http://raptors.realgm.com/articles/22/2006...christmas_tree/<div class='quotetop'>QUOTE </div><div class='quotemain'>TJ Ford: 14.2 ppg, 4.1 rpg, 8.0 apg. Bryan Colangelo traded Charlie Villanueva for TJ this off-season and was rewarded by TJ?s great play to start the season. Ford was one of many NBA players who complained about the new ball, as he said that he would have to take the long bounce pass out of his arsenal of passes. UNDER THE TREE 2 WEEKS AGO: The new ball planted firmly in David Stern?s arsenal?WISH GRANTED!! Chris Bosh: 20.5 ppg, 12.5 rpg, 2.0 apg. Bosh has been having another great season and has been the Raptors only consistent player. CB4 has been hampered by a heel and knee injury, and an eye problem. Bosh has missed the teams past couple games due to his knee injury. UNDER THE TREE: Following his recent eye problem, a juicy Bausch (Bosh) and Lomb sponsorship deal? Morris Peterson: 13.0 ppg, 3.7 rpg, 1.0 apg. Mo Pete was a starter to begin the season. After putting up mediocre stats he was unhappy at being moved to the bench in favour of Fred Jones. It is suspected that he was the anonymous player that told a reporter that he thinks Sam Mitchell should get fired. Peterson got injured soon after being moved to the bench. UNDER THE TREE: Sam-ta gives him back the starting role (and his two front teeth) Andrea Bargnani: 8.3 ppg, 2.7 rpg, 0.6 bpg. Il Mago has been very inconsistent. That being said, lately he has started to play better. He is starting to get more playing time and his potential is being recognized, but he couldn?t guard a turtle if his life depended on it. UNDER THE TREE: The ability to play D-FENCE Fred Jones: 9.7 ppg, 2.8 rpg, 2.1 apg. Jones started the season coming off the bench and was playing very well. He then replaced Mo-Pete in the starting roll. Jones is a very streaky player who gets into a lot of slumps and has proven to be a bit inconsistent. That being said, he has been a spark plug for the Raptors with his tasty finishes! UNDER THE TREE: ?Get out of slump free? card. Rasho Nesterovic. 3.8 ppg, 3.6 rpg, 0.9 bpg. The Raptors acquired Nesterovic in the off-season for Matt Bonner and Eric Williams. Rasho was expected to be a player that could get some rebounds and take some of the load off Bosh. Rasho has not done that, and as Bargani continues to improve the Yugoslavian?s time on the bench will continue to grow. Rasho peaked in 2002-2003 with the Timberwolves and his stats have been declining ever since. UNDER THE TREE: Talent or perhaps beta videos of Twin Peaks. Kris Humphries: 2.9 ppg, 2.3 rpg, 0.3 spg. When Humphries has been on the floor he has played well and he has shown that he is a true hustler. The problem for him is he is rarely on the floor. He is averaging. 8.1 minutes per game, down from his career average of 11.3 mpg. UNDER THE TREE: Please sir, may I have some more? (minutes). Anthony Parker: 10.7 ppg, 3.0 rpg, 1.7 apg. Last season Parker played for Maccabi Tel-Aviv. In the off-season he signed with the Raptors. He has fit nicely into a starting role. He is a great defender and has a nice shot, but he rarely beats his man off the dribble, so his shot is easily contested. UNDER THE TREE: A powerful and fast first step? ?one small (fast) step for man, one giant leap for Raptorkind?. Jorge Garbajosa: 8.9 ppg, 5.3 rpg, 1.6 apg. The ?Garbage Man? was signed as a free agent this off-season. Last year he played for Unicaja, and also helped lead the Spanish team to the FIBA championship. In the preseason Jorge?s jump shot was hitting nothing but net; this season he has been throwing up bricks. UNDER THE TREE: Mexican jumping beans. Jose Emanuel Calderon: 6.8 ppg, 1.4 rpg, 3.1 apg. Calderon is the great Spanish general on the court. His game has improved steadily from last season. His field goal percentage is up from .423 to .519, which is quite an improvement. Unfortunately for Jose the trade for TJ Ford has cost him over six minutes of playing time a game. UNDER THE TREE: Pamplona speed... Watch out for that bull! PJ Tucker: 0.8 ppg, 0.7 rpg, 0.1 spg. Tucker was taken in the 2nd round of this year?s draft. He has been compared to Jerome ?JYD? Williams as a tough player who keeps hustling. I don?t think anyone could be happy playing 3:36 minutes per game. UNDER THE TREE: Fewer rhyming jokes with his last name? (not that consonant you silly *ucker) Joey Graham: 