Even though we’re only 1-2 in our last three games it’s sort of revitalized my enthusiasm for Raptors basketball. After sandwiching two lackluster performances against the NBA’s worst around two blowouts by OKC and Utah, it was hard to maintain any sort of optimism, but three straight workman like efforts have reinforced the earlier belief that this team does have the talent to be a middle-seed in the East. The missing ingredient on most nights has been an honest defensive effort and a dynamic coaching plan which suits the players and adjusts to the game.

The starting lineup changes have had one effect which must not be discounted: it has reduced the pace of the game, i.e: the number of possessions played. The combination of having better defensive players on the floor for longer periods of time and having to guard less has helped us become a better defensive unit. The Raptors pace for the season is 95.4, in our last three games we’ve played at a pace of 92 which means we have to defend less and that can only be a good thing. The defensive rating reflects this – we’ve improved our defensive efficiency over these three games by over 9 points which is a very significant improvement. As much as recent incarnations of the Raptors have been accused of following the Phoenix model, the truth is that we are suited to play the exact opposite style of game – grinding it out in the half-court set.

Although Weems and DeRozan have addressed the athelticism on the wings this season, we still don’t the point-guard necessary to facilitate a fast-paced game that can be played in our favor. Once you factor in our defensive vulnerabilities, lack of conditioning, and offensive-minded players, it’s always been in our best interest to play “ugly” basketball. At the end of the day we know we can score so we just need the environment of the game to be conducive to our defense. In other words, I’ll take my chances with the Raptors scoring the ball any day, it’s the other end that’s been a problem from Day One.

Speaking of defense, everybody loves charges. Anytime somebody takes a charge, we credit them for being defensively aware, taking one on the chin and being a good help defender. There were times when only Charles Oakley and Scottie Pippen used to pick up charges but now it’s become fashionable. I did some digging and found out how many charges each Raptors player had picked up, here’s the list. I also figured the number should be normalized for minutes played so you have both stats. Stats are courtesy of hoopdata.com

At the risk of reading too much into this one suggest that Bargnani and Bosh need to be doing much more given the minutes they play and considering that we tend to allow a lot of dribble penetration. The stats reaffirm the working theory that Evans, Banks, Jack and Wright are good defenders in help situations. I’m sure everybody will have their own take on this.

It’s easy to get philosophical about things the day you’re playing the Clippers and a night after the Bulls dropped one at home to the Suns. The gap is now a full game with Chicago two back in the loss column and on the wrong side of the tie-breaker. I was never too worried about losing out on the playoffs so forgive me for not sounding excited about this. I am however excited about the playoffs even if it means going up against Cleveland and Lebron; for those who are looking at that impending series as nothing but humiliation waiting to happen or something that will set this franchise back 150 years, I suggest you recognize that making the playoffs can only be a good thing.

The fear some fans feel is that simply making the playoffs somehow gives the season a aura of success and that making the post-season will validate the moves Colangelo had made over the summer. You want Colangelo and MLSE to recognize and acknowledge that they’ve failed so that the appropriate changes can be made, I get that, I truly do because I share that sentiment. However, that message is communicated just as clearly by missing the playoffs as it is by losing in the first round for the third time in four years. MLSE brass has secretly acknowledged that nothing short of a playoff series win would constitute a successful season so let’s just get behind this team and try to have a go in the post-season. Also, you think Chicago fans are rooting against their team just so Vinny Del Negro gets fired? C’mon, get serious. And as far as our pick, we don’t get to keep it forever, either we lose it this year or the next.

If you still insist that everything is doomed and it’s best we focus our energies in bartering Chris Bosh, then check out Apollo’s extensive list of players who could be acquired in a Bosh sign-and-trade if it ever came to that. I think some of the names being thrown around are more than acceptable but border on wishful thinking. I can’t recall too many sign-and-trades which fetched anything worthwhile.

Oh yes, the Clippers. They’ve won three games in March, are 2-12 in their last 14, are playing on a back-to-back after being thumped in Milwaukee, and are without Baron Davis (back spasms). Last night it was a 15 point game at the half so it wasn’t a total blowout; the Clippers played the third even which meant there was an outside chance at a comeback in the fourth, of course that didn’t happen and in the end three of their starters played 32, 37 and 39 minutes. They’re going to be a little spent and if the Raptors play with the same level of urgency as they have of late, I anticipate little problems. On the other hand, drop this one at home and you’ll have hit a new low. Looking at the head-to-head between Bargnani and Kaman you notice that Kaman’s got the better of him consistently.

I hope you caught the bit about Antoine Wright talking trash and telling the officials not to pay any attention to Michael Jordan. I can’t quite put my finger on it but there’s something about Antoine that I really hate and really like. I just can’t figure which is what.

And finally, this is the much-anticipated rematch of this:

Steve’s got his podcast coming up later. Happy Champions League!

Let’s check out the positives, negatives and so-so’s.

Positives:

Team Defense: After giving up 131 against San Antonio we’ve allowed only 93ppg in our last three games. Holding the Bulls to 89 might be considered routine and the Clippers are the Clippers, but the energy shown against the Suns in holding them to more than 11 below the season average on their home floor says something. Slowing the pace of the game to match our desired tempo and energy was the key, if you get the other team to play at the pace you prefer, your conditioning is less likely to be tested and the Raptors are doing that. We’re still dead last in defensive rating at 115.1 but there is a silver lining there – our defensive effort is better and we’re more comfortable with Triano’s schemes. The Raptors were also only a combined -8 in rebounding in the last three games, I suppose going -12 against a Duncan-less San Antonio woke the boys up a bit. We’ve also prevented teams from dominating us inside by giving up dribble penetration which has resulted in us allowing only 35 PINP this week. Triano’s strategy of making shooters make contested shots is paying off, opponents shot 14-50 from threes this week, that’s 28%!

Belinelli’s a factor: After a barren pre-season, Marco Belinelli is finally coming around and edging into the top 7. He went 15-28 FG (53%) this week and hit some big threes against the Clippers and Suns. 11ppg for the week is modest enough but with Jack struggling, he’s been the main threat off the bench. He also had a couple 3 assists game showing that when given the chance to facilitate, he can do it. The offensive firepower that was promised after the trade is starting to show, question is can he keep it up?

Turkoglu’s assertiveness: He averaged 10 shots per game in his first four games but has upped it to 13 in his last four. He had two 20 point games and shot 47% for the week; that’s including a miserable 4-12 against Chicago. After hitting some big shots late against Phoenix, he missed a couple he usually drains, but at least we know he’s still looking to be the man. The initiation of Turkoglu is close to complete and the only thing we should worry about is his health, a tweaked hip needs to be sorted out early. We don’t want that hanging around.

Honorable mention: Amir Johnson averaging 6.5pts and 6.75rebs for the week and hustling all the way.

