As promised, now that ESPN’s John Hollinger has released his player evaluations for the Toronto Raptors, I’m ready to share my take on his take.

On Hollinger
I know Hollinger gets a bad rap for a few things and there are vocal groups who don’t like him, but I find his written player profiles to be of value. For one, he sees a lot more data and video and basketball than I do, so I trust that he generally knows what he’s talking about (even if his once cutting-edge stats are now usurped by those of Basketball Reference, 82Games and more). In addition, when it comes to non-Raptors, it’s a handy first checkpoint for scouting, because his profiles do a good job wrapping up the players into simple generalities. (This obviously isn’t a healthy habit as a standard operating procedure, but for a first-glance it’s valuable).

Pay-Wall Caveat
With that long-winded introduction done, allow me one more unnecessarily wordy caveat – his player profiles are behind the ESPN Insider pay wall. As an ESPN Insider, I get access to the Hollinger stats and player profiles, while non-members, I believe, only get snippets. So in my reactions below, I kind of have to toe the line with respect to giving away too much of the “pay” content. Hopefully I’ve found a happy mid-way point between giving away his content and not providing anything of value.

Method
I looked at Hollinger’s three “Scouting Report” bullets, wrote my reaction, and then read his “Analysis” portion to see if I missed any salient points.

Yesterday was part one examining the guards and wings, and today we’ll take a look at the big men.

Projected Starters – Kyle Lowry, DeMar DeRozan, Landry Fields, Andrea Bargnani, Jonas Valanciunas

Big Men
Andrea Bargnani
Hollinger Pro: Jump shooting; off catch or with dribble/jab; improved defender
Hollinger Con: Soft; rebounding
My Take: I was surprised to see Bargs get a bit of love for his improved defense because I assumed this would have been an element that flew under the radar of the national media last season. Still, playing at the four obviously agrees with him defensively, allowing him to worry about using his length to guard his man rather than focusing on help-D, where Amir tags in. Obviously the rebounding is an issue, but it’s something the team can work around by putting strong rebounders around him, which they’ve done with Lowry, Fields, and Amir all possibly joining him in the starting unit. Given the dichotomy in the Republic’s opinions on Andrea, there isn’t much point in diving in too deeply. After six seasons we know who he is for the most part but he still seems to make incremental improvements each year, leaving me excited to see how he looks with renewed health, a new season, and some new teammates around him.

Jonas Valanciunas
Hollinger Pro: Mobility; scoring near basket; rebounding
Hollinger Con: Strength
My Take: Hollinger doesn’t seem to know much about Jonas, but his European translation stats speak highly of his upside, however reliable those translations are. A good point made is that Jonas’ strong free-throw shooting portends potential as a mid-range shooter, which is important to keep in mind since the book all offseason has been about his skill as a dive-man exclusively. Jonas is obviously The Big Unknown this year (aka the Lethaluanian…apologies to Eric Smith, but I’m taking this from Kleiza and giving it to Jonas), but luckily for all of us we start to find out more soon (assuming his calf heals in time for early exhibition games).

Ed Davis
Hollinger Pro: Finishing; shot-blocking; rebounding
Hollinger Con: Can’t create; turnovers; strength
My Take: I disagree with a lot of Hollinger’s discussion about Davis being “a 5 in a 4’s body,” since, as you’ve probably learned by now, I don’t really feel the need to shoehorn guys into the traditional five positions. The fact that Ed can only score near the basket and is a strong rebounder doesn’t have as much to do with position as it does with role, and the profile Hollinger describes is one that fits well offensively with someone like Andrea Bargnani. Sure, Davis is much too weak to guard centers so he may rarely play with Andrea, but questioning his fit offensively seemed odd to me. The talk from camp has been that Davis’ shot is much improved, which is something I outlined all season as a must-have for him this year, and if that’s even remotely the case then Hollinger’s entire take here goes out the window, as he could then conceivably play with Jonas or Amir comfortably as a “more true four.” Either way, it’s make or break time for Ed, given the battle for minutes among the bigs this preseason. Then again, I’m notoriously a Davis-backer, so take my analysis with a grain of salt.

Amir Johnson
Hollinger Pro: Finisher; shot-blocking; rebounding
Hollinger Con: Foul-prone; post-game
My Take: Hmm, decent midrange shooter but poor finisher? Sounds like a fair tag-team partner for Ed, doesn’t it? I digress. While the discussion mostly focuses on Amir as a four, the Raptors pair him with Andrea often due to their complementary games, and in those situations Johnson is the center, period. Obviously, fouls and turnovers remain a problem, but given the depth this team has in the post I can actually deal with a high foul rate if it means the rebounding and defense stay at the levels we’ve become accustomed to. I don’t think there’s the expectation of 35 minutes for Amir any longer, so if we all except the fouls and embrace the rest of his profile, we have a very adequate starting center, albeit a non-traditional one.

Aaron Gray
Hollinger Pro: Rebounding; low-post play
Hollinger Con: Fouls; mobility/athleticism
My Take: Gray will probably find himself on the short end of playing time this year except in certain match-ups, as he doesn’t provide much that isn’t found elsewhere on the roster except for size. He’s an adequate short-minute fill in, especially against big opposition, but he doesn’t add a lot beyond rebounding. All of this is readily obvious watching him for two minutes, so you don’t need an ESPN Insider account to confirm that for you. I like Gray as a 12th-man type, but it will infuriate me to no end if he gets consistent run now that Andrea is back full-time and Jonas has been added to the mix.

Quincy Acy
Hollinger Pro: Leaping; rebounding; shot-blocking
Hollinger Con: Skills
My Take: So he might just be a bench player with a bit of flash and a bit of grit, you say? Fine by me for a second round pick, especially if Casey can coax meaningful defense out of him. Personally I’d like to see Acy get some D-League time to refine his offensive game and work on the team’s defensive principles as a four, but the unfortunate nature of sharing a D-League affiliate with other teams is that you’re not afforded the luxury of managing your own players closely (MUCH more on that in a future piece I’m developing). As it is, Acy will either be a high-rebounding D-League player or a regularly inactive practice body, neither of which should be considered disappointing for a second round pick, even one who was a college senior.

I think Arse is going to have something over the weekend, but regardless you should check back on the holiday Monday, as I’m kicking around the idea of live-blogging the Raptors v Madrid exhibition game. And as always, follow me on Twitter.

As promised, now that ESPN’s John Hollinger has released his player evaluations for the Toronto Raptors, I’m ready to share my take on his take.

On Hollinger
I know Hollinger gets a bad rap for a few things and there are vocal groups who don’t like him, but I find his written player profiles to be of value. For one, he sees a lot more data and video and basketball than I do, so I trust that he generally knows what he’s talking about (even if his once cutting-edge stats are now usurped by those of Basketball Reference, 82Games and more). In addition, when it comes to non-Raptors, it’s a handy first checkpoint for scouting, because his profiles do a good job wrapping up the players into simple generalities. (This obviously isn’t a healthy habit as a standard operating procedure, but for a first-glance it’s valuable).

