What about defense? Jack, Reggie Evans, Antoine Wright and Rasho are above average defenders, but none of them are projected to be in the starting lineup. Although, I am curious to see a Calderon/DeRozan/Hedo/Bosh/Bargnani starting lineup, I don’t want to tempt fate here, we need one guy in the starting 5 who can play defense. So if I am Triano, I would put Wright in the starting lineup. Now, is Jack/Evans/Rasho/Wright combo better defensively than Marion/Parker/Pops/Joey Graham combo? Probably. But it wouldn’t matter if those guys doesn’t get the minutes. If Iveroni can turn this group around into an average defensive team or better than it will be quite an accomplishment.
This is all a bunch of hot air, however; cornerstone players rarely change teams and even fewer move through free agency. The league salary rules encourage this kind of stability. A player’s original team can offer a player a larger total package—one more year at a maximum salary—than a new team. While standout role players such as Rashard Lewis or Hedo Turkoglu occasionally change teams, superstars rarely do, especially not in their prime. Of the league’s 50 Greatest Players, a list compiled in 1996 to celebrate the league’s 50th anniversary, 33, or fully two-thirds of the players, played their entire career with only one team or moved late in their career when they were past their prime (Michael Jordan’s Washington Wizards phase or Hakeem Olujawon’s Toronto Raptors season, for instance). Of the 17 players who did move, only Shaquille O’Neal’s move from the Orlando Magic to the Los Angeles Lakers and Scottie Pippen’s move from the Chicago Bulls to the Houston Rockets were facilitated by free agency.
Sam Mitchell – The former Raptors Head Coach makes his return to the Morning Show with Don and Gord to discuss what he has been up to lately and what the future holds for the former coach.
There seems to be a major demand for Raptors schedule in different formats.
With the lull of August in full effect, I decided to go ahead and do the work for those who don’t have the time. Included are some different options to load your Mail Client/Phones/PDA’s with the Raptors schedule for the upcoming season – (If you plan to share it around please credit this site)
