2010-2011 Toronto Raptors

Has there ever been so much doom-and-gloom surrounding the Toronto Craptors - I mean Raptors (bad habit) - entering an NBA season?!?!  And I mean the attitude of the fans...are you predicting anything good from this team in the 2010-2011 season?  Do you know anyone who is optimistic and excited about this bunch?!?!  You sure do now...



Raptors Dance Pak - highlight of this season?!?!



I am in the minority here as I view the departure of Chris Bosh as a good thing...the way he craved the attention like a small immature schoolboy this off-season was pathetic...the fact that he referred himself as a "winner" on espn when announcing that he was headed to South Beach was brutal and inaccurate...can you find anyone in this country that will agree that Bosh is a winner?!?!...the fact that he can be a third wheel in Miami and ride Bron Bron and D-Wade's coattails is perfect for him as he cannot lead a team...exact same scenario as trading Vince Carter which is addition by subtraction...we saw here that CB4 was never the Superstar that this country begged him to be...his offensive #'s were outstanding - but does he even know how to spell defense, much less play any?!?!  With Bosh as the anchor to the Raps D opponents ran lay-up drills vs Toronto as there was no consequence for taking it to the rim vs the T-Dot...the 2009-2010 Raps were 20-2 when holding an opponent under 100 points...that is what you call easy math...hey Craps - PLAY D and get a W...again, pretty simple...but when you have a roster with guys like Bosh and Hedon't Turkoglu getting a team-D concept is not going to happen (not to mention Jose Calderon and his OLE approach to defense)...I am a believer that Head Coach Jay Triano wants to be more like Kevin O'Neal (remember him?) and coach to defense winning you games, but he had the roster that forced him to be a Paul Westphal-type up-tempo game...there are going to be numerous nights where shots do not fall, but you can always bring an effort and intensity to the defensive end...

No team in the Association was worse on the defensive end last season than Toronto...all 8 playoff teams from the East were in the top 1/2 of the NBA as far as team-D...this team projects as the worse D in the NBA for a 2nd straight year, but I don't buy those projections...for one thing P.J. Carlesimo is in as Assistant Head Coach to Triano...P.J. is no joke...he will surely have this team-D humming at a much better pace than last season...also gone is the brutal Bosh and Hedon't, and in is Ed Davis and Soloman Alabi...both are rookies who slipped down the draft board as teams were concerned about their injuries (in the case of Alabi he has Hep-B which is a concern)...in is also the slimmer-trimmer Reggie Evans...yes Evans was on the roster in 2009-2010 but he was injured almost the entire season...Evans has looked very good in Preseason, especially when it comes to grabbing an offensive rebound and finding an open teammate for a good look where in the past he thought he was the good look...I am a big Andrea Bargnani fan (again I am in the minority) but have to admit that he is a soft soft soft 7-footer on the defensive end...a Davis, or Evans, or Kleiza, or Alabi will have to guard the opponents Power Forwards and be sure to help out Bargnani on the opponents Center - a task that fits Ed Davis perfectly



Ed Davis aka Mr Ed aka Ed Truck

 And speaking of Ed Davis let's take a moment to look at the only good news (potentially) from the off-season that just concluded...for the Raps to only have the #13 pick in a weak draft, to end up with Davis was a VERY good-news story...this guy would have been a top-5 pick if he entered the NBA draft last year, and only slipped to #13 this year as he broke his wrist in Feb 2010 so out of sight meant out of mind and people slept on Mr Ed (I still think Ed Truck is the best nickname for Davis...he is built like a truck and fans of The Office love the reference...and if you are not a fan of The Office let's be clear that you should be)...Davis is a guy who will give you the effort needed every night to rebound and defend...very good help defender which makes him as rare for this organization as an actual Raptor

The Raps were top 6 in O last season, and they lose scorers, but that may be able to become a positive too...now the offense is not beholden to one guy...does not feel the need to cater to one or two guys to make sure they get their touches...Sonny Weems took major steps forward in 2009-2010, as did Amir Johnson, and both should have a chance to improve on their stats from last year in this ball-sharing O...I have faith in starting PG Jarret Jack to distribute the ball in a European-style O...Jay Triano was a consultant for Team USA recently and no doubt having to study the European game would have led to new ball-movement/player-movement type of ideas...plus wait 'til fans get a load of Leandro Barbosa...they don't call him the Brazilian Blur because that name was randomly selected out of a bag-o-nicknames...they call him that because you will be stunned at how fast he moves with a basketball...his assists MUST improve over the 2.6 he averaged in Phoenix, and his 1.5 in Preseason were bad, but this guy can fly and has the potential to create for others on the fast break...



Kleiza in a recent game repping Lithuania

 That brings us Linas Kleiza...Bryan Colangelo looked good to me when he tried to get a Matt Barnes-type in the offseason...the D that Barnes brings to the table every night was a needed fit for T.O....in usual BC stripedness he did not even realize that the trade he made with Orlando to land Barnes was in violation of NBA rules...I wrote honestly about good news things on this team, and with that same honesty state that was as dumb a move as I have ever seen...how do I, a roofus working for a phone company in Mississauga, know right away that the proposed trade violated NBA rules, but BC (who gets paid for a living to know these things) did not...completely inexcusable...you know me, I was calling for the firing of BC when he gave all of our free agent $$$ to Jason Kapono a few years ago so I was already done with BC, but this summer-o-blunders cemented all thoughts that he should be fired...remember the trade to Charlotte involving Jose Calderon and Reggie Evans?!?!  Having that get public only to have Charlotte owner Michael Jordan nix the deal was embarrassing...but I digress - getting back to Kleiza - the reason the Matt Barnes deal was against the rules is because BC had already committed $$$ to signing Kleiza...Linas averaged 10+ points per game as a bench player for Denver the last 3 years...he will start for the Raps and has a good long and short range jumper...oddly enough his middle range game is horrid...he gave the Nuggets 4 rebounds per game too which should really improve with starters minutes...

Who haven't we looked at yet...how about DD aka DeMar DeRozan...DD averaged 8 points per game in his rookie campaign and we saw that he was a one-trick pony...highlight reel dunk-or-bust...that will not cut it at this level...word is that he knows that full well and worked hard in the offseason to better his jumper...we can only hope that is the case...time will tell, but DD is one guy that has to take positive steps forward in 2010-2011

Could Julian Wright be a pleasant surprise?!?!  In August he was acquired from New Orleans for Marco Belinelli...in 2007 Wright was the #13 overall pick so we hope he can reach his potential, but he has had a s l o w start to his NBA career...

amazingly NOT on the hot-seat

For those of you hoping that this season will at least bring the end to the Bryan Colangelo era I have terrible news...look for Maple Leaf Sports Entertainment to re-up long-term with BC at some point this season...word I am hearing is that it will not even take a good start, good middle, or good end to the season...Richard Peddie et all seem hellbent on re-upping with BC so he will soon be our problem for many years still to come :(

I like Boston-Orlando-Chicago-Miami-Milwaukee-Hotlanta (in that order actually) more than I like the Raps...but that is only 6 teams...8 will qualify for the playoffs...I like the Raps to be there with New York, Washington, and Charlotte to compete for the 7th and 8th playoff spots

Good news for Raps fans is when the world was predicting the 2010 Jays would lose 100+ games I predicted 84 wins (they got 85) so you can count on my predictions...ya right...I should mention the bad news for Raps fans is that I predicted the team would make the playoffs for the last 2 seasons...ahem......

craig.ballard@hotmail.com