Toronto Raptors Morning Coffee Oct 23

The truth is that I sense certain degree of concern about the role that we can achieve this year with respect to all of the questions. To be honest, I'm worried as well.

Toronto Sun

The Raptors have long hoped to become Canada’s team and for one night at least, it certainly felt like they were. Though a host of Knicks jerseys dotted the crowd, the atmosphere was extremely pro-Toronto ­­— and when has that ever been the case in this city?

The crowd was as loud at the end as it was early on, losing its mind on a pair of Julian Wright dunks with under a minute to play, awing Raptors head coach Jay Triano.

“Unbelievable, it’s overwhelming,” Triano said after the game.

“Even the players in the locker room are talking about how great the fans were.

“(We) can’t say thank you enough to the people for coming out and supporting us.”

The Atlantic Division rivals meet again to kick off the regular season next Wednesday in Toronto.

The Raptors had seven players in double figures, led by 15 from Andrea Bargnani.

The final score was not entirely reflective of the game, as the Knicks played Toronto to a virtual standstill when its starting lineup was on the floor. It was 27-26 Raptors after a quarter, but the Raptors beat up on the Knicks bench to the tune of 35-19 in the second frame and that was the difference.

New York’s bench got back in head coach Mike D’Antoni’s good books at least a little bit by rallying in the fourth quarter

Triano liked his club’s spirit and effort, particularly at the defensive end. where more charges were taken than usual.

“We forced turnovers, rotated little bit better … that’s the kind of effort you’re going to need on a consistent basis,” Triano said.

Toronto Star

“We were in the passing lanes, we forced turnovers, we caused them to run their offence a little bit further out, our rotations were a little bit better,” he said. “I don’t think in the second half we contested as well and I think we kind of just let up a little bit as far as our intensity was concerned.”

And that’s the one issue that may dog this team all season. When the games start for real, they aren’t going to be able to withstand any periods of lax effort because they don’t have the overall talent to simply go out and beat teams.

It is going to take a concerted work ethic from every player who plays and a continual search for the “perfect” game. They didn’t get it Friday night, even if the first half was so good.

“It was so-so,” guard Jarrett Jack said of the defensive effort. “I don’t think we’re satisfied at all with it, still gave up a bunch of just easy rotations, and when we look back on film we’ll know we’re just a step late. We were right there but in this league, right there isn’t good enough.

“We’ve got to be able to correct those or just limit them as much as possible. If we have six breakdowns, let’s trying to limit it to two, or three, or one. It’s tough to go through a game perfect; there’s going to be some breakdowns but trying to keep them minimal is the thing you want to be successful at.”

Jack has taken over from Jose Calderon as the team’s starting point guard and turned in a solid outing, with seven points, five assists and four steals in 24 minutes. Calderon sparked a 35-point second quarter with the second unit and had his best game of the pre-season with 11 points and six assists.

Toronto Star

There was all kinds of love for David Andersen around these parts last night, mostly when he was filling it up during an impressive second-quarter run.

And he could very well turn into a semi-important player under the right circumstances. But it’s going to mean there are some injuries and maybe even a move for those circumstances to arrive.

Andersen’s somewhat unique – although big men who can step outside and knock down shots are becoming increasingly common – but he’s also Bargnani Lite in that his rebounding is suspect and his overall defence is, well, only okay.

But as the 10th man on the team, why not have a guy with one skill that could set him apart? And with Jay’s plan to play 10 guys and Ed Davis at least two weeks from even getting back on the court full time and probably a couple of weeks after that before the rookie’s on top shape, having a 10th guy like Andersen can’t hurt.

Globe and Mail

Last season, 21 point guards averaged five assists a game and 22 averaged 10 or more points a game. The numbers show that an elite NBA point guard ought to be able to average 16 to 21 points and six to 11 assists. Do that, and you get a place in the top 15. In 2009-10, Calderon averaged 5.9 assists and 10.3 points; Jack averaged 11.4 points and five assists.

Add them up and it looks deceivingly okay. At a time when point guards are becoming what Raptors assistant P.J. Carlesimo calls “one-man fast breaks,” and at a time when the NBA’s all-rookie team, as chosen by the league’s coaches, includes four point guards (Tyreke Evans of Sacramento, Brandon Jennings of Milwaukee, Stephen Curry of Golden State and Darren Collison of New Orleans), clearly the point guard’s spot has evolved.

The Raptors? They appear to have devolved.

