This is the first game since opening night that I’ve legitimately been excited to watch. While I’m not sure what Colangelo’s plans for this team are over the next 9 months or so, but he pulled off the best trade of his Raptor tenure. While Jack may have been the best player in the deal, he turned Jack/Banks/Andersen into an asset (Peja’s expiring) that was greater than the parts it was traded for, and Bayless who should be giving us a couple years of frustration. If nothing else, we have a couple months of trade machine until the deadline.

Tonight, the Raptors host the Sixers at the ACC, and hope to extend the winning streak to 4-games for the first time since January of last season. Without even getting into it, I expect a win tonight for a couple reasons:

1. Sixers suck
2. Sixers suck on the road
3. Sixers sucked last night in Washington (back-to-back)
4. We’ve already beaten them

This the second time these teams have played in a week (it was the Sixers who got the Raptors started on this mini-winning streak), where the Raptors were able to keep the game close, then pull it out in the 4th. Bargnani came out the games gangbusters, but did a solid job of maintaining his effectiveness for the game. Arsenalist described the game the best:

“This game was a war of attrition between a poor Philly offense and a bad Raptors defense. Something had to give and it ended up being the Philly defense as a very motivated Andrea Bargnani kept demanding the ball right up until the end and delivered when he got it.”

Injury Report

Toronto
Ed Davis – On the mend

Philadelphia
Andre Iguodala – Achilles, Played last night
Elton Brand – May be suspended

Match-ups

PG – Calderon vs Holiday
Holiday is coming off a rough game against the Wizards last night where he went 4-12 from the field, but grabbed 6 rebounds and dished out 5 dimes. I like this kid, but he’s too up and down, and considering he threw in a bad performance last night, and the three days rest Jose got, this could be a long night for the kid. I ugh…don’t have a whole lot for this one, other than the bench could have a big impact on this one. Lou Williams stunk last week, but had a big night last night, and Bayless is coming in pretty wet behind the ears. I expect Calderon to play 32+ minutes tonight, and with his ability to manage the offense, he should have a strong game if he keeps active on offense, and doesn’t give Holiday anything easy.
Edge: Calderon

SG – DeRozan vs Turner
Triano will be experimenting with minutes to get the right mix, but if DeRozan is having another bad game, you can expect to see Barbosa (and Weems in certain match-ups) play some here. Turner hasn’t been shooting well, and his offense has suffered, but he was able to pull down 12 rebounds last week against the Raps. I don’t expect to see that again, but the Raptors will need to stay alert and not let the Philly backcourt catch their second wind tonight and lead their offense since their front line players struggle to create shots for themselves. If Lou Williams gets going like he did last night against the Bucks, it could open up some cracks in the paint for folks to go to work. After a few pretty games, and a couple days off, DeRozan looks good to come correct tonight. He needs to stay active and get to the line, otherwise I don’t see it working out well for him-again.
Edge: DeRozan

SF – Weems vs Igoudala
After being out a few games with an injured Achilles, Andre played 50 minutes last night and had a solid game (23pts 11rebs 8ast). He’s going to be tired and is still injured (achilles injuries take a bit more time to heal). Nocioni is playing hurt, and Weems is playing well. That’s all there is to this. Expect Thaddeus Young to get some burn after posting a couple solid performances against the Bucks and Wizards, but he’s logged quite a few minutes the last two games, so he wont be 100%. I’m liking Weems a lot lately, seems like he’s ‘gotten’ it, and is doing the right things on the court. Either way, he will be playing folks who aren’t at their best, and should have a a good go of it. I’m excited to see what Peja brings to the table tonight. I expect he should play 20+ minutes as Carlesimo Triano figures things out; this should be a nice game for him to showcase what he has left in the tank.
Edge: Weems

PF – Evans vs Brand
Brand might be suspended for this game, after being ejected last night for a flagarant. Evans will need to do a better job defending him as he had his way last week (27pts 9reb) and was really the only reason the Sixers were in the game for as long as they were. If he’s suspended, then the offense will sputter, since no one else commands enough attention in the paint to give the perimeter players room to operate; hopefully we get to see Songaila airball a couple more shots. Either way, the Raptors have the horses to win this battle.
Edge: Evans

C – Bargnani vs Hawes
Greatest. Raptor. Player. Ever.
Edge: Bargnani

**NOTE** I think this is the first time I have the Raptors winning at all five positions, without the bench needing to pick up the slack. Could be a nice game for Amir to get at it without the pressure of being a focal point with so much going on with the new players and the fact that Philly sucks.

Keys to the Game

Show up
Philly is going to be tired after going to the wire agains the Wizards, and we’re a better/deeper team than they are. Yea…

Protect the perimeter
The Sixers don’t have the horses to hurt us in the key, or the glass, so our wings will need to pay attention to their shooting. If they get going, get the adrenaline pumping early, and hit their shots, it could be a long-frustrating night. I can live with that if they protect the paint and contest shots. Communication will be huge.

Give Bargnani the ball
Il Mago is hot, lets keep feeding him and let him go to work. Philly’s got nothing to stop him, or counter him. With Jack carrying CP3′s bags now, there’s no one to look away from him when he’s got it going.

The Line

The gamblers have the Raptors as 6.5 point favourites with an over/under of 205.5 points. I’m thinking bigger things tonight; Raptors by 11.

Sorry this pre-game isn’t as good as it should be, I was super rushed this morning.

Arse has been up since 7am doing laps, push-ups and cursing at the mirror in preparation for the Celtics today. You hate, them, I hate them, everyone hates this team accept people who live in Massachusetts. I actually don’t hate them anymore, I just hate Garnett. Everyone else is a classy player who acts like a man; Garnett is a bully who’s drunk on his championship.

Lots of action the last couple days in Toronto huh? Unavailable for tonight’s game are Jack, Banks and Andersen; hopefully Stojakovic and Bayless available. 77% of you think this was a good trade for the Raptors, and I have to agree. In one swoop, the Raptors got younger, saved some money, and have a big asset that should come into play as the trade deadline gets closer. Gotta give Colangelo some credit, this could have been the best trade he’s made in a while since we will still have Reggies expiring in play as well.

