Last time we checked in the Raptors had a 12-21 (.364) record and were 3½ out of 8th place. The Raps are now 15-26 (.366) and 5½ games out of 8th (and .500). Is the season already a wash? POSITIVE SIGNS Was Ed Davis getting tired? The junior forward's minutes have gone up to nearly 35mpg in January. He's responded by averaging 14/8 on 55% shooting with no foul-outs. He's one of the few players on the team getting consistent playing time and he's earning his keep. Bargnani is practicing again... 266 vs. 235, that's the playing time difference in January between Jose Calderon and Kyle Lowry. Calderon is averaging 13/8 on 55% shooting compared to Lowry who is putting up 11/6 on 44% shooting. Having two capable point guards isn't the worst problem to have. Most Raps fans would like to see Lowry unleashed with a Calderon trade. The Raptors broke their 100pt curse with a feel-good win over the visiting Lakers. In true Toronto fashion, thousands of fans showed up to cheer against the Raptors last night at the ACC with visiting celebrities Kobe Bryant and Steve Nash on the floor. Hearkens back to last season's atrocious cheer for Jeremy Lin's buzzer- and Raptors-beating shot. To be fair, the Raptors need to play better basketball if they want to sell seats to their home fans. Jonas Valanciunas is back on the court practicing, putting his return close to or just after the All-Star break next month. NEGATIVE SIGNS The season's over. We're 11 games from .500. Like the Coconut Banger's Ball, it's a wrap. Which means it's time to start giving loads of burn to Hot Sauce, Lowry, and even Acy. Coach Casey's job is to win games but at this point the onus should be on development. Yet Ross, even with a hot hand, gets to watch journeyman Alan Anderson play significant minutes. He's only cracked 20 minutes three times this month. Granted, a rolled ankle cost him a game and some recovery time. Lowry is still playing behind Calderon, who at this point is on borrowed time, and Acy's only playing (sparingly) because of injuries to Kleiza, JoVa, and Bargs. So is Duane Casey the right guy for the job? Fan opinion oscillates between "fire him now" and "fire everyone" so it seems confidence in him is low. His rigid rotations, meant to instill a certain degree of consistency in our inexperienced players, seems to ignore good play in favor of the time clock. Alan Anderson's shooting numbers are actually worse than Landry Fields' but he's become the go-to guy for Casey down the stretch. Most fans would like to see Ross or at least Fields, who we're stuck with at this point. Speaking of stuck with, DeMar DeRozan's starting to fall out of favour. The fourth-year scorer garnered a lot of goodwill during the holidays for staying home to watch tape instead of partying on NYE. The result is a drop in productivity for January, with his points going down to 14 per game on 41% shooting. He's hit only one three pointer this month and had five turnovers against the Lakers. If he's to be "the guy" for this team, he needs to show that he can play with a sense of urgency and be a leader by example. This month hasn't been good. This is the part where I should complain about the Raps blowing leads but anyone who thinks that the referee's don't try and pull games closer for the last quarter is naive. Time and time again NBA referees facilitate runs by the losing team by making calls for/against the score. They'll usually cool-off once the lead is down to eight or six and start calling it down the line again but twice this season the Raps have been fucked by horrendous calls or non-calls. More than twice but the NBA's ready to admit to two examples. I mean, we used to just assume that being a lousy team meant we wouldn't get calls--now we know we don't. That's bad.
It was exciting for a moment but I think I have to agree with you in that the season is over. I definitely hope we don't trade some good, young pieces for a vet in hopes of a playoff push. Other than that, play the young guys more.
We need more aggressive management, in my opinion. However, for the most the part, I agree with speeds ...sad I must say. This season looked good but what can you do.
I think the number one priority should be deciding on what pieces should be part of the future going forward. This means trading Bargnani and Calderon by the deadline. I also don't think we should give up on the season just yet. Even if we don't make the playoffs, the higher we get in the standings the better. If we finish 9th, we give OKC a 11-13th pick, not a bad trade for Lowry. Is Casey allergic to playing Davis down the stretch? He has actually been fantastic in the starting role. He's finally living up to his potential which is great. Demar on the other hand is showing why giving huge contracts on just potential is dangerous. While I do think this is just a rough stretch for him, I do think we should consider trading him if the right deal comes along before people realize that he isn't a star. Amir, Calderon and Lowry have all been pretty strong too. Fields is starting to get better as well. Anderson has his moments but he definitely tries to do too much sometimes (similar to Antoine Wright, James Johnson).
Yeah should've mentioned that Air Amir Johnson is having a really good season. He's limited in what he can do but he makes the most of it.
Raptors trying to get Gay apparently. Apparently Calderon/Davis for Gay/Arthur. I would hate to lose Ed but Arthur is probably just as good but doesn't get the playing time behind Zbo and Gasol As per Marc Stein
