The Raptors will not have a top 5 pick

[slaw]

You're basing this on game where they're playing far better teams who made significant offseason moves, but didn't get a decent camp or preseason to get up and running. I'm not surprised they caught Dallas or Orlando off guard. The fact that they couldn't hold those big leads says it all.

The Raptors on the other hand are pretty much the same team as last season, so there's chemistry, and a lot of the guys were working out and playing together over the summer. Then they have a new head coach who's came in and changed little so far given time constraints. The Raptors are a team who won a couple games over a horrible team, caught a couple more teams off guard but couldn't hold the lead and then caught another team, who was limping, on an off night. My money is on them stinking this season. Anyone who thinks otherwise, in my opinion, is in for a big disappointment. Opponents are going to be at 100% soon.

I tend to agree with Apollo on this one. Let's see where they are at after this 11-day, 8-game stretch. That puts them at about 13 games played and we'll know more at that point. Until then, worrying about the 2012 draft slot is premature.

[malefax]

I think Apollo is right that the Raptors are bad, but 'bad' by itself isn't enough for a top 5 pick. If Sacramento and Detroit turn out to be better than the Raps, then fine, we have a shot but that's not how it's looking early.

And there are always those other teams I mentioned too. Any of them could swoop into genuine suckage. Plus Utah, which I forgot to mention.

[Papa Burgundy]

You're basing this on game where they're playing far better teams who made significant offseason moves, but didn't get a decent camp or preseason to get up and running. I'm not surprised they caught Dallas or Orlando off guard. The fact that they couldn't hold those big leads says it all.

The Raptors on the other hand are pretty much the same team as last season, so there's chemistry, and a lot of the guys were working out and playing together over the summer. Then they have a new head coach who's came in and changed little so far given time constraints. The Raptors are a team who won a couple games over a horrible team, caught a couple more teams off guard but couldn't hold the lead and then caught another team, who was limping, on an off night. My money is on them stinking this season. Anyone who thinks otherwise, in my opinion, is in for a big disappointment. Opponents are going to be at 100% soon.

Same team as last season? I dunno man.

New coach is MUCH more difficult to bring onboard without a training camp or preseason ... adding in players to an existing system is much easier then adding a new system to a group of players. If you think he has changed very little so far, I'd check the defensive rankings so far, compared to last year ... that takes it's toll on players legs on the offensive end of the court too - so I think we have lots of room to improve in the coming months.

Bayless came midseason last year, Same with James Johnson, Ed Davis missed the first part of last season, Amir is coming off surgery in the offseason, the aforementioned new coach and system tore everything down to the bones, Butler and Magloire are new players playing significant roles (and Carter for the time being) ... I agree with you completely that other teams will start to get closer to "100%", but ... so will we ...

I won't be shocked if we end up being in the bottom part of the standings, but i'm not gonna agree that we have gotten the jumpstart on all these other teams because of our great continuity from last year ...

GO RAPTOOOOORS!

[mcHAPPY]

I tend to agree with Apollo on this one. Let's see where they are at after this 11-day, 8-game stretch. That puts them at about 13 games played and we'll know more at that point. Until then, worrying about the 2012 draft slot is premature.

Very much agreed.

The end of January will have seen them play 19 games in the month. We'll have a good idea of what they are all about then.

[e2thed]

At the end of the month, the Raps will be 11-8, I predict.

[NoPropsneeded]

8 - 9 pick and we choose Miller who ends up being a franchise player.

[Puffer]

Expecting other bad teams to not improve is maybe being a bit pessimistic. How many of those bad teams will feel the need to do something trade wise to bring in a player who can help them with a playoff push? In other words, which teams have GM's that need to see their teams get better by seasons end? I would expect New Jersey, Cleveland and Detroit to make some moves, trading future picks for instance, for results now. It's what GMs do. I think TO holds the course and makes no moves to improve radically unless something crazy good comes along. In which case, who cares about the pick.

[Apollo]

At the end of the month, the Raps will be 11-8, I predict.

My guess is 7-12 through January, that's 8-14 overall. From there it gets messy...

[AJ360]

The sample size is definitely much too small to assume the team will continue to play .500 or even .400 basketball.

It's impossible to not be excited about the improvements the team has shown thus far, but lets not get too far ahead of ourselves We almost beat the lowly world champs and a Magic team that is teetering on the brink. 2 wins over last years worst team in the league and a win over the stat-less Knicks (who also lost to the bobcats last night) is hardly earth-shattering.

In the end, I think the raps improvements will prevent them from being bottom feeders, but won't come close to endangering their lotto pick.

My guess; they pick from 5-8

[mcHAPPY]

The sample size is definitely much too small to assume the team will continue to play .500 or even .400 basketball.

It's impossible to not be excited about the improvements the team has shown thus far, but lets not get too far ahead of ourselves We almost beat the lowly world champs and a Magic team that is teetering on the brink. 2 wins over last years worst team in the league and a win over the stat-less Knicks (who also lost to the bobcats last night) is hardly earth-shattering.

In the end, I think the raps improvements will prevent them from being bottom feeders, but won't come close to endangering their lotto pick.

My guess; they pick from 5-8

Amar'e did play last night though.

[RaptorDan]

The lottery balls haven't been too kind to us recently, so maybe this year, regardless of our record, we will get lucky and hit the jackpot.

[Bouncepass]

Also, I think our draft pick will be in the range of 12-16 ... few spots out of the playoffs, or just sneak in if other teams like Milwaukee and New Jersey pull themselves out of the race.
That really means we just have to outlast the 76ers, Knicks, or Indiana down the stretch ... longshot, but not impossible.

12-16 range picks could produce a rotation player like Terrence Jones, Kabongo, Kidd-Glichrist (my favourite).

I think that there is very little chance that Kidd-Gilchrist lasts past the first 7-8 picks. I don't want any part of Terrence Jones... he seems like a head case and plays the same position as Davis and Johnson. Kabongo might be interesting later in the 1st round, but he has not looked like a lottery pick this year.

[Bouncepass]

8 - 9 pick and we choose Miller who ends up being a franchise player.

I think 6-9 sounds about right. Miller would be great. MKG would also be a fine option, but I think he might not be available.

[NoPropsneeded]

They'll be available most likely

[Prime]

Even if we don't get a lottery pick, we can still rebuild.

Look at Portland. Look at their history of lottery picks.
Look at Denver. They're a top 5 team in the West now despite not having since Carmelo.