<div class='quotetop'>QUOTE </div><div class='quotemain'>Ten games into the season and the scouting report on the Raptors has long been written. The bird dogs' book tells opponents to make T.J. Ford, the starting point guard, into a scorer, mostly by encouraging him to shoot the jump shot. On the occasions Ford's superb quickness allows him to drive the lane, the prescription is to make him finish the layup, which isn't always a given. Above all, the smart teams are instructing their defenders not to leave Toronto's bevy of shooters alone for open jump shots, especially three-pointers.</p> Like any whiteboard strategy, it's easier doodled than done. But it was executed to impressive effect yesterday at the Air Canada Centre, where the Golden State Warriors allowed Ford to get his 29 points while stymieing the rest of Toronto's perimeter attack. The result was a win for the visitors, 106-100. But alert Raptors fans are hoping that Toronto's coach, Sam Mitchell, got more out of the experience than an L on his record.</p> "We just didn't make shots," was the standard answer to yesterday's post-game queries. But it wasn't as though the Raptors missed no end of gimmes. The Warriors were mostly well-positioned to contest Toronto's attempts, which is at least partly why the home team – shooting a league-best 46 per cent from three-point range coming in – shot a season-low 18 per cent from deep.</p> It's wrong to say their 22 attempts amounted to too many three-balls. They didn't create enough good ones. Golden State's commitment to the scouting report brought Toronto's drive-and-kick game, deadly in its ability to create open home runs when it's running well, to a halt. And that turned a lot of the Raptors' best offensive weapons into non-factors.</p> "If me not getting as many shots results in T.J. getting to the basket, I've done my job," said Anthony Parker, who scored just five points on 2-for-8 field-goaling.</p> That's the noble thing to say. But the truth is the whole team suffers if, say, Parker and Jason Kapono, two of the club's best shooters, aren't getting their share of quality looks. And it's ridiculous to fault Ford, who was impressively efficient, scoring his points on 22 field-goal attempts while adding nine assists and six rebounds. Still, yesterday marked the second loss this season in which Ford had a big scoring game. (He had 32 in the Boston defeat). Last year the Raptors were 2-4 when he scored 24-plus points. Maybe that's no coincidence, and maybe it's time for the coaching staff to throw a few wrinkles into the offence to help out their point guard.</p> We understand the NBA's practice-time limitations. We understand Mitchell is the coach of the year. But that year is over. And this season could pose some problems for the Raptors if they don't adjust.</p> Nobody's calling for an overhaul. What the Raptors do is fundamentally sound and tough to stop.</p> But it might not hurt to make the opposing scouts work for a living. It might be a decent idea to run something other than the high screen and roll, the two-man bread-and-butter play that has become more like bread and water, as monotonous as a prison sentence. </p> An offensive tweak that gets the other three guys on the floor in motion wouldn't be a bad idea. Talking to hoopwise types around the league, you get the sense that the Raptors are being dismissed as easy to peg. And maybe you hear whispers that Mitchell is occasionally too stubborn to change.</p> Going .500 through the first 10 games is neither a disaster nor a triumph. The season's still an open page. But it's up to Mitchell and his staff to write a chapter that everyone in the league isn't expecting.</div></p> <div align="center">Source: Toronto Star <div align="justify"> Feschuk nailed it with this one. I've been harping on this problem for at least a year now: with as many offensive weapons as we have, we're still one of the more predictable teams in the league. Furthermore, some of our more versatile players (Bosh, Bargnani) have become one-dimensional in this system.</div> </div>
Well, I never thought that his playbook would be so bad. It is all screen-and-role and plays to Bosh, which isn't enough. This is one of the best artciles Feschuk has written and it couldn't be more true. With guys who can come off screens and shot, we need to use that. TJ Ford, if he reads the paper, might take something from this. When he scores more, the team loses because he needs to use his quickness and skill to pass the ball instead of score. He needs to let the offense come to him and not try and do everything himself.</p>
Feschuk actually did a good job with this one (as much as I hate paying this guy a complement).</p> Despite having a completely different roster and player strengths we still retain a lot of the same attributes that we used when we had Mike James, CV31, and Moris Peterson playing for the raptors. I do like having things in a free flowing manner, but we need some structure, or some better planning to go along with what we have.</p>
Mitchell still has a lot of growing to do as a coach. He needs a veteran head coach to be his lead assistant as he still makes too many mistakes.</p>
<div class='quotetop'>QUOTE (cpawfan)</div><div class='quotemain'></p> Mitchell still has a lot of growing to do as a coach. He needs a veteran head coach to be his lead assistant as he still makes too many mistakes.</p> </div></p> </p> Sounds like another Atlantic Division coach</p>
Well guys, let's just remember that TJ wants to be an all-star, so no matter what happens Raps win or lose, his selfishness should get him there. No point guard should be scoring more than the rest of the team. He thinks he's Iverson. We all know that the Raps are better when the scoring is shared among everybody on the team, and Jose allows players to see their own mistakes and get set up and score. TJ not so much.</p>
If either Ford or Mitchell, think he should be getting the most shots on this team they should be traded / fired.</p> The fact that we're even in this situation in the first place suggests the game plan hasn't worked or was poorly thought out.</p> </p>
What I don't get, is that it seems as if everything that we had succeeded by last year is thrown out the door to make TJ an all-star. Is he really supposed to be taking so many shots per game. Last year if I remembered correctly, TJ was in the games and when he got too reckless, Sam would substitute him with Calderon. Now, I'm not really sure what's going on. Mitchell should let TJ know that when he's making mistakes that he is going to put in Calderon. This issue has not changed since last year and it infuriates me.</p>
I still have a hard time placing the majority of the blame on TJ Ford and I think Feschuck made a good point: What else is TJ supposed to do? He comes down the floor and teams are purposely loading up on our perimeter shooters, leaving him with one-on-one matchups that he knows he can score on. And he's done it quite efficiently (his FG % is just under 50 %, his assists are up, and he's cut down on his turnovers). His job as a point guard isn't to recognize the opposition's defensive strategies and make an adjustment to free up our shooters. That's our coaching staff's responsibility and they have yet to understand that opposing team's make Ford our best scorer, primarily to slow the rest of our offense down. TJ Ford, IMO, could still be an excellent starting point guard if he had a little more structure in the offensive gameplan. I think you see him flash that potential in stretches when he pushes the tempo at the right times, is smart with his penetration, and focuses primarily on distributing the ball. But, for the most part, our offense tells him to go with the flow and it ends up with him dribbling too much, not initiating ball movement, and playing with a scorer's mentality. Calderon, on the other hand, has always had a better basketball IQ (whethers its from playing under FIBA rules or not, I can't say) and he's smarter and more controlled in a structure-less offense. He has a better command of where his teammates should be and can improvise better. That doesn't necessarily make him a better point guard, though.</p>