Pay-Wall Caveat
With that long-winded introduction done, allow me one more unnecessarily wordy caveat – his player profiles are behind the ESPN Insider pay wall. As an ESPN Insider, I get access to the Hollinger stats and player profiles, while non-members, I believe, only get snippets. So in my reactions below, I kind of have to toe the line with respect to giving away too much of the “pay” content. Hopefully I’ve found a happy mid-way point between giving away his content and not providing anything of value.

Method
I looked at Hollinger’s three “Scouting Report” bullets, wrote my reaction, and then read his “Analysis” portion to see if I missed any salient points.

Today we’ll start with part one and examine the guards and wings, while tomorrow we’ll take a look at the big men.

Projected Starters – Kyle Lowry, DeMar DeRozan, Landry Fields, Andrea Bargnani, Jonas Valanciunas

Point Guards
Kyle Lowry
Hollinger Pro: Aggression, toughness, ball pressure, defense; improved outside shooting; excellent rebounder; draws fouls
Hollinger Con: Short; can get out of control
My Take: Seems pretty glowing and relatively accurate from my end. While they note that Lowry’s defensive metrics slacked last year, that is partly attributable to his unhappiness with his situation (not that it’s a valid excuse for a professional basketball player). I’ve loved what I’ve heard about him so far from camp – I love hearing the “refuses to lose in practice” line about players I’m going to have to watch and care about for 82 games.

Jose Calderon
Hollinger Pro: Takes care of ball, finds open man; outside shooting
Hollinger Con: Abused by fast guards; doesn’t get into paint; injury-prone
My Take: Calderon lead the league in Pure Point Rating last year, but the negatives in his profile, mainly his defense, hold him back. I’d say, at the very least, his defensive effort and intelligence improved last year, but his foot speed isn’t going to improve at 31. He’s in that awkward position of being a below-average starter but probably too good to be a low-minute reserve. Unmentioned is his leadership ability, which will hopefully stay in tact in a reserve role.

John Lucas
Hollinger Pro: Quick, outside shot, scorer
Hollinger Con: Doesn’t draw fouls; lacks vision; too small
My Take: I did not realize his two-point shooting was about equal with his three-point shooting, and I was surprised just how extreme his lack of free throws was. With that said, he still seems capable as a Microwave Man off the bench, and you can do much worse for a third point guard. Defensively, I agree with Hollinger that the jury is out until he has some minutes with non All-Defense caliber big-men.

Wings
Demar DeRozan
Hollinger Pro: Gets to rim, draws fouls, good from midrange; finishing ability; some defensive tools
Hollinger Con: One-dimensional; ball hog, poor handle; lacks defensive focus
My Take: Well, if that last ‘con’ point is correct, DeRozan will be in tough for minutes in Casey’s wing-heavy, accountability-driven rotation. I wouldn’t say that DeMar is one-dimensional, moreso that he’s been used in a single dimension so far. Hopefully with a different style of point guard and other floor spacers, he can work off the ball more to leverage his mid-range talents (note: not long-two talents). DeRozan’s biggest potential for offensive improvement is adding a three-ball to his repertoire, which Hollinger doesn’t point out but I feel is a key to his taking the next step.

Landry Fields
Hollinger Pro: Rebounding, quick leaper; smart player, good off-ball; never fouls
Hollinger Con:Poor shooter; rarely attacks
My Take: Well if “poor shooter, rarely attacks” is a player’s actual profile, where does he belong in an NBA starting lineup? I understand there are points on the spectrum between there, and Hollinger himself notes how he gets himself easy buckets and contributes in a lot of smaller ways, but there’s no question in my mind that Fields’ shooting has to improve for him to provide adequate value. I believe the Raptors think they’re getting somewhere closer to his rookie year shooting profile, and the intangibles and Casey-ness of his profile are obvious (late addition: Battier-comparison from Casey today, according to Twitter).

Linas Kleiza
Hollinger Pro: Physical; strong drive to rim
Hollinger Con: Fouls a lot; never goes left or passes
My Take: I listed Linas with the wings because the big rotation looks pretty full, so Kleiza will probably have to carve out minutes at the three. Of course, he’s effective as a small-ball four, and the Raptors have the guards to play a small lineup, so maybe he’ll get play that way at the expense of some of the bigs. The book on Kleiza is well established at this point – he’s a versatile scorer but comes with some baggage, specifically in the form of turnovers. His value is probably at it’s highest on the second unit of a team with a poor offensive set of reserves, which this team may or may not be, but it doesn’t seem that way right now. I originally thought he was protected as a Jonas liaison for the year, but the team may opt to deal him to avoid his $4.5M player option for next season.

Terrence Ross
Hollinger Pro: Range; excellent defensive potential
Hollinger Con: Not strong; never draws fouls
My Take: It’s a bit early to write the book on any college player, especially one many of us on the East Coast didn’t get to see much, but this more or less matches what we’ve been hearing all offseason. He doesn’t necessarily need to get to the line on this team, but long-term it’s something he’ll be required to add to his game. Obviously the team, specifically Casey, loves his defensive potential, but his three-point shooting could come in handy to complement the Jose-Jonas pick-and-roll on the second unit.

Alan Anderson
Hollinger Pro: Set shooting; solid defense
Hollinger Con: Overaggressive, sloppy handle; poor rebounder and passer
My Take: I never really caught Anderson’s defensive value last year, perhaps because my brain was too strung out from the season by the time Anderson was carving out minutes. I did, however, notice all the turnovers, and appreciated the three-point shooting. I don’t think we’ll see too much of Double-A this year, so I’m not going to think too much about his profile based on limited exposure.

Dominic McGuire
Hollinger Pro: No profile
Hollinger Con: No profile
My Take: Hollinger doesn’t have a profile done for DMC, but allow me – he’s a strong defender at multiple positions, he has strong rebounding and passing numbers for a wing but his usage rate is insanely low, limiting his PER. He’s also a decent career free throw shooter but has struggled from the field. He should see run at multiple positions, perhaps as a message to other wing players when their defense slips up.

Check back tomorrow for my take on his analysis of our big men. And as always, follow me on Twitter.

I don’t have the rights to use any Media Day pics.

Toronto Raptors’ media day was yesterday, and in light of that I’m pushing back my reaction piece to Hollinger’s Player Profiles to instead react to some of the more intriguing quotes from media day. I wasn’t present myself, so I’ll credit the source (or transcribe for videos I watched on Raptors.com) wherever it’s applicable.

Bryan Colangelo
“There’s that feeling that there could be something special about this group. But time will tell.”
“This year, you’ll see a little bit less of a leash when mistakes are made.”
“We’re now moving forward and accelerating this process. We hope that that includes playoffs.”
Via: Eric Koreen, The National Post
Reaction: These quotes are all in response to different questions thrown his way, so it’s good to see that, at the very least, he’s proclaiming a consistent message. Regardless of whether or not you think the Raptors actually have the talent to fight for a playoff spot (for the record, I do), it’s encouraging to hear about a shorter leash for mistakes. Of course, I doubt the leash will be too short with Jonas Valanciunas, but it may be speaking more to the more experienced younger players like Amir Johnson, Ed Davis and DeMar DeRozan. I hope the accountability is primarily focused on the defensive end, as well, since while the team’s defense was far better than its offense last year, I’m still of the mind that it should be the team’s primary focus.

