The Crossover: Five Questions About The New York Knicks | Raptors HQ
Q: Are you excited/concerned about the triangle offense and Derek Fisher as head coach? A: If only because the triangle is an actual offense as opposed to the ridiculous, isolation-filled circle jerk (you can replace that with, like, “pile of crap” or something to that effect if you don’t want “circle jerk” published on your site) of an “offense” that Mike Woodson ran last year, I’m very excited about it. The Knicks, surprisingly enough, ranked 11th in Offensive Efficiency last season even with an incompetent coach. I really look forward to seeing what New York can do while running a legitimate offense. Of course, there will be growing pains, but I think the ball movement inherent in the triangle will be a huge boon for the team in the long run.
Rogers and Bell at risk of Raptors fans tuning out | National Post
The Raptors have a particularly young fan base, and cable or satellite television is already beyond many of their budgets. The NBA’s official streaming service, League Pass, does not include Raptors games or nationally televised games in Canada. However, there are many illegal spots on the internet that can be of service to the diehards. As of now, Raptors ownership is virtually pushing fans to those sites. “Both Bell and Rogers are strongly committed to the Raptors,” LaFontaine said. “Both have made it very clear that they want to make sure both the Raptors and the NBA are given great support.” That might be true. However, Bell and Rogers have yet make the team’s fans a priority in this matter. And if the two companies’ squabbles and inability to consistently present a product that they own leads to more and more people cutting off their cable, well, the irony would be quite substantial
Raptors’ Vasquez can’t wait for regular season to start | Toronto Sun
The off-season arrival of combo guard Lou Williams has complicated how Vasquez fits into that rotation somewhat. He played a lot of minutes late in games alongside starting point guard Kyle Lowry, with DeMar DeRozan moving over to small forward and has a reputation as a good closer, but Williams has also excelled in that role in the past and can play beside Lowry too. But Vasquez is confident in his abilities and eager to compete for as large a role as possible. “I love it,” he said of being a key late in games as he was against Haifa. “I’m going to earn that throughout the year. I want to close games and I want to help the team win. That’s everybody’s mentality.”
The Power of Opportunity | Huffington Post
The more individuals we see that have ties to Africa, the more programs we see that are focused on providing opportunities to our growing continent. The league helps empower children in Nigeria through the Power Forward program, works with the U.S. Agency for International Development in Senegal and assists the United Nations Foundation on the Nothing But Nets campaign to prevent malaria-related deaths throughout the continent. Each year, new NBA players show interest in visiting Africa to help provide opportunities to youth and the response is always the same; they all want to come back. I can remember the first-time reactions of Chris Bosh, Al Horford, Dirk Nowitzki, Marcus Camby and Dwight Howard, among others. Seeing the value in reaching out and providing opportunities to these communities, it moved them to want to do more — and I’m not surprised. The more you give, the more you grow.
NBA Atlantic Division preview: Raptors’ title to lose | USA Today
The Raptors win the division and Nets slip into the playoffs barely. The Knicks find some momentum toward the end of the season and use it to help convince a marquee free agent or two to join them next summer. The Celtics find a good trade value for veteran point guard Rajon Rondo and sort out their rotation. The 76ers set futility records with a roster that already was historically bad but now could be without Michael Carter-Williams and Nerlens Noel for long stretches.
Here’s who should make the NBA playoffs this season | The Washington Post
They re-signed all three of their key players – Kyle Lowry, Greivis Vasquez and Patrick Patterson — and could have an emerging star in Jonas Valanciunas, whose 6.7 win shares were third most on the team last year.
Lewenberg: Raptors Top Five: Best bigs | TSN
Bosh’s Raptor legacy will always be tainted to some degree. He was never able to get Toronto out of the first round, qualifying for the playoffs in just two of his seven seasons as a Raptor – although his supporting casts deserve some of the blame there. Then there’s the way in which he left town – bolting after a half-hearted season to team up with LeBron James and Dwyane Wade in Miami. Unfortunately, that’s all some fans remember of the artist formally known as CB4. Bosh was a five-time All-Star in Toronto, a player that worked his tail off and gave everything he had for the team and the city throughout the bulk of his tenure. A raw prospect selected fourth overall in the loaded 2003 NBA Draft, Bosh developed into a well-rounded talent, one that still tops the Raptors’ record book in most categories. Perhaps he was miscast as a franchise player, but the list of guys fitting of that criteria is as short as ever. At the very least, he’s an excellent player, a star, and the second-best this franchise has seen in its first 20 years.
Can A Rejuvenated Jordan Hamilton Make The Raptors? | Pro Bball Report
Hamilton came into the NBA as a shooter and he has a career 35.8 field goal percentage from three-point range, however, he views himself as more than that and the trimmed down Hamilton has been performing well for the Raptors so far. Over his past five preseason games, Hamilton has averaged 10.4 points in 20.2 minutes on 57.1 percent shooting from the field and 50 percent from three. “People look at me as a shooter, but I think I’m a scorer,” Hamilton said. “I can get to the basket. I’ve got a nice midrange and I can shoot the three and I can get to the free throw line, so there are some things that I can do. I haven’t had a chance to display it all because most coaches just viewed me as a shooter, but Coach Casey has been letting me play an all-around game.” Scoring will not be enough to keep Hamilton around after the regular season starts and he has a reputation as a poor defender, but that is a perception the 24-year-old wants to change.
