The Star.com In the wake of the Raptors' historic and embarrassing loss to Maccabi Tel Aviv on Sunday, some observers registered surprise and even disgust that the Air Canada Centre crowd was, by the game's electrifying conclusion, not only cheering for the yellow-jerseyed visitors, but cheering against the home team as they stepped to the free-throw line and the like. But why would anyone assume those folks in the seats were Raptor fans? Canada's NBA team, after all, isn't even marketing its players as the main attraction anymore. These days the team's Web page touts single-game tickets alongside a buxom, toothy cheerleader. A newspaper ad begs for your business next to a picture of the admittedly excellent mascot. Radio ads push the adrenaline rush that comes with attending a game, if not the game itself, selling the merits of the noise and the pyrotechnics and the food without so much as mentioning, say, the once-in-a-lifetime chance for a garbage-time viewing of Pape Sow. In some ways the marketing approach makes sense. "Come see the pretty cheerleader!" beats "Come see Rafael Araujo booed out of the building and on to a plane to join the Arkansas RimRockers!" Either way you're selling a bust. But if there were truth in advertising, the latter would be the pitch. It's only the pre-season, and there are some situations in which pre-season feedback doesn't tell you anything. Teams that have great pre-seasons don't necessarily have great regular seasons. Same for players. But Araujo, the 6-foot-10 musclehead who sometimes mans the middle, is not some established veteran who's easing into midseason form. He's the stone-handed, slow-to-react fumbler who got yanked after a painful-to-watch four minutes against Maccabi. What's his problem? What's the prognosis? You can't get a straight answer out of anyone in power. Rob Babcock, the GM who picked Araujo eighth in the 2004 draft, said it's a Catch-22, a young guy who can't get comfortable without getting minutes, but who can't get minutes because he's not comfortable. "His confidence is up and down," Babcock said. Sam Mitchell, the coach, said confidence has nothing to do with it: "One thing Hoff is, he's very confident.'' Double-talk is becoming a local dialect in Raptorworld. Babcock has already said his club is going to be worse than it was last year, only to spend weeks insisting he didn't say that. And the GM somehow spun Sunday's loss as "good for the league (and) good for international basketball, which should eventually be good for us, too." Source
Dave Feschuk at his very best. I saw this article in the paper this morning, and although I do agree with Feschuk that drafting Araujo was a huge mistake, I don't think we should "ditch" him just yet. He has almost no trade value right now and Feschuk's suggestion of dispatching him to the NBDL or buy out his contract are not too wise either. With the Raptors in such dire need of a big man, kicking Araujo out now would only leave Loren Wooods and Aaron Williams at the position. Would a duo of underachievers solve any problem that a trio of underachievers couldn't?
i totally agree with the article, hoffa isn'st some 17 year old out of highschool future potential. he's 25 and is probabaly as could as he ever will be.
<div class="quote_poster">Quoting Lamont:</div><div class="quote_post">he's 25 and is probabaly as could as he ever will be.</div> I'm guessing you mean as good? If that'st he case, then I don't know how you came to that conclusion. He's been in the league for one year. We all know he's not going to be a All-Star caliber player, but it's been one year for God's sake. His skills are pretty much set, but there's still A LOT of room for improvement. With a couple years in the league, and a few adjustments he can be a valuable player to have around.
Patience is a virtue. The man hasn't started his second season yet, so no way am I writing him off. Has he shown satisfying development plot? Perhaps not, but centres do tend to take longer to develop, just go check Jamaal Magloire's or Brad Miller's tapes/stats from their rookie seasons. Give him time people. At least untill the All Star break, because if he doesn't show ANY improvement by then, then the Rimrockers become a very good option, but for now all Hoffa needs is the support of managment, teammates, and more importantly the fans.
<div class="quote_poster">Quoting Purple Fever:</div><div class="quote_post">Patience is a virtue. The man hasn't started his second season yet, so no way am I writing him off. Has he shown satisfying development plot? Perhaps not, but centres do tend to take longer to develop, just go check Jamaal Magloire's or Brad Miller's tapes/stats from their rookie seasons. Give him time people. At least untill the All Star break, because if he doesn't show ANY improvement by then, then the Rimrockers become a very good option, but for now all Hoffa needs is the support of managment, teammates, and more importantly the fans.</div> those guys weren't 25, you could probably mention JO but he was still a teen. Players over 25 don't tend to develop. when is he gonna get better? at an age where he's gonna start to delcine also?
^ i agree but you never know if Hoffa isnt good this year i suggest--trading him for anything btw did anyone read the star today? There was a picture of him & Bonner at the subway station--- Hoffa looks so much skinnier now..
