Morning Coffee

What might save these guys from a season of Rob Babcock-era mocking is that they look like a group that will play with some effort.

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.

It’s almost sad watching Calderon interact, a lost soul who almost seems out of place in a place that made him one of its core pieces when it became apparent that change was necessary.

DeRozan’s ability to create some havoc with his offence will be central to any success the Raptors might have in the season that begins in just over a week.

“You just can’t blame it on the players. You’d have to really sit down and talk to the players and just ask them why they want to leave,” he said. “I’m just a random guy, Chris is an all-star, other guys are all-stars too. You’d have to ask them, what’s the reason they left?”

They have six guys who are essentially the same player: athletic players who would best be sixth men on a serious team. Their “big” star, Andre Bargnani, is at best Dirk Nowitzki Light on the rare occasions where he is engaged.

What the fans saw on Wednesday was a big question mark, an uncertainty that isn’t likely to provide any more clarity when the Celtics visit on Friday or when Hedo Turkoglu makes his return on Sunday with his Phoenix Suns and Steve Nash.

“I won’t be surprised if we end up with one guy averaging 16 or 17 a game and a bunch of guys at 14, 13.”

“Shootaround’s a lot tougher than in the past,” said Reggie Evans, the eighth-year NBA forward. “We’re just going hard. A lot of banging. It’s totally different than anything I’ve seen.”

With a roster that provides a lot of possibilities to mix and match combinations, the coach said he won’t just play people without them having earned it.

Linas Kleiza is a scorer, pure and simple. I thought he was the best player on the floor (and, again, it was a scrimmage against each other) but he got his stuff in the flow of the game, didn’t force things and knocked down his shots.

To put it bluntly, Toronto’s starting line-up looks like a second string unit for a title contending team.