Raise your hands if you had a big ear-to-ear grin on your face after reading the rumours that Colangelo would be open to trading Bargnani if re-signed. Even though the article was pure BS, and the Knicks clearly need someone to spread the floor like Galinari did, it was great to see that written in a traditional media site since all us bloggers have been screaming for this for about 3 years now.

Still, there is no one on the Knicks that I’d want that they would be willing to trade, plus I don’t want Bargnani going to a division rival; call me old fashion but if he does turn the corner and fills out his all-around game, I really don’t want to play against him four times a year.

Had a chat with Jeremy Schmidt of Bucksetball:

You recently wrote about Salmons’ struggles this season after getting a massive contract for carrying the team in the second half of last season. For those who haven’t read the article, whats been the contributing factor to the massive regression, and is there hope of salvaging him going forward?
What I focused on in that piece was Salmons’ struggles late in games. Last season the Bucks could turn to Salmons when their offense broke down late in games and he would bail them out. This season, Salmons has just been part of the problem. He wasn’t overwhelmingly athletic last season and he seems to have lost a step this season, possibly due to an early season knee injury. Maybe he’s just having a bad year, one in which his shots just won’t fall. If he can hit the shots he was hitting last season once again, he can be salvaged. But he’s never going to get to the hoop and finish with ease or consistently. That’s not ideal for a leading scorer type.

Injuries have clearly ravaged this team, and so far have seemingly cost them a playoff birth this season. How difficult is it building with Bogut as a (the?) core piece when he hasn’t played more than 70 games in the last 4 seasons? Is it time to move him and bring in someone who is a bit more solid? (His migraines have been killing my fantasy team this year; sorry, had to bitch)
It has been frustrating, but it’s hard to blame the guy too much. The injuries have seemed flukey enough that every year there’s some hope that they won’t be a problem going forward. Obviously last season’s fall and elbow injury carried over more than most expected this season, but he’ll likely be feeling better by next season. Given the injuries everyone else on this team had this season, it’s hard to spend too much time bemoaning Bogut’s. He’s so good defensively though and means so much to the team in that regard that it’s hard to envision moving him and getting equal value, especially since his offense is so inconsistent.

After Redd comes off the books this year, almost half the team’s payroll will be locked up between Maggette, Salmons and Gooden (all of whom will be tough to move). What moves do the Bucks have to improve this lot in the summer?
There won’t be a lot of money available, but bet that Milwaukee will be listening to offers regarding Maggette. Maybe once everyone can get healthy and the team gets more time to gel, he’ll find his place and get consistent minutes, but Coach Scott Skiles hasn’t trusted him a bit down the stretch. Maggette has eight DNP-CDs this month. Milwaukee needs an athletic scorer that can shoot and pass the ball. But what team doesn’t want that?

How much does Redd really have left in the tank? Could we hope to see a Grant Hill like rebirth in a different situation, or is he done?
The difference between Redd and Hill is pretty significant. Hill always was great in terms of awareness and passing the ball, whereas Redd’s always been a volume scorer. Perhaps Redd can still score a bit off a team’s bench, but he isn’t the shooter he once was. We’d need to see a pretty significant transformation in Redd’s game for him to stick around much longer, but he hasn’t put in all the work he’s put in for no reason. He’s going to give it a go and he’ll be on a roster next season. That will be his chance to prove he can contribute.

Can you talk about Brandon Jennings’ development this season?
It’s been difficult, since he missed a large portion of the season with a broken foot. Then it took him a good 10 games or so after returning to get his feel back it seemed. But he’s been better this month, shooting better than 40% for a month for the first time since his first month in the NBA. If he ever can get it together and start to hit around 43 or 44 percent of his shots consistently, he’ll be perfect for Milwaukee. He’s not there yet, but he has improved a bit this year.

I was never a Scott Skiles fan, as a player or a coach, so this might come off as a stupid question; but what’s your assessment of him, and how much longer does he have behind the bench in Milwaukee?
Skiles makes a pretty good chunk of change and earned an extension based on his work the last two years. Coaching in a small market for a team that’s bleeding money is going to work to his advantage. This season will probably get thrown out due to the injuries, so don’t expect anything crazy to happen any time soon. He’s safe. Especially since this team is still top five in defensive efficiency, despite all the offensive mishaps. He’s kept this team together, which is commendable given their problems making shots.

Injury Report

Toronto
Linas Kleiza – Out
Amir Johnson – the guy is hurting, let the man rest
Andrea Bargnani – day to day
Jose Calderon – day to day
Reggie Evans – day to day
Leandro Barbosa – day to day

Milwaukee
Ersan Ilyasova – day to day
Michael Redd – day to day

Not much time this morning, so I wont go into the individual players, just talk about a couple key match-ups:

Bargnani vs Bogut
After we did our fantasy team draft, I was really short on size and had zero shot blocking. I tried to pry away Bogut from one of the guys in the league, and he started asking about Chris Paul from my side. The trade grew into me sending Chris Paul and Wilson Chandler to him for Andrew Bogut and Blake Griffin. I clearly won that trade looking back at it, but no one thought Griffin would be a fantasy beast like he is. Anyways, if not for Bogut’s poor shooting form the field/line, he has been a great pick-up. The guy can be counted on for points in the paint, rebounds and bock shots, every single game. Very much a steadying force, and if he didn’t have so many injury issues, I would have no issues of him as a core piece. Against the Bobcats a couple nights ago, he did 26pts 9rebs 2blk; I’m expecting the same from tonight. Bargnani has a chance to light it up a bit since Bogut can’t cover him on the perimeter, and Gooden/Sanders/Mbah a Moute can’t cover him in the paint. i’d like to see Andrea take some defensive queue’s from Bogut, especially his defensive positioning.

