On the eve of the Raptors season-opening game tomorrow night against LeBron James, Shaquille O’Neal and the explosive Cleveland Cavaliers, the all-star forward acknowledged yesterday that his revamped, re-tooled and refocused team will have to out-work the elite clubs in the Eastern Conference this year to have any chance of winning.
And if they don’t, well, it could be a long year. And though he didn’t say as much, if they don’t, this season may end up being Bosh’s farewell tour in Toronto, as one U.S. wag put it. Even with some key new faces, including potential all-star Hedo Turkoglu, Bosh suggested yesterday following a practice at the Air Canada Centre, that the Raptors, who are 2-6 in the pre-season, are certainly not one of the upper echelon teams in the powerful East.
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"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."
For now, Wright is saying all the right things and gives the Raptors a defensive presence on the wing, an area of concern in Toronto for the past few seasons.
"In this league, you have to separate yourself from your peers by whatever means,” Wright said as the Raptors unveiled their new roster to the media before boarding their team charter to Ottawa, the site of training camp.
"For me that means playing defence and bringing an attitude each night."
When one looks at the roster, one sees plenty of jump-shooters, but few players known for playing defence.
Wright has a chance to make a name for himself and demand minutes on a deep bench by defending the perimeter and rebounding the basketball.
In the weight loss department, not only is Jose Calderon slimmed down a bit – although you can hardly tell he’s 10 pounds lighter like he says because he looks the same – but Rasho’s been avoiding the all-you-can-eat buffets, too.
I’m not saying that if he turns sideways you won’t be able to see him but he’s shaved more than 15 pounds or so off his frame and looks a lot lighter.
He’s still big enough, don’t get me wrong, but he’s definitely lighter and, I suppose, in better shape.
I guess being away from the many red-meat emporiums that dominate downtown Indy might have something to do with it.
The new Nugget traveled all day Friday (Tampa to Washington D.C. to Denver), getting to bed at 2 a.m., waking up around 6 a.m. for his physical.
"He did all right for someone who got four hours of sleep," teammate Carmelo Anthony said after Saturday’s practice.
The 6-foot-7 Graham agreed to a non-guaranteed contract Friday for around $900,000, and Denver hopes he can provide some offense lost when Linas Kleiza signed with Olympiakos and some defense lost when Dahntay Jones signed with the Pacers.
"I like covering the guys like Kobe Bryant, LeBron James," Graham said. "I’m a rough-neck guy, a blue-collar guy."
The final days in Toronto weren’t pretty and there’s no two ways about that. But Vince made the Raptors relevant. You didn’t watch them on national TV before, and haven’t since. Those few years of playoff runs were Vince at his most awe inducing and us at our most willing to consume his game, his style, his persona.
His final year(s) above the border truly turned many people off. But New Jersey was supposed to be a new beginning, another shot at doing what we knew he could. In some ways, it was. Teaming with Jason Kidd and Richard Jefferson, he helped lead them to a playoff birth his first year in New Jersey and an Atlantic Division title during his first full year in 2005-06.
Here, in the left-leaning but rightful centre of the universe, fans are known to be patient to the point of numbness.
They love the Leafs despite a Stanley Cup drought that has now stretched to a mere 42 years.
They recognize that the NBA Raptors can’t win, but do a good job of filling Air Canada Centre seats anyway.
They laugh at the Argos and lament the failures of the Blue Jays.
All of which adds up to real sadness when a world-class performer leaves, or prepares to.
There is a real chance that Roy Halladay has pitched his last for the Jays.
Oh,well. They can always find a loser to replace him.
Now, in the latest edition of ESPN’s power rankings, the Raps are 14th, and 6th in the Eastern Conference. Toronto leapfrogged Washington, Detroit and Miami, and sit one spot behind the Bulls.
It’s not like this is much of a change – The 9th place prediction had Toronto missing the playoffs by one game.
More interesting to me is the reaction these rankings elicit from fans… Why do people care? In this case, the rankings come from one person, Marc Stein, who has an opinion and nothing more. Still, the rankings have generated over 2000 comments in one day – Many angry, many celebratory.