Ed Davis
“I like it (my shot) now. It’s going in more.”
Via: Ryan Wolstat, Toronto Sun
Reaction: This was something I had hoped to see more of in Summer League, as it’s the main thing holding back Davis’ offensive game. It’ll need to drop often for him to even get a chance to use it much, as he’ll be in a five-man dog-fight for minutes at power forward and center. His defensive instincts are pretty strong and he’s a very capable rebounder, nearly in the upper echelon, but his offensive game outside of short hooks and put-backs has been unimpressive. This was his first real, full off-season to work since his time at UNC, so while this quote is cutesy and humorous, it also needs to be true.

Jonas Valanciunas
“Since I was a kid I liked to play hard, I like to compete, I like to win. I think that’s helping me. I like the taste of victory.”
Via: Tim Chisholm, TSN
Reaction: Well I sure hope so. He echoed some of Bargnani’s message that this season isn’t about individual goals but is about team goals, which is nice to hear from a rookie player rather than the usual platitudes about carving out a role or establishing themselves or whatever. I don’t doubt the organization has been very clear with Jonas about how he’ll be handled, so perhaps he’s just secure enough in his role to know it won’t change too much and he can put his focus on winning. Casey also called him one of the fastest dive-men off a pick-and-roll he’s seen, so that’s an unrelated plus.

Dwane Casey
“If there is going to be one difference in our look offensively it will be using the 3 ball.”
Via: Michael Grange, Sportsnet
Reaction: This was one of my key takeaways after analyzing the roster changes for the team, and it’s a key area for the league’s 25th best offense since they ranked 19th in three-point percentage last season and 20th in attempts. Generally, three-point shots are higher-efficiency shots, at least compared to mid-range or long-two jumpers, so an increased focus on corner and elbow threes, especially assisted ones, fits well with the personnel on the team. It’s yet to be seen if DeRozan has improved his range, but Ross, Fields and Lowry are all additions that can hit from deep, and Lowry’s presence should also allow for Jose Calderon to shoot more (with the second unit) and Andrea Bargnani to see less defensive pressure.

Dwane Casey
“Spent some time this off-season at Seahawks training camp, impressed by the organization. I would recommend any coach to attend an NFL camp to see how meticulous they are with the time they have.”
Via: Michael Grange, Sportsnet (paraphrased via Twitter)
Reaction: Pete Carroll jokes aside, you have to love a coach willing to take on new ways of improving his process and improving his coaching. NFL training camps sound like hell, so if I’m a Raptor and I see an exhibition schedule with long gaps between game days, I’m getting my cardio up to snuff in a hurry. In a camp with this much competition for playing time, Casey is fully within his rights to push these guys and see who steps up to the challenge.

Jose Calderon
“(He) wishes fans/media understood, after all these years, that he is a ‘team’ guy, that he’s earned that respect.”
Via: Eric Smith, Sportsnet Radio (paraphrased via Twitter)
Reaction: I’m with you Jose. Commenters will let you know I’m a Calderon apologist, but you never hear a discouraging word come from his mouth (directly, at least), and he’s remained the ultimate good soldier. It obviously sucks for him for the franchise to continually bring in new heirs to the point guard throne, and it’s likely doubly frustrating since this comes in his walk year and threatens to hurt his market value. Still, even if his legs and defense can’t keep up as he ages, there is always a place for offensively gifted, team-first guys. Here’s hoping he plays out the year with the team unless Colangelo can use him to acquire a piece for the long-term.

Terrence Ross
“I think I got picked at the right spot, the Raptors knew what I could do, they drafted me for a reason. Playing on the West Coast, not a lot of people had the opportunity to see me as much as they saw the Jeremy Lamb’s Austin Rivers. I’m OK with that, it’s no big deal to me because I’m in the right position I think. I’m just going to play my game.”
Via: Ryan Wolstat, Toronto Sun
Reaction: This is more of your typical rookie-speak to start the year. It seems like he has a bit of a chip on his shoulder, and hopefully that is something that drives him to carve out a role early on. He has the potential to be a great defender and dangerous transition weapon, though a lot of his potential impact is mitigated by how Casey decides to dole out minutes with a crowded wing group. I’m high on Ross, but admittedly it’s more based on reading and Summer League than any impactful viewing of his games at Washington (though a friend who worked for UW assures me he’s the real deal).

Dominic McGuire
“I’m a defensive stopper.”
Via: Raptors.com
Reaction: Damn right. Everyone seems to agree he’s a great fit for Casey’s style, and I could see him carving out a nice role as Casey’s go-to bulldog on the wing. He can guard almost every position capably, so there’s potential for Casey to use him as a closer of sorts, depending on match-ups. Beyond that, with his versatility and defense I could see Casey using him as a means of punishing other players. It reads as an odd role, but what I mean is that if DeRozan, Ross, Fields, etc, make mistakes or have lapses, McGuire can be the guy Casey turns to as a means of leveraging floor time as a motivating factor. This works with McGuire because he seems to know his role and doesn’t seem like the type to moan about minutes.

DeMar DeRozan
Nothing specific.
Via: Raptors.com
Reaction: I didn’t want to transcribe any particular quote because his entire session flowed through topics and had a common theme. He seems to have worked hard and really learned from his time with the USA Select squad. He seems ready and from other quotes earlier in the week, he seems to understand the career crossroads he’s at this season. I’m a fan, but he’s definitely in a position where the franchise is done waiting and developing him, and he needs to establish himself as a great player rather than a good, occasionally great, occasionally poor, player.

I know there are probably a lot more good quotes, but I watched the Raptors.com videos earlier in the day and don’t remember anything else really sticking out as comment-worthy. There was a lot of your typical training-camp speak, best shape of my life, we’re gonna be much better kind of talk. It’s okay to get excited about it, but if you take it to heart you’re accepting a reality where 30 NBA teams make the playoffs and 10 teams win the Championship.

Proceed with caution, but it’s certainly okay to be optimistic coming out of media day…that’s the whole point. A week in Halifax should provide some good information from the beat guys (Koreen is my guy, but you’re free to follow whomever’s coverage you prefer), and the intrasquad game to close the week will be fun. Real Madrid is the first big test (and don’t think they’re not a test, they’re good) on the 8th.

What quotes have you particularly excited or particularly annoyed?

Follow @BlakeMurphyODC

The only interesting quote from Jay today was about Jack and Calderon:

It’s competition in practice every day. It makes you concentrate more and play harder every day and play better in practice and because of that I think they’ll push each other. I think that when we go to the bench we’re not going to skip a beat, we’re have a different look, but at the same time they are both similar in the style they play and their ability to push the basketball. The intensity of which we play with will be at an all-time high because we have two point guards who can run the show. They both have the size to be able to guard twos if they have to. That’s going to afford us the opportunity to play them together.