Bargnani could be injured, and is listed as day-to-day, so if he doesn’t go, expect lots of switch-ups and zone to try to contain Bogut…not that it will do anything…

DeRozan vs Salmons
It’s feast or famine with Salmons who’s either hitting his stride offensively or building a brick house. The Bucks are a great defensive team, bout the only thing Skiles has done right – hate that mother ______, so getting to the rim will be tough for DeRozan (and everyone else) on a consistent basis. Fast breaks will be few and far between, and the defensive rotations will be on the ball. A key for DeMar will be drawing contact, and getting to the line 8+ times tonight. Have to challenge Bogut in the paint, and get him into foul trouble, it’s the only way.

Much like the Heat game where the Raptors welcomed Mike Miller by handing him the best game of the season, the same could be said of the Bucks. Redd has been out for the last 5 years, and can use the Raptors lax defense to get into a mini-groove. I don’t think that he will, but Salmons will definitely feast on us a bit.

The Line

There’s no line on the game (at time of publishing), but consider a few things:

• Raptors are home after losing their last four games on the road, most of them badly
• Raptors are 3-7 in their last 10 games (1-4 over their last 5)
• Milwaukee is 4-6 in their last 10, having lost 2 in a row
• Milwaukee is 3 games out of 8th with 9 games to go
• The Bucks have owned the Raptors in both games they have played this year

If the Raptors weren’t such a question mark in the injury department, this would be a competitive game. The Bucks want to get into the playoffs, and if they did, who do you think the Bulls would rather play: them or the Pacers? Even though this season has hit the wall (a long time ago), they can still affect other teams playoff positioning; and I have to believe that there is still some iota of pride left in this lot.

Let me leave you with this question: would you trade Andrea Bargnani for Andrew Bogut straight up? If Bargs wasn’t a BYC player this year it would work in trade machine.

Q. How did the Knicks do this off-season? Talk about drafts, trades and free agent signings as well as ownership/management changes.

Kevin McElroy: The answer to this question is necessarily relative to expectations. By any normal measure, this was the Knicks best summer since the mid-90’s. Their failed pursuit for LeWyane Bosh aside, the Knicks brought in Amare Stoudemire, a five-time all-star with three top-ten scoring seasons who also happens to be the active career leader in true shooting percentage. While concerns about the riskiness of the acquisition (especially those relating to Stoudemire’s injury history) are understandable, the rarity with which players of Stoudemire’s caliber can be had without forfeiting any tradeable assets makes the signing a worthwhile gamble. The David Lee trade — in which the Knicks gave up a player that they had already made redundant and received two valuable role players and a freakish athlete with world-class upside in return — was the best player for player(s) swap the Knicks have made since they brought in Latrell Sprewell and Marcus Camby; if Anthony Randolph develops, it will go down as even better than those trades.

I worry about Raymond Felton eating up valuable cap space, but I get the feeling that his signing was about keeping Amare happy enough to keep telling his buddies how great things were in New York — Felton’s contract should be moveable if he becomes the final obstacle to bringing in another star. I hated the Knicks’ play-it-safe strategy on draft night, but based upon the summers that Landry Fields and Lance Stephenson have had, my opinion on the matter has softened. Fields will hang around for 10 years and be a useful role player for the Knicks in the near term.

Q. Who came out the bigger winner AND loser in the Atlantic Division?

KM: I’ll exclude the Knicks from the conversation here since I’ve already discussed their offseason. I think the Celtics are the winners by default, mostly because they were the only Atlantic Division team good enough to focus their off-season on filling their remaining needs rather than blindly overhauling the team and hoping it would work out. I’m not crazy about their Shaquisition for the same reason I wasn’t crazy about it when he was Shaquired by Phoenix or Cleveland, but at the veteran minimum it’s a low risk move and they can always tell him to go away if he becomes a problem.

As for the biggest losers, the Nets’ mind-bendingly bizarre assortment of free agent signings gets the nod even in a division where Toronto lost their franchise leader in scoring and rebounding just as he was entering his prime. Better build that arena, Brooklyn, or Johan Petro will be plying his trade elsewhere!

Q. Last season we saw a dog fight from 5-9 in the East for a playoff appearance (the Raptors dropped from 5th to 9th rapidly at the tail-end of the season). What are your predictions for this upcoming season? Who are your dark horses to watch out for?

KM: Obviously the Heat jump out of that dog fight and into the top 3, arguably the top 1. I think this will be another season in which the Eastern Conference can be separated into pretty well-defined tiers. The Tier 1 teams — Miami, Orlando, Boston — seem fairly insurmountable at the top of the pyramid, although if the Celtics all get old at the same time, they could feasibly drop into Tier 2. For now, Tier 2 is Atlanta, Chicago, and probably Milwaukee, all of whom should qualify for the postseason comfortably and will be primarily concerned with finishing 5th or better and thus avoiding the Tier 1 teams in the first round. Tier 3 is where it gets a bit hairy: Charlotte has to be viewed as the 7th best team going into the year, but New York has much greater upside and is the only team outside of Tiers 1 and 2 with a chance to vault into the top 6 if everything goes right.

If things implode for the Knicks — and, let’s face it, why shouldn’t they — The Pacers, Sixers, and Cavs are all in the picture for one of the last two playoff spots. One more quick point that nobody is talking about: I will not be surprised if strength of schedule becomes a decisive factor in the Eastern Conference this year. The Bobcats have to play a whopping 15 games against the Heat, Magic, and Hawks, while the Knicks and Sixers will play each other five times and have 10 games each against the Nets and Raps. Could be enough to bump the Bobcats down to ninth in a tight East.

