Team's Identity, Players' role, 1 more year

[HoF-Rook]

I believe I speak for the vast majority of fans here and across the country when expressing a certain level of frustration and angst towards the organization. Whether you've become a fan recently or since day 1 (like myself and many others) there is no denying the emotional roller coaster we've been riding. Unfortunately, there were few highs, and too many lows. We are treated to a good/decent product for a couple of years, once every 6-7 years it seems. Through thick and thin, we've stuck with the team. It's rather depressing to think that the only solace we have, are distant memories of the 'good times' during the VC era, and parts of the CB4/early BC era. Looking bad at those years, the only decent accomplishments were making the conference semis, and winning the Atlantic with a measly 47 wins. Not quite the 'accolades' for a franchise 17 years young.

The many years of mediocrity or worse, gave reason to many casual fans to start 'hating' on the organization. Understood. However, the 'hatred' (I believe it is more anger + frustration) and constant ridicule/pessimism has gone beyond the point of being poisonous. Sadly, it has become an entity of its own, and this so called 'hate bandwagon' is starting to fill up with unknowing passengers. I won't doubt for 1 second that fans on the opposite end of the spectrum (the optimistic ones and the pessimistic) share equal passion. We all want a good team, a good product, and consistent playoff appearances with a chance to contend once in a while when circumstances are right. I believe moving forward, we have the pieces to build a solid team to go in that direction.

Whatever happens over the last 24 games, whether we sneak into the 8th seed or spiral out of contention, it doesn't matter. The 4-19 start dug such a deep hole, that even with the recent acquisition of Rudy and an improved team play; it was rather farfetched to think we could make the playoffs. Not that I was being pessimistic, but looking at our team structure, and the makeup of the current roster AND coaching staff, one must be realistic about our chances. We definitely lack team-identity. Who are we? We often go into games against average to below average teams and think we SHOULD win. Really? Aren't there 29 other teams who think exactly that when they're playing us? Our identity over the last several seasons has been that of bottom feeding teams. I think moving forward, we can change that. We can build and instill a NEW identity for ourselves. We have the right pieces, no doubt. But we will need further tweaking and improvement in order to achieve that. In no particular order, we need to improve and establish our coaching and players' role and accountability.

Recently, Rudy has alluded to the fact that if we want to become a good, winning team, everyone and everything has to be consistent - the same every time, every game. I interpreted this as "Each and every person (coaches and players) must know their role, responsibility and accountability".

My thoughts on the team and its players and head coach:

Rudy - Our new franchise player. Sure, he's not in the same elite tier with the likes of Lebron, Durant, and Paul. And just below franchise-types like Carmelo, Rose, Howard, etc. But he is a solid piece to build around. What intrigues me is his versatility and athleticism. His shooting is inefficient, but that can improve. He brings intangibles that won't show up on the stat sheets, but can be highly beneficial to the team. He brings 'winning' experience, having played with a solid group of guys in Memphis. You can see how badly he wants to instill that mentality here. Unfortunately, half a season is just not enough time to change our 'losing' identity. He's only 26 years old, and should be entering his prime over the next year or so. His mindset is in the right place, and he wants to get better. His role is to provide leadership, scoring, defense and to take the team to the next level. To do that, he has to improve on certain facets of his game. Trust his teammates more, and know when to relinquish the ball and not force shots. Improve his shot selection, work on his game, and I can see great things from Rudy next year.

Demar - If he were on any other team, and the only thing most Toronto fans see of him are his highlights and stat sheets, they'd be drooling over him. They do this with just about every 'decent' player in the league. Unfortunately, they watch him play every minute and every game; therefore they constantly put him under scrutiny and ridicule, and nitpick about his flaws. At this point, he's not a very good defender. He exhibits the tools to become a solid one, but time will tell. He's very young. Since the Rudy trade, he's been VERY good. You can see it in his game. More hustle, much more fluid with his offense, and provides many things a 2nd option would. If he can improve his ball handling skills (too many fumbles...) and play better perimeter D, he'll live up to and possibly surpass his contract value.