Just a quick recap of some assets as the trade deadline approaches:

Peja Stojakovic – $14.75mil
Reggie Evans – $5mil
TPE – $14mil’ish

That’s a lot of toys to be playing with, and with a lot of broke teams, and teams looking to add a dead-eye(ish) shooters, it’s very possible something good/big can happen by February. The only thing not acceptable for me is buying out Peja’s contract right now. I guarantee you Riley is whispering sweet nothings in BryCo’s ear to try to make that happen.

We have a game to get too…Raptors host the Celtics today. I had a chance to speak with Brendan Jakcson from Celtics Hub, and he had some really good things to say about this team:

He’s the man on the one of the three best teams in the league; at what point does the list of best point guards begin with Rondo and not Paul, Williams, Westbrook or Rose?
Many people believe that Rajon Rondo will not fully ascend to the upper echelon of premir point guards until he develops a consistent jump shot. I disagree. Friday marked the first time this season Rondo failed to record double digit assists (finishing the game with 7) and he say out for much of the fourth quarter with a hamstring issue. Ranking the league’s best point guards is usually problematic on the outset because no one really agrees on the criteria. Should they be the best passer? Best basketball player? Best decision-maker? Should they be better offensively? Should they be better defensively? At this point, if Rondo is not ebing mentioned within that group of aforementioned points, than the person doing the talking has not been paying much attention.

Are the Celtics more worried about the Heat or the Magic?
First and foremost, the Celtics are most worried about themselves. If healthy and focused, the Celtics feel they can beat any team on any night. However, those are two huge “ifs”. So far this season, the Celtics have handily beaten the Heat twice. At this point the Celtics cannot really say they are worried about the Heat. As for the Magic, the Celtics have yet to play the new-look Magic (Quentin Richardson has replaced Matt Barnes and Stan Van Gundy is actually playing Brandon Bass) but even the Magic do not stroke fear in the hearts of the Celtics. Kendrick Perkins is probably the best at defending Dwight Howard one on one which gives the Cs so much more leeway on the defensive end. Less cheating/helping begets better close-outs on shooters. Despite handily beating the Magic in last year’s Eastern Conference Finals, the Celtics have yet to play them this year. The easy answer is the fear of the unknown.

The Celtics lost a couple key guys (Tony Allen for one), added another couple (West and Wafer) and added two O’Neal’s who might be limping into the playoffs. Were these moves enough to even get out of the East, much less beat the Lakers?
The Celtics came out of the East last year with a far less complete team. As for the Lakers, the Celtics lacked the necessary size and length in the middle to compete with Los Angeles on the glass. The additions of Shaquille O’Neal and Jermaine O’Neal will likely change that. The Celtics may still lose the battle of the boards but now they are more well-equipped to battle other players for rebounds.
Delonte West may end up being the most underrated move of any team this offseason. I do not blame teams for taking a pass on West but also totally understand why the Celtics did not. The Celtics’ bench lacked a necessary glue-guy last year as evident by how much burn Ray Allen got with the bench warmers. West changes that. He can play the one, two, or even the three if the Celtics go small.
Losing Tony Allen was a definite blow for the Celtics wing defense off the bench. Luckily for the Cs, Marquis Daniels appears to be hitting his stride (well, hitting it enough, anyway) to be a serviceable replacement for TA. Daniels is not a “lock-down” guy like Allen was for the Cs, but he’s still capable of spelling Pierce when necessary.

Speaking of Lakers, if the Celtics don’t win it all this season, how much sleep does Danny Ainge lose before breaking things up?
Danny Ainge actually did a brilliant thing last offseason by only singing players for two years. This way, whether or not the Celtics win this year they are poised to either go into battle with largely the same team intact or use the plethora of expiring contracts as trade bait. Win or lose, Ainge has options and with options a man can sleep easy.

What will the Raptors have to do to beat the Celtics tonight?
Catch them on an off night? No, but in all seriousness, the Celtics biggest weakness is athleticism. If Toronto can use their athletics wings (Sonny Weems, DeMarr DeRozan) to out run and jump the Cs, than it could be a long night for the men in green. Andrea Bargnani should also try to draw Kevin Garnett out of the paint for as long as possible to clear driving lanes for the Raptor’s more athletics players. If Garnett sags down to help, Bargnani can make him pay by hitting open jumper after open jumper.

Injuries

Toronto
Ed Davis – Out
Leandro Barbosa – Shoulder, Should Play
Linas Kleiza – Achilles, Should Play

Boston
Rajon Rondo – Hamstring, Game time decision
Kevin Garnett – Elbow to the head (LOL), Game time decision
Jermaine O’Neal – Knee, Out
Kendrick Perkins – Out

Match-ups

PG – Calderon vs Rondo
His first case as the undisputed leader of this team, and he gets Rondo; it’s almost funny actually. If you haven’t been paying attenion, Rondo is the best point guard in the league right now, averaging 11.2pts 14.3ast 4.8reb 2.5blk in about 40min. Jose isn’t. To make matters worse for Calderon, Rondo’s defense is probably better than his offense. On offense, Rondo likes the paint/elbows. Jose can expect to be attacked a lot off the dribble.

Rondo also gets a chance to welcome Jerryd to the Raptors, should be fun.
Edge: Rondo

SG – DeRozan vs Allen
DeMar has played very well the last week or so, and seems to have taken things up a notch in his game. This afternoon against Allen, he will have to leverage more than his athleticism to be effective. He’s going to have to take notes and do what Allen does. It will be fun to watch him chase Ray-Ray around, but he needs to return that favour in kind on offense.

Repeat after me: Don’t. Leave. Allen. On. The. Perimeter. For. Any. Reason. He will stick ‘em from the perimeter, and can finish at the rim. Good luck.
Edge: Allen

SF – Weems vs Pierce
I get that feeling that Weems athleticism wont be helping him as much as usual. Unlike Ray Allen who is able to run around, Pierce doesn’t, and for some reason, he seemingly doesn’t need too. To have any success, Weems will need to get out and make him run in transition. Run up the court, run around screens, run into the corner, fake rolling and pop out…just keep running. If Pierce is tired enough, he wont punish you on offense with that slow first step that has raped and pillaged defenses across the league.

