“And it wouldn’t be fair to throw him out there for a few minutes just to say: ‘Hey, we got him in the game.’ His time is going to come. I don’t know when it’s going to come, but it’s going to come because we need his physicality on both ends of the floor. He gives teams matchup problems offensively. Defensively, he gives us that size and toughness that we need in the paint, rebounding that we need.” So, one might ask, if Johnson does all that, why isn’t Casey finding a way to give him regular minutes? Again, it comes down to preferring starting two point guards and with keeping Ross rolling. And with Tyler Hansbrough playing well off the bench at power forward, Johnson can’t even grab some minutes there.
NBA – Mike Conley among examples of late-developing PGs | ESPN [insider]
Lowry’s breakthrough came in 2010-11, when he stepped into the Rockets’ starting lineup in place of the injured Aaron Brooks and played well enough that Houston eventually traded Brooks. Lowry averaged 13.5 points and 6.7 assists in his first opportunity as a full-time starter. Yet Lowry was still seen more as a stopgap solution than a star when the Rockets traded him to the Raptors in summer 2012 in exchange for a first-round pick (which they later used as part of the package for James Harden). He battled Jose Calderon for minutes at the point during his first half-season in Toronto, winning the job by default when the Raptors dealt Calderon as part of a trade for his old teammate Gay. Last season, Lowry’s eighth in the NBA, was his first as a starter from beginning to end and the time he established himself as an elite point guard. Despite averaging 17.9 points and 7.4 assists per game and ranking among the league’s top-10 players in win shares and wins above replacement player (WARP), Lowry was left off the All-Star team. A late push from Raptors fans to make Lowry a starter guaranteed he won’t meet the same fate this year.
Raptors Top Five: Worst trades | TSN
Most of the trades you’ll find below are really only “bad” in hindsight. The other four deals on this list share a commonality – they’re all home run swings that just, for various reasons, didn’t connect. On the cusp of reaching the next level or in danger of taking a step back at the time, they were bold, yet shortsighted moves made in the hopes of expediting the building process. Then there’s the Vince Carter deal, an all-timer, that stands out (and man, does it ever stand out) in its own right. The haul Babcock got in exchange for Carter, a disgruntled superstar, was never highly regarded, to put it mildly. “What’d we get?,” asked Jalen Rose after hearing about the trade. “Richard Jefferson?” Even a decade later, Rose – now a broadcaster – still can’t believe Toronto’s return for the best and most important player in its history.
The XX-Files: Matt Bonner Meets Kevin Garnett for the First Time | Raptors HQ
Against the Timberwolves, playing behind young future All-Star Chris Bosh, Donyell Marshall, and (gulp) Loren Woods, Bonner was just 24 games into his career. But on that day, the Legend of the Red Rocket began to take shape
Will The Raptors Trade For Andre Iguodala? | Crash The Boards
The reasons why Toronto would do this is simple: Toronto need someone to start at small forward, they need someone to defend and mark players like LeBron James in the playoffs, this seems like Iguodala’s type of role. Giving up Lou Williams would be bad, but for Golden State to take this, he would surely have to be thrown in, keep reading to find out why. Williams as been amazing off the bench for the Raptors, but getting a lockdown defender and their starting small forward is more important than the 6th man. Terrence Ross could slot into the Lou Williams role for now and with his still developing explosive offensive game, he could provide the same sort of spark that Williams did off the bench. Aside from being the team’s lockdown defender, Iggy wouldn’t be relied on as much to do the ball-handling like he was in Golden State. Iggy could play off ball and let the offense come to him, something that he can thrive with, especially since he will be playing with Kyle Lowry and DeMar DeRozan, which could get him a lot of open 3s.
Raptors-Nets: Friday night game preview | Toronto Star
The Nets have lost three in a row and 11 of their last 13 and have fallen to ninth in the East behind eighth-place Charlotte … Brooklyn forward Mirza Teletovic is out of the season with a life-threatening blood clod in his lung … Former Raptor Jarrett Jack has assumed the starting point guard role from Deron Williams, who is sideline by injury. Jack had 14 points and 13 assists in his last game … Brooklyn has won four of its last five home games against Toronto … The Nets do defend well — they have held 28 opponents to under 100 points this season; the Raptors average about 108 points per game … Toronto will be playing its third game in four nights in three different cities.
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