Morning Coffee: October 23rd Edition

by Sam Holako October 23, 2012

RAPTORS STILL HAVE WORK TO DO BEFORE SEASON STARTS | TSN

Despite Dwane Casey playing a sort of regular season-esque rotation, with nearly 30 minutes a piece for his five starters, the guys out on the court oftentimes looked totally out of sync with each other, especially during an uninspiring first half. There were turnovers galore in this game, 18 in all for the Raptors, and despite a second-half rally that secured a nine-point victory over the Bucks, the team was full of miscues all night long.

Raptors show ability to adjust to NBA’s changing styles | National Post

The Raptors were able to overcome the backcourt on Monday, beating the Bucks 104-95 in Toronto’s penultimate pre-season game. Ellis and Jennings shot a combined 14-for-39 from the field, with the Raptors not diced up in the paint.

DeMar DeRozan leads Raptors to 104-95 win over Bucks | Toronto Star

DeRozan added a couple crowd-pleasing dunks while Amir Johnson, who came into the game leading the Raptors in shooting finished the night 5 for 10 with 10 points.

Pre-Season Thoughts: Raptors 104, Bucks 95 | Raptor Blog

The Raptors got off to another slow start in this one. It’s been a constant theme throughout the pre-season, and while I don’t necessarily believe that it means the pattern will continue once the regular season begins, I would still like to see the team get off to a more encouraging start in the pre-season.

Raptors 104, Bucks 95 Recap: Toronto sends Milwaukee to 4th-straight preseason loss | Brew Hoop

Turns out it takes more than 24 minutes or so of relatively easy scoring to defeat even a fellow also-ran of the Eastern Conference.

Lowry, DeRozan shine as Raptors humble Bucks | GantDaily.com

Point guard Kyle Lowry poured 10 of his 15 points in the fourth quarter as the Toronto Raptors defeated the Milwaukee Bucks, 104-95, for their fourth straight preseason win Monday at Air Canada Centre.

Turnover trouble in Raptors victory | Raptors | Sports | Toronto Sun

On a night when head coach Dwane Casey had hoped to cement his rotation with the regular season just nine days away, those plans were thwarted when rookie swingman Terrence Ross came down with flu-like symptoms and was basically told to stay home in the hopes of keeping it from spreading.

Get to know a Toronto Raptor: DeMar DeRozan | National Post

Do you have a favourite show?
Family Guy.

Hmm. I was raised on The Simpsons.
Me, too. But I transitioned.

Lowry leads Raptors to 104-95 victory | Milwaukee Journal Sentinel

Alan Anderson sank back-to-back three-pointers to give the Raptors an 82-77 lead early in the third quarter. The Bucks tied the score on a three by Dunleavy and a layup by Brandon Jennings.

Bucks: Ellis can’t prevent fourth straight preseason loss | Madison Sports

DeMar DeRozan scored 21 points, Andrea Bargnani had 17 points and the Toronto Raptors won their fourth straight preseason game, beating the Bucks 104-95.

Note: Send me your Raptor links to rapsfan @ raptorsrepublic . com; thanks.

KaioKev

Yeah, the turnovers were awful. On a bright note, Alan Anderson and Kyle Lowry were clutch in this one.
- Danielscott677
  
  Those two three pointers by AA really swung the momentum.
Destro

DeRozan is going to make the haters mad this season and i luv it…

21 pts..7/16 FG 7/10 FTs yea yea i know you wretched pieces of shit its pre season..

Hes scoring..shooting 50% and getting to the line…and hes driving to basket and posting up when hes got the mismatch…

I believe this is whats to come this season….
- Nilanka15
  
  As long as he continues to NEVER rely on his jumper, he’ll have a great season
  - Destro
    
    I dont give a fck if its a jumper hook shot dunk layup no looksie between the legs if he shoots 45 % scores and gets the to the line hes fine…
  - FAQ
    
    BC hasn’t yet offered DD a contract extension…. perhaps that’s because BC wants DD to provide some return for all that ‘development’ playing time he got for the last 3 years before showing him any money.
    
    If DD doesn’t start producing consistently big numbers every game, BC will just write him off as a poor investment and use him as trade bait for somebody more deserving and talented.
    
    The question is does DD warrant a salary of $4,531,458 next season if he doesn’t contribute more at both ends of the floor???
    - p00ka
      
      Well, “The question” being discussed here is his performance, not his expected value going forward, in relation to his qualifying offer. That will be a question at the end of the season, though, so thanks for the 8 month heads-up.
      - FAQ
        
        Thank you for your stupid comment… but fyi I did mention ‘performance’ expectations, and in particular by BC who calls the shots. But don’t let that deter you from spreading your p00 ….
  - gradgrind101
    
    You and all other DeRozan haters/doubters have to lay off his lack of a jumper. He is a career 45% shooter from 10 – 15 feet. Not great but it’s not bad either. His 3 PT % is getting better. Not good enough for a SG but I’ll take it along with the rest of his offensive game if he can improve his 3 pointers to say the low 30′s which I think is doable for DD.
    - Nilanka15
      
      I don’t hate DeRozan. I’m just not a fan of his skill set (although, I have been impressed with his attacking mentality so far this preseason).
      
      But anyways, there’s nothing wrong with criticizing a player when it’s warranted. A shooting guard who can’t shoot, falls under this category.
      - gradgrind101
        
        You had to know that I was going to follow up with Dwyane Wade right?
        
