Insider: Hollinger shows Raptors no love in list of "up-and-coming teams to watch"

[yertu damkule]

It is understandable - we don't have a legit first option as we only have role players as starters now(but at least we do not have a bleak future like the Cleveland Cadavers lol). However, the Warriors whould not be on that list in my opinion(they are in flux in the competition side and they have two similar players a la Monta Ellis and Stephen Curry that love the ball in their hands, which is why one of them needs to be traded for a complementing piece if they want to be relevant anytime soon and they have to start playing defense too). I would put the Sacramento Kings(because they have a franchise guard in Tyreke Evans and a franchise center in Demarcus Cousins and are still bad enough to get an all-important wing to complete the triumvrate needed to win in today's NBA) and the Clippers(two franchise players in Eric Gordon as a star guard and Blake Griffin as the star forward and an excellent center in the middle in DeAndre Jordan and are still bad enough to complete the triumvrate by adding a decent SF in the draft) ahead of the Golden State Warriors in my opinion.

i get what you're saying about the dubs, and i haven't seen a whole lot of them...but i watched their game vs. the thunder the other day, and wow. just...wow. they actually played a really well-rounded game, defended well, rebounded, pushed when it was to their advantage, and really did a great job sharing the ball. i think the notion that ellis & curry *can't* play together because they both need the ball has some merit, but i saw an awful lot of 'pure PG' - at least in stretches - from curry. he really came across as unselfish & was more than will to defer to ellis & lee, but also picked great moments to look for his shot (which is absolute silk).

good gawd, watching that game made me envious...it wasn't just the difference in pure skill, but the overall on-court product was fascinating; the ebb/flow of the game, the athleticism, the basketball smarts that just jump out when watching certain players that we hardly ever see - outside of jose - on the raps.

sigh. so much great ball going on league-wide, and we get the raps. yay us.

[smushmush]

i get what you're saying about the dubs, and i haven't seen a whole lot of them...but i watched their game vs. the thunder the other day, and wow. just...wow. they actually played a really well-rounded game, defended well, rebounded, pushed when it was to their advantage, and really did a great job sharing the ball. i think the notion that ellis & curry *can't* play together because they both need the ball has some merit, but i saw an awful lot of 'pure PG' - at least in stretches - from curry. he really came across as unselfish & was more than will to defer to ellis & lee, but also picked great moments to look for his shot (which is absolute silk).

good gawd, watching that game made me envious...it wasn't just the difference in pure skill, but the overall on-court product was fascinating; the ebb/flow of the game, the athleticism, the basketball smarts that just jump out when watching certain players that we hardly ever see - outside of jose - on the raps.

sigh. so much great ball going on league-wide, and we get the raps. yay us.

I have not been watching the Golden State Warriors of late but they are still outside the playoffs by some amount of games. i don't see that team in the playoffs for some time. Their defense is still as atrocious(they get breaks because most of their guards gamble for steals and they have solid man defenders in their big men, they are playing defense like the Memphis Grizzlies which will win you some games but lose you some especially against teams that know how to protect the ball) and they depend too much on the 3(they are gonna win some games with their stellar offense but would lose a lot with it. just saying). Watching the Raptors imo does not constitute good basketball, that is why I watch other games too(plus the NBA Sunday showcase on ABC shows elite basketball teams play basketball the right way). I am a fan of this team but that does not mean I will wear rose-colored glasses and say they play the game the right way lol.