17/82 down, 4-13 record, the disappointment increases exponentially as hope for the season begins to fade. Last time we checked in we had a 2-6 record (.250). Now we're worse, dropping to a .235 winning percentage including a six-game skid, and showing that our early season problems persist and fester. POSITIVE SIGNS Bryan Colangelo is not afraid to make adjustments, signing veteran wing Mickaël Piétrus to fill-in while Alan Anderson and Landry Fields recuperate. Piétrus demonstrated his value in his first game playing over 30 minutes and bringing some stability to our lineup with his defence and three-point shooting. Duane Casey has listened to the fans and is now willing to give more playing time to rookies Jonas Valanciunas and Terrence Ross. Valanciunas has played 30 or more minutes four times in the last six games while Ross has played 20 or more three times in the same stretch. Ed Davis has also been getting more burn. Kyle Lowry returned from the IR and has picked up where he left off. Though some fans question his decision making in late game situations, often calling his own number, and his defence and concentration seem to have waned during the losing skid, he continues to be our best player. DeMar DeRozan hasn't slowed down and is playing up to his new contract, averaging career highs in points, rebounds, and three-point shooting, while turning the ball over less and showing some level of comfort as a first option. His inability to play well when Andrea Bargnani is playing well (and vice versa) is still disconcerting. Toronto's team rebounding has shown steady progression. We are 13th in the league in boards though we give up the seventh most boards to our opponents. NEGATIVE SIGNS Toronto is 4-13 and by most indications not improving. All the work we did last season developing our defence has fallen by the wayside. The Raps are giving up over 101ppg and allowing opponents to shoot 46% from the field, including 39% from three-point range, among the worst allowances in the league. The fanbase has turned on Andrea Bargnani, whose shooting, scoring, and rebounding totals have dipped to a four-year low. Media pundits are calling for him to be traded. Fans want to see Ed Davis start in his place. The stone-faced Italian hasn't seemed fazed by it yet (nor by anything else, ever), but the end of his tenure in Toronto may be on the near horizon. Likewise, despite markedly stronger statistical contributions from veteran point guard Jose Calderon, fans are tired of his leaky defence and by how much coach Duane Casey leans on him in crunch time. Calderon's value in the league would be very high: his shooting percentages are consistently excellent, he is among the league leaders in assist-to-turnover ratio every season, is a consummate professional, and has an expiring contract--yet after several dismal seasons in the Toronto basketball wasteland and constant criticism of his absent defence have made him seemingly difficult to move. It could be the case that he is too well-liked by Raptors brass. It seems that trading a starting quality point guard we don't need to help shore-up our problems on the wing would be a no-brainer but we have a General Manager who is unpredictable. The Raps continue to be one of the worst teams in late game situations, regularly going with screwball lineups or failing to adjust to our opponents. A double-overtime home loss to San Antonio, otherwise an acceptable outcome against the league titans, drew an inferno of criticism for Casey for choosing to sit a red-hot Ed Davis in favour of Andrea Bargnani, who set the record for offensive futility for a Raptors player in the game, Bargnani's defence on Duncan notwithstanding. Casey's experimentation with the double point guard lineup, one that Toronto seems to feature every season, has made many fans question whether Casey is making all the coaching decisions or if he is catering to the whims of Bryan Colangelo's experimentation.
Once again, very well written. Just a couple of disagreements. Colangelo shouldn't get a pass just because he signed MP. He hasn't really made any adjustments, he was forced to sign a SF because of injuries. I won't give him a positive until the wing situation is significantly improved or he makes a move that will turn this season around. Kyle Lowry is certainly our best player but is he still injured. His defense has looked worse since he returned and he has played worse on the offensive end too. I agree Casey has improved a lot. More faith in the rooks, less of the f****ing two pg lineup but his in game adjustments are still very poor, like you mentioned sitting Ed Davis when he was blazing and continuing to ride Bargnani for no good reason. Bargnani has certainly earned all the negative comments and trade talk and is hopefully on his way out but I disagree that Calderon needs to be traded. Of course, if the trade improves the team, it should be considered but I don't think he's in the same situation as Bargnani. Calderon is fantastic in his backup role and he offers a much different look than Lowry. Calderon averaged 12 assists as a starter compared to Lowry's 5. That's not a slight to Lowry, he provides scoring and defense which Calderon obviously does not, but it never hurts to able t hit your opponent with different styles to throw them off. We are still in a tough part of our schedule and we've certainly dug ourselves into whole with our late game incompetence but I still think we can make a comeback if we make some changes and continue to play hard. (fingers crossed)
Not really giving Colangelo a pass, but giving him credit for signing Pietrus. Colangelo is batting below .500 this year, with Lowry and Acy being good pickups, Fields and Gray being flops, risking big and losing out on Nash, and the jury still being out on Ross. Moving Calderon to help our team is a sensible move that I don't think he can avoid making. We have four wins FFS, it's not like having him around is keeping us above water. Calderon will be a FA this summer and with Lowry in town, no chance he wants to stay in Toronto--so why lose him for nothing?
