<div class="quote_poster">Quoting Moo2K4:</div><div class="quote_post">31-51. I think that's realistic for this young team. I might go higher with that total if it wasn't for the fact that they have no defense what so ever.</div> Obviously you've never seen Darrick Martin, Slokar and Garbajosa on D.
<div class="quote_poster">Quoting Moo2k4:</div><div class="quote_post">31-51. I think that's realistic for this young team. I might go higher with that total if it wasn't for the fact that they have no defense what so ever.</div> I don't know about our defense not improving at all. We brought in a good shotblocker/rebounder in Rasho. He should ease the slack off Bosh, who I expect should have more energy for defense now that he actually has a competent frontcourt partner. On top of that, we brought in TJ Ford (good hands/quickness, gets pushed around because of his size), Anthony Parker (who's apparently an excellent defender), Jorge Garbajosa (supposedly does the dirty work on defense), Fred Jones (an aggressive defender, despite his size), and PJ Tucker. And also, you'd have to take into account the defensive liabilities that are no longer with this team (Mike James, Matt Bonner, Charlie Villanueva, Rafael Araujo). I'm not saying we'll be an excellent defensive team or anything. But I think our defense won't be as much of a liability this year. Our offense will still win games, but, at least on paper, it seems that we might be able to hold our own end a few times.
Woa, woa, Mike James was not a defensive liability, it wasn't his fault the team defense sucked and he never had any help. Mike James rocks.
<div class="quote_poster">Quoting P.A.P.:</div><div class="quote_post">Obviously you've never seen Darrick Martin, Slokar and Garbajosa on D.</div> Not sure if that's sarcasm or not, because I've never seen Slokar and Garbajosa on D, and Martin hardly plays. I'm assuming its sarcasm.
30 wins is about it, you lost mike james and CV31 for bargnani and ford, both are downgrades. With bosh improving and a new style instilled they will do a little better, but not much.
<div class="quote_poster">Quoting virve119:</div><div class="quote_post">Not sure if that's sarcasm or not, because I've never seen Slokar and Garbajosa on D, and Martin hardly plays. I'm assuming its sarcasm.</div> I don't think it was sarcasm because Slokar is supposed to be pretty good at D and like Chutney said, Garbajosa is supposed to do the dirty work on D. I know Martin doesnt play much, and i barely see him play but I think P.A.P. know what hes talkin bout.
<div class="quote_poster">Quoting TheFreshPrince:</div><div class="quote_post">30 wins is about it, you lost mike james and CV31 for bargnani and ford, both are downgrades. With bosh improving and a new style instilled they will do a little better, but not much.</div> We also lost Bonner and added Rasho - upgrade Lost Araujo and added Humphries - upgrade and lost no one and added Anthony Parker, and Jorge Garbajosa, upgrade
It will be interesting to see if we can replace Mike James scoring though. I mean he destroyed the flow of our offense last year but 20.3 pts a game shooting 44% from 3pt land is sick. I think The raptors are going win games with there offense and not there D (Although rasho is an improvement there) i still think they are gonna need to avg around 102.5.ppg to make the playoffs .
i think losing mike james was a mistake, but it's still too hard to predict with this team. they have a new everything with brian colangelo and crew, new players and such so it's very hard. maybe a few games in you can start to see how far they'll get. But right now it's hard to say, they can be a 30 win team or a 45 win team..
82-0. Book it. I honestly think that Mike James is a better player than Ford at the moment, but he doesn't fit well with the Raptors. For the Raptors up tempo style to work, they need someone who's willing to push the ball up the court and get people involved. Ford will be able to provide that. Mike James on the other hand, is more of a 2-guard, so having him run the show isn't going to make the offence any more effective. Don't forget that Ford's like 23 or 24, while James is 30. The Raptors are a young team that's rebuilding, so signing Mike James to his contract demands wouldn't be helping and put a rut in the Raptors' financial plans. So overall, while Mike James is the better player, Ford fits the Raptors a lot better.
