Preseason is dragging along quite a bit now, thankfully tonight is the final home preseason against the Bulls. After that the Raptors play the Knicks in Montreal on Friday and then the season starts a week from today. There’s no analysis today, just bullet points about stuff. Raptors stuff (mostly):
- I’d like to see Andrea Bargnani dunk on Joakim Noah, who falls down and then Bargnani proceeds to stand on him. Like Pippen on Ewing.
- The talent level in the NBA is diluted and they should drop a couple teams. Start with the Bobcats.
- The Bulls have the best logo in basketball.
- P.J Carlesimo is itching to be the head coach of an NBA team. Jay Triano should be worried.
- If Julian Wright had a jumper he’d be Trevor Ariza.
- The trade deadline will offer the Raptors an opportunity to trade an All-Star type for their expiring contracts. They shouldn’t take it.
- I find it odd that that Andrea Bargnani is considered the face of the franchise but is not shown in the season seat promo on raptors.com.
- There’s a culture clash between the “faces” of this franchise, meaning YGZ® and Bargnani. Can the two co-exist? Yes, but it’s going to be difficult. They need someone who brings the two different styles of play/attitude together, and it’s not Triano. A player that does so would be nice. Maybe a PG?
- Would you do a Taj Gibson for Ed Davis deal?
- The Jose Calderon and T.J Ford combo are completely different than the Jose Calderon and Jarrett Jack one.
- Sonny Weems has effort issues which he needs to fix.
- DeMar DeRozan’s lack of jumper could kill his NBA career, luckily he’s still got plenty of time to fix it. Passing up a jumper to drive into a waiting defense is a recipe to get blocked. And so he does.
- This Rap is pure truth.
- Lineup that will work: Jack-Barbosa-Andersen-Johnson-Weems.
- Lineup that will not work: Any lineup involving both Calderon and Bargnani.
- Top three Raptors in terms of effort: Joey Dorsey, Reggie Evans, Amir Johnson.
- Worst three Raptors in terms of effort: Andrea Bargnani, Sonny Weems, DeMar DeRozan
- The Raptors are no longer paying Sam Mitchell.
- If the game was on the line and Raptor had to go one-on-one to win it, I’d pick DeMar DeRozan. He’s the most likely to get fouled.
- The Raptors coaching staff needs to do a much better job of creating clean looks from 15-20 feet for the guards.
- Linas Kleiza and Sonny Weems need to improve their assist numbers by a couple each. Both look for their shot first which is good, but they tend to ignore the options available.
- I still can’t believe this is the same dress.