I agree Calderon should be moved but only to improve the team. I was just comparing his situation Bargnani, who will pretty much be addition by subtraction, Calderon is still serviceable for this team. And I agree it will be better to get something for him since we have never done anything useful with cap room. JL3 has also been a disappointment although i didn't expect a lo, but if we let Jose go, he's literally our back up PG. Lowry has been a great pickup no doubt but his other decisions i disagree. Ross was drafted because we thought he would benefit from Nash. BC admits that Drummond was a top 5 talent but passed because he has "maturity" issues. We're not talented enough to pass on star potential just because he may or may not have maturity problems. I don't hate Ross but i hate the pick we could have traded down to get him if we really wanted him. I'm not giving any credit for Acy because the only time I saw him play, he punched Lowry in the face and close-lined someone else. Fields was also a stupid gamble and huge over payment. Gray is third string centre, he does what he's supposed to, just be a big body.
Who in their right mind would trade for Bargnani? If the team is willing to go up to the LT, then trading Calderon for a guy the Raps want makes sense. Whoever it is won't be an expiring, tho.
Bargnani would look amazing on the Lakers; Dwight does all the rebounding and defense, he just shoots and gets set up by Steve Nash. OKC could also use a stretch four. Minnesota is last in 3 point shooting. There's definitely a market for Bargs, we just have to reevaluate what his value really is. We can't expect a star or first round picks in return, fans and management need to lower expectations.
I spent an entire season (a few years ago) searching for a picture of PJ Brown with his feet off the ground. The only guy he ever looked good guarding (as a Bull) was Bargnani. All he had to do was stand next to him at the 3pt line and be tall. A team shouldn't need to have a guy who rebounds like 1.5 players to make up for a 7 footer who grabs rebounds like a SG and who shoots .438 for his career. The guy should be coming into his prime, but it looks to me like he's been on a steady decline the past 3 seasons. The best thing is that Bargnani has a modest contract, IMO. Maybe a change of scenery would do him good?
Lets not put aside the fact that BC has put every piece of this team together. He picked every player (Except Calderon) and this is his doing. While I think we can do much better, our Off DEF and Def DEF are bottom 10 in the league ...dear lord. We just can't hit shots nore do we seem to have a real game plan. We need a good wing, and we need more Ross and Val out there. Those two are studs.
Master Shake sighting. One of BC's faults is that he seems to wing it. If he has an overarching plan for the composition of this team, he achieved it in 2006-07 and not since.
Well he did try to tank last year. We had some terrible luck, losing a coin toss that could have got us Barnes, dleaguers over performing. But yea normally he doesn't have a plan; more like quick fixes. However, this year we gave up our pick and Washington/Cleveland's tanks are too strong. Even if we finish with a bottom 3 record, there's no guarantee that we keep our pick. Small excerpt from Sam Smith's article Link
Gasol for Bargnani? Gasol is owed $38.3M over the next two seasons. He has a 15% trade kicker, too. It'd take a lot more than Bargnani to make the deal work under the CBA.
I'd like for a trade for Gasol but given Lakers recent trade history, the Raps would probably end up giving up some ridiculous amount to get him.
^ I think what Smith is suggesting is Calderon & Bargnani for Gasol, which works. Don't see it happening.
I don't know if it will because because the Lakers trade for people like Nash/Dwight/Pau, not Bargnani and Calderon. But the rumour is gaining momentum. And other trade scenerios
Bargnani just keeps hurting his trade value and the team with his terrible play. Atleast Lowry made a strong comeback tonight
So, the Raps got demolished by the Jazz today, who happen to be missing two key players in Favours and Jefferson. This has to be the low point of the season so far. The second unit is really weak right now, which doesn't make sense because Calderon was playing so strong when he was starting, is he just really bummed out when he has to come off the bench and his play suffers as a result or is it just a matter of them needing to gel? (Personally, I think it's the former but nothing has indicated it to be so, just speculation on my part, obviously). Hopefully there's some sort of shake up soon to wake the team up because right now it just seems like everyone is slumming it.
Our road trip ends on Monday. At which point the team will likely be sitting at 4-18. Colangelo can't use injuries as an excuse anymore. Yes Fields is hurt but he wasn't helping the team anyways. There has to be a shakeup, whether it be coaching, trades or management, before it gets to the point where it is difficult to recover. I had high hopes for the season, at worst i thought we would be fighting for playoff spot near the end of the season but its looking like the Raptors season could be over by January. And its not even smart to tank because OKC will take our pick. Even last year, which was a rebuilding year, fans could look forward to a high draft pick. But this year we literally have nothing to look forward to unless a change is made At least teams like Cleveland and Washington can point to the fact that they are missing their best players. I think we need to cut ties with BC, every year the team has gotten worse than the year before with no real hope for the future. BC is great from a business aspect since he creates hype every year and continues to generate money for MLSE but he is terrible from a basketball standpoint. He is bad at free agent signings. Yes he makes trades but most of them are correcting his own mistakes (see Hedo) or just stupid (we traded a first round pick for James Johnson and then we turned around and gave him up for a second round pick). He seems to value "character" guys over talent and potential (Ross over Lamb and Drummond). And lastly is has done everything in his power to build around Bargnani with no success at all. I know its not a good idea to trade a player when his value is low but Bargnani's value keeps going down.
Oh and I forgot the ridiculous extension for Demar. He's a decent player but BC bid against no one and gave him 40 mil. I just don't understand this. He was a RESTRICTED free agent, allow him to play for his contract. Holiday, Curry and Lawson also got similar extensions, all of whom are better than Demar. Milwaukee didn't extend Jennings. Kings didn't extend Evans. They both did the smart thing and are waiting to see what their market value is. If they want to keep them, they will match any offers that come their way. He did the same thing with Bargnani. It's a pattern.