Call me crazy but I don’t think they’re very similar at all. One’s a bullish physical specimen with a tight handle and a drive whilst the other is a better shooter, a more precise passer and more inclined to run the offense than go rogue. He’s right about one thing though, and that’s that we’ll be much improved at the 1 for a much longer time than last year. It’s also interesting to note that there’s no debate as to who the starting point guard will be. Everybody has accepted that Jose will be given the reigns but the decision to do so is questioned every day in practice, not by Jack’s mouth but his play.

As for them guarding the SG? Jack played 48% of his minutes there last year and held his check to a lower PER than himself. I don’t know how much to make of that stat but it at least shows that he’s not a liability there. Calderon didn’t even muster enough minutes at the SG for 82games.com to even consider. Both are 6’3″ with Calderon at 210 being 13lbs heavier, however, Jack’s physique and strength appear to be superior, especially in the upper body. That’s probably the main reason Jim O’Brien could afford to play him so much at the off guard. I do agree with Triano though, 6’3″ is good enough size to guard the SG for limited minutes, but what he didn’t address in his quote is defensive ability and lateral quickness which Jack has in spades over Calderon.

Back to practice and I made this point over the summer a couple times and it’s worth repeating. One of the biggest problems last year was that our starters had nobody to compete with in practice and they came out to the games all mellow and untested. This year that’s been fixed and it is the main reason we saw such a competitive scrimmage (Game in 6). DeRozan-Belinelli, Calderon-Jack, Bargnani-Rasho, Bosh-Evans/Johnson and Turkoglu-Wright are solid matchups for any practice session. Jack, Evans and Wright are all defense-first guys who’ll challenge the “Big Three” of Bargnani, Bosh and Calderon every day. Those three will test not only the skills of the core of our franchise, but also their toughness and mental strength.

The three players that I’m most interested in seeing in pre-season are DeRozan, Belinelli and Johnson because their performances will have a massive impact on the start of the season. Both Belinelli and Johnson are players that have been discarded by their original teams, in other words they were considered “not good enough” and have a lot to prove. There’s an excellent chance we’ll be asking them to be the primary backups at their respective positions and that’s a situation they’ll never have been in before (Johnson’s career MPG is 13.6 and Marco was in Don Nelson’s doghouse the last two years). Triano is bound to have a longer leash with DeRozan, both because of his rookie status and the lack of depth at the SG. Rookies are usually eased into teams that hope to contend but the Raptors are different, they don’t have much of a choice which means he’ll get to play through his mistakes, a luxury rookies on “contending” teams never have.

On to some stats stuff. The adjusted +/- has been on my mind since the last couple days, here’s a brief description of the stat. I think we all agree that +/- is for the most part total BS because a player shouldn’t have to pay for somebody else’s mistakes. Well, the adjusted +/- looks at a player while considering all the lineups he’s played in. For example, if player X had a bad +/- playing with a certain lineup and a good +/- playing with a different lineup, maybe his real +/- is somewhere in between. By the same rationale, if player X has a bad +/- in all of his lineups, maybe that stat is reflective of something significant. The sample size needed to make this stat meaningful is quite large. For example, if Jose’s getting burned on the perimeter while playing 35 mpg with 30 of those minutes with Chris Bosh on the floor, it’s hurting Bosh’s +/- stat and he only has 5 minutes to make up for it with another PG. Ideally, you’d like to have many different lineups with relevant permutations of old and current rosters for this to make any sense. Anyway, just bookmark this site and follow it along during the season to see if it jives with what you think. I had dismissed it last year but will give it a shot this season.

Many analysts like Hollinger and Berri dive into stats and attempt to extract information out of data, something which is a very difficult task because even though you’re working with pure mathematics, the stats you choose to give weight to and the ones you choose to play down, will always be subject to debate. No matter how much we all try, there is no foolproof way to look at stats and derive information that can’t be countered using another statistical angle. Let’s stick with the +/- example, the only way one can assign a player blame or credit for any given possession is to watch the game on a possession-by-possession basis. On every score and every stop you have to rank the players that were responsible for that score or stop. If player X is broken down by player Y who glides in for a layup, I’d assign 85% of the blame to player X, 15% of it to the big man who was late in helping. I’d give 100% of the credit to player Y, unless of course he got a solid screen from player Z who would then be given around 20-30% of the credit depending on how much space the screen freed up. Every possession is different and requires you to watch the game when forming an opinion of the effectiveness of individuals. Can you say possession-outcome chart?

Did you know that statistically speaking, Andrea Bargnani and Marco Belinelli were the 13th and 16th most improved players in the league last year? If you want to see graphical representations of the “four factors” and some advance team stats in the box scores, keep an eye on statsheet.com. To see how substitutions and lineups impact the flow of a game, there’s no better place than popcornmachine.net.

The team will practice again on Monday before heading to London on Tuesday.

The $20 dollars was the best value of money you could ever spend on the Raptors. Myself, AltRaps and Wally were standing on the baseline the entire game and got a great view of the scrimmage. You can check out some pics and videos I took from my rather crappy camera. I’ll upload a couple videos later. The arena holds about a 1000 people and can best be defined by the word ‘intimate’. Yeah, I tried looking up better words to describe it but couldn’t. The scrimmage is more a show for the fans than an event from which hard and fast conclusions can be drawn, nonetheless, it does give an idea of the level of intensity, competitiveness and general flow of training camp thus far. You could also figure out how certain players are approaching the pre-season and what their level of involvement might be this year.

Antoine Wright said it was the most intense training camp he’s been to and he might not be exaggerating. There was no sign of anyone taking it easy in this game and everybody was trying to make their mark. Patrick O’Bryant even got into a debate with the ref after a foul against Bargnani to which the ref appeared to respond: Listen man, just tell me what you want me to call next time and I’ll do it but god damn man, it’s a scrimmage, take it easy! Calderon, DeRozan, Bargnani and Wright were on one team (coached by Iavaroni) while Jack, Belinelli, Rasho and Evans were on the other (coached by English). Jack’s team won 47-32 and he himself was the best player on the court today. He was the most vocal of anyone and was barking out some pretty complex sounding plays all game long.

He broke Calderon down off the bounce using the general shake ‘n bake menu and had Jose running around screens for most of the game. Wally thinks that Jack’s determined to take Calderon’s job and even though he’s not going to outright say it, you can see it in his play. Jack got to the paint and kicked out against a defense that looked programmed to stop any dribble penetration right at the top of the FT line. He showed good court vision in transition and was easily the Raptors’ best ball handler on the afternoon, he even showed some flair with two very nice behind-the-back passes that weren’t out of place but served to gain some advantage. Later Triano talked about him being vocal:

He’s been that vocal his whole life. He’s always talking, it’s good to have. Before we made the trade I used to coach against him and he’s giving calls out and he does not stop. It’s all basketball talk, it’s not fake or street talk. He’s communicating with his teammates and that is something we lacked last year.