Q. Is what happened in Miami bad for the league? On the one hand, players are taking control of their own futures (as best as possible); but on the other, the rich just seem to get richer.

KM: I swore a lifelong oath of hatred against the Miami Heat the day that Pat Riley hopped the fence back in 1995, but the answer to this question is still “no.” In the long-term, this has to be viewed as good for the league, and not just because it will allow us to see something we’ve never seen before (which it will) and give other fan bases a unifying enemy (which it also will). The reason I’m glad it happened, and happened when it did, is that it has placed everything from cap rules to player tampering to the merits of “Superteams” at the forefront of the conversation, just before a watershed CBA renegotiation. This is the best way for basketball fans and writers to have any kind of a voice about the future of the league. Maybe I’m dreaming on that but, at a time when the NBA seems desperate to drum up demand for its product, it will have an unprecedented opportunity to gauge public opinion on nearly every issue that is likely to come up this summer. We may all be thanking LeWyane Bosh before this is over.

(Was that convincing? No? Darn it. I really hate the Heat.)

Q. Do you share the view that playing in Toronto is similar to playing in Europe, and not very appealing to American born players? What’s your take on the Raptors and Toronto as a destination for the NBA elite?

KM: I think there are five or six “destination cities” in the League right now — LA, Miami, New York, Chicago, maybe one or two of the Texas cities — and I don’t think Toronto is one of them. But I think it’s still a long way up from playing in Europe and doubt the Canadian border has much of a practical effect on players’ decisions. Most NBA cities become appealing destinations if and only if their resident teams employ players and executives that are appealing to NBA free agents, which the post-Bosh Raptors probably don’t. The problem is that Toronto’s previous attempts at building around a franchise player were based upon guys whose personalities were not conducive to being the first major building block on a team in a non-destination city. It only takes one super-talented, super-loyal star — think Tim Duncan, Kevin Durant, Dwight Howard — to attract top players to a place that once seemed to be on the NBA periphery. The problem, of course, is finding that guy. Clearly, Vince Carter and Chris Bosh didn’t fit the description.

Q. What’s your take on Bryan Colangelo and the job he’s done for the Raptors? Could he have held on to Bosh had he made other choices? Did he make a huge mistake by not trading him earlier? What about the type of team he is trying to build in Toronto?

KM: I think Bosh was always leaving — he’s a very good second option alongside an elite scoring wing with good court vision; now he gets to play with two of them. It’s interesting to think about how things would have played out for Toronto if Bosh and T-Mac had come along at about the same time — they would have complemented each other brilliantly, maybe well enough that they both would have wanted to stay. As for Colangelo, I think he was probably doomed from the start. His mandate was to focus singularly on the retention of a player who was 1) probably always going to leave and 2) probably not good enough to be the best player on a great team anyway. To the extent that this strategy has failed (in the departure of Bosh) or set the franchise back (due to the shortsightedness of some of Toronto’s acquisitions), that failure is more associated with the flaws of the mandate (which fall at the feet of ownership) than with any flaws in execution (which would fall at the feet of Colangelo). That said, Toronto clearly needs to dive head-first into overhaul mode and that necessarily involves a conversation regarding whether Colangelo remains the right man for what is now a very different job.

From here on out, every game is a must win. Triano talked about not panicking recently, and I agree to a certain point. When your franchise player is out of the lineup, and you lose 4-in-a-row because the rest of the team isn’t that good, you just hope Bosh gets better quick and gets back fast enough to assure us of a playoff spot.  Now that he’s back, and we’re in the stretch run, these girls need to pull up their skirts and get down to business.

With the resurgent Milwaukee Bucks a half game behind us for 5th, things are tighter in the East than you might expect. The difference between the 5th spot (where the Raptors currently are) and the 9th spot (where the Bobcats are trying not to fall apart from) is only three games. Considering we just dropped 4 in a row, whatever cushion we had just evaporated and the certainty of a playoff spot we had a week ago has been reduced to a dog fight.

Over the last four games, the Raptors have just been terrible, they:

• have lost by an average margin of 16.2 points
• have given up an average of 115.5 ppg
• allowed their opponents to shoot 47.1% from the field
• turned the ball over 61 times, which has lead to 80 points

Oh…and no one has stepped up to fill in for Bosh. I mean, Jack has done a pretty good job of steadying the ship, but Turkoglu is playing just a bit better than usual, and Bargnani doesn’t seem to have what it takes to be #1; and you can’t really expect much from the rest.

What we have got a glimpse of the last 6 games is what life will be like if Bosh walks this summer (not a sign and trade). If the franchise ups-and-leaves, we will have almost enough cap space to replace him with anyone other than the likes of a Drew Gooden or someone along those lines. I get nauseous just thinking about it.

The Knicks are just all kinds of awful. They are  3-10 since February (including a 9 game losing streak) with 2 of their 3 wins coming against the Wizards. It’s a sadder sight than Arsenalist at a Justin Bieber concert hopping, clapping and swooning. However, they are coming off a hard fought win against the Pistons where D’Antoni used a tight 7-man rotation.

If the same lineup is used tonight against the Raptors, things will get interesting.

Starters
G, Tracy McGrady [6-8, 223]
OG, Bill Walker [6-6, 230]
SF, Danilo Gallinari [6-10, 225]
PF, Al Harrington [6-9, 250]
C, David Lee [6-9, 250]

Bench
PG, Sergio Rodriguez [6-3, 176]
OG/PG, Eddie House [6-1, 180]

I don’t know a whole lot about Bill Walker, but the rest of this lineup is very athletic and matches up very well with an injury plagued Raptors (Calderon and Turkoglu are listed as day-to-day). The only thing that worries me is McGrady at the point, who has been playing pretty good in the 7 games he’s been a Knick (four of which he has scored more than 15 points). Jack will have his hands full, as McGrady can shoot over him at will and post him up.

