-lammond looks like a guy who hasn't played competitive ball in two years but u can see the potential of big numbers -coach mitchell is really perturbing me by not playing his stars in the final minutes; the importance of which is that u don't see how your newbie stars like rafer and loren are going to perform in the clutch -its refreshing to see rafer, a dude who can actually play the point -conversly, roger mason and milt palacio suck. both find it confounding just to make it pass half court -likewise, depth again could be a problem, don't like the prospects of playing lammond, palacio or moiso -loren woods will be the proverbial "X" factor that makes or breaks this team -bosh looks good but not great, he's still being dominated in the post by the likes of randolph who had 34 points last night -similarly, bosh's midrange game looks stellar, he's obviosuly modelling himself after kg -rose looks solid -vince looks really good, 7 for 11 last night -donyell appears to be out of shape, but i ain't fretting cause i'm confident in him -pape sow is a freak, the block he had on kevin ollie was ben wallace like -matt bonner is a poor man's donyell marshall without the length -araujo is still an enigma U guys notice anything else from preseason ball
I haven't seen all the preseason games but judging from what I heard and what I've seen last night against the blazers, here's what concerns me: - Our offense hasn't improved much from last year. It's true that the addition of Rafer has helped us a lot but we still have the same tendencies on offense that we had before. Opposing teams are killing us in points in the paint and we always end up settling for perimeter shots. Mitchell has been saving his best plays for the regular season so hopefully that's the reason why we're back to the same old habits. - Araujo needs way more time to develop. The thing that bugs me about this is that Babcock assured us that he would come in here and contribute right away and that's why most of us were content with his draft selection. Then he goes and says that Araujo is still very raw and will need more time to develop. Babcock better be praying that Araujo improves much faster than this or that'll be a quick strike one on his record. I guess those are the main things that concern me coming into this season. Here are other points I've noticed: - We finally have a true point guard. - Loren Woods has been somewhat impressive (looks almost certain that he'll be our starting center) but his inside game needs improvement. - Carter's defense looks a lot better and his spectacular dunks could be a sign of things to come. However, he still seems to settle for perimeter shots as opposed to taking contact inside. - Bosh is the most impressive of the bunch and has really improved over the summer. However, Randolph clearly exposed him last night which means that he still has much more to improve on. - Pape Sow is showing his potential and is a definite keeper. - Palacio still stinks - MoPete still camps out at 3 point land and hasn't proven to be worth the contract.
agree with bulk of what i said, particulary about the players settling for too many jump shots. the question is that a structural problem in mitchell offense or players bad habits? the thing about vince playing better on the defensive end is the bit that i disaree with. remember we only see a selective game in an hour, they aren't going to show john salmons blowing by vince or anything of that nature. for instance, randolph had 34 points and i didn't know that until the fourth quarter. if i remember correctly they showed aruajo block randolph's shot, and we all know that was an act of GOD.
From the preseason, I don't like Araujo's style. He doesn't seem to want to camp down low and likes to stay around the free throw line. Had Bosh been the one inside, it wouldn't have mattered but Bosh also has a tendency to camp around the same area as Araujo does. Because of that, the lane is blocked by opponents and it gets hard for Vince, Rose and Mo Pete etc to slash in. Jerome Moiso also looks like he rededicated himself, he is playing real well and might even prevail over Loren Woods for the starting center spot. I also agree with you guys in that Mo Pete doesn't seem to have changed from last year; he is still camping outside instead of being the slasher he was under Lenny Wilkens. Many said last season that it was Kevin O'Neill's system that caused him to play like that, but now that Mitchell is here and Mo Pete still hasn't changed, I wonder if it was his own choice to be a stationary three point shooter instead.
<div class="quote_poster">Quoting deception:</div><div class="quote_post">the thing about vince playing better on the defensive end is the bit that i disaree with. remember we only see a selective game in an hour, they aren't going to show john salmons blowing by vince or anything of that nature. for instance, randolph had 34 points and i didn't know that until the fourth quarter. if i remember correctly they showed aruajo block randolph's shot, and we all know that was an act of GOD.</div> Well I was actually at the game against Portland and he did appear to play a little more agressively on defense. And also, as stated in another thread, the Blazer commentators mentioned how good of a defensive job he was doing. Then again, maybe his aggressiveness on D is due to the fact that he's playing very limited minutes or maybe it was just a one time thing with the Blazers. I guess we'll just have to see come November.
mitchell is getting frustrated really quickly. he's already called out rafer on his "schoolyard play", he's revealed his ?disappointment? with the second unit veterans (probably directed at l.murray), he's admitted a bunch of players are out of shape which defeats the notion of running and he's launched a preemptive strike against management to make sure that they keep the full compliment of 15 roster players including bonner, and pape sow. if he starts suing players on opposing teams, this hire would be a total disaster.
it appears as if milt palacio has the inside track on the backup point duties in babcock and mitchell books. i'm really disappointed and ticked off cause i think palacio sucks. he dribbles in the same spot for 10 seconds, he gives up his dribble on move really quickly, his passing is horrendous, his basketball iq is nil, he doesn't take chances and he's got no jump shot. is roger mason the answer? probably not but i think he's better than palacio. nonetheless, what really ticked me off is that the raps had ample chance to sign a backup this offseason for next to nothing like kenny anderson and they didn't. well, howard eisley is going to become a FA cause they have a glut of pg's in phoneix and i would love to see the raps sign him. 12 minutes of eisely is a lot better than palacio.