When I saw Reggie Evans I thought he was 9 feet tall and weight 400 pounds. This guy is easily the strongest and most built Raptor and he plays like it. Evans is a one-dimensional player but he’s really good at that one sole dimension. You could critique his man-defense, FT shooting and jumper all night long but the man will bring us some real physical presence in the paint. He was tearing down rebounds, dipping his shoulder, boxing-out hard and hustling every trip down the floor. He finished strong around the basket, cleared space with his frame and didn’t allow anyone to get a rebound over him the time he was in there. His effort and intensity were at 100%. Later he said:

When fans come to the game, they at least want to see hard work. No matter if you win or lose, they want to see somebody going real hard because they’re working hard to earn a living just so they can come to our games. You never want to disrespect the basketball court. You want to come out here first-class, practise, shootaround, no matter what. You want to come out and play hard every time you step on the court.’

I don’t care if he’s building a house of bricks out there, fans will love him, especially in Toronto which is a city which rewards the Tie Domi-type.

If we talk about Reggie, we got to talk about Amir Johnson and he was very unimpressive. I was surprised by how reluctant he was to test his outside jumper and how weakly he tried to finish around the basket. He got rejected by the rim once and pinned by Bargnani on a baseline drive. He looks like the athletic-type but in this game he reminded Wally of one Jerome Moiso – there’s some talent there but can we ever find a way to get it out? Again, it’s probably a write-off game but of all the big men he looked the weakest. Even Patrick O’Bryant had a moment or two, the funniest one being Marcus Banks looking him off in transition even though he had a clear path to the rim.

The player we were most excited to see was DeMar DeRozan. I actually yelled his name during the game which resulted in this rather angry look from the man. The opinion amongst us three was split as to what kind of game he had. We all agreed that his handle was suspect and that he needs to keep the dribble alive under pressure. Both teams deployed a high-trap to force the ball-handler to pick up his dribble around the top of the three point line and whereas Jack, Douby and Calderon managed to beat the trap through dribbling, DeRozan struggled.

I don’t know if the guy’s coasting but he looks like he’s coasting. There’s something about his on-court demeanor that gives you the impression that he’s playing at 75%, Wally felt that this was on purpose because he wanted to pace himself, I felt Wally’s theory was utter shite. AltRaps continued his moaning of how DeRozan should’ve dominated summer league and sticks to the opinion that DeRozan ain’t what he’s cranked up to be. I felt his off-the-ball movement was good, nothing great but good, he doesn’t park himself on the perimeter and moves East-West whenever there’s space available. He can run the lanes if he’s already a little ahead in transition but there were chances today where a DeRozan sprint could’ve resulted in much better options for Calderon on the break.

His spot-up jumper is smooth and on its way to being a solid weapon, it’s the pull-up that needs more work. A few times today he was up against Belinelli and Weems who were D’ing him up pretty hard. DeRozan responded with space-clearing dribbles and a quick rise for the jumper. The shots were semi-contested and the results were usually bricks. We saw in summer league how the mid-range game was his main weapon, not so much against better defenders. The talent and ability was evident in some of his drives (the one to finish off the game was beautiful) but overall I felt he’s got some ways to go before he can adapt to the pace of the game. His finishing on the break and athleticism are not an issue but his feel of how to react to defenses was poorer than I had anticipated, even at this early stage. If you had to make a decision based on this game alone, I would not start him just because he doesn’t look ready. I’m sure things will change over the course of the next couple weeks, though.

Let’s keep going with the wings. Marco Belinelli was aggressive with his offense, he didn’t do anything spectacular like throw it down but looked for the drive against DeRozan and Weems on a consistent basis. He obviously knew that the team’s defensive philosophy is to provide quick help and countered it with solid passes back out to the perimeter. He showed us his spot-up game and made a couple mid-range jumpers where he found space after his check went under the screen. That’s something I was expecting Jose and DeRozan to do more of but it never happened. Belinelli’s wearing the number 0 because of the whole Gilbert Arenas reason (nobody believed in me blah blah blah) and today he played like he had something to prove. You can debate between Wright and DeRozan for the starting spot all you want but one thing’s for sure: Belinelli will have a say in that race simply because he’s going to give it his best shot.

Before the game the Raptors were throwing down some dunks for the crowds and Sonny Weems and Antoine Wright were the ones that stood out. Wright is a legit 6’7″ athlete, I have my reservations about whether he can guard high-caliber NBA wings but today did a lot to make me feel comfortable. He definitely has the tools and quickness to do the job, and from what Triano speak of him, he has the IQ to go with it. He started the game with some aggressive traps against Jack and some motivated defense against Belinelli, but after the first quarter he took it easy. Sonny Weems at a legit 6’6″ is another athlete who seems to have bought into Triano’s defensive principles, his defensive effort was there and I love the stance he adopts when he’s one-on-one at the top of the key. His NBA career spans a mere 12 games so nobody really knows what he brings technically, all I can say is that he played hard today.

My man Douby didn’t have a great showing. He looked for his offense too early in the clock and then missed jumpers that made his decision to take them look even worse. He was in the game as a point guard but ended up playing like a shot-hungry shooting guard. Jarrett Jack’s insistence on breaking down Jose left him a little winded and he didn’t have a great game. He took some very forced shots including a leaner on the baseline that was pure bush-league. It’s just not the same for him without Bosh in there to run the pick ‘n roll with because it forces him to find the seams through other ways like penetrating on his own, using Bargnani as the high screen only for it to be neutralized by Reggie Evans, and looking for cutters who are being guarded pretty tightly.

You could tell Calderon’s trying to shed the label of the conservative point guard by getting rid of the ball in the backcourt but it seems a little forced because his efforts didn’t lead to any scores. It’ll take some time for DeRozan, Wright, Belinelli and Jack to be on the same page with him when it comes to running so I expect a finer product later in pre-season. I have to point the following out for completeness: He missed two DeRozan corner-cuts. The latter was not pleased. I think Jose’s night was summed up on the play where his corner three was blocked into the stands by Douby.

There was a really douchy moment in this game. It happened when Andrea Bargnani faked Rasho at the right elbow who jumped giving Bargnani the option to let him fly by and take an open jumper or try the drive. Bargnani instead leaned in and drew the foul (could’ve been easily called an offensive foul because of the shoulder sticking out) for two FTs. Now, this might be fine strategy in a game-situation but is that the kind of “cheap” play you want to execute against Rasho in a scrimmage game? I thought it spoke of his confidence – rather get the two cheap points than actually risk missing a shot.

Overall, Bargani was unimpressive. Other than beating Patrick O’Bryant to the rim after a head-fake, he didn’t have much to say. A rebound here, a score there, but nothing that could make you say that he’s any different than last year. Again, it’s only one intra-squad scrimmage but those are the impressions I got. He needs to be dominating the likes of O’Bryant, Evans and Rasho off the dribble but instead I saw a lot of settling and hesitation in his game. Instead of making up his mind early and going to work, he’s thinking too hard and making life difficult for himself. After all, if you have Rasho Nesterovic on you 18 feet out, the decision of what to do needs to be damn obvious.