Optimists will say that with Chris Bosh gone, there will be a greater opportunity for other Raptors players to fill their hats and that will mean Calderon’s and Jack’s numbers will go up. In a perfect world, maybe. But it is telling that just two games after he was essentially said by Triano to be the Raptors’ point guard, Calderon fell out of favour to Jack after a rocky offensive performance against the Chicago Bulls. And remember: Calderon was all but traded to the Charlotte Bobcats last summer. While the deal collapsed, human nature being what it is, you wonder if Calderon hasn’t already checked out.

The one thing Calderon does do is take care of the ball; his assist-to-turnover ratio of 4.08 was third best among NBA point guards last season. But on too many nights, he is not up to the task physically, and so far this preseason he seems to miss Bosh more than any player. His hesitancy against the Bulls was alarming, almost rookie-like.

National Post

Friday night’s record-setting crowd, nearly a 1,000 more than seating capacity for Canadiens’ games — and maybe the only time a Montreal sports fans have ever cheered, done the wave and sang Ole, Ole, for a Toronto team — got a good idea how the Raptors will take on the new season when it begins against the same Knicks next Wednesday at home.

They play uptempo, quick and athletic, and there’s no quit, at least there wasn’t any hint of it Friday night as they rolled to a 62-45 lead at halftime and then, after letting a 15-point advantage get trimmed to four in the final minute, they held firm to even their pre-season record a 4-4, the .500 mark for the first time since 2008.

Bargnani’s 15 points in 23:31 time on the floor was tops among seven Raptors in double figures. Toronto got 12 from starters forward Linas Kleiza guard DeMar DeRozan and David Anderson, Leandro Barbosa, Jose Calderon and Sonny Weems, combined for 46 points off the bench.

“I’m happy with the way we move the basketball and the way we’ve been able to play with intensity,” said Triano. “The players are playing as a team and sticking up for each other which is a good sign, too.”

Jose Manuel Calderon

Everyone asks me about the team, about the additions, and our role in the League. The truth is that I sense certain degree of concern about the role that we can achieve this year with respect to all of the questions. To be honest, I’m worried as well. However, concerned does not mean defeated. It is clear that there are many new faces and we lack the benchmark of our last years. When I arrived in Toronto five seasons ago, Chris was the bulwark of the team and that never changed. He was always there, but not anymore. It is clear that others must assume his role and take responsibility for what he did. We can not think of Chris anymore, and he will not be responsible for the victories or the defeats, therefore we have to take ownership and we have to take it forward.

If am I worried? I am concerned about the youth of the roster. Clearly there are many talented young players but they are still not familiar enough with the league and they need experience. They have quality, but the knowledge of the League is fundamental. I remember perfectly how my first year was and I came from an important professional league and National Team in which I had responsibility in high competition.

I am also concerned about the allocation of roles; thus far the preseason hasn’t left a clear idea how those roles are going to be shared. We are all playing pretty much the same number of minutes and with equal responsibilities on offense. It is early, there remains another ten days until our first game, but we have unknowns that need to be defined.

Beleaguered Toronto Sports Fan

What I want to do here, in addition to making my own ridiculous prediction about whether the Raptors will win more or less than 26.5 games, is to look at what teams I think they can beat (taking into account home court etc.) and try to approximate what the win total might actually be based on that.

I will not use any advanced metrics, I have no insider information, and I haven’t seen very many teams play since the NBA was carpet-bombed by the summer of 2010.  But I’m going to make some great predictions anyway.  Because until they’re wrong, they can’t be not right.

Now, before I get into this, I want to say that 26.5 sounds low to me.  I mean, Vegas doesn’t know about how good the team’s chemistry is now, or that Andrea Bargnani rides at the back of the bus with the rest of the guys, or that David Anderson’s sublime talents were obscured in Houston.  So yeah, 26.5 sounds a bit low, but let’s see what some deeper analysis will suggest:

I’ll start with a list of teams that I think the Raptors will beat at least once:

The Sports Network

There has been a significant loss of talent north of the border and this is clearly a rebuilding team, something that probably doesn’t bode well for Colangelo, since this is the last year of his deal as the team’s basketball chief.

DeRozan will have to take a major step forward and both Kleiza and Barbosa will have to prove they are more than just role players if the Raptors expect to make a run at the postseason.

"We have a collective goal to make the playoffs," Colangelo said at the team’s media day. "That should be the goal of everyone who puts on a Toronto Raptors uniform this season."

Fan590

The Raptors knocked off the Knicks in Montreal, Eric Smith recaps the final pre season game before Wednesday’s season opener.