We drafted Araujo and now we gotta live with it. It's been a year, a bad rookie campaign doesnt mean anything. Look at Sammy D in Philly, he's killing now playing 34 games in his rookie season and sitting his next season out didnt do too much to him. Araujo's still got that potential that made the Raptors draft him, one year isnt enough time to tell if he's going to be a bust or if he'll pan out as good if not better than we expected. Im not saying Araujo will be a perennial all-star, but I think he'll be a good center, and possibley capable of putting up 10/10 sometime in his career.
Its not even that Araujo is playing badly because he doesn't have the skills to play decent in the NBA. He can, but I think it is more a matter of adjustment and confidence for him. I still don't believe that he will amount to much, but what would be the point of paying him not to play with you, when we can't really find anyone better. Its best to let his rookie contract run out and forget the whole debacle.
<div class="quote_poster">Quoting Lamont:</div><div class="quote_post">i totally agree with the article, hoffa isn'st some 17 year old out of highschool future potential. he's 25 and is probabaly as could as he ever will be.</div> yes.. he is 25, but hes only been in the league for a year, and hes got to get used to the type of ball, the tempo and conditioning, once hes got that stuff figured out, maybe he'll be as good as he was in college
people aspire to be a nba star yet they forget about the realities like this. imagine if people were going to write u off at 25; i know he's got finacial stability for life but your confidence would be shattered. imagine explaining it to your kids years laters.
That part at the top about the crowd being anti-raptors is completely blown out of proportion. So Toronto has a large ethic community and on a given day more people from a given segment came out to support their team than raptors fans who probably weren't very exited to watch a pre-season game. Not marketing out players anymore... uggh there's just too much to write about here .. This guy just takes negativity and blows it way out of proportion. At least other columnists that are negative construct legitimate criticism and points?.
It's off-topic but how the hell is Araujo 25 already? A college senior is 22, and didn't he enter the NBA at age 24 then? What happened to two years of his life?
All I can say is, on that website...the cheerleader isn't even that buxom. Her boobs are lopsided. I care about the Raptors no more than that.
aahh feschuk...is the glass ever "half full" for him? not sure which ad campaigns he's looking at, but i seem to remember bilboards of bosh that said "a new era" scattered all over the GTA last year. mavs sold the whole "game experience" rathern then just the players, and they went from poor attendance to one of the better arenas at selling tickets. their whole ad campaing was based on come to the game "for the experience" feshchuk is a moron...he'd probably be happy if the team left town <div class="quote_poster">Quoting Crywalker:</div><div class="quote_post"> I care about the Raptors no more than that.</div> so why post in here? nobody wants comments about how they dont care about the raptors in here. this is the raptors forum...posts like this are considered trolling, and are a bannable offence. ok? thanks. bye
This doesn't make much sense. Why trade away your 8th overall pick after one season? We all know he won't be anything great, but that's a bit soon to give up on your player you've invested an 8th overall pick on, don't ya think?
<div class="quote_poster">Quote:</div><div class="quote_post">It's off-topic but how the hell is Araujo 25 already? A college senior is 22, and didn't he enter the NBA at age 24 then? What happened to two years of his life?</div> He started College late, he started at 20 years old when he came from Brazil after highschool. He turned 25 in August. Anyways, the only problem I have is that he hasn't shown any improvement even in pre-season this year. Even a guy like Darko is showing he can play in pre-season, I mean Pape Sow and Aaron Williams are injured, and he can't play well enough to get minutes in pre-season. He's averaging 4.5 fouls and 3.5 turnovers in 16 MPG in pre-season, I can't really defend him on anything there. I really don't know what to say, I thought it was a bad pick from Day 1, and it's not looking much better. Right now he's looking like at best a backup C, not even a starter. I don't see a need in trading him, but sending him to the D-League might actually help, so he can at least get to play.
<div class="quote_poster">Quote:</div><div class="quote_post">He started College late, he started at 20 years old when he came from Brazil after highschool. He turned 25 in August. </div> To think that Araujo entered the league at 24 and still couldn't acclimate to the game. I do believe that he can be a solid guy one day though. Araujo showed at times last year he can run the court, hit the midrange J, and finish with authority, but it's just consistency and foul trouble that's holding him back. According to Mitchell, he just isn't confident enough.
<div class="quote_poster">Quoting Locke:</div><div class="quote_post"> To think that Araujo entered the league at 24 and still couldn't acclimate to the game. I do believe that he can be a solid guy one day though. Araujo showed at times last year he can run the court, hit the midrange J, and finish with authority, but it's just consistency and foul trouble that's holding him back. According to Mitchell, he just isn't confident enough.</div> Actually Mitchell said Hoff is confident, he said confidence had nothing to do with it. Babcock said that Hoffa just needed to get more confident and get more minutes. The only positive flash of potential I remember of Hoffa, was when he got some substantial minutes in January and for 2 or 3 games he was showing his jumpshot was actually pretty good for a center. I think he had double digit points a couple nights and had decent rebounds too. I would like to see Hoffa given a couple of 25-30 minute nights, just to see if he can get a little more comfortable.