A quick note about Rasho. Nothing’s changed from what you saw of him a year ago except that he looks a little skinnier. He tried his little jump hook and mid-range jumper but it wasn’t falling. Defended Bargnani well and also got defended by Bargnani fairly well, the latter blocked a fadeaway which made Rasho 0-3 at the time. We talked about Bargnani’s man-defense on the drive home and Wally felt that even though it is pretty good, he doesn’t finish off the play by actually getting the rebound and stops playing once his man has taken the shot. No arguments there.

I thought our team defense was very good. There were hard close-outs, contested shots, timely help, and good recovery. The communication was there (led by Jack) and the players seemed to know their role in the play. For example, when Belinelli ended up checking Bargnani on a switch on the perimeter leaving, leaving Evans to momentarily guard Douby, they recovered quickly. The high traps were organized and successful in wasting seconds of the shot-clock, however, there wasn’t any backcourt trapping. There weren’t too many clean looks for anybody and the overall defensive discipline needs to be credited for that, I think that’s one of the main reasons for the low scoreline.

Nobody can say much about the offense because our two best players didn’t play. The interesting thing to note was that a lot of our offense was initiated by the center holding the ball, much like the triangle offense. Bargnani, O’Bryant and Rasho all started several possessions with them holding the rock in the circle and several cross-cuts going on around them. It was usually passed back to the point or wing but the off-the-ball screens also created a few clean looks for the wings after a quick-pass to the corner. This was something totally new. Another new source of offense could be the most simple one yet: break your man off the dribble without the help of anyone and create. I’ve already pointed to Jack as the best example of this against Calderon. You can throw Belinelli into that mix too.

A word about Marcus Banks. He really is totally useless. Quincy Douby doesn’t even have to play in order to be ahead of him in the depth chart.

We met Alex English after the game and he’s a super cool cat. It should also be mentioned he’s the greatest player on the current roster. Overall, a great day even though it involved 9 hours of driving. Thanks to AltRaps for hooking up the tickets.

Random notes:

- Marcus Banks almost hurt someone. We were praying for the coaches to take him out so no further damage would be inflicted on anyone, including the audience.

- The announcer was trying the old “DeMar DeRozan ssshhhhhhooting two” when somebody got fouled but i made no sense since the crowd was already quiet.

- Wally firmly believes in the value of the adjusted +/-stat. AltRaps, not so much.

- The Raptors sent the second string Dance Pak to this one. Some of them actually declined a photo-request of some locals. Don’t flatter yourself girls.

I saw Dwight Howard, Deron Williams and those guys and they have muscles. I wasn’t as strong as I wanted to be. Seeing the contrast between me and the other guys made me [bulk up]. It made me totally submissive and I told [the trainer] I’ll do what you want me to do. If I got to do a million push-ups I’ll do it. In years past, I’ve settled for jumpers too much and to be honest with you, you have to be stronger if you’re going to take it to the hole. You have to have good strength to finish around the basket. You get a lot more productivity that way and I want my points and rebounds to go up. I knew I had to get a lot strong in order to do that…I want to be the best player in the league one day.

Thank you! Now enough talk and get on to doing it.

If you read this site at all you know that the #1 criticism levied against him is that he takes too many jumpers, so for him to admit that is always welcome. I’d be even more excited about that quote if I hadn’t heard something similar last training camp, the only difference is that he seems more motivated to follow through. That motivation doesn’t necessarily come from seeing himself in the mirror next to Dwight Howard, but the fact that he’s in a contract year. Everybody talks tough and says all the right things in training camp but nobody remembers these quotes or even looks back at them after Game 10 of the season. Let’s not judge Chris Bosh’s efforts of becoming tougher and stronger in training camp, let’s see what he brings to the table against Shaq on opening night.

Other than that, he did a lot of shooting today and expects to be back either Tuesday or Wednesday. He says even though he’s been out for some time, once he gets back out there, he’ll recover really fast.

You know, Quincy Douby was training with Chauncey Billups and Kevin Garnett all summer, you know, and has picked up a lot from them, you know. Not the voice though you know, he had that before the summer started, you know. I’d paste his entire quote here but I fear it would mostly be a string of “you know”‘s with a word or two here and there. He’s saying that the team is full of players with high IQ and already know the things that you have to teach most other players. He’s again praising the defensive mindset Triano is bringing but is cautious that nothing can be said until they actually face, you know, a real team.

I like Quincy, he worked his ass off in the summer and I’m not talking about Vegas either. The regimen started from the day after the regular season ended and went all the way through to training camp. Weight room, drills, sessions with assistant coaches, training with other NBA players, the whole shebang. The commitment to get better and make a mark in the league is impressive and the reason he’s going to get some minutes even if Jarrett Jack and Jose Calderon play well. Other than DeRozan, he was the only other Raptor that looked like an NBA player in summer league and it’s good to see that he might be one. Nothing spectacular but a good 7-10 minutes of ball handling, taking the seam when its there and hitting the open jumper against a defense that has to do a double-take when they see him. People forget he was the 19th pick overall so he does have some talent, he’s shown that he’s multi-skilled and best of all, he’s confident in his ability.

On another note Sonny Weems is my favorite Raptor. He makes another cameo in this DeMar DeRozan interview and has the news of Kanye West canceling his tour with Lady Gaga broken to him by Matt Devlin. He’s the joker on the team.

DeRozan sounds like the last three days have been grueling. Players have been going at him and he’s had to do a lot of learning on the fly; at the end of it he’s crediting his counterparts for showing him the way:

Antoine Wright and Jarrett Jack from the get-go helped me learn stuff quicker and helped me understand stuff. They’re walking me through what they went through on their first training camp and giving me advice which will better prepare me for when the season starts.

He’ll be fine but it’s interesting to note that you don’t hear any stories out of camp talking about him doing anything too spectacular. It’s probably because he’s playing against real NBA players for the first time and the experience has been a bit of an awakening for him. The thing to take away from his interviews is that he’s willing to learn, is humble and is respectful of his mates. He’s got an open mind and understands that he’s got a long way to go before he’s even considered half decent. I think the cast around him is helping him a lot and the more you hear him, the more it makes sense for him to come off the bench and ease into the game. Much more manageable than dealing with the pressure (both due and undue) of dealing with starting responsibilities.

According to Devlin, the Raptors have done more conditioning, fundamental and instructional work this week compared to last season and finished off today’s team meeting with an emphasis on defense. With Chris Bosh and Hedo Turkoglu still out, it makes sense not to practice the offense much. Those two are key pieces of any play we’ll run and not having them around while practicing sets isn’t going to yield much. There’s only so much offense you can teach with second stringers and Calderon/Bargnani, time is better invested preaching and instilling defensive principles.

I’ll be driving to Ottawa at around 8AM for the scrimmage which will be four quarters of eight minutes each with a timeout per quarter. Triano will pick teams (who will change sides during the game) for the scrimmage at the coaches meeting today.

He was asked to pick one player who has impressed so far and he went with Wright:

I think Antoine Wright’s basketball intellect is very high, he seems to pick up things on offense, he knows how to play the game at the defensive end of the floor and he’s tough.

Triano on the effort so far:

The detail at which they’re paying attention and the effort has been outstanding. All you can ask for this early is that they work hard and they’ve done that in contact and non-contact drills.