I like Banks/Weems off the bench against Rodriguez and House, but I suspect Wilson Chandler will get plenty of burn since he likes to light the Raptors up. Poor Eddie, guy got shafted large with this exile.

While I hope Turkoglu and Calderon are fine and will be ready for the playoffs, I like that Wright and Banks will be getting plenty of burn in their stead. Banks has don’e nothing but ball when given the opportunity, but Wright especially, given how it is expected for his minutes to increase heading into the playoffs.

I’m mostly hoping Al Harrington treats us to cocky moments like this in a Raptor win:

After getting the shaft during the Olympic semi-finals, Raptor Fan Fridays is back tonight at the Sport Centre Cafe.

Wednesday was the second time we lost to the Bucks this season. It is key we realize that we lost the season series with a team that probably wont make the playoffs. Regardless of whether or not we win tonight, one or possibly two of these losses the Bucks handed us could come back to bite us in the rear come playoff time. With the race for 5th so tight, a game can really make the difference come game 82. Look at the standings now, we trail the Bobcats by a game and a half and have played 3 more games (and have 3 more losses). Just a week ago, we were sitting a half game out of 5th.

The Raptors WASTED a career game by Chris, the guy who played the most minutes the night before in Cleveland (42 minutes). To blame this loss on Bosh is ridiculous, I seriously don’t understand where some idiots get off throwing the franchise under the bus. Just a small glimpse of what went down:

I’m not trying to recap the game, Arse did a great job yesterday, just want to point out that if the starters had shown up, just a little bit, and either hit a couple more shots, or conceded their shot to Bosh, the Raptors would have won. Or, if Triano actually attempted to coach, and shuffled the lineups with proper substitutions, a loss could have been avoided, plain and simple.

Tonight, we need to do a couple things:

1. Triano needs to give Turkoglu a quick yank when he is stinking it up. Between the 3 of Weems, Belinelli and Wright, I am confident the offense can be made up. The passing not so much, but that’s what Calderon is for. Can’t afford another 5-14 shooting night from Chewy…err, I mean Hedo.
2. I’m confident Bargnani will bounce back tonight, but there is no harm in playing Rasho a bit, jut a bit. Expect Bogut to put up the same offensive numbers if we go with a Bargnani/Johnson duo on him. Throwing Rasho in the mix will give Triano another 6 fouls to throw at Bogut, not to mention some guy who plays low post defense pretty damn well.
3. Playing Rasho a bit more will also protect the defensive glass, where the Raptors allowed 17 offensive rebounds to the Bucks on Wednesday. Yea, you keep giving a team a second, third….seventeen extra chances to score, they will. Wasn’t even the Bucks bigs who killed it on the boards, their wings pulled down 9. Gotta have pride guys.
4. Another benefit of the quick yank on Turkoglu would be to put someone on Delfino who can actually play defense. It’s not bad enough that Hedo can’t shoot, pass or rebound, but he let Carlos drop 22/8/4. Speaking of Delfino, had we kept him, for a third of the cost, he would be giving us 9.2pts 4.5rebs 2.2ast compared to Hedo’s 12.7pts 4.5rebs 4.5ast. The points and assists could easily be made up by getting Bosh/Bargnani a couple more shots, and playing Calderon a few more minutes. What hurts the most is that his last year isn’t even a team option #smh

The gamblers have the Raptors as 7.5 point favourites, and I think you take that line. This game should be a double-digit win if Jah loves us, or if Triano makes like a coach and Hedo makes like a $10mil/year player. Join us tonight for Raptor Fan Friday’s at the Sports Centre Cafe.

Another roller-coaster week, two disappointing losses sandwiched between an expected and an unexpected win. With injuries to Bargnani and Calderon, there was a chance for some reserves to make their mark and Jarrett Jack made the most of the opportunity. Sonny Weems had a nice run against Houston which many of us feel is something he can do rather consistently if given the chance. His game isn’t dependent on an outside jumper like Belinelli’s so it’s easier for him to be consistent. Utilizing ones athleticism is a matter of effort, something which is up to the individual to maintain, jumper’s a different breed as we’ve seen with Belinelli. You just don’t know when they’ll fall or when they’ll miss.

Jack’s been the most impressive Raptor for me, he averaged 14.75pts, 6.25asts and 5rebs for the week while playing 35mpg. The turnover numbers are rather high at 3.25/game but you’ll take that since he’s being very forceful on offense. He’s gone up against some quick hotshot young ‘uns this week and came out looking pretty decent, facing Flynn, Jennings and Brooks can be a defensive nightmare and he’s done a commendable job of it. Does he deserve the starting job? Before you answer yes or no to it, think back to Forderon and when some of us thought Jose should be the starter based on his play in a stretch of the season. I’ll try not to anoint him ‘the next one’, maybe he’s just a backup who’s having a good game, maybe he’s a starter in backup’s clothing. The good thing is that Jose is going to feel threatened which should help his game, just like it did when TJ was around.

Triano’s deservedly came under a lot of heat with the way the team lost against Milwaukee and Atlanta, in both cases the opponent made second quarter surges which we failed to overcome because of our inability to get stops. Fans just want to see him do something when the team is down, maybe call a timeout, gather his squad, draw up a couple good shot opportunities in the hopes of getting the team going. The frustration with him stems from his in-game management which seems to be non-existent, we’re 26 games in and I don’t recall him making a true change mid-game which gave the Raptors the advantage. We saw Milwaukee crowd Bosh in the second half, we saw Phoenix be prepared for the PnR switch a couple weeks ago, we even saw Minnesota, despite a size disadvantage, make a distinct effort to go at our bigs, I don’t know if anyone can remember Triano tweaking something at halftime to gain advantage.