5.8 ppg, 2.3 rpg, 0.4 apg. Graham did not live up to expectations last year in his rookie season. Joey has looked like a much more complete player this season, although he still lacks the much needed killer instinct. UNDER THE TREE: DVD of Natural Born Killers autographed by Woody Harrelson. Darrick Martin: 3.0 ppg, 0.7 apg. Martin is the 3rd string point guard and does not see much playing time. Being a seasoned veteran (I.e. old) his job on the team is to mentor younger players. UNDER THE TREE: Knitting needles Uros Slokar: 0.0 ppg, 1.0 rpg. Slokar was taken with 28th pick in the second round of the 2005 draft. He just played his first game and looks even more confused than Rafael Araujo did in his first season (uh-oh). UNDER THE TREE: His first NBA bucket! Sam Mitchell: The past two seasons Mitchell has coached the raptors to a dismal 67-118 record. Two season?s ago Mitchell was rumoured to have had a fist fight with then Raptor?s point guard Rafer Alston. This off-season there was speculation that Mitchell would be fired, and some what surprisingly he was not. Many Raptor fans are fed up with Mitchell and are calling for his dismissal. Some are so angry with Sam they have even made a website voicing their belief that he should be fired, www.pinkslipsam.blogspot.com. UNDER THE TREE: The phone number of Rob Babcock?s psychiatrist.</div>Lol very nice read, I loved the PJ Tucker one, and Slokar one, hes such a crappy crappy crappy player lol
Whats with the hating on Sloks? He is young and has only played one game, I don't care if you disrespect Graham because hes actully logged some minutes but not someone who has played 1 NBA game.
Whoa... Andrea can play defence and he has been playing well defensively lately. He is much better defensive player then Charlie V was... he is just terrible and still is.
<div class='quotetop'>QUOTE (MiﮒFi?? @ Dec 16 2006, 07:17 PM) <{POST_SNAPBACK}></div><div class='quotemain'>Whoa... Andrea can play defence and he has been playing well defensively lately. He is much better defensive player then Charlie V was... he is just terrible and still is.</div>His less "great" than he is "decent". He can play perimeter defense, but his post/interior defence needs work. A couple pump fakes and you can get a layup on him easily. He is good at transition d at times, ive seen him block running layups so many times.
For a rookie his interior D isen't too bad. He is pretty quick and can block some shots I wouldn't be shocked to see him get one a game.
Andrea has made strides defensively. He is a good shot blocker actually, but he has to continue to work on his interior defense, and not fouling.
Andrea had a great defensive game today against the Warriors with 6 blocked shots, all of them I believe from inside the paint and a couple on the fastbreak or in transition Merry Christmas Andrea.
<div class='quotetop'>QUOTE (Clangus @ Dec 17 2006, 05:48 PM) <{POST_SNAPBACK}></div><div class='quotemain'>If I were raptors I would want new fans! yes I mean you Raptorsfan#1</div>Oh because I didnt call Andrea Bargnani a good defender? My bad for having opinions, guess that means im not a fan.
How about a jump shot for TJ Ford.Every time I see him pull up for a jumper, I cringe. 8 times outta 10 I was correct to cringe.if he develops that outside shot, he'll open things up so much for Bosh and Bargnani.the next few years should be very exciting for the Raps IMO.
<div class='quotetop'>QUOTE (CelticFan @ Dec 21 2006, 12:22 PM) <{POST_SNAPBACK}></div><div class='quotemain'>How about a jump shot for TJ Ford.Every time I see him pull up for a jumper, I cringe. 8 times outta 10 I was correct to cringe.if he develops that outside shot, he'll open things up so much for Bosh and Bargnani.the next few years should be very exciting for the Raps IMO.</div>TJ Ford doesn't have the greatest jumpshot, but he can hit an open shot...
yeah but he forces a lot of bad ones.he scores because he can drive IMO.if he improves the jumper and shot selection, he'll be dynamite
<div class='quotetop'>QUOTE (CelticFan @ Dec 22 2006, 04:22 AM) <{POST_SNAPBACK}></div><div class='quotemain'>yeah but he forces a lot of bad ones.he scores because he can drive IMO.if he improves the jumper and shot selection, he'll be dynamite</div> How does Ford force bad shots? Hes averaging 12 shots a game, is shooting almost 45 percent from the field.
