……chill.
Honestly, there is nothing like the Toronto sports fan. We are 1-2 after playing 2 elite Eastern Conference teams and one mediocre, but up and coming, squad. Yet all you see are people losing their minds over how disappointing this squad is. Come on.
Personally I’ve always hated the “it’s just preseason” excuse. This year we had a full roster. Nobody was in camp that was trying to make the team. From the get-go, what you saw is what we had. Sure, we were missing Hedo and Chris and the deeper bench players were playing more minutes than usual, but after seeing lethargic effort after lethargic effort, did you really expect that they would kick it up a notch on opening night and keep it going for a few weeks? If you are a Raptors follower, you can’t honestly tell me you did especially when looking at past history.
Look, we are three games in and we are shooting the lights out in the arena. We are missing a defensive piece in Reggie Evans and Jose Calderon still looks like he just got off the tea cup ride at Disney. Give him some time to adjust. I hear ya that it shouldn’t take as long as it has, but it has. Deal with it.
Belinelli, even though most of you made him out to be, is not a saviour. Never will be. He is a Kapono-type player that has a specialty or two but will never carry this team. All you can hope for is that he shows effort when inserted into the game. So far he has.
Bargnani will be an up and down player through the course of his career. I love that he gets angry, as he did yesterday, and he holds himself accountable for his poor play when he does have days like that. Good on him. I guarantee he will have more ups than downs this season, so relax.
I still think Jack will take time to work into his new surroundings. Even at the scrimmage in Ottawa he did well creating for himself, but seemed to take a step back when creating for others. Once he gets down where people will be, he will be a major factor in how well this team does.
Also, lets face it. Douby, Banks, O’Bryant are IR fodder the entire year. Weems had a good pre-season, but against other teams 2nd and 3rd stringers. Johnson and DeRozan are good, not great, and both are on a learning curve (no matter what Amir says).
Hedo has been underwhelming to a degree but has also instilled a lot of what he was said to be bringing to this team. Room for improvement? Absolutely.
Bosh has been nothing short of a monster. Now we just have to hope he can sustain it…a tough task in this league.
So, we are 1-2 to start an insanely tough November. We can expect to see better play, though, from Hedo, Jose, and Jarrett, then add on Evans and Weems. 4 out of the 5 of them were said to be major players in the turnaround of this team. Let’s give them the opportunity to show us that they can be just that.
Take a deep breath, enjoy the 2 days off without Raptors ball, and know it will get better. That feeling you felt on opening night will be back tenfold this season. Trust me.
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Just wondering Scott, but do you think its still too soon to entertain the possibility of starting Wright instead of DeMar? While DeMar has shown flashes of being a talented player, I think what Wright can bring and help change on defense is something to considering moving forward at this point.
Thoughts?
As Triano has said already he would rather have Wright finish games than start it. He thinks DeRozan is in a good place and likes his energy in the starting 5.
All things being equal…
When Evans returns and plays with Wright /JJ or Marco,Rasho or Amir,…our second unit will be known as our stoppers & rebounders and our starters will put numbers on the board…but if our starters are left in too long and not getting any stops,it becomes a real balancing act.
I think that the trick will be to have a mix of starters and tough second-unit guys on the floor when it counts. The starters will get PT at the start of the 1st and 3rd quarters, but there could be mixing at any point after that.
I personally think that we should be closing out games with: Jose/JJ (whoever has a hotter-hand), Wright, Hedo, Bosh, Bargs.
I agree as long as not all three ball distributors are on the floor at the same time Hedo,JJ & JC its just not working ,too much standing around….we brought in Mr. fourth quarter for a reason…the ball should be in his hands not CB's in the dying minutes.
it could be have 3-0
not 1-2
so be happy
so be happy !!!!
wtf you sound like a homer.
Nailed It!
The boxscore reading public is panicking but this team is just getting going!
Playing Calderon & Jack together hasn't worked going back to preseason and seems more driven by contracts than logic. All it has done is eliminate a scorer and weaken the defense at the end of games! Time to end this experiment now! It cost them the game in Memphis! It stopped the comeback vs Magic.
Didn't you predict we'd win about 30 games this year? So in fact, at 2-2, the team is performing higher than your expectations. Well, of course you're happy.
Me? No, I said 37-42 wins.
Also, bear in mind this was written before they won, during the angst filled 1-2 start. People need to settle down.
No I get it.. but I also think we can't take too much stock in the Cleveland win. The defense was decent in that game and it hasn't been even remotely good since then.
37 wins and outside the top 8, or was that a separate prediction?
I hope they win