Click on the play button below or listen directly in iTunes (37:31), you can also download the file (12.8 MB).

[audio:http://raptorsrepublic.com/audio/2009-12-14-weekly.mp3]

Podcast topics include:

• Living with Bosh and Bargnani.
• Whether Triano is screwing up DeRozan or is DeRozan just passive.
• A case for Sonny Weems.
• Lethargy against Atlanta.
• What the Houston win really means?
• The quest for .500 by January 1st.
• Bench depth. What do we have in Belinelli?

Looking Ahead

Tue @ MIA: Revenge mission for Miami. We beat them 120-113 earlier in the year. Since then they’re 4-6.

Wed @ ORL: Third time’s the charm against Orlando? If you can’t beat a team at home in two tries on Sunday afternoons, you’re not going to beat them on the road.

Fri v NJN: Lose here and…well, nobody will be shocked. I’m looking forward to seeing Brook Lopez operate, he killed Jermaine O’Neal last year and Bargnani should get a dose of the ‘inside’ against him.

Sun v NOH: Revenge mission for New Orleans. This seems ages ago, it was at the time a very impressive win but NOH went ahead and dropped 4 of their next 5 when Paul went out. Now he’s back and they’ve won 3 of 4, albeit against the Kings and Wolves (twice). They did lose to the Knicks at home 113-96 so that tells you how bad they could be. This is Mo Pete appreciation night, watch him go off for six threes. He’s pulled himself up to a 5.08 PER since we last checked on him, but good ‘ol Antoine Wright remains the worst player in the league:

Hitting up another of our TrueHoop partners for a look at the upcoming season. This time we hit up a city that is on my short list of places to visit: Milwaukee. These guys have the best name for a fan site: Bucksketball and those of you with a Rudolph fetish might enjoy their banner.

Last season we beat them in their home gym to go 3-0 on the young season and everything was coming up roses. Then, early in the new year we sucked eggs during one game and Bosh thought the ball had the cooties the next time we faced them. Marion arrived and we kicked their asses in the second game of our glorious 6 game win streak. So, a split.

Predicted starting 5:

For the love of god I hope Brandon Jennings is the starting point guard and not Luke Ridnour.  But, I’m not optimistic.  Ridnour/Redd/Delfino/Warrick/Bogut (fingers crossed on Bogut, hoping he’s over the injury by opening night.

Best offensive player:

For all the problems people have with Redd, he’s still the Bucks most efficient scorer, and it’s not even close.  Offense, for the first time in about twenty years, will be the Bucks biggest problem.

Best defensive player:

Andrew Bogut is the team’s defensive heartbeat.  If he’s in, they can control the glass and hold their own against most big men.  If he’s not, then Dan Gadzuric and Francisco Elson are in charge.  If we could somehow combine them into one man they might have the girth to stand up to centers in the NBA, but alone they are too small to deal with the pounding for more than 15 minutes each.

Best new player:

Jennings is the man everyone wants to see.  He’s already close to Redd as the Bucks most recognizable player, and judging from his strong summer league performance, he’s closing in on being their most important player on the court too.

Player that will be missed:

Richard Jefferson wasn’t all that pretty on the court, but he delivered offense when Redd and Bogut were out.  He also at least was a body on defense, which is more than can be said about Charlie Villanueva.  As much as I liked Charlie V. from January on last year, Jefferson’s absence will be most notable.

Weakest link in your top 8 rotation players:

The small forward position provides virtually no offense.  Fans still don’t know what to make of Joe Alexander, Luc Richard Mbah a Moute is a terrific defensive player that can fill in anywhere, but offers little in the form of offensive capabilities and Carlos Delfino has been underwhelming in his previous few years in the NBA. 

greatest weakness as a team:

Offense.  Where will it come from if Redd cannot round into form after ACL surgery last season?

Biggest question heading into the season:

Can Andrew Bogut and Michael Redd stay healthy and improve on last year’s record?

If I was GM for a day, I would…

Have kept Ramon Sessions.

Your opinion of the Raptors:

If the Raptors have finally shored up their swingman position they could make some playoff noise.  I’m just not sure that Hedo Turkoglu and Demar Derozan qualify as "shoring up" the position.

If you had to assign a "movie title" to your expectations of the season,
what would it be?:

Groundhog Day.  (The Bucks miss the playoffs again)

w/l prediction for your team:

37-45

Our thanks to the guys at Bucksketball. Grab a look at their Media Day recap, their glossary of terms (jacker!), and a great piece on something near and dear to Raptors fans hearts: theme music.

Bryan Colangelo was at it again on Monday, sign-and-trading Carlos Delfino (with Roko Ukic) to the Milwaukee Bucks for Amir Johnson and Sonny Weems.

Quickly, my thoughts are as such: the Raptors and Delfino couldn’t close the financial gap in contract talks, so the Raptors did what they could to get something out of their restricted hold on ‘Loso. It sounds like fans have more of a problem giving up Ukic than Delfino in the deal, which I appreciate, but without retooling his shot and making serious strides with his court vision and leadership, Ukic wasn’t going to get any run behind Jarrett Jack and Jose Calderon anytime soon. It always hurts to lose a young player with potential, but he no longer had a place on the Raptors and may get a chance in Milwaukee.

In Johnson, the Raptors get another tough big man to pair with Reggie Evans and Rasho Nesterovic as the substitution platoon. Despite not living up to his potential (allegedly) in Detroit, Johnson is still just 22 years old and has fairly large upside as a shot blocker and post defender. I’m a big fan, personally, and his toughness is a welcome addition. He’s also stronger offensively than Evans, providing a little more versatility in the rotation.