<div class='quotetop'>QUOTE (MiﮒFi?? @ Dec 16 2006, 07:17 PM) <{POST_SNAPBACK}></div><div class='quotemain'>Whoa... Andrea can play defence and he has been playing well defensively lately. He is much better defensive player then Charlie V was... he is just terrible and still is.</div> Andrea Bargnani is NOT, by any means, even a decent defender. He's extremely soft and he gets killed in the post, he's too slow to stick with most guys on the perimeter, he gets lost on switches and off screens. Sure, he can block a couple shots, but that doesn't make him a defender.
<div class='quotetop'>QUOTE (CelticFan @ Dec 22 2006, 05:22 AM) <{POST_SNAPBACK}></div><div class='quotemain'>yeah but he forces a lot of bad ones.he scores because he can drive IMO.if he improves the jumper and shot selection, he'll be dynamite</div>I disagree. Ford is way too unselfish sometimes, and he often gives up wide open shots to get teammates ivolved. That's true, the basis of his points come from driving, but then again, he doesn't shoot often, and he can make a jumper. Shot selection? Maybe he'll take one bad shot a game, but he doesn't shoot much at all, man.
<div class='quotetop'>QUOTE (CB4AllStar @ Dec 22 2006, 04:09 PM) <{POST_SNAPBACK}></div><div class='quotemain'>I disagree. Ford is way too unselfish sometimes, and he often gives up wide open shots to get teammates ivolved. That's true, the basis of his points come from driving, but then again, he doesn't shoot often, and he can make a jumper. Shot selection? Maybe he'll take one bad shot a game, but he doesn't shoot much at all, man.</div>TJ takes 13 shots a game. Good for 50th in the league in shot attempts/game. Only Bosh takes more shots than he does on the team.I've seen him pull up for lots of jumpers and they are usually off the mark.last night he had a good game and went 11 for 23the previous 5 games4/125/175/137/185/8 <-- too less shots, had a good shooting %.. hmmmsee what happens when he doesn't force shots?he can drive and finish very well, but I still don't think he's nearly consistant enough form the perimeter. As Andrea continues to improve and he and Bosh become the focal point of the offence, TJ will need to hit those 20 footers to keep the defences honest.. would you count on him to do that now??
<div class='quotetop'>QUOTE (CelticFan @ Dec 23 2006, 06:57 PM) <{POST_SNAPBACK}></div><div class='quotemain'>TJ takes 13 shots a game. Good for 50th in the league in shot attempts/game. Only Bosh takes more shots than he does on the team.I've seen him pull up for lots of jumpers and they are usually off the mark.last night he had a good game and went 11 for 23the previous 5 games4/125/175/137/185/8 <-- too less shots, had a good shooting %.. hmmmsee what happens when he doesn't force shots?he can drive and finish very well, but I still don't think he's nearly consistant enough form the perimeter. As Andrea continues to improve and he and Bosh become the focal point of the offence, TJ will need to hit those 20 footers to keep the defences honest.. would you count on him to do that now??</div> You forgot the 11-23 game yesterday as well, in which he shot 48%...as well those 3 games (4/12, 5/17, 5/13,) he went to the line at least 6 times each one, and the first one scored all 6, which means he drives in, gets a higher percentage shot, and gets fouled on it. O btw CelticFan, Ford also playes second most minute of any Raptors, so if your telling me hes not going to take 10-12 shots in 35 minutes, your crazy man.
<div class='quotetop'>QUOTE (RaptorFan#1 @ Dec 23 2006, 07:03 PM) <{POST_SNAPBACK}></div><div class='quotemain'>You forgot the 11-23 game yesterday as well, in which he shot 48%...as well those 3 games (4/12, 5/17, 5/13,) he went to the line at least 6 times each one, and the first one scored all 6, which means he drives in, gets a higher percentage shot, and gets fouled on it. O btw CelticFan, Ford also playes second most minute of any Raptors, so if your telling me hes not going to take 10-12 shots in 35 minutes, your crazy man.</div>UHH read my post again, I DID mention his 11-23 yesterday.also I'm not the one who said Ford didn't take many shots, YOU did.and I never originally said he didn't take high percentage shots in the lane, I said for the team to improve he needs to hit the outside shot, something he doesn't do consistantly.He needs to be albe to do this mostly because Bosh and Bargnani are going to be in the paint a lot over the next few years,Also FT's DO NOT come into what I was talking about....so like I asked, do you think he's a good jump shooter from range??? (p.s. I'll give you a hint.. 30% from the 3PT line from your pg is not gonna cut it.. sooo for Christmas, the Raptors could you use TJ to improve his outside shot.. Like I originally mentioned)
