They are going to be average to mediocre the next 5 years, just like they've been in the past. Bargnani got way too big a contract for his actual worth. We need a useful center that does what a center does 100 times more than what Bargnani brings, especially considering Bosh doesn't clog the paint either, and Bosh is better than Bargnani. We should have let Bargnani walk if he could get a similar deal elsewhere, but he probably couldn't. Calderon once he received his big contract has been playing no where near as aggressive as he did before. Turkoglu isn't terrible, but we shouldn't have given him such a big contract with such a glaring problem down low. We are set in stone now with 40 million spent in 4 players until like 2014 that won't make us an elite team without big additions. (Bargnani (10 mill), Calderon (10 mill), Turkoglu (11 mill), Jack (5 mill)) Even if we manage to re-sign Bosh at 12-14 mill per year. Locked in salaries for 50 mill per year for 5 years. I guess the bottom line is, I really think Colangelo is a dumbass. Either that or whatever tax rules Canada has, means we really have to overpay our role players. Does anyone know that situation. I'm going to the home opener, but mainly to see the Cavs lol, I'll cheer for Parker and Moon.
Kind of wonder what the team would have been like if we: 1. drafted LaMarcus Aldridge instead, 2. Kept Charlie V (who was on his rookie contract), instead of trading for an expiring TJ Ford, and then Colangelo has to re-sign him or he looks bad, and re-signs him to an overpaying long-term contract to a risk. Then only being able to find a trade with this lousy contract for JO. 3. Let Calderon test free agency, to see if anyone else would risk so much on him. (if they even had the cap) It kind of sucks that we lost Garbajosa, who had a reasonable contract, and also made up for some of our softness, and brought grittyness, hard work and rebounding at SF that we lacked at PF and C.
Why is this in the MMA forum... lol But yeah, I agree. Raptors spent a lot of money this offseason, I think you guys have improved. I do believe this team will be competitive in fighting for a playoff spot, but beyond that, they'll win one game at most in the postseason. Just seems like a lot of senseless spending to me, but anything to keep Bosh happy, I guess?
lmao, someone move this to the Raps. That's if Bosh stays, which I wouldnt' be surprized if he did because the Raptors can offer more than other teams (I think a 6 year contract) However even with Bosh locked in with those other 4, that leaves little space for anything else.
I agree that the team is poorly constructed and unlikely to yield much success (unless success = a playoff spot). We cannot build a championship team around the core of players in place and the financial inflexibility Colangelo has created is going to hinder significant upgrades for another three seasons barring a Bosh trade, which seems unlikely. BUT it should be a funner team to watch than in recent years so maybe I'll watch more than a handful of games this season (opposed to maybe a dozen in the last two combined).
Your GM spent a ton of money, but failed to address two of your three biggest weaknesses. He improved the bench significantly (not hard to do given that last year's was one of the worst in the league), but did not address your weak rebounding and poor defense. If anything, by replacing Marion with Hedo, the Raps became worse in both of those areas. So, you'll score a lot, give up a lot and likely win enough games to make the play-offs, but really have no chance of getting past the first round. Teams that rebound poorly and don't pay defense simply don't win in the post season. BNM
ppl talk about "change" but colangelo did nothing to alter the trio who have ushered in the era of mediocrity. the real, substantive move would be to trade one or two of the trio. i would have traded bargs and caledron for a scoring wing. maybe bargs and banks for stephen jackson and caledron for joel pryzbilla (sp.) and steve blake sign ramon sessions
It's almost impossible to win a ring without a true superstar (or two). The 2003-04 Pistons are the only team to have won a championship without one in our lifetime, supposing you were born after the '79 Sonics.
Those were my exact thoughts on the Raptors. Too much money has been spent on players who aren't going to get them to the next level.
Detroit had 3 legitimate superstars. Wallace, Wallace, and Billups. What they didn't have was a 30 PPG scorer. Ben Wallace was at the peak of his game and maybe the 2nd best defensive player in history.
I was going to say no team in the last 30 years has won without a superstar and figured someone would say those Pistons lacked one so I gave said unknown contrarian the benefit of the doubt. Obviously that backfired.
I've seen this claim about Detroit made constantly. I just think it isn't fair. Sheed was the #1 guy on Portland before going to Detroit, and a star in his own right. Ben Wallace was so good on defense that I'd call him a superstar in spite of his weak offense. The only guy I'd say was ever better was Bill Russell. Billups is a 4-time all-star who won the NBA Finals MVP that year. He dominated everyone he played against. When they needed points, Detroit went to him like the Bulls went to Jordan. Detroit was a championship contender for several seasons with him at the point, then at age 32 look what he did for Denver. Rip has always been pretty good, too.