At the same time, as Raps Fan outlines, DeMar DeRozan is thrust into a bigger role. Essentially, losing Delfino (our supposed backup-SF) for another big pushes Antoine Wright into more SF minutes, leaving more minutes open at SG for DeRozan (or possibly, minutes for DeRozan at SF).

And finally, the Raptors acquired more team-specific upside than they gave up.

So I guess those were my not-so-quick thoughts on the deal. I like it, I love Johnson, and this is another Colangelo special.

What really sticks out to me looking at the new roster, though, is how the first and second units contrast pretty obviously in terms of style.

The first unit (which I am considering to be Calderon, DeRozan, Hedo Turkoglu, Chris Bosh, and Andrea Bargnani…seems a fair assumption except for possibly DeRozan) is a flashy, floor-spacing, offensive-minded group. Everyone is capable of creating their own shot, moving the ball, and to a person they all have some defensive limitations. This is a group that should be among the most exciting, offensively-explosive sets of five in basketball, with the question being whether they can defend well enough together to keep their opponents from scoring in equally large chunks.

The second unit (some combination of Jack, Marco Belinelli, Antoine Wright, Johnson, Evans, and Nesterovic) is much less gifted offensively. Belinelli can shoot, Jack is a strong point guard, and the others (save for Evans) all have some offensive skills. Still, for the most part this is a group that gets by on toughness and defense, Belinelli excluded. It should be a group that rebounds well, hustles hard, and defends to at least a league-average level.

The contrast between the two groups couldn’t be starker. Evans, Nestervoic, and Johnson all seem like the type of bigs that would complement Bosh and/or Bargnani well on the floor, while Wright makes up for the defensive deficiencies of DeRozan and/or Turkoglu.

Obviously, a key challenge for coach Jay Triano will be to mix and match the units as the game progresses to optimize the team’s performance. I think it’s fairly evident that running the second unit out as a whole for extended time could be troublesome offensively, while sticking with the first unit for long stretches late in games could leave the team prone to defensive collapses. So Triano, now given a much more plentiful roster of talent than in his 65 game trial last season, faces much more difficult personnel and lineup decisions.

While I won’t pretend to know how these units will shake down, I think having Demar DeRozan come off the bench has almost become a necessity. Such a move would afford DeRozan more opportunities to develop his offense and would improve the starting unit’s defense with the addition of either Jack or Wright. Obviously, the minutes a group spends together matters more than an actual starter/reserve designation, so I might be better off suggesting DeRozan spend more time with the subs than the starters.

Regardless of which direction Triano takes the team in terms of lineup shuffling, Colangelo’s offseason moves have created a roster environment where Triano has options, to say the least. Finding minutes and combinations for 11 players is a blessing and a curse, and finding the best five-man lineups will be something Triano is evaluated on all season long.

1. Sacramento
2. Washington
3. LA Clippers

I’m predicting Sacramento gets screwed, and the Knicks win the Lottery – taking take home Blake Griffin, stay tuned…

• BC representing, let’s hope he brings some luck (last time we got the #1 pick)
• Joel Litvin shouldn’t be allowed in front of a camera
• Hopefully Hoiberg isn’t there for Sota, he got screwed last year, that look on his face was priceless, lol.
• Reggie Jackson in the house…the Knicks win the draft, no doubt
• Kevin Love for Sota, they should be in better shape then last year
• C-Web reppin Sac? WTF?
• Raptors pick 9th, I’ve lost interest…
• Kings get F*CKED! So did the Wizards…
• Clippers get the #1 pick…hopefully Griffin is no Olowakandi

Grab the Opening Tip.

Sorry Dinosty, don’t mean to bastardize your family tradition here, but duty calls. I sat down to write the Pre-Game for Orlando, when I realized it was a waste of time (I’m still gonna do it, don’t worry). If the Raptors got Bucked by a Milwaukee team that just lost Redd for the season, on the heals of a 3 game winning streak, what hope is there against the third best team in the league that is sporting thee All-Stars? The answer is none.

Don’t fret, this game should be entertaining. Bosh always gets up to play his BFF. There will even be points in the game where we will all think that the Raptors can pull it out, but they wont. I probably lost all credibility calling a win against the Bucks, but it was an educated guess, humour me…

• I was assuming the Raptors were feeling good about themselves, as three wins in a row (the first since the first three games of the season) in such a solid fashion should have spilt over on Friday;
• Redd was out (he dropped 35 the last time they played);
• Bogut was inured and questionable;
• Ridnour was injured and questionable;
• Home game;
• All that big talk about making the playoffs bla bla bla

Hola mamacita

Still drunk on the Kool-Aid? Ok…

The Magic are 35-10 on the season, 17-6 on the road, 17-6 against the East (1 of those losses were to the Raptors), 8-2 in their last 10, +8.2 scoring differential, 3 All-Stars…good coach……management team committed to winning………better weather…………they just beat the Cavs, so the taste of blood is fresh in their mouths……………the clincher: they wont lose 2 in a row to the Raps.

The worst part about this game is that it isn’t in Orlando, and we wont be able to see their dancers, which are phenomenal compared to the Bucks’. It was actually a tough choice for me, but I have to go with Danielle, dark haired girls (I’m not really into blonds-maybe the bias comes from the fact that they think I look like a terrorist) with a tight body…is-a-good!

Injury Report

Toronto Raptors
Kris Humphries

Orlando Magic
Some guy named Mike Wilks

The Match-ups

Calderon vs Nelson
The Edge: Nelson - The kid is legitimate. I was afraid of him last year in the playoffs when everyone said Forderon would destroy him…how wrong they were. Fresh off his All-Star nomination, he will have something to prove, and JC/AP/Rokoman will be the victims.

