With the Raptors out to a disppointing start of the regular season, these three things I know are true:1) The Raptors RIGHT NOW are not nearly playing good enough basketball to go .500.2) The Raptors RIGHT NOW can not contend with the better teams in the NBA.3) The Raptors RIGHT NOW are currently tied for the second worst record in the NBA......COME ON GREG ODEN!!!My preseason prediction: 33-49The Raptors are currently on pace for: 17-65My current prediction (through ten games): 26-56Is it too early to jump off the Raptors bandwagon?For this season? Yes. For future seasons? No. There should never have been people predicting 40+ win seasons in the first place, so there never should have been this “bandwagon” to jump on. The Raptors will not contend for a playoff spot this season. The have the nucleus that, when they improve, they can contend for, not only playoffs but, championships.But before they can contend for championships the Raptors need a real center. Not a thin 6-11 guy, a real big man. The Raptors don’t need a guy at center who will put up 15 + points per game (although that would be nice) they need someone that is big enough (height and weight) that he can play good defense and can be a real force off the glass (Nothing against Chris Bosh but he is too thin to compete with the elite big men of the NBA).Since the 1999 championship every championship team has had one of the games premier big men/rebounders. Of the trio of Shaquille O’neal, Tim Duncan, and Ben “fear the fro” Wallace, one of them has been on every championship team since 1999. The statement, "Defense wins chamionships" is, in my belief flawed. It should be, "Defense and big men win championships".My Preseason awardsRaptors MVP: Chris BoshThis seemed to be a no brainer at the beginning of the year, and it still is. He is easily the most talented player on the team and everything runs through him.Surprise of the year: In the preseason I wrote, “Tough choice between Anthony Parker and Fred Jones.Edge: Anthony Parker due to his defensive ability.That being said I think highly of Jones and he will be a spark plug for these Raptors”I think I got that one right!RFPOTY (Raptor’s foreign player of the year): In the preseason I wrote that it would be Garbajosa, and Bargnani would be runner up. It looks like I got that one wrong. I think Garbajosa will step up, but once again this season we are seeing what a fine tuned machine Calderon is at backup point guard.EDGE: Jose Emanuel CalderonMemo to Raptor's fans: Don't get discouraged about Bargnani yet. He is only 21, and the Raptors drafted him knowing that he would have some growing pains. Don't forget T-Mac wasn't dominent as a rookie either. - Realgm
Well they lost Mike James for nothing. Losing a starting point guard having a career year along with Bonner who could hit some 3's hurt. I'm not surprised they are struggling so much this year.
Tony, everyone thinks you make up these posts...nice that you snuck that little 'RealGM' in there. Like I predicted this team was going to be pretty rough. They are poorly coached, they don't have the players to be a good defensive team, they are inexperienced, they lack a big scoring punch on the perimeter.
I don't try to make it seem that way, I thought it was pretty obvious considering I'm not a Raptors fan...
<div class='quotetop'>QUOTE (BrewCityBuck @ Nov 30 2006, 03:11 PM) <{POST_SNAPBACK}></div><div class='quotemain'>Tony, everyone thinks you make up these posts...nice that you snuck that little 'RealGM' in there. Like I predicted this team was going to be pretty rough. They are poorly coached, they don't have the players to be a good defensive team, they are inexperienced, they lack a big scoring punch on the perimeter.</div>but we beat the bucks. :shok:
I agree with us being poorly coached. But 33-49 I can somewhat argue, theres the pratical side of me that says of course that will be our record, but for any fan, you always have that "I know were going to win" attitude. I dont even think its time to make predictions, it makes no sense really, because than Miami Heat wont make the playoffs this year, or they will not be very good contenders. And the fifth seed in the Eastern Conference would be under .500, and Orlando would get the first seed... so why cant people wait till until the All Star Break?
do you guys remember how bad the colts were when indianapolis first got there team, they were terrible, they couldnt even win a game, they were a joke, now look at the colts after years later.
<div class='quotetop'>QUOTE (BALLAHOLLIC? @ Nov 30 2006, 02:58 AM) <{POST_SNAPBACK}></div><div class='quotemain'>With the Raptors out to a disppointing start of the regular season, these three things I know are true:1) The Raptors RIGHT NOW are not nearly playing good enough basketball to go .500.2) The Raptors RIGHT NOW can not contend with the better teams in the NBA.3) The Raptors RIGHT NOW are currently tied for the second worst record in the NBA......COME ON GREG ODEN!!!My preseason prediction: 33-49The Raptors are currently on pace for: 17-65My current prediction (through ten games): 26-56Is it too early to jump off the Raptors bandwagon?For this season? Yes. For future seasons? No. There should never have been people predicting 40+ win seasons in the first place, so there never should have been this ?bandwagon? to jump on. The Raptors will not contend for a playoff spot this season. The have the nucleus that, when they improve, they can contend for, not only playoffs but, championships.But before they can contend for championships the Raptors need a real center. Not a thin 6-11 guy, a real big man. The Raptors don?t need a guy at center who will put up 15 + points per game (although that would be nice) they need someone that is big enough (height and weight) that he can play good defense and can be a real force off the glass (Nothing against Chris Bosh but he is too thin to compete with the elite big men of the NBA).Since the 1999 championship every championship team has had one of the games premier big men/rebounders. Of the trio of Shaquille O?neal, Tim Duncan, and Ben ?fear the fro? Wallace, one of them has been on every championship team since 1999. The statement, "Defense wins chamionships" is, in my belief flawed. It should be, "Defense and big men win championships".My Preseason awardsRaptors MVP: Chris BoshThis seemed to be a no brainer at the beginning of the year, and it still is. He is easily the most talented player on the team and everything runs through him.Surprise of the year: In the preseason I wrote, ?Tough choice between Anthony Parker and Fred Jones.Edge: Anthony Parker due to his defensive ability.That being said I think highly of Jones and he will be a spark plug for these Raptors?I think I got that one right!RFPOTY (Raptor?s foreign player of the year): In the preseason I wrote that it would be Garbajosa, and Bargnani would be runner up. It looks like I got that one wrong. I think Garbajosa will step up, but once again this season we are seeing what a fine tuned machine Calderon is at backup point guard.EDGE: Jose Emanuel CalderonMemo to Raptor's fans: Don't get discouraged about Bargnani yet. He is only 21, and the Raptors drafted him knowing that he would have some growing pains. Don't forget T-Mac wasn't dominent as a rookie either. - Realgm</div>That's not true. The only team that blew us out this year were the Mavs yesterday. We contended with the Spurs and the Jazz (had the lead until the fourth), beat the Cavs, 76ers, Bucks. We've contended with every team we've played cept for the Mavs, so yeah.And this article must be old, because we are not tied for the 2nd worst record in the NBA.
<div class='quotetop'>QUOTE (Suddenrapz16 @ Nov 30 2006, 06:39 PM) <{POST_SNAPBACK}></div><div class='quotemain'>it's just the coach that is bad</div>No that's not right at all. There's more flaws in this team than just the coach. A simple coach change will not make this team improve significantly and people need to learn that..
