I dunno why everyone has forgotten that Delfino was a chucker who never seemed to give 100%. Suddenly a year away has made him a game changer? He will be worse, not better.
also, according to him he might out up to 6 months with a shoulder injury. plus, is colangelo forgetting that this guy could stunt derozan's growth will all the minutes he might get at the two?
The organization's said that DD will get the opportunity to show how much time he deserves and that his performance will dictate how many minutes the other guards (JJ, Delf, Wright) get. Any writers thinking that Delfino or Jack or Turkoglu alone can push this team over the top are foolish. Any success this season will hinge on our coaching staff's (Triano/Iavaroni mostly) ability to get this team to overachieve and play passable team defense. There's enough offensive talent on this roster for that end to sort itself out. To possibly make it to the 2nd round, the team needs to play passable team D and hold its own on the defensive boards.
"There's no reason why the Raptors can't finish fourth, which would be a first for a team that soon will celebrate its 15th season in the NBA." I think 6th - 8th is much more likely/realistic. You lack an NBA quality starting SG and are a weak rebounding, poor defending team. A fast paced, high scoring offense will get you a few extra wins during the regular season, but defense and rebounding still dominate the post season. Unless you get HCA, I don't see any way the Raps make it past the 1st round. Even in the (very) unlikely event that you get HCA, your poor defense and weak rebounding almost guarantee a 1st round exit. The games slow down and the scoring decreases in the play-offs. Defense and rebounding become even more important in the post season than the regular season. Your roster, as currently constructed, is not built for post season success. "As explosive as the Hawks will be, they did address a need for experience and defence in the frontcourt." I assume the author meant: "they didn't address a need for experience and defence in the frontcourt." Which would seem to be ironic coming from a writer for the team with possibly the weakest defending front court in the league. "GM Bryan Colangelo hasn't changed the core of Chris Bosh, Jose Calderon and Andrea Bargnani, but he has addressed virtually every need that became obvious in the aftermath of last season's 33-win season." The team will be better. You've added some excellent role players in Hedo and Jarrett Jack. However, I strongly disagree with the statement: "he has addressed virtually every need that became obvious in the aftermath of last season's 33-win season." None off Colangelo's off season moves have addressed your two biggest weaknesses - defense and rebounding. In fact, with the loss of Marion, your defense and rebounding are likely worse. You also still don't have an NBA caliber starting SG on your roster. I understand you are excited about DeRozan's potential, but as a rookie he will struggle against experienced SGs. Jack can play spot minutes as a SG off the bench, but if he's your starting SG, you're in trouble. Just looking at your starting unit: Bargnani - Very weak defender. Quite possibly the worst defending starting center in the league. Without a doubt, the worst rebounding starting center in the league (one of the worst in the history of the league). Bosh - Too soft to bang with the more physical starting power forwards in the league. At best an average defender and average rebounder. Hedo - Poor defender and weak rebounder for his size. DeRozan/Jack - Both will struggle guarding starting SGs. DeRozan is an unproven rookie. He will get burned by more experienced players and will not get the benefit of any calls. Jack is undersized and athletically inferior to pretty much every starting SG in the league. He plays hard, but will struggle to guard bigger, faster, more athletic SGs. Calderon - Very weak defender. So, you have a great offensive team, but have not addressed your major weaknesses - defense and rebounding. "This year's team has the potential to get out of the opening round at a time when making the playoffs simply isn't good enough." First you need to make the play-offs. I think your chances of doing so are much better this year than last, but I see getting HCA and/or making it out of the 1st round as a HUGE long shot. BNM
What were raps needs? a back up PG (cuz Roko sucks), a back up for bosh/bargs (cuz hump is stupid and there wasnt anyone else, since JO was injured all the time), and a guy at the 3, what did BC do? Got hedo (at the 3), got a back up PG (Jack), and got a back up for bosh/bargs (evans, and soon Rasho) he also added much needed depth for a back up in the 2 now if raps sign a avg 2 then they are more then fine. They will def make the second round this year, because compare to last year they have more experience and they dont have JO.