Negatives:

Jarrett Jack in general: Is he a 1, is he a 2 or does he just suck? After being called out by ESPN as one of the most disappointing signings of the summer (5.8 PER), he didn’t do much to alter that opinion. 6 assists and 9 turnovers for the week, including one against Phoenix that literally cost us the momentum and eventually the game. His play can be characterized as lazy which is the last thing I expected of him, his passing has been terrible and he’s shown some signs of playing scared, killing his dribble early being one of them. He shot 36% (8-22 FG) for the week and his defense was porous, it can’t get much worse. Oh wait, his PER just fell to 5.26 which is sixth worst in the league!

Coming along…

Bosh keeps chugging along: For the week he netted 26.5 ppg and 11.25 rpg on 47% shooting. He’s laughing his way to the bank. Third in the league in rebounding, fifth in scoring, second in PER only to the injured Chris Paul. Can we give him a Player of the Week or something.

Bargnani’s still the same: The only center in the league that can average 4 rebounds for the week and still avoid the negatives sections of these posts. Much like one tunes out a nagging wife, I’ve accepted his faults and have become numb to his suspect defensive effort. As long as he keeps shooting high enough percentages people will be willing to look past his rebounding, he was 46% for the week which is acceptable. However, being 6/17 from three is not, that’s 35% shooting and frankly I’d rather have Belinelli or Turkoglu jack those up than Bargnani. He got lit up by Kaman, Frye and Bonner so what he took on offense was given right back.

Nesterovic: I wanted to add him to the negatives considering what a pointless signing he’s turned out to be, but then AltRaps reminded me that he’s nothing but insurance. Still, I’d like better insurance.

Honourable mention: Jose Calderon for averaging 14.25 points and 8.75 assists with a ridiculous AST/TO of 10.33. Would’ve been in the positives if it weren’t for the stinker in Phoenix.

Looking ahead

Tue @ DEN: The 7-3 Nuggets are beating teams by an average of 15 points at home, this includes a 105-79 shellacking of the Lakers. They finished their longest roadtrip of the season by going 3-3 and have settled in to play 7 of their next 9 at home. You might remember this as the 39 point loss that finally got Mitchell fired last year. Anthony is averaging 30/5 and it would be nice to have Antoine Wright suited for this one, should be fun. No altitude excuses.

Wed @ UTA: The 4-6 Jazz are also coming back from a long trip and will face the Raptors after a three day break. They’ve already lost at home to Sacramento and Houston and are a surprisingly bad defensive team – 26th in the league in defensive rating at 110.6. Injuries to Harpring, Korver and Miles have definitely had an impact and the Raptors could catch a break as Deron Williams is listed as questionable for Wednesday’s game for personal reasons. Bargnani will take on Okur in a battle of perimeter oriented centers as Boozer and Bosh go at it again in what should be a physical affair. We’ve lost 8 straight to the Jazz, the most memorable loss being the TJ Ford implosion in those green jerseys.

Fri v MIA: The 7-2 Heat have played 7 home games, the most in the NBA. They’ve had a relatively easy schedule and have had one impressive win, beating the Nuggets at home. Other than that they’ve been feasting on the Wizards, Nets, Knicks, Pacers and Bulls. They’ve lost to the other two quality opponents they’ve faced, Phoenix and Cleveland in rather unconvincing fashion. Wade’s averaging 30/5 and bailed out the team with a game-winning three against the Nets at home, a loss that would’ve truly burst the bubble. Jermaine O’Neal has only missed one game and is averaging 13.6/7.8 on 57% shooting. This season means nothing to them, they’re lining it up for a big summer signing.

Sun v ORL: The 7-3 Magic have cooled off since we last saw them, they’ve gone 4-3 since losing by 28 in OKC, dropping one at home to Cleveland and losing in Detroit. The most impressive feat since has been a 122-100 demolition of the Suns at home. Rashard Lewis will be available after serving a 10 game suspension and this could be a Vince Carter appreciation night at the ACC. The Raptors had a great second half against the Magic but couldn’t overcome a lazy first half performance, that has to be on their minds and I’m thinking it’ll work out in our favor.

I’m going with a bold 3-1 with the only loss coming against Denver.

Every time we play the Clippers this memory is conjured up. I remember Swirsky calling that on the radio and going into mild cardiac arrest. Nine years later the Raptors are embarking on a potentially lethal four game road trip with some knocks. None of Bosh, Bargnani, Calderon and Turkoglu could go 100% in practice on Wednesday due to various bumps and bruises. All four will play but as Triano so eloquently put it, today was a day of “maintenance” which was necessary after the effort expended against the Bulls (I know, I know). The Raptors have won their last three meetings in the Clippers version of the Staples Center and this is our best chance of picking up a win on this trip which also sees us play Phoenix, Denver and Utah; you do recall what happened the last time we were in Denver and Utah, right?

Blake Griffin’s already out for them and the Raptors do catch another break, second year guard Eric Gordon is out with a strained left groin. He was averaging 19pts and 4asts but has missed the last two games in which the Clippers replaced him with Al Thornton, so they do have some size in the backcourt. Before we look at the matchups, let’s get our ESPN Truehoop partner ClipperBlog‘s take on some things:

Blogger’s Take

A low key player liable to have a big game against a bad defense and why?

Craig Smith has been really active for the Clippers. He’s both brawny and agile. Matched up against the likes of Andrea Bargnani, he should be able to use those attributes to work himself easy shots and second-chance points.

How’s Baron Davis doing?

Much better. He actually recorded his first dunk as a Clipper Wednesday night. More important, his ratio of long jumpers to close-range shots has narrowed considerably this season. Because he’s in better shape, he’s been able to re-establish his dribble-drive game and, as a result, create opportunities for others.

Would you pull the trigger on an Andrea Bargnani for Chris Kaman and Al Thornton trade?

At this point, probably not. Though Thornton is a liability, the Clips are pretty set up front and Kaman is a big part of that. Despite an off night on Wednesday (his first real stinkbomb of the season…he still managed a double-double), he looks great.

Are you secretly a Lakers fan?

I’m secretly a Lamar Odom fan.

Matchups

The Point: Jose Calderon’s averaging 15pts and 7asts over his last four games and seems to be out of his early funk. Baron Davis is netting 14pts and 7asts but shooting a pathetic 38%, needless to say we should be going under any screen set for him. However, as ClipperBlog said, he is being more aggressive and launching less questionable shots so it could be a matter of how motivated Baron Davis feels to go at Jose Calderon. Since Jose doesn’t appear to in the fullest of health for this game, this could be a turning point. Davis was never a defensive force and definitely isn’t one now, if Calderon could take advantage of the lateral uncertainty of Rose and Hinrich, Davis shouldn’t be a problem. If he does turn out to make a mess of this, there’s always Jarrett Jack who, remember, is supposed to defend these bigger PGs/smaller SGs. Still waiting for a complete game from that guy. I’d even flirt with the idea of putting Wright on Davis.

The Man: An excited DeRozan returns to California and faces Al Thornton who is equally athletic but far more unpredictable. The defensive work for DeRozan should be easy, Thornton’s shooting 38% this year so there’s not going to be a reason to play him tight to start things off. In fact, DeRozan’s the ideal candidate here to provide help to others as long as the rotations are there to back him up. The rookie has no excuse to let Thornton go off, especially since the Clipper’s only crossed double digits twice this season. Offensively, you’d think there would be opportunities to get points for him on the break and such but let’s face it, to get those easy ones you need to be able to rebound properly and we’re 28th in the league at -2.25.

