Toronto Raptors - We can't be pathetic forever, can we?

[Bklyn]

I think his wife is Canadian (via the Caribbean). Andrew Wiggins mother ran for Canada as a sprinter, iirc.

[T Dot O Dot]

[youtube]zDJgeqKaUwo[/youtube]

[It's me Karen]

When. you're. hot. you're. hot.

[Bklyn]

What was his final line?

[T Dot O Dot]

9-16 from the field (9-13 from 3, 0-3 from 2)

6-6 FT

6 assists

2 boards

2 turnovers

He shut alot of haters up with that game, especially with word that he stayed in front of his check all game defensively. Lastyear he was Toronto's highschool version of Jimmer. His numbers were nice but ALOT of people doubted he could hang in Division 1.

[sotola]

Taken from an article posted on the Lockout board.....

Impact of CBA on Raptors

TORONTO RAPTORS
How it helps: The new amnesty provision allows the Raptors to be players in this year's free-agent market if they want to be. If Nene or Tyson Chandler wants to come to Toronto, they could amnesty a player like Jose Calderon and get far enough under the cap to sign him.

If new rookie Jonas Valanciunas is as good as some NBA scouts think he can be, the Raptors will also have an easier time re-signing him in four years thanks to the new designated player rules.

How it hurts: The new CBA shouldn't have a significant negative impact on the Raptors right now. Of course, that says more about the state of limbo the team is currently in than it does about the new CBA.

Immediate impact (this season): Unless they use the amnesty clause, the Raptors won't really be players in this winter's abbreviated free-agency period. If they do, they can take a shot at a few talented free agents.

Long-term impact (future seasons): Assuming they hold on to their amnesty waiver until next summer (when they could also let Leandro Barbosa walk), the Raptors could be serious free-agent players in 2012 without having to gut their team.

I honestly think we should just be bad for 2 more years, stock pile a couple of talents through high draft picks, and then leverage all the cap space for trades/free agency. Painful and long process but the guys we have on the roster are all young except for Jose.... and he's off the books in 2 years.

[sotola]

Is the Toronto media that stupid that they sip and believe the kool aid that MLSE supplies? The team has some young talent and we are far more athletic than we have been in some time but they keep talking about how next season, ripe with 2 lottery picks (V and whomever we get) and tons of cap space will allow the Raps to instantly transform the team.

Maybe I missed the top notch free agents we have signed when we had money.... Turkoglu and an aging Olajuwon are the only one's that come to mind..... somehow that doesn't give me hope.

I can understand being optimistic about the young talent but it's raw. I would be very surprised if made GOOD use of next season's cap space.

[T Dot O Dot]

stayed at my parents all week in florida so tonight was my first time seeing the Raptors

I really didnt expect much since we are on the road & Dallas was hungry for their first win, still alot of negligence on the defensive side

I like Caseys demeanour & body language but I didnt see anything different

DeRozan settled for J's & Bargnani is still late on his weak side rotations when we double team

[sotola]

This team will be good enough to delay the re-build. they are playing really hard for Casey and it's definitely not pretty at times but the effort is always there. they blew big leads against Orlando/Dallas (when officiating starts to turn to one side) so they could easily be above .500. I don't think they will win alot but they will get a few more than the other bad teams. I would be surprised to see this team in the top 5 lottery slots (which is actually what I wanted).

[sotola]

Gotta tell you that either Andrea is finally starting to get it or Dwane Casey has had a huge impact on the big guy. He actually plays adequate defense and his shot selection is far superior. I know it's only been 8 games but he is has been solid.

[Simitar]

Gotta tell you that either Andrea is finally starting to get it or Dwane Casey has had a huge impact on the big guy. He actually plays adequate defense and his shot selection is far superior. I know it's only been 8 games but he is has been solid.

Casey has always been viewed as a very good player development guy. Its no shock to me that Bargnani, DeRozan and Johnson are all off to the best starts of their careers.

I was impressed by how intense and focused Toronto's defense was last night.

On offense, whenever Rubio and one of our PFs ran middle pick and screens. Toronto's bigs showed hard, forcing Rubio where he didn't want to go, and their guards recovered quick and hard on Rubio, so their bigs could rotate back to prevent the open jumper from the screener. The rest of Toronto's D stayed in the passing lanes to not allow Ricky to work his magic, and he was consistently stuck with nowhere to go. Beyond this, the Wolves couldn't, or didn't, get into their offense early enough to allow Rubio to reset the offense as he has successfully done in previous games. We didn't shoot well, but we weren't missing wide open jumpers and layups all night. Toronto's D was excellent, leaving us very few uncontested shots.

Toronto is holding opponents to under 40% shooting for the whole season (2nd in the NBA), and the 8th fewest assists. Last season they were 29th in opponent field goal % (48%), and 24th in assists.

[Simitar]

If Bargnani keeps this up, you're going to have a hell of a frontcourt next year when he's playing next to Valanciunas.

[yossarian1234]

Damn, just when I thought we were getting a top pick in a loaded draft, they have to go out and actually start playing better.

It's good that Dwayne Casey is starting to get the most out of this group although Ed Davis and DeMar DeRozan haven't started out as well as I'd like but damn they need to start losing more games. Get morale victories but lose actual games so we can add another top talent and really go all out in rebuilding efforts.

[T Dot O Dot]

just when u begin feeling good about them they get smacked and destroyed by NJ & Philly

nice job on K-Love by Amir last night.... but, we cant play Cleveland, Minny & Washington every night

Casey has pushed all of the right buttons and has turned Bargnani into a beast

I have to disagree about DeRozan, and it's obvious Casey is keeping the emphasis on D

you dont need to coach offense to Bargs & Calderon, but sheesh, DeMar has completely abandoned the idea of getting to the rim & living at the free throw line. He's become content to let the ball swing to him so he can jack up some garbage

[Bklyn]

Philly is balling hard this year. There is no shame in losing to them.

[sotola]

Yeah, Philly has been very surprising. I thought they just played well against the Raps but have seen them a few times now. I don't think their talent level is as good as their record but the quick start should help them with playoff seeding.

As for the Raps, 4-7 is better than I would want but we also really haven't played any good teams yet. Our offense is horrendous so it should get exploited when we play better teams. D

[T Dot O Dot]

by my count there are currently 5 teams with a record worse than ours

6th pick is no good for us, even with jonas coming over.. we cant even tank properly

as far as I see it Jose, Bargs, James Johnson, Bayless & DeRozan are the only players that are keepers

[T Dot O Dot]

ED, Amir, Kleiza & Barbosa can all go as far as Im concerned

[sardis]

Woohoooo....suck it, Raptors!

[T Dot O Dot]

we've built up quite the solid resume:

Gave Wiz first win
Loss to Kings at home
Decimated by the Celtics twice
Kobe buzzer beater
Lin buzzer beater
Gave Bobcats first win in over a month