Raptors keep high expectations in check | Toronto Sun
While head coach Dwane Casey is trying to keep his charges honest, insisting they have not proven anything yet and should not yet be considered juggernauts in the making, he finally opened up this week that yes, internal expectations are high. “Hopefully go farther in the playoffs,” Casey said simply of the team’s assignment this season. “First get to the playoffs and win a round in the playoffs, that’s our next step, our next goal, then go farther. That’s what we consider the next step, but that’s probably the most difficult thing to do in sport. As a developing team trying to get up to the elite level, it’s hard to do.” Casey is couching expectations with caution, but he is not wrong in doing so.
Lewenberg: DeRozan talks his summer, Team USA and the upcoming season | TSN
TSN.ca: DeMar, for you and Kyle both it seems like you’ve hit the ground running, a seamless transition from the season to playoffs to the summer and now to camp. How important has it been for you, not just this year but throughout your career, to make sure you’re in game shape when you come into camp each season? DeROZAN: It’s definitely important, man. It’s big because me personally, I never like playing catch-up. I’d rather do that on my own time, when I first start working out after the season. Me and [Lowry] understand we carry a big load and we’ve got to lead by example. So if we come into training camp out of shape or whatever, it’s going to look bad and might carry over for the rest of our team. We’ve got to push them and show them we’re working extremely hard. We’ve got to be the toughest dudes out there when it comes to working hard. That’s our mindset and it’s been going well.
Toronto Raptors: The Health Advantage | Hoops Habit
After all, the general consensus is that the Cleveland Cavaliers will win the East, closely followed by the Chicago Bulls. This thinking leaves the Wizards and Raptors to battle for third in the East and for what is generally a favorable first round opponent.. During their summer forecast for the Eastern Conference standings, ESPN even predicted that the Wizards and Raptors would both finish with a record of 47-35. Barely over a week into the season, the Wizards will visit Toronto for a game on Nov. 7. Without Beal, the Wizards will be forced to go with a shooting guard rotation that features Martell Webster, Rasual Butler (formerly of Raptors lore), and Glen Rice Jr. All of this could matter very little to Toronto if a Raptor suffers a significant injury in the four remaining preseason games. Casey can do everything he can by limiting the minutes of key players, but all it takes is one fluke play in either practice or a game, just as Beal has already reminded us.
Stop this senseless nonsense known as the NBA pre-season | Toronto Star
It is blatantly unfair to ask the unsuspecting public to pay big bucks when there’s a better than average chance that a team’s top players will get the night off or play sparingly, when the main hope is to get through the night unscathed, when coaches are basically experimenting with lineup combinations and winning or losing is basically an afterthought. The players have little enthusiasm for the games – trust me, the ones that get the nights off aren’t at all put out by that – and it shows in the effort. Luckily, I couldn’t actually witness that mess at the Garden last night but by all indications from everything I read and was told, there was a lot of “going through the motions” going on. Sure, guys may have thought they were putting out maximum effort but it’s impossible to when they know there is nothing on the line.
Know Your Raptors: Amir Johnson sings Celine Dion | Sportsnet.ca
A player demonstrating awareness of his weak outside shooting by quintupling his attempts from downtown may not seem to make sense at first, but Johnson’s spike in three-point attempts came alongside a 10.71-percent drop in his mid-range looks. If a bad deep shooter is going to take a deep shot, it follows that it’s better for that shot to be worth three points than two. Plus, Johnson still took 69.61 percent of his shots within eight feet of the rim, his highest concentration since 2010-11.
The one thing that immediately jumps out at me watching Caboclo on offense is how quickly he makes his first move. He’s shown range with his jumper, as evident here on a catch-and-shoot corner three. Again, without hesitation, in rhythm. He was very quick with his decisions on the other possessions where he got the ball, whether he was dribbling to a spot on the floor for a step-back jumper, or driving baseline to the basket and drawing a foul. Again, this is very early, but if Caboclo can develop a consistent jumper, it’s going to open a lot of other things up for him, and he seems ready to mix it up on the offensive end.
Through the Looking Glass: Greivis for Quincy | 3sob.com
As evidenced by the fact that he has been included as part of two subsequent transactions, the Grizzlies aren’t the only team that have viewed Greivis as replaceable. To this point, though, replacing him in Memphis has been easier said than done, which has been by far the most aggravating part of watching him achieve even relative success in his following destinations while Quincy is taking time to develop and racking up DNPs. The Grizz have called upon a messy collective of Jeremy Pargo, Josh Selby, Gilbert Arenas, Jerryd Bayless, Tony Wroten, Keyon Dooling, Nick Calathes, and Beno Udrih to spell Mike Conley some minutes, to little avail up until the flip of this calendar year. The promise of Nick Calathes has eased up on this concern, but it’s not entirely safe to say we’re out of the woods just yet. So when you put it like that… If it isn’t obvious by now, to say that I didn’t love the trade at the time would be a gratuitous overstatement of my exuberance. I miss you, Greivis.
Raptors Bruno Caboclo Is The Happiest Guy In Toronto | Pro Bball Report
Things are very different for Caboclo since he left Brazil to begin his journey to the NBA. He has gone from a player on an under-19 team who saw spot duty on the “big club” with Pinheiros Sky that the Raptors and his agent didn’t want him to “blow up” on to playing with NBA hopefuls in Summer League and then working out with NBA players for most of the summer afterwards. An NBA training camp and preseason games is a whole other level for Caboclo.