Speaking from Mike James' perspective: "Mike James felt like Mike James was disrespected in Toronto. A player of Mike James' caliber deserves to get a Mike James type contract. Mike James wanted to stay a Raptor but Mike James needs to look out for his own self. Mike James is like the second coming of Michael Jordan and Magic Johnson. Mike James wants the ball in the clutch. Mike James is the franchise. Mike James is the best" Sorry, I just wanted to try and see what it would be like to talk like Mike James for a second. Anyways, other then that, whoever says that the Raptors downgraded are nuts. Yeah we lost CV, but the amounts of other peices we have added is quite remarkable. Ford, Fred Jones, Anthony Parker? Sometimes it's strange cause I keep forgetting that Fred Jones and Rasho are part of our team. I'm definetly looking forward to this year more then anything, I really wanna see this team in action. A poor man's Pheonix Suns <div class="quote_poster">Quote:</div><div class="quote_post"> i think losing mike james was a mistake, but it's still too hard to predict with this team </div> You are part of a minority. Mike James got the respect Mike James 'deserved' in Minnesota.
<div class="quote_poster">Quoting og15:</div><div class="quote_post">We also lost Bonner and added Rasho - upgrade Lost Araujo and added Humphries - upgrade and lost no one and added Anthony Parker, and Jorge Garbajosa, upgrade </div> Oh yea, and Fred Jones...
sorry but i jsut dont think you guys aproved in the way you needed to. You added tons of role players, and lost two pieces. Who is gonna do the scoring with james and cv gone? You guys still arent good at defense. (sorry if i sound really negative, i like the raps, and am just playing a little devils advocate, but i dont thin you guys are gonna be THAT good)
We're not worse than last season, but that doesn't mean we're a good team, we won 27 games last season, so I think it's safe to say this team is capable of winning more than that.
Charlie V a scoring threat? He's either on or off, so I don't think he's too respectable of a scoring threat. Last time I checked, Bargnani was a very respectable offensive player, Chris Bosh and Mo Pete are coming back, Anthony Parker was an MVP of probably the second best league in the world so he must be doing something right. I also hope for Joey to have a decent year. If he improves his ball handling ability to a slightly respectable level, even then I can invision him being an 8-10ppg scorer off the bench, which isn't that bad.
All we really lost was Mike James, we might have lost what Charlie could've become, but what he did produce can be easily replaced, and even more given by the guys we got. They also help us A LOT more defensively than he ever did.
We lost Mike James... I'd rather take Fred Jones, TJ Ford, Anthony Parker over him any day. We lost CV... I'd rather have Bosh, Andrea, Rasho... For the amount of potential everyone sees in CV, I see 3 x more potential in the duo of Andrea and Bosh. For each significant player we've lost, we've gained around 3 replacements...and on top of all that we still have Bosh and Morris Peterson. Downgrade? Pfft, half of you guys wish you had this kinda action from your GM <div class="quote_poster">Quote:</div><div class="quote_post"> You added tons of role players, and lost two pieces. </div> Mike James was a role player. He just chose to believe that he was the star. Charlie V was a role player last year as well. Don't let the 48 point game fool you, he's not a "star" yet. <div class="quote_poster">Quote:</div><div class="quote_post"> Who is gonna do the scoring with james and cv gone? </div> How about you pick: Chris Bosh? Fred Jones? Anthony Parker? TJ Ford? Andrea Bargiani? Morris Peterson? <div class="quote_poster">Quote:</div><div class="quote_post"> You guys still arent good at defense </div> That is one aspect I'd probably agree with you on. As long as Mitchell is at the helms of this team, I don't expect the Raptors to improve...in fact I'm reluctant to believe that with him in charge, they'll ever make any noise, no matter if they had a lineup of Kobe, Vince and Shaq. Mitchell is just not my type of coach and I haven't been able to forgive him since watching his atrocious coaching on January 22, 2006.