The Wing: If Turkoglu is worth $53 million, he needs to undress Rasual Butler tonight. There are no excuses, this must be a matchup that we win hands down. Turk’s not been very assertive in his playmaking or offense so far and the Clippers present a good opportunity for him to create by getting their bigs in pick ‘n roll situations. I’m expecting a big game from him even though he’s being guarded by a good defensive player. He better not let Butler pull a Marion on him.

The Big: Chris Kaman can’t move and doesn’t like leaving the paint, in fact, his mobility could be worse than Shaq’s. Our bread and butter tonight should be to get Kaman involved in PnR situations where he’s forced to step-out at a 45. After that he should be at Bargnani’s mercy and more importantly, out of rebounding position. Even if Bargnani’s settling for jumpers he should first make sure that there’s somebody other than Camby under the boards, which is not what he did against Chicago. Kaman is a whale who can move Bargnani with one swipe of his dorsal fin and there’s not much Bargnani can do about it except maintain position. Could be a weak-point for us.

The Strong: Emm Vee Pee…Emm Vee Pee…unfortunately, players on .500 teams don’t get MVPs and at some point the team will have to start doing well before he gets the TV time he deserves down south. This is a battle of old and new as Marcus Camby tries to use his length and span to disrupt Bosh. Bosh will have to prove his jumper first because the strategy of barreling in is less likely to work against Camby who can afford to give space and still contest any shot attempted by Bosh. The Raptors are still dead last in defensive rating while the Clippers are a surprisingly respectable 14th, a lot of it has to do with sheer athleticism and passable defensive rebounding (although the margin is worse than the Raptors). They’re above average in every defensive category and are 2nd in the league in blocks at 7.66. Camby is swatting 2.33 and leads the team in rebounding with 9.7. Bosh could have a tough time tonight.

How to win this game

The Clippers are averaging 96.44ppg and if we hold them to that number, we’ll win. Simple as that. Forget about X’s and O’s, just like we showed up and played hard on the first game of the earlier roadtrip against New Orleans, do the same. The first game is always the one to steal and the Clippers happen to be missing a key player in Eric Gordon so life should be easier. We can’t let Camby and Kaman carve us up inside, you know both of these guys will be hitting the glass so both Andrea Bargnani and Amir Johnson need to match them in effort and commitment to rebound.

Hedo Turkoglu and Jose Calderon need to be initiators of all things offense and they both have favorable matchups which they can take advantage of if the screening is done right and the floor is spread properly, something the Raptors have done very well this year. We can’t rely on Bosh to get his through one-on-one tonight so the wing play will need to be solid. I’m picking Belinelli to come off the bench and have an impact on offense, but both him and Jack should be warned that having a Clipper scrub like Craig Smith or Sebastian Telfair explode on us will result in a Greyhound bus to Phoenix.

The Clippers are 19th in 3pt shooting at 33% so the pack-the-paint strategy could work.

Prediction

Visser‘s sim says 94-82 Raps. I say add 10 points to both totals and you get the right score. So far my prediction of 2-2 for this week is on course.

Not much else going on other than Quincy Douby being released which means that we’re going to add someone to the roster. The question is do we add another big or a defensive wing, I’m leaning towards a wing only because Reggie Evans will be coming back in two weeks or so at which point it’ll create a logjam. Unless of course we release Patrick O’Bryant at that time which would make sense, after all, he’s been as useless as anyone on this roster, including my man Douby. This does leave us very thin at the PG because if one of Calderon or Jack goes down it’ll mean Marcus Banks getting a non-practice minute which we can all agree is fatal.

Tonight’s the first Raptor Fan Friday of the season at Sports Centre Cafe on Yonge/St. Clair. First drink on the Realizar.

A man once asked me to run in a marathon, I said no. He said it was for a good cause, I told him to buzz off because I didn’t like waking up at 6AM on a Saturday. This is easier but uglier, do it, it’s for a good cause.

Let’s go Raps, win it for the Q. Oh, and fake trades anyone?

It’ll be a miracle if the Clippers win another game till April 7th when they play the T’Wolves at home. This was their last shot at a win this month but Baron Davis and Marcus Camby checked in with stinkers as the Raptors found a team bad enough to beat. For most of the afternoon the Clippers looked a lot like the way the Raptors usually do when they face a team sans a 35 games below .500 record so it was a welcome change. Roko was posting people up, Joey was flashing sky-hooks and we even saw Jose Calderon dunk. It was that kind of afternoon. After the game was decided midway through the third quarter it was left to the most bastardized promotion in the league to provide the final theatrics. They cheered loud and Patrick O’Bryant got off the bench, walked up to Jay Triano, demanded to be inserted into the affair. Triano, scared of what might result if he dared disobey, obliged. O’Bryant tore away his warm-ups, jumped right into the thick of the game and proceeded to hit a JordaKobeBronesque jumper to take the score from 98 to 100. Pandemonium ensued.

I thought we’d be in for a long afternoon after the first two defensive plays of the afternoon. It was Voskuhl and Jose trying to defend a pick ‘n roll – they both went to the ball-handler leaving Zach Randolph wide open with rotation responsibilities falling to Chris Bosh. On both plays he didn’t take a step towards Randolph who drained the two jumpers. Randolph had the first 8 Clipper points and I’m thinking this is Boris Diaw all over again. Things got better real fast since Baron Davis’ defense isn’t exactly enthused and includes being committed to not raising your arms as your check is shooting. That check was Jose Calderon. You knew there was something funny about this game when Jake Voskuhl got the start instead of Bargnani who was nursing a sore heel and rained down a 19-footer taking me back to the days of Rasho. 33-20 at the end of the first quarter and my pre-game faith in the Clippers had considerably dimmed. Time to switch over to the Punabi commentary for a bit.

I don’t understand the language but I could’ve sworn I heard the guy say the words “sucks”, “Kapono”, “be”, “traded” and “should” which I took to mean Jason Kapono sucks and should be traded. I have to agree with Mr. Singh on that one. After all, you have to be ultra-crappy to go 2-10 against a team whose idea of playing defense is crossing the half-court line. Kapono got outplayed by Steve Novak which is funny enough even before you consider that he makes 725% his salary. My favorite “Kapoment” was him picking up the offensive foul the first time he touched the rock in the second quarter. Whenever he comes in the game I get my iPhone stopwatch out and just wait for the first bone-headed move, definitely didn’t have to wait long today.