Pierce likes to play in the paint, but his perimeter game needs to be respected. I feel like I should be putting more here, but I’m super tired.
Edge: Pierce

PF – Evans vs Garnett
I suspect there will be a switcharoo on defense were Shaq covers Evans and Garnett jumps out on Bargnani, but whatever. The only thing I’m hoping for today is when KG starts jawing at Calderon, Evans grabs him by the nuts and head butts him. That would make me very happy.

Edge: Garnett

C – Bargnani vs Shaq
The only match-up where the Raptors have an advantage, and I suspect that it will be mitigated with Doc switching Garnett to Bargnani for defensive purposes. Shaq has zero chance of keeping up with Andrea on the perimeter, we all know that. It’s not a secret weapon or anything. Garnett though…he can do it. Bargnani should be able to hang with Shaq defensively, but there will be moments where Shaq gets good position and puts it down. The one area where the Raptors have an advantage, and it’s an easy fix to get around it. Sucks is all…

Edge: Bargnani

Keys to the Game

Rebounding
The Celtics are the 2nd worse rebounding team in the league. Even though they a size advantage against almost every team, they can’t grab a rebound; which really baffles me. Regardless, the Raps need to get out in transition and get the Celtics running back on their heels, as well as keeping possessions going with an offensive rebound. The only way to do that is to have the ball, which means grabbing rebounds. Make sense?

Be Athletic?
I guess you are either or you aren’t. The Raptors are, the Celtics aren’t. The Raptors need to get the geriatrics running up and down the court pleading for the Bengay. The Raptors have to get them tripping over their knee braces and such to have a chance.

Hit your shots
This is more a plea than a strategy, but the Raptors have an advantage in this area, and they need to use it to enhance the other aspects of their game. If this boils down to a slow-paced halfcourt game, it’s over. But if speeds up and gets into an up-and-down match, the Raptors will give themselves a chance. That’s all we’re asking for, a chance.

The Line

The gamblers have the Celtics as 5.5 point favourites, which isn’t as bad as I thought it would be. The Raptors just lost one of their most important players in a trade, and with the roster shaken up a bit, it could provide the fire to get after it a bit more than they have been to start the season.

Alabi: I miss Patrick O’Bryant.

Andersen: Would have won the game if he played, I have to believe.

Banks:

Barbosa: Could have used his ability to break down defenders off the dribble and on the break, but injuries finally caught up to him.

Bargnani: 23pts 9rebs, Mohammed really had no chance. Good to see him with a solid performance in multiple facets of the game. The team looked away from him when he was hot early, and he got stripped like a working girl with the team down three, and seconds left in the game by Stephen Jackson, but he should have been getting that ball on a pick-n-pop situation. Got no hate for him tonight.

Calderon: Led a solid charge off the bench, and it was the right decision to have him finish the game out. Has great chemistry with Johnson, which is reason enough to have him coming off the bench (while Johnson is on the bench at least). He didn’t shoot the ball well at all, but was key cog in the Raptor bench outscoring the Bobcats bench 49-30.

Davis: Seemed to be spaced out at the end of the bench. Would be nice to see him sitting closer to the coaches and getting some tips and direction, that you know, he could use when he gets back from injury.

DeRozan: Didn’t take a shot and missed both his free throws in the first half. Not much better in the second half, but Triano deemed him fit to finish out the game. I can’t explain it either.

Dorsey: …I got nothing here.

Evans: God bless him; played well before leaving with an injury. Could have done without the field goal attempts, but the man’s entitled to a few every once in a while.

Jack: Last I checked, the point guard is supposed to get the ball to the right guy, at the right time for the best chance at a basket. While he put up a pretty good stat line, his impact on the game was the opposite of his box score; for me anyways. Far too often I was shaking my head in silent disgust. He looked off Bargnani a couple times in the first half when the Italian was hot; and was generally sloppy when he needed to be on the ball. *sigh*

Johnson: Good things happened when he plays with his head. Didn’t pick up any cheap fouls which allowed him to be aggressive in the right spots. For those who are counting, this is his 4th solid game in a row; I’m downplaying because I don’t want to jinx anything.

Kleiza: Really?

Weems: Played a solid first half, and should have played ALL of DeMar’s minutes in the second. Finished big on breaks, but most impressive scored 20 points on 12 shots. 12 GOOD shots. I’m not used to seeing that, and I hope it continues. Easily his performance of the season.

Wright: Last season we had Antoine Wright, this year we have his taller, more athletic and less prone to taking bad shots alter ego Jullian. His hustling produces good results: does the dirty work and actually is a pretty good defender. This kid is quickly earning himself more minutes.

Driving The Bus: Weems

Under The Bus: Kleiza

So I guess it wasn’t all BS rhetoric coming out of the Raptors camp during the pre-season. Things like intense practices and commitment to defense were all being pushed down our throat in an effort to appease us after a mediocre offseason (it wasn’t a great offseason, admit it), and I wasn’t buying any of it. Now don’t get me wrong, you can’t read much into a pre-season game where your opponent played the night before; but what I saw from the players, and the brand of ball they are playing now…all I’m saying is that I can watch this team play ball this season, win or lose, and not pull my hair out because they will be trying.

This game was more about assessing what he has more than anything, with Triano fielding a starting crew of Jose Calderon, DeMar DeRozan, Linas Kleiza, Reggie Evans and Andrea Bargnani. Reggie Evans’ being the lone WTF of the bunch. Triano has seven more games to get a sense of what he really has, and a rotation for the start of the season, so we can expect some interesting lineups over the next couple weeks.

I’m not going to get into a detailed recap of the entire game since I missed the entire 4th quarter, and this was a pre-season game, but there were a few interesting themes that developed:

Linas Kleiza’s star is shining
So that’s what it’s like to have a point forward who can create, facilitate and hit the open jumper in the corner. It’s not so much that I expect him to average 20pts (7-9 FG / 4-4 3FG / 2-2 FT) and 5rebs every-night, cause he wont. It’s just that the way he played, seemed sustainable. He didn’t over extend himself, played within his minutes, and knocked down good shots. Would have been nice to see him get his teammates more involved, but we’re one game into the pre-season. Looking forward to seeing more of him. He played exactly how the Kool-Aid drinking fans said he would, and you know what? While he isn’t the saviour everyone’s made him out to be, I’m all in.

