"Marco will be a factor but he wasn’t playing well and the last game was a little tougher because we wanted to get Antoine as much run as we could — find out where he was fitness-wise and that was the only game we would have a chance to do that."
Since an early dose of extended playing time in the pre-season, Belinelli’s minutes have dwindled.
As a team, the Raptors are struggling to the tune of a .244 success rate from three-point range this pre-season. It’s not a number that provides a lot of confidence heading into the regular season.
"I think it’s a lot of our guys trying to find rhythm right now and find where they are going to shoot," Triano said. "We’ve probably got a few guys shooting shots that they won’t be taking during the regular season, but I don’t want to take that away because guys spend the whole summer working on their game and pre-season is the time to show it. But now it’s time to tighten the screws as far as who is allowed to take what shot."
Triano, who never has seen a negative he couldn’t spin into a positive, didn’t even break a sweat turning this one on its ear.
"It has," Triano replied when asked if the entire pre-season has felt a little bit jinxed with players coming in and out since the team first assembled in Ottawa for training camp.
"But you know what?" he said. "It’s great preparation for the year because that’s how it’s going to be all year. That’s why it’s nice it happened now and other guys have had to step up and play those minutes and they will be called upon during the year when these same things happen. Hopefully we will reap the benefits (from that) down the road."
Bosh doesn’t believe it’s a lack of chemistry as much as conditioning that is leading to the turnovers and missed passes.
"Parker will be missed," Winston says. "I predict he will be a huge help to the Cleveland Cavaliers."
Newcomer Reggie Evans (two points below average last year) should help the Raptors’ toughness and rebounding, Winston says.
But the sleeper hit, he predicts, will be Amir Johnson.
"He is a vastly underrated power forward who should really be a surprise for Toronto fans."
After adjusting for other players on the court, opposing teams scored a startling average of 11 fewer points when Johnson was playing last year, the analysis shows.
The way Triano and a couple of players see it, passing up good shots has a twofold detrimental effect. Not only does it often lead to more difficult field-goal attempts, it’s also creating more than a few turnovers because defenders know what to look for.
"Watching the tape from (the loss to Minnesota), we turned the ball over because we came off screens thinking pass rather than thinking score and the defence recognizes that," said Triano. "I think any time you come off a screen, you look to score and if they take that away, then you look to pass and make a play."
Guard Jarrett Jack, swingman Antoine Wright and assistant coach Alex English were not with the team on Sunday when the team practised in preparation for Wednesday’s season opener against Cleveland. All three called in sick, and did not go to the Air Canada Centre. That is exactly the way the NBA wants it, given the flu scare.
Now, all three could be suffering from an unrelated bug. However, given the fear of the illness, there could be many more practices like Sunday’s.
“In the past, guys would come in and we’d evaluate them and think maybe it’s better to go in and sweat it off, or maybe not,” coach Jay Triano said. “But now we’re trying to stay away from guys spreading it.
Bosh alone committed six turnovers against the Timberwolves.
"It was mental fatigue. I should have just made the simple pass," Bosh, who played 36 minutes in his busiest game yet, said. "It’s all about chemistry and a little bit of conditioning too. The coaches understand that."
Triano thinks the former might be more of a hindrance than the former right now.
"Chris, in practice today, and it happened in the game, he had the ball inside for a lay-up and he kicked it out," Triano said. "I want him taking that. He’s going to get fouled. But what’s happening is these guys want to learn each other and want to get along with each other so well, that I’m almost at the point where I want them to be a little bit more selfish."
On the one hand, Webber is also right. The results matters. For instance, a winning or losing season would have to influence CB4’s decision to re-up with the Raptors or migrate south to the United States.
On the other hand, Webber’s overlooking two factors. First, consider the economy. Unlike the free spending days of the 1990s, the NBA – like the rest of the business world – is in a recession. With a declining salary cap, less money is available for all players, including the big ticket free agents of next summer.
In the current economy, Bosh has little chance of becoming teammates with LeBron James or Dwyane Wade. This increases his chances of staying in Toronto, who, according to the Collective Bargaining Agreement, can offer the most money and longest term.
Toronto Raptors: This team could have a slow start and won’t play much defense. However, Hedo Turkoglu’s wide skill set will have a huge impact offensively. His ballhandling and shooting can’t help but make Chris Bosh a happy teammate.