I hope we're able to get one of the Bulls PG's to be our backups. Looks like Pargo will probably be left off their roster, and we might have a chance to get him back, he didn't look all bad in Toronto, but he played very well with the bulls, this year and last year.
<div class="quote_poster">Quoting Banks:</div><div class="quote_post">I hope we're able to get one of the Bulls PG's to be our backups. Looks like Pargo will probably be left off their roster, and we might have a chance to get him back, he didn't look all bad in Toronto, but he played very well with the bulls, this year and last year.</div> didn't know about pargo but i would investigate his availability as well.
Pargo is a shoot-first, pass-second point guard. Is that what we need with Bosh, Carter and Rose around? I think we should go after someone more experienced and with a pass-first attitude. Who's avaliable on the market right now? Mateen Cleaves would be a good pickup.
vince has been lookin great. very aggressive. cant say im very surprised...i knew he'd play this way so that his trade stock would go up bosh is lookin great too. is it just me, or are his arms looking ripped?? i love how bosh is so aggressive around the bucket. not tentative at all. he goes up with power and confidence. im thinkin he'll have a pretty solid year. i dont think its a stretch for him to avg close to 15ppg this year. he avg'd 11 last season...its pretty realistic for him to drop in an extra 2 buckets a game...especially in coach mitchell's system. center is still really our sore spot. loosing donyell will kill our depth, but we need someone to play some D in the lane against the centers of the league. traylor just ate us up last night
<div class="quote_poster">Quoting Trip:</div><div class="quote_post">Pargo is a shoot-first, pass-second point guard. Is that what we need with Bosh, Carter and Rose around? I think we should go after someone more experienced and with a pass-first attitude. Who's avaliable on the market right now? Mateen Cleaves would be a good pickup.</div> He's a better option than Palacio or Roger Mason Jr. at this point, and is cheap. He's not as wild as Palacio, and has good ball handleing skills. Cleaves on the other hand is constantly out of shape, and doesn't put enough work in to stay in the league. Pargo is the best option at this point, but he hasn't been released yet. If Frank Williams some how gets let go instead of Pargo, I would go after him.
Well, I gotta admit that I've been basing Cleaves's worth by his incredible college career. If he was really bad in the NBA, I say take a pass at him. However, I still stand by my opinion that we'll need a natural PG instead of a scorer, which Alston already is. Other guards on the market are Dan Dickau, Howard Eisley and if both these guys are ungettable, we can just bring Rod Strickland back. He is the veteran presence and passer we need.
<div class="quote_poster">Quote:</div><div class="quote_post">center is still really our sore spot. loosing donyell will kill our depth, but we need someone to play some D in the lane against the centers of the league. traylor just ate us up last night</div> Yea but that was on jumpshots, I actually wanted the Raptors to get Tractor when he was an FA, and I was pretty dissapointed when Cleveland picked him up, but no one really shared my enthusiasm about him. He's still a good player, just not capable of playing big minutes a lot, but is very productive in the minutes he plays on both ends. Howard Eisley > Milt and Roger, if we can get Eisley I'll be happy, if we can get any of the Bulls PG's I'll be happy, if we can get anyone that's not Milt I'll be happy.
^^word! fully agreed!! strickland was very decent for us. so many nice plays between him and bosh developed. he may be old, but i think he'd be 1000 times the backup palacio could ever be. milt is horrible. id sleep better at night if i knew he was never going to touch the ball as a raptor again
Bosh looks good- he could of average 17ppg if he was the #1 option a lot of no namers still suck (i.e. bonner, palicio) Pope was a steal- the raps would be foolish to cut him Vince and Rose look like a solid alston is doing a great job at the point. Am i the only one to wonder why our offense hasn't improved much with him? Can anyone tell me anythink about Araujo? anything?
Interior defense weak. Randolph had 34 points and 17 rips. Robert "tractor" traylor game had a career game friday with 30 points and 11 rebounds. even lazy Eddy curry put up 18 and 8 in 23 minutes of action not to mention the Nuggets frontline forming a congo line towards the basket in the opening minutes of their raps pre-season game causing mitchell to bench Loren woods six minutes into the game. The nuggets were led by None other than Rodney White their 5th forward scoring 25 points. Not to mention a effortless double double by k-mart. With a starting spot up for grabs i expected more of a pre-season effort from our centres that was obviously not the case. If the Raps want to make the playoffs shoring up their interior defense has to be a focal point.
<div class="quote_poster">Quoting Drunkballer:</div><div class="quote_post"> even lazy Eddy curry put up 18 and 8 in 23 minutes of action .</div> have you seen eddy? he's not too lazy anymore. he's lost a ton of weight. he looks to be in the best shape iv ever seen him in. and he's been putting up big numbers against everyone i still see what your saying and your right...our interior D is lacking...but eddy has been playing really well
Interioir D is EXTREMELEY weak. If Randolph and Traylor can do career wonders then I am hesitant to face the Miami Heat or even the Houston Rockets. However, I like the whole run and gun idea that Mitchell has established. Vince will actually try much harder for once since he has now realized nobody thinks all that much of him anymore outside of Toronto (and even that little support he had began dwindling when he admitted to wanting to be traded)