That second quarter was the only dark period for the Raptors and even that was a fair bit rosy. We started off shooting 2-17 (Kapono 0-4) but our lead was only shaved by 5 points. The Clippers played a little defense in this stretch too: Marion, Calderon and Graham got their shot blocked and the Clippers forced a couple turnovers but their inept offense couldn’t convert anything. Their backcourt of Gordon and Davis went 6-25 with 8 turnovers. There were plenty of rebounds to be had in this one as the Clippers shot 39% while taking 75 shots. The Raptors themselves hoisted a season-high 100 attempts (somewhere Sam Mitchell smiled) and shot 44%, no reason why we shouldn’t have reached 130. Chris Bosh was the prime beneficiary of the shooting woes as he picked up a double-double at the half. We were +23 on the glass and I got a feeling Bargnani would’ve had a career-high if he’d played.

A 14-4 defense-inspired third quarter which included a Jose Calderon steal + breakaway dunk, Shawn Marion getting out on the run and a couple Chris Bosh paint scores made it 72-48. The Twittersphere couldn’t get enough of how crappy the Clippers are and I pondered why Mike Dunleavy has a job. If a coach can’t motivate his guys to play hard he should either be fired on the players moved, but with 41 million tied up in guaranteed contracts through 2010-11, I don’t see them going anywhere. Now they’ve had their fair share of injuries but they’ve still got enough athleticism and skill to put forth more than the deplorable effort we saw yesterday. As I said, they remind me of the Raptors.

More similar than you think.

Andrea Bargnani is our best post-defender and with him out, it was left to Bosh/Voskuhl to check Zach Randolph. Randolph went for 20/7 on 10-17 and Bosh offset him with 16/13 on 7-15. It wasn’t a convincing defensive performance by Bosh whose man-defense has degenerated this year. Call it lack of motivation, intelligence or talent but we need him to be a defensive anchor down there and take it upon himself to shut down his check like he did in the Olympics. Obviously the competition is a lot different and the job much tougher but I don’t see the same hunger in his defense that was present in the summer. In short, Randolph should not be outscoring you.

Shawn Marion with 14/13. He thrives in no-defense games and struggles in half-court situations. What do the Raptors mostly play in? Half-court situations. And it follows that? Marion struggles with the Raptors. If we keep the Marion-Bosh-Calderon-Bargnani combo intact, how much success are they likely to meet? Depends if Jose can cater to Marion’s game which depends on Jose’s health and the system we have in place which depends on the coach. Will Triano return? If the Toronto media had their way they’d sign him to a 10-year extension but hopefully Colangelo’s a little wiser. If we don’t make an honest commitment to “run ‘n gun” does it make sense to re-sign Marion? I don’t think so but wouldn’t that mean we’d lose him for nothing which means we lost JO’s soon-to-be attractive contract for nothing and took on Marcus Banks for nothing and applying transitivity lost Rasho, T.J Ford, a first round pick and applying even more transitivity, Charlie V and another first round pick for nothing? But wait, we could sign-and-trade him? Does Marion demand that kind of money on the market that a sign-and-trade would be necessary? Probably not, but even if he did how much can you honestly get back in such a deal? Holy crap, this situation is pretty hairy.

Good to see Roko get 21 minutes to run rampant against a doormat defense. To think of it he could be having even more of these games in the D-League – really should’ve sent him down. In one way I’m glad Roko can’t shoot because he doesn’t even look to do so and opts for the drive any chance he gets. You give him a full head of steam and he’s not afraid to take it right at you, he doesn’t have any clever moves to get you going the wrong way but he’s got good speed off the live dribble and makes the interior defense shift. He’s not afraid of paint contact and has improved his finishing around the rim. Once he gets his dribble in order, develops the court-presence and awareness needed to make the pass out of a collapsing defense he’ll be fine. That fine is still a year or two away. Eight solid assists today – very well done.

A couple days after going -40 in PINP against the Bobcats we were +12 yesterday. Thank Joey Graham and Pops for providing a good lift off the bench which had 42 points. I was surprised to see Triano pull Pops against the Bobcats after only 8 minutes, that’s not how you deal with a struggling hustle player. Sure, he’s a little eager on defense which results in him picking up fouls (5 in 21 minutes) but that’s an area of his game which is bound to get better as he gets more playing time and adjusts to what player tendencies are when they get into the paint. He had a solid showing with 8/8 and I get a feeling we’re going to have some competition if we want to retain his services. I hope we don’t overpay, if someone’s offering him anything close to unreasonable then we back-out and ask Bosh to be the hustle guy. Pops was asked what he’s give Bosh for his birthday, he said:

Considering our salaries, he should be getting me something.

I was having a discussion in the chat about Joey Graham who had 13 on 6-11. Does anyone care if we lose him? I happen to like Joey and do think that in a solid system he’d be a solid player. For example, he’s one of those guys that I think would thrive in a system like Utah which caters to players’ advantages. Joey’s advantage is strength and every time he gets into a situation where it comes down to strength and physicality he usually wins out. I think he could be great for 18-20 minutes off the bench if we already have a solid scorer at the three. The qualifying offer is at $3,441,10 and we should be making it. His inconsistency in large part is the result of the clumsy system around him.

Finally, a word about Anthony Parker. Another good effort which further ensures that he’s going to find a NBA home next season. Just like Pops, I don’t want the Raptors to overpay only because he’s played well in meaningless games at the tail end of a season. He’s ideal for a contender looking to add a bench piece, not a team which is pseudo-rebuilding like the Raptors. He’s the ultimate professional and even though his play has been downright terrible at times this season, his effort cannot be questioned. We made the mistake of not recognizing his decline as a starter and were guilty of stretching his role. He does good things, they just come in small doses.

You can’t read too much into this game, after all it’s the Clippers.

Liners:

• Chris Bosh in his post-game interview said the team’s trying to make the playoffs. I take that as an insult to my intelligence. He’s better of coming out and saying the truth: It’s been a crappy year, the team needs to be fixed and he himself needs to step up his game.
• Other than Randolph’s offense the only Clipper to mildly impress was Iowa St. rookie PG Mike Taylor. Energizer bunny.
• The Raptors won all five quarters, that hasn’t happened since we beat Indiana on December 10th.
• Fred Jones update: He still sucks.
• If you take out Randolph’s 10-17, the Clippers shot 19-58 for 33%.
• If there’s one thing that comes from this season let it be the cancellation of the Pizza Pizza promotion. Free food makes sane people behave in insane ways, AltRaps once drove 150 miles to redeem a Hardee’s coupon. They should give everybody a free pizza slice, most of them probably don’t even redeem it.
• Chris Kaman played 17 minutes? I swear I thought I never saw him.
• I had a lot of respect of Baron Davis back in the day. He used to play through injuries, dunk on Garnett, hustle and be one of those players you hate to play against. I haven’t seen much of the Clippers but he appeared to check out early and didn’t even look to exploit Calderon. He’s not the player I remember him to be.
• Our 100 field goal attempts were the most in a regulation game since we took 103 against Sacramento on February 23rd, 2001.
• The win was bad news in the lottery ball department as we’re now tied with Golden State for the 7th worst record. Finishing 6th is almost impossible unless we pull the plug on everyone as OKC has a five game “lead” on us.