Andrea Bargnani…sigh…
There were folks who said that Bargnani would step up and fill the offensive void that Bosh left. Not only did he not do that, he didn’t do much of anything other than grab 3 offensive rebounds; 1 less than all of last season. He seriously didn’t look interested in playing, and turned in a terrible effort. I’m not trying to rip him here, it is what it is. He will probably do 17-20 a night, and 6-8 boards, which is pretty good. However, when Triano says that Bargnani probably is the only one who has a guaranteed starting spot, there are expectations (from me) that come with it. Namely putting in a solid effort, which he didn’t. Something that Bargnani really misses is the space Bosh used to create for him. Going to be interesting to see him have to work to get himself open, then work to create his own shot.

Swarming Defense
If the Raptors hope to have any chance at winning games this season, it will be because of the defense, and NOT their offense. There will be games where they score 129 points, but this team isn’t as offensively gifted as they have been in the last couple seasons. Like last pre-season, the Raptors came out possessed, and actually maintained that pace for the whole game. Trapping in the half-court, full-court, out of bounds plays, inbounds, what have you; the guards/wings didn’t let up, and our bigs aggressively doubled the ball handler. Defensive rotations were another thing: Reggie Evans got hung out to dry a couple times when no one rotated out to cover his guy when he doubled on the perimeter, that pissed me off. Transition defense, early in the going was pretty rough, but even that picked up. Holding the Suns to 79 points on 37.8% shooting is impressive, regardless of the situation.

More of the same from Amir
15min 9pts (3-4 FG 3-4 FT) 6rebs (4OFF) 1blk…FIVE FOULS! So with Amir, it isn’t so much that he isn’t an effective player when he plays, it’s just that he doesn’t play as much as he should because he averages a foul every 6 minutes he’s on the court. There was a recent thread in the forums where the value of Amir’s contract was validated by the massive one Joakim Noah got recently (5yrs/$60mil or so). So while his productivity is off the charts (ESPN Insider required, but the stats are solid), we need to be reserved in the notion that his effectiveness is also the reason he is so prone to fouling. I really believe you can’t have one without the other, and we need to be ok with the fact that we paid a guy who can really only give us 19-23min every night, and pay him $35mil over the next 7 years for the privilege.

DeMar DeRozan needs to do more than score
He really does. He shot the ball well, attacked the paint, and put up 16pts (6-10 FG / 1-1 3FG / 3-3 FT), but otherwise contributed 2rebs 1ast 1stl. He’s been handed the keys, and needs to realize that there is more to this game than scoring. Weems on the other hand shot the ball too much, leading the team in attempts, but at least he gets after it on the boards and plays better defense. At the end of the day, they both compliment each other well, with no real drop off when you swap one out for the other, but they still need to raise both their games a bit more. For me, the honeymoon is over with DeRozan (more so than Weems since we passed on Jennings for him) and I’m expecting more from him this season.

I missed the 4th quarter, but the Raptors were able to extend their lead, while producing a ridiculous boxscore that had them besting the Suns in every single statistical category except blocked shots. One thing to note: Joey Dorsey – where have you been all my life??? Let me temper myself by saying this is pre-season, but if he keeps this up (13pts 10rebs), it’s going to be very hard not to give him minutes that were supposed to go to Davis and Evans, especially with Davis injured and our boy shining in his place.

I’d like to thank the 55 or so folks who came by our live chat at 10pm for a pre-season game; you guys are seriously boss, and from what Arse says there was great vibe and great convo. Next up, we got the Celtics in Boston.

I’m on Twitter.

Image Credit: Mandatory Copyright Notice: Copyright 2010 NBAE (Photo by Jeff Vinnick/NBAE via Getty Images)

“I don’t get it, what did we end up with?”

“Limp noodle (Andrea Bargnani), is he still on the team?”

My girl said that to me as I sunk into my seat while TSN played the Bosh presser. I seriously don’t know where to begin, except to say that there is no hard feelings towards Bosh from this corner of the internet (Arse excluded). All my anger and disgust are squarely aimed at the brass for failing this city so miserably, yet again.

Some bad PR aside, Bosh stayed true to the tenets he had maintained since his exit interview:

• Be a core piece of a championship calibre team (think Pau Gasol)
• Max contract (the Florida tax situation puts him damn close without breaking out a calculator)
• That he will resign with the Raptors IF he feels they are doing everything possible to put a quality team around him

We can do nothing but speculate about what was said between Colangelo and Bosh’s camp up until yesterday, but one thing was clear: there was not enough communication between the two groups. For that, the blame gets spread around evenly. However, you can’t take a couple tweets about the excitement of getting courted from a 26 year old guy to heart, that’s all I’m saying. While I fully believe that Colangelo was working like a mad man to get Bosh to resign, clearly not enough was done to appease him. For starters, perhaps he could’ve made the trip to Texas last week instead of sending his assistants.

By signing outright (for now, Colangelo can still negotiate a max S&T) with the Heat, Bosh has put winning a championship above everything else. For that, we should ALL have nothing but respect for the guy. Sure, the Heat only have Wade, Beasley and Chalmers under contract; they will have a tough time filling out the roster with enough talent to be a championship contender next season, but Riley has built a championship team in Miami in the past without a running mate for Wade of Bosh’s caliber. Top four team in the East as things stand? I say that’s about right.

Where did it all go wrong?

