation, are both firing on all cylinders.
Whether the Raptors can pass the first round will likely come down to the other half: T.J. Ford and Andrea Bargnani.
If Ford can recover, mentally and physically, from the lingering effects of his neck injury, and if Bargnani can put aside his inconsistency troubles, the Raptors could play into May.
If not, it will be April-and-out.
The questions were raised the moment Jason Kapono raised his championship trophy after repeating as the NBA’s three-point king during the all-star weekend.
The curious wondered aloud why Kapono wasn’t getting more minutes for the Raptors, more touches and why he wasn’t getting the chance to be more of a presence.
As the team gathered yesterday for the first time since last Wednesday’s cakewalk over the New Jersey Nets, the answers surrounding the Kapono question weren’t easily available.
Winning teams, after all, tend to overlook such matters. But whether the Raptors are getting enough bang for their back remains debatable.
After luring Kapono to Toronto in an off-season deal that paid the free agent $24 million US over four years, the Raptors have started Kapono just six times. He has led the team in scoring on three occasions while appearing in all 51 games for the 28-23 Raptors.
Heading into tomorrow’s home tip against the Orlando Magic, Kapono is averaging 1.9 attempts from three-point range, a decline from last year’s breakthrough season with the Miami Heat when he averaged 3.1 heaves en route to a career-high scoring average of 10.9 points.
But unlike his days with the Heat, there is no constant post presence that demands opposition double-teams.
As much as Chris Bosh is asserting himself on the block, Kapono often is not on the court with the team’s franchise player.
In New Orleans over the weekend, police reported 98 arrests near all-star festivities and a shooting early yesterday in the French Quarter that left three people with minor injuries. Police said the shooting didn’t appear to be linked to any all-star activities.
"This event was a slam dunk for New Orleans and a slam dunk for the NBA," said Mayor Ray Nagin, who was flanked by New Orleans Hornets owner George Shinn at a City Hall press conference.
Sam Mitchell was back with the Raptors following the death of his father-in-law.
Toronto GM Bryan Colangelo has been doing his usual job checking with other teams on a regular basis, but the chance of the Raptors doing something significant is remote.
They could fiddle with the end of the roster – Juan Dixon would welcome a move and has let Colangelo know so – but that doesn’t mean a trade is coming.
And wanting to save salary cap space he has coming before the start of the 2009-10 season, Colangelo is not going to assume long-term obligations in any trade he may make.
Mitchell, knowing full well his team isn’t nearly as effective without Ford as the speedy counterpoint to current starting point guard Calderon, was philosophical about last night’s unfortunate development.
"Sometimes when you go through tough times you grow," said Mitchell.
"You get better in different areas. Maybe this is T.J.’s time, maybe this is T.J.’s time to grow. Everything happens for a reason, and he’ll be fine.
"I tell our players all the time: `If there’s something you’re supposed to learn from what you’re going through, then learn the lesson. It’ll make you better for it.’ "
A change of direction?
T.J.’s tummy is sore and does that mean Bryan Colangelo has to shift trade-talk gears this week?
No one’s sure if, or for how long, Ford might be out with this “slight” abdominal strain we’re reading about today but seeing how the next few weeks shape up, maybe the GM needs to put point guard on his list of wants this week.
I still think Mickeal Pietrus for Dixon and either Joey or Darrick makes sense but if there’s going to be an empty space behind Jose for even a week, maybe he’s got to look for a point guard, too.
Here’s the thing, though.
If they go out and get a swingman without moving one, where to they put him? My guess would be that any new guy takes the time away from Jamario. Not that the kid hasn’t been good but that’s the logical place to slide a new guy in.
You might not know much about Toronto Raptors forward Jamario Moon, but he is quick with a quip. After TNT court-jester Charles Barkley said he had no chance to win the dunk contest, Moon shot back, "I have a better chance of winning the dunk contest than Charles Barkley has of going back to Alabama and become governor."
Wednesday: Magic at Toronto Raptors, Air Canada Centre, Toronto (7 p.m., Sun Sports). Rugged two-game road trip continues with possible first-round playoff preview. Under-the-radar Raps have guards to give Magic fits.
ROOKIE WALL REAL?
"They talk about it so much," Toronto Raptors forward Chris Bosh says, "they kind of wreck your nerves. It becomes kind of a psychological thing."
Bosh says there also is more pressure to perform after the break. "If you’re in a playoff race, you can’t make as many mistakes as you were making at first," he says. "All the games are very important and the level of play goes so much higher you get better very quickly."
In an interesting twist, Yahoo Sports is reporting the Raptors are actually looking to unload Jason Kapono and the contract the 3-point specialist signed to leave the Heat last summer. In retrospect, perhaps the Heat correctly gauged the market.
Well, all this news has been fun to read about and follow, but I have seen my Raptors do nothing so far which, to me is really ok. I don’t expect any big moves to come from the Raptors this season. They are a couple of key pieces away from getting into the same league as Detroit and Boston in the East, and that is excluding the Western powers. Furthermore, with the crop of players they have, I think another year of growth will do them good.
The Raptors also have to consider that they have a few players they are likely going to want to resign and I’m assuming Colangelo doesn’t want to bring a big contract on board to make sure he can keep a guy like Calderon. Having said that, the Raptors have a couple of identified needs (mostly rebounding) that I would like to see addressed at some point, and therefore, I turned to that trustee tool on ESPN.com, called the Trade Machine. This thing is great if you haven’t seen it, I hope they make one for the hockey on there too cause it is ridiculously addictive. Below are a few deals I think could be intriguing but are unlikely to happen.
14) Toronto Raptors (28-23)
Notes: Toronto is the best three-point shooting team in the NBA, and the second best from the charity stripe.
Turnovers, anyone? You won’t find them being committed by the Raptors. Toronto sits behind Boston as second best in least amount of turnovers per game, and it may be the extra bit of rope that keeps them hanging in the East. With Jose Calderon’s assists-to-turnover ratio higher than that of Chris Paul or Chauncey Billups, it’s not difficult to realize that the Raptors are playing smart basketball to cement their spot in the playoffs.
5. Toronto 28-23. The Raptors haven’t been bad this year, but they have been dissapointing. After last year’s breakthrough season, people were expecting them to be more than 5 games over .500 in the weak EC. The Rap Show does have the talent to make a push in the second half, but their just doesnt seem to be the same energy with the squad this year compared to last.
Toronto Raptors: C+
The Raptors are right about where they should be. Since they’re soft, they’ll lose to any physical team they play. Since they’re unselfish, they’ll beat any poor defensive team they play. Since they’re strictly a jump shooting team, they’ll lose to any team better than them, beat any team worse than them, and they’ll split with teams on their level based on whether their jumpers are falling or not. Adjust the curve for being in the Eastern Conference, and you have a team hovering five games over .500.
The Toronto Raptors: "Boy O’ boy did I have a lot of fun this season, maybe next year we can make a serious run in the playoffs, hahahaha" as the locker room erupts in laughter.
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