1) Defense 1a) Rebounding 2) A decent starting SG None of those have been addressed. DeRozan may eventually be the answer to 2, but right now he's a raw, unproven rookie. Unlikely. BTW, this time last year Raps fans were claiming they were one of the top teams in the East and would easily make the 2nd reound becuase they had JO. BNM
Good calls. The Raptors needed to not waste 53 million (or whatever) on Bargnani, and to have gotten a real center. Even let Bosh walk, he's not the best guy to build around imo until you have a really strong center.
bosh is good rebounder, and he can certainly be a better defender as demonstrated by his olympic performance but he needs to realign his priorities on the court if he wants to do that. i think he believes playing defense will ultimately create a tradeoff in which his offense diminishes. and the coaching staff seems alright with that notion because i think historically they have believed the other players on the team simply didnt cut it offensively bargnani- ill cosign hedo- ill cosign on your criticisms but i believe colangelo assumes rightly the offense will be more dynamic with his presence. and if u ever watched caledron's ultra cautious approach and the unwilliningness of any player to get in the paint and create- i see how colangelo could be enticed. although, the length of the contract is absurd. derozan- ill refrain from judgment on the kid. although, he may develop into something the raps havent had since vince- a perimeter scorer so im willing to wait on the kid. jack- if jack's only responsibilites in TO is solidfying the backup point guard position- im overjoyed because i question caledron's durability over 82 games. antoine wright- probably will be assigned the role of the defensive pest and clearly counterbalances the finesse players on the team Caledron- cosign. Evans- addresses the rebounding deficiencies with that being said- i think the raps need to trade caledron or bargnani if they plan on contending. cause in caledron u have guard who doesnt take chances and makes the offense predictable nor guards and bargnani doesnt rebound at a rate thats acceptable and he cant keep himself out of foul trouble when he plays legit centres in the league. btw, why do portland posters always sign off?
If you look at his TRB% (15.4 for 2008-09, 14.5 career), he's actually pretty average for a starting big. His REB/G are a little inflated because he plays big minutes on a team with an above average pace that misses a lot of shots. He also plays next to one of the weakest rebounding starting centers in the history of the NBA. Another way to look at it is: TRB% = 20 is a great rebounder, one of the best in the league. TRB% = 10 is a pathetic rebounder (unless you're a PG). TRB% = 15 about average for a starting PF/C. The international game is a lot different than the NBA. Excelling at defense in the Olympics is not the same as being a great defender in the NBA. Of all the internatiuonal players in the NBA, how many of them are considered great defenders? Not many. Most are considered poor defenders. I'm not saying Bosh doesn't have the potential to be a good NBA defender, just that so far, in the NBA his defense has been, at best, average. As you noted, he doesn't always put in the effort on defense and he's easily pushed around by stronger, more aggressive players. Chris Bosh is a very good player, but at this point in his career, defense isn't one of his strong points. BNM
Evens is certainly an excellent rebounder, but he's an abysmal offensive player. Given Toronto's supposed goal of running a fast paced, Phoenix SSOL style offense, I wonder how many minutes a plodding offensive zero like Evans will earn. You could say the same about Rasho - except he's no longer a good rebounder. His TRB% last season was a very Bargnani-like 10.9 - the worst, by far, of his 11-year career. Part of that may have been sharing the floor with Troy Murphy who is an excellent rebounder (TRB% = 19.1). Back in Toronto, with no other dominant rebounders, hopefully Rasho's TRB% will get back up in the 13 - 14 range near his career average (13.3). Common courtesy. The Portland board is much more active than the other boards. There are usually at least 50 people browsing the forum at any time day or night. Greater than 200 is not uncommon during peak times. So, identifying one's self makes it easier to see who said what when reading a post, especially a long post that scrolls off the screen, than glancing over to the left at an avatar. Or, maybe we're just weird. BNM
ill tell u what- i know as much about TRB% as splitting the atom. here's what i know- when we need a rebound- bosh is usually the one who grabs it. im not going to extol all his virtues but i know when he plays his arse off, which is a rarity- he can be absolutely dominate on all ends of the court. the question with him is ultimately willingness and physical preparedness. he openly admitted last year that he stopped trying to add weight because he thought his metabolism was working against him in that fight. although, this off season he seems to have altered his previous stance on the issue and revitalized his efforts to add bulk. adding the muscle might help sustain an all star level of play throughout a long season where he will inevitably shed some weight and it will help his defense because he wont be bullied down in the trenches as frequently. deception
TRB% is a very simple stat. It's simply the percentage of available rebounds a player gets. If there are 50 missed shots while a player is in the game and he grabs 10 rebounds, he has a TRB% of 20.0%. If another player grabs 5 rebounds out of 50 missed shots, he has a TRB% of 10.0. The first player is twice as good at getting rebounds as the second player. It's that simple. BNM
lol I find the signing off thing really douchy. It just feels that way for me. Evans is abysmal offensively. Rasho is mediocre as well, he just is better defensively than Bargnani. Bargnani we shouldn't have resigned, but that would make Colangelo look bad.
wouldnt that stat by skewed if u had team who rebounds collectively really well? obviously the raps dont apply either way.