Colangelo had three summers to improve upon the surprising 47 win team that raised all of our expectations. While there were a couple smaller moves that worked out fairly well, Amir/Belinelli/Jack, the larger ones failed miserably:

1. He underestimated the value of Jorge Garbajosa after he went down with a broken leg, and literally did nothing to replace him in the lineup. While Jorge wasn’t the most talented of players, he was a glue guy for the Raptors who did a lot of the little things necessary to win games. The thinking at the time went that the team didn’t need a whole lot of tinkering, so there wasn’t any at all. Foul ball: 0-1
2. After getting thumped by Orlando in the first round of the playoffs, the Raptors had a clear need for a second “20 point scorer” who could take some of the load off of Bosh, so defences couldn’t zero in on him and grind our offense to a halt. Jermaine O’Neal was obtained to be that guy who could come in and be fill that role. Seemed like this was the start of a couple other moves (a shooting guard in the mold of Mickael Pietrus would have been a good fit), but it was the only move. JO didn’t pan out at all, and things went from bad to worse prompting the premature (but widely expected) firing of Sam Mitchell. O’Neal was promptly shipped to Miami (with a 1st rounder to boot) for the expiring contract of Shawn Marion and the crippling contract of Marcus Banks. Strike two: 0-2
3. The Raptors still needed that second option on offense, so Shawn Marion was turned into Hedo Turkoglu who, while coming off a great playoff run, couldn’t recreate the Magic (sorry) he displayed for Orlando. Hedo literally provided no relief on the offensive end of the court, and the Raptors narrowly missed the playoffs. To make matters worse, Hedo made a bigger mess with his appearance on Turkish television saying he wanted out and that the organization was unfair in their handling of his going out on the town. To top it all off, Colangelo outbid nobody and re-upped Bargnani to a 5yr/$50million contract instead of letting him prove his worth in a contract year and relying on the qualifying offer. That still could work out, but so far it hasn’t. Strike three: 0-3

If you were given the choice to play for Colangelo and Triano alongside Calderon, Turkoglu and Bargnani, or for Riley and Spoelstra alongside Wade and anyone else in the league – in Miami of all places, who would you choose? I think he made a great basketball decision. Doesn’t even matter that LeBron wont be joining them, since the pairing of Wade and Bosh rivals that of Kobe and Gasol.

Where does that leave the Raptors?

There is still some hope. Colangelo can still swoop in and try to make some things happen by giving Bosh a max contract, while trying to make a couple other things happen. I prematurely posted a Bucher rumour the other day that looks MIGHTY fine to me right now:

To Miami
Bosh/Calderon

To Toronto
Chalmers/Beasley and a trade exception

It is doubtful we get any draft picks back since Bosh was willing to forgo some salary to sign outright with Miami; Riley has proved to be a shark in these matters. The Heat still need a top calibre point guard, which Calderon still is. This leaves them enough space to fill out the roster by signing a few of their own free agents, while grabbing some veterans. Not a bad start for the Heat.

Where do we go from here?

The short: it leaves a squad with a lot to be desired. You can’t expect that Beasley will replace what Bosh (you also can’t expect him to even be a part of our imaginary dream either) brought to the table, you just can’t. The kid has talent, there is no denying it but the other stuff that comes with him frankly has me nauseous. A front court of Turkoglu, Beasley and Bargnani doesn’t get me excited, but it does get rounded out with Johnson, Evans, Davis and Alabi. Chalmers and Banks back up Jack, with a trio at the wing of DeRozan, Weems and Belinelli. That isn’t terrible, but there are no stars, and no one who can create their own scoring opportunities AND get to the line like Bosh did. The playoffs would be an unlikely event with this group, though.

IF Colangelo can negotiate a S&T that includes Jose AND if he gets back a large enough trade exemption that we can land a star somehow (I hear Chris Paul is available if you take Emeka Okafor’s massive contract, just putting it out there) AND if said trade exception is properly managed, things are salvageable BUT I wont hold my breath based on this teams history.

Here’s another IF: LeBron James. IF he decides to sign in Miami, expect a deal to get done that includes Beasley. The Heat still need to clear some space to bring in the second max free agent. With LeBron’s ego LeBron James holding a presser at 9pm tonight, Colangelo has a small window of opportunity to possibly take advantage of Riley since the clock is ticking to get LeBron to sign in Miami. Fortunately this ordeal will be over with quickly, then we can get to the important business of debating the crap out of our secondary tier of players and what to do with them.

I’m on Twitter.

I checked in with Surya Fernandez from Hot Hot Hoops to talk about the Heat and the newly formed commission (Bosh, Wade, LeBron and Joe Johnson). We’re still getting weak trade offers for Bosh; I guess a 24pt 11reb a night kind of guy has no value around the league. It’s actually making me question what I think I know about basketball (which granted isn’t very much since I thought the Suns were going to be thumped buy the Spurs in the 2nd round).

Without even making a reach, Riley has a lot of options to pair Wade with an elite level forward this summer (Bosh, Boozer and Stoudemire), so you can expect him to jump at the first option regardless of who he really covets. I’m going out on a limb and predicting Bosh doesn’t end up in Miami this summer, but that the Heat will be a 50 win team next season with the additions Riley makes.

Sam Holako: What do you make of this free agent commission Wade, LeBron, Bosh and Johnson have put together to discuss their fates? Seems sinister, and frankly, I’m a little disappointed about it – whatever happened to being a man?

Surya Fernandez: It’s all a matter of perception. Toronto needs to find another willing team to do a sign and trade should Bosh want to go elsewhere to get something decent in return and start a new era. The Heat have been treading water for the last couple of years and are finally free of that huge chunk of salary cap that dated back from Shaq’s last contract extension. Wade doesn’t sound like he’s leaving so there’s little doubt that he’ll try to do some recruiting at this summit. There’s nothing else for him to talk about. I don’t mind players that are friends getting together and talking about something this important in their lives and careers. Maybe they all go their separate ways and nothing much comes of it. Just imagine what owners and GMs talk about when they all get together. It must be worse than a sewing circle.

SH: With Wade staying, I look at the team, and don’t see much of anything there: Chalmers is a nice player, Beasley has talent, I’m a fan of Joel Anthony, but outside of that, what does Miami do to round out the roster? What does Miami do to become relevant again?

SF: o question it’s a huge question mark with that many contracts clearing the books. But there is a lot of flexibility that comes with that. Udonis Haslem and Dorell Wright are solid players that can be retained or used for sign and trades to secure a point guard, the Heat’s biggest need. Chalmers and Beasley can be traded but if they stay will provide depth.