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As I’ve reiterated a few times already, Triano’s coaching ability isn’t even the main reason to make a change, it’s the change in attitude, direction and seriousness that this group needs and you have to start at the heart of the matter which in this case can’t be the GM, but the coach. Also, no more rookie coaches. Please. I also like how he randomly mentions something negative about T.J Ford.

Eric Smith is saying that nobody should be criticizing Colangelo unless they didn’t think that this was a 44-48 win team at the beginning of the season. Really? Didn’t know that was the rule, I think you should be able to criticize the GM whenever you want, especially after a disastrous season regardless of the fact that you might’ve seen some outside sense in his moves when they were made. See, you can’t hold the fans to the same standards as the GM because, you know, he’s the GM and is supposed to know what’s going on, unlike us. I thought this team would finish around .500 and maybe even a couple games above it in the best case, i.e: if everything goes right – Bargnani not being invisible for half the year, JO integrating properly, Kapono not being useless, Mitchell improving his playbook and sub-patterns, Calderon handling the starting duties and Moon/Graham holding their own on defense. I bet against all that happening which was a no-brainer. Even if anyone thought this team could win 45 games, does that mean they don’t get to throw sh*t at Colangelo? Of course not. He should’ve seen this coming even if many of us didn’t. And BTW, those of you who called the miserable season early on, contact Sportsnet and Fan 590 to apply for analyst jobs, you know your stuff better than most.

Here’s what Nathan Jawai’s been up to with the Idaho Stampede:

MIN  	FGM-A  	3PM-A  	FTM-A  	OFF  	DEF  	TOT  	AST  	PF  	ST  	TO  	BS  	PTS
17:03  	2-4  	0-0  	4-5  	2 	4  	6  	1  	6  	0  	4  	0  	8
31:44  	2-7  	0-0  	8-11  	2 	3  	5  	0  	3  	2  	1  	3  	12
17:43  	1-4  	0-0  	0-2  	1 	4  	5  	1  	2  	0  	1  	0  	2
25:08  	5-6  	0-0  	5-6  	2 	4  	6  	2  	4  	0  	5  	5  	15
27:34  	5-14  	0-0  	5-7  	6 	3  	9  	3  	6  	0  	0  	0  	15
26:13  	5-10  	0-0  	4-4  	5 	5  	10  	2  	4  	0  	2  	0  	14
34:18  	6-11  	0-0  	9-9  	1 	4  	5  	3  	5  	1  	2  	2  	21
19:53  	4-5  	0-0  	4-5  	0 	4  	4  	3  	1  	0  	2  	0  	12
22:33  	3-5  	0-0  	2-2  	1 	4  	5  	3  	0  	0  	2  	2  	8
24.7  	50%  	0%  	80% 	2.2 	3.9 	6.1 	2 	3.44 	0.33 	2.11 	1.33 	11.9

Looking at the entire team’s stats you can surmise that he’s not killing it any category. I read a few game recaps and they weren’t much help in trying to understand how we’ll he’s playing. We’ll try to talk to someone in Idaho soon.

Clippers in town this afternoon and they’re on a bit of a hot-streak by their standards: they’ve won 2 out of 4. They kicked off a stretch of 8 out of 9 on the road by getting blown out in Detroit on Friday night. They play the Celtics, Knicks, Spurs, Rockets, Hornets, Nuggets and Lakers in this span which means that this is their only winnable game and don’t for a second think they don’t know it. They play the Celtics tomorrow which is a write-off so I expect them to give their all to try to steal a game. They’re 17-52 but have a respectable healthy lineup for the game: Baron Davis, Al Thornton, Zach Randolph, Chris Kaman and rookie SG Eric Gordon who’s averaging 15.7 points and 2.8 assists in 33+ minutes.

Marcus Camby is still battling the sore right hamstring that he was born with but did manage to play in Detroit. Mardy Collins is questionable for the game with a foot problem and Ricky Davis has been out indefinitely with Ricky Davis problems. As for the Raptors, Humphries is out and Marcus Banks’ status is listed as “who cares”.

The Raptors are favored by 4 points and I’m split on which way to go. On one end I’m thinking this team isn’t pathetic enough to let the Clippers beat them at home but on the other there’s Baron Davis. I’m going with the Clippers to cover, we’ve got no answer for Baron Davis and Camby’s length will hurt Bargnani. Bosh could go off against Randolph but then again Randolph could go off against Bosh. Since these game’s don’t matter and are hard to watch, putting a small wager on them couldn’t hurt the watchability. Or you could just check out March Madness.

The Clipper dance team happen to be the defending Western Conference Champions and my pick is Teresa who tells us her five favorite things to ride.

On the day the Raptors fell to dead last in NBA.com’s power rankings, we finally found a team that was bad enough to beat. The Clippers had come back from a 5-game Eastern swing and were playing without Chris Kaman and Marcus Camby, both out with injury. But hey, you don’t pick who you play so give the Raptors credit for coming out the right way – going inside and staying inside. Jermaine O’Neal provided the paint offense in the first quarter and Chris Bosh carried the load in the second half including 18 fourth quarter points as the Raptors snapped their second 5 game losing skid of the year. I’d like to think we still would’ve managed to win this game if Zach Randolph hadn’t been injured after the lead was cut to 6 from 19 early in the fourth quarter.

The Raptors came out playing well as usual, they built an early 15 point lead by going inside to Jermaine O’Neal who’s offensive game is returning to form. He’s still missing relative easy-angle layups but his jumper is tighter and his footwork in the post much is much better. He was up against Zach Randolph who isn’t the greatest defender but does have enough reach to bother you if you’re unsure of yourself. 10 first quarter points from O’Neal and 8 from Bosh (4 FTs, one hook-shot in the paint and a dunk) set the tone for this game – no stupid jumpers, we’re going to hurt you where you’re weak. Makes sense, DeAndre Jordan, Paul Davis and Brian Skinner have no business slowing us down and they didn’t, resulting in a stat you rarely see the Raptors winning handily: 32-24 points in the paint.

So when we get the early lead the next question to take bets on is when do we blow it? The smart money usually has the lead evaporating by the late 2nd quarter and the Raptors – true to form – let go of half the lead by the end of the 1st quarter which ended at 25-18. Baron David and Eric Gordon hitting back-to-back threes right before Baron had unlocked Calderon’s relatively good defense to find DeAndrea Jordan for two in the paint. When the second quarter began all signs pointed to the Clippers coming back to tie and the smart money paying off. However, the Clippers looked a lot like the Raptors of late and settled for jumper after jumper even though early Baron Davis drives had suggested that all they needed to do was break us down at the point-of-attack. Parker came off the bench in the second quarter to hit 3 smooth Parkeresque jumpers, Kapono got both his scores of the night in the frame to make up for the 4 turnovers and an unhealthy dose of Will Solomon. In fairness to Will, he did knock down a three so it wasn’t all bad today. The Raptors took advantage of the Clippers’ 4 turnovers and 5-21 shooting in the quarter to take a 19 point lead into the half. Steve Smith called it in favor of the Raptors at halftime.

