The Raptors have it tough for the next 10 days; four of the next six games are against playoff teams, and three of those teams are elite. It kicks off tonight in Orlando and it’s not going to be a pretty one. We’ve talked ad nauseam about what this team is (isn’t) capable of, how good (or bad) certain players are, and the job security of one coach. What we need to consider is that this season is a wash. The Raptors aren’t good enough to do anything, and the lineup shouldn’t be tinkered with to fight for a playoff spot because it will jeopardize the teams future in doing so.

Khandor hit the nail on the head with his piece after the Bobcats game:

COMPONENTS OF A GOOD LOSS FOR THE RAPTORS THIS SEASON

1. Their opponent is a team with more NBA level talent on their roster than Toronto.
2. The game’s final outcome is only decided in the last 30 seconds of play.
3. At no point during the game does Toronto fall behind by more than 10 points.
4. At no point during the game does Toronto go ahead by more than 15 points.
5. DeMar DeRozan and Ed Davis – only once he is 100% healthy, again – receive at least 20+ minutes of PT, including at the start of quarters #1 and #3, plus during the last 6 minutes of quarter #4 [and, in any overtime session which might be played].

The long term objective for the Toronto Raptors this season should be focused, exclusively, on obtaining the future rights to a Top 3 Pick in the 2011 NBA Draft.

Anything which, in fact, moves the team closer to achieving THIS specific goal next summer is a good thing for this franchise heading towards the future.

Something to think about.

Life got in the way, and I got stood up by the Orlando blogger, but here are the questions I asked (I’ll update this with his answers if he gets them to me today):

1. What’s going on with Rashard Lewis? Vince Carter got a lot of flack for his poorish performance in the playoffs, but Lewis was just as bad, averaging 12.9pts 5.6rebs 2.3ast. His play has seemed to seep into this season. I’m clearly missing something.
2. Jameer Nelson has been a big part of this team’s recent success, but his injuries make it difficult for the team to be consistent (shuffling guys here and there). Williams and Duhon are capable backups, but seriously. At what point does Otis Smith say “enough’s enough” and go out and make a splash to upgrade the point?
3. A lot has been said about Gortat and Bass not being happy with their playing time. Gortat especially didn’t seem happy the Magic matched the contract Dallas extended him. I’m not sure where I’m going with this, but they could be valuable pieces to upgrade this roster; please comment.
4. Even though they lost the first meeting with Miami, I like how this teams matches up against them. The Celtics on the other hand could pose some big problems. What are Orlando’s prospects of getting back into the finals this year?
5. Almost a joke to ask, but what is the strategy coming in against the Raptors?

Injury Report

Toronto
Jarrett Jack – Sore Knee, Will Play
Reggie Evans – Bruised Left Hip, Gametime Decision
Linas Kleiza – Achilles, Doubtful
Leandro Barbosa – Shoulder, Out
Ed Davis – Out

Orlando
Jameer Nelson – Hurting, Will Play
Vince Carter – LOL, Will Play

Match-ups

PG – Jack vs Nelson
The guys been killing our PG’s for years: he’s quick enough to beat them off the dribble, strong enough to knock them off tilt and hits every single bloody shot he takes against us. It’s very frustrating. He is coming back from an injury, but it didn’t stop him from playing well against the Jazz (even though the team lost) chipping in 19pts 7ast. Based on everything we’ve seen so far this season, I don’t see how Jack/Calderon have any chance tonight. Might be nice to see Banks get some run and step up defensively, but we know that’s not going to happen; why would it?
Edge: Nelson

SG – DeRozan vs Carter
After starting the season strong, he has utterly fallen apart the last three games, averaging 4.3pts 2.7rebs while shooting 33% from the field. Yes, the match-ups weren’t in his favour, but since when is that an excuse to put up Marcus Banks numbers? Carter owns us. Period. He might be in the twilight of his career, but he still can light it up, and is actually playing efficiently all things considered (52%FG 44%3FG 20.68PER). Only Amir Johnson is as productive as Carter with a PER of 21.39. It’s a nice game for DeMar to come out of his funk from, since VC wont be able to keep up with him if he gets going. Like most nights, he has the tools to make life difficult for folks, it’s just a matter of being focused and having your head in the game.
Edge: Carter

SF – Kleiza vs Lewis
It’s lose-lose at the 3. If Kleiza’s achilles is still bothering him, there’s no way he can hang with Lewis. If he can’t even play, the Raptors have no one who can begin to match-up here. Weems, while athletic, doesn’t have the size to bother Lewis (6″10). While Kleiza isn’t 6″10 either, he does have some strength which can compensate. At the end of the day, Lewis is only averaging 11pts 6rebs (all for the low-low price of $20mil), but if folks start doubling Howard (like I wish they wouldn’t but know they will), there’s going to be a lot of open shots for the guys on the perimeter.
Edge: Lewis

PF – Evans vs Anderson / C – Bargnani vs Howard
I have a feeling the front court is going to get messy, and will see the following match-ups (humour me here):

Raptors Playing Defense
Bargnani/Howard & Evans/Anderson
We all know Bargnani wont stop Howard, but the killer part here is that since Anderson likes to live on the perimeter, Evans will be out of position to rebound on the defensive glass. Bargnani has no chance on Howard, and this could get messy fast. I expect Amir to get some heavy minutes if he can play with his head and stay out of foul trouble; even Dorsey should see some time. This situation neutralizes the only reason to start Evans alongside Bargnani, and exposes how bad this front court really is.

Raptors Playing Offense
Bargnani/Anderson & Evans/Howard
I don’t see Howard playing out on the perimeter with Bargnani. The Magic are the 2nd best defensive team, and 4th best rebounding team for a reason: Dwight Howard is a beast in the paint. Evans is a bad enough offensive player that Howard can essentially roam free and help everywhere, and recover fast enough to challenge Reggie in the paint. Anderson moves well enough that he can keep up with Bargnani, but probably wont prevent him from dropping 17+. I don’t think the Magic will care since they will basically be dictating the flow of the game, and Howard will be there to clean up anyone attacking the rim.
Edge: Anderson & Howard

Keys to the Game

Play with Heart
The expectation tonight is not to win, but rather to play with some pride. There is a moral victory to be had here if at the end of the game the Raptors can say they did their best, but still lost. The gain here is continuing the aggressive play they’ve shown us, not getting down big early, fighting for every possession, and making smart plays.

Pray to Jah
Seriously. It will take every Raptor, hitting on all cylinders, not making mistakes and sticking a lot of shots for this to be a contest. The Magics bench is pretty scary too, which compounds the problem: Mickael Pietrus, Brandon Bass, Martin Gortat, JJ Reddick…they are better at every possible match-up and combination of lineups.