"I was terrible since January," Calderon said in a candid interview at the Angus Glen Golf Club in Markham yesterday.
"I couldn’t play defence for the last part of the season. On offence, I was just settling for jumpers because I couldn’t go one-on-one with my man.
"Last year, my numbers were better, but I was playing at 50%," he continued. "So, this has to be my year. I just want to win this year, forget about last year and work at getting this team into the playoffs and being a contender."
A sore hamstring suffered part-way through the 2008-09 season limited Calderon’s ability to pivot or cut on the court.
"I’m not worried about (Bosh leaving)," Bargnani said. "He loves Toronto."
"He said to me, and he’s a good friend," added Calderon, "that he’s happy in Toronto."
Bosh spent a week at Calderon’s youth camp in Spain this summer.
Marcus Banks isn’t going to do anything except eat salary space and no one knows for sure what Sonny Weems can do, but there’s no question the Raptors have come a long way from a year ago this time.
Only time will tell how quickly the revamped roster learns how to play off each other.
There are no jobs to be won, only roles that need to be identified and how minutes will be doled out.
The only question remaining is the makeup of the inactive list, barring injury.
Toronto Raptors
I’m jazzed like I’m getting a personal tour from Mila Kunis of her bedroom, Raptors, and I’ma let you think you’re the sleeper team from the East to look out for, but the Washington Wizards are sleepier than you.
The East will have three powerhouses that can run any of the other teams over at will. Then three other teams which are at a slight advantage over the trailing pack, and then somewhere between 6-8 teams who’ll be 50-50 propositions when going against one another, and 1-3 teams who’ll put up a decent fight and have a shot but will be at a disadvantage.
This is a tough landscape for any team harbouring hopes of finishing .500. All these squads could easily eat into each other’s win totals, due to the competitiveness and the parity that exists, and leave nearly all or all of these teams below .500 next year.
Two years ago, he could do no wrong. The Spaniard chased T.J. Ford out of Canada, won Toronto’s starting point guard spot, signed a $45 million multi-year contract, and looked to be on the verge of stardom.
Then it all went Peter Tong. It started with that God awful picture with the Spanish national team. Once in Toronto, Calderon couldn’t handle starter minutes, got hurt, and, unlike Stella, never got his groove back.
Much has been made of the Raptors’ off-season overhaul. This is fair. However, ‘The Dinos’ don’t qualify for the playoffs in 2010 unless Calderon finds to his old form.
The Raptors may be vastly improved with the Hedo Turkoglu acquisition. Toronto has also added on solid pieces like Jarrett Jack, Reggie Evans and Marco Belinelli. They’ll be a lot better than the squad that won 33 games a year ago – but are they good enough to climb into the East’s top four?
From one end of the spectrum to the other. They may share home court, locker rooms and parking spots. But while the Lakers were winning a championship the Clippers were gearing up for their #1 pick in the NBA draft. Today’s Clipper preview was provided by Peter from The No-Look Pass.
sometimes you acquire guys who are on the downside of their good or amazing career.
They would have been amazing playing for the Raptors had they been acquired in their prime. But unfortunately, they were not and most did not significantly help the Raptors.
…Unless, that is, you count rubbing off on other players.
Remember that this it is not completely based on numbers. Some of it is based on age and money and why we ever acquired them at that age.
Raptors general manager Bryan Colangelo yesterday dismissed suggestions that Turkoglu played poorly at EuroBasket 2009, but did acknowledge that his prize off-season acquisition looked tired.
"International play has always been more of a team game, less individual, so statistics are less of an indication than what he actually contributed," Colangelo said. "I watched him play, and would say he effectively deferred to others on his team, as he was often the target of defensive schemes.
"Having said that," Colangelo added, "he did appear physically and emotionally tired when I saw him last week, which is understandable given his late June NBA final appearance and mid-July training for the Euro championship."
In the department of Heading ‘Em Off At The Pass, there’s still no official word on the ticketing process for the training camp opening scrimmage at Carleton.
