Right now its 97 - 97, Raptors came back from 74-65 in the 3rd Q. CV31 has 23 points and 6 rebounds and 8-14 shooting. He hit 3 straight free throws to tie the game with 1 second left! Bosh really had an off-night with 1-9 FG, and 7 pts. Calderon has 15 points(5-8 FG) 6 assists 2 steals. Hoffa and Bonner fouled out, but it was good to see Hoff getting some PT(20 min). He finished with 10 points(3-5 FG). Bonner had 8 rebounds! OT starting now Raptors vs. New Jersey Box Score
Nice!! We won ... lol wow villanueva had 24 points.. definitely impressed.. and wright had a horrible game.. 6 or 7 turnovers??
CV also had made 3/4 threes but needs to improve his free throws even though he nailed the 3 free throws to tie the game he was 5/10. He got 7 rebounds which is good but im sure he could of done better. I'm very impressed, CV is sure to prove all tha hatas wrong.
Wow, CV31 is seriously proving doubters wrong... although it's only the pre-season, it shows what he is truly capable of doing, now that the pre-season is coming to an end and the real players are getting playing time. I can see him cracking the starting line much sooner than expected. He is surprising me too... wow. Calderon is a very solid PG as well, very nice pick up.
Babcock is starting to look like a better GM than everyone thought. Dont fight it you didnt like 'em either, no one did. Draft Villanueva was a good move or seems like it at this point and if he can do this or even half of this in the season for the raptors its a good draft pick. Calderon is also solid, good scouting by the Raptors. Who's our scout right now?
I don't know. I would say that wayne embry is probably responsible for a lot of our improved prospecting. I think Jack McCloske was the real person to blame for picking Hoffa last year (I know, still room for improvement, but i'd love to have iggy playing the 3 right now instead).
I agree that CV is proving himself to be one of the best rookies, and he's making Babcock look very smart indeed. Who knows, he may even make a run for ROY. But Babcock still hasn't redeemed himself. One good pick doesn't redeem all the stupid stuff he's already done.
<div class="quote_poster">Quoting Buckets:</div><div class="quote_post">Babcock is starting to look like a better GM than everyone thought. Dont fight it you didnt like 'em either, no one did. Draft Villanueva was a good move or seems like it at this point and if he can do this or even half of this in the season for the raptors its a good draft pick. Calderon is also solid, good scouting by the Raptors. Who's our scout right now?</div> When I watched the draft. I really thought Babcock made an error with Charlie Villineuva, but I was happy with the Joey Graham selection. <div class="quote_poster">Quoting virve119:</div><div class="quote_post">I agree that CV is proving himself to be one of the best rookies, and he's making Babcock look very smart indeed. Who knows, he may even make a run for ROY. But Babcock still hasn't redeemed himself. One good pick doesn't redeem all the stupid stuff he's already done.</div> You might be right about Babcock being a bad gm, but last year was his first year and it was pretty tumultuous. He probably wasn't the one to choose Hoffa, it probably was advice from McClosky and Embry, because they had more time than him there. Then in his rookie year as GM, he also had Vince Carter being very detrimental to the team and demanding a trade. Which is a really awkward situation to be put in, especially in their first year. At this point he was probably one of the bottom 3 gms in the league. He made a good signing in Rafer, but turned out it didn't work out with Mitchell, and he fixed it pretty well with the James trade(who seems like a good guy, was very positive about joining the Raptors. He also re-signed Bonner and Pape. I would say he did pretty good this offseason, so now he deserves probably a C-. In the 25th -30th area of gms. Right now I think up to this point he has done a bad job, but he was placed in circumstances that most gms would struggle to do a good job in. The signs have been positive since June, so once his plan unfolds it should be interesting.
wow...for the 1st time someone (Wright) had a worse game than Hoffa lol all joking aside, calderon looks REALLY solid - despite araujo's 10 pnts: 2 boards, 6 pf, and 3 tos just aint gonna cut it, i think loren should start over him cuz he's just not as NBA ready as ppl said he was - alvin played a bit, which made me happy - i didnt really know villanueva couild stroke it from 3 pnt range - corey williams just helped himself out a lot for getting a shot at a roster spot - funny to say, but lammond had a pretty good nite...AGAIN: despite fouling out, 8 pnts, 7 brds, 3 steals...not too bad
Guys I just watched game on raptors TV I was surprised by play of both CV3 and Calderon specailly CV3. He can shoot I did not see Calderon making any bad turover. Bonner was a good pickup i think. He uses his body more than last year. And Chris Bosh. His shot wasnt falling but Im not worried about that. One thing I found interesting was whenever he penentrated to the basket he always made a spin move. Prolly working on that move? Hoffa. He can shoot but idont know about anything else he can do. lol OH! and Alvin williams. I was happy to see him playing He didnt do much but the fact that he was on the court was a GOOD THING. I'm sorry to carter-haters but VC plays like an all-star man. He plays like 01~02 season's Vince carter. I miss him as a raptors. Thats about it guys I cant wait till season starts LETS GO RAPTORS!!!
