NBA.com’s article about Jay Triano learning from his international experience has him dropping hints about the new edition of the Raptors. Here’s what he’s saying and what he really means:
Triano says about the offense:
“We don’t have anybody we have to cater to offensively,” Triano said. “We’re going to be a very balanced team and we’re going to have different guys that are going to have to step up. And because of that, there are more things that we can do offensively. Offensively, I thought the ball got stuck a lot last year,” he said. “Different guys needed to have the ball in their hands. That’s why I like some of the stuff that the European teams did as far as ball movement.”
What he means is that Chris Bosh is finally gone so the Raptors can finally move the ball around and not have to worry about Bosh getting his. Instead of going into Bosh every other play and hope for a double to work off, the Raptors are better of playing as a team and sharing the ball equitably.
Triano says about the defense:
“Defensively, last year, we had a very difficult time,” Triano admitted. “We sat back and we had a hard time containing. We’re going to be a lot more aggressive,” Triano said. “With that athleticism, we’re going to be able to keep guys in front of us a lot better. And if we can apply some pressure to turn teams over, it’s going to create some offense.”
What he means is that Calderon is going to play less and the increased athleticism will allow the Raptors to contain people better.
Let me try to buy the argument about offense. Going to Chris Bosh on the pick ‘n roll was a predictable strategy that defenses countered well, Bosh usually ended up with a high number of touches, a good amount of FTs, a decent assist rate (11.5%), but the offense didn’t fare quite as well late in games, and it was rare to see two Raptors have huge offensive games. The storyline always seemed read that Bosh had a big game but none of the other Raptors stepped up; this was definitely true on some nights, but you have to at least ask whether Bosh’s high usage rate affected his teammates negatively. After all, Bosh’s 28.7% usage rate was only bettered by LeBron James, Dwayne Wade, and Kobe Bryant, and those three guys produce a lot more for their teammates than Bosh did.
It’s not necessarily a criticism of Bosh, it’s simply that the role he was being asked to play was unfair, and further evidence that he was being asked to perform and produce beyond his capabilities. As they say, heavy is the head that wears the crown. But how is that Bosh’s fault? My problem with Triano’s quotes is that he’s pretending like his hands were tied by Bosh, and now since he doesn’t have anybody to “cater to”, he can finally implement what he really wanted to do. If Triano had an idea of what he wanted to do, he should have been able to do it with or without Chris Bosh. It’s very easy to point to exiting players and project their deficiencies and limitations as those of the team’s, but that’s downplaying the role of the coach who is supposed to work with what he’s got, which is often less than ideal. You can call Bosh many things but he wasn’t a selfish player who forced the team to play a certain way, he was more than willing to be a part of a team than the centerpiece. The Raptors coaches and GM never figured out how to leverage and best use a player like Bosh, and now that he’s gone they’re very subtly making him appear an obstacle rather than an asset.
The talk about defense also doesn’t compute. Ignoring the Turkoglu/Kleiza switch, last year we had DeRozan, Weems, Wright, Jack and Belinelli at the wing positions, those are some pretty good athletes who should be able to function as part of a unit that isn’t ranked dead last on defense. This year we’ve switched Belinelli for Barbosa and Julian for Antoine, how is that allowing Triano to say that “with that athleticism, we’re going to be able to keep guys in front of us a lot better”? The athleticism factor on the wings remains unchanged, if anything, we’ve added a terrible defender in Barbosa who will make things worse.
What Triano’s saying makes sense in a harmless article on NBA.com, but when you consider the facts on the ground, it’s starting to smell like high-minded nonsense. I understand that one has to say the right things before training camp, not ruffle any feathers, and have an optimistic outlook, but as we enter year three of Triano, I’m yet to be remote impressed by anything that has ever come out of his mouth. Leaving athleticism, ball movement and all that basketball stuff aside for a second, Jay Triano’s yet to show fans the main thing asked of an NBA coach: that he can get a team to play hard and with a sense of pride.
Everybody who’s anybody has an opinion on whether Ed Davis was wrong about playing in a non-sanctioned scrimmage, one which will leave him shelved for about six weeks. You can make a claim that such an injury could be picked up while mowing your lawn, or walking your dog, or eating nachos, and all that would be true, but none of those things are incredibly stupid, which is what playing basketball outside an NBA-sanctioned gym is. It’s one thing to go to a local gym and hoist some shots while people bother you for your autograph, another to suit up and start playing defense. To even suggest, as this article does, that Davis should at least be commended for playing basketball instead of going to Lobby nightclub tells me three things about the writer 1) he isn’t aware of the frequency of basketball injuries at any arbitrarily chosen gym in any arbitrary part of town, 2) he doesn’t appreciate the ambiance of Lobby nightclub on a cool Saturday evening, and 3) He wasn’t aware that Davis had already partaken in a scrimmage earlier that day at the ACC.
I wrote this in the forums a few days ago, but I’ve seen a couple Raptors come down to my gym in downtown Toronto, the closest anyone came to stepping on the court was Jamario Moon who was in shorts and shot some threes (missed all but one). He was implored to participate in a casual pick-up game but flat-out said that he simply couldn’t do it. He didn’t say it was against the rules or whether somebody had specifically told him not to do so, he just couldn’t take the chance. Jason Kapono was the other one, he just dribbled the basketball for twenty minutes and then drank ten gallons of water. Back when I called Kansas City my home, NBA cats used to swing by Allen Field House all the time, and even partook in some games, but it was at a pace of a snail. When LeBron got “dunked on”, you thought he was trying? When NBA players get schooled in Rucker Park, you think they’re giving more than 5%? I don’t know what the larger point of this paragraph was, but there’s zero need for what Ed Davis did. If he was doing casual slam dunk videos like YGZ®, I could accept that, but pointlessly injuring yourself in an actual run is at worst, stupid, and at best, careless.
We end with David Andersen labeling the Raptors a “European team”:
“It was something I was looking forward to, to get a bit more chance to play – go to a new team, a new scenario and hopefully a different role,” he said. “I know it’s a European team. I know coach has different strategies and stuff, so I’m looking forward to the new team and moving on to new things. I suppose I’m a versatile big guy,” he said. “It’s a matter of me coming in and finding my slot. I’ve seen Maurizio (along the way) for many years,” he said.
I don’t know what the implications of a “European team” are, but way back then I used to think it was great passing, exquisite ball movement, timely back-door cuts, great outside shooting, and a degree of skill, if not agility, at all positions. How things have changed since, now when I hear that term all that pops into my mind are a bunch of nonathletic white dudes taking jumpers. To be fair, this is probably the least European of recent Raptors teams. I hardly consider Linas Kleiza a European product (the guy went to Missouri for four years) which leaves Andrea Bargnani as the only foreign rotation player other than Calderon, who could be traded.
You know what’s really unbelievable? That I’ve managed to type in about 1500 words.