Parker vs Lee
The Edge: Lee - For no other reason then Parker will be doubling down on Howard, and Lee will have the pick of the litter on how to hurt the Raptors the most.

Moon vs Turkoglu
The Edge: Turkoglu - There is a case to be made for Hedu to be an All-Star too. He has been a thorn in our side, and will continue to be. Welcome to Pump Fake City, population: Moon.

Bosh vs Lewis
The Edge: Bosh - Lewis had 20pts 9asts 6rebs last time out, so it wont be easy, but Bosh will be motivated to show his BFF that he has game. Lewis will be tough on the defensive end though.

Bargnani vs Howard
The Edge: Howard - VL should have a good game. He would have had a great game the Bucks, but Triano had a brain-fart and didn’t play in the 2nd quarter whe he was hot (where the Raptors also lost the game). Howard had 39pts last time, I expect about the same this time around.

The Line

VegasInsider.com has it Orlando -6.5, I think that is generous.

The Prediction

lol…2 losses in a row for the Raptors.

Somebody come over here and slap me silly for thinking that the “red hot” Raptors would cruise at home against the Redd-less Bucks. A three game winning streak against Chicago, Sacramento and New Jersey wasn’t exactly highly impressive but it did signify one of the best stretches of ball we’ve played all season. So coming into this one you’d think the momentum, playoff hunger and desire to salvage this season would push them through against the Bucks on their home floor. The first half had me feeling exactly the way I did against Memphis, you know, not a good half but the opposition isn’t exactly great and if we just wake up in the third and play with a little bit of intensity and passion, we should be able to push this team around. Right? Wrong. This is what happened in the third quarter where we shot 25%. I haven’t seen so many jumpers since the three-point contest.

We shot too high of a percentage in the first quarter which always makes me nervous because it gives us a false sense of confidence, we start thinking that we can shoot like that all game long and our defense lets up because things are coming too easy on offense. Those percentages always even out and they did again last night. At the end of the first quarter we were shooting 60% and the Bucks were at 45%. By the end of the evening we were at 43% and the Bucks were at 47%. ‘Tis better to shoot consistently well rather than spectacularly in one quarter and flame out for the other three.

Andrea Bargnani went 5-7 for 13 points in the first quarter, he was receiving the ball at the top of the key/arc after the high screen and nailing his jumpers. He was shooting over Bogut, driving past Charlie V, and drawing fouls leaving the Bucks defense utterly confused as to how to stop him. Turns out we did the job for them, Bargnani did not attempt a single shot in the second quarter as the Raptors got outscored 25-17. He was taken out at the 3:15 mark of the first, brought back at the 8:37 mark of the second and taken out at 5:13 of the second for good. Is Triano alright? He had our hottest player play only 3:24 seconds in the entire second quarter? Insane coaching.

Bargnani was asked to close-out Ridnour

The defense was never great to begin with but with Bargnani out of the picture the offense dried up and we went back to seeing Chris Bosh try to draw fouls on jumpers by getting the defender in the air on pump-fakes. It worked in the second quarter but failed in the third and fourth, that’s how jumpers work. Charlie V and Francisco Elson must be laughing it up as Bosh tried to multi-fake them 18-feet out and try to draw contact against a vertical defense. The refs didn’t buy it and neither did the fans, he’s supposed to be the leader of the team and when he plays as passive as he did last night how can you expect anybody else on the team to be aggressors? A scout once said that Charlie V has more basketball sense than Chris Bosh. I agree and so do his seven ubiquitous turnovers agree. Elson was giving him the space up top and Charlie V was playing him tight in the block challenging Bosh to beat him for quickness. Bosh tried but failed and looked unsure, uncoordinated and unnatural in the process. That’s what a lack of a post-up game does to a player, it forces him to beat a player for quickness when he should be beating him for height and strength in the post. Everybody agrees that the +/- is a red-herring of a stat but Bosh’s game-high -18 says something.

Give credit to the Bucks, they’d lost 5 out of 7 and smelt blood coming into the building and why not. Ramon Sessions, Charlie Bell and Charlie V beat their man off the dribble all night long without the help of a pick forcing the Raptors defense to rotate, which it did to some degree. But after the second rotation you’ll end up having a matchup like Bargnani or Bosh trying to check a guard on the perimeter and if that guard decides to ball-fake and drive there’s just no way your defense can handle it. Case in point was Jermaine O’Neal unsuccessfully trying to guard Mbah a Moute one-on-one on the perimeter in the fourth quarter or Bargnani stepping out to close-out Sessions only for him to whiz past him as he’s coming out. Our perimeter defenders always over-commit on anything they’re trying to do, if they have to challenge a shot they’ll challenge so hard that a simple fake will get the defense a clean look. If they have to close-out their footwork and stance will be such that it’ll give the offensive player a clear path to the rim. Against an unmotivated team you might even get away with it but the Bucks meant business and we didn’t.

The other problem of course is the unnecessary shading. If Charlie V is catching the ball in the low-block, there is zero reason for the weak side defense to be out of position or lose track of their man. I lost count of how many cross-court passes were thrown by a Bucks post-up player for an open look on the weak side which invariably led to a score. Inexcusable and confusing stuff because we have no idea whether this is some sort of strategy to deter drives or just plain bad perimeter defense, nobody in the post-game interviews seems to ask that question. They did ask Triano about effort:

“I give them credit because they outworked us. We told our guys we can’t be outworked and we were. They’re a good defensive team, they locked our guys up. Jose Calderon couldn’t shake their defense and (Bosh) couldn’t shake their defense. We got behind and that was it.”