Triano when asked how much he’s focusing on offense versus defense.

Very little of the offense, we’re slowly starting to get through the defensive situations and how we’re going to cover them but the biggest thing is drilling them and having guys becoming familiar with what they’re supposed to on the defensive end. We can drill individually but it has to be a team thing, because our defense is very much team-oriented. Defense is reminded every time we go into a meeting, every time we step on the floor…everything we’ve talked about is defense. It’s going to have to be one of our staples if we’re going to be successful and I think the guys know that.

Put all this together and it would be a massive understatement to say that the theme of the pre-season has been defense. He hinted at us hanging our hat on our defense and how it should be a staple of the team, whether it’s doable is another matter but it’s still a great philosophy to go into camp with. I’m thinking back to last training camp and can’t find a single fuzzy memory of Mitchell saying anything like that. Further testament to how hard we’re working on defense is Reggie Evans fouling out after five minutes of scrimmage. Either that or Reggie Evans can’t defend worth shit. The bruiser’s exploits are being depicted in this article where he’s portrayed as a man who just wants to swing some elbows, break some jaws and make men out of boys.

The Raptors have been going with Jarrett Jack and Jose Calderon in the same lineup so far and according to Jack, the reasoning behind it is that it allows for two good ball handlers with Jose playing off the ball and more opportunities to run the pick ‘n roll. If Devlin could keep the interview serious and not talk about Bosh’s locks I’d have more to say. Jack also hints at Bosh being a leader because he’s the franchise player but I take that as being a generic statement made out of obligation rather than actually meaning it.

I know Jose off the ball sounds great in theory but I suspect there will be some problems with that. See, Jose is not very good at moving without the ball which means his defender won’t have a terribly difficult time staying with him. It’s not enough to be a great shooter to have success at off guard, just look at Kapono from last year as an example. Contrast this with Rip Hamilton who is terrific at using screens and ducking underneath his own teammates to find space and you’ll see the two very different ways one can play off the ball. Unless the other guard on the floor is someone who is constantly getting into the paint and drawing attention, Jose will have company as he waits at the wing for a clean look. Still, let’s give Triano the benefit of the doubt, I’m sure he’s got something cooking when it comes to getting his shooters clean looks.

I tried watching Colangelo’s interview but I was severely distracted by his hand motions. It’s like he’s at the doctors trying to describe a stomach pain which he can’t find words for. In the end he tells us that Antoine Wright was going at DeMar DeRozan yesterday and the rookie got frustrated but came back today with a stronger performance. Bargnani’s playing well but Amir Johnson is stealing a bit of the show with his shot blocking, mid-range game and by running the floor.

We apologize for these shorter training camp reports but we’re basically shut out here. If we were allowed at training camp we’d be keeping you so informed that you’d be sick of us and beg us to stop giving you updates of even the smallest possible story. Say for example Antoine Wright and DeMar DeRozan walked past each other without saying hi. Boom! That right there would be a 1000 word post.

I’d like to start him, to give him minutes and let him grow as a player with the starting unit but not at the expense of somebody who outworks him through training camp. It may be a position that we jockey for a while until we find the right combination. He’s picked things up well but it’s a different world to him compared to the university level.

It looks like Jay’s giving him some tough love the first couple days and it shouldn’t be any other way. Even though DeRozan is being hyped all summer long and has impressed Triano with his speed (along with Weems), the starting role is still up for grabs, much like it wasn’t a year ago when we handed it outright to an under-performing Parker. The tightly knit Raptors unit is doing all it can to help DeRozan, Triano says:

I’m impressed by the professionalism the veteran guys have shown, they’ve taken him under their wing and are making him accountable in every single drill. It’ll turn into a competition because they’ll want those minutes and it’ll make DeMar a better basketball payer.

I’m presuming the fight for wing minutes is between DeRozan, Wright, Weems and Belinelli. Our podcast guest Ryan McNeill of Hoops Addict thinks that Belinelli could have a great shot at the starting SG spot. We also talk about Bosh’s weight gain, the Raptor that parties the most, Banks’ loneliness, the joker that is Amir and how an audio switch can ruin your day. Some very positive things about Antoine Wright were echoed by Ryan who was there on Media Day and spoke to most of the players. You can listen to the whole chat by clicking the play button below or in iTunes. You can also download the file.

[audio:http://raptorsrepublic.com/audio/2009-09-30-HoopsAddict.mp3]

A couple days back Evans went hard at Bargnani and today Bargnani says it’s all for the better. He’s saying Reggie’s going to make him better (much like JO) and that playing under the security of a new contract helps matters. Apparently he’s bringing it in the first two days just like he did last training camp. He’s also saying that a player’s confidence is proportional to his experience in the league. I beg to disagree and point to him as an example. Super confident in his first year and a deer caught in headlights the second. Some lose their confidence after a few bad games, some maintain it even if they’re launching bricks for two months. Bargnani’s confidence is fragile and it’s subtly reflected in his refusal to give a prediction for himself at the end of the video.

Reggie Evans is one of those guys whose voice is the opposite of his persona. Matt Devlin insists that he’ll be loved by Raptors fans because of all the obvious reasons and Reggie Evans agrees. He thinks the #1 thing he wants out of his play is to earn the respect of his opponents, peers and fans. All hail Reggie who takes a mild swipe at last year’s Raptors team in the video. He says that he’s changing the tone of this team especially the one set by players who are “across the water” with “slow feet” and who “can’t jump”. He says:

We have a lot of players from across the water. A lot of those player get portrayed as not being defensive players. So now I have like six players and that’s a huge challenge so we got to make sure we’re on point all the time. You hear things like ‘slow feet’, ‘can’t jump’ so we got to find ways…and coach has a good scheme going to close out the middle which is good. Close the middle and run out to the shooters and that’s our emphasis. We’re going to try to ingrain that into everybody’s heads where we close out to the middle and work our way out.

So there you have it folks, Triano’s already preparing a plan for what happens when the guards get beat and is going to “collapse and recover” every chance he gets. Those wing close-outs need to be super-quick for a scheme like that to work but at least he’s starting to teach it from Day 1. He’s recognized the athleticism he has at his disposal and is going to put it to good use at the defensive end, instead of the onus being on the big man to come out and help the penetrated guard, the responsibility will fall to everyone as they collapse and try to recover.

The question of leadership often comes up and this year’s team appears to be very mature as Ryan pointed out in the interview. Jarrett Jack, Reggie Evans, Antoine Wright, Jose Calderon and Rasho Nesterovic are no-nonsense players that can keep this group in check when things start going south. We don’t have to look towards Bosh to be the leader anymore; if one of the above players can take charge of this team, maybe it’ll lift the pressure off of Bosh and he can perform in his contract year.