The inevitable Clipper run came in the third quarter, Randolph scored nine points during the 18-5 spurt which cut the lead to 6 in the final minute of the third and then again early in the fourth. That’s when he went down and took any Clipper hopes with him. So what happened in that third quarter? Bargnani happened, check out his action in that frame:

5:58 Andrea Bargnani enters the game for Chris Bosh 61-44 
5:39 Andrea Bargnani clear path foul (Baron Davis draws the foul) 61-44   
5:20 Andrea Bargnani offensive foul (DeAndre Jordan draws the foul) 61-48   
5:20 Andrea Bargnani turnover 61-48   
4:03 Al Thornton personal foul (Andrea Bargnani draws the foul)  61-50 
4:03 Andrea Bargnani makes free throw 1 of 2 62-50   
4:03 Andrea Bargnani misses free throw 2 of 2 62-50   
3:20 Andrea Bargnani shooting foul (Eric Gordon draws the foul) 62-52 
3:00 Andrea Bargnani misses 26-foot three point jumper 62-54 
0:57 Andrea Bargnani loose ball foul (DeAndre Jordan draws the foul) 66-59 
0:57 Jake Voskuhl enters the game for Andrea Bargnani 66-59 

He’s just awful right now and should’ve been replaced much sooner, and by Kris Humphries, not Jake Voskuhl. Don’t get me wrong, 5 rebounds in 8 minutes by Rasho-lite is good production and he’s playing much better than what anybody expected him to but it seems rather unfair that its Humphries whose expense the minutes are coming on. VL gets to play through a stretch where he singlehandedly let the Clippers back in it while Hump is glued to the bench? I thought we were done playing #1 pick favorites in terms of playing time. Voskuhl appears to be higher in the depth chart than Humphries for whatever reason and I’m not sure what Humphries has done to deserve the relegation. Maybe it’s Triano’s way of finding out what he has in Voskuhl and is just letting Humphries recover slowly from his injury.

As for VL, he’s playing like its the first time he’s stepped on a court. He’s got the deer-in-headlights look on every play. He’s unsure of what to do with the ball every single time he touches it. Even the stuff he does right he gets wrong. He caught the ball on the left wing last night and checked whether his feet were behind the 3-pt line before shooting, even after checking and stepping back he still shot a two. Earlier in the year he was playing good defense, now he can’t even keep his arms straight up and is fouling constantly. He’s not just missing his jumpers, he’s shanking them wide-left and wide-right like a bad field goal kicker. His offensive ineptness was easier to ignore when he was somewhat making up for it on the other end by playing good man-defense, blocking shots and providing non-fouling help defense, but when he’s doing none of those his offense becomes front and center and right now it’s so bad that you just want to bench him if for nothing else than to prevent his trade value from plummeting. So disappointing, so very, very disappointing.

After we caught a break with Randolph going down with injury, Chris Bosh decided that there was simply no way anybody could come close to slowing him down and his 18 point fourth quarter is a testament to that. Bosh scored 12 consecutive points in a 3:02 span including a couple threes and a three-point play to push the Raptors ahead 92-73 with 4:43 remaining. Even we can’t blow that lead this late. It did include two threes but I can live him taking those kinds of shots when we’re up 15, it’s only when he takes those with us down 7 and a minute to go that they’re classified as bad shots. The game was practically decided when Randolph went down but Bosh hammered home the result.

What does this win mean? Nothing much, the Clippers are too short-handed to be judged fairly and this was their first game back after a long roadtrip – team’s always under-perform in those situations. They had won 4 of their last 6 but none of the energy or desire needed to win an NBA game was present for the first 35 minutes, they also seem to have tuned out Mike Dunleavy who seems to be talking to walls in the huddle. We start a three-day break on a winning note and are still 6 games under .500. The disgusting habit of blowing early leads is still there as evidenced by last night’s third quarter. As Feschuk has one scout saying:

They’re a great first quarter team

Unfortunately that’s all the scout said, no further elaboration was sought or provided. We have some idea though: weak bench, bad conditioning, nerves, drop-off in intensity, defensive indifference etc. If we have a third quarter like that against any other team they would’ve completed the comeback in the fourth.

Chris Bosh and Jermaine O’Neal had excellent games but how much of that is due to the shot-blocking Camby and the lane-clogging Kaman not being there. We won the rebounding battle 48-38, that’s just wrong. This game does not provide any basis for analysis, it’s like if we had beaten the Thunder, how much would you read into that?

The Raptors flew back to Toronto after the game and arrived in town at 7AM. They’ll fly out back to California on Christmas afternoon and face the Kings on Boxing Day. We’re 1-2 on the trip and if only we would’ve beaten the Thunder we actually could’ve realistically aimed for a winning record on this trip.

Let’s end with a couple quotes, Jermaine O’Neal talking about the importance of defense after holding the Clippers to 78 points, he’s the only Raptor that has consistently backed what he’s said and last night was no different:

Every good team in our league is a good defensive team. The last 10-15 years an offensive team never has won anything in the NBA. Good defence gives you opportunities no matter what you’re doing offensively. If we don’t play defence it doesn’t work because if we’re spending all that energy on defence and you’re really not stopping them, then when you do come down with the ball, you’re fatigued. Us being a jump-shooting team, often those shots are short and that becomes a problem.

Triano, the eternal optimist, believes that this team will find it in them to play a high level of defense while thriving offensively.

We’re going to play good defence and we’ll eventually get our legs. I don’t know if it’s the schedule, the travel, the defence or the system we are playing but I have no doubt that we have good enough shooters and eventually we’ll find it.

Hopefully it won’t be too late.

If you want more from this game there’s the roll call and the live blog. Raptors Republic will be a little slow over the next three days and by “slow” I mean only one article a day. Keep up to tabs by grabbing the RSS feed or following us on Twitter for updates and Raptors tidbits throughout the day (and night).

It’s the “Simpsons” edition.

Adams – He’s the guy you find in malls testing those massage chairs much to the annoyance of the sales staff. Asked Triano if he could bring one in but was told it was against NBA regulations; was then shocked to find out that he’s in the NBA. Hans Moleman.

Bargnani – Stiff personified. The Darko 2.0 nickname implies he’s the second version of Darko. Not true, he’s worse. He’s Bargnani 1.0. Clipper announcers on VL: “#1 pick, now he’s a utility man, he doesn’t know where he’s going or what he’s doing, all he’s done is pick up fouls”. We should just bench him to prevent his trade value falling any further. Ralph Wiggum.

Bosh – Woke up for the NBA TV audience, after all can’t let potential employers see you taking a night off against the Clippers without Kaman and Camby. Was having a good game before Randolph went down but after Z-Bo (self appointed nickname, he has the license plate too) went out, took over. 18 points in the fourth quarter including 2 threes. People south of the border have a much higher opinion of him than Raptors fans. Rainier Wolfcastle.

Calderon – Apparently has the “highest dribble” in the NBA and is loved by Americans who think he is a “great” point guard, we should’ve traded him at the deadline last year and then re-signed him in the summer. Outside the box thinking Bryan, outside the box. 9 points and 8 assists but more importantly didn’t get exploited by Davis or Gordon who were a combined 10 for 29. The Bumble Bee Man.