The Line

The Magic are 14 point favourites, at home with a full days rest.

Looking to have some food, drinks and good times with other Raptor fans? Come check out Raptor Fan Fridays at The Sports Center Cafe.

As always, we got Twitter, Facebook and Live Chat; pick your poison.

We have about a month until the NBA Draft and free agency kicks in, so I decided to talk to some of the teams around the NBA that have been linked to Chris Bosh and the Raptors in one way or another to get a feel for their franchise, and what we could expect back in a sign and trade.

While the early offers for CB4 have not been very exciting (you’ll see when we get to them), they do paint a picture of why trades are so difficult, especially when you have your back to the wall. While I don’t think the picture is so bleak in regards to Bosh (I still think he resigns; there is no sane reason why he would either), I concede that we wont even get 40 cents on the dollar for our franchise player.

First stop, I check in with Rahat Huq from The Houston Rockets TrueHoop blog Red94. Overall, he’s a good guy, a bit delusional, but he knows his stuff (I can’t wait till we resign Bosh so I get my face on his website banner for a week or so):

Sam Holako: Are you guys regretting replacing Artest with Ariza? Maybe I’m just being biased, but Artest took pretty much the same team to game 7 against the Lakers last year, and Ariza couldn’t even get them into the playoffs.

Rahat Huq: Not at all. I fully appreciate the contributions Ron made to this team last season, and it was definitely a surreal ride. But let’s be clear – he didn’t take this team anywhere against the Lakers and in fact, was a complete liability offensively.

For the series, Ron shot just 38% from the floor (28% from 3) in averaging his 15.6 points per game and was even more dreadful when we needed him most upon the injury to Yao, averaging just 9.5ppg in the last 4 games, on 28% shooting (and a terrifying 15% on his 26 3-point attempts.)

Ariza wasn’t brought here to get the team anywhere; Trevor was signed to be a complementary piece. He struggled early due to being forced into a high usage role out of necessity, but settled in very nicely after the arrival of Kevin Martin.

SH: Let’s not beat around the bush; make me an offer for Chris Bosh.

RH: These are my two offers:

1) Jordan Hill, Chase Budinger, Jared Jeffries, Dave Andersen, Jermaine Taylor, one Knick draft pick
2) Jordan Hill, Shane Battier, Dave Andersen, Jermaine Taylor, one Knick draft pick.

Andersen and Taylor included to make the numbers match – I could be slightly off on the figures.

SH: That offer makes me sad…very very sad. While Hill and the Knicks pick could have big value, I think I can speak for the rest of The Republic when I say that we expected more of an offer. I honestly haven’t even heard of Dave Andersen and Jermaine Taylor. The problem with your offer is that you think the Raptors have no leverage in this, but they do. Everyone knows that Chris Bosh wont leave the franchise high-and-dry for no other reason than if he does, he’s out 1 year and $30mill. Just for being insolent, Colangelo can use this S&T as a means to get rid of some dead weight in the form of either Calderon or Turkoglu. Let’s figure Jose since Brooks isn’t really a point guard, and you guys will need someone who knows how a pick-n-roll works.

RH: The inclusion of Andersen and Taylor would simply be for salary matching purposes. As far as our offer, I think you are coming in with unrealistic expectations. Look at the history of sign&trades for max players. From Chucky Atkins and Ben Wallace (when he was a nobody), to draft picks for Rashard Lewis and Kenyon Martin, you won’t find a package even approaching the attractiveness of Jordan Hill, Chase Budinger, and a lightly protected probable lottery pick.

SH: I have a feeling we might get into a fist-fight…so lets talk about Yao. The guy misses a whole season, is largely forgotten around the league, but should make a full recovery and be Über effective next season. The prospect of playing against a Bosh/Yao front court is scary; what are the plans for him going forward?

RH: He’s resumed workouts and is on schedule with his recovery.

I think the organization plans to limit his minutes and usage next season, and that shouldn’t be too great a concern considering some of the other parts that are in place. Still, Yao’s greatest value to the team is on the defensive end where, while he is not the best of shotblockers, he is as good as just about anyone at protecting the paint.

Yao/Bosh would indeed be scary simply because their skillsets mesh so perfectly. I’ve long felt that Yao was a finisher rather than an initiator. With Bosh’s high post abilities, he would provide the team a focal point from which to start its offense.

SH: Suppose in a bizzarro NBA world the Raptors sign-and-trade Bosh for Jordan Hill and spare parts, how do the Rockets matchup against the rest of the Western Conference? What can we expect from them?

RH: They won 42 games without Yao and Bosh and with a major personnel change midway through the season. If they can add what would have to be the best power forward – center duo in basketball in Yao – Bosh to the quintet of Scola-Lowry-Brooks-Martin-Ariza, along with a lottery pick, you would have to expect a significant increase in wins. Will they contend immediately? The talent is certainly there, but I think it could take a while and at least some growing pains to reach that level.

Based on your indignation over my proposal, I think you’re really suffering from delusions of grandeur. If a package of Jordan Hill, Chase Budinger, and a future lottery pick would not suffice, in light of what has been bartered in past sign & trades of this type (Atkins/Wallace, only picks), I must ask, what exactly are you hoping for? It’s true that the Raptors hold leverage, but to a certain degree. They’ll pick the destination, but they won’t exactly be able to extract a king’s ransom, nor will they be able to offload their garbage (Calderon, Turkoglu.)

The Raptors have another chance to improve their record to .500 (18-18) tonight in Orlando. With 6 wins in their last 7 games, the last one being a big win over the Spurs, it’s hard not to get a bit excited regardless of who we beat to get here. At the end of the day, you have to sit back and consider that to be a middle of the pack, low playoff seed good team in this league:

• You have to beat the teams who are worse then you
• You have to compete and beat at least half the teams who are the same level as you
• And you have to steal a game or two from the teams who are better then you.

After a horrific start to the season, this is the path the Raptors are on, and realistically, it is the only one we should have expected at this point in time. Tonight, the Raptors are facing the third scenario above: they have a realistic opportunity to steal against a team who is better than them. The Magic are arguably the deepest team in the league. Twice so far this season, we have lost games to them where an unsung role player has stepped up and been the deciding factor in the game (Reddick, Anderson, Barnes).

So I’m calling this a realistic steal because the Magic are on the second night of a back-to-back, and a two game losing streak (losses to Chicago and Indiana). The Raptors are well rested, and have been in Orlando a couple days, so it is hard to imagine that they could lose two season season series against Eastern Conference teams in the same week (Boston is 2-0 against us).