I’m not a fan of simply giving out max contracts to just anybody and I would pass on Amar’e Stoudemire, Carlos Boozer and Joe Johnson because other teams that may miss out on the bigger names will be offered a max contract by a team like the Knicks, Clippers or Nets. If you can sign James or Bosh then that’s great but the Heat could also use the rest of the $10-12 million to round out a roster with some quality big men and long range shooters. I just wrote (Affordable free agents that the Miami Heat should pursue) about nine free agents that the Heat should go after if they went this path.

Another method that isn’t discussed much is to hold on to some of the cap space to facilitate trades with other teams after the season starts leading up to the trading deadline. Riley said last month that the makeover process could take up to 18 months. Teams will want to shed contracts (like the Marcus Camby or Eric Maynor trades) and the Heat could absorb them easily (and perhaps acquire a few draft picks in the process) to get some more depth leading up to a playoff run.

SH: That’s quite the list, what stands out for me is Oberto and Foye. With the Wizard probably shopping Arenas; what would you think about engineering a trade to land Arenas and Oberto for cap space and Haslem, still having enough cap space to sign a Bosh? That would be a lethal backcourt.

SF: On paper it would be a lethal backcourt. The problem is that the Wizards on paper before the start of this season were thought of as a playoff team. First you have that huge contract that in and of itself would be drawback even if it was the Arenas of a few years ago. Then you have the health issues that he never seemed to have recovered from then the gun incident that derailed the entire franchise. I’d stay away from him.

If Miami wants to try it out with an oft-injured player past his prime I’d rather take on Elton Brand and net the second overall pick too from the Sixers. His contract is just as bad as Arenas but at least then you could rationalize it by having two players who combined make “X” amount of money because of this trade. Both could be useful immediately for the Heat if Brand is at least healthy enough to contribute like Jermaine O’Neal did this past season (putting aside the Celtics playoffs). And the Heat will have an awesome rookie talent at that pick.

SH: Philly was my next option; I really think Brand will surprise folks once he gets out of Philly. Make me an offer for Bosh in a S+T.

SF: You can have your first round pick back from the Marion-O’Neal trade plus another first rounder, Cook and Chalmers (who both need a change of scenery as well). It’s better than losing him for nothing. Offering Beasley as well would be the last resort since Bosh might be persuaded to just simply sign in Miami, not have to pay income tax and the Heat could keep those players and picks I just offered to your Raptors and send them to another team for a solid player who makes less like Rudy Gay. I like Bosh but if the Raptors want to trade him to the Lakers for oft-injured Andrew Bynum then be my guest. The Heat would then go after Stoudemire and maybe Boozer.

SH: I think it’s safe to say he wont leave $30mil guaranteed on the table, so thanks for giving us back our 1st rounder, lol. Can you talk about Riley a bit. Heard he may want to take over as coach again, dropping Erik Spoelstra like he did SVG, if the Heat land another elite player to pair with Wade. Is this just all chatter, or are there some legs to these rumours?

SF: Riley threw that out there as bait for free agents to consider should they want to directly play for him. But even though he only would consider it if he was asked to now it’s hard to not to see Spoelstra as a lame duck after saying that. Quite frankly, I think the Heat has done enough for Erik since hiring him to cut video back in 1995 so I really wouldn’t mind it if the Heat had a veteran seasoned coach going forward. If it has to be Riley so be it. People complain enough that the Heat are somewhat wasting the last couple of years of Wade’s prime and I don’t see Spoelstra as a coach to take your team deep in the playoffs. He might be good at analyzing videos and preparing his players but his in-game decisions, robotic substitution patterns and poor play-calling in late game situations have been the subject of tough criticism from diehard Heat fans.

Van Gundy was squeezed out because Shaq did not want to be coached by him anymore after the Pistons series in ’05. That’s what can happen when teams employ superstars and GMs and owners have to choose whether to listen to them or not. I’m not defending Riley (and I’m positive he smelled a golden opportunity to collect another coaching ring) but sometimes it’s not as simple an issue as it may seem from outsiders looking in. The end result back then was a ring, let’s see what happens this time around.

SH: From the outside looking in, it seemed as though Riley created the atmosphere for SVG to ultimately get canned. Regardless, he was the right man for the job. Could we interest you in Turkoglu?

SF: Agreed but SVG really did muck things up a bit at the end of the Pistons series though. It sure looked like a slimy move on Riley’s part but it sure worked out. Not surprising Riley might consider jumping back in if the roster starts looking like championship material this year.

The Heat only should take Hedo if they can get Marcus Banks back!

SH: So the Heat tried to trade Beasley for Dooling, and were denied (they say he plays a very similar game to Yi); why is Beasley’s value so low?

SF: There is no accuracy to that report. It came out of a podcast with nobody to corroborate it. Ira Winderman of the Sun-Sentinel has already confirmed that the Heat never made such an offer.

There’s no comparison between Beasley and Yi. It’s almost laughable. If you’re referring to Sebastian Pruiti’s comparison to them on Nets Are Scorching all I can tell you is that stats don’t tell the whole story. Stats don’t speak about how his unexperienced coach has never put Beasley in a situation to succeed on the court, how Beasley has never had a consistent role in this team or how he’s never had a chance to play with a decent playmaking point guard since he arrived in the NBA only two years ago.

Quite frankly I’m glad his value is perceived to be low so maybe he’ll stick around. Maybe it’s his personality or maybe it’s the off-court issues. I don’t know how many players in the 4-5 million dollar range could put up 15 points and 6 and a half rebounds in less than 30 minutes while playing in an offense that is solely geared towards Dwyane Wade. Power forward should not be a position of concern for the Heat with so many holes to plug so I can’t really justify carving out such a huge slice of the cap space for Bosh or Boozer.

Yes, of course he needs to work on his game and his defense (as should all young NBA players strive to do this summer). But give him a better coach, more minutes without fear of immediately being pulled off the court because of an error, and a true point guard who can run plays for him that can give him some easier looks closer to the basket. Then we can talk about whether he’s a bust or not. I don’t know how much more value the Heat could get out of that position.

Banks – a long season that saw him get some meaningful minutes, just not often enough.

Bargnani – If only the entire NBA season could see the Raptors play New York and Detroit on alternate nights. Andrea attacked the hoop at will, his outside shot was on point and you could tell he welcomed playing against Gallinari once again. Still far from the face of the franchise, but a nice 2nd fiddle.