Perhaps - in terms of some players' individual TRB%. An individual who plays most of his minutes next to an exceptional rebounder will have a lower TRB% than someone who spends all their time playing next to a weak rebounder. The Blazers were a really good rebounding team last season. Both of their centers, Przybilla (22.8) and Oden (20.0) were among the league leaders in TRB%. Both players also did an outstanding job getting more REB/48 than their opponents. Przybilla: REB/48 = 17.6 Opponent: REB/48 = 10.9 Net REB/48 = +6.7 Oden: REB/48 = 15.5 Opponent: REB/48 = 9.2 Net REB/48 = +6.3 In terms of individual TRB%, Blazers PF LaMarcus Aldridge probably suffers by playing beside two outstanding rebounding centers. His TRB% of 12.5 is below average for a starting PF, but he still out rebounds his opponents. So, while he's not pulling in a lot of rebounds himself he's doing a good job boxing out and keeping his man off the boards. Oden: REB/48 = 9.5 Opponent: REB/48 = 8.6 Net REB/48 = +0.9 So, the net is the Blazers front line out rebounded their opponents by about 7.5 REB per game. No one on the Raptors is an outstanding rebounder. If anything, Chris Bosh's individual TRB% is inflated by playing alongside very weak rebounding centers. The Raptors centers were severely out rebounded by their opponents. O'Neal: REB/48 = 11.4 Opponent: REB/48 = 14.9 Net REB/48 = -3.5 Bargnani: REB/48 = 8.5 Opponent: REB/48 = 13.4 Net REB/48 = -4.9 So, even though Bosh had a slight rebounding advantage over his opponents (+0.8 REB/48), the net for the Raptors front line was about -3.6 REB/48. The difference in rebounding between the front courts for these two teams, one a very good rebounding team, and the other a weak rebounding team, is about is about +11 in Portland's favor. That's a huge difference. Think about it. Think about how good the Raptors would be, with their offense, if you gave them an extra 11 possessions per game. That's why rebounding is so important. It gives your team more possessions and limits your opponent's opportunities to score. In terms of out rebounding your opponent, Shawn Marion was your best rebounder (+1.5 REB/48) last season. You replaced him with a weaker rebounder in Hedo Turkoglu. Like Aldridge, Hedo's TRB% (8.2) probably suffered by playing with two centers (Howard and Gortat) that are both outstanding rebounders. Like Aldridge, Hedo did manage to out rebound his opponents (+0.4 REB/48). So, that's a good thing. The bad news is losing Marion hurts your overall team rebounding - which was already weak due to the poor rebounding of your centers. With Bargnani likely seeing even more time at center, and Hedo replacing Marion, the Raptors over all team rebounding, already a weakness, will likely be even worse in the upcoming season. BNM
The thing is Bosh is a pretty mediocre rebounder himself. It's just we had no other decent rebounders on the team outside of Marion, and Bosh gets a lot of the easy rebounds that someone has to get.
hey guys! it's been awhile! i like what BC has done with this team, but the biggest reason i really like what is going on has been the addition of Marc Iavaroni to the bench. I believe that this team will score very easily most nights with a possible starting line up that would average around 90 points per game. the biggest issue has to be DEFENSE. that, as i see has been addressed and will be implemented from day 1 of camp. If the Raptors commit to it, this team could win 55 games and make some noise in the playoffs... imho...
That's not really fair. Phoenix was Colangelo's "offense-only" pet project and an assistant can only do so much in a situation like that. Iavaroni was known as a defensive-minded assistant when he coached under Fratello and Pat Riley, and a pretty good one at that. The Phoenix job mainly served to make him more well-rounded and a better head coaching candidate, which of course ended up badly. I don't know why he failed as a head coach, but I don't think it necessarily reflects on what he was respected for as an assistant.
