So the third jersey was unveiled last night. The migration from purple to anything but purple is now officially complete, there isn’t even a shade of purple anywhere on the Raptors logo, mascot, jersey, shorts or crotch guard. Purple was actually eliminated last year but the new logo caught up to it this year. Black is generally a more serious color and actually might help the team “look” a little tougher. There’s something about purple that was almost comedic to the point of hilarious. I for one could never take a guy who’s wearing a purple T-Shirt seriously. The other prominent mark on the jersey is the generic maple leaf. Blah. The jersey reminds me of the black Bulls jersey that Chicago struggled to win road games in. I think of the 10 Bulls losses that year about 7 game in that dreaded black jersey.
More important than the jersey was Calderon being in town working with the team’s medical staff to fix that injured groin. Calderon’s attitude and professionalism is second to none and he’s saying all the right stuff early on, he even stated his preference to be in Spain resting but felt that the groin needed attention:
“I could be in Spain just resting but I prefer to be here with the team doctors and Scott (McCulloch, the Raptors trainer) and working a little bit on the injury”
On to Bosh. His selfless play in the Olympics is getting a lot of praise and he’s echoing some of those praises by saying stuff like if his shot’s not falling he’s going to “get loose balls and play defense”. That’s all well and good but at some point he’s going to have to elevate his game to the point of being efficient and automatic 85% of the time.
The Olympic success was nice but saying stuff like how its “changed him as a player” is a little disconcerting. I thing the Olympic win should be a routine thing and not form the basis/motivation of your future game. Bosh was practically making layups and playing pressure-free defense the entire tournament while the likes of Lebron and Wade attracted the bulk of the attention. The approach he took in the Olympics is hhhaaarrddly relevant in his role with the Raptors. I’d like for him to say, “Yeah, Olympics over. On to more serious matters”.
Nobody has ever doubted his defensive efforts and we expect that to continue this season and beyond but its the offensive consistence and fourth quarter play that needs to be improved. Bosh definitely improved last year by demanding the ball with a determination to get something out of the possession, in most cases a foul. Unfortunatley the officials happened to swallow the whistle in the fourth and we got burned a few times. This season’s goal for him might be to improve on that and not “settle” for the foul but rather go for the score. I know its harsh but he’s the franchise player. I can afford to make such demands out of the guy.
There’s a Raptors and Sixers preview here and SLAM is pointing out that Milwaukee and Charlotte might be two Eastern Conference dark horses. I think I agree that Milwaukee’s starting five of Bogut, Jefferson, Charlie V, Redd and Ridnour aren’t bad at all but try naming me one guy on their bench? Sessions? Then again, as a Raptors fan I can hardly criticize depth on other teams when our own scrub count is at half a dozen: Hassan Adams, Willie Solomon, Nathan Jawai, Kris Humphries, Joey Graham and arguably Jamario Moon.
I suspect that over the next two years we’ll be hearing a lot about Lebron James’ possible move out of Cleveland. I hope he goes west to Oklahoma City.