Belinelli – outside of one just completely boneheaded turnover, Marco played well. Shot 5/8 included a perfect 3/3 from 3. Still a massive failure this season and we should move him if we can.

Bosh – could not have been happy with the lukewarm response he received when shown on the scoreboard. That won’t sit well as he continues his rehab by watching Tyler Perry on repeat.

Calderon – Jose played limited minutes, but produced well in them, scoring 15 points on 6/10 shooting. He looked like he was in this game much more than he has been over the past month, which is both nice to see and completely aggravating.

DeRozan – well, if you are going to end a disappointing rookie year, you might as well do it with a bang. 9/11, 8 trips to the line, 37 minutes, 9 rebounds, 24 points. Wow. Yes, it was the Knicks, but it was really fantastic to see DeMar play with such passion and confidence. Well done.

Evans – didn’t see the floor and I couldn’t be happier.

Jack – he didn’t want the season to end, so he practiced being a vendor during the game by running up into the stands and slapping skin with the locals. Jack has been the glue to this team without Bosh and tonight was more of the same. Keep the Jose and Jarrett tandem happy (and not on the floor at the same time) and we can go places. Have them play defence and we could actually win 45 games! Maybe even 50!

Johnson – it’s like he and Andrea have their legs tied together in a 3-legged race. Amir with his second straight strong offensive game, this time with 21 points. for the haters, yes, he only grabbed 5 rebounds and yes, he did seem non-commital at times on defence, but he kept his fouls down and we won, so there.

Nesterovic – so, what do you think? Last game in the NBA? Could have been. If so, wonder if he will enter the Hall of Fame as a Raptor?

O’Bryant – see above.

Turkoglu- can there be anybody happier that this season is over than Hedo? What a way to end it too: 14min, 5 pts, 3 assists and 5 fouls. People in Portland often wonder why the basketball Gods hate them so much, but the Gods gave them a solid last summer.

Weems – bouncing back from a minor injury to post 18 points on 9/12 shooting. A diamond in the rough this year and a kid with the type of attitude you hope is infectious. I give Colangelo massive grief, but he deserves kudos on this one.

Wright – missed the game tonight as well and it must have killed him. He had an inconsistent season, but so did the whole team. Still not worthy of a starting role, but he was a solid addition to this ragtag bunch of players.

Driving The Bus:  DeMar DeRozan

Under The Bus:  Hedo Turkoglu

Game Theme:

Banks – didn’t need his stonewall defence tonight, so saw quick garbage time duty.

Bargnani – Bogart in Casablanca. Monroe in Some Like It Hot. Costner in Field of Dreams. Willis in Die Hard. Bargnani in Detroit. All amazing performances. Tonight Andrea played out of his mind. 33 points on 13/22, 5 3pointers, 7 boards, no fouls, and he made anybody that covered him look like a joke. He was playing like he had unlocked his own personal cheat code.

Belinelli – 17 minutes of Marco on an empty stomach was almost too much for me to bear, but because I love you, I held on. He certainly had one of his better games in recent memory and added a bit of flair with a 3ball that looked like it was being shot into a wind tunnel. Antoine can’t come back quick enough.

Bosh – people are all wound up about how he hasn’t said anything or appeared anywhere. The man’s face is broken. Think about it. His. Face. Is. Broken.  He’ll be there on Wednesday either behind the scenes or in the public eye, but no need to crap on him for being quiet.

Calderon – looking to create tonight and feed the beasts known as Amir and Andrea. He played the part of the floor general to a T and lived up to his trait of less than stellar defence. Face it, that will never change, but any time he can give us 11 assists and no turnovers, we need to take it, embrace it and love it.

DeRozan – I don’t know if Alvin threw DeMar against the wall in the meeting today or what, but DeMar looked like…like…like…a basketball player tonight. He fought for position, he made himself available for the pass, he shot well…the only thing he didn’t do was hand out towels in the huddle. The way he played tonight was a long time coming.

Evans – limited minutes for a guy with limited talent. Jay is finally coming around.

Jack – remember those “Super Balls” you used to have as a kid? You’d toss them against the wall and they’d bounce all over the place, almost uncontrollably? Jack reminds me of one of those. He’s been attacking the paint with abandon, he’s stood his ground taking charges, he’s moved well with the ball to create opportunities for his teammates, and he’s been doing all of this consistently. Tonight he provided 15 points, 12 assists. He did commit 4 turnovers, though, and more than a few times he looked off some open opportunities. Still, a great night from both our point guards.

Johnson – know how you can tell he used to be a Piston?  Career high 26 points, 10/12 shooting and an unheard of 6/7 from the free throw line. By his standards, he was unconscious. You are more likely to see Colangelo in a thong, a fedora and nipple clamps standing courtside on Wednesday than to see an offensive outburst like this again from Amir.

Nesterovic – you could almost hear him audibly groan “oh, alright” tonight when Jay called his name to enter the game. He’s just counting down the days until his pension.

O’Bryant – perfect from the floor and a beast on the bench. 1/1 in 1 minute. Stellar.

Turkoglu- he came out with one purpose tonight: make sure that we, as Raptors fans, know that last night’s performance from him was not to be counted on night in and night out. We should treat in like it was a night of binging in a year long diet. A blip, as it were. How to do that? Well, committing some silly fouls helps, pepper in some ill-advised 3s, and some swiss cheese defence and we are back to reality. With a thud.

Weems – carried off late in the 4th, but he wasn’t a huge factor in this blowout. It was nice to see him corral his shots, though. He took way too many last night and hoisted just 7 tonight, hitting 3. He had been playing with his usual hops up until he was knocked out. Have to question him being on the floor for 40 minutes, but Jay knows best.

Wright – still out with a sprain. If that is all that is standing between us and less Marco, I’d like to suggest Antoine stick some IcyHot on that thing and get out there and play Willis Reed style.

Driving The Bus:  Andrea Bargnani

Under The Bus:  Hedo Turkoglu

Game Theme:

Any combination of a Raptors loss or Bulls win will end in Jerome Williams representing the Raptors at the draft lottery in a couple months. It’s sad, but things are on coming together like many of us said at the beginning of the season: that the 5th through 9th places in the East will be a dogfight, and the Raptors are not head and shoulders above the rest of the teams in the East.