        At 22 he was just entering the nba while DeMar has just turned 23. We can compare stats all night but DW is not a perimeter threat yet he has won 2 championships. TO is not going to win a championship anytime soon but I do believe DD will have a much better year this year…
        
        My bigger concern is his defensive contributions…Can’t win without him stepping up on d and a few more rebounds wouldn’t hurt either…
Danielscott677

So far so good…yes it is pre season but playing hard and closing out games is a good habbit. I would like to see more post moves from J.V rather then that one pump fake, spin and running hook shot. But i really like his skills and feel he will develop quickly for a traditional post player. If amir can make that elbow jumper and keep his hustle he will see why charles oakley had a nice long career. Don’t get me wrong oakley did alot of other small things and was somewhat of a inforcer but he expanded his value by hitting that jumper. Our bench actually looks deep and consistant. I feel this year we will go as far as our defense and KL take us. I just prey for the AB of last year BEFORE he got injured.
- Nilanka15
  
  Amir’s jumper looks good so far, but he still hesitates far too much. He’ll shoot if it’s the last option. I’d like to see him catching the ball ready to shoot more often (rather than waiting to see if there’s a defender within 5 feet, and then launching).
  - FAQ
    
    Kevin Garnett also has an outside jumper… and only if Amir could do what KG does under the basket he too could be worth $10 Mil..!!!
511

Thought ED played less than the 12 or so minutes the box shows. Regardless, he’s like a rebound magnet sometimes. Seemed like only a few minutes and … bing-bang-boom, 5 rebounds. Liking his game.

Amir’s stroke looks extra-refined these days. Those two – Ed and Amir – can go one-two in the rotation, either way or together, all season, as far as I’m concerned (at this moment).

Lowry is something I don’t recall seeing on the Raps. Never mind the depth of the team, which is obvious; he puts depth at the pg spot all by himself, to my eyes.

Last two games have been slowly snuffing out the conflicted sense I have about Bargs. At this rate, he’ll be up to speed on or near-after the 31st. Ya know … if. (I’m superstitious about AB.)

Jonas keeps winning me over in new ways. Wasn’t sure if his hesitation to shoot a few times last night was rookie-yips or good sense winning out. In the end, I figured ‘good sense’.

Speaking of (good sense), it’d be nice to see DeMar add to his nice improvements by giving up taking the shot to pass it off for a better (team) look, a little bit more. Maybe someone will show him that on the tape and … he’ll learn(?). If so, they might be quicker to re-sign him before the 31st. Which I’m starting to really hope they do.
http://twitter.com/lgsshedden L. Graham Smith

get the sense Casey will finally get to manage the team the way he wants i.e. put a guy in and see him execute. Casey makes good game adjustments and finally has the options at his disposal to shut down teams, play tight and still score in close games. Depth means he can have his starters, 3 regular rotation guys and then select game by game, period by period who else he spots in to do a particular job.
Starters: Lowry, DeRozan, Feilds, Bargs and JY
3 rotational: Calderon, Johnson and JL3
situational: Davis, Anderson, Ross, Kleiza, Maguire, Acey and Grey — 4 out 7 dressed depending on needs, nicks and injuries — Davis, Anderson plus 2 others –Maguire and Grey as the default, sit until needed pros.
at this point I would say JL3 and AA have bumped Ross down the depth chart — he will get his chance but not until its earned
- FAQ
  
  No Jell-O…. no Team-O ….!!!!!!!!!!
OvertheWall

Derozan rarely passes, and he probably won’t change that any time soon. But that’s just who he is. Occassionally, it’s frustrating, but some things you just can’t change.
- FAQ
  
  DD reminds me of all those teammates of mine who couldn’t play b-ball unless they had the ball in their hands. They were scoring heroes but we mostly lost because of their one-dimensional games. It was frustrating to play with them and to watch them floundering about most of the time.
511

From a Holly MacKenzie tweet an hour ago — DeMar: “We’re getting the young fella Jonas more involved. The better he gets, the better we’re going to be because he’s our anchor.”

Couldn’t have said it better.
- FAQ
  
  So JonasV is going to be an “involved anchor” …??!!!
FAQ

After all is said and done, I think we can all agree that this edition of the Raptors are a “blue collar” team with no truly outstanding players.

All we can hope for is some kind of “surprise” after they jell as a team under coach Casey’s tutelage.

No Jell-O … no Team-O …..!!!!!!!
- 511
  
  Not sure we’d *all* agree with that. 20 year old Jonas Valanciunas might easily have the makings of a ‘truly outstanding player’. And if a couple others play up to how good he might end up being, well … who knows how good the team might be, once they ‘jell’.
  - FAQ
    
    What you are telling us is the Raptors are a big question mark for this season … given the ‘less than outstanding’ player roster …. and we must wait an indeterminate amount of time for certain players to ‘develop’ fully and for the team to ‘jell’.

I think the 2007 Raptor team's biggest problem was a lack of secondary scoring option. We had Bosh (who was neutralized by Mikey freakin' Moore), and everyone else. Was any team scared of Calderon or Parker dropping 25? Definitely not.

This year, we've got 2 legit scorers in Lowry and DeRozan, and even Salmons and Vasquez have the ability to turn a broken play into 2 points. I'm not suggesting this current team are worldbeaters, but their offense isn't as one-dimensional as the 2007 team, without even saying anything about the improved defense.

Nilanka15

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