Kyle - If Kyle is playing at the same level he did early in the season, Toronto would be a force. This team right now NEEDS that type of Kyle Lowry. It's too bad that he was in the doghouse for absolutely no reason. People try to correlate our early season struggles with Kyle Lowry starting. Were we watching the same games? How anyone think it was partly his fault is baffling. We sucked simply because our 'franchise' player (at the time) sucked. We sucked because we had one of the toughest schedules if not the toughest. A bottom feeding team with the toughest schedule can only equate to losing. When Jose took over, and the team started to play a little better, I think it had more to do with the fact that Bargnani wasn't playing rather than Kyle coming off the bench or not playing. Oh, and the schedule started to ease up by then, too. It is sad to see what the coaching has done to Lowry and his game. But I believe that come next season, we'll be seeing him play at a much higher level. He seems very vocal, and display good leadership. We need a PG like him.

Bargnani - Really liked the guy during his first few years. Deep down, I still supported him up until this year. Mentality, he has checked out. Given the title of 'franchise' player on a bad team, and years of losing has greatly diminished his passion. Unfortunately, he did NOTHING to raise the level of his game. He looks to be in the same shape or worse, coming into every training camp. A clearly distinctive 'outsider' amongst a rather close-knit group of guys. At this point, he's one of those guys that if you were his teammate, you would hate to play with him. His 'potential', 'talent' and 'skill' is greatly overrated and exaggerated. What does he do that would be considered NBA caliber? ONLY shooting...And even that has gone down the drain and left him. Not sure how one can be labeled "amazing talent" when the only thing they can really do is shoot. Even 13-game Bargnani was underwhelming to be honest. Put Mike James as the 'franchise' player and give him the touches Andrea gets, and he'll average more points, and probably more rebounds, too.
Currently, he's the double-edged sword. You don't want to play him because he brings nothing but liabilities. But then how do you justify the contract and investment you've put in him? I truly believe that BC's major downfall is how he's handled Andrea. I still think he is a decent GM, but what brought him down is a 7 foot Italian Titanic. A change of scenery would be refreshing for both parties. But how do you convince 29 other teams to pick up a regressing player and his bad contract? Hoping for this issue to be resolved over the summer, but not holding my breath.

Jonas - Love this kid. All heart and hustle. Unfortunately he's on a very short leash for reasons unknown to logic and common sense. At 4-19, and at every other point during the season where you're not even close to being 10 games under .500, you should be throwing him out there and let him develop. It sickens me when I watch other teams (good or bad) give their rookies so much burn, and I see Jonas glued to the bench for ridiculously long stretches. Still, he's taken it like a champ and in a couple of years when he's really developed; we'll have a very good starting C. He has good chemistry with most of the guys on the team, especially Rudy. I’m very excited about his future with this team.

Amir - Same as above. Nothing bad to say about him. His love, participation and contribution to the city is icing on the cake. Not your typical starting PF, but he knows his role and what he has to do when he's on the floor. At times, he and JV get the fecal end of the stick in favor of Andrea. And that's a real shame. Seems like he's been in the league forever, but he's relatively young. I look forward to seeing him develop with the current group of core players we have.

AA, Lucas, Fields, Gray - I don't dislike AA nearly as much as most people here. He is who he is; a solid journeyman on the cheap. He provides good offensive stretches at times, and plays good defense. I don't have much of an issue with him, but rather an issue with Casey and his directions. We don't know what goes on behind closed doors and during practices, but from what we've seen and proven, it looks like he has the green light to look for his own shots as soon as he enters the game. And the playing time he's been getting is proof that it is solely on Casey for putting AA into that 'role'. We don't know if AA will be here next year, but if he is, I can only hope that the coaching staff (Casey or a new coach) can give him the proper directions. Look for good shots when they're available. Otherwise distribute the ball. He can really help the team if he plays within that role.
Lucas and Gray are simply roster/position fillers. Nothing to praise about them, nothing to hate on them for. Although I do like the spark that Lucas can give off the bench. However, like AA, playing on a bad team and being the 'veteran', he sometimes feel as though it's all on him and look for his own shots. Again, Lucas, Gray and AA aren't integral parts of this team moving forward, so there's not much to say about them.
Fields does play good defense and he's a good rebounder. Still, he's simply the product of a bad decision by BC and is currently enjoying a decent sized contract because of it. A solid defensive role player off the bench in limited minutes. His offensive skill set is atrocious or non-existent.
Not much to comment about Ross. We don't get to see him play nearly enough to make any reasonable judgment. He seems to have the tools to be a solid player, and it was wonderful to see him win the Dunk contest. Give him until the end of next year to see what type of player he'll progress into. Though, I'm apprehensive about his development with Casey on the helm.