Graham – Has more zeores in his line than JO’s salary. Drederick Tatum.

Humphries – Either he’s sitting too far down the bench for Triano to see him or he’s sucking ass in practice because he’s gone from 2nd guy off the bench to Hassan’s best friend. Finally got in the game in garbage time for a whopping three minutes. Again, all of VL’s minutes should be going to Hump. Every. Single. One. Duffman.

Jawai – His favorite song? Box-shaped heart. Dr. Hibbert.

Kapono – We could have Wilt, Kareem and Worthy in our front-court and Kapono still wouldn’t be able to hit a traditional 3-pointer off a double-team. 2-8 in 24 minutes in a starting role when Bosh and JO were both commanding double teams. His greatest feat is conning Colangelo. Troy McClure.

Moon – Much more effective sans headband. Opposing wings circle Raptor games with a bright red stinky marker so give credit to Moon for keeping Thornton (1-10) in check. Look past the three lazy J’s and focus on the cut for the jam. Carl.

O’Neal – 23 pts, 9 rebs and 5 blocks. Another solid offensive game, helped the Raptors get off to a great start and was a presence in the paint whenever the lethargic Clippers managed to motivate themselves to drive to the rim. As I said, his offense is coming back to where it was before he went down. Radioactive Man.

Parker – Every time he makes a mistake he has the gaaaayeeessst reaction. Made only one today, passed into the second row without any pressure on him. 12 points, 7 rebounds on 5-7 FG off the bench? Give us more of that and we’ll consider keeping you past the deadline. If nothing else, it’ll help us get something more than a 2nd rounder when we do ship you off to San Antonio. Principal Skinner.

Solomon – Mathematicians and statisticians were summoned from across the globe immediately after the game to find out what the probability of him ever finishing with a +9 again are! Leapfrogged Ukic into the backup PG spot and delivered a couple nice looking threes. Capital City Goofball.

Ukic – In all fairness to Calderon, he wasn’t as bad as Ukic his rookie year. Uter.

Voshkuhl – Tonight on Unsolved Mysteries: How did a man go from bagging groceries to stealing Hump’s minutes? Jimbo Jones.

Driving the bus – Chris Bosh

Under the bus – Andrea Bargnani

Game theme – Crazy Indian Video – Buffalaxed!

Then there’s the live blog and of course Twitter.

**********

Let’s continue the discussion PhDSteve left off on yesterday.

10 -17.

.357 win %.

15 games behind the division leader.

3 games out of the final playoff spot.

5 losses in a row.

When I was a kid, I loved sticker books. Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles, X-Men, even the NBA had their own brand of collectible books. There was something fantastic about coming home from the convenience store with as many cellophane-packed surprises in your hand as you could afford, tearing them open, and finding the correct player/superhero/freak reptile to occupy a vacant numbered spot. Each new sticker in the book was  a step closer to completion, which, of course, was victory.

But the reason these sticker packs were so genius is because they were a total catch .22. As you got closer to finishing the set, you began accruing more duplicates with each pack you bought. These were stickers you couldn’t use, a waste of your hard-scavenged change. Unless you were one of those kids rich enough to buy out the corner store’s supply in search of those evasive final few, there was only two things to do for those serious about taking their sticker book to the next level: pray or trade. And since praying never worked (my incomplete, dust-covered sticker books sit as testament),  you had to find a friend who collected stickers, present to them your surplus inventory, and negotiate a deal to get what you need to complete the set.

Obviously you can see where I’m going with this. Yes, I’m still looking for a Magneto hologram. But what I’m really saying is that Bryan “The Illusionist” Colangelo needs to be looking long and hard at what’s available to finish HIS “sticker book”, the ’08-’09 Toronto Raptors. Colangelo’s problem, to go back to my sticker-thin analogy for a moment, is that he’s got fifteen extra Craig Elho stickers (there was one in every pack!), but so does everybody else. Because his adhesive arsenal is so thin, BC doesn’t have much to offer… and what he does have won’t yield the return he -and we – are looking for.

All that can be said, has been said. Arsenalist has made much mention of beating a dead dinosaur in his post game reports. Fundamental flaws, perimeter and penetration defense, lack of athleticism, depth, and focus…they might as well have their own keyboard shortcuts the way this season has been going.

Let’s take a look at what we have, what others might see in them, and whether we should keep them or deal them off to the highest bidder.

Jermaine O’Neal

Despite the opinions of some of my colleagues, JO has been the concrete in the Raptors interior foundation this season. Sure, that foundation is cracked. The house might not be liveable with much more duress, but JO has been the proud, experienced veteran we hired. Foul trouble and injuries aside (back to this in a minute), Jermaine has proven he can still be a solid contributor the offensive and defensive glass. As a defensive anchor, he’s a presence that’s always ready with the block, and deters as many shots as he swats. On offense, he’s limited but spends so much time around the rim, he’s going to get his.

The issue is, it’s hard to be consistent when you’re always injured, recovering from injury, or in foul trouble. These are very familiar plagues that every GM in the NBA is all too aware of. His monstrous contract works both for him and against him. Jermaine would have suitors, that’s for sure. If I had to assume his open-market value, I’d have to say that it’s based on 45% skill/leadership and 55% expiring contract. But would BC give up his $22mill off the books in the Summer of Bosh? I’m not sure he should. When O’Neal and Bosh are clicking, they’ve been a pretty dominant 4/5 duo, on the stat board at least. Problem is, BC may have no choice.  I can’t see the Illusionist being able to pull off a “major” move without him being shipped out.

DinoSays: Trade him.

Chris Bosh

It goes without saying that Chris is easily the biggest worm BC can put on his lure. Yet I just said it. That’s because trading a piece of Chris’ stature and salary is one of the only ways we can get more assets back than we offer up. I’m talking three-for-one, something like that. Something that takes away one great player, but brings back three damn good ones. That makes the TEAM better, doesn’t it? And Colangelo would likely get to choose from multiple offers, which makes the Bosh bait one of the only where BC can use leverage to pit teams against each other.

There are those that would call it sacrelige to even think of trading The Dreaded One. He’s too important a cog in the system to remove – the whole team would break down. The playbook, fan base, front office, everything is predicated on CB4. In some ways it would hurt even more than when Vince left, because we couldn’t hate him for leaving. Just like we can’t hate him when he leaves in 2010 (cause it’s gonna happen).

But even if he seeks greener warmer more American pastures in free agency, he’ll still rudder this ship for another two seasons. And dealing with the fallout of losing Bosh at such a dark point in Raptor history might be too much for this fragile and emotional fanbase to handle. Plus, BC’s too smart to go down as the man that traded Chris Bosh rather than trying to resign him.

DinoSays: Keep him.

Jose Calderon

Raptors fans have had a much sharper magnifying glass with which to analyze Jose’s hiccups this season than the rest of the league. I’m pretty sure people take note of his decent numbers, excellent assist-to-turnover ratio, and see a spot on their roster. He’s still a second-tier PG in this league, and that’s not debatable. Ocho’s one of the shiniest diamonds in Colangelo’s pinkie ring, sure to have every GM at least hear him out. I’ve been as big a Jose supporter as anyone these past few season, but like I said before, when all you’ve got is Craig Elho’s, sometimes you have to trade a ‘Nique or two to get what you want.

