Raptors Midseason Report Card: D

[Hugmenot]

I can see him as a passable offensive player, an above average or better defender and an excellent rebounder. He understands positioning, boxes out well and has excellent timing with his weak side shot blocking. 10/12/2 would be the big time numbers I see for him. Wet dream numbers would be 16/14/3.

For Ed Davis to average 12 rpg player, he would need to first become a star (all around or 1st or 2nd all defensive team) or play heavy minutes on really bad team. I don't see the former as being realistic and I hope the latter will not be realized.

You can peruse the following web page to see how few players average 12+ rebounds per game in any one season.

http://www.basketball-reference.com/..._g_top_10.html

Reggie Evans had the best rebounding rate last year, yet not many teams were interested in his service and his minutes were cut by 40% this year.

[NoPropsneeded]

I can see him as a passable offensive player, an above average or better defender and an excellent rebounder. He understands positioning, boxes out well and has excellent timing with his weak side shot blocking. 10/12/2 would be the big time numbers I see for him. Wet dream numbers would be 16/14/3.

There's a reason they don't run any of the offence through him: At this point he has none. You must have access to practice to be able to see all of these post moves because I rarely see an in game post move (or face up jumper) that results in a made basket. He had largely the same issue at NC and even draft express had him labelled as a raw
offensive player. There is hope though: he's a gym rat, son of a former NBA player, is young (especially considering all the time he missed with the broken wrist in college) and has length and athletiscm. Plus he's really improved his FT shooting this year so there's hope his J is fixable.

As for players with better post moves on the Raps? I'll give you two: Amir and Andrea. Amir is much more comfortable operating with his back to the basket and in the post at this point than Ed. They actually look for him on the block, generally a good sign that they trust you to do something positive with the rock while down there. Andrea has truly become a threat down there as well and when he was healthy he was backing guys down, able to spin left or right, had a nice little head and shoulder fake going and was able to get into the lane with any number of moves and finish whichever way the D would give him, be it a hook, reverse layup, floater, dunk or j. It's honestly not even close at this point.

I don't see andrea as a post player at all besides the turnaround jumper. He mainly faces up and shoots or drives past his defender. He is operating in the post a little more but he doesn't play like a traditional PF. Amir has like slow motion post moves most of his points are from the pick n roll and putbacks. He has that weird looking hook shot but thats it. Ed davis was playing great last season rocking the headband. If you watched him he was doing up and unders and a lot of crafty things down there. Idk what happened this season. We need to bring in Antonio Davis to work with Ed, he should be molding his entire game like AD.

[minks77]

I agree that he needs a mentor. I also agree that Amir's moves are slow, but he sinks the rock and at this point that's more than you can say for Ed. As for Andrea being a post player, well, I agree. He's not primarily a post player but when hes gone down there and operated in a more traditional fashion he's showed some nice stuff and is light years ahead of Ed Davis. Keep in mind that you posited that Ed had the best post moves and that his low post offence was the best on the team.

Lastly what does a headband or a "traditional" pf have to do with anything? There isn't a traditional 4 or 5 on this team (most teams actually) but there are guys who operate in the low post and utilize some aspects of a traditional post players offence.

[minks77]

For Ed Davis to average 12 rpg player, he would need to first become a star (all around or 1st or 2nd all defensive team) or play heavy minutes on really bad team. I don't see the former as being realistic and I hope the latter will not be realized.

You can peruse the following web page to see how few players average 12+ rebounds per game in any one season.

http://www.basketball-reference.com/..._g_top_10.html

Reggie Evans had the best rebounding rate last year, yet not many teams were interested in his service and his minutes were cut by 40% this year.

I know 12r/game'll be tough and would put him in a special category hence why I said "big time numbers". Ed could well be a starter alongside JV if they decide to move Andrea at some point in the future. I have high hopes for the kid, I think he has great tools and given the chance he could be a special kind of role player.

[enlightenment]

If you get: B, C+, C, C & D ... why does that equal an overall D?

hahaha, I was prepared to ask which genius averaged those out together, theyve got a skewed idea of arithmetic

[ReubenJRD]

I know 12r/game'll be tough and would put him in a special category hence why I said "big time numbers". Ed could well be a starter alongside JV if they decide to move Andrea at some point in the future. I have high hopes for the kid, I think he has great tools and given the chance he could be a special kind of role player.

Bargnani is most likely a part of this team's future.