“You look at OKC or Portland before I was even there, they let their young guys grow and now you see where they are and the steps they took. I think it’s definitely going to help us and we’re going to be good.”
“It’s on both sides, I think it’s 50-50. It’s on the coach and it’s on the players too, when you have a lot of young guys without experience, it’s tough, it’s tough to learn how to play defense, even tougher how to play team-defense.”
“The hard work I put in last summer definitely paid off and that’s what I was striving for. I just have a chip on my shoulder, and I just want to prove a lot of stuff. Like being one of the top players in this league, and keep getting better.”
Doug Smith shared his two cents this morning on who he thinks the Raptors should keep and who they should let go. How about you guys? Who do you think the Raptors should retain heading into the 2011-12 season and who should they send packing?
As RR member Copywryter says, “Because its better to laugh than cry.” Come and check out his humourous look back on this past season and perhaps share some of your thoughts on what we can say has been a pretty big let down this year.
After listening to Tim's interview I feel a refreshing sense of hope regarding the Raptors. Irrespective of how the team plays this season it seems that a foundational change is on the horizon, which will hopefully result in a complete overhaul of the team and its league wide perception. I'm a lifelong Raptors fan and will continue to be one regardless of wins/losses or playoff position. I do feel we have some strong pieces, specifically JV, with whom the franchise can build its future. I've seen the game enough to know that the best NBA players all share some common characteristics which include determination, intelligence and a burning desire to win. JV embodies these characteristics they're plainly written on his face any time he's in the game. We need to pair him with a high quality power forward and a traditional point guard. I know a lot of people don't like Derozan but I actually think he's developing well and seems to have a strong understanding of which areas to improve on. Rudy Gay and Bargnani need to go and we need to develop a deep bench which could potentially be anchored by TRoss but for that we would need to get much much stronger. Toronto needs to stop acting like some kind of second rate team. We're the fourth largest market in North America, the city continues to gain recognition along multiple platforms and we have a fan base second to none. Lets hope Tim can deliver.