Unfortunately, he’s the one Raptor I would take completely off the table. Not because we just signed him to big money long-term, but because we don’t have another PG on the team. We wouldn’t win another game for the rest of the season if we didn’t get a PG back in the deal. 

DinoSays: Keep him

Willie Solomon

I don’t even want to waste your time. He makes me pine for Darrick Martin. That’s bad. Boxscore Willie is dead to me – do whatever it takes to get him off the roster. I’m going to puke if I type one more word about him.

DinoSays: Trade him, sell him, burn him, ANYTHING.

Jason Kapono

I can’t think of many teams who would pass up the best three point shooter in the league. Contenders with inside presences or penetrating point guards would jump at him. Unfortunately, I don’t think J-Killa is putting forth the performances necessary to get his name on the top of many trade lists. That being said, I believe a savvy GM will see his value and snatch him up, because despite his deficiencies Kapono’s a much better player than he’s showing here – and if not better, at least more effective. He’s got a very palatable contract for a starter, though not so much for a specialty player. They know that BC’s negotiating from a point of weakness and can hold off a bit longer in the season to properly identify their playoff needs.

But on a team with so few desirable pieces, you have to give up something of value. And since we’re not getting much out of him anyway, we likely won’t miss him until he drops eight 3′s on us in his new uniform. 

DinoSays: Trade him.

Andrea Bargnani

Veggie Lasagna…what to do, what to do. We’re getting close to the breaking point with this kid – where we either have to deal him now before he loses whatever little value he had left after last season, or we have to commit to riding out his contract in 2012. I don’t see any other way this can end.

He’s still on the books for $6.5mil next year and $8mil the season after, which certainly makes a project less attractive, especially when you’re talking about a project that a team has already invested so much time and money in, with an unacceptable return on investment. But I bet if we spliced together a Bargnani highlight reel, we could dupe some half-wit GM (who’s got MJ’s cell?) into sending something worthwhile back. 

Personally, I think Bargs still has upside.  He’s the best shooter I’ve seen that can’t hit an open jumper. And as much as my eyes bleed whenever he hoists a straight legged, long rebound 3, when he drives and plays in the post, he’s an asset. We’ve seen some serious blow-bys to the rim from this slow, awkward white dude, which is more than we can say for freakin’ Moon.  Yes, he’s a young, still-developing asset… he just doesn’t feel like a lost cause.

DinoSays: Keep him

Anthony Parker

The ship delivered its cargo and has since sailed. It’s unfortunate that you don’t get points for being a nice guy, because the only player on the team to win an MVP award would be an All-Star. But now he can’t play 48 minutes and has lost his defensive edge. Parker’s been serviceable and consistent over the duration of his tenure here. We should get whatever we can for him, consider the AP era a win, and move on.  It’s a contract year for AP – why run the risk of another wingman leaving like MoPete did?

DinoSays: Trade him.

Kris Humphries

Humph is one of the most attractive pieces on this squad…or would be if people could see what he could do. Curly Sue is a hustle-first physical banger, a rarity in this touch-foul NBA. He’s not even THAT BAD on offense when his shot selection is under control. I’m stretching a bit, but he’s like the homeless man’s Paul Millsap. Unfortunately, it’s hard to project value when you don’t play. I think any trade that Humph’s involved in won’t reap greater or equal value, and if he got some minutes could become more polished and turn into a regular contributor.

DinoSays: Keep him.

Joey Graham

Speaking of minutes… guess it was all he needed. Say whatever you want about Joey, but he’s basically doing everything Moon is supposed to but doesn’t, and is the only player under 6’11 on this team willing to take it to the rack. He rivals Jermaine O’Neal as the most aggressive Raptor, and Toronto is a glaring example that this cannot be taught. We can stop saying Good Joey and Bad Joey, because what we’re seeing is J-O-E-Y, all 360 degrees of him. And as strange as this feels to type, we can’t afford to trade Joey. We need what he brings to the court, unless we get someone with superior-yet-same skills back. And no one’s making that trade. So I’m curious to see what happens after 40-odd games of regular burn, something he’s never had before.

DinoSays: Keep him.

Jamario Moon

It’s about time we officially take the “Jam” out of his name once and for all.  

Jumpshotio Moon has taken a bigger step back between his rookie and sophmore seasons than “Heroes”. His lack of intensity, rebounding, and aggressiveness is a constant drain when he’s on the court. He, like Solomon, makes us worse. Even when he leaps for a board or extends for a steal, he still doesn’t do what he’s supposed to. And I just can’t accept that. 

So who would want Jumpy? Well,  it’s working in his favor all the hype and national coverage he received as last year’s feel good story. Hollinger is convinced he’s a defensive ace, and I can guarantee you more NBA folks read Hollinger than the ol’ Republic here. I can see someone taking him – he’d be an alluring fit with NellieBall in GS, or D’Antoni in NY.

DinoSays: Trade him.

Roko Ukic

Since Will Solomon transitioned over to his nely created position of Screwup Pointguard, we don’t have another backup PG.  Bottom line is that he’s played just 27 NBA games, has good length and size for his position, and despite looking like he’s about to piss himself whenever he’s on the court hasn’t been the worst guard on the team. There’s no shortage of young European projects available for the so-inclined GM, so no one’s going to come a’ ringing for Roko. I don’t see a reason not to give the kid a chance. Sure, we could trade him, but who would want him? 

DinoSays: Keep him.

Jake Voskuhl

Anyway, I’m sure there’s a rule against trading a guy you just signed as a free agent mid-season, and there was a reason he wasn’t on a roster before last week. I mean, seriously?

DinoSays: Who cares?

Hassan Adams

Ha-ha-ha-Hassan, you make me laugh. The supposed “man who got away” from the Nets? You’ve logged a grand total of 47 minutes through 27 games. Yep, less than a full game.

They say action speaks louder than words, but inaction speaks louder than both. Even if BC wanted to trade him, he’d have to showcase his talents, or lack thereof – and he can’t even bring himself to put Hassy on the court. In a season like this, I’m sure he’s been given every opportunity to step up and prove himself in practice. Clearly Adams will have the last laugh, because the joke’s on us. Good one, Bryan!

DinoSays: Stuck with him

Nathan Jawai

Unfortunately for us in Toronto, the NBA is not the auto industry. Otherwise, Jawai would be great to trade for parts. There’d be interest in dissecting his big body and grabbing an arm here, a hip there.

That’s enough ribbing Nate. It’s not his fault he hasn’t played. We have no idea what we drafted with this guy – and we may never. But I wouldn’t trade him for our sake (and his) until we can see him on the court.

DinoSays: Keep him.

I don’t have the answers, but damned if I don’t have suggestions. With a handful of doubles, what moves can The Illusionist make to complete his stickerbook?