27/82 done, 8-19 record, but the wins have all come in the last games. The Raptors managed another six game losing skid since the last update, including a disastrous 0-5 West coast road swing, sending some Raptors fans into such a deep depression that they started wondering what it would be like to see Vince Carter come back. Over my dead body. Though the Raps are still far from a .500 record and a full six games back of 8th, they've actually taken advantage of their December home stand and reeled-off four straight wins and counting. With games against Orlando (twice) and New Orleans coming up, a few more wins isn't out of the question. POSITIVE SIGNS The Raptors are getting contributions from other players, finally, in the absence of Andrea Bargnani and Kyle Lowry. Alan Anderson and Ed Davis especially have been key in their recent success. The team is showing signs of galvanizing, finally, after some disheartening performances. No one player has gone into beast mode during the winning streak. It has been team efforts combined with favourable officiating and an easier schedule. The Raptors are showing that, while they are certainly a bad team, they aren't the worst team in the NBA. Jose Calderon is doing wonders for his trade value by putting up his second career triple-double and then having a 17-assist game in a win tonight over the Pistons. Kyle Lowry needs to return soon before we start thinking we "need to keep Calderon" in some feint hope of making the playoffs. The more lottery balls the better. Wing play has improved. Linas Kleiza has started to find his rhythm and Alan Anderson looks like Anthony Parker out there. With Landry Fields on his way back into the rotation and Mickael Pietrus providing some stability to the starting lineup, the Raptors are in better shape on the wings than they were a few weeks ago. NEGATIVE SIGNS Toronto has been playing better without their highest paid player and former leading scorer. After succumbing to an elbow injury and subsequently getting a little too gabby with an Italian newspaper, Andrea Bargnani has all but run himself out of town on a rail. The slumping forward attempted to make up for his gaffe by telling the media that Gazetta misquoted him (he said "we" are the worst team, not "they"). When he is ready to come back his reception will be icy. Not to mention his trade value is probably at a sack of basketballs at the moment. The injury bug has sidelined Kyle Lowry, again. He's missed 11 games out of 27 this season and has only looked healthy in about half the ones he's played in. It's at the point now where the team is settling down with Calderon at the helm and forcing coach Casey's hand--can he really insert Lowry back into the starting position when Calderon is doing so well? Another season, another point guard controversy for the Raps. Calderon has outlasted many good point guards and Lowry could be the latest. DeMar DeRozan is coming back down to Earth. Although he's shooting 47% for the month, DeRozan is starting to blend into the team a little too much. We're actually playing better without a traditional first scoring option lately. Tonight's game was the first in five in which he's cracked 20 points, four of those games being wins. He also hasn't been logging as many minutes. His scoring average is right about 18 per contest, a marginal improvement over the 17 he averaged last season, though he has shown at least some improvement in most statistical categories. If he is going to develop into our go-to scorer he needs to be a more commanding presence on the court. We're still 8-19. While the four game streak has been nice, it means four games ago we were 4-19. Abysmal. The Raptors need not let this run go to waste. A tough fixture against San Antonio on the road looms. If the Raps play hard and continue to work in the game after that, it will be good for business. A bad road loss can't shake our confidence now. Winning is costing us our draft pick. It's not that I'm rooting for us to lose, it just sucks that we're being punished for winning. While we could still luck into a top-3 pick, we're looking at yet another season where we're not bad enough to get a top pick and not good enough to make the playoffs--which is to say we're a treadmill team, again.
Should add that Dwane Casey's decision to bench Ed Davis (an ongoing theme) in favour of Linas Kleiza tonight was almost a disaster. You'd think Ed was a rookie with the way he's been used.
Regarding the pick, we would only keep it if its top three. I'm ok with giving up a 8-12 pick for Kyle Lowry. There's no way we can finish as a bottom three team. Especially considering the Raptors luck, even if we finish with the worst record we would probably drop to 4th pick. The East is still pretty weak so its entirely possible for us to challenge for a low playoff seed. I agree that we play better without Bargnani but its hard to be a good team without a legit 1st option. If are going to go that route we need to have decent players at every position with good depth. Casey hasn't really improved his rotations. He has been forced to play Ed Davis and Val more because of injuries and he can't play his stupid ass 2 pg lineup. However, playing Klieza so much for no reason ("spacing") just shows his stupidity and stubbornness. Especially when Ed Davis was playing great all game. I won't believe this win streak until we beat a halfway decent team but i am impressed with the defense and teamwork we're showing without Bargnani and Lowry.
If the Raps make the playoffs, it's nice the team isn't losing a high draft pick to OKC but then it basically means BC will be back for another 2-3 years at least and that means more of his random ass wheeling and dealing.