10. Toronto Raptors, 39-43: They’re close, but not close enough. Hedo Turkoglu improves the team but his deficiencies on defense will be exploited as he no longer has Dwight Howard to back him up. After Chris Bosh, does this team have another solid scorer that can consistently score at least 15 points? X-Factor: Andrea Bargnani. He might be the guy who can average 15 points but I fear that Hedo is going to take away some of his shots. Despite being a 7-footer, he spends a lot of his time on the perimeter, a spot similar to another foreign dude on the team.
5. Toronto Raptors – I have a knack for an international brand of play and i think the Raptors have the chance to execute such plays. They can dwell on team plays rather just a normal Isolation or pick and roll. At least they can do that with Bargnani and Turk. They added more depth with Reggie Evans and Jarret Jack and DeRozan.
2. Toronto Raptors
Chris Bosh bulked up this offseason. That was only four years overdue. They signed Hedo Turkoglu to a major contract. That was a pretty solid move if you want to spend all your money on someone who can do nothing but shoot from the outside. The worst part about it is, he knows he can’t do anything other than shoot from the outside. He doesn’t try to do anything other than shoot from the outside. This team is a mess. Chris Bosh is on his way out after this year. The only thing keeping them in the playoff picture is the thought that maybe they can conjure up some chemistry courtesy of underrated, yet spectacular point guard Jose Calderon
Toronto Raptors- Clearly the city of Toronto is located in Canada making not a part of the United States. But what’s not clear is if on paper the Toronto Raptors look like an NBA roster. Raptors GM Bryan Conlangelo has strengthened the depth this offseason having solid backups at each position with Jack, Bellinelli, Wright, Johnson, and Nesterovic. Though Hedo Turkoglu was an overpaid free agent whose numbers will slightly drop this season, he provides the “go-to” perimeter shooter down the stretch that the Raptors have lacked ever since Vince Carter left town. Another year under Calderon’s belt only points to positive results and let’s not forget that head coach Jay Triano embarks on his first full season after trying to pick up the mess that Sam Mitchell left behind last season. For the Raptors to cling to second place in the Atlantic, they’ll need a big season from Bargnani who needs to show he was worth the contract extension he received (which will be hard to do earning 50 million over 5 years). With the departure of Anthony Parker, the team will need someone to step up to fill that shooting guard position. I’m excited to see who decides to step up and am hoping it’ll be Marco Belinelli who has always been one of my favorite summer league players to watch. All we’ve ever heard is that he just needs to find the right opportunity, that opportunity is now there; it’s time to shine in Toronto.
The Raps’ first-round pick joins Got Game? to discuss his long history of playing video games, and reveals his all-time favourites.
If the Raptors are not successful enough to keep Bosh in Toronto then it will be a major step backwards for the franchise. Only Chris knows what it will take for him to stay with the Raptors. But I’m confident that he will do more than his share to make the team a winner. The biggest and most important thing Bosh can do to make the Raptors successful is to step it up on the defensive side. Blocks, steals, and stops will make or break the Toronto Raptors. Jack Armstrong believes, as do I, that CB4 still has another level to his game that is yet to be shown–this level needs to be exposed in ’09-’10. But at the end of the day, improvements to Bosh’s game won’t be enough to put the Raptors over the edge–it must be a team effort.
This year’s final EC standings are going to be very tight between the No. 6 and No. 12 positions and, although the Raptors should be in the mix the entire way, there is little indication to this point that they will be a better team than Atlanta, Washington, Miami, Detroit, Chicago, Philadelphia, Charlotte, New York and Indiana … following the Big 3 of Boston, Cleveland and Orlando.
on Jarrett Jack struggling to find a balance on the offensive end between distributing and looking to score: "Jarrett struggling on his shot isn’t on Jarrett, it’s on me. I’ve told him ‘Be more aggressive, take more shots. Make people play you, then make plays,’ this is part of what I hope and want for my point guard. I don’t want him to come down and be one-dimensional and set it up. I want him to be a threat. When people start playing him as that threat, that’s when he’s going to be able to make a lot more plays."
I don’t remember a time where all Toronto Sports team are this terrible at the same time. When the Leafs struggled in the 80s, the Jays were great, and the Argos are winning (you could argue not many people care about the CFL, but still a Toronto sports team). Then the Jays slumped but the Leafs starts to win, and made it to the semi finals multiple times in the 90s. The Raptors, meanwhile was mediocre, but they had moments where this team could go somewhere (Vince Carter team earlier in the decade and the Atlantic Division winning team a couple of years back). Right now, you can make an argument the best Toronto Sports team is a soccer team that just missed the playoffs in the MLS, a team that got wiped out when playing against a real professional team like Real Madrid and Real Madrid wasn’t really trying.
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Thanks Scott …. good to see you back doing your thang buddy.