<div class="quote_poster">Quote:</div><div class="quote_post">SECAUCUS, N.J., Feb. 6, 2007 -- I challenge you to find one person outside of the Toronto front office that thought the Raptors would win the Atlantic Division this season. Go ahead and ask around. I'll wait. Your search probably came up empty. I know it is only the midway point of the season. I know that the Nets aren't going to give up their division crown without a fight. Still, I'm officially jumping on the Toronto bandwagon (I temporarily hopped off the Sixers bandwagon somewhere between the departures of Allen Iverson and Chris Webber). When the season tipped off you would have been hard-pressed to find a so-called expert to predict a breakout season like this for the young Raptors. Through Monday, Toronto (25-23) is two games above .500 and has a 3.5-game lead on second-place New Jersey. The Raptors are 8-2 over their past 10 games, including three victories in a row. This is a far cry from the squad that went 27-55 a year ago and started this season with a 2-8 mark. The blueprint for the Raptors' success was laid down a year ago when Bryan Colangelo was named president and general manager. He immediately shook up Toronto's roster. The Raptors have nine new players this season, including T.J. Ford, who they obtained in a trade, and international standouts Jorge Garbajosa from Spain and Anthony Parker from Israel. They used the No. 1 pick of last summer's NBA draft to land versatile forward Andrea Bargnani. While Ford, Garbajosa, Parker and Bargnani are nice pieces, it is big man Chris Bosh that completes the puzzle for the Raptors. The All-Star is enjoying the finest season of his career. He is averaging 22.8 points, 10.7 rebounds, 2.3 assists and 1.2 blocks per game. Although he is only in his fourth season, he is the unquestioned leader for the Raptors and the player they lean on in the crunch. His signature moment this season came on Jan. 31 against the Wizards when he erupted for 34 points, including 15 straight made shots, in Toronto's 119-109 win over Washington. The league is starting to take notice. It was a banner month for the Raptors in January as Bosh was named the Player of the Month after putting up 25.4 points and 9.1 rebounds and leading Toronto to a 10-5 mark. Bargnani was selected as the Rookie of the Month and Sam Mitchell was awarded as the Coach of the Month. </div> Link Nice to see us getting more props! With all this praise we've been getting, boy do we ever need to win at least 1 of our games against the Lakers, Pistons and Bulls. We never beat Chicago, and Pistons are playing so well lately, so the Lakers look like the team to beat.
ahaha the only expert who i can remember that had any serious faith in the raptors was Scoop Jackson. I think in the pre-season he stated Colangelo had a chance to win his 2nd coach exec of the year award and he might have even mentioned Sam Mitchell as Coach of the Year. He also picked them to finish second in the division which is a pretty fair assesment since everyone assumed the Nets would have their way in the Atlantic.
I just want to beat the Bulls ONCE. If we beat them and lose to the Lakers and Pistons while putting up a good effort, I'll be fine by that.