Finally, Colangelo’s saying that Hedo’s got a fatigue factor going after playing in Europe over the summer but that’s something they all knew already and everything’s going according to plan. He’s not risking anything with Chris Bosh and will take his sweet time in getting him 100%. He also bigs up Hedo:

I think it’s going to help this team. We haven’t had a guy to go to late in the game, break down the defense, create a shot for someone else or for yourself. He’s going to be a great draw and bring a lot of the defense towards him. He’s going to open up opportunities for Chris in the post, open up opportunities for players on the perimeter to knock down shots. In late game situations I know he’s got that mindset where he knows what to do with the ball.

That’s your training camp report! I’ll actually be trying to make the trek to Ottawa for the Saturday scrimmage.

We were finally able to get beyond the madness of Media Day and are ready to get down to business. Day 1 had a couple themes:

Health
Bosh is on the shelf for the next few weeks, which is a big blow to this team. This is Triano’s first training camp, and you know he isn’t happy that his franchise player (sorry Hedo, but this is still Bosh’s team) is out for all of it. Not only do the Raptors have new players that need to be integrated, but Triano has to impart his system while getting everyone to play nice. Yes, Bosh can sit in class with the rest of them, but what about actually running through sets? There comes a point where Triano will run out of chalk, and the guys will need to mimic the X’s and O’s, and run the plays. This is where Bosh will be missed. Sure, Amir and Evans will get burn on the 1st unit, but long term, this isn’t the plan.

Colangelo did say that no one wins a championship in October, but what about building a solid team? How much of an issue will not having Bosh in the mix while the rest of the lot go through the motions be? My guess is minimal, since he will still be around the lot of them, and will know the plays, but I have to wonder about the dynamic of the A-squad with a B-Squad piece mixed in.

We all know why Bosh is injured: he worked out too damn hard over the summer putting on 15lbs of muscle. From what I have read and seen, he did it the the right way. He didn’t just bulk up, but he did it in a manner that wont be affecting his bread-and-butter: his quickness. Tell me you aren’t excited to see how he is going throw around his KG’esque frame in the blocks come November.

Turkoglu’s name popped up as well. There is concern for his legs from a busy Euroleague summer which saw Hedo have a solid tournament. Add in the Finals run the Magic made and the whirlwind courting by the Blazers and Toronto, our $53mil man hasn’t had very much rest. With Hedo being on the wrong side of 30 (aka older then 29) this can be an issue, but if Triano manages his minutes properly over the next few months, I don’t see this being that big of an issue.

Expectations
We all read between the lines, that BC swung for the fences this summer and put together what he thought was a solid team that improved over last season (and to a degree I do share this sentiment), but when he actually came out said the goal is 50 wins, wow. You would have hoped he learned his lesson from last season’s claim that this was the most talented team he has assembled in Toronto, and managed expectations. He went the other direction, and what that has done is fuse most fans, and the media to a degree, with a new sense of optimism.

You nab one of the centerpieces of the Orlando team that was a couple layups away from winning the championship, add some athletic wings who can create and potentially play defense to the core of Bosh, Calderon and an improving Bargnani, and we have ourselves a team that can win some games, and play an entertaining brand of basketball. Shoot, this is better then watching a labouring HO come up short from 8 feet out in the paint.

One thing that excites me is that Triano is giving Calderon and Jack free reign during scrimmages. I personally love watching free wheeling guys, who play in control, but are fluid in what they are trying to do out there. Jah knows Calderon needs to loosen up and make some plays more often as opposed to making the open pass…sorry, couldn’t resist.

Getting Smart

I don’t know if it’s a good thing or a bad thing, but there has been an emphasis that Triano is sitting these cats down, and trying to increase the collective basketball IQ. Call it NBA crowd sourcing. It seems as though the direction is defensive oriented. I must admit, I liked the sound of that. We have heard from numerous folks (Leo being the latest, video below), that these cats can score, but they can also be effective defensively.

We do have athletic players, some of whom have never been accused of playing defense, but apparently all they need is to be told HOW. Here I thought it took a willingness/desire/commitment to play defense, not just your coach instructing you on the proper crouching tiger defensive stance. Fortunately, they will be able to concentrate with the ban on cell phones during practice.

The major question being asked of this team is defense and in order for the fans to feel good about it, they’ll have to take a mini leap of faith. Colangelo (who’s done an A job this summer and a C job overall) had this to say about it:

We don’t have great man-on-ball defenders but we do have players that know and understand, and a coaching staff that’s going to teach certain principles that’ll make us a good defensive team.

In other words, have some faith in the coaching staff and the players’ athletic ability. Yes, Triano did not exactly impress last year but let’s be fair to him, he did not have the 5 months every other coach has before a season starts to plan the system out. No training camp either, which as played out as an excuse as it seems, actually matters. He’s an unproven commodity as a head coach but the one thing that makes me feel better is that he’s got the players’ attention and, unlike Mitchell, is not stubborn in his approach to the game. If shit breaks, he’ll try to fix it, not just have a look on.

The other thing to realize is that unlike last year’s team, nobody’s hyping this unit up to be anything more than an unknown. Triano acknowledges that the success or failure of this unit will be determined by whether the coaching staff can get these strangers to play together:

How fast we come together as a team is going to be the key thing. There’s a lot of speculation that we’re a lot better, but if we don’t play as a team that’s going to be an lot of individual talent that’ll be wasted.

We’ve gone over the depth chart a million times but let’s recap:

• PG, Calderon, Jack: If Calderon is healthy, these two will provide a great 1-2 punch.
• SG, DeRozan, Belinelli: The most suspect position of the lot because of inexperience, but at the same time there’s potential for something spectacular. Compared to Parker and Kapono, the athleticism has increased by 500%.
• SF, Turkoglu, Wright: Both are good defenders, one’s a a great scorer. Defensively we’re more than OK here even though some of you feel that Marion’s loss is too much to bear. Key question: Will Turkoglu help with the rebounding in the starting lineup?
• PF, Bosh, Johnson, Evans – Most people fail to realize that experience and youth in the backup spots here is a good thing and not something to be frightened of. Bosh is in a contract year and will play like it, he doesn’t want to do anything that suggests he’s anything less than a max-player and that bodes well for us.
• C, Bargnani, Rasho – Rebounding is an issue. No doubt about it but let’s not panic until we see what Rasho has left in the tank and whether Bargnani will continue his strong play from last season or not.

Let’s pretend Bosh and Turkoglu don’t blow out their knees and are healthy for the majority of the season which is not a very unlikely assumption. Over 6 years, Bosh has played in 89% of games and Hedo over his career has played in 91%, going the full 82 and 77 in his last two years. Yes, if injury hits we’ll be stretched thin but at the same time, historically speaking, injury has not been a major issue for either of the two key pieces in this year’s puzzle.

Last year at this time we had Will Solomon, Roko Ukic, Hassan Adams and Jamario Moon set to play key roles, the challenge was overcoming the shortage of talent. This year the challenge is trying to gel new faces and mesh them into one working system. Last year we were forced to play a short rotation because there simply weren’t enough NBA players on the roster but things have changed to the point where we can be confident in being two-deep at every position except shooting guard where we have a rookie who could have a very bright future.

There are questions facing every team and the Raptors are no different. Training camp starts today and soon we’ll see whether there’s even a need to panic. Until then, let’s just chill.