Casey - Add him to the list of our rookie coaches who have gone on to never be a head coach again in the NBA. Defensive Guru? Let's be real, he had much better defensive-minded players in Dallas to preach his defensive philosophy. Dallas winning the title was Casey winning the lottery. It is evident last year and this year that Casey is not an NBA caliber head coach. Well, at least not one who can take this team further and onto the next level. Not that he lacks offensive strategies, but rather he has none. Sure, the guys play hard for him and have voiced their support for him, but one must wonder how they truly feel about his coaching abilities. Play your butt off, compete, show passion, and never see another minute for the rest of the game. Play like turd for weeks if not months, and enjoy 25+ minutes per game including crunch time. Destroy the opponent and go up by double digits, and everyone hit the bench in favor of 2nd and 3rd units. Come back when the team is now trailing by double digits. Down 10 in the 4th, with only 10 seconds to play, and the team still has 1 full time out and 2x 20 second time outs. Baffling coaching tactics is an understatement. Rotation mismanagement have been his Achilles’ heel.

Casey can get away with it last season and throughout the first 40-45 games of the season. You can say he's limited to what he can do with a roster so young, inexperienced and downright BAD. But ever since the arrival of Rudy, and many players have upped their game, why do we still see the same ugly coaching habits? In my opinion, the one person on this team that doesn't fulfill their role completely is Dwayne Casey. I wish him the best of luck and no ill-will, but hopefully for this franchise's sake, he isn't around in the near future.

BC - I echo what most people feel about him (minus the hatred of course lol). I guess how I feel about him is eerily similar to how I feel about Andrea. Really liked him the first few years, and supported him until this season. But the franchise is in disarray because of him. I'm happy he got us Rudy, but I'm not confident he's the right GM to take this core and improve it enough to reach the next level. We'll see whether he'll still be here to fix the mess that he's got us in. If not, I can't see any other GM not named Babcock do any worse.

The way the team has played since the arrival of Rudy Gay is a glimpse of what this squad can do. The core pieces are in place - Rudy, JV, Demar, Lowry, Amir. They are very young and have tremendous upside. I think they just need the rest of this season, training camp, and a couple of months into the next season to show what they're capable of. I'm cautious, but very excited about the future. With a few key tweaks here and there, I think we're capable of competing for consistent playoff appearances for the next 4-5 years at the very least. I haven't felt this way since the VC days and parts of the CB4/Euro ball days. The past few weeks have greatly renewed my interest and passion for this team. Not that I've ever lost it or anything. It was just dormant lol.

At the end of the day, give it some time, folks. Just 1 more year and I think our fanbase will get what we've been waiting for. I preach just a little more patience and we'll definitely get what we, as the most passionate and bipolar fanbase deserve.
What are your thoughts on this team’s identity and its players moving forward? Are you guys optimistic or apprehensive with our current squad (given that we make some key personnel changes over the summer)?

I apologize for the long first post. So go easy on the new guy!

[Inevitable]

I actually took the time to read this and agree with everything you said. I think everything you've touched on is well known, or has been discussed already though but it was a good reminder of the state of the team.

[YoungG]

Our team's identity MUST be on the defensive end. Better sets have to be put in to maximize Rudy Gay, Demar & Kyle. We also need to make sure that we make the proper acquisitions to compliment our team.

This summer is huge for this organization. We have the talent now but still need to get better individually and as a team. Hopefully it happens.

[HoF-Rook]

I actually took the time to read this and agree with everything you said. I think everything you've touched on is well known, or has been discussed already though but it was a good reminder of the state of the team.

I appreciate the honesty. And I apologize about the length of the post. I didn't expect it to be that massive when I was typing it out. I was never any good at summarizing and condensing paragraphs in school lol.

[HoF-Rook]

Our team's identity MUST be on the defensive end. Better sets have to be put in to maximize Rudy Gay, Demar & Kyle. We also need to make sure that we make the proper acquisitions to compliment our team.

This summer is huge for this organization. We have the talent now but still need to get better individually and as a team. Hopefully it happens.

Agree with your views. Defensively we are a not a good team. But I think we have the pieces (and perhaps with addition of a few more) to become much better. We've played the vast majority of the season being very thin in paint. That, and the constant burn of small-ball doesn't help either. Lowry can be a good/gritty defensive PG. Gay, we already know he's a good defender. Demar has the tools to become better, but it's all on him over the summer to work on that aspect of his game. I believe the defensive Identity falls a lot on JV and his development. If he can become a presence in the paint and a stopper, this team can go very far. One guy that doesn't get enough credit for his D is Amir. He's constantly battling guys much bigger and taller than him and does a solid job.