The Bucks came out with great intensity and effort in the third and went on a 13-4 run to start the quarter as Jefferson finally hit a couple shots. The Raptors were the complete opposite, we simply refused to drive the ball and settled for jumper after jumper, ending with a whopping 2 PINP in the frame. The plan at halftime was to get Bargnani involved and he came out looking for his shot but if you haven’t taken a shot for 40 minutes you’ll be cold. To his credit he tried to mix it up by going to the rim when his jumper didn’t fall and managed to throw off the defense which came to help but there were no offensive rebounders to take advantage of a scrambling Bucks defense. We’re dead last in the NBA in offensive rebounding and this quarter was an example of why – nobody wants to hit the glass. Even when Triano called a timeout to settle the team they came out shooting two straight jumpers which were missed. Nothing was working, it was as if they were shocked that the Bucks had dared to compete with them with Michael Redd being out.

SF on Bosh = Bosh neutralized

The Bucks never felt a need to double Bosh as Elson, Charlie V and Mbah a Moute were keeping him in check. This meant that somebody else needed to step up on offense and it wasn’t going to be Jose Calderon. Much like Bosh, his game is primarily perimeter oriented and if his off-the-screen jumper is working then the offense opens up but if he’s firing blanks he becomes a non-factor. He’s supposed to be the #2 scoring option on the team and he went 3-11. Still did a good job of sprinkling the shooters with the ball and racked up 11 assists but pulled back in transition too many times opting to go for a wing option rather than straight to the cup. It’s not like the Bucks were making a serious effort to get back, a little aggressiveness was needed and Jose didn’t bring it. Watching Ramon Sessions attack the paint you can’t help but feel that that’s an element of the game that Calderon needs to add to his arsenal before he is seriously talked about as “one of the best PGs in the league”.

The fourth quarter was pointless, the Bucks had built a 70-59 lead and the Raptors offense remained toothless. Our best weapon on the night was Jermaine O’Neal who finally figured out that Charlie V is too weak to defend his post-up game and went straight at him for 10 fourth quarter points. Unfortunately, Richard Jefferson, who had been quiet most of the night, knocked down key fourth quarter jumpers and Charlie V continued his assault against Parker, Kapono and Bosh by continually slashing and creating/scoring. Their big guns held down the fort for them, Chris Bosh and Jose Calderon had 2 and 3 fourth quarter points, respectively.

The only mini-run we made in the fourth was Bargnani hitting a three and then Calderon getting a mid-court steal for a layup. That cut the lead to 10 and got the crowd back into it but the Bucks responded quickly with a hard Bogut dunk after he cut and O’Neal/Bosh lost track of him. There were definitely a couple questionable calls in this game, Jermaine O’Neal was called for an offensive foul when Mbah a Moute was incorrectly adjudged to be outside the circle. O’Neal picked up a technical for arguing. Later on with the Bucks up 9 with 2 minutes left, frustration kicked in and he shoved a Buck after the fact, Charlie V took offense and after the double technical his night was over. He finished with a tidy 16 points (7-10 FG), 8 rebounds and 2 blocks, easily one of his best games this month. Should help the trade value.

A word about Charlie V. He seems exactly the player the Raptors need, an athletic scoring option that can slash. There’s no doubt he’s an inconsistent offensive player and that his defense is shoddy, but so was TJ Ford’s and so is Jermaine O’Neal’s. It’s a joy to watch a player when he’s playing hard and in the groove and he was in it tonight. He had a couple drives against a clogged paint tonight that he had no business finishing. He was emotionally into it and his aggressive play gave his team an example to follow.

One-Liners:

• It seemed like Sam Mitchell was coaching this game.
• Very disappointing result, especially on the heels of a 3-game winning streak. As always, just when you think this team might have an outside shot at showing some character and resolve they come out with a performance like this.
• Jason Kapono played the first 9:13 of the fourth quarter and went 1-4. For a guy that’s put in entirely for his offense in a game he sure provide enough of it. I’m sure you can guess just how much he was exploited off the bounce in this stretch. BTW, our three main wings (Parker, Kapono and Moon) have the three worst PER48 PPG on the team.
• Best Lineup: Kapono, Bargnani, Bosh, Calderon and O’Neal going +8 in a fourth quarter stretch. It’s mainly due to to O’Neal getting his scores one-on-one. Worst Lineup: Graham, Kapono, Parker, Bosh and O’Neal. -9 in the early second quarter where we went all jumpery.
• Not enough is being done to make Joey Graham an effective player. We need to recognize that he has strength over players like Mbah a Moute, Charlie Bell and even Charlie V, something as simple as setting a screen for him on the elbow so he can slash to the block and catch the ball in the post would be nice. We saw it earlier under Triano and I have no idea why it doesn’t happen enough.
• Has Chris Bosh checked out? I’d hate to think so but his play in the second half spoke of a man that didn’t seem to care much about which way the game went.
• Jamario Moon played good enough defense to earn him a hate-free post, certainly played much better than Anthony Parker who despite all his recent successes cannot guard a player with a half-head of steam under him earning him a deserving -16. We need to trade him ASAP!
• Roko Ukic and Will Solmon got the call, Triano tried everything he could to find a spark to light up this dead time and maybe find a defensive answer for the Bucks’ guards. Nothing worked. I have to give Roko credit for continually trying to drive the ball despite getting rejected almost 50% of the time he gets to the rim.
• Hopefully Victor didn’t lose too much money.
• Maybe a loss like this is needed to remind everybody that this team isn’t going anywhere and can expedite the process of fixing it.
• Jose Calderon’s FT streak ended.

Up next we have…get ready for this…Orlando, Cleveland, Lakers, and New Orleans. There’s a great chance that this season will be put to bed in the next four games.

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