With Calderon slated  to return tonight, the point guard controversy will be in full swing, I know this because I’m feeding the fire right now. With Jack playing so well in Jose’s absence, and Jose probably not being 100% healthy (if recent history holds true), our boy will be coming off the bench for at least this game. I’d like to make one thing clear: the Raptors are NOT better with Jose out of the lineup. When he is healthy, he is a top 15 point guard in the league. However, I do contend that if the Jack/Banks duo can hold it down, we have glaring needs at the wing that can be addressed by trading Calderon for the right piece (notice how I said the right piece).

The match-up sucks for the Raptors every way you slice it. With Howard commanding so much attention in the paint, it doesn’t matter which of Bosh or Bargnani (usually Bosh) covers him – the other (usually Bargnani) will be sent over for the double, then all that is left is for Howard to kick it out to one of the shooters (usually Lewis, since Bargnani is doubling) and make us pay for playing into their hands (usually because our rotations suck).

That was what usually has happened, but the Raptors have gelled a bit over the last 7 games and are communicating more. We have seen some pretty impressive games where man defense was tight, rotations were crisp, and folks were talking. They will need a lot of that tonight.

IMHO, you have to stay at home with this Magic team. If Howard can create room for his shooters (list everyone else in the top 9 of the rotation), then there will be hell to pay. Over the first two games this season, the Magic have shot 31-62 from behind the arc (with Lewis absent from that first contest) against the Raptors, easily the stat that stands out the most, and is the reason we’ve lost by a combined 28pts.

I like Jack manning up Nelson to start the game, he will get bumped more then when Calderon is on him. This wont shut Jameer down, but it will make it that much harder for him to run the offense. Telling of this two game losing streak is VC’s performance over the stretch: 7pts 3rebs 2ast on 5-30 shooting (zero 3′s) from the floor. DeRozan/Weems/Belinelli will have to keep Carter out of the paint, and off the line. He has been shooting terribly from the floor, so they can’t let him find his rhythm – all jumpers, no layups, let’s do it 80′s style.

I’m actually thinking a win tonight for the Raptors. The Magic are tired, and playing pretty bad over the last two games. The Raptors are fresh and can distance themselves a bit from Charlotte and Milwaukee in the standings with a win. The line wasn’t posted at time of publishing this, but you can bet it will be tight one. Raptors grind out a tight one tonight, 97-91 with Bargnani leading the way (I believe).

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.

So much for unfounded optimism in calling games (my pre-game call), I will be sticking to my gut feeling from now on (my podcast call). Pitiful display by the Raptors last night. We’ve owned the Heat over the last few seasons, so you knew they were due for a win, but not like that. After what we did to the Rockets? After that team meeting that was supposed to be the key to the season? Looks like what ails the Raptors requires a shuffling of players/coach, and not Alvin Williams facilitating communication workshops while Gherardini translates.

I’m still pretty embarrassed from that loss to the Magic a month ago. The one where our genius marketing/PR team thought it a great idea to pay tribute to Vince Carter, while he was playing against us that same day. The one where he declined the offer, then proceeded to pace the Magic to the win, with a perma-grin plastered on his face the whole time. I ask one thing of the Raptors marketing team: please don’t spawn any new gimmicks for games where we play Vince Carter. We are 0-2 in these situations, and I fear the worst for all of our sanity if you fail miserably one more time.

I don’t like playing Orlando this year because I’m constantly reminded of what the Raptors SHOULD have done the last two off-seasons, namely go after Pietrus and Barnes since they represented exactly what this team was missing and continues to need at a reasonable price tag.

Tonight against the Magic is going to be bad.  The Magic by the numbers:

• 7-3 in their last ten
• 8-2 at home
• 14-3 against the East
• +5.8 scoring differential (5th best in the league)
• 43.1 rebounds a game (7th in the league)
• 21pts 23rebs by Howard Monday against the Pacers
• 28pts 7rebs 3ast by VC Monday against the Pacers

You see where I’m going with this right? The Raptors need to do exactly the opposite of what they did against the Heat last night.

Bosh/Bargnani need to attack Howard early and get him into foul trouble. They need to hit him and get between him and the glass. You aren’t going to out jump the guy, so get in there and fight. Rashard Lewis will stretch the defense, so one of Bosh or Bargnani will be out of position to rebound, means the rest of the girls need to pull up their knickers and compensate. Bosh needs to grab more then 2 rebounds, regardless of who he’s covering. We had mixed results against Houston/Miami, but with Orlando grabbing so many rebounds, the Raptors have to do better then the last time around when the Magic’s offensive rebounding was brutalizing our girls.

Turkoglu needs to be kept under control. I know this is going to be an emotional night for him returning to Orlando after playing there for 5 years, but he isn’t the kind of guy who can just damage a team on his own. I do like giving him the ball and letting him create for Bosh/Bargnani though, but that’s it. His one-on-one moves need to be minimized, and his shots should only come in the natural flow of the offense…whatever that means for the Raptors.

Vince had a monster night Monday against the Pacers that helped pace Howard to a monster night of his own. We know VC can score, we know he can create, but lets hit him a few times. I bet if DeRozan/Weems elbow him a couple times in the kidneys, he stays away. Let him shoot the lights out, I just don’t want him getting to the rack and laying it up gracefully as he does. While we’re at it, how about not letting JJ Reddick have another career night. The guy can shoot, so lets not double Howard down low, letting him kick out to one of his open shooters (in this case Reddick) who will knock it down. If you didn’t know, that is what Orlando wants everyone to do. The team is built on this one thing.

Jimmy‘s sim says Orlando will win 101-88. The gamblers have the Magic as -11 and the money at -750. I had the Raptors losing this one in the podcast, it’s the second night of a back-to-back, so I’ll be damned if I change my mind; Magic win 114-89.

The advantage the Raptors had on opening night, quickness and conditioning, was a non-factor against the Grizzlies who have a young, athletic team. Bargnani was able to take Shaq/Big Z off the hop, but Gasol and Z-Bo were able to counter, and in some instances, nullify the Raptors front court. As big a night as Bosh had (37pts 12rebs), Randolph countered with a 30pt 7reb monster of his own.

I think they just had a little bit better conditioning than the Cavaliers.They were coming up a lot harder, their fast-break. I don’t think Cleveland did a very good job at fastbreaking against us and that put a lot of pressure on us.

That doesn’t sit right with me. We beat an Eastern Elite, and fell asleep behind the wheel playing a young – up ‘n coming one? One that draftee Thabeet 2nd overall? We didn’t know that a young team with some of the best young wings (Gay, Mayo, Carroll) wasn’t going to push and attack?

Orlando has come out the gates like a team that belonged in the Finals; sans Rashard Lewis. They have convincingly won their first two against Philly and Jersey by an average of 12pts. Howard has been a monster, averaging 20.5pts 18.5rebs. Yea, he has grabbed 37 rebounds in the first two games of the year. That’s ridiculous.

I wandered over to Orlando Magic Daily to see what our TrueHoop brethren had to say about their recent game against the Nets:

It’s not a win the Magic will look back on — surely, it’s one of those wins where you forget about it on the plane ride home — but it’s the type of win an elite team is supposed to win. It was ugly, but it gives you confidence knowing the Magic can take care of a team when they didn’t shoot well and were missing two key starters.

The tone in the things being said is jarring for me. Against the Cavs, the Raptors were able to withstand a run by an elite team while they wore down. Against the Grizz, they couldn’t. Athleticism and conditioning seem to be an issue for our guys. The Magic on the other hand were able to win ugly while missing two starters. The Magic are an athletic team. With Carter expected to come off the bench, the starting 5 will be tough to deal with.

Match-ups

Calderon vs Nelson
All I can think about is Swirsky saying that Calderon will own Nelson in those playoffs, and that backfiring. Nelson straight up owns Calderon. He is a tough cover: strong, quick, a bulldog. He had an off-game against Harris, so I am sure he will rebound.
The Edge: Magic

DeRozan vs Reddick
With SVG saying he wont be surprised if JJ starts, chances are good VC is coming off the bench if at all. Reddick is Mr. Fundamental. Bit of a disappointment after a solid college career, but he is carving out a niche for himself. I can see it now: DeRozan will be sent to Howard in the low post; the ball gets kicked out to Reddick who nails an open trey or swing it around the perimeter for somebody to nail an open shot. Kid Dynamite has been playing great so far. He should give Reddick fits chasing him around the court, but I suspect being the one sent to double Howard wont bode well for the kid.
The Edge: Magic

Turkoglu vs Pietrus
It upsets me that the Magic got Pietrus so cheap (5yr/$25mill-ish). I was pleading for the Raptors to sign him, as he brought all the things we needed (at the time) need: defense, take his man off the bounce, slashes to the rim, rebounds and hit some shots, but alas, we got HO…Turkoglu has been playing pretty decently. Dropping 13 a game, grabbing 4.5, but not the playmaker we had hoped (2ast). I was ripped for saying his matchup with Gay would be even (a draw would be a generous assessment of what went down Friday), but I’m saying it will be a draw this time around. Pietrus will be the beneficiary of some open space created by Howard in the post, but will have a hard time covering Turk in the paint on offense. This will be an even match, book it.
The Edge: Even

Bosh vs Anderson
Bosh has been a beast the first couple games. You have to figure that having him score 37 is bad for the team. 20-25 is the perfect range, where he is producing, but not at the expense of a fluid offense. Anderson, whom our very own PHD Steve said was NOT to be slept on this season, has been proving just that. He was a throw in as part of the Carter trade, but the kid can play, and is starting ahead of Brandon Bass, who was looked at as the starting PF when they snatched him from the Mavs in the summer. Just don’t see Bosh slowing down against this team, not even after a night of partying with Jay-Z.
The Edge: Raptors

Bargnani vs Howard
LOL, doesn’t look good for Bargnani at all. Forget the playing defense on Howard, but keeping him off the boards. Howard should have zero problems cleaning up the boards given VL’s lack of rebounding/boxing out grit. Seeing the trouble Andrea had with Gasol, I cringe to think about the possible 40/20 Howard can drop on our boy.
The Edge: Magic

Injury Report

Raptors
Reggie Evans
Sonny Weems

Magic
Rashard Lewis
Vince Carter*
Adonal Foyle

Simulation

Our boy Jeremy Visser from That’s What I’m Saying, Guy… checked in with his simulation. You can hit him up on twitter @jeremy_visser. We’re keeping track of the simulations here.

The Raptors couldn’t handle an Orlando team that was missing Vince Carter and Rashard Lewis, falling 96-91 Sunday at the ACC. Chris Bosh had 29 points and a career-high 23 boards, but had trouble handling Dwight Howard, who had 28 and 13 of his own.

Aside from Bosh, the only Raptor in double digits was Hedo Turkoglu, who had 17 in his first game against his former team. Like Bosh, Andrea Bargnani had his hands full with Howard and was limited to just 17 minutes, picking up five fouls and scoring just five points in the process. Jose Calderon had eight points and six assists.

Howard was one of five Orlando players in double digits — Matt Barnes, starting in place of Carter, had 16, while Jameer Nelson had 15 and Michael Pietrus and Brandon Bass added 10 apiece.

Surprisingly, Toronto out-rebounded Orlando and had almost three times as many trips to the free throw line, but it wasn’t enough to come out with a win.

Keys to Winning

• Keep Howard off the boards, both of them
• Don’t double Howard in the low post, let him score 40, but keep everyone else in check
• Bargnani should never rotate on defense, stay with Howard at all times
• Let Jason Williams shoot as many transition-pull-up threes as he wants, seriously

Prediction

This has the makings of a solid game: The Raptors are reeling from a tough loss on the road to a team they shouldn’t have lost too; The Magic are 2-0 to start the season, and looking to secure home-court throughout the playoffs aka they will be coming hard and fast. As much as I would like to think that the Raptors will avenge their Friday loss, they wont (unless Bargnani duplicates his effort form the home opener, which you will excuse me if I don’t hold my breath for). Magic by 6.

Catch us for live chat at 1pm here.

It's time to put your money where your mouth is, answer the following:

1. Number of Wins:
2. Final position in Atlantic:
3. Seed in East:
4. Bargnani Scoring/Rebounding Average:
5. Will Bosh get traded (Yes/No)?
6. Which rotation player will miss the most games due to injury?
7. Turkoglu Scoring Average:
8. Other than Jack, our best sixth man will be:
9. Record on January 1st (33 games):
10. One free prediction:

Raptors brush off pre-season slump

With just two wins in eight pre-season games, the Toronto Raptors will have no momentum heading into the regular season.

Worried much?

"No. It doesn't count. It's irrelevant," Raptors power forward Chris Bosh said. "Yeah, it's irrelevant."

Their record of 2-6 might very well be unimportant; some other numbers, though, are plainly disconcerting. Not that anything from October is necessarily transferable, but a shooting percentage of 44% is merely average for a team that is supposed to shine with the ball.

Coach wants Raptors to stop passing up shots – thestar.com

In trying to make sense of some abysmal shooting of late – 2-for-20 from three-point range in their final pre-season game, a 98-90 loss to Minnesota on Friday ? the team's head coach is looking for a bit more "me" and a little less "we" to get the percentages up to even mediocre.

"I think they're trying to fit so well that they're making unnecessary passes," Triano said yesterday. "What's happening is these guys want to learn each other and they want to get along with each other so well that I'm almost at the point now where we have to be a little bit more selfish."

The way Triano and a couple of players see it, passing up good shots has a twofold detrimental effect. Not only does it often lead to more difficult field-goal attempts, it's also creating more than a few turnovers because defenders know what to look for.

The Mystery of Marco, among other fun things – Doug Smith

We were discussing Marco Belinelli in a scrum with Jay yesterday afternoon while the struggling backup swingman was over on the other side of the gym getting in some extra shooting.

Dino Nation Blog: DNB SEASON PREVIEW IS HERE!!!

Atlantic Division

Raps and the rest. Just kidding it is Boston and everybody else. Raptors if you don't know what I think about them by now not much more I can say. I really like what I saw from Philly in the Pre-season. The Knicks are a little better but not much. Nets will much like the Raps had to need some time to recover from the Post V.C experience. Celtics are the clear cut favourites in this Division. So much so to see them go 14-2 in the Division would not be so crazy to think. Boston is focused on the Conference and not the division and they should be.

Toronto Raptors Season Preview – The Return of the Titanic?Division – Raptors HQ

As most readers know, I'm a big fan of David Berri's Wages of Wins website, and the "wins produced" (WP) metric he so often employs to measure player value and effectiveness.

Is the metric infallible? Of course not.

However I've found more often than not, that it's given a pretty acurate view of both individual and team performance.

RaptorBlog.com – NBA insight, analysis and humour since 2002

One of my main concerns with Turkoglu is that, for somebody who is lauded as a top offensive player, he's not a particularly efficient scorer. His field goal and three-point percentages last season and for his career (.428 FG% and .385 3P%) are nothing special. He could return to his 2007-08 percentages of .456 and .400 (when he won the NBA's Most Improved Player award) ? but as a 30-year-old, history shows that to be an unlikely occurrences.

Wright time limits Belinelli | Toronto Sun

Marco Belinelli's eight minutes of playing time on Friday during the Raptors' loss to Minnesota in Sioux Falls, S.D., raised some eyebrows because of its brevity. Head coach Jay Triano said it had as much to do with getting Antoine Wright playing time as anything else, but he didn't give Belinelli a complete pass either.

Mystery illness hits three Raptors – Posted Sports

The H1N1 watch has hit the Toronto Raptors.

Guard Jarrett Jack, swingman Antoine Wright and assistant coach Alex English were not with the team on Sunday when the team practised in preparation for Wednesday?s season opener against Cleveland. All three called in sick, and did not go to the Air Canada Centre. That is exactly the way the NBA wants it, given the flu scare.

Now, all three could be suffering from an unrelated bug. However, given the fear of the illness, there could be many more practices like Sunday?s.

“In the past, guys would come in and we’d evaluate them and think maybe it?s better to go in and sweat it off, or maybe not,” coach Jay Triano said. “But now we?re trying to stay away from guys spreading it.

“We just hope that it?s not something go around.”

Preseason statistical oddities, Eastern edition – Ball Don’t Lie – NBA – Yahoo! Sports

Starting center Andrea Bargnani(notes) decided to pick up a rebound once every 5.9 minutes. Good for him.

The 13POB13 Wave Continues | The AltRaps Blog

I was floored when the first offer came in to add to my initial donation tweet, shocked at the second, humbled by the third and lost my ability to speak soon thereafter. Emails, comments on the blogs, DMs on twitter, IMs on my Blackberry, GTalk. All contained offers of help financially, offers of retweeting or simply what this all started being about: following Patrick O?Bryant.

NBA East Preview: Raptors 5th in East – Fort Worth Star-Telegram

5. Toronto: If the Cowboys are America's Team, the Raptors are the World's Team. They have two players from Italy and one each from Turkey, Slovenia and Spain. Their key player, however, is Chris Bosh, who went to Lincoln High School in Dallas. Bosh, like LeBron James and Dwyane Wade, will be a free agent at the end of the season. If the Raptors don't play to their potential and at least challenge the heavyweights of the East, Bosh could be traded at the deadline in February. Turkoglu will make the Raptors better and third-year center Andrea Bargnani is poised for a breakout season. Jose Calderon is one of the best, yet most overlooked point guards in the league.

Webber is wrong: Bosh could easily stay with Toronto Raptors

Recently, the analyst declared that the Toronto Raptors would miss the playoffs in 2010, which, in turn, would prompt Bosh and the club to cut ties through a trade or during free agency at season?s end.

To be fair, Webber has a unique perspective. Like Bosh, he was once an All-Star power forward. And like Bosh, he experienced a high profile contract negotiation with a franchise he helped rebuild -the Sacramento Kings.

On the one hand, Webber is also right. The results matters. For instance, a winning or losing season would have to influence CB4?s decision to re-up with the Raptors or migrate south to the United States.

On the other hand, Webber?s overlooking two factors. First, consider the economy. Unlike the free spending days of the 1990s, the NBA – like the rest of the business world – is in a recession. With a declining salary cap, less money is available for all players, including the big ticket free agents of next summer.

Accurate assessments of the Toronto Raptors – khandor’s sports blog

As regular readers of this space can attest, this is an observation which was made, repeatedly, by yours truly throughout the 2008-2009 season ? and going even further back than that ? based on Basketball Acumen, specific situational stats and Possession Outcome Charts, to the consternation of some Raptors fans obsessed with an individual player?s seasonal ?game stat averages? [i.e. basic and advanced] and/or drunk on the Kool-Aid distributed by the organization.

mitc ? Toronto Raptors: Sonny Weems!

There?s a lot of talk and hype behind DeMar DeRozan which has left some room for Sonny Weems to sneak in some of his own shine. Both of the aforementioned are incredible athletes and are also both former Slam Dunk Champs.

Look at these three slams from Sonny in the same game during pre-season action to add to your anticipation for this week?s home opener vs. the Cleveland Cavaliers.

You feel the excitment, Toronto? – New Leisure Blog

A couple of weeks ago, I was listening to Prime Time Sports and Jack Armstrong was on, and they were talking about the lack of excitement in Toronto about basketball this season.

Actually, I sort of see that too. Last season, there were a lot more casual fans talking about the Raptors, and thinking the team was going to take the next step forward and Jermaine O?Neal + Chris Bosh would be the new twin towers, echoing what Sam Mitchell had said when they acquired O?Neal.

Of course we know what happened next. The team won the first 3 games and then it?s all downhill from there. Mitchell was fired after 40+ points lost in Denver, O?Neal was much less than advertised and the Raptors won a disappointing 33 games.

Six Spartans victims of ‘cybersquatter’ | Detroit Free Press

According to Chicago law firm Winston and Strawn, Zavala's Web site displayed ads using the name of Toronto Raptors forward Chris Bosh to create revenue for his company.

That is, until Bosh sued for the rights to return his domain name to his possession.

"I definitely didn't know about that," Lucas said. "I'm just finding out right now — I didn't even know anything about it. I'm going to sue, too."

Thanks to Bosh, there's no need. Bosh won his case and was awarded $120,000 under the guidelines of the Federal Anti-Cybersquatting Consumer Protection Act. He also won the rights to all of the domain names this month, and he'll donate them back to any affected athlete as well.

Eastern Conference Preview – CharlotteObserver.com

Toronto Raptors: This team could have a slow start and won't play much defense. However, Hedo Turkoglu's wide skill set will have a huge impact offensively. His ballhandling and shooting can't help but make Chris Bosh a happy teammate.

Toronto Sports Teams’ futility – Globe and Mail

TFC's collapse in New York is just the latest in bad news for Toronto sports fans; good thing for Maurice Johnston he has Brian Burke and Bryan Colangelo to help defend the MLSE fortress

Vince Carter can redefine his legacy — OrlandoSentinel.com

For another thing, he's matured since his young, foolish days, when he wrestled with then- Toronto Raptors coach Sam Mitchell and wanted out of Canada so badly his motivation waned.

Former Magic Coach Brian Hill has said that Carter was the most coachable player he'd ever been around while an assistant with the New Jersey Nets the past few years.

Parker in great position with Cavs – Belleville News-Democrat

Anthony Parker likes the position he's in right now with the Cavaliers – right between LeBron James and Shaquille O'Neal.

The 6-foot-6 forward, who was acquired during the free-agency period this summer, stands to benefit greatly from playing alongside the two as he assumes the starting job as the Cavs' shooting guard.

"They get most of the attention. They make it easier for guys like myself offensively," Parker said. And Parker has taken the opportunity to show what he can do offensively on a few occasions during the preseason. A couple of times, he has moved off O'Neal screens to make a quick jump shot with little difficulty. It's not something that the Cavs did with consistency.

Notes and Quotes from Raps Practice: Sunday, October 25th, 2009

- While we were waiting in the hallway, the place felt dead. Walking into practice, it was easy to see that the guys did a lot of running as everyone was dripping in sweat and most wasted no time in clearing out of the gym. Amir Johnson stayed to work on free throws with assistant coach Eric Hughes while Quincy Douby was at the other end of the court and went head-to-head against Alvin Williams to get some extra work in.

- We were notified that Antoine Wright and Jarrett Jack along with assistant coach Alex English were all absent from practice due to illness. Tough break for the Raps, especially in the case of Wright, who needs this extra time to get repetitions in as well as conditioning. Sidelined for most of training camp and almost all of preseason with the sore right knee, Wright was unable to keep up with his conditioning and the plan was to play himself back into game shape with practice.

NBA Preview, 2009-10 | New Jersey Nets – - Raptors 42-46 wins

WHO WON’T: We’re not seeing Toronto. Yet. Yes, the Raps turned half their roster over to add significant depth – Hedo Turkoglu, Jarrett Jack, Reggie Evans, Antoine Wright, and rookie DeMar DeRozan are the new recruits, but this is not the kind of group that will gain much traction in the postseason. Still, it bears watching: This team’s style will undoubtedly have a European flair (Hedo, Andrea Bargnani, Jose Calderon), and everyone wants to see if it will make a guy from Texas (Chris Bosh) happy enough to stay.

Official Atlantic Division 2008-2009 Team MVPs | Bleacher Report

Toronto Raptors – Chris Bosh

The Raptors had quite a disappointing season finishing 33-49 but it was mainly caused by injuries and chemistry problems with the firing of former coach of the year Sam Mitchell and having so many lines up changes. Aside from the emergence of Andrea Bargnani late in the season, Chris Bosh was the only bright spot on this team during the year. Bosh had his healthiest season in four years playing and starting 77 games this year. He also put up a career high 22.7 PPG and led the team in rebounding with 10.0 RPG. Aside from Dwight Howard, Al Jefferson and Zach Randolph, Bosh was the only other player to average at least 20 PPG and 10 RPG this season. Unlike the other Atlantic Division teams, this selection was a no brainer and there is no other player on the Raptors that even comes close to match Chris Bosh?s contribution to the team. Without anything else to say, proclaiming Chris Bosh as the Toronto Raptors MVP of this season is without question.

Up until the draft, we are going to talk to Chris about college hoops, top prospects, international players, who the Raptors should be targeting, and why NetScouts should be retained by Colangelo to shore up our scouting. Part 1 after the jump:

Q. What do you look for in a player that other scouts may not?
A. I can’t speak for other scouts but one thing I look for is results. What did they get done? A guy may look good in a uniform and run and jump well but never gets a rebound and is a low percentage shooter. I would prefer the guy who has shown he’ll produce for you. The best explanation of this is the NFL Combine and NBA Pre-Draft Camp where guys are tested on their physical abilities. Look at mock drafts before these events and then after and notice how some guy who jumped out of the gym is now a lottery pick but before he wasn’t a lock 1st round pick simply because he is an exciting athlete.

Last year Kevin Love and Michael Beasley were VERY similar in their ‘measurable’ scores such as 3/4 court sprint, cone drill, etc. Prior to that event everyone thought Love was too slow and not athletic enough to play. Another example is a guy like Josh Howard who slid to the 29th pick of the draft after being the 2003 ACC Player of the Year! I guess 28 teams decided to ignore what he did night in and night out in the ACC, “he’s ‘only’ 6’6 (but has very long arms) and not overly strong or quick” so he slid down the draft board. He’s since become an All-Star and played on a good Dallas team who regularly makes the playoffs.

In this years draft there are several guys who fit this label such as Ty Hansbrough, Dajuan Blair, and Sam Young. I’ll be curious to see where they go.

Sam Young - Slept on/ready to step up?

Q. What is the toughest position to scout for?
A. I think the Center position is the toughest because automatically we all love that size. Get the 7’0 franchise center for your organization! Well, not many big men have panned out lately. Although he’s coming off injury and just completed his official Rookie season, Greg Oden is a great example for this question. He has not performed to the ability it appeared he had coming out of Ohio State and a lot of people are starting to question just how good he’ll end up being. So he is replaced by Kosta Koufas at Ohio State, a skilled big man who also comes out early and is selected by the Jazz. He spends his entire year either on the bench or in the NBA Developmental League. Now the third young big man from Ohio State, BJ Mullins, is coming out early and being projected as a late lottery to mid-first round pick. This guy didn’t even start at Ohio State and his numbers pale in comparison to the other two.

Perhaps someone will take him, develop him and he becomes the best of the 3 but I think that is what makes evaluating the Big Men the toughest for scouts.

Q. The Raptors need a 2/3 that can defend and score from the perimeter, who should they be targeting?
A. If the Raptors are looking for a 2/3 that can defend and score from the perimeter, they can go a couple ways. Do they want an Combo-Guard/Shooter type who can also play some point or do they want more size in a Small Forward/Wing type guy who might be able to slide over to the two spot as well? Or will they simply take the ‘Best Available Player’ on the board? Once they make those decisions I think it’s important to look at the option of trading up to get their guy or going 2 for 1 and trading down. If the position is deep or the guy you want may be available later and you can get another value pick or player for the 9th, trade it! The Spurs & Blazers have made a killing doing this type of thing over the past few years.

Specifically they’ll be looking at:

• James Harden, 6’5 218 SG, Arizona State (Lefty, scorer, would probably need to trade up)
• DeMar DeRozen, 6’7 200 SF/SG, USC (only 19 years old, up and down year at USC)
• Chase Budinger, 6’7 218 SF/SG, Arizona (Shooter, good athlete)
• Sam Young, 6’6 215 SF, Pitt (Tough, proven All-Big East performer)
• Gerald Henderson, 6’5 215 SG, Duke (Great Leaper, father was NBA Player)
• Terrance Williams, 6’6 220 SG, Louisville (Multi-Skilled, Best Passer of group)
• Tyreke Evans, 6’5 195 SG, Memphis (only 19 years old, streak shooter)

If they did want to consider a Combo Guard type of player they’d also look at:

• Stephen Curry, 6’3 185 Guard, Davidson (Best Shooter in the draft?)
• Jrue Holiday, 6’4 195 SG/PG, UCLA (18 years old, athletic defender, shaky season at UCLA)

If it were me, with the depth available, they may consider trading down and still coming away with Young, Henderson, or Williams and another player or pick.

Demar DeRozan - A few more years?

Q. Are you suggesting that the drop off from a DeMar DeRozan to a Sam Young (or one of the other guys) isn’t that steep? Is it a matter of that player needing to be in a certain situation to shine, or their ability/skill level that makes you say that?
A. Yes, it depends on how they have guys ranked and who they feel can help them, and if two guys are very close. But the consensus is that one is going very high, drop and take the other and get a second rd. pick or a vet player in the exchange. As an example, I for one, really like Sam Young and think DeRozan (although highly athletic) is a few years away. If I’m a team like the Raptors who went from playoffs to out, I must feel like I’m only a player or two away from challenging again, and can I wait on a young guy to develop? Take for example Courtney Lee of the Magic, he is a guy who played college ball, learned and developed, then found a role with a good team like Orlando shooting open 3′s when teams double Howard and playing tough defense. Sam Young, Terrance Williams, and Gerald Henderson could fill a similar role whereas I think DeRozan needs physical strength and maturity but could eventually be better than all of them. The question is, do the Raptors want to wait for that to happen?

Q. Lakers or Magic?
A. I’m not in the prediction business but I think you have to consider the Lakers the favorite with Kobe and they have home court.

Gasol & Bynum will be key to the LA attack as Howard has had occasional foul issues. If LA can get good defensive play from their role guys like Walton, Ariza, & Vujacic, and Lamar Odom they could wear down the Magic.

I like the Magic, I like how they play and think Rashard Lewis and Hedo Turkoglu have been terrific so from a fan perspective that is who I’ll be rooting for.

Smart pick? Lakers in 6.

If you have any questions you want Chris to answer, post them in the comments or drop me an email (rapsfan [at] raptorsrepublic [.] com). We are working on a few posts from now until the draft, so we will do our best to get them all answered.

Chris is active on Twitter, and one of the folks I enjoy following, you can catch him at @chrisdenker and @netscouts.

We’re active too, check us out: @raptorsrepublic @altraps @arsenalist @rapsfan

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.

As I watched the final two minutes tick away on mute I realized that this was my least favorite Raptors team ever. Yes, even worse than that third year crew that went 16-66. It’s probably because with that team there were no expectations or hype, just a hope to improve and to maybe build something worthwhile. Even as they trudged their way across double digit losing streaks, it was still more enjoyable to watch because they desperately wanted to break out of their losing, they wanted to get to the next level. They knew they had issues and fought hard to overcome them, our pseudo star Damon Stoudamire took every shot in the clutch, he made some and missed many but never shied away from the challenge. He was feisty, fiery and never backed down. Despite the losing, you knew we’d come out and compete, we’d probably lose but you knew we’d be upset about it. You felt an attachment to those guys, with this team, I felt nothing.

The Magic basically won this series by running the same play 250 times – the drive ‘n kick. The actors in the play changed but that was the gist of it. It was with ease that they got into the paint and passed to waiting shooters as we helpless watched them launch uncontested jumpers hoping they’d miss. There was never a defensive adjustment made to remedy this problem, we talked about it in the pre-game and post-game press conferences but the coaches and players were never able to deliver where it mattered the most – on the floor. The success Jameer Nelson, Hedo Turkoglo, Rashard Lewis and even Keyon Dooling had against our perimeter defense was the primary reason we lost. Our late close-outs on corner-snipers Keith Bogans and Maurice Evans were always a result of either late recovery or unnecessary and half-thought double teams.

To make matters worse, it seemed like every time the Magic missed, Dwight Howard got the rebound and slammed one so hard that it made the Raptors shrink. Tonight was a great example – 16 offensive rebounds for the Magic on their way to a resounding 55-37 drubbing. Wow! I never quite understood why we played ‘small ball’, to me that was one of the reasons why we struggled. Rasho Nesterovic is the Raptor most capable of troubling Dwight Howard and was never put to use. Instead we went with the pathetic Bargnani who couldn’t give us anything on either end of the floor, or with Bosh who spent so much energy on defense that his offense was shot. We watched Howard get deep post positioning against Bosh and Bargnani as Rasho simply withered away on the bench, victim of a scheme that only on the surface appears to work.

It took us five games before Dwight Howard picked up five defensive fouls in a game. Before the series began a common fan’s perception was that the Raptors could get Dwight Howard out of the game early by forcing him to defend Bosh or Bargnani who possess better lateral quicks than the Magic beast. That never happened, Bargnani never bothered to take anything other than a 21+ footer and Chris Bosh settled for jumpers too early and too often to bother Howard. The result was that the foul-prone Howard stayed in the game far too long and had a huge impact by crashing the offensive glass, blocking shots, pinning Bosh for low-post scores and drawing doubles that were easy to break. In other words, the underlying theme of the series was the complete domination of Chris Bosh at the hands of Dwight Howard.

The use of the bench was questionable. I’ve already touched on what Rasho could’ve brought us but the two other pieces that were never used were Kris Humphries and Joey Graham. Anthony Parker who had a miserable series couldn’t ever close-out Bogans, Turkoglo or Evans and had trouble staying with Hedo in one-on-one situations. Rashard Lewis broke down Chris Bosh at will and posted up Delfino without breaking a sweat. Yet we never saw Sam Mitchell give the stronger and more athletic Joey Graham a chance against Lewis or Hedo. I’m not saying he would’ve shut them down but there’s no way he could’ve been as bad as Parker or Delfino on the perimeter. At least give him a shot and see what you can get, no?

You can make a case that if Kris Humphries had gotten Andrea Bargnani’s minutes this series would’ve been longer. At least Humphries plays hard, grabs rebounds and can hit a mid-range jumper. Bargnani did nothing, he was about as useless as tits on a nun. With the rebounding differential as bad as it’s been you’d think we’d do what we can to rectify that problem but Sam Mitchell chose to play ‘small ball’ and opted to get out-rebounded in exchange for I don’t even know what. Asking Chris Bosh to defend Dwight Howard over a series might be one of the most ridiculous things Mitchell will ever do. It would’ve been better to waste Primoz Brezec’s 6 fouls before we asked our primary offensive weapon to also guard their best player.

Finally we get to Sam Mitchell who practically handed the Magic a 2-0 series lead by putting out a starting lineup that had NEVER played together and asked the struggling Bargnani to play a position he had NEVER played in his life. A stupider move has never been made and will never be made in the NBA playoffs. Mitchell was unable to tweak the Raptors offense to account for Lewis’ defense on Bosh and wasn’t able to counter the pressure the Magic applied on our point guards. On defense he wasn’t able to devise a plan for Dwight Howard who ate us alive and couldn’t get a lineup out that could neutralize the weakness we were having at the point of attack which resulted in those deadly Magic threes. The Raptors played Game 1 the same way they played Game 5. There wasn’t a thing we did differently. Contrast this to the Magic who made various adjustments, from pressuring Raptor PGs to hard-doubles on Bosh, from fixing their Game 3 pick ‘n roll issues to switching in Game 4, establishing Howard in the post, focusing on Lewis/Hedo driving, PG penetration etc. Whenever they had a problem, they fixed it. The Raptors never bothered, they just hoped the Magic would miss.

There was one play tonight which showed just how unprepared and thoughtless the Raptors defense is. In the third quarter Carlos Delfino doubled Dwight Howard 12ft from the rim only to leave his man Keith Bogans wide open. Howard made an easy pass to Bogans for a three. That play told me that the Raptors have zero idea on how to double team and when to double team – a problem that was obvious in Game 1. What is the need to double team Howard that far out? Absolutely none. It’s sad to see that the Raptors still hadn’t grasped this simple concept this late in the series.

When you suffer a series loss such as this you have to question and evaluate a few things and on the top of the list is Chris Bosh. His late fourth quarter disappearing acts became the norm in the series. A lot of the problems with our clutch offense has to do with dumping the ball to Bosh and 4 guys watching him operate against Howard who forces him to take a low-percentage shot which has zero chance of being rebounded. Even so, its ultimately Bosh’s responsibility to be aggressive and not settle for mid-range jumpers, fadeaways and other such nonsense. The incentive to draw fouls on Howard should be more than enough for Bosh to immediately take Howard to the rim instead of dancing around and stepping back for 16 footers. I’m tired of Chuck and Leo continuing to praise Bosh’s mid-range game which is mediocre at best and far from being reliable. What I’m trying to get at is Bosh was passive in the late fourth quarter and failed to deliver in the clutch. I appreciate his defensive effort but it needed to be said.

Carlos Delfino’s late fourth quarter chuck tonight was equally as bad as his two late chucks in Game 4. When you have no discipline in your offense players feel like its up to them to “make a play” and it just so happened that Carlos felt a calling from God to make it happen. Unfortunately, he failed. TJ Ford tried to take the game over singlehandedly yet again and got suckered into one-on-one play against Jameer Nelson. Nelson wisely took advantage of the roaming Ford and hit his fair share of wide open jumpers – still haven’t figured out what Nelson needs to do for us to finally figure out that he can convert open looks. Calderon was no better in the series, he failed to turn the corner off of screens and never had the opportunity to take it to the rim because of Van Gundy’s middle-heavy defense – aka Howard. His best contribution in the series had to be his outside shooting which is welcome but he’s far more dangerous when he’s a threat to drive – the Magic did a great job of taking that away from him.

Andrea Bargnani is sick. He is allergic to rebounding, if you see him get a few rebounds in the box score its always because they fell right in his lap. He didn’t get a contested rebound all series and was never even a minute factor in any of the games. There were too many occasions where he was caught watching the play instead of being a part of it. I’m not sure what his summer school entails but I’m guessing a lot of it will have to do with technical matters such as footwork and shooting. What he really needs is somebody to inject him with some passion and intensity, I doubt that’s going to happen, if he’s as bad as this next year, we need to ship his ass out by the trading deadline or next summer. None of this 5-year plan bullshit.

So the Raptors keep the game close and choke in the fourth quarter as the Magic continue to drain threes and Dwight Howard continues to eat us alive on the boards and the paint. Nothing new to speak of here. The season is over and its one of the most disappointing ones ever. This was a failed season, we regressed from last year because the scouting reports caught up with us and we never addressed our needs from the end of last season – defense and rebounding. Bryan Colangelo has another chance to address those exact same needs this summer, maybe last year’s playoff blinded him a little but this year there is no doubt – he needs to fix this team. Status quo is not good.

Sam Mitchell needs to be relieved of his duties and a smarter and more disciplined coach needs to be brought in. Mitchell needs a lot of talent around him to be successful, we don’t have that. We need a coach who can help the players because we don’t have the players that can help the coach.

Thanks for reading the blog this year. I’ve enjoyed writing every post and appreciate every comment from all the posters. I’ll let you guys know what the off-season plans, I got some ideas and it should be fun. Either way, the posts will be flowing.