Raptors rolling the dice
Bruce Arthur, National Post
Published: Friday, July 03, 2009
Make no mistake, this is a gamble. This is a roll of the dice in so many ways that the Raptors might as well put a roulette table at the end of the bench. That bench, incidentally, will now consist of a 6-foot-6 growler, a second-year point guard who looks 15, a guy whose nickname is Hump, and rotation players to be named later.
After that, though - well, step right up. Reggie Evans, acquired for Kapono, will provide rebounding and bite. Roko Ukic has hopefully spent his summer preparing to make a Calderon-like leap from year one to year two. And can Kris Humphries play shooting guard? In his mind, probably. Better not ask him.
But barring injury, and assuming the bench is not a complete waste of time, this should push the Raptors back into the playoffs, and perhaps into the top four or five in the East. It might even allow them to keep Bosh, though Toronto's franchise player is keeping his own counsel on the subject. Maybe he's already decided to go play with LeBron James in 2010. But maybe this team adds someone for the mid-level next summer, DeRozan blossoms, some clever moves get made, and this is a pretty dangerous little team.
Or maybe it all falls apart. Sure, Turkoglu is not a shutdown defender - his brilliant block from behind on Kobe in Game 2 notwithstanding - and the Raptors frontcourt now sports three guys who combine for just over 20 rebounds per game.
It cannot have been easy to steal Turkoglu out from under the nose of the up-and-coming Trail Blazers, with Turkoglu in Portland, no less. According to Ric Bucher of ESPN, it helped that Turkoglu's wife preferred the more cosmopolitan destination. Finally, the city and country works in our favour. Took long enough.
This is Colangelo's vision. As he put it three years ago, "I'm betting on the evolution of the game." We'll see if his team, so hobbled and uncertain last season, has finally learned to walk upright.
Toronto Star: Turkoglu deal with Raptors close to reality
G&M: Raptors reach deal with Turkoglu
Doug Smith's blog
My opinion: What the hell, go for broke.
The league is built on talent and that’s as talented a starting lineup as they’ve had in years and years. Sure, if someone gets hurt they could be screwed which is exactly the same thing they’re saying in Cleveland and Boston. But if one of the starters goes down, I still think the other four can carry the load at least a little bit.
Look, everything’s a gamble.
This one just makes senses and, to me, was worth it. I like those pros far more than I’m worried about those cons.