Actually, the key is to either have a dominant big man (Russell, Wilt, Kareem, Hakeem, Shaq, Duncan, etc.) and/or at least two elite defenders. Rebounding and defense win championships. Always have, always will. People seem to think that somehow changed during the Jordan era because the Bulls didn't have a dominant (or even very good center), but those six Bulls championship teams always had great rebounding, and two, or often three, of the top defenders in the league. Teams that score a lot are fun to watch, but rarely have any kind of success in the post season - unless they can also rebound and defend. The 80s Showtime Lakers were fun to watch on the break, but with Kareem they could still kill you in the half court, and of course they were also great rebounding teams - and a fast break most often starts with a defensive rebound. In addition to Kareem shutting down the middle, they had one of the best defenders in the league, Michael Cooper guarding the opponent's best perimeter scorer. Post season success always comes back to defense and rebounding. This current Raptors roster, with a perimeter oriented center than averages 4 or 5 RPG isn't going anywhere in the post season. They spent a LOT of money to lock themselves into mediocrity for the next five years - good enough to make the play-offs - not good enough to get past the first round. That also insures they won't have any high draft picks and will be over the cap, so forget building through the draft and anymore "big" free agent signings. Of course, that's better than winning 33 games and missing the play-offs, but not much. At least when you suck, you have a chance to snag a franchise player in the draft. BNM
I personally don't see Ben Wallace on my list as a superstar. Ben Wallace managed to win with Detroit because they had quality talent at each position, Rasheed, and Billups, Rip and Prince are all top quality guys. If you were to replace Tim Duncan with Ben Wallace in San Antonio I'm not sure if they could have won a title.
ben wallace- the second best defender of all time? is it april fools? ben was an undersized five who couldnt guard taller big men who would just shoot over him. ive personally seen chris bosh have some big nights against him in his prime.
For 3-4 seasons he was the 2nd best. For his career, no. 13+ rebounds a game, near 2 steals, and 3+ blocks. 4x DPOY awards, 5x all NBA defensive first team, and 5x All NBA 1st/2nd/3rd team. Top 10 in NBA MVP voting 3 times. EDIT: the 5x all NBA teams, top 10 in MVP voting, and 4 all star games says a lot about his defense, considering he sucked on offense.
many ppl believe the dpoy awards should have gone artest's way but his attitude irritated voters. as for the stats- camby has been putting up similar numbers for the last decade and he can actually score and hit free throws as well. and if i was larry brown (the coach of the championship piston team) and i had to stop a tim duncan, chris bosh or kevin garnett- i would give sheed the defensive assignment over big ben because of sheed's length. and btw, ben wallace is a moron on the floor- i remember a game against the raptors where he left donyell marshall wide open for 10 three's or and he was too stubborn or stupid to make the adjustment.
His emphasis was superstar bigs though. He was saying a team is more likely to win a championship starting with a superstar big like a Hakeem, Duncan, Shaq, Kareem, Wilt, Russell, etc over superstar guards like Isaiah Thomas, Jason Kidd, Allen Iverson, etc. I'd bet money on a team built around the best C and PF of the last 10 years, Shaq and Tim Duncan with average other players. over a team built upon the best PG, and SG of the last 10 years Jason Kidd and Kobe Bryant with average players at other positions. Because the 10th-15th best SG is still an athletic quality player usually. However the 10th-15th best C usually doesn't compare to a prime Shaq. Shooting guards: Looking at scoring the 10th best SG in terms of scoring would be Rip Hamilton, the 15th would be Tmac (but b/c of injury, when healthy he is higher) 16th was Ginobli, 17th was J.R. Smith. Centers: Looking at scoring for average Centers, the 10th best center was Emeka Okafor, and the 15th best was Marc Gasol. How the teams would look like: Rip Hamilton, Ginobli, Tim Duncan, Shaq team vs. a Jason Kidd, Kobe Bryant, Emeka Okafor, Marc Gasol team
Nah, he just wants to be disagreeable. Having a legendary big is not a requisite. The Bulls showed that you don't have to have a great big man if your other players are just too good. Sure Rodman was a huge asset for that team but they mostly had some seriously mediocre players in the front court. Luc Longley, Bill Wennington, John Salley, Dicky Simpkins were all part of the 72-10 team, and that's when Rodman's rebouding was at its lowest rate with the Bulls.
