Chisholm's take on DeRozan pick

[hoop_head]

There you go Kayjay. Netsforce came up with the Swag Index, you will make your millions on the Softness Index.

You'll need a brilliant business manager...

[Kayjay]

now i turn my brilliant hoop head to the question:

who is the jewiest player in the nba?

[hoop_head]

now i turn my brilliant hoop head to the question:

who is the jewiest player in the nba?

** hoop_head's answering machine **

"...hoop_head is out of the office. The likelihood of return before Monday is poor. Thanks a bunch for calling. Live long and prosper."

[Lockdown]

Chisholm's my favourite Raptor columnist. Good stuff as usual, I'm feeling good about the pick. Good to see him deep six the Gerald Green comparisons right away.

[kingr]

Well.... Almost the whole raptors squad is soft. Scrubnani is soft, bosh is soft... Ukic is soft, POB is soft, Hose is soft (kind've not soft), parker soft... Reggie evans was the first real step into non-softness.

[disc0]

wow.... a positive article from chisholm....

me thinks the future is looking brighter each passing day......

go go coaching staff go!

triano was there for VC, Bosh, CV, AB and now DD

I have faith in Triano and his ability to bring the best out of his players.

[MacDaddy]

I'de say Bosh is the softest on defense, Bargnani is the softest in general.

I honestly doubt you know what soft even means. It's just a word you throw around. Is DeRozan soft? He's certainly athletic, but is athletic not soft (I hesitate to use the opposite of soft for fear it will spawn a thousand jokes).

And I think Chisolm's reaching. If AP were a couple of years younger, he's fine in his role. If Garbo hadn't blown out his ankle, he would be fine in his role as a key backup. Delfino is coming back. We addressed a need for athleticism. That doesn't mean everything else goes out the window.

Being afraid of contact and avoiding it every chance you get. Thats what being soft means. These players usually shoot jumpers and can't do anything else.

His 8+ free throw attempts per game are making you look like an ass.

[Mad Prophet]

Wow, O'Bryant is a "hustle" player? I think the only time he hustles is to the bank to cash his paycheque.

[barrist]

Being afraid of contact and avoiding it every chance you get. Thats what being soft means. These players usually shoot jumpers and can't do anything else.

His 8+ free throw attempts per game are making you look like an ass.

**** kids are out in full force with school out.

[barrist]

Well.... Almost the whole raptors squad is soft. Scrubnani is soft, bosh is soft... Ukic is soft, POB is soft, Hose is soft (kind've not soft), parker soft... Reggie evans was the first real step into non-softness.

case in point

[Trax416]

I think it's pathetic he lumps all European players into the "soft non athletic" category.

Andrea is not soft, and he is very athletic. Fastest and most agile center in the NBA. There is more to athletic ability then jumping. Andrea is also one of our best defenders. He blocks a ton of shots, especially the last four months of the season.

There are many Euro's like him. I mean, Gortat arguably the best backup center in the NBA, is European and tough as **** nails, plays better defense then most starters in the NBA.

[Grizzled]

http://www.tsn.ca/blogs/Tim_Chisholm/?id=282959

Ever since mid-season, when Colangelo shipped off his marquee summer get in Jermaine O'Neal for Shawn Marion, his moves have followed a simple and recognizable logic: athleticism, hustle and versatility now rule the day. Patrick O'Bryant, Pops Mensah-Bonsu, Quincy Douby, Reggie Evans and now DeMar DeRozan all adhere to that trend. Gone are the days of overly relying on heady European imports after that strategy left the team soft, defensively weak and toughness adverse. The club's heavy dependence on those players seemed to willfully ignore the direction of a league dominated by perimeter players with the athleticism and speed to create their own offence, to pressure opposing defences with their individual talents. DeRozan, in clear acknowledgement of NBA reality, truly punctuates the focus of the future and the shift away from FIBA-ball.

What a lazy, terrible, ugly, article. This is nothing more than a fictional story that he’s concocted to bait our anti-Euro bigots. Jermaine O’Neal obviously is not a “soft, heady, European” and his trade did not mark any kind of turning point like he’s describing. Of the five players he mentions that supposedly mark a change in our philosophy Pops was brought in to replace an injured Hump and is basically a variation on the same kind of player, and he is not expected to be back next year, and Evans is another variation on the same kind of player and it’s widely speculated that Hump will be traded now that we have Evans. There is no major change in philosophy at all represented by the acquisition of Pops and Evans. One was an injury replacement and similar kind of player, and the other was an improvement on Hump but also basically the same kind of player.

Does POB really represent any kind of change? Is he the “hustle and versatility” player that Chisholm suggests he is? Clearly not. I have great hopes for POB. I think he’s a great, untapped, talent, but he’s not the kind of player Chisholm is saying he is and he’ll likely be close to the last man on the bench in any event. He is a low risk, high reward, project for JT to develop. I’m glad to have him, but he also doesn’t represent any kind of change in philosophy. QD’s story is very similar. He will be an end of the bench player who doesn’t represent any kind of philosophy change at all. He may even be less athletic and more heady than Solomon (who was from Europe) and Adams were.

Does DeRozan represent a change? Fred Jones was an athletic 2 and certainly not a “soft, heady, European”. And remember that one of the first things BC did after becoming our GM was to trade for TJ Ford, also not a “soft, heady, European”. Ford was an athletic, very speedy, penetrator and creator, and BC then signed a great shooter to compliment him, Kapono, also not a “soft, heady, European”. Ford got injured and Calderon (who is not BC’s player, btw) emerged as great player and borderline all-star, so we kept Calderon and traded Ford, but Calderon is more of a shooter than a penetrator and now BC is looking to compliment him with a speedy penetrator at the 2, and to do that he drafted DeRozan. Again, there’s no real change in philosophy here, just a bit of a role reversal between the 1 and the 2.

So who are these “soft, heady, Europeans” who we have been “overly relying on” and have now turned away from, according to Chisholm? Do they even exist? Is he talking about Garbo, the player BC says repeatedly that we miss? Is he talking about Parker, who has also repeatedly received great praise from BC?

There has been no major change in philosophy and the picture that Chisholm paints here is pure fiction.