In games that Bosh has been injured, the Raptors are 3-7 this season; with those three wins coming against the Nets, Wolves and Knicks. See a theme? They can beat the gawdawful teams without Bosh, but they can’t beat anyone else (they’ve also not been able to beat bad teams with Bosh in the lineup, but I digress). We actually have a good sample size of what life without Bosh is going to be like, and I’ll tell you, it’s not going to be good.

I actually have very little to say about the game. Contrary to the mood at the ACC, I didn’t boo the team, I wasn’t disgusted with the performance, and I’m not upset that we’re currently 9th in the East. I’m not saying I’m happy with the outcome, (that was as much basketball as rubbing up against a woman on the subway is sex) but I am sending bad vibes towards Colangelo and Triano. This team is where it is because of the personnel decisions Colangelo has made, and coaching decisions Triano insists on continually making.

Time has run out on the Raptors, and everything that should have been done yesterday to get the win…should have been done, and it wasn’t:

• Triano did the right thing by starting Weems on Rose and Calderon on Hinrich, what he didn’t do was take it a step further. We have a guy on the bench called Marcus Banks, who is easily our best defender at the point. He showed late in the 4th that he can keep up with Rose and was disruptive. Triano went to him in garbage time in order to rest the guys for tonights game against the Pistons. Rose is prone to turn the ball over if pressured. Weems, Calderon, Jack are all not capable of defensive pressure like that, Banks is.
• Noah and Gibson combined for 25 rebounds. Bargnani and Johnson combined for a pathetic 7. Now, Turkoglu was an animal and pulled down 19, but when your forwards aren’t crashing the offensive glass, well…forget it. All I’m saying is that Turkoglu had the same amount of offensive rebounds as Bargnani and Johnson combined and that can’t happen. Rasho would have been a nice choice to get a few more minutes early to stabilize the play in the paint. Especially with Amir picking up so many early fouls on stupid/lazy reach ins.
• Jack and Calderon again? AGAIN? SERIOUSLY? I feel like it’s groundhog day. With all the statistics against pairing the two, all of us moaning and complaining that they don’t play well together, wtf is Triano trying to prove? Is there something going on with that pairing that all of us are missing? I just don’t get it.

The most disappointing thing about the game was the booing. We need to be like the Thunder fans, who cheer their team, even when they are down and out, and will them back into the bloody game. Fans at the ACC need to be the 6th man, not the spoiled Torontonians the rest of Canada hates us for being. You want to show your displeasure with the team, don’t buy a ticket to the game. That sends the loudest message to MLSE in terms of lost revenue. Just wait till those fat cats don’t get that playoff cash, folks will get sodomized.

There is some good news: if the Raptors win tonight, then the Bulls MUST beat the Celtics (a team who is fighting for 3rd in the East and a chance to avoid the Cavs until the conference finals) AND beat the Bobcats on the road (Bobcats are 31-9 at home). The pressure is on Chicago, but only if the Raptors hold it down tonight. Yea, that’s about all I got.

Banks – first night back in uniform and he is out there in the 4th quarter. Too bad it didn’t matter. At all.

Bargnani – can’t hate the guy for not doing what he hasn’t been doing since he’s been in the NBA: play defence. Looked more into the game tonight than he has recently, but that isn’t saying much. Still more afraid of the bright light than a mouse followed by a floodlight.

Belinelli – honestly, he sucks. Plain and simple. We might as well just stick one of those defenders made out of wire they use at the AllStar game on the court, put some wheels on it and have the mascot push and pull it up and down the court all night. 

Bosh – if he still had any gauze in his nose, it probably blasted out and left marks on his white walls.  If nothing else, he now knows how important he is to this team.

Calderon – ugh. Like Andrea, he played marginally better tonight than the majority of his last few games, but not nearly enough. DRIVE TO THE HOLE. MAKE THINGS HAPPEN. CREATE. For the love of all things holy, Jose, you are so much better than this.

DeRozan – utter disappointment. 0/2, 1 assist and absolutely no sign of effort or passion. He was mentally out of this game from the moment he checked in, but Jay had to use him. It’s a shame because he deserves to be benched after his showing tonight.

Evans – what does it tell you that Reggie was the main offensive force in the late fourth. He looked like Jordan with bulk. When it mattered, though, he didn’t do much defensively, providing 4 boards. Not much more to say. Typical night turned in by someone who might hurt us more than helps.

Jack – can’t knock his desire, but played some selfish ball at times. Yes, it’s aggravating that none of your teammates seem to care, but you have to lead them at times like this. Make them want to get back at the booing fans. A disappointing night from both our main point guards.

Johnson – picked up his 3rd foul 2 minutes into the 2nd quarter. He had been playing well up until that point but just took himself out. No way should a guy of his ability come out of a major game with just 2 boards in 25 minutes, unless the other team is shooting 80%.

Nesterovic – only played a minute and I realize that the Bulls aren’t his ideal opponent, but would have loved to see him instill some veteran presence on the floor, even just as a bridge from quarter to quarter. Even better, lay Noah on his butt just once.

O’Bryant – saw some game action tonight and did nothing with it. Probably spent most of his floor time asking for peoples twitter names so he can stay in contact with them over the summer.

Turkoglu- superb game by Colangelo’s mistake. He played over and above what anybody would expect of him, so now we’ve seen both his extremes. Ready for this? 6 points, 9 assists, 19 rebounds. He was absolutely gassed in the third, but rightfully so. He seemed to be responsible for every Raptor board when he was on the floor. As it ended, he almost had half since the team ended up with 41 total boards.  For one night, Hedo didn’t deserve the hate….but he was the only one.

Weems – 22 shots…only 9 makes.  He’s been such a “find” over these past few weeks that it’s hard to knock him, but when you raise the level of expectation it pains us when we see a stumble. He’s got 2 big games coming up where we will need every bit of his energy.

Wright – sat out due to injury. Must have killed him to do so, but we need him in the playoffs. Yes, you heard me.

Driving The Bus:  Hedo Turkoglu

Under The Bus:  DeMar DeRozan

Game Theme: