The Raptors finally broke out of their 0-for-showing with Bargnani injured this season, and got a win with the franchise on the sidelines. Individual plays and levels of effort aside, you have to appreciate this one; the Raptors never lost a quarter, and dictated the flow and tempo throughout. In fact, had it not been for early solid free-throw shooting in the first half, and some above average offensive rebounding by the Nets, this would have been one of those games where a Nets blogger’s post-game would have been a picture of tightly curled turd on the Nets logo.

An aside to the win, the Raptors managed 94 points without Bargnani and Barbosa. Granted some of that has to do with Jersey’s lack of…everything, but the Raptors did as good a good as job as possible with defensive rotations and assignments that you could expect. I mean, Deron Williams dropped 24 points, but it took him 20 shots (3-10 3FG), and some heroic off the ball movement to get good looks at the rim.

Case in point, in the 2nd quarter, Williams started at the top of the arc, ran around the low block, brushed past two low screens, came around to the top of the arc, caught and shot the ball with Bayless on his ass. He hit the three (without as much space as you’d think), but the point is he wasn’t blowing by pylons to get his baskets. He’s the type of player that can make those kind of plays happen, the rest of the team couldn’t and caved to the Raptor defense.

I like Calderon and Bayless starting in the back-court together. As much as Bayless offends me with his decision making, when he doesn’t have to be the floor general, he makes things happen. He also takes pressure off Jose to cover the likes of Deron Williams. I’d like to explore a lineup of Calderon, Bayless, JJ, Bargnani and Amir with DeRozan, Kleiza and Davis as the first three off the bench for a few games. Bayless attacks the paint off the bounce as much as possible, something DeRozan and his new-found love for the jumper should be doing. It gives a bit more balance, which takes me to DeMar…

…I wasn’t that impressed with DeRozan’s game last night. Sure, 27pts on 8-12FG 11-16FT looks great on the boxscore, but it didn’t sit right with me. Three times in the first half, DeRozan pulled up on the break and popped (missed) a jumper when he could have made a move to the basket and either converted or drew a foul. His 27 should have been at least 30. The second problem I had was 17 of 27 came in the second half with the Nets thinking about dinner and watching Californication.

The saving grace of his second half “dominance” was that he got to the line 12 times and hit 9 of them. Had they all been jumpers, I guarantee we would have been watching him shoot jumpers at an even more alarming rate for the rest of the season. Not sure if it’s just me or is his development looking a bit like VC’s? He doesn’t have the same finish Carter had at this stage of his career, but we watched VC go from a guy who wanted to break the backboard, to the POS jump shooter he became. I’m way to lazy to pull stats on this (maybe Liston can put something for statophile), but I’ve noticed myself sighing with more regularity that he’s shooting instead of driving. I can live with the shooting if it continues to improve, but only if he gets to the line more; 4 times a game is half of what of what he should be doing.

Photo Credit: James Herbert via Twitter

When the NBA scheduled the Nets and Raptors to play two regular season games in London, England, they weren’t expecting either team to have a superstar among their ranks. Not anymore, the Nets scooped up Deron Williams, the biggest coup since the Lakers landed Gasol. Even though they are 0-3 in the D-Will era, the Nets are relevant again.

I don’t know if you’ve noticed, but since the All-Star break, the Raptors are 2-3; well above their season winning percentage. I know it doesn’t seem like much, but it made me take another look at things:

• The Raptors have a half place lead over the Nets for more ping-pong balls in the lottery
• With Johnson in lineup, the Raptors are playing a totally better brand of basketball that wont help them get more ping-pong balls
• I’m really liking James Johnson, the kid has a lot of the tools and toughness I look for in guys who would play for my team. I’m very interested to see how he does after a couple weeks of big minutes and reduced excitement of a fresh start
• Still not a fan of Weems, and he’s playing a lot better, but he didn’t do enough with the opportunity he had and it cost him a couple million on his next contract; he can thank Johnson for that

I had a chance to have a chat with Mark Ginocchio of Nets are Scorching about Deron and the Nets:

First of all, I hate you and your team. There couldn’t have been a better result for the Nets than landing a top 3 point guard in the league. Do you have any background on how this deal came about?
Let me start by thanking you for the hatred. It’s been a long time since anyone hated Nets fans for anything other than wearing bags on our heads to games. With that said, the Deron Williams trade came out of left field for everyone, media, bloggers, fans, everyone. I don’t think it was any coincidence that Al Iannazzone, the beat writer for the Bergen Record who was doing a super job during the Carmelo Anthony nonsense, got the leak first and not any of the national guys like Wojnarowski, Broussard, Spears, etc. who have been just beating the Nets to a pulp for the past two months in their attempts to attract a start to the organization. If you believe Nets GM Billy King, he called up Kevin O’Connor, Utah’s GM, first to talk about some peripheral deals, most likely involving Devin Harris and maybe Mikahil Prokhorov favorite Andrei Kirilenko. King mentioned, half-joking about DWill’s availability and a deal was hammered out in 24 hours. It’s funny what can happen when team’s don’t have to deal with a bunch of
juvenile children like ‘Melo and Masai Ujiri, Denver’s GM, who had been holding the Nets hostage knowing ‘Melo only wanted the Knicks, this whole time.

I’ve read that the organization is going to do a great deal to cater to him (who to trade for, what amenities the practice court should feature, etc); do you guys run the same risk that Cleveland ran with catering to LeBron’s every whim, or is Deron a different beast?
In a recent write-up, Woj made a great point about Deron. He’s not ‘Melo, he’s not LeBron – he’s not looking to be the center of some marketing campaign. He just wants to win, period. And I think the only way the Nets will keep him here is if they demonstrate a commitment to put pieces around him. The thing is, Prokhorov has proven very early that money is no object, so I believe that this will happen. Plus, Deron will be owed a sizable amount (more than $17M) on his option year headed into Brooklyn in 2012 and with the new CBA likely lowering the cap, it may not be fiscally prudent for him to opt-out in 18 months as many are reporting he might do.

I was very interested to see how Deron and Avery would mesh together, but so far on the surface they seem to compliment each other. What are your thoughts on this pairing?
I was nervous too, but Avery apparently “threw out half the playbook” when Deron came on board, which is a good thing because the Nets offensive playbook stunk. I know AJ is a micromanager with his point guards, but this his first “star” PG he’s dealt with, someone who tends to focus on all aspects of his game unlike Devin Harris, who was a professional, but seemed to suffer from tunnel vision where he would only look to score some games, pass in others, and defend, every once in a while.

So Dwight is next? …I hate you…
That’s the rumor, but who knows. My guess is it would have to be a sign and trade, and the Nets would have to blow Orlando away with an offer, because otherwise Howard would probably go to the Lakers. The Nets have Brook Lopez and a nice complimentary piece in Anthony Morrow, but they gave away their lottery picks to Utah and given Lopez’s rebounding and defensive issues, I wonder if Orlando would be more interested in Bynum as the centerpiece of a LA deal.

What are you thoughts on the games this weekend in London? How do the Nets match-up with the Raptors? Is Deron going to be playing (injuries and all)?
Oh yeah, this season. Well, the Nets are 0-3 in the Deron Williams era, so there are obviously some kinks, especially on the defensive end, which bodes well for the Raptors. Williams says he’s going to play, and Jordan Farmar is supposedly back to back him up, but I’m hoping for a split here.

Injury Report

Toronto
Reggie Evans – Out
Linas Kleiza – Out

New Jersey
Deron Williams – Day to day, should play
Jordan Farmar – Day to day, should play
Quinton Ross – Day to day

Player Report

Jose Calderon
If Jose can recreate the game he had against Paul, even a healthy Deron wont be able to do much. As it stands now, Deron is supposed to play, but he’s hurting. This is a great opportunity for Jose to attack the hell out of him since he doesn’t have a great deal of support behind him defensively. I’ve been calling for it for a while now, but when Jose is going off efficiently from the field, he is such a deadly point of attack for the offense. Defenses can’t cheat, and have to consider him. As always, defense is a concern, but if you’re matching output, then it gives DeMar/Bargnani the chance to take matters into their hands.
Box: 13pts 11ast 3rebs

DeMar DeRozan
16 trips to the line over the last five games (four if you consider he didn’t get to the line at all against the Bobcats); sure he’s hit all 16, but it’s not enough. Not enough when you consider he’s contributing 1.6 assists and 2.6 rebounds over the same five-game stretch. If he gets to the line more, it means he’s attacking off he dribble more, which means his defender is back-pedalling more, which means a help defender is rotating, which means the defensive is that much more vulnerable. That said, the British are gonna love this high-flyer, hopefully he gives them a couple things to cheer about. Against Morrow, he will have to deal with an outside-in player, who can stroke the three at a high percentage; 44% on the year. Morrow has been a nice pickup for this team with his efficient scoring, but his defense is brutal, and is exactly where DeRozan can put his mark on the game.
Box: 21pts 3rebs 1ast

James Johnson
Yea…I’m really liking him a lot. I tried tempering any enthusiasm for him the last pre-game, but as long as he remembers the things that make him successful on the court, and doesn’t forget what it’s like to log 30 minutes for the whole season, I think he’ll do fine. We could see a dip in his energy as the excitement of getting a second chance begins to fade, but as long as he’s still hustling, things will work themselves out. Truth be told, his inclusion in the starting lineup has this team playing a better brand of basketball that could really hurt their draft position come July. That’s probably the best compliment I’ve given any Raptor this season: that they make the team better. So I know very little about Damion Jones, who’s been getting the start since the trade went down. The guy is a big, active player who rebounds well and is starting to develop a perimeter game. Seems like the two of Johnson and Jones are somewhat similar in what they bring to the game.
Box: 8pts 9rebs 3ast 2blk

Amir Johnson
I did a double-take after glancing at Amir’s line after the Hornets game: 8pts 10rebs 2ast 7blk

It really should come as no surprise given how involved he was in every aspect of the game, not too mention he had to deal with West and Okafor all night. What has the smile on my face is the six swats he had. Given how close the score was, with the Hornets cutting the lead to 4 with time ticking down, Amir’s defense was huge in maintaining the Raptor lead, and eventually pulling out the win. Recreating that production will be tough, but the Nets front court consists of Humphries and Lopez and..yea, Amir/Ed/Andrea should take this.

Humphries will shoot the ball enough to remind us that even though he’s close to averaging a double-double on the season, his scoring aspirations disrupt the offense too much for him to be a starter. He does hustle, and give it his all, so he can’t be overlooked.
Box: 14pts 9rebs 3blk

Andrea Bargnani
Im just going to put this out there, but I think I’d rather have Bargnani than Lopez. Over the course of this season, both teams have equally stunk, but Andrea has done more with his playing time than Brook. It wasn’t always the case, and Lopez is a nice player,but he’s definitely had a disappointing season. Check the comparison:

Lopez: 34.6m 19.5pts 5.9rebs 1.5ast 1.5blk
Bargnani: 35.9m 21.8pts 5.5rebs 1.7ast 0.6blk

While Bargnani isn’t blowing Lopez away, and Brook has a higher PER (18.43 to 16.41), Bargnani is a better defender in the low post, and his rebounding is about the same. Lopez can step out and hit a jumper, but his range is stretched to the limit at 18 feet, and his post game isn’t as refined.
Box: 26pts 7rebs 1blk

The Line

The gamblers have the Nets as 3 point favourites with an over/under of 202.5. I’m expecting a nice pace to this game, and it should be close. I’m hoping the Nets win both these games weekend (to solidify the Raptors draft position), but I’m guessing the teams will split the games. Raptors pull out a tough win tonight, Nets storm back and win tomorrow.

Today’s game is at 3pm EST; if you’re stuck at the office, then come check out our live blog by Arsenalist.

Alabi: DNP-NLTE

Barbosa: quiet night for our horse, but a big three to seal the deal tonight. It’s a rare sight for our boys to play well with Leandro taking a back seat.

Bargnani: quite the second half, huh? He may have been a bit rusty after taking a game off to start tonight, but he came out of the break on fire. That confident swagger was back and he was hitting shots as well as defending as tough as we’ve seen all season.

Bayless: back to the bench for you, my friend. Like Leandro, an off night for someone we’ve expected game from lately. Wasn’t outplayed but sure was outworked.

Calderon: rest does a body good. Jose of old made a re-appearance for Sam Mitchell and we liked it. Hell, even the handclap defense was dusted off. Wicked game tonight and a key cog in our victory.

Davis: banging bodies and taking names. Not sure that outside jumpshot is something I want to see too much of, but he played smart ball tonight. He knows his role and it’s starting to pay off.

DeRozan: a pretty dunk, but 5/16? All good if you offset that with something that pays dividends for your team, but DeMar was his usual non-committal self on both ends of the floor.

Dorsey: Surprised he didn’t see more time, given Amir’s suckage. 4 boards and a block in 10 minutes peppered with some swagger and some jawing with Lopez made for a memorable night.

Evans: this was the type of game he was probably licking his chops like he was at Ruth Chris.

Johnson: what a phoney. Fouled out, looked like he couldn’t care less and is the epitome of how to eek out an insane contract from a jackass GM.

Kleiza: Welcome back. A double double in a game where he looked as focussed as he has been in over a month. Heck, he even looked excited (for an owl). Great movement without the ball, seemed to be shooting like a laser at times and he effort on the boards (12) seemed to come out of nowhere.

Stojakovic: chew chew chew chew

Weems: out with back spasms. Probably comes from bending over in Young Onez huddles on a nightly basis.

Wright: back on the short leash. Hope to see him Sunday in a game where we will need some defensive power.

Driving The Bus: Andrea Bargnani

Under The Bus: Amir Johnson

Game Theme:

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.

Late last week, Chris Bosh’s camp released a wish list of teams he would play for, and the Bulls happen to be one of them (shocking all the teams are linked to either LeBron or Wade or Kobe). The Bulls will be frustrating to deal with (if we in fact do a deal with them) since the guys we would want (Noah, Rose) wont be the guys we would probably get (Gibson, Deng, Hinrich). Not to say those guys wouldn’t provide the Raptors any value, but you know, you trade Bosh, you expect a Noah back while not handing the Bulls a championship lineup since you know, we should be the one building a championship team.

I check with Matt McHale from the ESPN TrueHoop blog By The Horns, to get his take on the Bosh rumours, as well as the situation with Vinny Del Negro:

Sam Holako: Vinny Del Negro got the axe, and probably would have got it earlier in the season if the team didn’t pull together and play so well down the stretch. Looking in from the outside, it seems that he was dealt a bum hand by Paxson, who let Ben Gordon walk, traded John Salmons for rags and didn’t give a good enough team to a rookie head-coach to win with. If you ask me, Paxson should be the next change Reinsdorf makes to this team. What are your thoughts on this whole situation?

Matt McHale: Well, I do feel like Vinny was hired to be fired. Chicago’s front office had a plan that was two years in the making: Hire a “placeholder” coach, cut salary, and then try to go all in during the free agent bonanza this summer. All I can do is speculate, but Bulls management never showed strong support for Vinny nor did they ever do anything to indicate that he was part of their plans past this season. And yet all Vinny did — for all his faults as a relatively inexperienced head coach — was get the team to overachieve based on their talent and how they were constructed.

Speaking of which…who put this team together? John Paxson. And his management of the team hasn’t been stellar. His biggest mistakes — among many — include breaking the bank for Ben Wallace (who worked out so poorly he had to be traded for Larry Hughes!), trading LaMarcus Aldridge for Tyrus Thomas (who worked out so poorly he had to be traded for a couple expiring contracts) and vastly overpaying for Kirk Hinrich and Luol Deng. The only thing that has prevented his stewardship of the Bulls from being a complete and utter disaster was the team lucking into the number one overall draft pick they used to get Derrick Rose. Just think of where this team would be without that kid. Yikes.

And yet during the 2008-09 season, after calling the team a “disaster” and “embarrassing,” team owner Jerry Reinsdorf said: “When you have a team that’s not performing it’s an organization failure. You win and you lose as an organization. But if there’s one person that is not responsible for what’s going on right now, it’s John Paxson. I have tremendous confidence in John Paxson. He’s really one of the best people that I know. He’s a great general manager and a great judge of talent.”

What can you do about a guy in that tight with the man who’s funding the team?

And although I would like to see Pax given his walking papers, this is a huge summer in terms of looking for a new head coach and trying to lure a big time free agent or two to the Windy City. Firing the team’s executive vice president would make the team seem in even more disarray…which could be costly.

SH: Wow, talk about a ringing endorsement; guess clutch 3-point shooting in the 90s pays off beyond a couple championship runs. So what’s the plan now? There has been very intense rumours about LeBron joining the Bulls this year. If he can handle playing in Jordan’s shadow, it seems to be the best fit for LBJ on any team in the league, and propel the Bulls back into championship contention. It would also redeem some of those poor personell moves Paxson has made over the years (lucking into the #1 pick shouldn’t have saved his job IMHO).

MM: Well, it goes without saying that the Bulls — and every other team — would love to have LeBron James suiting up for them. And I’m sure Chicago’s front office will reach out to him. But the larger plan is to land somebody big: LeBron, Dwyane Wade, Chris Bosh, Carlos Boozer, Amar’e Stoudemore…a superstar or borderline superstar who can address some of the team’s glaring needs (scoring first and foremost, and an inside game if possible). That’s priority one in terms of player personnel. Then the Bulls will need to bring in a couple crack three-point shooters to help with spacing. But right now, every iota of energy that isn’t expended searching for a coach will be used to land one of the “White Whales.”

SH: Who’s the front runner for the coaching gig? Calipari’s name seems to be coming up left and right.

MM: Honestly, I have no idea. Cal has been very firm about the fact that he has no plans to leave Kentucky. And anyway, Chicago’s front office has stated that they want a coach with extensive regular season and playoff experience. Calipari compiled a .391 winning percentage over 184 games with the New Jersey Nets, and his only playoff experience was presiding over a three-game sweep of his team in the first round of the 1998 NBA playoffs. That doesn’t exactly fit the bill.

Bulls management is being very careful about this coaching search. Read that: slow.

And in all honestly, they could be waiting for a better idea of who they might be able to land in fre agency. After all, it could have a serious effect on the kind of coach they would want for the team, in terms of offensive/defensive philosophies.

SH: Speaking of free agency, there has been talk of LeBron, Bosh, Wade as possible targets, but each is a very different kind of player. What kind of player do you prefer the Bulls land?

MM: Well, let’s face it: If you can get LeBron James, you get LeBron James. I think the same thing could probably be said about Dwyane Wade. If you can get a bonafide superduperstar, you do it and then rebuild (even if only partially) around them.

But assuming those two are out of reach, the Bulls need — and have needed for years and years — a frontcourt scorer to complement Derrick Rose. Someone who can score from the low post and run the pick and roll successfully. From that standpoint, I think the Bulls should target Chris Bosh, Carlos Boozer and/or Amar’e Stoudemire.

SH: What do you make of the phone call between LeBron and Rose?

MM: I think LeBron is, as Mr. Spock said in the latest Star Trek reboot, “cultivating multiple options.” It’s entirely possible he also called Chris Bosh and Dwyane Wade, too. To me, it seems like LeBron is feeling things out, getting a sense of what’s available out there, whom he might want to play with, and who might want to play with him. It seems to suggest that LeBron is at least considering Chicago as a potential destination…but that’s about it.

Of course, maybe LeBron is just buttering Rose up to get him to join the U.S. national team. Remember, back in December, this was what James said when asked if he’d like to team up with Rose: “Yeah, especially on an Olympic team. He did a great job this past summer holding it down for some of the older guys, giving them some rest. He’s a great point guard. He’s a great player. I love watching Derrick play, man, he’s unbelievable. All he’s going to do is continue to get better — with every game, with every practice. Hopefully in the 2012 Olympics, he can be a part of that team and have some fun.”

SH: Make me an offer for Chris Bosh in a sign-n-trade situation.

MM: Here’s my suggestion: Taj Gibson (and solid, up-and-coming PF) to replace Bosh and Kirk Hinrich. No, wait, here me out. I checked 82games.com and noticed that opposing PGs averaged 21+ PPG with an eFG of 52% and a PER of 20.1 against the Raptors this season. That’s like facing an All-Star PG every night. You don’t necessarily have to start Kirk, but you could bring him in as a defensive stopper off the bench against opposing PGs and SGs (whom I see average 22 points with a PER of 17 against the Raps). Hey, you guys need defense, and Kirk can bring that. So can Taj, actually. He was second on the Bulls in DRating this season as a rookie and will probably improve with experience.

I’m sure we can throw in some other filler to make the salaries work…

Crawl. Walk. Run. Stumble. Fall. Get up….?

This is where we are with this squad right now. Every single playoff team is running into the post-season except the Raptors, who have the luxury of stumbling in because the Bulls are absolutely brutalized by injury. 14 games left in the season, and there is major talk about shaking up the lineup in an attempt to salvage what is left of this season. So much for putting in a solid system during training camp.

I do have to give Triano some credit since he is still working hard at making things right. Unfortunately for the rest of us, he’s learning on the job and doesn’t have the juice to command respect/obedience from the players; otherwise Bargnani and Turkoglu would probably be coming off the bench, or playing you know: good; and we would hve something resembling perimeter defense.

The Raptors are the only playoff team to be playing under .700 over the last 10 games. In fact, thanks to a grind-em-out win against the Nets, the Raptors are .300. Speaking of that game, it was seriously the most frustrating one I’ve seen all season. By this point of the year, the Raptors should have a set 8-9 man rotation, and rolling along; especially against a team that is challenging to be the worst one in NBA history.

The Timberwolves are just going through the motions at this point, hoping to win the draft lottery and steal Wall from between Jerseys fingers. No one expected much from them, and they didn’t disappoint, but they have a great young core that will only improve when they trade Rubio for some talent that wants to play there.

The last time these two teams played, Toronto was at the beginning of their resurgence, and ground out a win at home that saw them unveil their Huskies jerseys that many of us prefer.

Jefferson was kept in check by Bargnani and Bosh offensively, but he still managed 12 rebounds. Love was a beast though, with 18pts 7rebs coming off the bench while working himself back into the rotation after being injured for the early part of the season.

The Wolves are a great rebounding team; 43.5/game which is good for 4th in the league. That is really my only concern for tonight since they don’t score very well and are a worse defensive team than the Raps. Limit their rebounds, don’t switch on the pick-n-roll, and this game will be over in th third. That’s all I really have to say.

Looking at the schedule, Bosh’s injury couldn’t have come at a better time for the Raptors as he will have a full week to recover, while the Raptors play two of the worst teams in the East. A 17 point win, on the road, without your franchise player is a nice to way to respond to a situation, by confronting the situation and turning that situation into a non-situation.

I felt it tonight. I had a bunch of open shots at the beginning. With CB not playing, we were going to have play like a team and share the ball. That was our only chance to win. Knocking down the first couple, I relaxed a little bit. It’s much easier than if you’re struggling. All I can do is try and do my best. – Rasho Nesterovic

In my opinion, basketball is a game of rhythm and he hasn’t been in the lineup for a while. For him to come in and contribute the way that he did is really unbelievable. It’s a testament to him always been ready when called upon. – Jarrett Jack

Those two quotes say it all. Rasho was a great pick-up by Colangelo in the off-season: he doesn’t stir the pot, plays hard when he’s called on, and when folks are counting on him, he delivers. He played 11 minutes in the previous 6 games, but gets the start and drops 16pts 7rebs 4ast. Can he do this on the regular? No, but no other forward on the bench could have started the game, spread the floor, and move the ball around the way our boy did.

The Raptors looked like a totally different team last night, and I must say it was nice to watch. When you lose your franchise player, one of the very few people on the team who can create for himself off the dribble, there is only one way to win: share the ball. The Raptors took good shots, and made them. They moved the ball around, making the extra pass on almost every possession and found the right guy every time. 70% of the shots the Raptors made was assisted (30ast / 43fg).

“Any time your opponent shoots 60 percent for the game, you’re not going to have much of a chance to win” – Kiki Vandeweghe

The Nets did a marginally better job of offensive rebounding and protecting the ball, but whenever your eFG is 63.8%, and you’re getting to the line 34.7% of the time, good things are going to happen. Had the Raptors shot the ball from the line at the same rate as they have been doing all season (76.5%), they could have added another 5 points to the box. The poor shooting from the line can be directly attributed to Bosh being out – he’s shooting 79% on the season.

What is interesting is where the points were coming from (click image to enlarge):

With Bosh out of the game, the Raptors took only 9 shots inside of 15ft; and had an almost even split of layups/dunks (30) and jumpers (33, 12 from beyond the arc). Normally the closer you get to the rim, the better, but with all the swinging, pick-n-rolls, and penetration/kick, the shooters were wide open and knock them down. Even Hedo, yea…

Wizards tonight, pre-game should be up shortly.

It wasn’t the thumping that we were hoping see after the Indiana loss, but it was a win on a back-to-back which are hard to come by and should be accepted without complaint. We’ll take the W, rest for three days and prepare for Sacramento on Sunday. Watching the Nets go up 12 in the second quarter was quite pitiful and the ACC crowd let the Raptors know it, the booing was a tad bit premature for my taste but it got them out of their funk. After playing them even for another quarter or so, the second-unit iced the game in the early fourth. The defensive effort was shoddy at best, especially in transition which I’m inclined to say is becoming a problem. Against a better team we would’ve paid the price, but these are the Nets and you can afford to play bad basketball for half the game and still come out on top.

This game was played at the same level of intensity as Vince Carter’s All-Star Classic, remember those? Both teams were running up and down like it was a lazy Sunday afternoon at the Y, making dangerous passes in transition, getting easy buckets, committing careless turnovers which they didn’t seem to be too upset about and just playing at a generally casual pace. The Nets especially, I think they hate playing the half-court and look to catch the defense napping every chance they get, Harris’ outlets burning us a few times in the first. The Raptors started the game off in a similar fashion as Indiana, going to Bosh against a slower big to watch him launch jumpers. He hit three against Lopez but after that things tightened up for him and he struggled with his J the rest of the night. At times his coordination was totally off and we saw bits of the Bosh we all hate – the one that goes to the rim without an angle, contorts his body to make the angle worse and throws up a prayer that the defense smiles at. That didn’t stop Devlin from reminding us how great of a week Bosh had had, it’s almost like he fears we’ll lose respect for Bosh and needs to hype him up after every bad play. C’mon Matt, we’re not that fickle.

The Raptors ball movement was solid and Jarrett Jack did a good job of putting Devin Harris on his heels by driving right at him and then kicking it out for the swing, he’s been doing that against every good PG he faces. Wright got the start instead of Belinelli, presumably because Triano wanted to retain some energy off the bench, and was the beneficiary of some Jack-initiated open looks and he did good in draining them; suddenly he’s become a decent perimeter shooter when he catches it in rhythm, totally didn’t see that coming from a career 30% 3-point shooter. After hitting three jumpers I could actually live with his ill-advised crossover followed by a left-handed shot-attempt, after all he’s not going to provide 18/7 anytime soon again. Devlin and his Get up, bird! call for Wright better not last. The Raptors were up 10 midway through the first and the Nets were starting to fade, the thing that was keeping them in the game was their offensive rebounding which was happening because of the havoc caused by Harris, CDR and Hayes’ early dribble penetration.

We saw this against Indiana too, our bigs (or anyone for that matter) get into trouble when they’re put in early help situations. They lose rebounding position and the guards don’t rotate (or even are aware that they have to rotate) and we concede easy offensive rebounds. Lopez and Yi got a couple hoops like that and then the Nets managed to execute some good isolation sequences for Lopez who was too much to handle for Bargnani during that stretch. A note on Bargnani’s interior defense, it’s been solid for a while now and tonight was a tough matchup for him, I was glad to see him get back more points than he gave up by taking Lopez out of his comfort zone and out to the perimeter. He also did a commendable job of keeping Lopez on his back for most of the game and it resulted in outrebounding him 5-3, hardly impressive numbers but worth a mention. On a side note, would you pull a Lopez for Bargnani deal?

Humphries’ energy sparked the Nets late in the first and suddenly the lead was sliced to 6. The 28-5 Nets run which caused the paying customers to turn on the team had already started. Humphries was looking like Hump Jordan and step-backed for jumpers on Bosh and Bargnani, the Raptors defense had checked out and the Nets were playing streetball and taking the first available shot which was usually open. Our transition defense, more specifically effort, wasn’t there and they got very easy baskets off of our misses. Triano called a timeout with the Nets up 4 at 9:18 of the second quarter but that didn’t do the trick, we were really hungover. He burned a 20 at 7:31 when we were down 10 but that didn’t work either, it wasn’t even the third quarter yet, could fatigue be kicking our ass early tonight?

The key hoop came at 5:54 of the second, Jarrett Jack putting his head down in transition and going straight to the rim for a hoop. On the next possession he drove and setup a clean three for Bargnani and the Nets lead was down to 7, Kiki Vandeweghe begged the ref for a timeout. More Jack pain followed, he rewarded Wright’s cut with a nice pass and after Chris Bosh finally took it to the rim for two, Jack found Weems on a great inbounds alley-oop leading to a VC-quality dunk. All in all, our man Jack had 5 assists in the final 5:41 of the second quarter. He recognized that the team was in distress and went about fixing it, it’s a sign of leadership and I as a fan appreciate that big time. Down 1 at the half was no problem. Check out Weems acknowledging a fan in the front row after another dunk in the fourth quarter.

Now, the third quarter on back-to-backs was a problem on the road against Indiana and Milwaukee, not so much against the Nets at home. We didn’t come out guns blazing like I had hoped but at least we didn’t lay an egg which is what I’ve come to expect in these situations. After hanging with us for a half, the Nets had started to believe that they could have a shot at sneaking this out. The first half also made me realize that just how god-awful and lazy is Yi Jianlian is. You talk about a guy that hates venturing into the paint, to be fair when he did drive his shots were about as accurate as phdsteve’s predictions about Triano. Reason I mention Yi is that he finally got to nailing some jumpers in the third quarter as Bosh sagged and the Raptors defense failed to pick up its intensity.

Most of the third was just trading baskets, Wright continued his hot outside shooting, Bargnani chipped in with a couple threes for 9 points in the quarter and the pace was similar to the first. Casual. Very little defense. Late getting back leaving yourself vulnerable to the quick-outlet. Meh. Triano did switch Amir Johnson on Kris Humphries which quieted him down, Amir’s length bothered Humphries and he forced a couple turnovers out of him. Johnson and Banks provided a good spark off the bench in the late third, and given the malaise of the Raptors defense, it was enough for Triano to try and see if this was the unit that could finally spark the team and extend the lead.

Well, it did. The unit of Banks, Johnson, Belinelli, Weems and Bosh brought the defensive energy that was missing for the whole game and extended a 3 point lead to 8. Banks played some good turnover-free conservative minutes which shouldn’t be lost in the mix. When Jack came back the Raptors offense went into attack mode and him and Bosh drove right at the retreating Nets defense which set up clean looks on the perimeter. Simple effective basketball gave us a 10 point lead with about 5 to play and that was that. All it took was a stretch of high energy play to put away the Nets.

Good thing it was the Nets, because against any other opponent this could easily turn into an L. This is what concerns me about the team, I’ve always maintained that they’ve got the talent to make the post-season and maybe even push hard in it, but the leadership and discipline to bring it every night isn’t there and I see it far too often for my liking. I’m a little weary of the Kings coming to town, they’ll be kicking off 6 of 7 on the road and will go hard in trying to snatch the early W, the Raptors have to be mentally ready for that. The next five games are all winnable: home to Sacramento, Philadelphia and Memphis, away to NJ and home to Washington. We need to show some thirst in going after these teams and really putting the hammer down.

At the end of the day we came out with a win missing three starters on a back-to-back. Just try to feel good about it and hope that the lethargic play we saw will go away when Reggie Evans comes back and kicks everyone’s ass for slagging off.

Holy crap! I just wrote 1500 words about the Nets. I’m out.

We can all be happy that the Nets have won a couple before facing the Raptors, otherwise we would have helped them end that streak of futility; bet on it. Sadly, this is one of those games that I wont be happy with whatever result we get: if they win, it was because the Nets are a terrible team; if they lose, I’ll hit delete on the server and end the good run we had here at Raptors Republic.

I’m interested to see how the crowd reacts to this lot, since there is no one left from those rival years except Josh Boone. The hate for Jersey goes deep, but it was never embodied in Boone. Tonight should literally be a walk in the park. I don’t care how bad the Raptors have been playing, their fundamental problems aside, just looking at this Nets roster, it is clear they are devoid of any real talent. Sure they have a couple nice pieces (Devin Harris, Brook Lopez, Chris Douglas-Roberts, Courtney Lee), but that’s all this team is, a couple nice pieces with Bobby Simmons who makes $10.5 million this year.

This will be the first of 4 meetings (wins) against the Nets, and it gives the Raptors some opportunity to work on their problem areas in a real-game situation. Not that the Nets should be taken lightly since they are still an NBA team with NBA’ish talent, but this is as close as you can get to a practice that has standing implications as you can get, 2-24 FFS.

DeRozan needs some plays called for him tonight. He needs to be rolled into the offense, STAT! Send him backdoor along the baseline and lob him some alley-oops; give him the ball at the elbow and let him attack the paint; hit him with a pass as he slashes towards the rim, anything really. I’m not saying Courtney Lee is a slouch, because he isn’t, but if our rook starts attacking the rim, then the New Jersey defense will have to rotate to help, which will open up the rest of the guys for kick outs and offensive rebounding situations. Just a thought Jay.

How about we let Bargnani guard a center. The last couple games, he has been on the opponents power forward, and that hasn’t gone too well (Beasley 28pts 11rebs, Lewis 21pts 5-8 3pt). Boone and Lopez will have their hands full on defense, but if Bargnani is our center of the future, and apparently is a good post-defender, then why not defend a center who strictly will occupy the post? I feel like I’m missing something here becuase it isn’t like Bargnani gets sent over to help defend in the post, right? Anyone?

14…that’s the TOTAL number of rebounds Bosh has grabbed in the last THREE games. Unacceptable. This needs to truly stop tonight. If Bosh doesn’t grab at least 11 tonight, I don’t even know what to say… Lopez is a big boy, and is damn active on the boards, but without another solid rebounder on the Nets roster to battle in the paint, this should be easy pickings.

The number 1 reason the Raptors win tonight is that Lawrence Frank no longer coaches the Nets. He has really owned the Raptors over the last few years. The guy got a bum deal this year, but don’t get fooled, he is a top level NBA coach.

The Raptors are 8 point favourites tonight with the over/under at 206. I’m thinking it will be a rout: 106-84. Don’t forget to join us tonight at SCC for Raptor Fan Fridays. Tom Liston said something about a free round for every point the Raptors scored or something along those lines.

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: