It may have cost them Jose Calderon and Ed Davis, but ultimately the move needed to be made.

DeMar DeRozan is an athletic talent that oozes potential, but he’s not that guy. Teams don’t truly fear him and he doesn’t sell tickets unfortunately.

Andrea Bargnani is often injured and when he’s had a chance to play this season, fans have booed him and gone to message boards to contemplate the multiple trade scenarios in which they could potentially involve him in to get him out of Toronto.

But Rudy Gay is different.

He isn’t a superstar, but he’s an established player in the league with talent. Someone in the same tier as Andre Iguodala, Joe Johnson, Deron Williams, Danny Granger, Chris Bosh (ironic I know) and Eric Gordon to name a few.

Gay might not be able to carry a franchise all by himself like say a Kevin Durant, but put enough good parts around him and the team might thrive.

That’s important in Toronto because the Raptors haven’t truly been relevant since Chris Bosh led them to the postseason in the spring of 2008.

Last Friday night, the Raptors hosted the Los Angeles Clippers in a contest in which the UCONN product came off the bench. The moment he checked into the game he was met with a chorus of cheers and applause as fans stood up to officially welcome him to the Air Canada Centre.

The forward didn’t disappoint, as he got out in transition within minutes to throw down a dunk that sent the home crowd into frenzy.

Chris Paul may have been absent from the Clippers’ lineup that night, but the Raps still played hard and with a lot more energy as the crowd seemed to carry them to a blowout of Lob City.

Gay was a stud as he produced dunks, converted tough layups in traffic and hit a few shots from 3-point range.

Rudy Gay was exactly what Toronto wanted and needed on this night.

Despite not yet being entirely in sync with his teammates and the team concepts, Rudy Gay used that contest against the Clips to catapult his production as a Raptor to 24.7 points, 6.3 rebounds and 2.7 steals per game on 42.9 percent field goal shooting in the three contests he’s played in as a new member of the franchise.

The numbers are impressive in their own right but the shooting leaves much to be desired. It goes without saying that the lack of familiarity plays a part in Gay’s offensive struggles given that he does not yet always know where to go on the floor based on his teammates’ tendencies, but there are still some other areas of concern.

For instance, the former Grizzly has gotten his fair share of open shots, but hasn’t been able to hit them with much regularity. In his three games as a Raptor, the new Toronto resident has converted 7-of-19 (36.8 percent) spot up jumpers per MySynergySports. Given that the sample size is quite small, let’s take a quick look at his shooting numbers in the 42 games he played with Memphis this season according to MySynergySports: while in a Memphis uniform, he converted 42-of-131 (32.1 percent) spot up jumpers.

The Memphis numbers suggest that what Raptors fans are getting at present time is as good as it gets and that’s a little problematic.

Again, Gay is the guy that Toronto needs at the moment given what he brings to the team, but shooting is not one of the added benefits of the Rudy experience. Dwane Casey will have to figure out a way to get his new forward closer to the basket in his sets because unfortunately he tends to float around the perimeter and just wait for the ball there. And when it hasn’t come to him, well he hasn’t gone out of his way to get it either. Part of that is because that’s who he is as a player but the fact he’s operating with new players has to have him on edge a bit about stepping on other players’ toes.

For instance, last Sunday against the Miami Heat, the Raptors called plays for Gay to get the ball either in the post or at the wing against LeBron James, but once the reigning MVP challenged his position on the floor, he stopped aggressively flashing towards the ball, which in turn prevented his teammates from delivering the rock to him in scoring position.

This is a huge problem because it means that his inability to fight for the ball stymies the offense and when he finally does get his hands on it late in the shot clock, it leads to poor shots given that he doesn’t have the required set of skills to consistently score on opponents in isolation situations. MySynergySports tells us that he’s converting 62.5 percent (five-for-eight) of his field goals in isolation situations as a Raptor but in his 42 games with the Grizzlies this year he only converted 35 percent (41-for-117) of those such field goals, which means we shouldn’t expect him to continue to shoot a high percentage in this specific scenario.

Rudy Gay has executed some highlight reel type of plays in his three games with the Raptors, but the previously cited issues have led to the offense suffering to some degree with him on the court.

NBA.com’s advanced stats tool tells us that Toronto scores 114.2 points per 100 possessions with their new highflying forward on the bench — a mark that would actually lead the league — but that figure drops to a staggering 97.8 points per 100 possessions when he hits the court, which would be 29^th in the NBA.

It’s worth noting that the bulk of his offensive impact on the Raptors was measured against the Los Angeles Clippers, Boston Celtics and Miami Heat; which respectively position themselves as fifth, sixth and 11^th in terms of top defensive efficiencies in the league.

Hence, his struggles have come against some of the Association’s fiercest defenses, which is somewhat forgivable; but if he is going to bring the Toronto Raptors back to their glory days, he may need to (gulp!) borrow the Vince Carter 2000-01 season playbook and be aggressive early, play a little in the pinch post and attack the basket often to set the tone for his team and allow them to play with a supreme air of confidence.

Raptors fans may very well deserve it.

Statistical support provided by NBA.com.

It all went according to plan for the Raptors last night: spot an early lead, the second unit sparks the comeback, stay within a possession in the 3rd, then Bosh and Bargnani take over in the fourth to bring it home. Until 5 points in the last 37 seconds happens, the game goes to OT and the Raptors lose. As I sat there stunned, it dawned on me: Triano went out of his way to hand the game to the Grizzlies.

There seriously is no other explanation…

The Grizzlies played the night before against the Suns, and shook some of the cobwebs off before heading into Toronto. Since the Raptors were fresh off of a week of inactivity, you could excuse the lazy start to the game, and almost expected it. I don’t know about you, but I wasn’t up in arms when Memphis started the game on a 15-2 run (I was pissed, but I wasn’t up in arms).

No one had an answer for Zach Randolph as he accounted for 13 (8pts 2ast) of the first 15 Memphis points. Short of a Reggie Evans nut-sac-special that never came, Randolph chewed up-and spit out everything thrown at him. Memphis was getting great looks from all over the floor. That was some of the best ball-movement I have ever seen in my life; it seemed like everyone on the court touched the ball twice before Mayo or Gay got wide open and buried their shots.

DeRozan, fresh off the All-Star whirlwind, was looking to attack early, which was great since the rest of the Raptors were still on holidays. He got out on the break, ran the floor, attacked the rim…it didn’t last as he quickly faded after the 1st quarter, but had he not hustled early, things would have been much worse.

It has gotten to the point where I count down the minutes until Calderon and Johnson check into the game. True to form, they checked in with Sonny Weems, and changed the pace. Most of that could be attributed to Hedo going to the bench; Memphis is an athletic team, and Turkolgu is to athleticism what Frank Zicarelli is to sports journalism.

The trio did spark the Raptors to a 10-0 run over a 5 minute span between the end of the 1st and beginning of the 2nd quarter. More importantly, they opened up some space for Bosh to get going offensively. With the team standing around stagnant on offense in the 1st quarter, it gave the Grizzlies the opportunity to crowd Bosh and force him to either take a bad shot, or kick out to the perimeter where nothing happened. With Calderon orchestrating and Johnson/Weems attacking, Bosh now had room to make some plays.

The 3rd quarter started like the game did, lame. The Raptors got 2 quick buckets, but went cold for 4 minutes where Memphis went on a 10-0 run to take an 8 point lead. Calderon/Weems/Amir/Wright check in, and all of a sudden you have athletic wings on the Raptor side, and voila…13-6 run to close out the quarter.

The 4th was tight, but the franchise stepped up and dropped 16 in the frame. The big treat was that 8 of those came from the line which meant he was attacking the rim off the dribble instead of settling for the jumper. Bargnani was a pillar on defense, and controlled the defensive boards keeping Randolph and Gasol under control and out of the paint. Calderon was protecting the ball and things were going good until Triano caved.

Jack and Turkoglu were playing terribly from the tip. Jack got pulled after 18 minutes and never saw the floor in the 4th, but for some reason, Hedo did. Turkoglu gave new meaning to crap last night: 1pt 1reb 2ast 1st 3to 3pf -29 in 29 minutes of action. The guy can’t keep up with younger, more athletic guards, hasn’t hit a shot all night, and just generally sucks. On top of that, he’s been sitting since the 6:37 mark of the 3rd quarter (about 15 minutes), so he is ICE cold. Who’s in your ear Jay? Do you really think it’s a good idea to bring in an ice cold player late in a tight game? What were you expecting him to do?

What he did do was foul Mayo, putting him on the line for two that obviously dropped, then a couple possessions later, he forces a 26 foot three that makes a ridiculous thud off the back of the rim, at which point Conley runs the ball back down the court and finishes the layup. He does zero in OT except for missing another ill-advised shot with the Raptors down 1 and a couple minutes left in the game. No ball son, no ball.

The second catastrophic mistake came at the 5:05 mark of the 4th, when Zach Randolph picked up his 5th foul of the game. Only once, a Bargnani basket in the paint, did the Raptors go at Randolph for the rest of the game. They didn’t get the ball to the guy Randolph was covering on defense to try and manufacture a foul; not one time did a pick and roll with the guy Radolph was covering occur to try to get a switch where he could be attacked off the dribble by a guard/wing. The thought of getting Randolph to foul out didn’t seem to manifest itself into a single play. WTF?

At the end of it all, this game came down to making shots (I can’t believe I said that), and the Grizzlies did a better job of it. They knocked down their jumpers, they got to the line more and hit more free throws. In fact, the Grizzlies hit as many free throws as the Raptors attempted, 23.

The only thing I’m hoping is for the Basketball God’s to smile down on us today so Colangelo can move Turkoglu for anyone; at this point I don’t care who comes back. At least we can look forward to the Nets on Friday.

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.

Had a chance to digest this loss and as terrible and ugly it was, it wasn’t against a horrible team as some might think. We should’ve won this game, no question about it, but you have to factor in how well the Grizzlies played before you lay it on the Raptors, which we will deservedly do. We were atrocious on the defensive glass and our man defense was broken down too easily, mostly because of some very inspired play from O.J Mayo and Mike Conley (10/10/6) who exposed our ever-present weakness at PG. The offense is raw and too simplistic, it works well when there’s an open game going on but in situational plays when you need a bucket (as we did late), it tends to fail because all NBA teams up their defense when they really need to. Hedo Turkoglu was brought in for exactly the situations we encountered in the fourth quarter but couldn’t produce the result, or some might argue, wasn’t given the context to do so. Whatever the case, whatever the excuses, we didn’t get it done, and there’s plenty things to blame to go around.

First thing to realize is that Memphis got spanked in their opening game by Detroit and were out to atone themselves. You knew this one wasn’t going to be as easy as it looked on paper when you had a motivated Zach Randolph and a fired up O.J Mayo working in tandem. Mayo and Conley’s agenda was to either push it against Calderon or rise and shoot it over him which they did with full effectiveness. Calderon was back-tracking for most of the first quarter as the barrage of drives followed by dump-offs and kick-outs started to get Randolph, Gasol and Gay into the game. You knew if Memphis kept this pace our defense was going to be tested hard, I was hoping they’d get fatigued and start playing lazy but other than a few stretches in the third quarter, they were solid.

The Raptors didn’t start off too poorly either, Hedo Turkoglu got into the offense courtesy of some step-back jumpers off the high screen (which Gasol and Randolph were reluctant to come out on) and assumed ball-handling responsibilities while looking threatening using the screens. Mysteriously, we never saw any more of that for the game as Jack and Calderon assumed ball-handling and creative duties for there on out. Perplexing indeed. The offense was crisp to start with, a lot of slashing from Wright, DeRozan, Bosh and even Calderon, who executed one of his high-screen turns for a score. A 22-23 first quarter deficit seemed a good position to be in considering how well Memphis started off, our 4 first quarter turnovers and how poorly Bargnani shot the ball.

In order to control the paint dominance of Zach Randolph and Marc Gasol, Triano introduced Amir Johnson midway through the first but all he did was pick up an over-the-back foul and allowed Randolph two easy scores. Very disappointing because Randolph is a very build and you’d think he could use his athleticism and reach to bother Randolph if he only tried a bit harder. It was clear that his head wasn’t into the game and Triano went with Rasho who performed well for the rest of the night. However, a frontline defensive stand needs all your big men to step up, not just one. Memphis outrebounded us 45-36 with Randolph and Gasol going a combined 19-29 FG. There were so many interior rotations because of offensive rebounds and penetration that it pitched everybody against anybody and allowed them plenty of paint scores. Even though the duo of Bosh/Bargnani got the better of Gasol/Randolph statistically (49/18 to 49/14), we can’t be satisfied, those numbers for opposing bigs are way too high, especially when you’re losing the guard battle.

Jack came in late in the first and started looking for the Bosh v Randolph matchup in the half-court and it resulted in a lot of success. Bosh had 18 points in second quarter and without that contribution this game would’ve gotten out of hand. Andrea Bargnani couldn’t control Gasol in the post who cleared him too easily on the boards and the block; if that wasn’t bad enough, his offense left him, after missing four early shots and committing three turnovers, he decided that he wasn’t going to shoot, a cardinal sin for a shooter. It was 53-49 Memphis at the break and you’d have to consider the Raptors lucky to be in this one considering how disjointed they looked. Bosh though, looked amazing. He played a free brand of basketball which was very similar to his Olympic role, not too many set-plays but jockeying for position, hitting the glass, running the floor and just playing active basketball. The more I think about it, the more I believe that he should be playing in a freer role with limited plays run for him, he’s far more effective when he’s not asked to do anything in particular.

At half time Triano must’ve instructed Bargnani to resume shooting and it paid off. He hit four shots to start off the quarter including two threes, but only took one shot in the second half of the third. Explain that. Our offense was chugging along based on the individual brilliance of Bosh in the first half and the spurt by Bargnani early in the third, but very little was coming out of any planned processes. Memphis on the other hand was firing on all cylinders, they had Randolph hitting jumpers, Gasol carving space inside, and Mayo and Gay supplying the long-range bombs to maintain the spacing. The Raptors were truly torn, on one hand they wanted to protect the paint but on the other, the Memphis guards had only proven too well that they were liable to burn any cheating.

Guard scoring was a problem. Calderon only had 4 points in the first half and 8 through three, that’s not acceptable production given the fresh young faces he’s up against. Having a veteran PG in these situations is supposed to prove an advantage but instead we got outplayed at that position by their two young guns. I’m not sure whether aggressiveness or ability is the issue at hand, he clearly looked for his shot early but when the jumper wasn’t falling with any consistency, he lost touch with the offense and the only purpose he served was bringing the ball up the floor. After shooting 1-6 against Cleveland, he went 6-13 tonight, mostly due to a late spell of scoring when the game was out of hand. More importantly, his defense on Conley was terrible. His effectiveness is adequately reflected in his 3 assists, 3 turnovers and 5 fouls.

I would’ve liked to see Turkoglu as the primary ball handler in that third quarter. DeRozan’s a rookie so I’m not expecting much but there were definitely opportunities for him to score which weren’t taken advantage of. For example, I only counted two weak-side cuts from him; also, Conley’s three inches shorter than him and I would’ve liked to see DeRozan in the post. Other than the first quarter we didn’t involve their big men in any pick ‘n rolls, something they struggle at defending. Again Jay, I’m looking at you.

Bargnani’s emergence and Bosh’s continued solid play in the third coincided with the Memphis guards cooling off, just a bit. DeRozan played with some energy resulting in two scores and then Jack came on to play his best defensive stretch of the game, he got in the face of Conley and forced turnovers which led to points. We won the third 30-23 and went into the final frame with a 3 point lead which could only be considered precarious given how open the game was. Not to mention the liability that even a brief cold stretch on offense would spell doom since we hadn’t yet proven that we could actually stop Memphis from scoring.

After Belinelli’s beautifully set-up three gave the Raptors an 8 point lead with 10:07 left, Memphis called timeout. That did us in because they came out playing with the energy they started the game with, it’s not surprising that an 8-0 run followed. This included a Conley blow-by, Gasol overpowering Rasho on the glass, another Randolph jumper which under normal circumstance you don’t mind him taking, and a DeMarre Carroll jumper after some great ball movement against a stretched defense. From that point on our offense hit the wall and if it weren’t for some fortunate calls by the refs, it would’ve been over sooner.

The late fourth quarter offense was more about confusion than cohesion with players not having any idea what to do or where to be, our PGs getting caught in two minds of whether to drive or defer and our bigs not even positioning themselves to try and snatch that inevitable rebound. Calderon couldn’t create anything off the bounce and Jack looked lost playing the off-guard. Wright should’ve been given the task on Mayo who had proven that he could knock them down from outside over a shorter player, his jumpers at 2:43 and 0:47 killed us. Bad coaching by Triano. I also don’t understand why Nesterovic was taken out at the 9:00 minute mark of the fourth quarter and never returned. He was the only one who looked like he could control Gasol and box-out, but instead Triano went with with Jack-Calderon in the backcourt, a combination that makes no sense since it’s becoming obvious that Jack is more comfortable at the PG on both ends of the floor. I thought a big lineup of Rasho-Bosh-Bargnani-Jack/Jose-Turkoglu/Belinelli could’ve served us well.

As much as we can find blame in the offensive sets and lack of creativity, in the end this is basketball, a sport where effort, commitment and dedication to being competitive is rewarded. Our big men didn’t compete defensively against theirs and that’s why we lost. Triano summed it up curtly in the end:

“They came out with a lot more passion and hustle for the basketball. You could see it in the way they chased it off the glass the whole night. They pounded it inside and we had no answer to their size.”

It always scares me when I read that kind of a statement this early in the season.

Our offense needs direction through action, not just direction. Jose and Jack need to take it upon themselves to create shots for their teammates while Triano figures out just what to run. I get a feeling that if we rely on Triano’s sets to bail us out in the fourth quarter, it’s going to be a long November. The other option is to give Turkoglu the ball and let him play point-forward for 20 minutes a game and get used to the tendencies of Bargnani, Bosh and DeRozan, it could just work wonders in the long run.

Liners:

• Memphis shot 51%. I don’t care who you are, the chances of a team winning a game when the opposition shoots higher than 50% are slim. Especially when you’re -9 on the glass.
• If you’re looking at Bargnani’s 6 rebounds and giving him a reprieve, you’re wrong. He had two great offensive rebounds but overall, he was poor in his box-outs and recognitions.
• They had 26 second chance points, we had 24. Somehow I felt theirs hurt more because they came at the end of more grueling defensive possessions.
• It’s sad that in a game where we were looking for any of our big men to step up, Amir Johnson couldn’t even make it off the bench.
• Impressed with Belinelli’s demeanor and decision making. Not the greatest quickness but fundamentally sound, would’ve even rather had him on Mayo than Jack. Height advantage and all.
• PINP even at 52, thanks mostly to Bosh. Speaking of him, I can’t imagine he’s content despite his performance because of Randolph’s big game (30/7).
• Best Lineup: DeRozan, Bargnani, Bosh, Turkoglu, Calderon going +7 in the 3rd. Johnson, Bargnani, Turkoglu, Belinelli, Calderon going -7 in the 1st. Check the game flow for more.
• Antoine Wright – I see his value but I question his usage.
• Who’s a better assistant coach? Damon or Alvin.
• Turkoglu with a team-worst -20. That is a stat nobody wants to see. Ever. We know that +/- is usually BS but when your playmaker is stuck with that number it means he wasn’t making many plays but getting played.
• Frayed Ends of Sanity

As always, thanks for reading. Up next is the Magic on Sunday. One quick site note, you’ll notice that we’ve integrated Twitter logins for comments. If you have an account, you can post using it and tweet your comments. It helps us spread the word.

Things are going according to my plan. We’re only one game into the season, but the Raptors are gunning. I must admit, I was skeptical about the team during training camp since folks were injured and the game-play was lethargic, but the Raps found their on-switch, and took it right at LeBron et al. The Raptors beat the Cavs for the first time in two years in convincing fashion. Sure the Cavs don’t match up well against us with all them slow 7 footers and the rest of the lot (tell me you didn’t crack a smile or laugh maniacally when Moon took those jumpers, lol).

The difference between the elite teams and the rest is that they have the tools/desire to make a run to draw things even. With the Raptors up 18 heading into half-time, Mike Brown must have delivered a Braveheart level speech that inspired LeBron & Co. to go on a run to start the 3rd, and bring the game within 7. They even tied the game at 69 when it happened, the Raptors regrouped and went on a run to finish the game. That’s what good teams do, they don’t fold. It isn’t something we are used to seeing, but BC, for one game at least, looks like he has built us a team to be proud of.

The Grizzlies on the other hand had a pretty rough start to the season at the hands of the Pistons. What did our TrueHoop brothers at 3 Shades of Blue (a great blog btw) have to say:

Wow. That was just horrible. HORRIBLE … Laziness, lack of polish, lack of coaching preparation? … A rough start. VERY rough. Couldn’t have been any rougher, really.

Losing to the Pistons was once something that didn’t upset folks, but not so much anymore. Dumars has done an equally good job of blowing up this team as he did building a championship one. Whatever, I’m just happy that the Raptors have the ability to solidify a great opening season win, with a follow-up one to a lesser team. For all the quality young talent this Memphis team has, they aren’t very good, Iverson seems incognito too for some reason.

Match-ups

Calderon vs Conley
I don’t like Jose running the off-guard with Jack at the point, he is almost invisible, but he had a decent game overall. His shot wasn’t falling, and he missed one less free throw then all of last season, but he got the rest of the Raps involved and dropped 11 dimes. He needs to attack Conley, who is coming off one of his worst games as a Grizzly, and not let up. Fortunately, Conley wont provide much in terms of defense, so Jose should be able to take advantage of the sophomore.
The Edge: Calderon

DeRozan vs Mayo
Easily the most exciting match-up of the game. It will be fun to watch these two chasing each other around. Both are athletic and can get up and down the court quickly. DeRozan, by my count, had a great debut. He hit key shots, slashed to the rim, grabbed a couple boards, and made things tough for Parker. Mayo is a machine that didn’t have a good shooting night. You can bet he will come out gunning, and take it right at at our rook.
The Edge: Mayo

Turkoglu vs Gay
Our big FA acquisition did well in the opener considering he missed most of the pre-season. He wasn’t shooting great (3-7), but dropped 12pts 7rebs 3ast 3blks…I’ll take it. Gay was one of those guys that pained me to see: what could have been right (not so much anymore though if Bargs keeps this up)? He is the long, athletic, durable and can score, but I have a hankering that Hedo will take a big step forward tonight playing that high pick-n-roll with Bosh/Bargnani.
The Edge: Even

Bosh vs Randolph
Bosh looks to have found his niche in the Cavs win. He’s an elite player, but not one who carries the team offensively. He is a complimentary offensive player, but his defense and rebounding was off the charts as far as I’m concerned. Against Z-Bo, I don’t expect much otherwise. Zach will get his 20-10, but he’s a black hole. His impact on the game is strictly statistical, and I don’t expect it to be much different tonight.
The Edge: Bosh

Bargnani vs Gasol
How YOU doin? Shaq, tell me how VL’s ass tastes! Bargs was a one man wrecking crew. He owned Shaq/Varejao/Ilgauskas all night (when he wasn’t sitting on the bench due to foul trouble). He took his man off the bounce, hit 3s in transition, created his own shot, and grabbed a couple boards. Efficient and deadly, Gasol is a stud, but a slow one. 21pts 15rebs in 30min against the Pistons. Those are scary numbers, but he will have his hands full trying to play Bargs from the 3pt line in. Expect a lot of what we saw with the Cavs: Bargnani having his way. It will take getting used to, but Bargs will own a lot of centers this year, makes me giddy.
The Edge: Bargnani

The Bench
Memphis has Thabeet on their, by default their bench sucks. I still laugh when I think about them taking Thabeet with dudes like Harden, Rubio and everyone else not named Blake was available, lol. The Raptors bench on the other hand was solid. Belinelli scored at will, Wright had swagger and Jack made Calderon a bit nervous. How bad was the Memphis bench against the Pistons: they contributed 11pts 14rebs…8 guys contributed less then what Gasol did as an individual.
The Edge: Raptors

Injury Report

Raptors
Reggie Evans
Sonny Weems

Grizzlies
Allen Iverson**

The Line

The line is set at Raps -4 (-105) with an over/under of 195.

Keys to Winning

• Attack Gasol from the opening tip, need to make Thabeet and Haddadi play big minutes tonight
• Box out Randolph and Gasol – have to limit those boards
• Let Randolph score as many as he wants, he does a good job of disrupting the offensive flow of his own team

Prediction

The Grizz have nice-young talent up and down this roster, but they don’t have much of a team. You have to figure when they took Thabeet at #2 that they aren’t really serious about winning to begin with. The Raptors will get off to an 2-0 start, this should be like shooting fish in a barrel.

What was slightly depressing but deserving was Moon’s early exit thanks to some suspect judging which put a high value on props rather than substance. You’ve all seen this video by now which prompted many a pundit to pick him as the favorite and increased the size of Moon’s head by a 600% margin. That’s the only reason I can explain why he completely forgot that NBA rules stipulate that you must use another player to assist in one of the two dunks in the first round. When Moon did his first dunk he forgot to use a player thus forcing him to use Kapono as the assist-man on the FT line dunk – which is impossible because you need your full momentum and can’t be bothered to catch a pass, just ask Michael Jordan. The anti-climax that followed was a dunk from just inside the FT line, something very impressive but negated by the pre-competition hype and the really bad and unnecessary idea of marking the take-off spot which you miss by two feet.

Darrel Dawkins gave Moon an 8 on his second dunk which ultimately proved the difference. Moon’s dunk deserved at least a 9 which would’ve tied him with Gerald Green forcing a dunk-off. It’s not the low-score on Moon’s dunk that bugged me, it’s the high score on Gerald Green’s “Let’s put Rashard McCants on a ladder and have him pass me the ball” dunk which got all 9′s. This dunk was practically and alley-yoop, but easier. At least on an alley-yoop the pass has a chance of being off-target thus forcing the player to improvise and apply the needed correction, in this case all he had to do was catch it and slam it. This was possibly the worst dunk of them all and the sole reason why Moon was a spectator for the final round. The ball was caught on it’s way down and it wasn’t even that high to begin with (Rudy Gay’s alley-oop in the Rookie/Sophomore game was much higher). The windmill added a nice touch but that’s been played out. The candle-dunk was nice but not close to being as impressive as Moon’s left-handed near-FT-line catch-and-dunk of Kapono’s pass, yet it got nothing less than a 9. You might think I’m biased but I’m not evaluating this as a Raptor fan, but as an impartial observer.

The Superman dunk wasn’t even a dunk. It’s hard for me to look past that, this is the All-Star DUNK competition and you must DUNK the ball in order to get a score. Once again, props over substance. Take a look a the two pics below, you know what the main difference is? One of them was a dunk.

Dwight Howard did deserve to win, but Moon would’ve provided much better competition in the final round than Gerald Green who still thinks that the “between the legs” is more than just a treadmill move. Rudy Gay’s dunks weren’t all that bad, his second dunk was impressive, it was basically the same as Dwight Howard’s behind-the-backboard dunk except at a slightly more convenient angle which the judges will never pick up on unless they see a replay. The judges need to see a replay before they give a score, you can only measure the impressiveness of a dunk once you see it at a few different angles, evaluate the verticality, the body angle, the force etc.

Why does Magic Johnson open his mouth? Does he ever have anything to say besides inane banter? The TNT crew would do well by kicking out Magic and inside-joke King Reggie Miller. Kenny Smith’s been using the “Let’s go home” line since VC2000, it’s time to find new material.

Either Jamario Moon should make another YouTube video which shows what he can really do OR he should do something in-game – doesn’t matter if he travels or carries, just throw one down to get some face back.

How about the Atlanta Hawks acquiring Mike Bibby for next to nothing to strengthen their playoff push while Bryan Colangelo sits and waits. The only reason he’ll make a move is if his hand is forced and I’m glad Juan Dixon’s doing that right now.

Till another day. Grab the feed.

Let’s look at his stats for a second. He’s a career 17 PPG scorer (24.5 this year) and has always shot the ball well at 47.6% for his career and is also a good FT shooter (77.8%). He’s rebounding at a 5.5 clip and although he’s not a exactly a distributor at 3 APG he’s got the vision to find the open man when need be. In NJ Jason Kidd exclusive handles the ball and doesn’t leave many assists for his brethren. Finally, the man has an average salary of 13.5M with the contract expiring in 2010/11. As a bonus the man gets to the FT line better than most at his position. Not an unreasonable one by any standard. He’s currently in the prime of his NBA career and will be there for the next few years. New Jersey’s shown some signs that they’re willing to blow it all up and if the Raptors have the ability they should at least offer an ear or even insist upon it.

RJ would play an effective small forward in Sam Mitchell’s system of not having a system. He would thrive in an environment where he can go one-on-one to the rim anytime he wants and can feed off the inside presence of Chris Bosh. If you look at the Raptors right now, off a drive ‘n kick we almost exclusive shoot the jumper. Just ask AP, Kapono, Delfino and Moon who opt for the springer about 80% of the time. Once the PG has created a shot opportunity for us on the perimeter, we generally simply take it instead of searching for a better one. A player like Jefferson who can attack the rim at will and finish with confidence and accuracy is someone that can open up our offense to the point where we don’t go through long droughts as has become our nature. Plus, he’s the kind of player that can truly create his own own shot and can move well without the ball. His slashing and finishing ability is something Bosh will appreciate. A cutter to the rim is usually missing on Bosh doubles with Humphries being the only guy who’s willing to consistently come across and accept the pass in the paint.

It’s become crystal clear that Bargnani will need at least a couple more years to realize about 70% of his potential and that has left the team in a bit of limbo. Not knowing whether to wait on him or get a real second scorer right now is a catch-22 situation, you don’t want to be a mediocre team for too long but at the same time you don’t want to tie up your cap. Jefferson’s a player who will always have good trade value barring injury because of the type of player he is and what he brings to each offensive possession, so we don’t need to worry about wasting cap space with him. Let’s face it, Jamario Moon is at best a band-aid for the starting three spot and if we have any hopes of contending (second round win), we’ll need to upgrade that spot. He’s playing way too many minutes for his talent level and we need to at least give 40% of his minutes to someone who can be an offensive threat.

Now I know what you’re thinking, why Jefferson? No particular reason, I just think that he’s a pretty damn good player who has always been under the radar (insert joke here) because of who he plays with and his personality. Players like Mickael Pietrus and Andris Biedrins might also be great fits but I chose to focus this post on a player who’s always been hated on for various reasons not even counting last year’s playoff series.

Tonight’s Game

I’m going to the game tonight against the Pistons, should be a great one and a win tonight would speak volumes. During the season you don’t get many chances to make statements but tonight is different. See, we got our ass handed to us by Boston and Detroit beat Boston in Boston so if we beat Detroit, by some weird mathematical transitivity we might be better than both Boston and Detroit, huh?

The Wallace vs. Bosh matchup should be fun to watch, ‘Sheed likes to keep it outside and when he does come inside he’s got that unblockable fade which Bosh will have trouble with. I’d say the strategy here is to keep him on the outside and live with his shooting. I get a feeling unless Sam draws up some help schemes for Calderon, Chauncey Billups might just go off. Richard Hamilton’s always played so-so against us so I’m not too worried there. The other matchup that I’m anticipating is Tayshaun Prince on Andrea Bargnani, I know they play different positions but the size and strength here are probably even and worth a look if I’m the Pistons. Oh yeah and rebounding, everybody’s got to hit the glass. Everybody. Including me.

Game recap later. If you’re in the mood to buy some nice Raptors shit, check it. Easy.

A much needed win delivered home by Chris Bosh’s 22 points and 19 rebounds along with a late Bargnani triple which gave the good guys a one point lead with 2:14 left. Carlos Delfino added another three late on to seal the win in a game which was there to be won all along, much like the Boston, Orlando and Utah games **shudder**. For once the Raptors worked inside-out the entire game with Chris Bosh enforcing himself and providing the inside presence on both ends. Jason Kapono’s outside shooting helped out early in the fourth and when Memphis made their run and opened up a five point lead, we played good collapsing defense on Gasol and forced outside shooting from Warrick, Lowry and Gay which played into our hands. A day after the Dallas debacle, the Raptors climb back to .500 and head into Cleveland to face the struggling Cavaliers, another game which on paper we should win.

As Leo alluded to in the game, Bosh picking up his fourth foul in the third quarter was a blessing in disguise as it allowed him to rest until the fourth quarter on the back end of a back-to-back, that might’ve been what enabled us to win this game. Bargnani started off this game missing everything prompting many of us to sing here-we-go-again but to his credit kept on shooting and played very good man-defense on Swift and Gasol. The jumper eventually started falling and that’s what people will see in the box score but we should really talk about his excellent one-on-one defense. He keeps his arms straight up, doesn’t bite on fakes and uses his length wisely in post-defense situations. There were a couple instances where he picked up fouls trying to beat his driving defender to the spot but besides that his defensive positioning was excellent today which allowed him to grab 11 rebounds. An excellent game by Bargnani who’s proven that he’s much more effective when starting, I don’t know if this is a psychological thing but benching him earlier in the season was obviously a mistake.

Jamario Moon is like our Scottie Pippen. Just hear me out on this, an excellent defender with great recoverability and a streaky jump shooter. Moon has shown that he can anticipate what’s going to happen on defense and react before the play actually happens, his block on Mike Miller was an ultimate example of that. The athletic swingman can do no wrong on defense and anything you get out of him on offense will always be considered a bonus. Moon’s keeping the game dead simple and not trying anything that he knows he can’t do, you don’t see ill-advised jumpers, far-fetched passes or low-percentage drives coming from him, any points he scores are coming completely through assists and broken plays. What a great addition by BC, props to him.

Jose Calderon got the start instead of the “stinged” TJ Ford and had a subpar game based on his own backup-PG standards – 10 points and 8 assists for Calderon who had to deal with the ultra-pesky Kyle Lowry and the crafty Damon Stoudamire all game long. Calderon wasn’t able to penetrate as well as TJ usually does but distributed the ball well on the perimeter allowing Parker and Bargnani to nail some of their threes. A low-key game from Calderon which made me wonder if that isn’t how a PG’s game is supposed to be. Zero offense to TJ Ford.

One-Liners:

Rudy Gay’s Verticality: Leo Rautins was going off about how Gay stays too vertical which takes away from his athleticism. Hearing Leo talk I got the impression he wants Gay to play like the Hunchback of Notre Dame. Couldn’t quite catch his drift.

Maco Baston Cameo: Maceo Baston needs to read the one-line scouting report on Stromile Swift – Make him shoot. Having Swift fake you out with his jumper deserves an automatic 5-game benching.

MDG Smooth Play of The Game: How come they show this play with 3 minutes to go in a tight game? Are they saying there can’t be a smoother play later than this?

Darrick Martin shot-jacking: On the first possession he’s in he takes two bad shots. Why again should Jose listen to him on the bench? Seriously though, besides his one good pass to Kapono on the break, I’d classify Martin’s performance as poor and I’m not even expecting much from him.

Carlos Delfino: This guy gels his hair for at least 20 minutes before each game, there’s no way it can stay in the same shape after 25 minutes of PT. I don’t really care as long as he keep hitting the glass like a demon and making those step-back jumpers.

Me Golfing: YouTube

New Blog: There weren’t enough already, here’s another one: Raptors Guy.

I shall sleep well tonight, latch on the feed.