I don't think any Charlie Villanueva complaints were from the fact that he's not a talented player, everyone knew he was good. They all came from him playing the same position as Bosh, and if we were drafting him as a SF, then we drafted 2 SF's. That was the only thing I was concerned about during the draft. Though some people were in denial, I knew from DAY 1 that this guy was not a center, and he's showing he's not a center. He has a SF's game, and that's where he should be, if we had better interior defense, you wouldn't have to worry about him defensive at SF, but we don't. Right now he makes me think a mixture of Tim Thomas and Rashard Lewis, but a better ball handler and shot blocker than both, though his man to mand defense isn't really impressive. He also has more big man like post moves than them, the hooks etc, while they like to do turnarounds in the post. That's the best comparison for him IMO. The game was interesting, though we won against the Net's garbage b/c when the big three were in, they were anahilating us. Calderon has also been impressive. I still think he dribbles funny, and too high, but I like his pass first mentality, and would prefer him starting as opposed to MJ. Calderon and Charlie have done most of their damage against bench players, and not defensive bench players, so their production should drop slightly, but it's still very nice and promising. About Antione Wright, I never liked the guy through the whole draft process, and I said it before. I think it will work for him if he's playing as a catch and shoot guy alongside Kidd, Carter or RJ, but if he's supposed to be the "scorer" in the second unit, that's sad.
i am impressed with the victory, but it was against the garbage time guys but a win is a win. Can someone post VC's stats so I can chek'em out. Thanks.
Wow, Villanueva is looking like a friggin stud. Maybe we were all too quick to judge Babs. Seeing Alvin Williams return to the court is also a heartwarming thing. Although he played a mediocre five minutes, having him will definitely be a boost and could mean that all three of Brown, Pack and Williams would be cut. With Antonio Davis probably going to get bought out by New York, is there even a remote chance that he'll sign with us? I personally don't, but this is a guy who would be the biggest help we can get from the FA market.
villanueva is right now leading all rooks in pre-season scoring do u guys think that can continue into the regular season? i can see him going for 13 plus easily.
Villanueva is amazing..this kid is going to prove all the doubters wrong.. And honestly, I can't WAIT until Joey Graham plays..
Anyone who has watched a lot of pre-season so far: How has the rotation worked with Bosh and CV3 in the line-up? Do they usually sub for each other? Is their a decent offensive set running when they are both on the floor etc...
<div class="quote_poster">Quoting Esco416:</div><div class="quote_post">villanueva is right now leading all rooks in pre-season scoring do u guys think that can continue into the regular season? i can see him going for 13 plus easily.</div> He won't average 33.3 MPG when the season starts, and he also won't be playing against the other teams bench for 80% of his minutes, so he will have a slight decline in effectiveness and minutes.
Though I have always supported Babcock, I have to admit, I was blown away when I heard, 'the Toronto Raptors selected...Charlie Villanueva' I was pissed. However, I really like him now. I went to the game on Wed. I was really surprised about his 3pt shooting. His dunk attempt in the 4th was very impressive. I also like I see with him and Bosh on the floor at the same time. You can tell that they have been working closely together. I think their on-court chemistry will be great this year. One word to describe the Toronto Raptors...versitile! I really like Calderon's communication. He is always talking. Always asking questions. He needs to work on his shot a little, but it is not as bad as I originally thought. Now add Roko Ukic in 2 years, (can you imagine what kind of player CV31 will be in 2 years) after Rose's contract expires. Add maybe Magloire and you have a very very interesting basketball team. I know we will lose a lot of games this year, but I am looking forward to seeing these guys develop.
With Charlie showing that he can hit the three consistently, it won't be surprising if Mitchell sets up plays for him just like he did Donyell Marshall. Granted, CV31 isn't nearly as good as Marshall at stroking it yet but Mitchell is as good as any coach at getting big men outside shots. Marshall got many open looks, Bonner got many open looks. It won't be surprising if Villanueva gives us two threes a night.
